Yelp.com

Hi [redacted]Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].We appreciate you bringing this to our attention, and have informed our Sales team that you no longer wish to receive any communication from them. If...

for any reason you continue to hear from them, please let us know at http://www.yelp.com/support/contact/questionsIf you'd like to update your email notification preferences, you can do so by logging in to your business account at [redacted], clicking "Account Settings" at the top of the page, and then clicking "Manage your email preferences." From there, check or uncheck the appropriate boxes, and then click "Save Settings."Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/10) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].
We want to clarify 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. Furthermore, there is zero relationship between the timing of when a review gets recommended and when a business decides to - or declines to - advertise: reviews can be recommended or not recommended days, weeks, or even months after they were first posted, and your Yelp sales representative doesn't have any influence over when that might happen. 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.
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. 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.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns.We understand that you may be frustrated with our decision to remove your review of [redacted], but our position remains the same, as it appears you did not have a customer...

interaction with this business. As you may recall from the message you received from the Yelp Support team, we want to hear about your personal customer experiences with local businesses.For more information, please see our Content Guidelines at [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/10) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address you concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Cleaning.
It looks like you have been in touch with our Account Management team after filing this Revdex.com...

complaint, and that you signed a new agreement to change from a packaged Cost Per Click advertising program to an Enhanced Profile with featured video, effective November 1, 2015.
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 also expressed concern with some calls you received, writing, "I have numerous times when a telemarketer has called me and it matches Yelp and my phone call log. I asked for some refunds and they will not honor any." Please note that the calls you receive are not necessarily from users who have clicked on your ad impression, as users can find your business page in other ways, such as through our natural search results.
With regards to your comment, "Their staff is rude," we would like to investigate further. To that end, could you please provide us with additional information regarding the call(s) you are referring to, specifically, 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 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
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted]We've forwarded your message to the appropriate parties. As you may recall, a manager, [redacted], has reached out to discuss your concerns, and it...

looks like she has offered you a refund of $75 for the enhanced profile feature. Additionally, we have waived the remaining balance of $25.17 that was for advertising services delivered April 1 - 2, 2016.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.

This is ridicules, I have repeat customers that you can speak with and that I can send you pictures of the jobs we completed at there houses. This is slander, I will be filing a law suit!Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/28) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].
You 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. 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.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/07/30) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Yelp keep telling us the software is the one who choose which review should be on top.
This is unfair and not legitimate I want them to show our good reviews as recomended.
Customers look for the good ones as I told I am loosing business because yelp is insisting in keep only bad ones and the good that customers made the check in on our store they can't publish as recommended?
They can keep the bad ones but must recommend the good ones if they can't do this so the software is not useful and unfair.
If they can't recomend the good ones I don't have other option than sue yelp ,and ask for money I lost for all this time they are recommending only bad reviews.
Thank you,
[redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 11, 2015/08/17) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
It 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 (which affects both positive and negative reviews) 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.
You have again asked that we recommend the reviews that are not currently recommended, but 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 one that isn't recommended. But once again, the system is not static reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information.
Additionally, while we understand your concerns, we want to make sure you are clear that federal law bars lawsuits against websites like Yelp for the decisions they make about which reviews to post or remove. See Carafano v. Metrosplash. com. Inc., 339 F. 3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2003); Zeran v. America Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997); Barrett v. Rosenthal, 40 Cal. 4th 33 (Cal. 2006).
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 [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted]We first 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.com/advertiser_faq 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. 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 address your comment, "he told me again that if I BUY THE ADVERTISEMENT FORM THEM, I would be put higher in the rank." To clarify, 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 a yellow border, and has the notation "Ad" in next to the business name.Separate from Yelp Ads are Yelp's natural search results, which are numbered and 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.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted]Our records indicate you signed up for a self-serve advertising program for [redacted] on August 17, 2016 and redeemed a $100...

