Yelp.com

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing back.To clarify, Yelpers are not allowed to post reviews if they didn't have a consumer experience with the business (e.g., buying something, calling to inquire about pricing, etc.). We understand you feel strongly about your review of [redacted], but our Support team found that it fell outside our Content Guidelines.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 some negative reviews. It looks like you may be referring to the review by [redacted] P. as you've previously reported this...

review. We understand that a negative review about an experience you don’t recognize is very frustrating, and have taken a second look at this review. After careful consideration, we reached the same conclusion as before and are unable to remove the review.We encourage reviewers to use their full names and actual location on Yelp, but this isn't an absolute requirement and many people don't. As a result, it may be difficult to match up a reviewer's name to the records maintained by many businesses, and our moderators aren't in a position to arbitrate these situations. As long as a review appears to reflect the reviewer's personal experiences and opinions, we'll generally allow them to stand behind their review.We noticed that you've already used your free business account to post a public comment on this review. Many reviewers respond favorably to business owners willing to engage in constructive conversation, and at the very least, other Yelp users appreciate seeing business owners take a proactive approach to dealing with customer concerns.You also expressed concern with the recommendation software. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static -- reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Complaint: 12650948I am rejecting this response because:
 
"We want to assure you that Yelp treats advertisers and non-advertisers exactly alike with respect to reviews. Advertising only buys ads and never higher ratings, removal of negative reviews or promotion of positive reviews." This is completely false statement I'm horrified that you would even say that.
 
Your copy and paste response is  senseless. Yelp goes out of its way to hide  reviews from my paying customers below fold grayed and deceiving  and influencing visitors by telling them that Yelp does not recommend those reviews but also Yelp will pick and choose what reviews to display above the fold. Yelp response to this malicious deception is that they have no control what reviews are displayed and what reviews are not because of the algorithms , this is completely false statement Yelp does control the reviews they display and they are hurting and bankrupting small businesses because of their unethical business practices. 
 
I asking the Revdex.com to further investigate Yelp's unethical business practices
Sincerely,Tony [redacted]

Hi [redacted],Thank you for your response.We were unable to locate a business page or business account that matched your full name, address, phone number, or email address you provided when you filed this complaint. However, we were able to locate the user account associated with the email address provided, and it appears you reviewed a business called [redacted] in Philadelphia, PA. Please feel free to let us know if that is the business page you are referring to, or to provide us with a link to your business page.You also wrote, "Why not show reviews in date order?" The default order for recommended reviews is Yelp Sort, which attempts to show reviews that help consumers make informed decisions. For example, the first review displayed for a business will be one that reflects the average star rating of a business. The order is determined by recency, user voting, and other review quality factors, which is why an older review may appear before a newer one. Keep in mind when viewing a business a user can sort the reviews in a few other ways, including by date.We also want to address your comment, "I have a feeling if I took one of your 20 plus sales calls a week we get from yelp and signed up to pay for your services our listing would magically change to more positive reviews." To clarify, a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit [redacted] and [redacted] to learn more.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 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 the most reliable and useful content amongst the millions of submitted 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.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/22) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Mattress.
You expressed concern with a negative review of your business. It looks like you are...

referring to the review by [redacted] L. The review has been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelines. You claim that this reviewer was "was paid or encouraged by a competitor to leave a 1 star review," but based on what we see in the review, we can't confirm that the user has a conflict of interest with your business. 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.
We noticed that you've already used your free business account to post a public comment on this review. Many reviewers respond favorably to business owners willing to engage in constructive conversation, and at the very least, other Yelp users appreciate seeing business owners take a proactive approach to dealing with customer concerns.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/28) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
The 1 star review is causing our sales to drop considerably. The lady's husband has now jumped on board and has given us a 2 star review. This couple did not like the business model I use. The husband mentions that they would rather go to a chain or large furniture company. They should not be allowed to bash the way I run my business. They are putting doubt in potential customer's minds. They are working together to get people to not go to us but rather, go to a chain. These people have been influenced and it is not a fair review. I was not rude to them, I offered to do what ever they needed to feel "kosher" about our business. I would understand a 3 Star review, but a 1 star review is not fair in this case and many many many past customer's agree.
Leave the husband's 2 star review (at least his words were kinder) but please put the 1 star review in not recommended. Also, her husband messaged us personally and told us that if we didn't leave things alone that he will be bashing us more on other review sites. He mentioned that he was going to "bash" us and the couple didn't buy a mattress. Their reviews are their opinion, not an experience and it is very negative.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/10/06) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
You have again expressed concern with the review by [redacted] L. However, 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 review.
You also expressed concern with [redacted] S's review of your business. The review has been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelines. As previously noted, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputes. Rather, if a review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, it is our policy to allow the user to stand by his/her review.
Finally, we want to address your comment "please put the 1 star review in not recommended." We want to clarify that the recommendation software is automated, so we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted]Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted]You expressed concern with a review. It looks like you are referring to the review by [redacted] that you recently reported. We've taken a second 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 47 U.S.C. §230. 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 Carafano v. Metrosplash. com. Inc., 339 F. 3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2003); Zeran v. America Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997); Barrett v. Rosenthal, 40 Cal. 4th 33 (Cal. 2006).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.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted].You expressed concern with the recent charges for your advertising program. To clarify, your advertising program is billed in arrears, which...

means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous month. Thus, the $550 you were charged on August 1, 2016 was for advertising services delivered in July 2016, and the $230.66 you were charged on September 1, 2016 was for advertising services delivered from August 1 to August 13, 2016.Additionally, per the terms of your advertising agreement, early termination is subject to a fee of $550. You chose to end your advertising program before the end of the six-month term, and this early termination fee was charged on August 11, 2016.We also want to clarify that we require 30 days notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. As you provided your cancellation request on July 13, 2016, your advertising program was terminated on August 13, 2016.As advertising services were delivered per the terms of your contract, we will not be able to offer you a refund. Thanks for understanding.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.