Yelp.com

Hello,
 
I spoke to a live representative of YELP via telephone prior to giving my CC information since I had questions and concerns after reading the promo offer. I was assured that it would only be the $300 credit used and promotion would stop. I was told my CC would NOT be charged unless I specifically went into the site and set it up to do so to run ads. I was told the $300 promo was to see if I was interested in doing advertising going forward.  I never did go into the site to do any advertising.
However, I was charged $190 to my bank account, and I contacted YELP immediately. 
I expect for YELP to take responsibility. You can sit there and say "you can't" but it is really that you won't.
I was confused and called YELP. I trusted what YELP told me. I expect for YELP to take responsibility. I encourage you to review the conversation with YELP, take accountability, and refund the money that was taken from me. 
Thank you.
Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/18) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].
You expressed concern with the recommendation software. As you may have read, the goal of...

Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp. Even though it inevitably affects legitimate reviews from time to time and misses some fake ones, too, it helps protect the integrity of the site both for consumers (who will be less likely to be led astray by bogus reviews) and business owners (who will spend less time worrying about whether their competitors are writing negative reviews about them).
It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.
To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
You also expressed concern with [redacted] V's review and photos of your business. The reviews and photos have been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as they were not found to be in violation of our guidelines. If a review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, it is our policy to allow the user to stand by his/her review. With regards to the photos, photos that represent a more unique personal experience may be removed from the business's photo gallery but still appear alongside the user's review if they've written one, as in this case.
For future reference, we encourage you to visit our Support Center at http://www.yelp-support.com if you have further questions or concerns. We've tried to include detailed answers to the questions we most frequently receive in our Support Center, but there may be situations you encounter where you'll need to contact our Support team for assistance. For these specific situations, there are articles in the Support Center that include submission forms to inquire about the issue.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/09/23) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
To start with the comment that yelp said would not take down, [redacted] V's pictures is incorrect. They actually took down one of the pictures already, there was a 4th picture not just 3. so that is inaccurate. secondly, I do not mind having a bad review, that was not the majority of the complaint. The majority of the complaint is that I have actual patients taking time out of their busy schedules writing actual reviews of this clinic. and Yelp's software determines whether my legitimate reviews go up on the site or not, this is asinine.
for instance, my patient Darren S. has been coming to me for many years with many different diagnosis, his first review was back in 2011, he reviewed us then stating what he felt about our office and in 2015 physically saw the review by [redacted] V. and wanted to set the record straight, and did another review in 2015 which was also taken off our page. How do you justify and actual patient of mine having the review taken down, after so many years? These are clearly unfair business practices, I do not accept Yelp's response, I would like to take this to the next level, because Yelp is supposed to be there for consumers, not non-consumers.
There is any easy resolution to this problem, have an actual human being go through each and every one of our reviews and deemed them representative of my patient population and put them back up on my Yelp page.
I believe this is the only fair resolution and hopefully in the future Yelp will take my concerns into consideration as a business owner and make adjustments to their software which is obviously flawed. I truly respect Yelp's position in the business world, but they need to take a look at their software flaws. it can really hurt a business as its doing to mine.
I appreciate everyones time in this matter, and I'm looking forward to an amicable resolution.
sincerely,
[redacted] L. [redacted]
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2015/10/02) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
To clarify, [redacted] V's photos have been removed from the business's photo gallery (http://www.yelp.com/[redacted]) but still appear alongside her review. [redacted] V's fourth photo can be seen by clicking "See all photos from [redacted] V. for [redacted]" below her review.
It also sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statements. Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable ones. This means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cut. We acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the software as a whole makes our site more trustworthy and useful to consumers.
You also wrote, "There is any easy resolution to this problem, have an actual human being go through each and every one of our reviews and deemed them representative of my patient population and put them back up on my Yelp page." As indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: we cannot reverse the software's decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore one that isn't recommended. But once again, the system is not static reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information. It's also important to keep in mind that even if a review isn't currently recommended, users can still find it at the bottom of the Yelp listing or on the user's profile page.
We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciated. When it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviews. It's no easy task, and there is always room for improvement. We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/08) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Bikram Yoga Mesa.
We first want to clarify the difference between Yelp Ads and Yelp's natural search...

