Yelp.com

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/01) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].
You wrote that Yelp "plays favorites based on advertising dollars." We want to assure you...

that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more.
With regards to your concerns about the recommendation software, as you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp. We recognize that our approach is very different from other sites that tend to feature every single negative rant and positive rave. We do our best to nurture a community of users who actively contribute reliable and useful content.
It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. You asked that we reinstate reviews that are not currently recommended, but please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/05/04) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Insufficient response in the face of numerous business complaints from myself, other business owners, and media outlets decrying the predatory practices of Yelp including:
Yelp uses suspicious tactics to punish cancelled ad accounts: http://[redacted]l
Restaurant Manager Says Yelp Is Killing His Business: [redacted]
Think Yelp is Unbaised? Think Again!: [redacted]
Is Yelp A Bully or Just Misunderstood: [redacted]
Turning a critical eye on Yelp: [redacted]
Putting Yelp in their rear-review mirror: [redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]
We Hate Yelp: [redacted]
Why Yelp sucks - Yelp survival guide: [redacted]
[redacted]
[redacted]/XXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Why Yelp Sucks: http://[redacted]
Clearly I am not the only business having issues and the entire company should be reviewed by an outside source to ensure fair and balanced practices towards businesses to maintain a semblance of security for small business which cannot opt out of Yelp and are already vulnerable to quick closure without the need for external and arguably fake sources chasing away customers before a business is even allowed to get in the door.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/05/13) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
It sounds as though you still believe that Yelp manipulates reviews to favor advertisers. However, with respect to reviews, paying businesses have absolutely no advantage. The automated recommendation software does not distinguish between advertisers and free listings, and the revenue side of our business operates independently of the content side of our business, just as a newspaper might put a firewall between their advertising and reporting functions.
Again, Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable ones. This means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cut. We acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the software as a whole makes our site more trustworthy and useful to consumers.
As indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: we cannot reverse the software's decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore a review that isn't currently recommended. This also means (and I can say this with 100% certainty) that we cannot manually manipulate the recommendation software to favor an advertiser or punish a non-advertiser. But once again, the system is not static reviews may come and go as the software picks up new information.
We recognize that there have been news stories and other posts alleging that Yelp manipulates reviews and ratings to reward advertisers, yet these allegations are not based in fact. Please consider:
1. Third party research (such as Harvard Business School) has debunked this conspiracy.
2. Courts have rejected the conspiracy due to the lack of any fact-based evidence.
3. A simple search across the site proves that non-advertisers often have excellent 4 and 5-star ratings while many advertisers have low ratings.
For more information about this issue, please visit http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ /> We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciated. When it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviews. It's no easy task, and there is always room for improvement. We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi George,Thanks for the feedback. All review sites face the same challenge: how to identify the most reliable and useful content amongst the millions of submitted reviews. It's no easy task, and while we think we do a pretty good job at it, there’s always room for improvement. Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/24) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for teccrab Inc.
You expressed concern with the pricing of your advertising program. According to our...

