Yelp.com

Hi Rosen,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Rosen Stoynev - Goosehead InsuranceYou wrote, "The representative explained that I will be charged $per month plus $for every person who calls me through their website." We first want to clarify that you were not charged based on the number of calls you received, but rather you were electing to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impression, and the cost of these ad clicks varied based on competition and relevanceYou were also paying for enhanced profile features, which cost $per month.Our records indicate you spoke with a sales representative and signed up for an advertising program on November 27, You signed up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put payment information on fileYou set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $You also signed up for enhanced profile features which cost an additional $per monthAdditionally, you redeemed a $promotional ad creditOnce the promotion runs out, advertising continues until you stop your ads through your Yelp for Business Owners AccountYour 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 AccountDuring 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 $825, and your programs will continue unless cancelledAdvertisers also have the option to opt in to receiving billing confirmation emails in the Account Settings section of their accountBelow is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied: November - 30, 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $79.74- $of your $credit was used and you paid $0December 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $825.00- $of your remaining $credit was used and you paid $604.74January - 9, 2018- You received ad clicks and and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $315.05- You had remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used towards your November and December ads- You paid $for advertising services delivered in JanuaryYou can view ad click and billing information in the Yelp Ads and Billing tabs of your Yelp for Business Owners Account at [redacted] Please note that your advertising program was billed in arrears, which means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous monthYou expressed concern with the $you were charged on February 1, 2018, but this amount was for the advertising services you received from January - 9, 2018.You ended your advertising program on January 9, As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms [redacted] ) you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refund at this timeThat said, we have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their considerationThanks for understanding.Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/08/26) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Interior Design You expressed concern with some reviews that you reported, stating, "I've asked Yelp to remove them with no response whatsoever." It appears you received a response from Yelp on the same day you filed this complaint with the Revdex.com and, as you may recall, the reviews by [redacted] H, [redacted] H, and [redacted] P have been removed because they fall outside our Content Guidelines For future reference, while reporting content doesn't guarantee that it'll be removed, our team looks at every inquiry and carefully evaluates the content against our guidelinesEach case will be reviewed by our team in the order it was receivedTypically, you will receive a response to your report within a few business days, but from time to time, delays can occurIf you don't believe you've received our response, please be sure to check all email and spam foldersYou may also want to add [redacted] @yelp.com to your contact list Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/08/27) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I was never contacted other than to use some gift points to advertise my businessThe problem took days for any results and that was hours after I contacted the Revdex.com Yelp is more into sensationalism than truthThey hurt innocent people and businesses with their anything goes approach Yelp prefers to use unrelated reviews to a business and rants than actual customer reviewsWhich in my case resulted in bullying and threats and defamation of character Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/09/08) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writing again We apologize for any delays you may have experienced, but we do want to reiterate that cases are typically reviewed by our team in the order they were receivedAccording to our records, it looks like notifications were sent to you via email on August 21, to let you know that the reviews by [redacted] H, [redacted] H, and [redacted] P that you reported had been removedThat said, it's possible that the email notifications may have ended up in your spam folder or in another inbox tab, such as the social tab With regards to your concern about how our content is monitored, we allow users to post reviews and rely on the Yelp community to flag content that they believe is questionableIf a review violates our Content Guidelines (http://www.yelp.com/guidelines) or Terms of Service (http://www.yelp.com/static?country=US&p=tos), then our Support team will remove it Reviews on Yelp are ultimately the responsibility of each reviewerTo the extent that a review appears to reflect the personal opinion and experiences of the reviewer, we allow the reviewer to stand behind his or her reviewThat said, if you feel that something may violate our Content Guidelines or Terms of Service, we encourage you to let us know by reporting the contentWe're happy to look at these on a per case basis Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/10/01) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] Etc You expressed concern that you were unable to reach our account management teamIt looks like an account manager, [redacted] , reached out to you on September 18, the day after you filed this Revdex.com complaint, to discuss your cancellation requestIt also looks like you spoke with [redacted] on September and [redacted] on September Please note that per the terms of your contract, we require days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising programAs it appears the first written cancellation request our account management team received from you was on September 17, 2015, your advertising program is set to cancel as of October 17, Because your advertising program is billed in arrears, you will see one final charge for advertising services delivered in OctoberOnce that has been collected, you will not incur further charges Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2015/10/05) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.) Took longer than it needed to so they could squeeze out an extra payment from me

