Yelp.com

Hi Jared,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for TEK Lab. Our records indicate you redeemed a $300 promotional ad credit on October 19, 2017. To redeem the $300 credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign...

up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put payment information on file. You set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $300. You also signed up for enhanced profile features which cost an additional $75 per month. Once the promotion runs out, advertising continues until you stop your ads through your Yelp for Business Owners Account. Your advertising program was a self-serve program, which means that ads can be turned off by the business at any time through the Yelp for Business Owners Account. If you only wanted to use your $300 promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was used. During your ad setup there were Q&A's on the page explaining that you could stop your ads any time through the Yelp for Business Owners site.Additionally, after you signed up for your advertising program, we sent you an automated email that recapped your purchase and the details of your campaign, including that the payment method on file in your account will be charged monthly, up to a maximum of $375, and your programs will continue unless cancelled. Advertisers also have the option to opt in to receiving billing confirmation emails in the Account Settings section of their account. Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied: October 19 - 31, 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $155.90- $155.90 of your $300 credit was used and you paid $0November 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $375.00- You had $144.10 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used towards your October ads- $144.10 of your remaining $144.10 credit was used and you are responsible for $230.90 for advertising services delivered in November.December 1 - 15, 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $188.50- You had 0 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used towards your October and November ads- You are responsible for $188.50 for advertising services delivered in DecemberYou can view ad click and billing information in the Yelp Ads and Billing tabs of your Yelp for Business Owners Account at [redacted]You ended your advertising program on December 15, 2017. While we are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising program, advertising services were delivered in accordance with the Terms ([redacted]) you agreed to, so we will not be able to waive the outstanding balance of $419.40 for advertising services delivered in November and December. Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges. Thanks for understanding.Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/16) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding regarding the reservation you made.
We forwarded your message to the appropriate party, and it looks like my colleague Betty...

contacted you on November 10 and 12. As you may recall from your correspondence with her, the refund has been processed and should be available to you within the next several business days.
If you have any further questions regarding your refund, please respond directly to Betty's email, and she'd be happy to assist you further.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/16) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] International, Inc.
We first want to clarify that Yelp is primarily intended for the review of...

