Yelp.com

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 your business page for The [redacted]
You expressed concern that a page was created for your business. 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, who are helpful enough to correct the info we have, or let us know about a new spot that just opened down the street.
You asked for your business 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.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/11/17) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
It is not the public listing of my business that I disagree with. It is their review system. I don't want to participate in their allowing of anonymous reviews that can harm businesses. They can "believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses" all they want. I don't share the belief that their method of "sharing" is helpful, and it is actually harmful to the businesses they claim to be helping. Businesses are forced to publicly address "feedback" and become obsessed with dealing with the negative effect on their business from one negative-and often vicious- review. Their energy is spent not on keeping their business alive and on improving their business, but on managing yelp reviews. That is why I did not want to be listed on their site. I did not create this situation and yet I am having to deal with it. I am all for feedback about my business that is given respectfully and privately so that I can address their individual concern. This site makes "feedback" a dramatic spectacle that is not about helping businesses, but driving traffic towards yelp. I don't share yelp's "beliefs" and don't want to be forced to have to deal with the effects of their "beliefs" on my business.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/11/25) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
Yelp publishes business information so that consumers can share their experiences about local businesses, and because the information is typically a matter of public record and public concern. While we understand that some business owners might prefer to keep a low profile, it's important (and a legal right) for consumers to be able to find and share helpful information about great local businesses.
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 a review. It look like you are referring to the review by [redacted]., as you've previously reported this review. We've taken...

another look at [redacted].'s review, and since it appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, we are leaving it intact.While we share your concern about the possibility of a defamatory review on our site, we don't adjudicate disputes between businesses and their reviewers. Congress acknowledged this predicament by passing legislation that provides statutory immunity to online service providers such as Yelp for the content of third-party posts. See [redacted]. The case law is clear on this point in support of online service providers because of concerns that they would otherwise be forced to remove third party posts every time someone raised issue with their contents. See [redacted]That said, we will revisit your request if you provide to us a final judicial determination that the contents of a review are defamatory and will, at our discretion, take appropriate action with respect to the review and the user responsible for the review.We encourage you to contact the reviewer directly using the private messaging function on our site in order to constructively address your concerns. We do not recommend that you engage in anything other than a well-meaning dialog with the reviewer in order to sort out any misunderstandings.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.

Hi [redacted]Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].We wanted to let you know that the business pages for [redacted] have been merged: [redacted]-5. As it appears the...

address you provided is a mailing address, we've removed the street address from the business page.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: This is not an acceptable answer from Yelp! Yelp is very unprofessional and should be shut down. My company has 21 great five star reviews that Yelp hid, but yet they post 3 negative reviews. What is there point? Yelp should not be able to have my business on there listing if I oppose and I oppose. I would Yelp to take my business information off of there website.
 
Yelp does not stand behind there guidelines [redacted] is not even a real company.Sincerely,Paige Dyer

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
They are strong arming me into paying a service that I feel I did not even benefit from in the least. Not only have will I never advertise through this company ever I have had several of my clients stop and go to another service because of unethical, unsympathetic, and money hungry this company is. I know as a business owner I would NEVER charge someone who is unhappy as I am. I am not going to pay for a service I did not benefit from nor had the knowledge of it running in the background charging up a bill. Good companies like google or Facebook don't move forward with a debt being owned at the end of the month. but this company will.. for months! And since I wasn't receiving any customers from their "advertising" I had no idea this was even running. this company should like most and in my case like google once the promo is up it stops. this company instead uses this as a way to swindle your money. I feel 100% wronged by this company and its practices!! Sincerely,Jared[redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thanks for sending us your browser information.Could you please contact our Support team directly by submitting a bug report using the following form? [redacted]Please be sure to include a screenshot of the error you're seeing and your custom browser information link ([redacted]) along with your report. Our Support team will look into the issue and hopefully it will be resolved soon.We also want to address your comment, "extreme measures such as filing a Revdex.com complaint [...] should not be a necessary step in obtaining customer assistance." For future reference, while our Yelp Support team doesn't offer phone based support, they do provide email based support through our Support Center ([redacted]). We’ve tried to include detailed answers to the questions we most frequently receive in our Support Center, but there may be situations you encounter where you’ll need to contact our Support team for assistance. For these specific situations, there are articles in the Support Center that include submission forms to inquire about the 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].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]You also expressed concern with a negative review. It looks like you are referring to the review by [redacted] as you previously reported this review. We understand that a negative review about an experience you don't recognize is very frustrating. However, based on what we can see in the review and the information at hand, we weren’t able to confirm that this review is on the wrong business page.In some situations business owners find it appropriate to reach out to a reviewer to resolve matters constructively. If you have not already communicated with the reviewer, you might consider leaving a private message or public comment.With a Business Account, you can privately message users or publicly comment on the reviews. You can also post information about your business, upload photos to your listing, and more. You can get started on claiming your business page by clicking the "Claim this business" button, or the "Work here? Claim this business" link on the business page. Please visit our Support Center for more information: [redacted]For help on responding to reviews, please visit: [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:While I did sign up for a 3 month ad program the ONLY reason I signed up was because the salesperson told me I would be placed on the 1st or 2nd page. You've not commented on the possibility that an overzealous salesperson told me something Yelp couldn't deliver.  Isn't that possible?  I'm not making this up. I started to complain immediately when my ad started to run. I was on the phone many times w/ your acct. exec. complaining that I was mislead and lied to. I was angry than I didn't get what I paid for. I understand how the ads run but I didn't see my ad any closer than page 9 - most often page 13 and this was with your acct. people on the phone with me.  They could see where I was too. Although this is not the issue, I didn't get ONE phone call from my ad listing with Yelp. For that reason, I feel this contract is invalid. One other thing, I don't know the people who wrote my only review.  How does that happen? Do you write bogus reviews?
Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/08) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].
You noted that you "called XXX-XXX-XXXX @ 5:53pm on Monday, June 22, 2015 to speak with the Yelp...