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

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/10/19) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business pages for The [redacted] Company You expressed concern that your old business locations are appearing on YelpTo reflect a change in location, we will often mark the existing business page on Yelp as "moved" and create a page for the new locationThe "moved" notation is meant to inform customers of this change and to direct them to your business's current locationWhile we don't remove business pages marked as moved in cases like this, businesses marked as moved eventually stop appearing in search results over time Existing reviews will generally stay put, as they describe experiences from before the move and won't necessarily apply to the new locationCustomers who visit your new location are welcome to post their reviews on the new page Additionally, please note that customers can find the new location linked in the banner that appears on the old business pages: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ [redacted] http://www.yelp.com/biz/ [redacted] Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/08/14) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Plumbing LLC 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 treatedBusinesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseWe 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 softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe 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 reviewsYou wrote, "We would like our completely valid positive reviews to be accepted," but please understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, 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 With regards to your comment, "There are also users who are using Yelp in a threatening way to get what they want," it's important to distinguish between customers who have a negative experience and let the business know that they intend to talk about it on Yelp versus those who might go from business to business threatening to fabricate negative reviews for special treatmentYelp's Terms of Service prohibit compensating someone or being compensated to write or remove a reviewYou can read our Terms of Service here: http://www.yelp.com/static?p=tos&country=USObviously, we don't condone such conduct and would want you to share any other information you have about this kind of behavior so that we can take action if we deem it appropriateFor example, if you have correspondence you can forward related to your claims, please send it to [redacted] @yelp.com and be sure to indicate that it is in regards to Revdex.com Case #XXXXXXXX You also expressed concern with [redacted] T's reviewThe review has been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYou claim that this review is fake; however, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputesRather, 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 sending a private message to the reviewer or posting a public comment through your free business accountMany 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 concernsOur 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 / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/08/17) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Yelp states that their recommendation software evaluates reviews base on quality, reliability and user activityWe have reviews that are currently "not recommended"Of those reviews, of them are positive and is negative(The negative one was only placed in "not recommended" after we flagged it as a fake as we have no record of performing service for that customer by name, description of services or the $ amount listed)Of those positive "not recommended" reviews, one customer has reviews on Yelp, another has 2, another has 5, another has 14, and another has There are only reviews where the customer has not posted any other reviews on YelpIf Yelp's software considers user activity, why were the above listed positive reviews "not recommended" all by users with or more reviews, however the two negative reviews that were recommended come from one user who has only posted reviews (of which ours is one) and a user who has only posted review (ours)Yelp also states that approximately 75% of reviews are recommended by the software, however ours is only about 55%100% of negative reviews have been recommended and only 42% of the positive reviews have been recommendedIt does not seem as if the software is doing what you insist it does The other issues under complaint were not resolved either (reviews by fake customers, customers threatening bad reviews if you don't "give them what they want", etc.) We flagged these items and submitted our issues previously to Yelp and even offered invoices to prove our side, however we got the same automated response listed above Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/08/24) */ Hi ***, 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 statementsYelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable onesThis means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cutWe 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 Please note we don't go into detail as to why a review is or is not recommendedWe intentionally make the recommendation software difficult to reverse engineer otherwise, we would be overrun by reviews written by people hoping to game the systemSo 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 one that isn't recommendedBut once again, the system is not static reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information With regards to your comment, "The negative one was only placed in 'not recommended' after we flagged it as a fake," we want to clarify that the action that the Yelp Support team takes is separate from actions taken by Yelp's automated recommendation softwareIf a review is brought to the attention of the Yelp Support team and is found to fall outside our Content Guidelines, the Yelp Support team will take appropriate action, such as removing the reviewHowever, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: the Yelp Support team cannot reverse the software's decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore one that isn't recommendedBut 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 appreciatedWhen it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue You also wrote, "The other issues under complaint were not resolved either (reviews by fake customers, customers threatening bad reviews if you don't 'give them what they want', etc.) We flagged these items and submitted our issues previously to Yelp and even offered invoices to prove our side, however we got the same automated response listed above." As frustrating as it may sound, we don't take the place of a court of law and make evidentiary determinationsAdditionally, we don't take sides on factual disputes, so we can only therefore reiterate what we previously communicated to you: if a review appears to reflect the user's personal experience and opinions, we allow the user to stand behind their reviewThanks for understanding Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Final Consumer Response / [redacted] (4200, 11, 2015/08/27) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) No resolution was offered

