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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.
Is Yelp still a thing? I mean, didn't we all pretty much move on to Google ratings on Google maps?
Google reviews are a wasteland anywhere I've ever looked. Yelp is still what people actually use if they want real info. Google Maps, for example, claims a local comedy club that has been closed for a year is still open... Yelp knows.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I had the same thing happen with a negative review I posted for Whole Foods. It stayed up a couple of days, got a lot of positive feedback and then was hidden by Yelp. Presumably Whole Foods is a paying Yelp customer.
If you poke around Yelp's site, they talk about how paying them can result in better placement, targeted advertising, etc. That seems expected and fair behavior.
I can't find anywhere that it would infer that your aggregate rating will be affected by whether you pay them or not. In fact, on their About page, they state "Paying advertisers can never change or re-order their reviews." (which, I guess, does not exclude Yelp themselves from doing it). The perception is that the ratings are organized and aggregated based upon algorithms. If the reality is that it's also based upon whether Yelp is getting paid by the business in question, that seems shady. It certainly should have an impact on consumers' confidence in Yelp aggregate ratings.
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.
I had a multitude of 5 star ratings and daily calls from Yelp, congratulating me on my reviews and suggesting advertising was the best way forward, nearly all went to voicemail. One day after I did actually speak to someone and indicated I was not interested, nearly all my top reviews, which had been up for months beforehand, disappeared. Yelps 'automated' AI system, according to them, had deemed them non-trustworthy - remarkable that the AI should have, after all this time, suddenly decided that those reviews which were up just 24 hrs previously, were no longer valid.
At that point I shifted focus, left a placeholder in my business description indicating what had happened and removed all reference to Yelp from my web site, email and marketing. I moved over to Google Business, which, despite some hiccups (no 'by appointment only' option, no easy URL to direct clients to for leaving reviews...) has worked very well for me with a good 80% or more clients indicating that they had chosen me as a result of my web site, portfolio (I'm in a creative field) and reviews that showed up. Ironically, I have spent money on adwords and would probably have done the same with Yelp had their 'AI' system not treated me in such a grossly unfair manner.
Censoring positive reviews while showing negative reviews is plain extortion when you act as an honest authority. Possibly even defamation, since they're manipulating the facts.
However, they have been sued unsuccessfully before over this and the court seemed to think it was fine.
But, on Yelp, you see bad reviews for places that don't pay Yelp protection money, and the reverse for those that do. So it's far less trustworthy than asking your local astrologer.
I regret ever trying to do business with Yelp. In my case it was trying to close my account when I realized it wasn't driving enough business my way to justify the cost. One of several problems is that your reviews don't go away when you terminate your account, and Yelp then has all the leverage of what reviews they want to display.
Part of the leverage is that Yelp controls the first several listings you get when you google a particular type of business. So people have to scroll way down before they get to my own professional website. It really does seem like the game is, you pay Yelp or, "you know, it's a terrible thing that can happen to a business. Just terrible. You wouldn't want that to happen, would you?"
Oliver's law of assumed responsibility: If you're seen fixing it, you will be blamed for breaking it.
This mafia-like behavior from Yelp has already been through the courts, and they've won so far (circuit court level): http://www.sfgate.com/news/art...
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!
You have the right to remain sentient. If you give up the right to remain sentient, you will be elected to public office