local consumer oriented businesses. Generally if a business is an online business it will not appear in our directory. As it appears that the page for your business was approved in error, we wanted to let you know that we are refunding you $672.97 for all the charges you incurred while advertising. Please allow 2-3 weeks before you see the credit.
Please note that your business page will no longer appear in Yelp's search results and your business account has been closed. For more information about what kinds of businesses are eligible to be listed on Yelp, please visit our Support Center: http://www.yelp-support.com/article/What-kinds-of-businesses-are-eligible-to-be-...⇄ /> We apologize for the confusion and for any inconvenience.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (2000, 7, 2015/07/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
Thank you.
I look forward to receiving the credit as promised.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:, Yelp continues to take the stand that so many business people complain about, inflexible, unwilling to adapt and be fair, and arrogance about how they have the right to publish your company with good or bad information as they see fit and nothing you as a business person can do about it. I know for a fact they have been challenged in court more than once over this issue, they win because they have deep pockets to fight with expensive attornies and us little business people who do not have the funds to higher good lawyers and fight in court over this.
So instead we just go out of business because they have the control over us.
My request to have my business information removed was basic and simple, yet they continue to deny doing it for their own publication benifits, again- “Proof” of Yelps arrogance, Revdex.com seems to have no power over them, Lawyers do nothing, so what is a small business man who can barely make a living to do when being bullied?
they publish what they want to publish, PERIOD
THSI IS A WASTE OF MY TIME, I only call on my small business brothers and sisters to take a stand, be heard, file complaints with Revdex.com and other web sites and do reviews all over the web about about Yelp, let yelp get a taste of their own medicineFrustrated small business owner: Richard [redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/30) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding the business page for [redacted] Church.
We first want to make sure you know 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.
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.
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 recommend the reviews that are currently not recommended, but please 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. Additionally, please note that if a review is not recommended, that does not necessarily mean it is in violation of our guidelines.
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
You also expressed concern with [redacted] P's review of [redacted] Church. 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 is "inaccurate"; 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/her review.
[redacted]ards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/05) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I really don't care what criteria YELP claims to use in accepting or rejecting a review as legit, which is how they justify placing it in the recommended or unrecommended section, because their criteria is obviously not followed equally for all reviews. I know this because they placed ALL POSITIVE reviews in the unrecommended section, reviews which contain no different personal type information than the ONE negative review, yet they have allowed the negative review to stay in the recommended section.
If YELP seriously followed a specific criteria, in our case the positive reviews would have remained in the recommended section since they all contain similar information as the negative review, or the negative review would have been sent into the unrecommended section as the positive reviews were.
ALL of the posted reviews, including the negative one, have personal experiences listed, some with names and some without names. Since all the positive/negative reviews contain similar information, there is no criteria that would require ALL POSTIVIE reviews to be eliminated from the recommended section while the ONE NEGATIVE review is allowed to remain in the recommended section.
And I do know for a fact that YELP does allow businesses to BUY their positive reviews (or eliminate the negative ones) because I've worked for a business where, when we paid YELP a monthly fee, they corrected reviews we could prove were false. Yet now, with [redacted] Church, when the negative review can easily be proven false just by going onto our site and looking at the picture of our choir, which is a racially mixed choirtotally contrary to [redacted] P's reviewthey have refused to correct it. Therefore, we do have proof that her review is false, yet YELP refuses to eliminate it.
My compromise:
(1) allow ALL REVIEWS (positive and negative) to be included in the "Recommended" section since they are all similar and therefore fit YELP's criteria (if [redacted] P's fits then so do the others), and if a review can be proven false, don't force the business/church to PAY a monthly fee in order to get the review removed.
(2) Since no one at our church even knows the identity of the individual who started our YELP page (WHICH COULD HAVE BEEN [redacted] P. herself), remove the page from your site.
COMPUTER GENERATED CRITERIA IS NOT AN EXCUSE FOR ALLOWING FALSE PUBLICITY AGAINST ANY ORGANIZATON/BUSINESS/CHURCH.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/11/16) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
You have again alleged 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.
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.
You also wrote, "their criteria is obviously not followed equally for all reviews. I know this because they placed ALL POSITIVE reviews in the unrecommended section, reviews which contain no different personal type information than the ONE negative review, yet they have allowed the negative review to stay in the recommended section." Please note we don't go into detail as to why a review is or is not recommended, and keep in mind that the software looks at many different signals when determining whether or not to recommend a review. We intentionally make the recommendation software difficult to reverse engineer otherwise, we would be overrun by reviews written by people hoping to game the system. So while it may be tough to decipher how the recommendation software works, the rules are actually the same for every business and every review.
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.
With regards to [redacted] P's review, our team has taken a second look at the review. We reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the review. We don't take sides in factual disputes; if a review appears to reflect the reviewer's personal experiences and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her review. These decisions aren't always easy, but please know we looked at this review closely before reaching our decision.
Finally, you asked for [redacted] Church to be removed from Yelp, but we actually don't remove business listing information. While some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the law. More importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses.
[redacted]ards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/11/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I again repeat what I said before. Computer generated criteria is no excuse for allowing lies to remain online ... and I want a copy of your "computer generated criteria" to provide to our attorney because I do not believe they exist.
Why? Because here is [redacted] P's review: "There is no God in this church. It is only a social made up of very hateful community members. If they dont like your home, your skin color, or your looks they will not allow you in their group. I have went to services with "pastor [redacted]" in which there was NEVER a mention of God or the Bible. The church group simply wants money and community control."
What's different in [redacted] P's review than this one: (1) God is in this church, and the members care. The members are inviting and care for their community. The prayer list is an entire page in fine print most of which are for the community, our country, health of community members, foreign ministry, praises/giving thanks and for rain. If you know about Hanover weather rain is a prayer to be raised up... If I could ask for a group to come together in the family of God to pray for me I would ask the Hanover Church family to do so.
or this one ... (2) The message is of God, the music can move you and the children's church is growing with wonder. Every time I attend the church family is kind to me even though I do not attend regularly- I NEVER feel judged for my lack of attendance or that I am not the "best dressed'. They welcome ALL form single attendees such as myself to families of mixed race, young and 'old' alike. This church family LOVES others openly. They LOVE Lord and strive to be close to him.
Thank you to the members of this Church for showing me it is alive in [redacted].
or this one... (3) I've been going to this church for over 20 years and have never known someone that goes by a [redacted] P. I do not believe this negative review for several reason. We have couples active in the church that are bi-racial and are very welcome. Also, Pastor [redacted] has never given a sermon without God being the center of it. We will be praying for you. [redacted] does not preach sermons about giving money, rather relies on God to put on the hearts of each person what to give. God Bless.
[redacted]'s review mentions the pastor's name and so do some of the other reviews. Her review says God is not in the church, the other's say He is there. Her review says there is no prayer or Bible reading, the others counter that...as proved by the sermons that are posted on our website every week. Her review says God's name is never mentioned, the others counter that...again as proven by the same website sermons. There are eight more reviews that have similar information as these reviews, all similar in content to [redacted] P's except positive, and ALL have been sent to the unrecommended section. So what is the criteria that makes hers acceptable and these not?
I are not trying to "game" the system, I simply want the truthful reviews accepted in the recommended section along with [redacted] P's lie. Of course, I guess I could do what the business I work for had to do to get their false negative reviews removed from your site, I could pay Yelp as a client. And there's no need to give you the phone number, name, and date of this business as though someone lied to me, because I am the bookkeeper who paid the bills. When we gave up trying to reason with Yelp and became a paying client, we were finally given consideration to the false reviews, but until then, well, it's just like what I'm dealing with now. I guess becoming a client of Yelp worked for that business, perhaps it would work for the church, too.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing back.I understand that you’re disputing the accuracy of the review of your business by [redacted]., and I wanted to let you know that our team has taken a second look at the review.We reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the review. We don't take sides in factual disputes; if a review appears to reflect the reviewer’s personal experiences and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her review.The only people who can speak authoritatively to a situation are the people who were there when it happened, so our moderators aren't in a position to take sides when factual accounts differ. As long as a review appears to reflect the reviewer's personal experiences and opinions, we'll generally allow them to stand behind their review. Our moderators generally aren't able to consider outside information or arbitrate disputes, if there's a disagreement over the facts of a situation.These decisions aren’t always easy, but please know we looked at this review closely before reaching our decision.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi Judi,We stand behind our previous responses. Please keep in mind that the location listed in a user's profile is not necessarily their actual location. Additionally, Yelp reviewers are not required to use their real name on Yelp, and our moderators aren't in a position to arbitrate situations where a business cannot match up a reviewer's name to the records maintained by that business.Our moderators also aren't in a position to verify the facts of a reviewer's experience, and we'll generally defer to the reviewer him- or herself to share their experiences in their own words. As long as a review appears to reflect the reviewer's personal experiences and opinions, we'll generally allow them to stand behind their review. Our moderators generally aren't able to consider outside information or arbitrate disputes, if there's a disagreement over whether a review was posted to the correct business or if there's a disagreement over the facts of a situation.We're unable assist you further in this matter.Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/28) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted]
You stated that "Yelp enabled its users to make online reservations at our restaurant without our...

