Yelp

11/9/2014

Yelp's filtering system is terrible and does nothing but hurt businesses, just so Yelp can turn a profit using a parasitic, pay-to-display, customer-manipulating review system.

A friend of mine owns a business and decided he did not want it on yelp after he found that yelp had filtered TWO THIRDS of the good reviews for his business. He called yelp and asked for them to remove his business from their database. Yelp refused and told him if he paid to become a premiere member then more reviews would make it through their filter.

A self-governed crowd reporting system, similar to what YouTube has, would be far superior than the automagic algorithm that yelp currently uses.

I reduce my usage of Yelp as much as I can, but unfortunately I need to use it every now and then, and I always make sure I check the "other reviews that are not currently recommended".

2/11/2015

Yelp is the bane of restaurants existence. They hound you with phone solicitations for advertising and then filter your positive reviews when you don't relent. Yelp is a cyber moffia. Based on my correspondence with the help desk, I believe that yelp will take this review as a compliment.

12/19/2014

Yayahhhhh! After months of trying to set an appointment, i finally got access to THEE CEO of CEO's, Mr. Jeremy Stoppelman! Heres PART ONE!

                  ...atop a DOPE SF Rooftop, a Lemon Haze blunt is sparked...

Jeremy:  'Sev, such a pleasure, ive read ALL your CEO interviews, really useful, funny, cool talent ya got!'

Me: 'Why thank you good sir! Ive come to realize other folks find my reviews FUCable as well!'

Jeremy: 'Sorry about the ones that got flagged, CEO's arent the most personable people, we tend to not take criticism too well.'

Me: 'I know right?! Its funny that they agree to do the interview, then flag me when i write a truthful review!'

Jeremy: 'Sev....ya name really rings out, and i know some of those CEO's personally. You get a lot of those interviews not because they want to sit down with you, but because of ya rep and connections.'

Me: 'What about you? Cuzza my rep? Connections? Writing skills? Persistence? Tenure?

Jeremy: 'All of the above Sev!'

Me: 'Sheeeeeit, props from a CEO? I think thatsa first!'

Jeremy: 'Like you Sev, props when props are due!'

Me: 'For sure. Pass that blunt though, lets get to some questions!'

Jeremy: 'Nah maaaaaan, no questions, lets just rap Sev....straight conversate over this Hazey Dutch Master.'

Me: 'Hmmmm, aright Jeremy; i dont usually let the CEO dictate the tempo, but ill roll wit it this time, i mean, this is some special shhhhhhhh....'

Jeremy(interrupting): 'Whoaaaaa Sev! Youve only used profane language in 7 of ya reviews; props for that, but lets keep it family style up in here!'

Me: '7 reviews (laughing) damn you for real HAVE read my reviews!'

Jeremy: 'Sev, you do research before ya interviews right? Well, so do i!'

Me: 'Ya best believe! Whats up with this $1/year salary?!'

Jeremy: 'I like that. You just slip in a question on the low....well, simply put, we've taken a beating in the press over this whole "Yelp extorts business owners" nonsense, so im like, hmmm, how can i spin some positive press our way? Typical corporate garbage, i know, but nuttin spins better than a diversion of attention!'

Me: 'Yea, but cmon, a buck? Eek Methinks Not! Dude, youre rakin in serious dough!'

Jeremy: 'Lifes good Sev, ya know, lifes pretty darn good!'

Me(passing the blunt back): 'Care to detail your stance on the extortion allegations?'

Jeremy: 'Id love to! Buuuuuuut, im not going to!'

Me: 'Hahaha, nice man, reaaaaal nice!'

Jeremy: 'Sev, i gotta tell ya, youre A-Ok!'

Me: 'You gunna sell to Google?'

Jeremy(coughing): 'Ha! Sev you crazy man! When they tried to bid for Yelp, i was basically just like "Meh, ive experienced better".'

Me: 'You think a Yahoo will hit ya with an offer thats like "Woohoo! As good as it gets!"?'

Jeremy: 'There you go Sev, keep askin damn interview style questions! You got the Niners vs Bolts tix for Saturday?'

Me: 'Oh you know it! I also talked to ma homegirl Josie at Yelp Support, got yall to sponsor an event for me, my 75 Yelp frieeeends, AND....YOU!'

Jeremy: 'Yay, imma fan of that! Right on Sev!'

Me: 'BUT, on the real, is there any way to not have my reviews flagged?'

