Yelp.com

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: This is the typical canned response Yelp post to all complaints. I will contact the Attorney General in their jurisdiction and pursue a criminal racketeering investigation. Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/16) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page and advertising program for [redacted].
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.
With regards to your concerns 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. 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
Finally, you wrote, "we have tried e-mailing our advertising agent that works with Yelp and we have tried contacting customer service and is goes nowhere." It looks like an account manager, [redacted], has recently spoken with and emailed your colleague Lucas.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/21) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns.
We first want to make sure you know 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.
We are unable to locate your business page with the information you provided. Please feel free to respond with a link to your business page so that we can better address your specific situation, but generally speaking, if a review is not appearing on the main Yelp listing of a business, it would be for one of three reasons: the review is currently not recommended by Yelp's automated recommendation software (which affects both positive and negative reviews); the review was found to be in violation of our Content Guidelines or Terms of Service and has been manually removed by the Yelp Support team; or the user elected to remove the review him/herself.
If a review is brought to the attention of the Yelp Support team and is found to fall outside our Content Guidelines, the Yelp Support team will take appropriate action, such as removing the review. That said, please note the action that the Yelp Support team takes is separate from actions taken by Yelp's automated recommendation software. If a review is not recommended, that does not necessarily mean it is in violation of our guidelines.
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_Reviews?l=en_US
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because:I spoke with him from [redacted] I don't remember date and time, I didn't think I would be going threw this so I didn't write it down. You should be ashamed of yourself for no refund. Take a look how many complaints you guys have at Revdex.com. It is obvious that you guys lie and deceive your clients, I am not the only one with this issue, the complaints are full of your guys deceitful ways. SHAME ON YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response becauseYelp is blatantly lying. We cancelled as of 4/26 online, via email and via phone, This included a follow up phone call on 5/1 we indicated to the rep who contacted me that we were not interested. My phone system has 0 calls from Yelp which flies directly in the face of what we were told. During setup we indicated no additional features, and received no contact from anybody. 
If Yelp is going to portray themselves as "Legitimate" why in 500+ "Clicks" was there 0 contact? Sounds pretty fishy if you ask me. 
 
If Yelp would like to continue this course of action and deny my request I will forward this to the attorney general with a copy of my phone system records (the only place that number was listed was with yelp) and to my attorney's for full legal action under California Law.
Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/08/11) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding [redacted] Clinic.
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. 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
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp, Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/08/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Dear Mr. [redacted],
Consumers turn to Yelp because many people want to find out if a business has an excellent reputation. I know I myself turned to Yelp and read reviews about Vet Playas before I made the terrible decision to go there because Yelp had nothing but glowing 5 Star reviews for Vet Playas, which I now know, in no way reflects the truth about this incompetent and dishonest veterinary clinic.
While I appreciate your response, I have to say I am disappointed. I find your software to be unacceptable for such a successful company. Is this the best you can do, being that you are a prosperous giant, when it comes to the business of consumer reviews?
According to your website, Yelp states: "Your trust is our top concern, so business can't pay to alter or remove their reviews." Really? Not a single person (several people have complained) can even post one 1 star review for Vet Playas. They are automatically hidden.
If a consumer's trust was your top concern, you would allow consumers to post 1 star reviews about Vet Playas, and ask all those who posted positive reviews for Vet Playas for verifiable proof of purchase, to determine if any of these posting 5 Star Vet Playas Reviews have ever even made a single purchase at Vet Playas.
If this was a retail store or a restaurant, it would not be so egregious. However, a 5 star (fake?) Yelp review and score for an incompetent so called emergency Vet clinic in Mexico, can result in not only someone's fur baby dying and suffering inhumanely at Vet Playas, which is what happened to my 7-year-old yellow lab, but will only cause extreme heartache to those who love their companion animal. Do you not love pets? I ask you to please reconsider. My review, which is true and correct, was deleted several times and hidden.
Please do not let Vet Playas take advantage of people during an emergency by allowing them to have a score that does not truly reflect the bad reputation that they actually have. I would hate to see anyone or any pet suffer because of this place. The American public really should be warned about Vet Playas.
I believe 5 star fake reviews for an incompetent and dishonest Emergency Veterinary Clinic is extremely dangerous and should be a crime against those who post them.
The owner of Vet Playas, [redacted]s, has admitted in a written statement, that he flags all negative Yelp reviews. In another written statement, [redacted]s has stated that his Vets are afraid to go to Vet Playas at night for fear of getting robbed or kidnapped, yet the various Vet Playas websites states "it's safe." This statement is false, just like all the numerous false statements that are currently on the various Vet Playas websites.
A 1 star review which is accurate, and (which I am certain receipts can be provided) may harm the reputation of Vet Playas, but no beautiful animal will be harmed as a result, nor will their family unnecessarily suffer a loss.
Consumers deserve a review site that has honest 5 star veterinary emergency clinic reviews (that aren't paid for by the company itself) and accurate negative reviews that are not deleted by the company in an effort to cover up the truth.
The worst part about all of this is that [redacted]s, the owner, has no remorse, and still refuses to take down all of the false statements that are currently on his various Vet Playas websites. [redacted]s and Vet Playas can't be sued for fraud, false advertisement or Veterinary negligence under US law, due to its jurisdiction, even though they have been committing this.
[redacted]s has admitted in writing that he flags negative Yelp reviews, and that his vets are afraid to go to Vet Playas at night for fear of being robbed or kidnapped, yet the various Vet Playas website falsely states "it's safe".
Please I ask you to do what's best for innocent animals and those who love them - so they don't fall victim to Vet Playas.
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/09/08) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
We're sorry to hear you had an unfavorable experience with this business, and we appreciate your feedback regarding the recommendation software. While we recognize that the recommendation software is not a perfect system, the goal of the software is to showcase more reliable content. The software applies the same analysis to everyone, and it affects both positive and negative reviews. 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.
We also 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 http://www.yelp.com/advertiser_faq and http://officialblog.yelp.com/2013/05/no-yelp-doesnt-extort-small-businesses-see-...⇄ to learn more.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/07/10) */
Hi Dr. [redacted]
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted] C [redacted], MD.
You wrote, "The negative reviews actually started after the first two years,...

