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> Either you pay for their premium services or a bunch of 1 star reviews start magically appearing on your business How do you square that claim given that bo

> Either you pay for their premium services or a bunch of 1 star reviews start magically appearing on your business How do you square that claim given that both current and former Yelp employees say they do no such thing? How do you know those reviews are fake vs coincidence? I've heard a lot of anecdotes and conspiracies about this, but have never seen actual proof. No documents, recorded phone calls, court cases etc? And given how many people have worked at Yelp it's strange no one has blown the whistle yet if they engage in such practices. They would be an instant hero.

vikingcaffiene 8y ago
I square it by actually knowing people who've been affected. It's not like it was ambiguous or hard to figure out how it works. Its a VERY commonly known thing in the F&B industry and they all hate Yelp for it.
parthdesai 8y ago
There is a whole article on cbc about it. Here is the link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp-accused-of-bullying-businesses-into-paying-for-better-reviews-1.2899308 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp-accused-of-bullying-bu...
- thoughtexplorer 8y ago
  Still no proof, just accusations. In fact the business owners say Yelp didn't actually say these things. "What I got without spoken direct words..." "The restaurateur says the representative didn’t blatantly tell Dloomy he could solve his problem by paying up, but he believes that was the underlying message" It sounds like motivated reasoning and applying an existing narrative to the advertising calls.
- istjohn 8y ago
  That article is hardly conclusive. There are plenty of salty business owners, and somewhat understandably. Yelp is far more proactive than, say, Amazon in policing reviews with its automated software. They do sometimes filter legitimate reviews, particularly when a reviewer has few other reviews on the site and is very flattering to the business. They do not want businesses to game the system by bribing customers or recruiting friends and family. But of course, sometimes this incorrectly flags legitimate positive reviews. And when simultaneous negative reviews don't get filtered, this is understandably frustrating for businesses. And it doesn't take much imagination for a slightly paranoid owner to wonder if Yelp's pushy sales efforts have a nefarious undertone. But this aggressive quality control is what makes Yelp ratings so much more useful than Amazon ratings. And if businesses can keep attracting positive reviews, especially from established reviewers on the platform, and perhaps more importantly, avoid negative reviews, their ratings will rise. And they will have to fight Yelp's slightly trigger-happy automated review moderation whether or not they give money to a Yelp sales rep.
richjdsmith 8y ago
Not sure, but at a business I worked for a few years ago, we perused Yelp reviews for a while. It worked, and over about 3 months we ended up with 13 five-star reviews, and one four star. Not bad, right? Then we got 'the call', declined, and within 3 weeks, all but our single four start review was gone from the profile. I no longer work there, but last time I checked, they had zero stars. I can't wait to see yelp fail.

vikingcaffiene 8y ago

I square it by actually knowing people who've been affected. It's not like it was ambiguous or hard to figure out how it works. Its a VERY commonly known thing in the F&B industry and they all hate Yelp for it.

parthdesai 8y ago

There is a whole article on cbc about it. Here is the link: https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp-accused-of-bullying-businesses-into-paying-for-better-reviews-1.2899308 https://www.cbc.ca/news/business/yelp-accused-of-bullying-bu...

thoughtexplorer 8y ago
Still no proof, just accusations. In fact the business owners say Yelp didn't actually say these things. "What I got without spoken direct words..." "The restaurateur says the representative didn’t blatantly tell Dloomy he could solve his problem by paying up, but he believes that was the underlying message" It sounds like motivated reasoning and applying an existing narrative to the advertising calls.
istjohn 8y ago
That article is hardly conclusive. There are plenty of salty business owners, and somewhat understandably. Yelp is far more proactive than, say, Amazon in policing reviews with its automated software. They do sometimes filter legitimate reviews, particularly when a reviewer has few other reviews on the site and is very flattering to the business. They do not want businesses to game the system by bribing customers or recruiting friends and family. But of course, sometimes this incorrectly flags legitimate positive reviews. And when simultaneous negative reviews don't get filtered, this is understandably frustrating for businesses. And it doesn't take much imagination for a slightly paranoid owner to wonder if Yelp's pushy sales efforts have a nefarious undertone. But this aggressive quality control is what makes Yelp ratings so much more useful than Amazon ratings. And if businesses can keep attracting positive reviews, especially from established reviewers on the platform, and perhaps more importantly, avoid negative reviews, their ratings will rise. And they will have to fight Yelp's slightly trigger-happy automated review moderation whether or not they give money to a Yelp sales rep.

richjdsmith 8y ago

Not sure, but at a business I worked for a few years ago, we perused Yelp reviews for a while. It worked, and over about 3 months we ended up with 13 five-star reviews, and one four star. Not bad, right? Then we got 'the call', declined, and within 3 weeks, all but our single four start review was gone from the profile. I no longer work there, but last time I checked, they had zero stars. I can't wait to see yelp fail.