records, you signed up for an advertising program with $75 monthly fixed costs plus up to $275 monthly variable costs, for a monthly maximum of $350. The monthly fixed costs were for your enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow. Your advertising program was a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly cost per click budget cap was set at $275, which means you were only charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $275 a month for those ad clicks. Additionally, it appears you received a promotional offer which made you eligible to receive up to $300 in free Yelp ad clicks in the first full month of your advertising program. This information was included in the Purchase Order and Ad Program Descriptions sections of the advertising agreement you signed.
If you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would only be charged for the ad clicks you received. However, if you did reach your monthly budget cap, we no longer delivered ads for your business for the remainder of the month so that you wouldn't have to pay more than you agreed to. You can view a breakdown the number of ad clicks you received by logging in to your Yelp for Business Owners Account at https://biz.yelp.ca/ and clicking on the "Yelp Ads" tab.
You also expressed concern with the cancellation policy. Please note that per the terms of your advertising agreement, we require 30 days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. As it appears you provided your cancellation request on October 9, 2015, your advertising program was terminated on November 8, 2015. Because your advertising program is billed in arrears, the $138.87 charge you saw on November 1, 2015 was for advertising services delivered in October. As you have chosen to end your program before the end of the 3-month term, you are responsible for an early termination fee of $350 per the terms of your advertising agreement. Additionally, you will see a charge in early December for advertising services that were delivered in November. Once these amounts have been collected, you will not incur further charges.
While we are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign, we hope you will continue to take advantage of the free features available to you on your business account to engage with the Yelp community. For guidance, please visit https://biz.yelp.ca/support/using_business_account
Finally, with regards to your request for your business to be removed, we publish business listing information so that consumers can share their experiences about local businesses, and because facts concerning your business are a matter of public record. Therefore, we plan on leaving the listing unchanged for the benefit of consumers.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
In my opinion Yelp is not taking the issue serious. They repeatedly using their contract, which was in my opinion made under false circumstances, as a cover. I want to be clear in my reply. I was called by the same Yelp sales representative in June as well as in September. When I spoke to him in June I mentioned that a $350 advertisement campaign is out of the question and not something we were interested in. When I was approached in September, by the same sales rep, he told me Yelp had listen to small business owners, like myself, and would offer a $75 package for 3 month as a form of a test ad. The contract was than send to me while I was on the phone with the sales rep, who said to me that he doesn't want to keep me to long and that I just have to sign the contract. He left me in the impression that I would pay just $75 per month. He did not mentioned any cancelation fee and left me in the dark with the additional fees that could add up to a total of $350.
Sending the contract over and over again instead of investigating the error makes me wonder if Yelps interest was only to get a small business owner signing up for the program and not caring what would come out of it. The dealings I am having with Yelp to this point even strengthen this feeling. I have clearly demonstrated my wish to cancel, right after the first fee was charged to my credit card. But instead of taking my cancellation serious Yelp continued having the ad live on their site resulting in additional charges. As online advertisement agency we are dealing with a variety of online advertisement provider. If I or one of our customers feels they wish to stop an ad on Facebook, Google or LinkedIn we can do this in less than one business day. Yelp on the other hand insist that it takes 30 days to cancel an ad and even charges a ridicules high cancelation fee. Please keep in mind that we are talking about a $75 per month for 3 month contract. A $350 cancelation fee is in no relation to the base fee communicated.
I am sorry but I feel that this business is taking advantage of small business owners, hoping they are intimidated by the size of Yelp. Their customer service even mentioned on the phone that it is a billion dollar company, giving me the feeling they can hire the best lawyers and making sure a small business owner such as myself will just give up.
I also wish to mention that with the privacy act from 2014 I, as a Canadian company owner, have the right to get my data deleted. A right to get my profile removed. Yelp is a privately held company, not a non for profit organization nor government institution. Therefore my demands of having my company profile removed are in my opinion legit. Refusing is in my opinion a valuation of the Canadian Privacy Act of 2014.
I would like to finish my response by mentioning that I will not pay any cancelation fee and that I demand getting a refund. I also demand that my profile gets removed from their website.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 21, 2016/02/05) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your feedback.
You claim that you were "not made aware of any additional costs." However, according to our records it appears your sales representative explained that the cost of your advertising program could go up to a maximum of $350 a month depending on how many ad clicks you received. It also appears he informed you that early termination would be subject to a fee of $350. Additionally, the first page of the advertising agreement you signed states that your advertising program would have monthly fixed costs of $75 and monthly variable costs of up to $275, and that the early termination fee would be $350.
You also wrote, "I am now receiving notifications that you have tried to charge my credit card again for $43.42 not explaining what this amount is for." Our records indicate that this amount due is for advertising services delivered from November 1 - 8, 2015. $23.42 of this amount is for the 2 ad clicks you received in November at an average cost of $11.71 per click. The remaining $20 is a prorated amount for your enhanced profile for November.
You have again asked that we remove your listing from the site, but we can only restate what was indicated in our prior messages: We publish business listing information so that consumers can share their experiences about businesses in their community, and because facts concerning your business are a matter of public record.
With regards to your comment, "More than one small business claims that instead of checking false complains out you rather "suggest" them to pay you for getting bad reviews removed," we want to be clear that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.ca/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 23, 2016/02/08) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
It is obvious to me that your sales representative can not give you other details without fearing to loose his job. As stated many times before. He has called me in 2015 more than once and tried to sell me your "services". I told him every time that the price is to high. He then called with the proposal to "Try out" your "services" for ONLY $75 per month. No, he did NOT mention ANY additional costs. He also picked, in my opinion purposely, a busy moment to Email me the contract and rushed me to sing it. He did NOT give me the time to read the contract.
I am working with many online advertisement platforms for over 15 years. I have full control of my Google ads, Facebook ads and any other ads I am running or maintain for my clients. If an ad is not performing well I have the chance to reduce the budget on the fly, can make changes and DO NOT have to pay a ridicules high cancelation fee.
I also want to state that $11.71 per click is incredibly high click rate in my opinion. As stated before we are advertising on other platforms and never pay that much per click.
Since this is now going back and forth for a while now. I would like to know what you are proposing to settle this?