promotional ad credit at that time. To redeem the $100 credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put a credit card on file. You set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $300. 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 only be turned off by the business through the Yelp for Business Owners Account. If you only wanted to use your $100 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 right side of the page explaining that you could stop your ads any time through the Yelp for Business Owners site.Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied:August 17 - 31, 2016- You received 1 ad click which cost a total of $1.97- $1.97 of your $100 credit was used and you paid $0September 2016- You received 4 ad clicks which cost a total of $14.94- You had $98.03 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in August- $14.94 of your remaining $98.03 credit was used and you paid $0October 2016- You received 1 ad click which cost a total of $6.34- You had $83.69 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in August and September- $6.34 of your remaining $83.69 credit was used and you paid $0November 2016- You received 2 ad clicks which cost a total of $61.14- You had $76.75 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in August through October- $61.14 of your remaining $76.75 credit was used and you paid $0December 2016- You received 9 ad clicks which cost a total of $295.28- You had $15.61 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in August through November- You paid $279.67 for advertising [redacted] delivered in December 2016January 1 - 2, 2017- You received 1 ad click which cost a total of $8.60- You had 0 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used in August through December 2016- You are responsible for $8.60 for advertising [redacted] delivered in January 2017You can view a breakdown of how many ad clicks you received by logging in to your Yelp for Business Owners Account at [redacted] and then clicking on the Yelp Ads tab.Our records also indicate that an account manager reached out to you by voicemail on September 13, 2016. She also followed up by email that same day to provide you with recommendations, details of the promotion and advertising program, and instructions on how to cancel whenever you want.You ended your advertising program on January 2, 2017. As advertising [redacted] have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to, we will not be able to waive the remaining balance of $8.60 for advertising [redacted] delivered in January 2017. Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges. Thanks for understanding.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi Steve,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Septic Plus.You expressed concern with the recommendation software. Our recommendation software recommends both positive and negative reviews in an effort to show the most...

helpful and reliable reviews to our users. That said, Yelpers write more positive reviews than negative reviews, so it isn’t necessarily surprising that Yelp’s recommendation software might impact more positive reviews. 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 also want be clear that Yelp treats advertisers and non-advertisers exactly alike with respect to reviews. Advertising only buys ads and never higher ratings, removal of negative reviews or promotion of positive reviews. You'll find plenty of Yelp advertisers with negative reviews, and plenty of non-advertisers with five-star ratings across the board. Furthermore, there is zero relationship between the timing of when a review gets recommended and when a business decides to--or declines to--advertise. Reviews can be recommended or not recommended days, weeks, or even months after they were first posted, and a Yelp sales representative doesn't have any influence over when that might happen. We hope you’ll take the time to watch our video about the Recommendation Software: [redacted]You also expressed concern with a negative review. It looks like you are referring to the review by Mike S. We’ve looked at Mike S.'s review of Septic Plus, and have elected to leave it up. If a review appears to reflect a user's personal experience and opinions, it is our policy to let the user stand behind his or her review. Additionally, please note that the Yelp Support team's evaluation of reviews against our Content Guidelines is separate from actions taken by Yelp's automated recommendation software. That said, you do have a voice on Yelp. With a Business Account, you can send a message to the user or publicly comment on the review. You can also post information about your business, upload photos to your listing, and more.It looks like you or someone else from your business has already claimed the business page using another email address. You can access your account or reclaim the page by visiting [redacted]For guidance on using your Business Account, check out [redacted]Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
 
Dear [redacted]/ Yelp Team
 
Thank you for replying through Revdex.com. As you said "the system is not static--reviews may become
recommended or not recommended over time". Here in this case, its been over 14 months that the reviews have not been
recommended.
 
If Yelp software is not accepting any of these 7 legitimate reviews from 14 months, this means the Yelp software is
 malfunctioning and severely affecting my future sales.
 
Request you to kindly fix the software and show atleast some good reviews. Or if Yelp software cannot show Complete Truth
to Public, then please delete this business page from Yelp.
 
And if neither of these two options is acceptable, then it will be a harassment to us and deceiving to Public.
 