Advertising dept." Could you please provide us with the phone number you called from, so that we can investigate further?
We also want to clarify that suggesting that your customers review your business on Yelp is not something we encourage. For one thing, most businesses tend to encourage 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: https://biz.yelp.com/support/review_solicitation

As you may have read, Yelp uses automated software with the goal of showcasing helpful and reliable reviews from the Yelp community. As a result, business owners shouldn't be surprised if our software fails to recommend the reviews that they've encouraged their customers to write.
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. There are a number of reasons why a review might not be recommended. For example, the review may have been posted by a less established user, or it may seem like an unhelpful rant or rave. Others may be real reviews from real customers who we just don't know much about and therefore can't recommend at this time.
You wrote, "I want Yelp to restore those four written reviews back to my business account," 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. For example, the software might pick up new information as time goes by that makes a reviewer seem more trustworthy, or the information we have about a reviewer can grow stale.
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, 2015/07/10) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
I do not accept this response, because it once again insinuates that I SUGGESTED to my clients to write a review on my Yelp account. As I stated, THE CLIENT(s) CAME TO ME ASKING IF I HAVE A YELP ACCOUNT AND THAT THEY WANTED TO WRITE A REVIEW!! I simply answered their question by saying "Yes, I have a yelp account. Find me, and thank you for your interest to write a review". And to be very honest, I can't help if Every single client I work on is pleased with my services. So quite frankly, I wouldn't expect anything Less than a positive "rant or rave" about me and my services, simply because I am Good at what I DO! At this point, I'm canceling my Yelp account today, and will no longer need the lack of service from Yelp nor will I refer anyone else to Yelp. And as for the "response" above from the Yelp team. It seems to me that they are hiding behind the "system" vs. actually answering my questions or doing as I ask, I suggest that you fire the "system" you currently have and hire a new one, because he/she is not doing their job if they felt that the four reviews written out there were not recommended. Obviously, SOMEONE Programmed the system to operate this way, and that person needs a new profession, because evaluating reviews and its authenticity is not their strength. Absolutely absurd, and ridiculous to think that I would accept that its the "system" as a response. Is the system named "[redacted]"? Because I almost feel like the person that typed the response back was written by the "system" too because it was a complete waste of time to read. Very dry and lacked any empathy, just like my phone call experience did on June 22nd. My number that I called from is [redacted]. Interesting that I have to provide that, because I would think your "system" would be able to pull that information, but to my surprise it actually has its limitations on its ability.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/07/15) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response. We'll be sure to forward your note along to the appropriate parties.
You have again expressed concern with 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 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.
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.
Final Consumer Response /* (2000, 11, 2015/07/20) */
(The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)
No response needed at this point. I no longer consider myself to be a Yelp Business User. Thank you. [redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for your response. We appreciate your feedback, and would like to provide some additional clarification about your advertising program.You wrote, "Yelp intentionally maxed out my ad campaign ever month to $325, an amount $200 beyond the original amount of $125 I signed up for, by charging exorbitant amounts per click without providing any ROI results." While you may have discussed another advertising program that included $125 fixed monthly costs with your sales representative, ultimately the advertising agreement you agreed to was for $50 monthly fixed costs (which went towards your enhanced profile and featured video) plus up to $275 monthly variable costs (which went to your Cost Per Click ads). We have attached a copy of your advertising agreement for your records.With regards to your concern with the variable price per click, as noted in your contract, your advertising package included a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) auction-based auto-bidding program, which means that you agreed to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click to keep you competitive in the market. 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. Additionally, please note that we aim to maximize the number of clicks you get for your budget over the course of the month.You also expressed concern that you saw "no increase in traffic" to your business. While it is our hope that advertisers will find success via the Yelp advertising program, we want to reiterate that results are not guaranteed.Additionally, we want to address your comment, "Yelp repeatedly attempted to reject my request to cancel my campaign by calling my business daily to stagnant and prolong the process while continuing to charge me for advertising." As stated in your advertising agreement, we require 30 days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. According to our records, our account management team received a cancellation request from you in October, and your advertising program was terminated on October 31, 2016 due to non-payment. If you submitted a written cancellation request prior to October, could you please forward us the email (including headers) [redacted], so that we can look into this further? Please be sure to indicate that it is in regards to Revdex.com [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi Tony,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for The Nail Bar. We first 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. 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]Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2016/01/19) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns.
On our end, it looks like [redacted] sent you emails on December 30, 2015 and on January 4, 6, and 14, 2016, but perhaps some of his messages...