Hi **,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted]You express** concern that the updates you submitt** to your business page have not been approv**. While we enable users to submit changes to business...

pages on Yelp, our moderators evaluate those changes to ensure they meet our standards. In this situation, it looks as though we have not been able to verify that your business has relocat**. If information about your new location is available on your website or another public-facing source, please reply to this message with a link so we can verify it and update the business page on Yelp. Please note that in general, if a service-bas** business relocates, we will typically update the location on the existing business page, rather than marking it as clos**.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/19) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted].
You claim that advertising services were not delivered. You signed up for a cost...

per click program, which means Yelp displayed ad impressions for your business and you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impression. Your advertising program also included additional features such as a photo slideshow.
When a user is searching on Yelp for a business in a certain area, we do our best to provide that user with a Yelp Ad applicable to their search. Yelp Ads appear above the natural search results, as well as on your competitors' business pages. The Yelp Ad is differentiated from the natural search results by an yellow border, and has the notation "Ad" in next to the business name. You expressed concern that you did not see your ad when you searched, but please keep in mind that you wouldn't have seen your particular ad appear every time. Sometimes you may see an ad for a different company, sometimes when conducting a search you may not see an ad at all.
You also wrote, "I had so many questions about the program and I didn't get a manager assigned to me until may,12,2015." However, our records indicate that you spoke with an account manager, [redacted], on December 22, 2014 and on January 20, 2015. [redacted] also sent you an email on January 20 with the subject line "Account Manager Information"; in that email she provided you with a phone number and email email address where you could reach our account management team.
Your advertising program has been terminated as of April 30, 2015. As advertising services were provided in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to offer you a refund. Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Thank you for assessing the issue although I did sign a contrary for a pay to click advertisement it still doesn't validate the fact that [redacted] sold me under false statement, when I specifically asked her if this Ad Campaign would position my business on the top of the search list for massage in my area, and she specifically told me Yes it will! But it Didn't and it doesn't like you mention in this response sometimes it doesn't even appear in the searc, that she didn't say at all, so I Beleive they sold me under false statements!!! And that's not an ethical way of doing business, also you mention my ad was canceled as of April XX-XXXX although I have a Charge from Yelp on my Amex on May of 2015.? I would like that to be refunded, I believe in doing business the right way, and keeping good ethical practices. Sincerely , massage maui style!
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/09/03) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
We again want to reiterate that Yelp Ads are separate from the numbered search results. To clarify, Yelp Ads appear above the number one result of natural search results and on your competitors' business pages.
If when conducting a search you did not see an ad for your business, your business may have still appeared in Yelp's numbered search results, which have absolutely nothing to do with who is paying us. Yelp's natural search results algorithm is designed to provide the best results based on a number of different factors including review text, ratings, and number of reviews. While we can't guarantee specific results or business rankings, we are always working to improve our search tool so that we can deliver the most relevant local results to our users.
We also want to address your comment, "you mention my ad was canceled as of April XX-XXXX although I have a Charge from Yelp on my Amex on May of 2015." Please note that your advertising program was billed in arrears, so the $200 you were charged on May 1, 2015 was for advertising services delivered in April.
Finally, you have again requested a refund. As previously noted, advertising services were provided in accordance with your contract, so we will not be able to offer you a refund.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi Mohneefah,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding the page for Neef Fresh Photography. We appreciate your feedback about the representative you spoke with, and we'll be looking into this matter further. You also requested that this...