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/09/10) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Inc 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 treatedBusinesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseFurthermore, 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 happenWe 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 softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measuredEven 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) We only look at recommended reviews in calculating a business's overall star rating, but it's important to note that the recommendation software applies the same analysis to everyone and that it affects both positive and negative reviewsYou asked that we recommend all of the reviews, but please understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, 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 writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] .We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaignTo 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 guaranteedWhen advertising with a Cost Per Click program, you were electing to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impressionYou are also paying for an enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow.We also want to address your comment, "even though they said they charge only base on number of clicks, however, no matter what, it will always be maxed out." Your advertising package included a Cost-Per-Click (CPC) program with an ad click budget of $275, which means you paid for ad clicks you received and that you agreed to pay up to $a month for those ad clicksIf you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would be charged for the ad clicks you receivedHowever, 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 toWe aim to maximize the number of clicks you get for your budget over the course of the month, and advertisers should plan to have 100% of their budget fulfilled.Additionally, please note that the price per click is variableAs noted in your contract, you signed up for 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 marketIt's important to keep in mind that the price will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factorsHowever, it will always be the lowest price possible to win the click.For a more information about how Yelp's CPC ads work, please visit: [redacted] You also wrote, "Income project thing is also a big sweet dream scamThey limited the min of number you need to input, therefore you will always have positive and greater number than what you pay for every month, in face, there is nothing like that at all." It sounds like you may be referring to the Revenue Estimate featureThe Revenue Estimate is an estimate of the amount of gross revenue resulting from Yelp user activities, based on Customer Leads, the average customer spend, visits per customer, and lead conversion rateCustomer Leads include phone calls, website clicks, map views and directions, and other indicators that potential customers are engaging with your business on YelpWe've provided a range of typical values from other businesses in your category for the average customer spend, visits per customer, and lead conversion rate fields to get you started, but these fields are customizable so you can change the information to reflect your businessThat said, it's important to keep in mind that this is an estimate.Please note that per the terms of the advertising agreement you signed, we require days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising programIt looks like you provided your cancellation request on January 17, and your advertising program is set to cancel as of February 17, 2017.As advertising services are being delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signed, we will not be able to offer you a refundHowever, we have forwarded your concerns to the appropriate parties, and are waiving the early termination fee of $Thanks for understanding.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/08/24) */ Hi Dr [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] , MD You expressed concern that you "have been trying to reach a live person at YELP customer service for a long time." Please note that our Yelp Support team doesn't offer phone based support; however, they do provide email based support through our Support Center (http://www.yelp-support.com)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 assistanceFor these specific situations, there are articles in the Support Center that include submission forms to inquire about the issue With regards to your question about resetting your password, it looks like your business page has not yet been claimedYou can get started by clicking on the "Claim this business" button or the "Work here? Claim this business" link on the business page, which will take you to a page where you can create a business owner account Please visit our Support Center for more info: http://www.yelp-support.com/article/How-do-I-claim-my-business-page?l=en_US Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Complaint: [redacted] I am rejecting this response because: Dear [redacted] Thank you for replying again As you said, “We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue” How come none of the good reviews is not able to make the cut from over months? We have updated this business since Oct the day we bought it, but Yelp software is not digesting these updatesBy not showing the complete truth, it is showing a wrong picture to public and deceiving public And we see this kind of trouble with Yelp only, and not with any other review sites like [redacted] , [redacted] , [redacted] , etcSo only Yelp software needs to be fixed/ improved And if Yelp is hoping to be able to improve on this issue, meanwhile it’s driving me out of business by hurting my sales Please give a timeline, by when Yelp software will be fixed and at least any of the good review will be displayed? Or please advise me how Yelp compensates the loss I bear everyday because of Yelp’s unimproved/outdated software? Best Regards [redacted] ***