results. When a user is searching on Yelp for a business in a certain area, we do our best to provide that user with a Yelp Ad applicable to their search. Yelp Ads appear above the natural search results, as well as on your competitors' business pages. The Yelp Ad is differentiated from the natural search results by an yellow border, and has the notation "Ad" in next to the business name.
Separate from Yelp Ads are Yelp's numbered search results, which have absolutely nothing to do with who is paying us. Yelp's natural search results algorithm is designed to provide the best results based on a number of different factors including review text, ratings, and number of reviews. While we can't guarantee specific results or business rankings, we are always working to improve our search tool so that we can deliver the most relevant local results to our users.
You also wrote, "The ceiling on the contract was non negotiable which was set to 2000 views. The contract was $3 per view." However, according to our records, you signed up for a cost-per-click auction-based auto-bidding program, which means that Yelp delivered a variable and unguaranteed number of ad impressions, and that you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impression. With regards to the cost per click, as noted in your contract, you agreed to allow Yelp to set the bid price per click price to keep you competitive in the market. While your sales representative may have given you an estimated price per click, it's important to keep in mind that the price will fluctuate up or down depending on competition, relevance, and other factors. However, it will always be the lowest price possible to win the click. We have attached a copy of your contract for your reference.
We also want to be clear that while the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, we of course cannot guarantee a certain level of results.
You also expressed concern with the early termination fee. Since you chose to end your program before the end of the 12-month term, you are responsible for an early termination fee of $2,350 per the terms of your advertising agreement.
With regards to your concerns about the video, Yelp has partnered with the company SmartShoot, who films and edits the video. If you haven't already done so, we suggest you contact SmartShoot directly with your concerns regarding the filming and editing process.
You also wrote, "I wrote two emails and no response until one month later." According to our records, it looks like you emailed our account management team on January 14, 2015, and that Melinda reached out to you on January 21, 2015 and left your a voicemail.
As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to waive the remaining outstanding balance. Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/09/11) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Thank you for responding. Your response is such that tells me I didn't read the contract or know the facts of the events. That is correct and much of your jargon is not understandable to the common person and does not make a clear definition in your contract. So in conclusion I did not understand the contract. I rescinded in due time was the "ad" started working. You have admitted in your response that you remove confusion and distraction to your users with the exploitation of small businesses. You have no verification on tallying the "clicks, views" whatever you call them. How do you know if it's actual "click". From 20 clicks to 300 in one day when my "poll" position never changed. With that I really hope you consider changing much of your practices. Have a clear written contract with a clear definition of the jargon you use in contract. You must have a recession when the business has no way of actually seeing how this system works and not have to take your sales reps "word" on the information. I planned on doing business with you actually to be able to speak my truth and see your true colors. I'm sorry I did that. We can part ways and say Namaste- my soul recognizes your soul I honor the live light beauty truth kindness with in you because it is also in me sharing these things there is no difference between us we are the same we are one
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/09/23) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for feedback.
To clarify, an ad "click" occurs when a user clicks on an ad impression. An "ad impression" is the single display of an advertisement on the Yelp; these advertisements have the notation "Ad" and are displayed above the numbered search results and on competitors' business pages. Because your advertising program was a cost per click program, Yelp only charged you for the ad clicks you received.
It also sounds as though you may be concerned about possible click fraud. We employ a variety of industry-standard measures to detect and prevent invalid traffic and click fraud. For example, we monitor our clicks and impressions for fraudulent activity, and frequently update our filters to exclude activity from known offenders. We also subscribe to the Internet Advertising Bureau's bot list, which gives us an industry-standard filter in addition to our own more rigorous ones.
Finally, with regards to your comment, "my 'poll' position never changed," it sounds like you are referring to your business's ranking in our natural search results. We want to reiterate that Yelp's natural search results (which are numbered) are separate from Yelp Ads and have absolutely nothing to do with who is paying us.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/10/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
80% of our will to do business with Yelp was to clear up confusion to customers using Yelp. The only way to get the confusing information about other surrounding studios off our Yelp page (which you call ads) was to sign your contract. The fact that this is a premium shows you are selling straight forward clear communication and information to your users. We as a business deserve clear communication if you are using our name. We lshould get that right or at least not have that as a premium. That is what we believe is exploitation. Either every Yelp page is confusing and there is nothing the small business can do about that or every small business gets an ad free no confused Yelp page for free. If it was not a big deal it would not be part of the deal to sign up with you. Til ou see the benefit of a small business wanting to remove the confusing ads. The fact that is a premium is what we believe is the exploitation. Please change your mind. We need to focus on better things in our community. If we had taken advantage of you we would make it right. We don't feel we have wronged you Yelp only helped you maybe see a better way and see to it that you can change for the better. We all do it, it's all okay. And also there is no checks and balances on the clicks again that is just jargon. Namaste