page be removed because you did not create it. We license basic business information from third party data providers who gather this type of information from public records and other sources. We also get business information from our users. We generally don't remove business pages unless the business appears to fall outside our eligibility guidelines, which does not appear to be the case here. That said, we've gone ahead and removed the street address and phone number from the page. For more information about our stance on removing business information, see[redacted]Additionally, you expressed a concern with a tip. We have removed Lola S.'s Tip of your business, as it falls outside our guidelines.Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I personally know many customers who have given us high ratings for our business and yelp chooses not to show them. The only review yelp shows is one from [redacted]. from many years ago. She is known for discrediting businesses as she is a local person. It was a very biased review and not correct. There have also been many changes and growth in our business yet this is the only yelp review shown. Extremely frustrating. Please review again. And pay attention to reviews and ratings on other sights.  i have emailed numerous times from another email address to yelp but with absolutely no response from yelp.I want [redacted] review removed.
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted]You expressed concern with the $75 you were charged on June 1 and July 1, 2016. According to our records, it looks like you signed up...

for a self-serve cost per click advertising program on December 27, 2015, and that you ended this cost per click program on April 5, 2016. It also appears you signed up for a self-serve enhanced listing (which costs $75 a month) on December 29, 2015, and that you turned this feature off on July 5, 2016. The enhanced listing feature was billed in arrears, so the $75 you were charged on June 1, 2016 was for having this feature in May, and the $75 you were charged on July 1, 2016 was for having this feature in June.We also want to clarify that your advertising program and enhanced profile were self-serve programs, which means that ads and the enhanced profile can only be turned off by the business through the Yelp for Business Owners Account. In Step 3 of your ad setup there were Q&A's on the right side of the page explaining that you could stop your ads any time through the Yelp for Business Owners site: "Can I stop any time? Yes. There's no commitment or obligation. Just come back to the Yelp for Business Owners site and stop your ads. You will be billed at the beginning of the next month for any clicks you bought before you cancelled."Please note that with our self-serve programs, Yelp does not turn the ads or enhanced listing on or off; only the business owner has this ability. If you had wanted to cancel your cost per click advertising program and your enhanced listing in February, you would have needed to log in and end both the programs.That said, we have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties. it looks like a manager, [redacted], reached out to you to schedule a phone conversation to discuss your concerns. Please feel free to reach out to [redacted] directly if you haven't already done so.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Revdex.com:I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me. Sincerely, [redacted]

Hi Edwin,Thank you for your response.While we appreciate your feedback, you chose to redeem the $300 and to enter your payment information. You chose an advertising program with a $750 monthly Cost Per Click budget (or a $25 per day average) plus enhanced profile features which cost an additional $75 per month (or a $2.50 per day average), for total charges of up to $825 per month. This monthly maximum was stated in the "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!" email we sent you after you signed up for this program. If you did not want to pay that much, you could have selected a different ad budget. You also had the ability to log in at any time to edit or end your ad campaign.By clicking purchase during the checkout process, you agreed to the order form and the Yelp Master Advertising Terms [redacted]). Advertising services were delivered in accordance with these terms and conditions, so we will not be able to waive the outstanding balance or offer you a refund.Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/11) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Academy.
You expressed concern with a 2 star review of your business. It looks like you are...

referring to Peter W's review. The review has been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelines. You claim that this review has "very inaccurate information"; however, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputes. Rather, if a review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, it is our policy to allow the user to stand by his or her review.
You might consider sending a private message to the reviewer or posting a public comment through your free Yelp for Business Owners Account. Many reviewers respond favorably to business owners willing to engage in constructive conversation, and at the very least, other Yelp users appreciate seeing business owners take a proactive approach to dealing with customer concerns. Our hope is that by utilizing these means you will be able to rectify any misunderstandings and come to an amicable resolution.
You also expressed concern with the recommendation software. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.
Even though it inevitably affects legitimate reviews from time to time and misses some fake ones, too, it helps protect the integrity of the site both for consumers (who will be less likely to be led astray by bogus reviews) and business owners (who will spend less time worrying about whether their competitors are writing negative reviews about them).
It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: Yelp did you see the attachments I put on the previous response? You did not mention anything about the attachments in your response. [redacted] will need to wait at least a year before she gets a puppy because he children are not ready for a pet. I told her I will honor her deposit in one year. If she don't want a puppy from us she knows the deposit she paid is nonrefundable, it has always said this on my website. Yelp said they can not remove it because it is automated, I do not believe this. You can remove want you want to. You are showing defamation of character about me and my business and you need to remove the review and one star from [redacted] as soon as possible.Sincerely,[redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted]You expressed concern with [redacted] review. Upon further evaluation, this review was found to be in violation of our Content Guidelines and has been...