knowledge." However, as you may recall from the correspondence you've had with the Yelp Reservations team, the only way for the Yelp Reservations feature to be turned on is by the business through their Business Account. It looks like you have logged in to your Business Account and turned this feature off.
You also expressed concern with a negative review. We assume you are referring to the review by [redacted] H. 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. 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/her review.
You might consider posting public comment to this review through your free business 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.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/06/04) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Please provide proof of us enabling this feature or giving Yelp the authorization to enable this. The negative review was the result of an error made by yelp; Enabling the online reservation feature without our knowledge. Therefor we could not accommodate since we didn't take reservations on that day. I guess this happened as a result of us canceling our advertising account ?
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/06/18) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
You wrote, "Please provide proof of us enabling this feature or giving Yelp the authorization to enable this." As indicated in our previous response, the Yelp Reservations feature can only be turned on by the business through their Business Account.
Our records indicate that [redacted] signed up for Yelp Reservations on April 23, 2015. On the Yelp Reservations setup page (which is accessed by logging in to the Business Account at https://biz.yelp.com/). the business account user provided the email address [redacted] and entered details about online reservation capacity, pacing, and what times the business would like to accept online reservations. After the business account user clicked "Finish", a confirmation email was sent to [redacted]. Our records indicate that the email address was confirmed on April 26, 2015, which enabled online reservations.
Once Yelp Reservations were set up, the settings could have been further reviewed and adjusted in the Business Account. For example, under Settings, you could have updated the email address and your email notification preferences. Businesses also have the option to set custom blackout dates under the Availability section. If your business did not wish to receive reservations on May 5th, you could have provided it as a custom blackout date.
Removing reviews is not something we take lightly, and it is only done when it violates our Terms of Service or Content Guidelines. We understand that you may be frustrated with our decision to keep [redacted] H's review up, but our position remains the same. Again, if a review appears to reflect the user's personal experience and opinions, we allow the user to stand behind their review.
Finally, we want to address your comment that "I guess this happened as a result of us canceling our advertising account ?" Please be assured that Yelp does not retaliate against businesses for any reason, including terminating an advertising program. Additionally, 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 [redacted] to learn more.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: this is their typical answer on everything they send out. It is not a coincidence that all business owners call them out for the same issue and complain about the same thing. Sincerely,[redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing back.We forwarded your message to the appropriate parties. As you may recall, an account manager, [redacted], left you a message and sent you an email on January 26, 2017 to let you know that we are refunding you a total of $162.41, as you were charged $143.26 on December 1, 2016 and $19.15 on January 1, 2017. Please allow 7-10 days for this refund to process internally.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/04/27) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] Therapy.
You expressed concern that you have been having trouble getting your...