Jeremy: 'Look Sev, i know ya heated that the Ace Parking review got pulled like 3 hours after ya wrote it, but yo, you wanna talk about political pull?! Those heads gots da power! Oh, and Community Health Group....id be reaaaaaal careful wit them too, they wont just flag ya, theyll do some ol diabolical shhhhhh....oops there i go!'

Me: 'Ahhhh! Ya caught ya self! Imma spark this next blunt; cool?'

Jeremy: 'Yea man, then we can Yelp somewhere for the ill munchies!'

Me: 'You ever pay for food?'

Jeremy: 'Youd be surprised man, not everyone knows who i am, and i kiiiiiiinda like it that way. I prefer to keep a low-pro, like you, under the radar. So yes, Sev, to answer ya question, i do pay for food, all the time!'

Me: 'I respect that. Can i repost that Ace Parking review?'

Jeremy: 'Thats on you Sev, do as you feel. This blunt, kinda has me not feeling anything right now!'

Me: 'I feel.....ya know, i feel accomplished right now.'

Jeremy: 'Sev, why dont you put up some face photos and get yo self Elite!?'

Me: 'Ya know, ive had a buncha heads try to convince me to do that. I gotta be honest witcha though. Im not writing for anyone but ME really; its like, yea, to be Elite might gain me more recognition and whatnot, but im not out for "fame", i just really enjoy writing, from the simple stuff to the intricate CEO interviews, Politics of the Game, TSA blue rubber gloves, i mean its fun, i can flex a bunch different styles, while keepin myself strictly original. Im one of a kind, not one of the pack, and i think a lotta heads recognize and respect that.'

Jeremy: 'Sev you crazy! You just dont want ya haters to know who you are!'

Me:                            ------like a good movie; a cliffhanger! stay tuned for part TWO!

11/13/2014

WHAT A SHAM...

I flag reviews that are BS for some other business. They don't come down.

Pay to play? I no longer see Yelp as trustworthy reviews. They are all influenced by cash for advertising space. Where did all the real people reviews go? OH that's right... They  are filtered.

11/13/2014

I really despise the algorithm yelp uses and I've sent them feedback on it.

I'm not a business owner, but I am an independently contracted massage therapist and my kind of business relies heavily on the reviews people leave, about the places I work, that specifically mention my name. I make personal connections with my clients. This means they are willing to go online and leave a review when they otherwise would never bother for restaurants and other impersonal services.

The yelp algorithm makes their efforts completely in vain. It is to the point that it's embarrassing to even ask for reviews because I know they will just disappear. My clients don't give a hoot about yelp or reviewing businesses but they care about me because I care about them. I don't like that they are spending time leaving reviews and that time is being hidden away by some ego pumped A.I. who thinks it knows what it means to be a real boy.

I would prefer yelp apply a reviewer rating system where the more you leave reviews, the more prominent your reviews are and maybe they also earn a better "title". I've seen that on chat boards online and it works quite well for sorting out the riff-raff from the dedicated conversationalists.

Even then, I fear yelp will favor the "Elite" and the paying customer and never move beyond high school clique politics.

11/21/2014

Yelp sucks so many buttholes. I would rather get bukkaked from 1000 Japanese men than play by yelps rules. The pop up that says "remember, business's can't pay to alter reviews" or some shit is a lie. Why do they want 500$ to filter my reviews that REAL customers try to leave? You should be ashamed yelp.

11/5/2014

YELP Sales team are straight up con artists.  Both times I was lead to sign new deals and contracts then all of a sudden after I signed multiple they would pull one or the other.  Then all of a sudden my CPC rate doubled when the entire reason of signing any deal was to lower them.

YELP is blatantly trying to get people to move away from their own advertising on there to this contract based advertising. STAY AWAY!!!!

12/20/2014

WOW.... Here I am a business owner writing a review.

Yelp has helped my company grow. I was scared about all the news reports I have seen. They help, My company has grown 3x what I expected it to grow!  Thanks to YELP "I don"t need to find where my next JOB is coming from or weather or not AM I GETTING JOB. But when do I do the Job..... Tank you YELP for helping my company grow.

8/25/2014

I saw an episode once from HGTV when a homebuyer was looking to purchase her new home and she said, "Life begins when you get out of your comfort zone."

YELP for me, provided me a tool to get out of my comfort zone and to explore so many things. It is not just about trying new culinary experiences; it is also about trying out new places to take a vacation, places to stay, and even to meet new friends.

My YELPING started after having a fantastic meal at Slanted Door in San Francisco. I had such a great experience that I wanted to share this with others. I believe this is what YELP is all about, sharing our personal experiences together.

