#Yelp stock drops! Law firm offers to help businesses get money back. Judge describes #YELP as mafia-like. Great article and is the beginning of hope for small businesses. http://bit.ly/13IYkd4

I just bought a small business and the previous owner told me to contact yelp to earse the old reviews and start my business fresh. I contact yelp, they did update my business info but the reviews are still there, all negative ones. Very soon, I got phone call from their sale rep that they want to sale me ads. The sales rep girl is like the weeds in the yard!So hard to get rid of! After i said no thank u for about 12 times! Some of my customer told me they wrote a positive review for me and somehow never show up on yelp. It did show up in google! I tried to contact yelp with no response. What yelp is doing is very unethical! They filtered positive reviews and leave us no choice untill we pay them! It is like holding a gun to rob people! Unless they pay, or else they are not going to have a good day everyday, reguardless most us are struggling business! I suggest we pitch money together and hire a group of good atterney to suit Yelp! At least make done national head line to let people know yelp review is not worth to trust!

Yelp filters out 5 star legitimate reviews, while allowing 1 star reviews using the word "SHIT" in the review ?????????????
This to the only custom framer in Newport Beach to be honored by Decor Magazine as one of the top 100 framing shops in the nation! ???????

http://www.fastframenewportbeach.com

Someone came to my office and after their visits, gave my business a one-star review. If you read the reviews written by this person, you can tell by the locations, that this person travels far and wide to write reviews for YELP. In the New York Times article, YELP defends using their "YELP Elite Squad" to catch businesses taking advantage of the so-called algorhithm by catching businesses that pay clients to write favorable reviews. I suspect that YELP's true motive is to use the "Elite Squad" as an opportunity to, in their sick minds, publish bad reviews, by YELP Elite, about companies that refuse to pay the shake-down money, or good reviews about companies that are paying to be shaken down. YELP thinks that to have a YELP Elite review, whether good or bad, legitimizes the review. In many cases, a YELP Elite review needs to be further vetted by reading the reviewer's profile, which can be quite revealing. YELP Elite, WATCH OUT!

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/10/18/technology/yelp-tries-to-halt-deceptive-reviews.html?_r=0

Within 24 hours of refusing to advertise with YELP a negative review appeared on my YELP page with untrue and defamatory information. Positive reviews all 5 stars were then filteredd. There are over 700 complaints against YELP through the FTC why isnt something done about these ILLEGAL practices? FOX news recently released Craigslist Ads from YELP offering money for negative reviews as well.

http://www.apple-a-day-clinic.com

A local business in our area is well known for bad business practices. They commonly mistreat workers, and do anything to gain power and profit. After recently pushing out most of the better paid staff in unbelievably treacherous ways, their Yelp site started to reveal some of the local sentiment towards them.These reviews were not abusive, only true. Suddenly, all negative reviews were gone, even their response to the reviews left. Then an ad popped up. Apparently all it takes to get rid of bad reviews is a good, expensive ad. Sad, and shady.

I invested 2 million dollars into my business and countless hours. Yelp is profiting more than I am. Business owners should AT LEAST have the right to refuse being listed on Yelp. False reviews can destroy your business. We have actually received angry phone calls from people (who have never been to our store) over false yelp reviews that were posted by our competitor who actually identified himself, so we knew it was him. I could have posted a nasty review about his business but I don't work that way. Hopefully, he will pay in the end but I will not participate in such nefarious behavior!! SHAME ON YELP! They are vultures and criminals in my mind.

I don't have any bad reviews. So when I declined to pay for advertising, they couldn't filter them to the top. But what they did do is removed my pet sitting business from a category search on the city my business is located in. I know it used to come up when you searched for pet sitters-I've searched for it, and others have found me through Yelp. But right after I got the advertising call, my business doesn't come up on searches for petsitters at all, unless you search for my business name.

No, really, but something has to be done. The worst part of Yelp is that it's made up of a bunch of hipster kids and illiterates, none of whom have ANY idea how to run a small business. Like most, my good reviews always get filtered and the crappy ones stay up. I'm currently researching legal angles that may work to get them removed and recover damages from Yelp. I have money and time on my hands. Watch out Yelp! Anyone who wants to help or has advice please email me.