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/24) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business pages for [redacted].
We've gone ahead and informed our Sales team that you no longer wish to receive any...

communication from them. If for any reason you continue to hear from them, please let us know at http://www.yelp.com/support/contact/questions
You also asked for your business pages to be removed from Yelp; however, we don't remove business information. While some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the law. More importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi Mac,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for Mac Partlow, MA. One of the ways we try to help Yelp users discover local businesses is by using automated software with the goal of showcasing reliable reviews. This...

means Yelp doesn’t recommend every review from every user and the software is automated so that it can apply the same objective standards to every business and every review. This is very different from other sites that tend to feature every single negative rant and positive rave. The software looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability and activity on Yelp. What is recommended can change over time, and a review that is currently not recommended may be recommended on another day.Please note that our recommendation software recommends both positive and negative reviews in an effort to show the most helpful and reliable reviews to our users. That said, Yelpers write more positive reviews than negative reviews, so it isn’t necessarily surprising that Yelp’s recommendation software might impact more positive reviews. We hope you’ll take the time to watch our video about the Recommendation Software: [redacted]We also want to be clear that actions taken by Yelp’s automated recommendation software are separate from the Yelp Support team's evaluation of reviews against our Content Guidelines. If you come across content that you feel may violate Yelp's Content Guidelines[redacted] please let our moderators know by reporting it. You can do so by finding the content in question, clicking the flag icon on the website or the More Options/Overflow Menu (3 dots) on the app. You'll need to be logged into your account to report content.To learn more, please visit: [redacted]While reporting content doesn't guarantee that it'll be removed, our team looks at every inquiry and carefully evaluates the content against our guidelines. Each case will be reviewed by our team in the order it was received. Typically, you will receive a response to your report of a review within a few business days. If you don't believe you've received our response, please be sure to check all email and spam folders (you may want to add [email protected] to your contact list).If you have reported a review, received an email from us about our decision to leave it up, and would like us to take a second look, you can submit a new inquiry by providing the case number (this is provided in our previously emailed response to the content you reported) here: http://www.yelp-support.com/article/Can-I-request-a-second-evaluation-of-somethi...⇄ Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].We've updated this business page to reflect what appears to be the current business information: [redacted]If this information is...

still incorrect, and if the correct information is available on your website or another public-facing source, please reply to this message with a link so we can verify it and update the business page on Yelp.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted]You wrote, "Yelp charged me for an add campaign I did not agree to. They are trying to charge me for a service they didn't provide."...

However, our records indicate that you electronically signed an advertising agreement on March 9, 2016. The advertising program you signed up for had $125 monthly fixed costs plus up to $475 monthly variable costs, for a monthly maximum of $600. The monthly fixed costs were for your enhanced profile, featured video, and call tracking. Your advertising package included a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly cost per click budget cap was set at $475, which means you were charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $475 a month for those ad clicks. If you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would be charged for the ad clicks you received. However, if you did reach your monthly budget cap, we no longer delivered ads for your business for the remainder of the month so that you wouldn't have to pay more than you agreed to.As the advertising services described above were delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signed, we will not be able to offer you a refund at this time. That said, we have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their consideration. Thanks for understanding.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted]Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].You expressed concern with a review. It looks like you are referring to the review by [redacted], as you've previously reported this...