Can you even imagine what life would be like without YELP? We would be like baby chicks running around, looking for someone to look up to and to give us directions. With YELP, you never have to worry because they give us that tool to help us make confident choices with plenty of options where to eat, where to go, all mapped out, with lots of photos from our dedicated members who also enjoys sharing their experiences, all over the world!! Otherwise, why YELP right?

Everyone has a unique experience. Not everyone will agree, and that my friend; is the beauty of YELP!!  

Until then, Cheers! ~ :p

1/22/2015 Updated review

Over the past 4 months I have received 4 new 5 star reviews, each time pushing my total number of 5 star reviews to 40.  Immediately Yelp removes a previous review that, up until that time has never been filtered and really should not be, bringing my number down again to 39.  This has now happened four times in a row!   It appears as though yelp does not want a business to 40 5 star reviews unless you purchase one of their ad packages... I will give update on how many more times this happens!  We are at four consecutive times.

11/5/2014

You know Yelp is good for finding things for places like an address or phone number, but as someone who owns a business I just want to call Yelp out on their BULLSHIT!!!
Yelp has a funny way of filtering honest and real reviews and leaving shitty reviews on your page, and its predicated on whether you advertise with them or not.
How can you trust a review site, when the operator is covertly blackmailing or extorting good reviews from a hard working honest small business.

1/13/2015 Updated review

I have not Yelped in  2 years and Yelp has removed about 500 of my reviews and some mysteriously are posted under other profiles.  But I felt I needed to write this review. I am getting messages about my church reviews asking which which I would recommend.I am going to do maybe 2 or 3 reviews no more.  Not returning  to Yelp just bumping in to say  hi to my Yelp friends!

1/10/2015

If I could give a NEGATIVE 5 STARS ... I WOULD!  We get phone calls weekly from your company asking us to advertise.  So many that it borders harassment.  Let me explain to you WHY we will NOT advertise with Yelp!!!  1.) You allow any review to go up and do not allow businesses to have a right to request the removal of a review.  As I know you cannot remove all reviews because they are negative.  However, you can have a process where a business can request a removal based on falsehoods, slander, using of someone's name in a negative manner (deformation of character), profanity, etc.  It should go before review process to determine if it meets criteria to take down. 2.) There is no way Yelp can prove the reviews are from current, existing customers.  Ex employees or competitors can write a false review. 3.) I have noticed on our page and countless other business pages, Yelp prefers to list the negative reviews and move the 5 star reviews down (almost invisible unless you click on bottom of screen) to "Reviews Not Currently Recommended".  WHAT?!?!?!  All of our reviews not listed are ALL from our regular current customers ... 27 reviews to be exact.  Two of the reviews listed are not even from people who visited our salon.  I requested for those to be removed.  Of course, I got an email denying my request.  One review says "F U front desk" ... really!  And that one was from 2010.  Yet you won't list reviews from 2014.  When people search us on Yelp it says "14 reviews" ... again, WHAT?  In reality, we 41 reviews.  And you put most of our 5 star reviews in the "Not currently recommended" so they do not count toward our overall average when potential new customers are searching.  You are listing reviews from noncustomers and customers who don't even live in our area and may have been one time to our salon.  ALL reviews should be listed.  Not hand selected.  Who makes those decisions?  People that work for Yelp?  Do they know me or my company?  Or visited my business?  Reviews should be  listed from current to older.  We have a 3rd party company, Demandforce who has mastered this service unlike Yelp.   demandforce.com/b/amplif…

SHAME ON YOU!  Until you list ALL of our recent reviews ... DO NOT CONTACT ME or anyone in my company to discuss advertising.  I want to spend my marketing dollars with a company that has excellent customer service, customer friendly, wants to help my company portray a great, factual marketing image and has the best interest of my business in the forefront.  

I am happy to discuss further moving on if you are willing to work with us and incorporating our recent reviews, removing reviews from noncustomers and ones with vulgarity comments.  Otherwise, please remove me from your call list and email.

Jami M. Lewis
Owner, Master Stylist

Amplify Salon & Spa, Inc.
1615 Graham St., STE 102
Montgomery, Alabama 36106
Ph: 334-834-4243 | Fax: 334-834-4246
amplifysalon.com

10/29/2014

I've been a positive, active contributor to Yelp for a long time. I should be considered a model Yelper - posting reviews for every place I go, checking-in all the time, and using Yelp for my small business. You think I would be rewarded for my efforts...

