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> "Mr. Stoppelman feels he has no choice. Like a lot of small internet companies, Yelp lives in a world where one company, Google, accounts for an outsize share
by parthdesai 9y ago
> "Mr. Stoppelman feels he has no choice. Like a lot of small internet companies, Yelp lives in a world where one company, Google, accounts for an outsize share of its business, and could destroy it at any time."
Ah the irony. Yelp is the same website that bullied small businesses to pay for positive reviews[1].
[1]http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp-accused-of-bullying-businesses-into-paying-for-better-reviews-1.2899308 http://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp-accused-of-bullying-bus...
- timr 9y ago"Ah the irony. Yelp is the same website that bullied small businesses to pay for positive reviews" No, Yelp is accused of this. Nobody has ever shown it to be true. (I can also tell you, as someone who worked there, that it definitely is not true, but you don't have to take my word for it. You just have to not confuse accusations with facts.)
- tyingq 9y agoI can see both being true. Assuming the sales staff are on commission, there's a strong possibility some asshattery happened. Perhaps you didn't run into any unethical sales staff.
- timr 9y agoI ran into plenty of idiots in sales. I don't assume anything about what salespeople say...but I know for a fact that salespeople at Yelp have no ability to affect reviews.
- criddell 9y agoI came here looking for claims like these. It always has baffled me the number of first hand accounts of Yelp salesperson shenanigans with no documented examples. What do you think is the root of the accusations? Do yelp salespeople promise things they can't deliver?
- anindha 9y agoI know of one cafe owner that had legitimate 5 star reviews removed. They were returned after the bad press.
- keymone 9y agothere are a lot of businesses on yelp. some of them are bound to suck. blaming somebody else is the easiest option and yelp is the easiest target.
- criddell 9y agoI was thinking more about the reports that Yelp salespeople suggest that they can clean up bad reviews.
- programmernews3 9y agoTrustpilot is the new kid on the block for the review shakedown, blackmail as a service provider
- JCzynski 9y agoAs someone who also worked there, the official company line internally is a suspiciously specific denial that does not actually deny the main accusations I had heard previously. I consider it just as plausible that Yelp squelches negative reviews when paid as I did before.
- deleted 9y ago[deleted]