during which they called our office multiple times each week, asking our company to subscribe to monthly paid service with them 'to improve online reviews about our company'." To be clear, 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.
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, the phone number that received the call, 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. 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 some negative reviews. If you believe a review violates Yelp's Content Guidelines (http://www.yelp.com/guidelines), you can report the content by clicking the flag icon next to it. You'll need to be logged in to your account in order to view the flag icon. 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 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 [redacted]@yelp.com to your contact list).
For instructions on how to report content, please visit: http://www.yelp-support.com/article/How-do-I-report-a-review?l=en_US.
You asked for your business to be removed from Yelp, but we actually 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. More importantly, we believe that the public benefits from sharing their experiences with local businesses.
You also expressed concern that "They post that Dr [redacted] is an optometrist, instead of an ophthalmologist." We have systems in place to keep our data accurate and timely but from time to time, errors can occur. We've corrected your category and apologize for any inconvenience: http://www.yelp.com/biz/[redacted]
Finally, 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
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/07/21) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Dear Business Complaints Division (Regarding complaints against Yelp.com):
Specifically, I wish to file the two complaints below, on behalf of my ethical business and every other ethical business which has suffered from the irresponsible journalism that is slanderous, inaccurate, unverified, anonymous, dishonest resulting from the yelp.com business model that is designed to financially benefit from one-sided, inaccurate, unethical reviews online. I will elaborate on these specific slanderous and defamation of character practices which Yelp.com engages in, in the paragraphs which follow the below listed complaint summaries (see A & B):
A) unethical, deceptive, negative, slanderous, and defamation of character, unsubstantiated/unverified online business reviews generated and propagated by Yelp.com company who persists in practicing irresponsible journalism and inaccurate business reviews
B) Request for our company to be included in any current or future litigation against Yelp.com, suing for damages/business revenue losses resulting from unethical and inaccurate reviews from anonymous posting persons, allowed by Yelp.com
I accuse of Yelp.com (business name) of deceptive and untruthful business reviews propagation, defamation of character, slander and refusing to post corrections, accurate reviews based on truthful facts from normal and real patients/clients, and willful, repeated refusals despite six years of requests by telephone and online to reliably post true patient positive reviews on their website. Yelp hides and/or buries or deletes all positive reviews, only posting prominently negative reviews (forever), often from negative attitude persons who were not even established or real customers or clients and allows these persons to post these reviews anonymously so that anyone can post lies and deceptive reviews without accountability. Our company cannot pursue these individuals for slander and defamation of character and we have no options for legal recourse due to Yelp's anonymous review policy and thus we are unable to seek reimbursement for crimes committed by these cowardly anonymous reviewers who slander rival businesses and fear no retribution for untruthful and deceptive, vicious reviews that appear on Yelp's website. Yelp repeatedly blocks all new positive reviews from new and established clients, repeatedly telling our company Yelp has determined that these positive reviews are "unreliable". Yelp also has refused to delete (or allow me to delete) my company profile from their Yelp online website, despite my multiple, repeated requests the past six years, resulting in irreparable harm to my business and business reputation online. I consider their arrogant behavior and deceptive reviews unethical and slanderous. Yelp hides and/or buries or deletes all positive reviews, only posting prominently negative reviews (forever), often from negative attitude persons who were not even established or real customers or clients and allows these persons to post these reviews anonymously so that anyone can post lies and deceptive reviews without accountability. Our company cannot pursue these individuals for slander and defamation of character and we have no options for legal recourse due to Yelp's anonymous review policy and thus we are unable to seek reimbursement for crimes committed by these cowardly anonymous reviewers who slander rival businesses and fear no retribution for untruthful and deceptive, vicious reviews that appear on Yelp's website. Yelp repeatedly blocks all new positive reviews from new and established clients, repeatedly telling our company Yelp has determined that these positive reviews are "unreliable". Yelp also has refused to delete (or allow me to delete) my company profile from their Yelp online website, despite my multiple, repeated requests the past six years, resulting in irreparable harm to my business and business reputation online. I consider their arrogant behavior and deceptive