However, I was nominated to be Yelp Elite and approved by my cool community manager but denied because I own a small business. Small business is the backbone of Yelp and active contributors like myself are also the backbone of Yelp. But I guess a double positive equals a negative in Yelp HQ. I'm 99% sure that all Yelp Elite are closely connected to a small, local business in some way. I also told Yelp that I would delete my business page/account sacrificing the reviews I had worked hard to attain in order to become Yelp Elite, but Yelp wants nothing to do with me anymore like an infected Ebola carrier. I am tainted for owning a small business. Pretty stupid.

11/24/2014

I love Yelp! Seven years of Elite East Bay then Germany then Hartford. Friends from all around the world. Thanks, Yelp!

11/7/2014

I tried calling the helpline and was hung up on.
I have been active on my account and have several friends, yet my reviews do not show?!! But I have seen other people with 0 friends and like 2 reviews and they get theirs posted!?!?!?!  How does that work?!?!

11/9/2014

A ridiculous way to trample on the backbone of American economy, small businesses!

If I can give these people zero stars I will!

They have total control of what gets posted and what doesn't through their magic filter of recommended or not-recommended reviews!

It takes them forever to respond to reviews that are flagged... if you're lucky! Sometimes they will outright ignore what you flagged! Reviews that are obviously violating the rules that they came up with are not removed despite being flagged because "they" decided that these reviews should stay!

If you own a business and you whine about the negative reviews, just wait for a bombardment of phone calls and emails about advertising in Yelp and how "they can help you".

It is next to impossible to communicate with these people through email. They have no customer support where you can email them and their emails are the no-reply kinds.

So good luck dealing with these people and their lousy non-business-friendly company.  

I hope one day someone from the government who truly understands the merchant-customer relationship just shut this website down!!!

1/21/2015

A lot of business info on Yelp is inaccurate, including the reviews. Yelp is just a place to complain about their experience rather than asking the business to make it right during their stay.

2/11/2015

Allowing people to post false, slanderous reviews that are potentially ruining businesses  is deplorable! Freedom of speech? of course,  if you pay for their advertising then all is well. Shame on you YELP!

11/1/2014

Yelp claims "Your trust is our top concern, so businesses can't pay to alter or remove their reviews." .... in actuality they use their filtering system to basically accomplish the same thing. I did a valid negative review of Danny Boys in Broadview Hts and it has been filtered out. Yelp claims "If a review isn't showing up under Recommended Reviews in a business's Yelp listing, it isn't one of the reviews we are showcasing today. It's important to note that even if this review isn't one of the millions we currently recommend, users can still find it at the bottom of the Yelp listing or on the user's profile page, and it might be recommended on another day. "
Talk about false advertising! There was no mention of their infamous filter. Thank God I found Trip Advisor who posted my review and I've already helped several people from making the same mistake with Danny Boys.

11/22/2014

Wished someone had told me to short this stock earlier this year when it was trading near $100, yesterday's close $58.  j/k, I wouldn't dare do that to Yelp.

the profits would've paid for a lot more pho, ice coffee, burgers and shakes ;)

Yelp does help...at least gives a sense of what/how the market views businesses, good or bad reviews.

And sure has helped me kill time while waiting at my meetings lol.

10/23/2014

Personally, I only go on YELP to give positive reviews (except for in this instance) to businesses I have dealt with and believe deserve it!   I'm not willing to assist in closing a small business down simply because an experience I might have had did not make me as happy as I think I should be...or things didn't go 100% perfectly!

Now days, with YELP as their weapon of choice,  many consumers choose not to even complain in person when dissatisfied, and instead run over to YELP to "get even"!   If am dissatisfied, I speak up like a grown up, and because I'm reasonable, management will many times be nice enough to make an adjustment.  

Bottom-line is just because I may be able to hurt a small business, doesn't mean I should!

12/19/2014

I have been using Yelp for a while and have seen many businesses respond to reviews and improve. This is a great service and I recommend it to any business seeking growth and highlighted presence in their community.

10/23/2014

I agree with another poster. Yelp! is a form of cyber bullying.  I had a client who posted a very negative review about me and several of my co-workers.  I can deal with an upset client here and there, but the client included my full name along with my co-workers' full names in the review.  Not only have I lost money as a result of this, but Yelp! refuses to remove the review even though it is direct violation of their own privacy policy.

I emailed them and I got a response back that said that they decided not to remove it due to the fact that they do not do so to business owners or service providers.  I am not a business owner and I am an employee of the company that was reviewed.  Clearly their policies are subjective and they do not care who they harm.  Cyber bullying at its worst.