review. The Yelp Support team has taken another look at this review and left it up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelines. You claim that this review is "false"; however, Yelp does not take sides in factual disputes. Rather, if a review appears to reflect the personal experience and opinions of the reviewer, it is our policy to allow the user to stand by his or her review.We noticed that you've already used your free business account to post a public comment on this review. Many reviewers respond favorably to business owners willing to engage in constructive conversation, and at the very least, other Yelp users appreciate seeing business owners take a proactive approach to dealing with customer concerns.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].Our records indicate you signed a twelve-month advertising agreement on November 17, 2014 with a service start date of December 1, 2014. With this...

advertising program, you signed up for a fixed monthly cost of $50 to cover your enhanced profile, plus monthly variable costs of up to $150 for your cost per click ads.While we allow businesses to change to another advertising program, generally speaking, this requires signing a new contract for the remaining months of the advertising term. You signed a new seven-month advertising agreement on April 8, 2015 with a service start date of May 1, 2015. This new advertising program increased your fixed monthly cost to $100 and your monthly variable costs to $200.You expressed concern that your advertising program continued past the initial commitment period. The terms stated in your second advertising agreement with Yelp were:"Commitment Period: 7 months from Service Start Date""Automatic renewal: Month-to-Month"That is to say, once you completed your initial seven-month term, your advertising continued to renew automatically on a monthly basis until we received a cancellation request from you. Per the terms of your advertising agreement, we require 30 days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. It looks like you spoke with an account manager, Cecilia, on December 10, 2015 and indicated you wanted to cancel, so your advertising program was terminated on January 10, 2016.We also want to clarify that your advertising program was billed in arrears, which means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous month. For example, you were charged $200 on May 1, 2015 for advertising services delivered in April 2015, and the last payment you made on November 10, 2015 was for advertising services delivered in October 2015. It looks like there is an outstanding balance of $696.78 for advertising services delivered from November 1, 2015 through January 10, 2016. As advertising services were delivered in accordance with the advertising agreement you signed, we will not be able to waive this remaining balance. Additionally, you expressed concern that you had been charged an early termination fee on May 11, 2015. As you may recall, you agreed to continue your advertising program so we refunded you the early termination fee of $600 on June 8, 2015. We apologize for the confusion.You also wrote, "My five-star reviews were getting moved off my wall where people could not see them, and I wanted my customers to see them." We want to be clear that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit [redacted] to learn more.As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static -- reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: [redacted]Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/14) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing regarding your advertising program for [redacted], LLC. We appreciate you bringing your concerns to our attention, and we'll be sure to forward your note along to the appropriate parties.
We...

are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign. To be clear, while the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, we cannot guarantee a certain level of results. When advertising with a cost per click program, you are electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impression as well as additional features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow.
You also expressed concern with our cancellation policy: "she told me that I have to write an email asking to cancel and after a month I'll receive a call because they need to review my account, I asked her if I needed it to pay that month too and she said yes! plus the $700 fee." Information about our cancellation policy is included in Section V of the advertising agreement you signed. The advertising agreement indicates that we require 30 days' written notice if you wish to terminate your program: "For Ad Programs that do include a CPC program, Client may terminate the Purchase Order on any day of the month by providing thirty (30) days' written notice, including email, to Client's account management contact at Yelp." You also asked that we waive the early termination fee, but per the terms of your advertising agreement, early termination is subject to a fee of $700. Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/07/27) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
On July 17,15 I've received a phone call from [redacted] Associate manager saying that they're going to waive the $700 cancelation fee and the termination day it would be August 1,2015 she told me and my husband that we only have to pay the 30 days cancelation policy. Then I've received an email confirmation from [redacted] saying the same thing but this time she mention that we are going to receive a "FINAL BILL"" on Sep 1,15 for the ads/profile cost incurred on Aug 1....THIS IS RIDICULOUS! I've email her back letting her know about my concern never she answered my email. Somebody need to investigate Yelp and the people operating this kind of business, they are very fishy and they are not clear. They have more than 1700 complaint in the last 3 years so I may not be wrong!....If Yelp was able to waive the $700 termination fee and other monthly fee to other costumer they should be able to do the same with me. I'm not HAPPY and I DO NOT recommend Yelp to nobody!...Nobody mentioned before that to cancel I have to write an email to the account manager, nobody mentioned to me before about the 30 days policy, nobody mentioned that I have to pay for that wanting month, nobody mentioned about the "FINAL BILL"...ALL THEY TOLD ME IS WAIT SINCE I WAS UNHAPPY THE SECOND WEEK....BUT THEY KEEP TELLING ME WAIT YOU WILL SEE THE RESULT....ALL I HAVE RECEIVED WERE MARKETING PHONE CALLS AND WRONG NUMBER CALLS! I AM NOT WILLING TO WAIST A PENNY ON YELP! I hope Yelp waive not only the $700 termination fee plus the "final bill"" for the ads/profile cost!