reviews unethical and slanderous. The negative reviews actually started after the first two years, during which they called our office multiple times each week, asking our company to subscribe to monthly paid service with them "to improve online reviews about our company". We respectfully and repeatedly declined their excessive and unwanted cold marketing telephone calls which were unsolicited and abusive. After two years of telephone harassing calls to our office, yelp.com resolved to post only vicious and slanderous reviews with daily online defamation of character reviews. Please automatically enroll our company in any pending or future litigation against Yelp.com, with this letter as proof of authorization for you to do so on behalf of our company, and please mail (to our company address listed below) any present or future group litigation that is currently in process or planned for the future so that we may join in any lawsuit against yelp.com for irresponsible and unethical, deceptive, slanderous business practices by Yelp.com. Yelp.com should go out of business or be forced to go out of business by an enormous law suit which remunerates the myriad businesses who have been unjustly monetarily damaged by inaccurate reviews by Yelp.com from unverifiable sources that are only displayed prominently by Yelp's website if they are vicious, inflammatory and overwhelmingly negative. Myriad companies, such as my own company, work hard every day to provide excellent customer service. Our company, specifically, strives to preserve vision in patients with sight-threatening diseases and to optimize patient's vision to both enrich their lives and achieve the maximum amount of excellent visual functioning possible that will allow patients to live long, happy and productive lives without progression to preventable blindness. Yelp.com's mission statement seems to be the following: "let's accept anonymous, unconfirmed reviews from only the most negative and vicious people writing online reviews and post them forever without letting the companies who are being maligned have any option to delete their company from Yelp.com's website and with no recourse to correct and defend their good name and company reputation without sounding petty and argumentative by responding to incredulous and untruthful reviews by bitter and vindictive Yelp.com online reviewers. Yelp.com is the epitome of irresponsible journalism, slander, defamation of character for businesses worldwide and pretends to be an ethical company. Instead they have become experts in generating anonymous, negative, inaccurate reviews of businesses which they post forever and they engage in the practice of burying or discarding all positive reviews from prominent areas of their company review pages online, and then attempt to harass the very companies the pretend to be concerned for by cold marketing telephone calls and emails, hoping to charge these same businesses they are slandering "to improve that business's online reputation", which Yelp.com originally sullied. Again, you have our company permission to include us if any current or future lawsuits against Yelp.com. We have lost many thousands of dollars from the defamation and slanderous accusations which are untruthful and unsubstantiated but published without verification by Yelp.com. More importantly, patients with serious eye disease who would have derived sight-saving eye care have been turned away from this eye care as a result of Yelp's singular focus on destroying businesses reputations throughout the world and then, in an ambulance-chasing manner, trying to follow these damaged businesses (which Yelp injured via irresponsible publishing of hostile, untruthful, subjective, one-sided online business reviews by malicious persons with evil intent) and profit monetarily by having these business pay Yelp to improve online reputations that Yelp destroyed. Truly, yelp has a wicked business model that deserves to be entangled in lawsuits until yelp.com is forced out of business and into bankruptcy or exposed by businesses who unite and take action in conjunction with state government agencies and the federal government responsible for prosecuting businesses engaging in daily fraud!
Until Yelp.com removes completely my business and all past, present, and future yelp reviews of me and my business from the internet, I will consider this matter unresolved and consider any and all opportunities to individually or jointly unite other maligned companies to pursue litigation against yelp.com for irresponsible slander and defamation of character, and unethical business conduct and irresponsible and inaccurate journalism which engages in no fact finding and purposely perpetuates non-factual reviews of businesses and only regards vicious reviews as reliable for their first screen yelp reviews of businesses while simultaneously burying positive reviews from real clients who were actually clients of the busin
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2015/08/05) */
Hi Dr. [redacted],
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.
Additionally, while we share your concerns, we don't adjudicate disputes between businesses and their reviewers. Congress acknowledged this predicament by passing [redacted] that provides statutory immunity to online service providers such as Yelp for the content of third-party posts. See 47 U.S.C. §230. The case law is clear on this point in support of online service providers because of concerns that they would otherwise be forced to remove third party posts every time someone raised issue with their contents. 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).

