Yelp Accused Of Hiding Positive Reviews For Non-Advertiser (cbslocal.com)

A Dallas business owner is accusing Yelp of hiding good reviews of his coffee shop after he refused to pay them for advertising. From a report on CBS Local: Bob Sinnott owns Toasted Coffee + Kitchen in Lower Greenville. He said after months of non-stop phone calls from Yelp, he claims his favorable rating dropped after he finally told the company he would not pay for advertising. "What I would compare it to, the mafia," said Sinnott. "You know, you do business with me or there's retaliation." Sinnott feels Yelp is hiding many of his 5-star reviews in the "not recommended" section because he chose not to pay for Yelp services. "The sales pitch is, pay us a monthly fee and we'll your help page," said Sinnott. He claims there were constant phone calls and emails from Yelp pitching the company's services. "It became what I would call borderline harassment," said Sinnott. After posting on Facebook about his experience, Sinnott said his rating went from a 4-star to a 3.5-star rating. Google rates Toasted at 4.1 and Facebook has the business at a 4.6 rating.

Comments

Google reviews have funnier owner responses

[orgelspieler]

Just check out this gem from Google Maps:

Response from the owner 4 years ago:

This is the fat slob.

I wanted to put some context around Mr Scaccia's review.

First, no disputting it, I'm fat. I take issue with the rude and slob parts. I shower every day. I say please and thank you. But, fat, unfortunately I can't dispute that.

OK, let's talk about our interaction yesterday.

It goes on from there to explain to this bozo how a line in a Texas BBQ joint works. You place your order, then you sit down. It's common courtesy.

Re:Is Yelp still a thing?

[Albanach]

Is Yelp still a thing? I mean, didn't we all pretty much move on to Google ratings on Google maps?

I'm now eagerly awaiting the submission for "Yelp rebrands itself YelpCoin"

I have a great idea!

[140Mandak262Jamuna]

It is called yarr

The yarr stands for yet another reviewer reviewer, modeled after yacc yet another compiler compiler.

It is meta reviewer site where we review the reviewer. Users look at all the reviews from many reviewers, yelp, trip advisor, google maps... Then compares the expected experience, expected price to actual price and actual experience.

Now the owner of yarr will become yaee, yet another exhorter exhorter.

Re:Ratings need good reviews to be reliable

[FatdogHaiku]

The astrologer I found on Yelp told me I should totally trust them. He also got me with an appointment with his sister, a medium, and she is going help me get all the evil spirits out of my money!