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/12/21) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. we are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] Inc.
We first want to clarify that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp...

does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more.
You also expressed concern with the recommendation software. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.
It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.
Additionally, while we understand your concerns, we want to make sure you are clear that federal law bars lawsuits against websites like Yelp for the decisions they make about which reviews to post or remove. See Carafano v. Metrosplash. com. Inc., 339 F. 3d 1119 (9th Cir. 2003); Zeran v. America Online, Inc., 129 F.3d 327 (4th Cir. 1997); Barrett v. Rosenthal, 40 Cal. 4th 33 (Cal. 2006).
For more information about recommended reviews, please visit our Support Center: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_Reviews?l=en_US
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/12/23) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
My business has legit customer reviews that are "not currently recommended" that is completely unfair. Google posts all reviews: 1 star and 5 star and everything in between. Same with Guild Quality and Angie's List. Yelp has given our company a "black eye" on line and has not, in 4 years posted ONE 5-STAR review for Opal Enterprises. But every single 1-star review...even those left by NON YELPERS sticks!?!?! I have 1-star reviews from people who do not have a profile photo or Yelp "friends" and no other reviews left...why OH WHY are ONLY our 4, 1-star reviews showing and 30 5-Star reviews hidden. Look at our Google reviews. We have 61 reviews!!! We have been in business for 12-years and are the highest-rated contractor in our area...but YELP displays us as a 1/5 star contractor. ALL of our reviews are LEGIT! I am not satisfied with your response and I want someone to look into the unfairness of our profile!
Complaint Response Date bumped because: Holiday
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2016/01/04) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
It sounds as though you don't accept our explanation of the recommendation software, but we can only stand by our previous statements. Yelp's recommendation software is an automated algorithm that attempts to weed out less reliable reviews while showcasing more reliable ones. This means that when reviews are posted to your listing, not all of them will make the cut. We acknowledge that even some legitimate reviews will not be recommended, but we still believe that the software as a whole makes our site more trustworthy and useful to consumers.
As indicated in our prior response, the recommendation software is automated to help avoid the potential for human bias inherent in individual decision-making: we cannot reverse the software's decisions, either to suppress an active review or to restore one that isn't recommended. But once again, the system is not static reviews may come and go as the recommendation software picks up new information.
We do understand the recommendation software can be frustrating at times, and your feedback is appreciated. When it comes down to it, all review sites face the same challenge: how to identify fake reviews among the many millions of legitimate reviews. It's no easy task, and there is always room for improvement. We hope to be able to continually improve on this issue.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].You expressed concern with a review you feel contains "a personal attack." It looks like you are referring to the review by S G. Evaluating reviews for...

inappropriate content isn’t easy and we recognize that each person has a different tolerance for strong language. Generally, what we don’t tolerate on our site are serious threats and hate speech. We do have a fairly high bar for colorful language and try to allow users to tell their story in their own words, whether or not they had a positive experience with a business, and regardless of our own personal tastes.We’ve taken another look at this review, and have also carefully considered your concerns that the reviewer may have a conflict of interest. However, we are still unable to confirm the conflict using the information we have in our systems.We hope you can understand why we ultimately didn’t conclude that the review you reported violates our terms.We also want to address your comment, "Upon contacting yelp via phone we were told (in a round about way) that if we paid for advertising with them negative reviews would be shuffled off the main page and/or hidden from sight." We want to be clear that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit [redacted] and http[redacted] to learn more.If you believe, however, that an individual has provided you with different information, we would like to investigate further. To that end, please provide us with the name of the individual whom you spoke with, their phone number, and the date and time of your conversation with them, if known.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/14) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted].
We are sorry to hear you are not satisfied with your...