8/21/2014

I've been a member of Yelp for the 2 years now and enjoyed my time here I've learned a lot of about reviews on businesses no matter what they are. I came to know a lot of people on Yelp and I enjoy knowing them as well! The atmosphere on Yelp is great and same with the Talk area with helpful people who help others trying to find there a way around Tampa or some other places.

I never knew about Yelp.com until I found out about when I was traveling from Florida to Fresno, California I was talking to a lady who was a Yelp.com member and she talked to me about great it was and Yelp allows it's members to review websites, take photos, videos, talk to other and setup meetings in person.

I made improvements on my reviews by learning what fellow Yelp members want to see in my reviews like photographs (proof that I have been there) I guess? Atmosphere of the business owner, staff/employees, business store front and how great or bad the food was.

I am very thankful that I met some of the nicest guys and ladies on Yelp.com they helped me on a lot of restaurants to try out and take my mother to but my mother has to becareful on where she goes to eat at due to she has cancer ''Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia Pre- B cell''.  She can't eat at a open buffet type of restaurant like some others can she has to have her breakfast, lunch and dinner cooked a special way in the back so she doesn't get sick or anything bad like.

I appreciate my time here I can see other reviews from fellow Yelp members to see what they liked or disliked about the business before I decide to make a visit to the business.

All I can say thank you guys and ladies at Yelp HQ for making Yelp.com a great place for the people to enjoy!

10/19/2014

Hey, Yelp!
Are you happy with my latest one-word-reviews replacing those of high quality?
I got the impression you were taking them complacently for granted for more than a year.

If not, finally start showing some respect and appreciation, for God´s sake! Or go back home crying because your paranoia sucks big time!!!!! It only takes common sense to figure out who generates useful content and really contributes to a community and who does not. Only rewarding "real faces" and "real names" ... really paranoid. And there is no need for establishing a ridiculous hierarchy destroying the sense of any real community!

In order to do me at least one small favour: Please, tell your Berlin CM, Lieblingsanne S., she must not copy any parts of my reviews again to publish them on facebook without my consent! There is a thing called copyright and folks working for you should know about these things!

Just one more note:
Funny enough you allow a maximum of 5,000 (!!!) friends (???).
How can someone with real friends, real family maybe even with real children, real job, real hobbies, real life keep in touch with 5,000 "real people" on the Net? You are just so awfully contradicting yourself! But this is the way all good jokes work - they include a logical break!

10/20/2014

I've been Yelping since 2009. I've been an "Elite" yelper to boot. I'd like to think I am a small part of what made Yelp so popular.

I've had a few reviews removed over the years, mostly angry reviews against very bad businesses who then lied to get my review taken down (i.e.: he's an ex employee of our coffee shop). I've never had a reivew taken down because I've lied or made things up, nevermind because a business had paid yelp and then had my review taken down.

That was then, this is now.

I had a review of a place taken down where my wife had been drugged (date rape drug) in her drink. Yes there were tests done and cops talked to, and we did all the ring things. Don't I have the right, even the responsibility, to leave a review of this place to inform others of what happened there?

Yelp now says no.

It's bad enough this place never offered anything, even a sorry, for what occurred. But to then use their pay account to have my review removed?

Are you M'fin kidding me?

I've been Yelping since 2009, that's 5 years. I have hundreds of reviews, tops, compliments and friends. So of course I replied to the email I got informing me my review was being taken down, hoping to reason with the 18 years old intern on the other side of their feedback@ address.

I got a homemade email from no-reply@ telling me my email was forwarded to an email box that doesn't exist. It was someone who manually made up a fake bounce email and sent it to me. It was sent from their personal email address with the reply to set wrong. Noobs.

But it just goes to  show, Yelp doesn't care.

They used to. I was a huge defender of Yelp for years, but now this has happened.

Yelp, you sold out.

You're going down hill. And you're doing it to yourself.

So after 5 years I am retiring my account. I will no longer help promote Yelp, or submit new reviews. I'll be just another user in your "churn" stats at the end of the quarter, where you'll sit around a conference room wondering why you can't retain long term users, and why you can't get new users. And you'll come up with the answer that you'll need to further alienate your users by letting businesses pay more to look good. Then in 3 years you'll wonder why you are just like AngiesList or DiamondCertified.

6/30/2014 Updated review

I just need to say it, calling ANYONE DUMB OR DEAF IS UNACCEPTABLE. Christina L., remove your pathetic Yelp and turn in your elite badge.