removed. Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted]Thank you for your response.We want to be clear that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit [redacted]If you believe, however, that an individual has provided you with different information, we would like to investigate further. To that end, please provide us with the name of the individual whom you spoke with, their phone number, and the date and time of your conversation with them, if known.It also sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statements. Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable ones. This means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cut. We acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the software as a whole makes our site more trustworthy and useful to consumers.As indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: we cannot reverse the software’s decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore a review that isn’t currently recommended. This also means (and I can say this with 100% certainty) that we cannot manually manipulate the recommendation software to favor an advertiser or punish a non-advertiser. But once again, the system is not static -- reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information.We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciated. When it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviews. It's no easy task, and there is always room for improvement. We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
I did not sign up, I told your rep repeatedly I did not want any yelp services ever and to not call me. They continue to harass me, 
I never signed up for anything and have had the bank change the card number and block any yelp charges for the next 5 years. 
What you guys did is criminal, I don’t do any advertising and don’t want to, never have and have told you guys this repeatedly. Continue to try to charge me or continue calling me and I’m going to the state attorneys office. I’m sick of you guys. 
DisgustingSincerely,Ryan [redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].You expressed concern with the language in a negative review. It looks like you are referring to the review by [redacted] as it appears you or one of your...

colleagues recently reported this review. Evaluating reviews for inappropriate content isn’t easy and we recognize that each person has a different tolerance for strong language. Generally, what we don’t tolerate on our site are serious threats and hate speech. We do have a fairly high bar for colorful language and try to allow users to tell their story in their own words, whether or not they had a positive experience with a business, and regardless of our own personal tastes. We hope you can understand why we ultimately didn’t conclude that the review you reported violates our terms.With regards to your comment, "we asked them to provide this patient information so we could identify and speak with him they refused," please note that we don't disclose user information under these circumstances due to privacy concerns. Please see our Privacy Policy ([redacted]) for more information about how and when we might disclose this kind of information.You also wrote, "we start asking patients to write review based on their experience in the office." Please note asking for reviews is not something we encourage. For one thing, most businesses tend to ask their happiest customers to write reviews, not the unhappy ones. These self-selected reviews tell only part of the story, and we don’t think that’s fair to consumers. We would much rather hear from members of the Yelp community who are inspired to talk about their experiences without a business owner’s encouragement. More information can be found here: [redacted]It's important to note that Yelp uses automated software to showcase helpful and reliable reviews from the Yelp community. As a result, you shouldn’t be surprised if our software fails to recommend the reviews that you’ve asked your customers to write. Your best bet to get high quality and unbiased reviews about your business is to provide a memorable and amazing customer experience, rather than asking your customers to post on Yelp.Because our recommendation software is automated, the Yelp Support team cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. That said, our recommendation software runs on a daily basis, so reviews that aren't currently recommended may be recommended in the future, and vice versa.Please visit our Support Center for more info: [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
It is very nice and well and you are using very fancy terms which are skating the basic premise that you steal money from people.
If I search for parking, and you give me web design as the result:1. You misrepresent my business
2. You falsely advertise and collect costs for each user
3. You provide REALLY BAD user experience to your users.at this time I Will Also request you to provide us for Each CENT that you charged us, from Which keyword or page URL the client clicked on our ad.Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/23) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] D [redacted] - [redacted]
We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising...