advertising campaign. To be clear, while the goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page through features such as sponsored search results, which may ultimately result in more customers, we of course cannot guarantee a certain level of results. When advertising with an impressions-based program, you are paying for the delivery of a certain number of targeted ad impressions (in your case, 600 ad impressions per month) as well as additional features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow.
As advertising services are being delivered in accordance with your advertising agreement, we cannot offer a refund. That said, as you may recall from the email you recently received from our Account Management team, we have waived the early termination fee of $325. Your advertising program is set to cancel as of August 31, 2015, and you will not incur further charges.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
 
It is MORALLY wrong for one company to knowingly try to hide good reviews legitimately gained.
It is MORALLY wrong for one large business like Yelp to pay to have software designed - an algorithm - that removes good reviews and then insinuate somehow they were illegitimately gained. Further, Yelp knowingly chooses to promote and advance lesser photography (just going by some of the portfolios they promote). They are a despicable company and people need to stop relying on them for this reason. Their behavior and actions are immoral and underhanded - and they mislead the public about who might be a good source to go to when they remove reviews.Sincerely,[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because:Sincerely,Gokce[redacted]

Hi Jenna,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Webservio.We appreciate your feedback regarding your advertising program, and have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their consideration. In the...

meantime, we would like to provide some clarification regarding your advertising program.As you noted, you redeemed a $100 promotional ad credit. To redeem the $100 credit towards Yelp ads, you were required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put a credit card on file. You set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $300. Once the promotion runs out, advertising continues until you stop your ads through your Yelp for Business Owners Account.Your advertising program was a self-serve program, which means that ads can only be turned off by the business through the Yelp for Business Owners Account. If at any time you were not satisfied with your advertising program and wanted to end it, you could have logged in and ended the program. In Step 3 of your ad setup there were Q&A's on the right side of the page explaining that you could stop your ads any time through the Yelp for Business Owners site: "Can I stop any time? Yes. There's no commitment or obligation. Just come back to the Yelp for Business Owners site and stop your ads. You will be billed at the beginning of the next month for any clicks you bought before you cancelled."Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied:August 12 - 31, 2016- You received 1 ad click which cost a total of $17.73- $17.73 of your $100 credit was used and you paid $0September 2016- You received 6 ad clicks which cost a total of $300- You had $82.27 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was partially used in August- The costs did not exceed your selected $300 monthly budget- You paid $217.73 for advertising services delivered in September.October 2016- You received 8 ad clicks which cost a total of $300- You had $0 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used in August and September- The costs did not exceed your selected $300 monthly budget- You paid $300 for advertising services delivered in October.November 1 - 21, 2016- You received 5 ad clicks which cost a total of $142.76- You are responsible for $142.76 for advertising services delivered in November.You also expressed concern with the amount of variation you saw in the price per click. While you may have seen an estimated price per click when signing up, it's important to keep in mind that cost per click may change over time based on demand. As noted in the Ads and Upgrades Terms (https://biz.yelp.com/tos/upgrades_en_us_20160516) you agreed to when signing up for ads, "You agree[d] to allow Yelp to implement an auto-bidding strategy whereby your bid price per click varie[d] based on relevance, competition, and other factors, in an effort to maximize the number of clicks you receive[d] within the budget specified in the Checkout Form." However, the price you pay will always be the lowest price possible to win the click. For a more detailed description of how CPC ads work, including a video explanation, please visit: https://www.yelp-support.com/article/How-does-Yelp-s-Cost-Per-Click-CPC-advertis...⇄ regards to your concern that your maximum budget was fulfilled, we aim to maximize the number of clicks you get for your budget over the course of the month. Occasionally competitive demand prevents this, and if that was the case you would only be billed for the cost of the clicks you received in that monthly billing period.You ended your advertising program on November 21, 2016. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms you agreed to, at this time we will not be able to waive the outstanding balance of $142.76 for advertising services delivered in November. That being said, we have forwarded your feedback to the appropriate parties for their consideration.Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted]s.You expressed concern with the recommendation software. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable...