From the National Association of the Deaf, "Deaf and Dumb -- A relic from the medieval English era, this is the granddaddy of all negative labels pinned on deaf and hard of hearing people.  The Greek philosopher, Aristotle, pronounced us "deaf and dumb," because he felt that deaf people were incapable of being taught, of learning, and of reasoned thinking.  To his way of thinking, if a person could not use his/her voice in the same way as hearing people, then there was no way that this person could develop cognitive abilities.  (Source: Deaf Heritage, by Jack Gannon, 1980)

In later years, "dumb" came to mean "silent."  This definition still persists, because that is how people see deaf people.  The term is offensive to deaf and hard of hearing people for a number of reasons.  One, deaf and hard of hearing people are by no means "silent" at all.  They use sign language, lip-reading, vocalizations, and so on to communicate.  Communication is not reserved for hearing people alone, and using one's voice is not the only way to communicate.  Two, "dumb" also has a second meaning:  stupid.  Deaf and hard of hearing people have encountered plenty of people who subscribe to the philosophy that if you cannot use your voice well, you don't have much else "upstairs," and have nothing going for you.  Obviously, this is incorrect, ill-informed, and false.  Deaf and hard of hearing people have repeatedly proved that they have much to contribute to the society at large."

Ever HEAR of Beethoven or Stevie Wonder!?!

Update: I received a message from Christina L. who edited her Yelp. Hope she will be more respectful in the future,

nad.org/issues/american-…

yelp.com/user_details?us…

12/7/2014

Yep yep yep- Yelp does it riiiiight
I find all the best digs in my area via yelp.. When friends ask "how the hell did you find this place?!" The answer is simple "I yelped it!"

Pure genius' working here.... They know millennials are runnin' this world :)
Bravo Yelp!

11/10/2014

Yelp SCAMMED MY FRIENDS BUSINESS!

Yelp promised my friends and made a formal contract saying they would merge multiple yelp accounts, and keep the rating correct and non conflicted with the fake yelps online,Yelp DID NOT do a damn thing and charged my friends over $1000, did not filter out the fake yelp accounts and merged the fake ones to the real one, and ruined their rating.

1/19/2015

I have 11 reviews on Yelp.  3 are one star.  That's a much higher percentage of negative reviews than I have on Angie's List (where my company has won 18 Super Service Awards) Home Advisor or Google, to name just a few.  But it works out to a 3.6 star average and, if you read all of the reviews, you get a balanced view of my company.

Unfortunately, the infamous algorithm of Yelp! has screened out all but 2 of them.  So I have a one star rating.  What's worse is, if you do a Google search for my type of business in my city (and no, I'm not going to reveal those details on a Yelp! page), the one star Yelp rating comes up on the first page of organic listings. That single star is embedded into the search result, so even non Yelpers view my business as giving poor service (when in fact, we have one of the best reputations in our industry - and deservedly so).  

Some people accuse Yelp of extortion in that you can pay to have bad reviews removed.  I have NOT found that to be the case.  My very polite and helpful sales person patiently explained that they have no control over the review side of the business - he can only help promote my business on Yelp.

On the other had, I was sold a package where my ad appears above my competitor's listing page, but they cannot do the same thing to me (because I am an advertiser).  But what they didn't tell me is that, at the BOTTOM of my listing, 3 competitors are listed.  All of them have 5 star ratings.  And if you go to their businesses and search their reviews, you find that they have BAD ratings are that have been "not recommended" and don't count in their score.

Not wanting to promote myself on a website that gives misleading and negative information about my company, I sought to cancel my $350 per month contract.  I have to pay them $1,000 cancellation fee, and it will take the rest of the month before it takes effect.  Anyone have trouble believing that they need 2 weeks to get around to clicking on a mouse a few times?  Why?  Do they lack the computer skills?

Yelp's algorithm is deeply flawed and returns highly inaccurate and misleading results.  Their sales practices are deceptive and they seem to have no regard as to how they are harming small, family owned businesses like my own.

6/25/2014

Yelp, in my opinion is all about EXTORTION.
They call our office multiple times asking for like $1,200 a month to advertise. We say no, they filter all the positive reviews out.
We have filtered reviews from real customers that describe a job we did in detail, even naming a representative from our company. 9 filtered reviews, 1 regular.
Get with the program YELP

7/16/2014 Updated review

Amazing that Yelp has over 6000 reviews that are not recommended and over 1500 for violating content guidelines (all with one star of course HA!).    It would be nice if you would remove false and malicious reviews from hard working small businesses.  
I  would never spend my money on advertising with any company that did not have at least 3 stars on yelp.