I have owned a restaurant for over 5 years. We have fought with Yelp over filtering good reviews and posting false reviews since the day we opened. A sales representative from Yelp actually told me on the phone, "we're here whether you like it or not and we're not going away. If you want to control your reviews, I highly suggest that you subscribe to Yelp for $350 per month." Naturally, I refused and the good reviews continued to get filtered. Recently, I fired a chef for very legitimate reasons. He posted a review on yelp claiming that he came in for dinner and one of our servers performed oral sex on him in the bathroom. The review was vulgar. He actually described having his big c___k sucked by our server as her way of apologizing for the fact that we do not serve fried chicken! Then he proceeded to say that our kitchen staff was cooking crack in the kitchen and dealing it to our customers, and claimed that he bought crack the night that he came in. (My kitchen staff is 90% women, all clean and sober mothers with children at home!) Yelp will not take this review off their site. The amazing thing? I have tried to submit an owner response 3 times but Yelp will not publish it. Why? because I refuse to give them my money. The ex-employee that posted that review has no other reviews under his belt. He is not a yelper. My only response to him on yelp was, "This is so Ridiculous, it is incomprehensible." Yelp finds my response Inappropriate, but seems to think that the review is acceptable. This is the fact- YELP WANTS YOUR BAD REVIEWS BECAUSE THEY GET MORE HITS OFF OF THEM AND IT GIVES THEM POWER TO BLACKMAIL BUSINESS OWNERS!!. It is that simple.

we consistently encourage, request, beg, and plead with our cleints & customers alike tom post positive reviews about us on Yelp. problem is, they delete ever positive review have ever had, from REAL AND ACTUAL customers. On the flip-side, anyone can make up a story, saying the nastiest, most deceitful crap they want to and Yelp keeps it on the site without any hesitation, validation, or confirmation. how can they get away with posting unconfirmed Negative reviews, but DELETING our confirmed positive reviews??? what a freaking scam!. these guys are horrible, shady, and unscrupulous, but they will probably get bought by Google, and never go away. shameful

I've been requesting that Yelp correct my business name for months. Not only do I not get a response, I can't even get a human on the phone. Customers cannot find my business on Yelp because of the incorrect information. Anyone can write anything they want on this site but as a business owner I can't even change my own info, like my DBA? My excellent reviews are FILTERED and old reviews from a previous ownership still exist. This site is completely misleading to consumers and users should beware of the information they are getting.

http://www.seahawkcocktaillounge.com

Yelp has been killing my clients on the Web. Now even Apple has put Yelp on everybody's iPhone to use for searches. This is a horrible idea by Apple. I have multiple clients getting badgered by Yelp sales people to advertise with them. One client did so to the cost of $1500 per month. Even after resolving an issue with a customer and paying Yelp $1500 monthly, Yelp did not remove the single bad review.
I suggest to only list your business with sites that permit editing of reviews. Like Vintelli does. Load the directory profile with quality content about your business.
Direct your customers to Google Reviews.
Yelp has a ton of cash, so they can go for a long time before people can stop them. I suggest using social media REGULARLY and referring people to this website and other sites to get the word out about the dishonest practices of Yelp.

http://Vintelli.com

I have more than 30 good reviews with 5 star on yelp, most of them "filtered". There are 3 terrible reviews from anonymous customers

Those 3 reviews have been at the top of my yelp page for almost a year, and no matter how many good reviews I have received since then those reviews do not move down.

I got calls from Yelp asking me to buy adverts,contracting a year at at time. When I pointed out the negative reviews that never move down the page and asked how that could happen given Yelp's "unbiased" claim the sales rep actually told me that they could make those reviews come back again.

If that is how they get you they will never get me. Anyway, Yelp took us out of business. Thanks YELP to fucked up small companies that could create jobs.

http://www.stepintosalsa

I used to love Yelp, and found their reviews very helpful. But I don't trust them any longer. I reviewed 68 different businesses on Yelp, and almost all were good reviews. Then someone from Yelp contacted me and asked me to join Yelp Elite. I declined because I don't want to have to pay.

Suddenly my reviews are all filtered. Every new review I put up gets filtered. I even got a second Yelp account, and they look at my IP address and filter all those reviews.