 
Best Regards
[redacted]

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

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/05/22) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] & [redacted]
You expressed concern with the searches and locations where your ad was...

appearing. 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. That said, as noted in Section VI (Yelp's Disclaimer of Warranties) of the advertising agreement you signed, "While Yelp will try to target ad impressions to particular users, types of users, user locations, user queries, or other user behaviors, Yelp may not be able to achieve a client's specific expectation of accurate ad targeting."
Your advertising program is set to cancel as of May 31, 2015. Currently there is an outstanding balance of $515 for advertising services delivered in April. Because your program is billed in arrears, there will be an additional balance due on June 1 for services delivered in May. As you have chosen to end your advertising program before the end of the 12-month term, an early termination fee of $1,030 will also be assessed per the terms of your contract. Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi Nicholas,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Desert King's Pet Care. It looks like you emailed us the day before you filed this Revdex.com complaint and that Sandy, a member of our Customer Success team, emailed...

you on March 8, 2018 to provide you with screenshots of your billing statements, and to explain that your advertising program is billed monthly in arrears. In your case, we typically billed on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous month. As you may recall from Sandy's email, the $5.55 you were charged on March 2, 2018 was your final prorated bill and was for the advertising services you received on February 1, 2018. You can also view billing statements by logging in to your account at [redacted], clicking on the Billing tab, and then clicking on the date of the statement you'd like to view. With regards to your concern that you did not receive a notification about this charge, please note that advertisers have the option to opt in to receiving billing confirmation emails in the Account Settings section of their account. Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for your response. 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." [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi Ryan,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Shepherd Electric. We've forwarded your message to the appropriate parties. As you may recall, Caitlin reached out to you by voicemail on December 19, 2017 to...

confirm that the charges will stand. While it appears you were in touch with a sales rep who walked you through signing up for Yelp ads, ultimately, your advertising program was a self-serve program, which means that ads are turned on and off the business through the Yelp for Business Owners Account. Our records indicate you signed up for a self-serve Cost Per Click program and put a credit card on file on November 13, 2017. You set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $750. You also signed up for enhanced profile features which cost an additional $75 per month. Please note that you had to input your credit card information yourself during the checkout process. 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 $825, and your programs will continue unless cancelled."You ended your advertising program on December 12, 2017. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms [redacted] you agreed to, we will not be able to waive the outstanding balance of $236.32 for advertising services delivered in December. Because your program is billed in arrears, you should expect to see a final charge on January 1, 2018 for the advertising services you received in December. Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges. Thanks for understanding.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]We first want to be clear that there is no relationship between reviews and anything having to do with Yelp Ads or the Yelp...

Ads sales process. 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] to learn more.With regards to your 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 also important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews.Additionally, you expressed concern that some reviews went from recommended to not currently recommended. 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: [redacted]We are also 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 were electing to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impression. As noted in your contract, you signed up for a cost-per-click auction-based auto-bidding program, which means that Yelp delivered a variable and unguaranteed number of ad impressions, and that you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impression. You were also paying for an enhanced profile and a featured video.With regards to the cost per click, as noted in your contract, you agreed to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click to keep you competitive in the market. While your sales representative may have given you an estimated price per click, it's important to keep in mind that the price will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factors. However, it will always be the lowest price possible to win the click. We also want to address your comment, "They would not cancelled my campaign. They made me pay them for another 850 dollars for another month." It sounds as though you may be referring to our requirement for 30 days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. This policy was noted in the advertising agreement you signed, and since you provided your cancellation request on July 5, 2016, your advertising program was terminated on August 5, 2016.We've forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their consideration, but at this time it appears that advertising services were delivered in accordance with your contract, so we will not be able to offer you a refund. Because your program is billed in arrears, you will see a final charge on September 1, 2016 for advertising services delivered from August 1 - 5, 2016. Thanks for understanding.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

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 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]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi Shaneka,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Great Flavor Restaurant. You claim that you requested to cancel at the end of your initial term in February 2018 when you spoke with Jesica in October 2017....

However, according to our records, it appears Jesica made it clear that if you wanted to cancel your ads at the end of your initial term in February, you would need to send us an email 30 days prior in order to prevent it from auto-renewing. It also appears that we did not receive a cancellation request from you until February 14, 2018. 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 February 14, 2018, your advertising program was initially set to cancel as of March 16, 2018. That said, as you may recall from your conversation with Kelly on February 15, 2018, we have elected to move your cancellation date to February 28, 2018.While we are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising program, advertising services were delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signed, so we will not be able to offer you a refund. Your advertising program has been terminated as of February 28, 2018, and there is currently an outstanding balance of $398.73 for the advertising services you received in February. Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges. Thanks for understanding. Regards,HelenYelp Inc.