Hi **,Thank you for writing again.You asked for your business to be removed from Yelp; however, we don't remove business informationWhile some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the lawMore importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi [redacted] ,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] As you noted, you redeemed a $promotional ad creditTo redeem the $credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put a credit card on fileYou set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $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 AccountIf you only wanted to use your $promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was usedDuring 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.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.Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied:March 2017- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $297.75- $of your $credit was used and you paid $0April 2017- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $300- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in March- The costs did not exceed your selected $monthly budget- You paid $for advertising services delivered in April.May 1, 2017- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $12.60- You had remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used in March and April- You are responsible for $for advertising services delivered in MayYou 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.Your advertising program was terminated on May 1, As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to, at this time we will not be able to waive the remaining balance of $for advertising services delivered in MayOnce this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges.That said, we do want to address your comment, "when discussing this with them, I told them I was not sure about that because I don't want to forget and than get billed for other months, that's when the rep stopped me and said, 'No, once the $runs out, we will contact you to see how you liked it and if I would want to keep going.'" We were unable to locate a note of such a conversation in our records, but if you have any additional information, such as the name of the individual whom you spoke with, the phone number you called from, their phone number, and the date and time of your conversation with them, please let us know so that we can look into this further.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Hi Jennifer,Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concernsOur records indicate you redeemed a $promotional ad credit on January 19, To redeem the $credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put payment information on fileOnce the promotion runs out, advertising continues until you stop your ads through your Yelp for Business Owners AccountYou initially set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $It looks like you increased your Cost Per Click monthly budget to $on February 8, 2018, and then terminated your ad campaign on February 21, 2018.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 AccountIf you only wanted to use your $promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was usedDuring 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 and edited your advertising program, we sent you automated emails 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 the maximum specified in the email, until cancelledAdvertisers also have the option to opt in to receiving billing confirmation emails in the Account Settings section of their accountBelow is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied: January 19, – January 31, 2018- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $117.72- $of your $credit was used and you paid $0February 1, – February 21, 2018- You received ad clicks which cost a total of $409.83- You had $remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used towards your January ads- $of your remaining $credit was used and you paid $227.55You can view ad click and billing information in the Yelp Ads and Billing tabs of your Yelp for Business Owners Account at https://biz.yelp.com/.You ended your advertising program on February 21, As you received the full $value of the promotion, and as advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms [redacted] you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refundThanks for understanding.Regards,HelenYelp Inc

Hi [redacted] Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] .We understand that you may be frustrated with our decision to remove some of your previous public comments to [redacted] review of your business, but our position remains the same, as it appears you posted the street and partial address where this individual residesIt looks like you have since posted another public comment to this review, and that it has been left up.With regards to your comment, "she told me, 'If you advertise with us, the negative reviews would go away!'", 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 treatedBusinesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseWe understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to [redacted] ***If you believe, however, that an individual has provided you with different information, we would like to investigate furtherTo 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.Regards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/10/20) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaignTo 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 guaranteedWhen advertising with a cost-per-click program you are electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impressionYou are also paying for additional features including competitor ad removal, a photo slideshow, a featured video, and call tracking It looks like you spoke with an account manager, Stephanie, on October As you may recall, your advertising program is set to cancel on October 31, and the early termination fee has been waivedBecause your advertising program is billed in arrears, please note that you will see a final charge on November for advertising services delivered in OctoberThanks for understanding Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (2000, 7, 2015/10/22) */ (The consumer indicated he/she ACCEPTED the response from the business.)