ended up in your spam folder. According to our records, your voucher for BellaTude Hair Salon was refunded on 1/4/2016 to your AMEX. We suggest looking back through your records to verify that the money was refunded to your account.
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]According to our records, you redeemed a $300 promotional ad credit. To redeem the $300 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 $250, and also signed up for our enhanced profile features, which cost $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 only be turned off by the business 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. 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."Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied:January 28 - 31, 2016- You received 10 ad clicks which cost a total of $28.81- Your prorated Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $8.65- $37.46 of your $300 credit was used and you paid $0February 2016- You received 84 ad clicks which cost a total of $250- Your Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $75- You had $262.54 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in January- You paid $62.46 for advertising services delivered in February.March 2016- You received 23 ad clicks which cost a total of $250- Your Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $75- You had 0 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used in January and February- You paid $325 for advertising services delivered in March.April 1 - 30, 2016- You received 21 ad clicks which cost a total of $250- Your prorated Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $74.86- You paid $324.86 for advertising services delivered in AprilYou 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.You ended your advertising program on April 30, 2016. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refund. 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 business page for [redacted] [redacted].To clarify, our cost-per-click advertising programs are auction-based auto-bidding programs, which means that advertisers agree to allow Yelp to set the...

bid price per click to keep them competitive in the market. In other words, the price per click will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factors, but it will always be the lowest price possible to win the click.We appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention, and we've forwarded your message to the appropriate parties. As you may recall, a manager, [redacted], reached out to you to let you know that we are refunding you $45.18, which is the difference between the amount you were charged and the cost of your pro-rated enhanced profile features and your 92 ad clicks if the price per click had been $1.69.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 advertising program for [redacted].We appreciate your feedback, and have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties. It appears you were in touch with an account manager,...

[redacted], the same day and the day after you filed this Revdex.com complaint. As you may recall, your advertising program was terminated on July 31, 2016 due to the chargeback dispute you filed against Yelp. It appears that you have since agreed to drop this chargeback dispute and have signed up for an enhanced profile, which costs $70 per month. Additionally, we have refunded you the early termination fee of $600 that was charged on August 4, 2016. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to [redacted].Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We appreciate your feedback regarding your advertising program for [redacted] - [redacted].As you noted, you redeemed a $300 promotional ad credit. To redeem the $300 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, and also signed up for our enhanced profile features, which cost $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 only be turned off by the business 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. 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."Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied:July 19 - 31, 2016- You received 12 ad clicks which cost a total of $123.31- Your prorated Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $30.83- $154.14 of your $300 credit was used and you paid $0August 2016- You received 30 ad clicks which cost a total of $300- Your Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $75- You had $145.86 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in July- You paid $229.14 for advertising services delivered in AugustSeptember 1 - 7, 2016- You received 3 ad clicks which cost a total of $32.27- Your prorated Call To Action, Slideshow, and Remove Competitor Ads features cost $16.20- You had 0 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used in July and August- $48.47 worth of advertising services were delivered in SeptemberYou 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.You ended your advertising program on September 7, 2016. It looks like a manager, [redacted], reached out to you by voicemail on September 12, 2016. It appears she informed you that we would not be able to refund your for your self-service ad program, but that the upcoming $48.47 charge for advertising services delivered from September 1 - 7, 2016 would be written off. We've also forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their consideration. Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi Daniel,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Cling & Peck. We appreciate your feedback, and have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate parties.  As you may recall, a Customer Success Manager,...