10/27/2014

YELP erased my review of a barber that was not there when I was there during his advertised hours.  I explained what happened to YELP and my input was ignored, therefore the YELP apllication is not reliable for ratings therefore I might as well use google to locate places to dine, and forget about YELP's ratings.  
The good thing about all of this is that I will free some memory in my phone when I delete thid app, thank you YELP, your mediocrity saved the limited available memory in my phone.

From now own I will post food photos and comments on Instagram.

1/16/2015

The most unfair, waste of time site on the internet!  We got two bad reviews from people, but then Yelp blocks all the good reviews, because they're from people who aren't all day "yelpers" you are completely skewing the perception of our business. We are the #1 company in sales in our area, surly that doesn't make us a 1 star company with our clients.

7/17/2014

For my 200th review, it's time to go meta: a Yelp review...of Yelp!

I waffled between assigning five stars (Woohoo! As good as it gets!) and four stars (Yay! I'm a fan.) and finally decided on four--because I'm definitely a fan. Yelp is a great resource for learning about businesses in your own area and wherever you're visiting. I can't count how many great places I've discovered based on their Yelp reviews, including joints in sketchy neighborhoods that I never would have tried if it hadn't been for the positive feedback on this site.

But here are the things that I feel keep Yelp from earning the coveted "as good as it gets" rating:

Jean-Paul Sartre famously said, "Hell is other people." And the truth of that statement plays out over and over on Yelp. We have a few people here in San Antonio who start a new Talk thread every day with something inane like, "WeekEnd...Almost here. ..Excited" or "Rain brought us all a wonderful day. Turned out to be cool." This isn't Twitter, for christ's sake. And then, of course, there are the people who write one-sentence "reviews" of businesses. There really should be a minimum length for reviews--anything shorter than the minimum should be a tip.

I wish the Yelp admin team would do a better job of policing the site. Far too many people post pictures of their kids, friends or family (or--even worse--selfies!) in their reviews. These tell me nothing about the business and should be placed on your profile page. I also have no interest in seeing nauseating photos of your half-eaten food. Show us how it was presented to you or don't show it at all.

San Antonio has also experienced a spate of business owners reviewing their own establishments. Site admin should be catching this, but they seldom do. And we have a couple of people who spam multiple businesses with the same copied-and-pasted political rant that have nothing to do with the subject of the review.

But the thing I find most frustrating about Yelp is something that's meant to be fun: the "royalty" system. This really needs to be monitored. For example, the "king" of San Antonio has nearly 300 dukedoms, which he has "earned" by checking into so many businesses on any given day that he couldn't possibly have the time (or money) to be a legitimate customer at all of them. But he has written only 43 reviews in the nearly four years he's been on the site. Check-ins alone shouldn't determine "royalty" status or count toward badges. These should be awarded based on substantive contributions to the site's content; e.g. photos, tips and--especially--reviews. Of course, it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things, nor should it bother me. But it's frustrating to see someone being celebrated for gaming the system.

So I guess the thing that makes me only a fan and not someone who thinks that Yelp is as good as it gets is not really the site itself--it's the people who use it. A little careful curating by the Yelp staff would go a long way toward making this a more credible site.

Lest I sound ungrateful, I would like to reiterate how much value this site has brought to me. I can't remember the last time I ate at a restaurant without first consulting Yelp. For all its faults, it's still a pretty good deal. So yeah, I'm a fan. Yay!

4/18/2014

Came here for the "designer + geeks" event. This place is HUGE! At first I thought it wasn't that big, but all that I saw was ONE floor out of 10+ floors! And each floor is different too. w00t.

Keep'on yelpin'!

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2/6/2015

shame on you yelp.

your business idea here has potential, it always has. The execution, leaves a lot to be desired. a lot.

Your overly aggressive marketing agents are ridiculous.  You yourself, on your own site advertise that people paying for advertisement cannot remove, or move their reviews around. So why is it that every time you call us, you keep soliciting us for money, and you entice the business I work in by telling us that if we pay you, we can move the good reviews to the front and hide the bad reviews. That literally sounds like a passive aggressive form of extortion to me. And I know you have done this to many other businesses, we talk to each other you know.

You also cannot simply categorize each business like they all operate the same.
I am an independent contractor. I'm a tattooist, I have a strong clientele. I have my personal yelp profile on here (which  never use), and the shop I work in also has one.
I try to update my address to the shop's Address because, again, I'm an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR working inside a shop with 8 other independent contractors.However I can't change my address because there already is a business in that address. Our shop has been around for over 40 years. in the tattoo industry there is a lot of immaturity, rivalry, and heresy. There are plenty of shops around here that want us closed because we take around 50% of the business in the area alone. Troll reviews commence.