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/12/21) */ Hi ***, Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] You expressed concern with the recommendation softwareAs you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable contentThe 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 reviewsYou wrote, "We want the opportunity to prove that reviews are being made by our legitimate clients, and we want those reviews to show up on our page," but please understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, 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 asked for your business to be removed from Yelp, but we actually don't remove business listing informationWhile some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the lawMore importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/12/30) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) I appreciate you taking the time to respond, however, we need some sort of action to be taken Your software is not applying the same removal criteria to each reviewThe rationale being, we have negative reviews currently showing up on our Yelp business page with no profile picture, only a few negative reviews and zero friendsWhile neutral and positive reviews from clients with professional business pictures and multiple reviews, are not showing upAny positive or neutral reviews we have received have been removed by YelpThis is a representation of our businessIt is especially frustrating that several of our clients' reviews that have been removed contain detailed information, including the name of our employees with whom our clients worked with; Yet, these reviews are still not being recommendedFurthermore, in one negative review, a client claims she is in the process of suing us, which is absolutely not true You claim the software is not static, and that reviews can shift as the software makes its decisions, however, the same four reviews have been shown on our page for weeks, while our positive reviews remain in the "not recommended" sectionApparently this is out of your control, which is bizarre since it is your software and your business It is disconcerting that we signed up for your services, but are now unable to terminate them in a way that removes our page from your websiteIf we cannot be fairly treated, then we want our business account removed from your website entirely, this includes any reviews posted in association with our business on our business pageOur business is being unfairly represented, whether or not recommended reviews are in your control, is unrelated to your ability to delete our account and all associated content displayed on our pageWe understand that users have a right to their opinions, and that Yelp claims no direct responsibility for these reviews, but we also have a right to pursue the removal of defamatory representations of our business from your website Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2016/01/11) */ Hi ***, Thank you for your response You wrote, "Your software is not applying the same removal criteria to each review." Please note that while it may be tough to decipher how the recommendation software works, the rules are actually the same for every business and every reviewWe don't go into detail as to why a review is or is not recommended, and 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 Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable onesThis means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cutWe 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 recommendedBut 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 appreciatedWhen it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviewsIt's no easy task, and there is always room for improvementWe hope to be able to continually improve on this issue You also expressed concern with a negative review of your businessWe assume you are referring to the review by Trudy YThe review has been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelinesYou wrote, "a client claims she is in the process of suing us, which is absolutely not true"; however, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputesRather, if a review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, it is our policy to allow the user to stand by his or her review Finally, you have again asked that your business listing be removed, but as previously stated, we don't remove business listing informationYelp is allowed to publish business names and publicly available information about businesses under the well-established fair use doctrine, as well as First Amendment principlesGenerally 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 vNew America Pub., Inc., F.2d 302, (9th Cir1992) Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/06/25) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe appreciate you bringing your concerns regarding your advertising programs for [redacted] and Perfume Outlet to our attention, and we'll be sure to forward your note along to the appropriate parties We first want to address your comment that, "Yelp called us and told us how we have a negative review on their site in regards to one of our locations,they can help if we started paid advertising." While many of our advertising packages include account support, and our account managers may have explained how you can respond to critical reviews using your Business Account, 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 treatedBusinesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertiseWe 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 moreFurthermore, as noted on the first page of each advertising agreement you signed: "Please note that businesses cannot pay to remove, reorder, or otherwise impact reviewsIn fact, Yelp Ads have nothing to do with reviewsAnd if you decide not to enroll in a Yelp Ad Program, that won't affect your reviews, either." You also wrote, "We evan asked them many times to fix one of our business names in ther advertising system as they showed an ad for [redacted] and cosmetics' and our business was name ' [redacted] Fragrances and cosmetics.'" According to our records, the name on this business page was updated from [redacted] Fragrance & Cosmetics to [redacted] in early April 2014: http://www.yelp.com/biz/ [redacted] Your advertising programs have been terminated as of August 31, With regards to your comment that Yelp "didnt provide you with any type of service," when advertising with an impressions-based program, you are paying for the delivery of a certain number of targeted ad impressionsIn your case, ad impressions per location were delivered each monthYou were also paying for additional features such as competitor ad removal, photo slideshow, and videoAs advertising services have been delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to waive the remaining outstanding balanceThanks for understanding Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/06/30) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) That was not what we were toldWhen we were called by your reps they promised things that are clearly not what your stating now.also if you also agree that you have the wrong business name and changed it on April then from April to august is months of serviceWhat happened to those two ladies that called us and fed all those liesThe last o heard they left or Quit! I'd appreciate it if you can hear the phone calls and emails that were sent to us regarding the services that was promised because you guys clearly tricked us into this "service" that we did not get If you are such a great company then I belive to see us in such a dissatisfied way would make you to belive it's not right to get paid from this small business when they were told incorrectly what was going to be provided