content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. You asked that we "move all the reviews to the recommended section," but please understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review.While we only look at Recommended Reviews in calculating a business's overall star rating, please keep in mind that the system is not static -- reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: [redacted]With regards to your comment, "they must give an option for us to remove our business name from their website," please note that we don't remove business information. While some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the law. More importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted]You wrote, "Yelp.com has listed my business on their site without my permission." We license basic business information from third party data...

providers who gather this type of information from public records and other sources. We also get business information from our users, who are helpful enough to correct the info we have, or let us know about a new spot that just opened down the street.If you are asking for your listing to be removed from Yelp, please note that we don't remove business listing information. While some business owners might prefer to keep a lower profile, this kind of information is publicly available and its use is protected under the law. You also expressed concern with the recommendation software. While we understand you are concerned that some reviews are not currently being recommended on your listing, it's important to remember that people can still see these reviews at the bottom of your business page, and they might be recommended on another day. The goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The software does what it can with the information at hand, and regularly revisits each review as it learns more. For example, the software might pick up new information as time goes by that makes a reviewer seem more trustworthy, or the information we have about a reviewer can grow stale. As a result, different reviews might be recommended on different days. That said, please note that because our recommendation software is automated, the Yelp Support team cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. For more information about recommended reviews, please visit our Support Center: [redacted]Regards,
[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for [redacted].We are sorry to hear you were not satisfied with your advertising campaign. Our records indicate that you signed a 3-month advertising agreement on...

February 12, 2016. Your advertising program had $125 monthly fixed costs plus up to $725 monthly variable costs, for a monthly maximum of $850. The monthly fixed costs were for your featured video and enhanced profile, which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow. Your advertising package included a cost per click (CPC) program and your monthly cost per click budget cap was set at $725, which means you were only charged when someone clicked on your ad and you agreed to pay up to $725 a month for those ad clicks. If you did not reach your monthly budget cap, you would only be charged for the ad clicks you received. However, if you did reach your monthly budget cap, we no longer delivered ads for your business for the remainder of the month so that you wouldn't have to pay more than you agreed to.Please note that per the terms of your advertising agreement, we require 30 days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. As it appears you provided your cancellation request on March 2, 2016, your advertising program was terminated on April 1, 2016. Additionally, early termination is subject to a fee of $700 per the terms of your advertising agreement, and you chose to end your program before the end of the 3-month term. However, it appears we were not able to collect this fee from you.We also want to address your comment, "I paid for ads that were seen all across the country." When a user is searching on Yelp for a business in a certain area, we do our best to provide that user with a Yelp Ad applicable to their search. Please note that these searches require that the user input a location they would like to search near, so when your ad was appearing above search results, it would have been for searches in your area. Yelp Ads appear above the natural search results, as well as on your local competitors' business pages. The Yelp Ad is differentiated from the natural search results by an orange border, and has the notation "Ad" in next to the business name.We've forwarded your message to the appropriate parties for their consideration, but at this time, it appears you are responsible for an outstanding balance of $878.34 for advertising services delivered in March 2016 and on April 1, 2016. Thanks for understanding.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns.We first want to clarify that a business's decision whether or not to advertise on Yelp does not affect how the reviews on its listing are treated. Businesses are not punished if they don't advertise, nor...

are businesses awarded with preferential treatment with regards to their reviews if they do advertise. We understand there are some misconceptions about this, so we invite you to visit http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and https://www.yelpblog.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-for-...⇄ to learn more.If you believe, however, that an individual has provided you with different information, we would like to investigate further. To that end, please provide us with the name of the individual whom you spoke with, their phone number, and the date and time of your conversation with them, if known.You also expressed concern with the recommendation software. As you may have read, the goal of Yelp's recommendation software is to showcase more reliable content. The recommendation software establishes an objective standard against which every review can be measured, and looks at dozens of different signals, including various measures of quality, reliability, and activity on Yelp.It's important to note that the software applies the same analysis to everyone, and that it affects both positive and negative reviews. Please also understand that the recommendation software is automated: we cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review. However, the system is not static -- reviews may become recommended or not recommended over time as the system continues to make decisions based on a variety of factors.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/Recommended_ReviewsRegards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.