advertising program cancelled. Please note that your advertising agreement indicates that you must provide written notification to your account manager on or before the 15th of the month in order to to terminate advertising at the end of that month. If the request is provided after the 15th of the month, then the advertising will be cancelled at the end of the following month. As it appears the first cancellation request your account manager received from you was in late March, your advertising program is set to cancel as of April 30, 2015.
As advertising services are being delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to offer you a refund. You are responsible for an outstanding balance of $554 for advertising services delivered in March and April. Once this is collected, you will not incur further charges.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 13, 2015/05/27) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
As indicated in our previous response, we require written notification to your account manager in order to cancel advertising. This information was included in Section V (Term and Termination) the advertising agreement you signed: "Client may terminate a Purchase Order effective at the end of its Commitment Period or any renewal period by providing written notice to your Yelp account representative on or before the 15th day of the month in order for the Purchase Order to terminate at the end of that month. If Client provides written notice after the 15th day of the month, then the Purchase order will terminate at the end of the following month." Your account manager's contact information appeared under the Billing tab of your business account, and according to our records, it appears that [redacted] repeatedly informed you to email our account management team at [redacted]@yelp.com.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/10) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Connection.
You expressed concern with the competitor ads displayed on your business...

page. Yelp has advertising programs that allow businesses to display their listings on search results and on related business pages. This is meant to enhance the user experience by suggesting relevant businesses that Yelp's users may not have previously considered. Yelp also offers programs that will remove competitor ads from your Yelp business page. If you are interested in these advertising programs, please visit https://biz.yelp.com/support/advertising
You also asked for your business to be removed from Yelp; however, we don't remove business information. While some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the law. More importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/07/14) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
They are holding my business hostage by requiring me to buy advertisement in order to get other advertisement off of my yelp page. While my business is a public record, it is not they who put the yelp page together it is I, which means I should also be able to remove such a page if I choose to. I will keep my complaint on this business active unless they find a way to work this out with me. It is a very unfriendly business approach and I will warn others about using them to promote their business.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/07/22) */
Hi [redacted],
You have again asked that your business listing be removed, but as previously stated, we don't remove business listing information. Yelp is allowed to publish business names and publicly available information about businesses under the well-established fair use doctrine, as well as First Amendment principles. Generally speaking, this means that we can display business names and trademarks "for purposes of comparison, criticism, point of reference, or any other such purpose." See New Kids on the Block v. New America Pub., Inc., 971 F.2d 302, 306 (9th Cir. 1992).
Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/07/24) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
My request was to either remove my listing or remove the ads that compete directly with my business. You have not addressed the second option of my request.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because
I was never delivered any of the items that were promised to me by the Salesperson.  The salesperson did not understand what Yelp could actually deliver to a business owner, and I was promised many things that were not possible.  I did not find out that I was sold things that would not be possible until after I signed the contract and paid for the first month.  And, my account wsa set up incorrectly.  Simply put, what I was promised was not delivered. [redacted]