campaign. To be clear, while the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, it is important to keep in mind that results are not guaranteed. When advertising with a Cost Per Click program, you are electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impression. You were also paying for an enhanced profile, which included competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow.
Per the terms of your advertising agreement, we require 30 days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. As you provided your cancellation request on October 9, 2015, your advertising program was terminated on November 8, 2015. Because your advertising program was billed in arrears, the $114.31 you were charged on December 1, 2015 was for advertising services delivered from November 1 - 8, 2015. Since you chose to end your program before the end of the 12-month term, an early termination fee of $600.00 was assessed per the terms of your advertising agreement.
With regards to your comment, "their email confirmation said no other charges would be made after cancellation," our records show that the cancel confirmation email you received on November 4, 2015 indicated that you would not incur further charges after the balance for services delivered in November and the early termination fee were collected. Specifically, the email stated: "Your program is billed in arrears, so there will be an additional balance due on the 1st of the month for services delivered this month. Finally, because you are ending your agreement prior to the end of your initial term, per your agreement, there will be a $600 early termination fee assessed to the credit card on file. After these fees are collected, you will not incur any additional charges."
As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to offer you a refund, but we hope you will continue to take advantage of the free features available to you on your business account to engage with the Yelp community. For guidance, please visit https://biz.yelp.com/support/using_business_account
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/12/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
YELP charged me every month for every dollar I had authorized for advertising using their services- I understand that there are no guarantees, but to not receive one shred of evidence from any source of inquiry; not one email, not one phone call, not a single FB "like", not one indication that these clicks were incurred by a live person is rather suspect. While suspicious, I can put that aside from this complaint.
My argument lies in YELP's hiding behind the letter of it's agreements with clients, and refusing to honor it's own commitment, and it's failure to respond to it's clients in any humane ethical manner.
YELP is a powerhouse at interpreting the strict enforcement of their contract when it serves their purposes, but not when it might work in the favor of the client. The cancellation fee is usurious, and draconian- but I get that, I signed the contract with that understanding. The pro-rated charges are in direct violation of their own emailed statement- and serve as salt in the wound of a bad business experience. And YELP has the power to fix the problem- but refuses to do anything about it except invest more of it's energy and revenues in maintaining it's ironclad, no-exceptions stance of "no uncollected revenue- no matter the cost."
I won't do business with any company who's inflexible and unyielding need for strict enforcement and extraction of fees is more important than any reasonable, truthful or, dare I suggest, humane treatment of its clients. While it may be immediately profitable, this disingenuous, anti-client business model will be your downfall unless changed- bad press to colleagues, co-workers, clients and friends is more costly than any refund of $114.31.
It will remain a disputed charge on my card. YELP is a shameful and dark player in the business marketplace.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2016/01/08) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your additional feedback.
You wrote, "I understand that there are no guarantees, but to not receive one shred of evidence from any source of inquiry; not one email, not one phone call, not a single FB "like", not one indication that these clicks were incurred by a live person is rather suspect." It sounds as though you may be concerned about possible click fraud. We employ a variety of industry-standard measures to detect and prevent invalid traffic and click fraud. For example, we monitor our clicks and impressions for fraudulent activity, and frequently update our filters to exclude activity from known offenders. We also subscribe to the Internet Advertising Bureau's bot list, which gives us an industry-standard filter in addition to our own more rigorous ones.
We also want to reiterate that your advertising program was billed in arrears and that we require 30 days written notice if you wish to terminate your advertising program. Our records indicate that you provided your cancellation request on October 9, 2015, so your advertising program was terminated on November 8, 2015. Please keep in mind that your advertising program was billed in arrears, so the $114.31 you were charged on December 1, 2015 was for advertising services delivered from November 1 - 8, 2015. You wrote, "The pro-rated charges are in direct violation of their own emailed statement," but it appears [redacted]'s email to you on November 4, 2015 indicated that you would see a charge in December for services delivered in November: "Your program is billed in arrears, so there will be an additional balance due on the 1st of the month i.e. December for services delivered this month i.e. November."
Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2016/01/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I am just going to leave things here. YELP is correct as to the letter of their law, their bullet proof agreements and as "I Agree" boxes can attest- what I was hoping for was a human being who could understand what it might feel like to pay so much for something and get nothing in return, or maybe empathize with what it is to be dismayed or underwhelmed with a product after paying so much for it.
I get it....there's no winning with YELP, and wasting any more time trying to get a caring response from an inhumane, anti-customer company is futile.
Revdex.com, tell YELP "you win, the plaintiff has surrendered", but we all know they will loose playing this sad, petty game in the long run.
Much appreciated, Revdex.com...

can you verify and accredit my business in your system? What are the rates? Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,[redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted].We forwarded your message to the appropriate parties, and a director, [redacted] spoke with you on November 15, 2016 to discuss your...

concerns. As you may recall, we are refunding you $113.72.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.