Nothing happened when this ad service was placed, we still havelittle to no reviews and the few we had you guys took outSo it would be very grateful for your company not to pursue us for this really bad experience Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/07/16) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for your response We want to reiterate that there is no relationship between reviews and anything having to do with Yelp AdsWith respect to reviews, paying businesses have absolutely no advantage, and this information was included on the three advertising agreements you signed With regards to your comment, "Nothing happened when this ad service was placed," as we previously noted, ad impressions per location were delivered each month in accordance with your contractsYou also received additional features such as competitor ad removal, photo slideshow, and video You also wrote, "we still havelittle to no reviews and the few we had you guys took out." As you may have read, we use automated software developed by our engineers with the goal of showcasing more reliable contentThe recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measuredEven 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 reviewsPlease also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a reviewHowever, 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 writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding the Yelp Deals voucher you purchased for [redacted] ***.According to our records, it looks like you were refunded $for this purchase on December 15, It appears my colleague [redacted] emailed you on December 15, to let you know we were refunding your credit card: ----------DEC 15, | 10:07AM PSTHi [redacted] ,Thanks for contacting Yelp!We're sorry to hear that you weren't able to use the Yelp Deals voucher you purchased for [redacted] ***We're canceling the voucher and refunding your credit card $Please allow 5-business days for this to be reflected on your statement.We hope you get a chance to use a Yelp Deal soon! Regards, [redacted] Yelp SupportYelp Official Blog | http://officialblog.yelp.comYelp Support Center | http://www.yelp-support.comFor your reference this is Case #: [redacted] ----------It also looks like my colleague [redacted] emailed you on May 27, (the same day you filed this complaint) to confirm you were refunded:----------MAY 27, | 10:21AM PDTHi,Thanks for using Yelp DealsTo confirm, you were refunded for this purchase on 12/15/(for $155.00)This refund went towards your VISA [redacted] accountIf you have any other questions, I'd be happy to assistRegards,***Yelp SupportYelp Official Blog | http://officialblog.yelp.comYelp Support Center | http://www.yelp-support.comFor your reference this is Case #: [redacted] ----------If you have further questions or concerns regarding this refund, please contact out Support team at ***@yelp.com, and they'd be glad to assistRegards,***Yelp Inc

Initial Business Response / [redacted] (1000, 5, 2015/06/25) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writingWe are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted] Beauty Salon We appreciate your feedback regarding your account managers and have forwarded your message to the appropriate partiesIt appears that in February you and an account manager, **, discussed your options if you wanted to cancel your advertising programPlease note that we require notification on or before the 15th of the month in order to to terminate advertising at the end of that monthIf you provide notice after the 15th of the month, then the advertising program will terminate at the end of the following monthIt looks like you confirmed in late February that you wanted to cancel your ads, so your ads should have been cancelled at the end of MarchHowever, as you noted, your ads actually ran through April, so we will be writing off $of the outstanding balance With regards to your concerns about the early termination fee, please note that early termination is subject to a fee per the terms of your contractIn your case, the early termination fee is $1,Thanks for understanding Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc Initial Consumer Rebuttal / [redacted] (3000, 7, 2015/07/13) */ (The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.) Thank you for the response, but it is woefully inadequateI reviewed my emails with [redacted] and I was clear that I wanted to cancel my advertisingI do not agree to paying an extra $for March when I asked for cancellation and explained that my business is in distress to multiple people at Yelp In addition, it appears the early termination fee of $is something I cannot pay at this time due to distressI may be able to make partial payment, but was told that if my business shuts down then the fee is waivedIt is very likely that in the next month or two I will need to shut my business down, as it looks unlikely that I can renew my leaseAt this time, I can agree to pay $to resolve this now, but am unable to pay more Final Business Response / [redacted] (4000, 9, 2015/07/26) */ Hi [redacted] , Thank you for writing back As noted previously, in order to cancel ads, a request must be received in writing before the 15th of the month in order for the cancellation request to take effect at the end of that same monthIf a request is received after the 15th, the cancellation will take effect at the end of the following monthWe do not appear to have a record of a written request to cancel ads prior to February 15, which is why your ads continued through March(Due to an error, it appears ads also continued through April, but as noted in our previous response, we have waived the amount due for ads delivered in April.) Regarding your comment that you "explained that my business is in distress to multiple people at Yelp," it appears your account manager addressed your concerns regarding the early termination fee (ETF) in an email back on February 24: " [redacted] , thanks for the response, as I explained, I can waive the ETF once you are out of business at the end of April, If I cancel you now your still would be charged for the month of March and you would be charged for the month of MarchI can't do both waive your monthly and your ETFPlease reach out to if you need any further clarification." At this time, we note that your business still appears to be in operation, and we certainly wish you the best Regards, [redacted] Yelp Inc

Hi ***,Thank you for your feedback.We want to reiterate that asking for reviews is not something we encourageOur recommendation software attempts to identify reviews prompted by the business, so don’t be surprised if it fails to recommend the reviews you’ve asked your customers to write.We would much rather hear from Yelp users who are inspired to talk about their experiences without a business owner’s encouragementMore information can be found here: [redacted] Regards,***Yelp Inc