So now, being an independent contractor, all of a sudden I have a bad rep according to yelp due to all the reviews written about the shop as a whole, including reviews dated to before my arrival at the shop. I agree with bad reviews, they are necessary, they help a business improve, but they are not always necessary.
Too bad yelp tends to give people this sense of authority that all of a sudden they are worth something and they can judge any place they go nilly willy like a professional critic, and it flies. Sadly, many of these people have no idea how things are done in certain businesses. For example the famous one star review at a vegan restaurant I won't mention. Reason for the 1 star? They wouldn't serve him a hamburger. Or here is a personal review I recently found on the yelp account for the shop I work in. This person gave the shop 1 star because her tattoo took her, and I quote "two weeks....TWO WEEKS to heal", anyone with half knowledge of tattooing will recognize that 2 weeks is the standard time for a tattoo to heal. Review not omitted.   I'm not saying every yelper is bad. There are plenty of great, honest people on here, too bad half of their reviews get omitted. The immature, blatantly ignorant 4 worded 1 star reviews however, stay.

Which brings me to your review bot. It is ridiculously broken and the algorithms don't necessarily make sense for all businesses.  You are essentially affecting the way every business runs, how much potential business they can have, by using a pathetic bot script that doesn't even work. that's just embarrassing for a large company such as yourself. I would be ashamed if I were you. Then again you are probably too busy counting your extortion money to even be worried about it. I don't believe you promote businesses. You are like the mob.  You storm into a business (put the address up on yelp), expect payment for "protection" (bad reviews), and if we don't pay you turn our world upside down.  

maybe it's time you turn your script bot off, and  hire actual professional reviewers in their respective fields to cross check each review, and hand pick which ones are obviously trolls. they aren't hard to spot.
Here is why the bot script doesn't work for all businesses. My main form of keeping in touch with my clientele, as well as meeting new clients interested in work, is through facebook. These people friend me on FB, come in to get some work by me, go home and later some decide to write a review about me on yelp. I have over 30 five star reviews specifically about me. They are all omitted. Why? Mr Bot script checks the review, checks the user who wrote the review, checks for names on the review,  checks that user's social networks and connections to other people, finds me as one of the reviewer's friends. Review omitted because OBVIOUSLY I told them to write me a good review, since we obviously are friends on facebook. So that's okay for you to do? Honestly I don't need your website to generate business. I do just fine on my own with my art skills, and those alone. But I can't help but think how much more business I could potentially have if all those omitted reviews about me, which were genuine, actually weren't omitted.

I also can't help but think about the hundreds of thousands of businesses (if not millions)  here in the USA, that you are doing the same exact thing to. How you indirectly are affecting their livelihood. Their families, their children. Just so your pocketbook can get fatter.I'd  like to say more about your shady practices, noroom

6/12/2014

Top ten reasons why
Yelp is better than FB
Start the drum roll, please:

#10 Yelp is the best place to find the greatest places to eat/drink from locals without actually having to speak with them.
#9 If you stay off the talk boards on Yelp, you will most likely avoid any sort of political rants (unless you read my reviews).
#8 On Yelp, you never have to remove any tags that you don't want on your profile page.
#7 Friending strangers on Yelp is not discouraged.
#6 People on Yelp have a common interest (FOOD!).
#5 No Candy Crush requests on Yelp.
#4 Your grandma, your auntie, your mommy (except mine - LOVE YOU MOM!) and the rest of your family are not on Yelp.
#3 You've had it up to your eyeballs with how everyone's children are doing on Facebook.
#2 When is the last time you made rather than maintained a friend on Facebook?
#1 Yelp has a filter.

200!!!!!

10/28/2014

I guess the best way to express my displeasure in Yelps filtering policy is to switch to a competitor, like Google or Facebook which is exactly what I will be doing today after finding out that of the 20 (REAL/ GENUINE) reviews my small business has accumulated over the past three years, now show 7 reviews as unfiltered.

I think its so funny and ironic that Yelp is now complaining that Google has changed its search algorithm so that its reviews come up first (blogs.wsj.com/moneybeat/…),. As the old adage goes, when there is more competition, the consumer wins.

Thanks to Yelps irrational filtering system, I will be setting up my Google+ page today.

Yours Truly,
A formally paying Yelp customer