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Could be individual salespeople doing it, and probably without Yelp truly "knowing". I worked at a nationwide gym once upon a time, and it was common for salesp
by grumple 3y ago
Could be individual salespeople doing it, and probably without Yelp truly "knowing". I worked at a nationwide gym once upon a time, and it was common for salespeople to trick people into signing long term contracts.
- scythe 3y agoThis theory is better than most, considering that other organizations have used similar tactics to get the benefits of bad behavior while dodging responsibility, such as HomeVestors of America (aka "We Buy Ugly Houses"): https://www.propublica.org/article/ugly-truth-behind-we-buy-ugly-houses https://www.propublica.org/article/ugly-truth-behind-we-buy-... Amazon also somewhat infamously uses contracting organizations with scandalous labor practices. But to the contrary, these allegations have been levied against Yelp for nearly a decade, and yet no real clear evidence of this happening deliberately at least once has appeared. Meanwhile, people have switched to Google Reviews, which also have a pay-to-play element (for visibility) and dubious corporate backing. One rather mundane explanation might be that people who click on restaurants near the top of the search results are just friendlier reviewers overall, while people who search to the fifth page are more picky.