I was talking to a realtor that helped me buy a house about it. Her company has 1 bad review that shows, and 20 good reviews that are filtered. I told her she'd better pay for advertising the next time Yelp tries to extort her, or she'll continue losing the good reviews.

While Yelp is becoming immensely popular for consumers to research & make informed decisions about where to spend their money, it also has a seedy side. Yelp's practice of manipulating ratings on business owners pages is unethical.

Sales associates consistently call to give a sales pitch every time a new review is left. They also however, remove reviews that have been on the page for over a year...this doesn't make any sense to me. If the filter considered the review legitimate at the time it was posted, why remove it a year later? This has happened on regular basis. The reviews that are filtered are disproportionate to the number they deem to be legitimate. As a small business owner, I have worked hard for every single review that has been left.

While the company claims this policy builds integrity in their reputation by providing trusted feedback for consumers, it also discredits them by engaging in unfair practice. Sales associates have to make a living, yes. But do it the right way!

I am writing this review because a sales associate has called numerous times this week. I emailed a complaint to the company & so far no reply back. However, they did remove 4 reviews within a couple of days. 2 of the reviews had been posted & remained on my page for more than 2 years.

I suspect that more will come to light as this company continues to expand & more complaints are received. The criticism is growing louder every year for Yelp & more accountability is needed. Take a clue Yelp.....or rather take the high road like 'Angie's List".

update- here is the link for the class action lawsuit in progress against Yelp-

http://yelplawsuit.com/

http://fabulousfoodalchemy.com

I seriously thought I was the only one with this issue until someone brought it to my attention and decided to Google it. I guess there are MANY that Yelp is screwing over if you don't advertise with them. They are incredibly expensive also. I had someone that kept calling me for few months trying to get me to sign up for like $300 per month. I kept postponing though and they stopped calling. I finally decided to try to get reviews on Yelp because people been finding me on Google only and had a new customer from Yelp and I had 4 in one day by asking my loyal customers then days later it drops to 2 then days again, they're gone. I get more reviews, up to 8 total then another day every single one is filtered through their so-called "filter system," Complete BS! Sure they "filter" the reviews by looking up your business in their "system" to see if you ever paid with them and if not, they "filter" the damn review. They should be shut down completely for shit like that or fined big time.

As a new small business owner, I am finding out quickly the wrath of Yelp. For some reason, all my positive reviews get filtered, yet the negative ones stay front and center. Most recently, I fired an employee, her relative decides to personally call me and threaten me. I told her I would trace her number and call the police. She told me she would get online and post a negative review. She did and Yelp will not take it down. I have tried to contact Yelp but I get no response and Yelp bullies keep posting bad reviews about my restaurant. And not it has come to my attention I have no legal options. 13 reviews, mainly positive, all filtered, but negative reviews, back to back to back under my business name. Yelp is an outlet for crooked people and is a sham.

A couple of years ago, I received a 5 star review from a client. It remained unfiltered UNTIL I complained to Yelp about an annonymous user who left a false review about my business. The individual was a person with a personal vendetta, libeling my business online. After complaining to Yelp, that review come out of unfiltered, into filtered and the positive review went into filtered! I tried complaining to Yelp with no success. There is no contact info that is even worth calling because you have to leave a message ONLY if you want to advertise, even so, they never return your call(s). I then complained to the BBB with no successful outcome. How they are getting away with doing this to businesses is just baffeling!

As a business owner, I've tried to respond to the "complaint", yet Yelp keeps deleting it! I've also tried responding under different accounts and they've also removed those and/or put them in filtered. How can they get away with this behavior? I'm an honest small business with all A ratings on Angies List.I work extremely hard to keep it that way. I'm just devistated that Yelp is getting away with causing such harm to my business!

http://www.preciouspetshomecare.biz

Yelp has prevented us from editing our business listing multiple times over the last year. They will not allow us to change out name, our category and description information. This results in consumer confusion a loss of customers and revenues for our business.

I believe that a lawsuit over these actions by yelp will have positive results for business owners and make further lawsuits outcomes more positive. Contact the San Francisco area BBB and complain about YELP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


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