Bethany, reached out to you yesterday, February 14, 2018 to let you know that we are refunding you $225.12. Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing back.We have attached a copy of the electronically signed advertising agreement for your records. It appears the agreement was signed by your colleague [redacted].Advertising services were delivered in accor[redacted]ce with this advertising agreement signed by [redacted] on behalf of your business, so we will not be able to offer you a refund. Thanks for understanding.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: it does not address the original complaint about the $112.91. I was unaware that I was being charged, and I received no service for my payment. All I want is for my original charge to be reversed. Now that I understand how Yelp Ads work, I will use them in the future, but I should not be charged for something I didn't use. Yelp designed a system to trap it's customers to force them to blindly pay. I did not willing pay $112.91. I had previously checked and saw a $0 charge, and was very surprised by the unauthorized $112.91. Yelp didn't give me an opportunity to turn off the Yelp Ads before I was charged. The 4 people I have spoken with at Yelp have all been very uncompassionate in their response to me and basically say it is all my fault and I should have known better. I should have known better than to fall for a scam about free advertising. Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/28) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Bakery, Inc.
You expressed concern with our advertising feature that allows businesses to display...

ads for their business on their competitors' 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 a business's Yelp page.
With regards to your comment, "Yelp is altering my competitors reviews because he is an advertiser," 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.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. 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
Finally, you expressed concern with some negative reviews, stating, "they were obviously fake or, in one case, contained only factual information that was misleading and false." Please note that Yelp does not take sides on factual disputes, and generally speaking, 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. That said, if you have already received an email from us about our decision to remove or leave up content you reported and would like us to take a second look, you can submit a new inquiry by providing the case number (this is provided in our previously emailed response to the content you flagged) here: http://www.yelp-support.com/article/Can-I-request-a-second-evaluation-of-somethi...⇄ /> Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/29) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The response from Yelp does not address my specific concerns. The response is a boilerplate response of information they post on their web site. I provided three specific remedies and would have liked to have heard that they'll consider any one of them or indicate that they've had other concerns of this nature and are working to address them. They did not.
In the days since this complaint was filed I had another review that was negative and it was followed up by a sales call from Yelp. I need to underscore the fact that these calls are starkly different than the multitude of solicitations I receive each week for advertising. Other companies sell their ability to build my brand and promote my products. This Yelp representative was once again selling PROTECTION OF MY YELP REPUTATION. This is so upsetting to me.
I would like Yelp to allow a 3rd party to independently verify any one of my claims. If they have nothing to hide then they have nothing to fear. To put this in perspective, my business must submit to periodic inspections from the Department of Agriculture to ensure safe food handling practices. We have nothing to fear when an inspector arrives because we strive daily to ensure that we operate responsibly. Yelp appears to be receiving concerns from a broad base of businesses - not just mine. If they are unwilling to address these issues then they must be hiding something.
The difficult part of this problem for me is that this is not a typical consumer issue. I do not have the option to do business with Yelp. My business is forced to have a relationship with Yelp whether I opt to purchase advertising or any other service from them or whether I do not. I can't choose to place management of my online reputation with one provider or another, therefore I have no power.
Here is my middle ground:
I cannot except a boilerplate response from Yelp. I need at least one specific action from them specifically for me. They can choose which of the three they'd like to address, or suggest something else, but it is not fair or appropriate to ask me to submit requests into their automated systems again.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/10/08) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your feedback.
You wrote, "In the days since this complaint was filed I had another review that was negative and it was followed up by a sales call from Yelp." We want to reiterate that there is no relationship between reviews and anything having to do with Yelp Ads or the Yelp Ads sales process. There's no amount of money a business can pay to manipulate their reviews or rating and Yelp doesn't skew things in favor of advertisers or against businesses that don't.
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 software picks up new information.
We recognize that there have been news stories 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.
We also want to address your comment, "it is not fair or appropriate to ask me to submit requests into their automated systems again." We want to clarify that we have a dedicated team of people who evaluate the photos, reviews, and other posts that users bring to our attention. Actions taken by this team of people (the Yelp Support team) are separate from actions taken by Yelp's automated recommendation software. If you report a review by clicking on the flag icon next to it, then the content will be evaluated against our Content Guidelines and Terms of Service by someone on the Yelp Support team. Similarly, if you request a second evaluation here http://www.yelp-support.com/article/Can-I-request-a-second-evaluation-of-somethi...⇄ of content you have already reported, someone else on our Yelp Support team will take a second look.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.