Hi Jason,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Phoenician Financial Planning. 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. Our records indicate you signed a 12-month advertising agreement on May 6, 2016. Your advertising program had $25 monthly fixed costs plus up to $275 monthly variable costs, for monthly maximum of $300. The monthly fixed costs were for your enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal, a photo slideshow, and account support. Your advertising program included a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly cost per click budget cap (in other words, your monthly variable costs) was set at $275, which means you were charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $275 a month for those ad clicks. If you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would 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.Your advertising program began on May 9, 2016 and was terminated on November 30, 2016.In your complaint, you wrote, "I was to be charged per interaction, with the cost of advertising capped at $300 per month. I used the service for four months before ending payments. During the time paid advertisements were running, I had 12 total client interactions. Yelp still charged me $300 per month. Most would agree that $100 per page click is an outrageous sum, but the fact that they lied about how much each interaction costs is fraudulent." We want to clarify that you were not paying based on the number of "interactions" you had but rather the number of ad clicks you received, up to $275 worth of ad clicks per month. Please note that ad clicks, user views, and Customer Leads are separate entities of information.An ad click is when a person clicks on your business's Yelp ad. 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, on your competitors' business pages, and in various other places around the website. The Yelp Ad has the notation "Ad" in next to the business name. Clicking on your ad impression will take the user to your business page on Yelp, and you were being charged when someone clicked on your ad. Our records indicate that the average cost of an ad click for your campaign was around $27 per click. Cost-Per-Click ads are delivered in categories matching your specific business, as well as other similar categories that our ad delivery system has identified as relevant. The price you pay per click is based on competition and relevance, but you'll always pay the least amount needed to win the click. We aim to maximize the number of clicks you get for your budget over the course of the month, and you should plan to have 100% of your budget fulfilled. Occasionally competitive demand prevents this, but you'll only be billed for the cost of the clicks you received in that monthly billing period.Information about the number of ad clicks you received and the average cost of a click was available in the "Yelp Ads" tab of your Business Account.User Views is a measure of how many times your Yelp page was accessed or viewed on the Yelp website, mobile website, and mobile apps. Once a user is on your business page (regardless of whether they found it through an ad impression or through another means, such as our natural search results), additional actions they take while on your page may appear in the Customer Leads and Activity Feed sections of your Business Account. Customer Leads are intended to show you how our users are adding and accessing information located in your Yelp business page after they've landed on the page. For example, Customer Leads activity shows clicks to your website. Please note that you were not paying based on the number of Customer Leads. As advertising services were delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signed, we will not be able to offer you a refund. It looks like there is currently an outstanding balance of $600 for ads delivered from October 1, 2016 - November 30, 2016. Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges.You also expressed concern with Yelp's recommendation software. Because our recommendation software is automated, the Yelp Support team cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. Our recommendation software is automated precisely so that it can apply the same objective standards to every business and every review without being overridden by someone's personal preferences. 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. We hope you’ll take the time to watch our video about the Recommendation Software: [redacted]You also expressed concern with a review that you believe is fake. It looks like you are referring to the review by Nicholas V. We reminded the user that the review must comply with our Terms of Service and Content Guidelines, but for now we're leaving the review up. Finally, you asked for your business to be removed from Yelp; however, we don't remove business information. While some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the law. More importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses.Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

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 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.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: [redacted]We also 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]We also wanted to let you know that we have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate parties. As you may recall, an account manager, [redacted], reached out to you and let you know that your advertising program is set to cancel on May 31, 2016 and we are waiving the early termination fee.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 [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

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].'s review. I understand that you’re disputing the accuracy this review, and our team has taken a second look at it....

However, we reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the review. We don't take sides in factual disputes; if a review appears to reflect the reviewer’s personal experiences and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her review.These decisions aren’t always easy, but please know we looked at this review closely before reaching our decision.We also want to address your comment, "Our VERY HAPPY customer reviews are not being scored!! We received 4 to 5 great reviews and our score went from 2 to 2.5. I imagine it should be higher because Yelp chooses to not score those probably so businesses become desperate and pay them which we refuse to." 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] and [redacted] to learn more.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.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. While we only look at Recommended Reviews in calculating a business's overall star rating, please keep in mind that 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: [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/06) */
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 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.
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
You also wrote, "Remove the false one that we have flagged for removal multiple times." We assume you are referring to the review by [redacted] T. Our team has taken a second look at the review, but we reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the review. We don't take sides in factual disputes; if a review appears to reflect the reviewer's personal experiences and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her review. These decisions aren't always easy, but please know we looked at this review closely before reaching our decision.
We noticed that you've already used your free Yelp for Business Owners Account to post a public comment on this review. 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.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: They are THIEVES and no one is doing anything about it!  They are not beinginvestigated for false advertising. Paying per click is "smoke & mirrors".  Since they can not show anything thatthey have done.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)Hello,Thank you for the reply.Your system obviously has a glitch. I DID enter the coupon code - and I even sent you a screenshot of the coupon code in my previous email per [redacted] request. I even indicated that the $300 was from a [redacted] campaign that you ran.Yelp, you are not authorized to charge my credit card. And I made it clear to you. Then you went ahead and charged again - even after I canceled the trial campaign with you.I am still unhappy with the poor response and lack of liability that you have. Where is my money? I want all of it back because you did not deliver what you promised.[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/13) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Chiropractic.
We first want to make sure you know 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.
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.
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 recommend [redacted] D's review, but please 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.