That said, we will revisit your request if you provide to us a final judicial determination that the contents of a review are defamatory and will, at our discretion, take appropriate action with respect to the review and the user responsible for the review.

We encourage you to contact the reviewers directly using the private messaging function on our site in order to constructively address your concerns. We do not recommend that you engage in anything other than a well-meaning dialog with the reviewers in order to sort out any misunderstandings.
Lastly, you have again asked that your business listing be removed, but as previously stated, we don't remove business listing information. Yelp is allowed to publish business names and publicly available information about businesses under the well-established fair use doctrine, as well as First Amendment principles. Generally speaking, this means that we can display business names and trademarks "for purposes of comparison, criticism, point of reference, or any other such purpose." See New Kids on the Block v. New America Pub., Inc., 971 F.2d 302, 306 (9th Cir. 1992).
Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp, Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]
I am rejecting this response because: This is the same excuse I was given when I called Yelp customer service. I did everything they asked me to do. I reviewed their video, I asked my clients to have their children ( the one's who use Yelp all the time ) leave feedback for them since their reviews were blocked ( this was suggested by the customer service rep from Yelp ). Nothing has resolved the problem. If Yelp is no longer a website for customers to leave honest reviews about his or her experiences, Yelp needs to make this clear to it's members. None of our clients have been able to leave their feedback & one client in particular suggested I have Yelp contact him at home to verify his feedback.  We have received sales calls and email offers from Yelp yet we haven't received any support concerning our problem.  
Sincerely,
[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/06/30) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for The [redacted].
You wrote, "all positive legitimate reviews conveniently get hidden if you choose to not...

advertise with Yelp." We want to assure you 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. Furthermore, there is zero relationship between the timing of when a review gets recommended and when a business decides to - or declines to - advertise: reviews can be recommended or not recommended days, weeks, or even months after they were first posted, and your Yelp sales representative doesn't have any influence over when that might happen. 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.
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. 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] R's review of your business. As you may recall from the messages you've received from the Yelp Support team, the review has been evaluated by the Yelp Support team and left up, as it was not found to be in violation of our guidelines. You claim that this review is "littered with false statements"; 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/her review.
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].We first want to make sure you know 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 [redacted] 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.To learn more about recommended reviews, please visit: [redacted]With regards to your concern with a negative review, it looks like you are referring to the review by [redacted] as you previously reported this review. As you may recall from your correspondence with the Yelp Support team, this review has been evaluated by and left up, as it was 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 or her review.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi Mr. [redacted]Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for the [redacted].We appreciate your feedback, and have forwarded your message to the appropriate parties. It looks like a manager, [redacted], has...

reached out to discuss your concerns.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, it is important to keep in mind that results are not guaranteed. When advertising with a Cost Per Click program, you were electing to pay every time a user clicks on your ad impression. You were also paying for a featured video, call tracking, and an enhanced profile (which included features such as competitor ad removal and a photo slideshow).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.Our records indicate 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. 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 also want to address your comment, "As a side note, I had an accident in late April, which required me to undergo surgical repair of a ruptured achilles tendon. This rendered me practically unable to work until the end of May, also, something we informed Yelp of." According to our records, it appears your colleague [redacted] brought this to [redacted] attention on April 25, 2016, and that she decided to go forward with lowering the monthly click budget. It looks like she signed a new advertising agreement on April 25, 2016, which became effective May 1, 2016, to lower the click budget to $475.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. It appears you provided your cancellation request on May 11, 2016, and your advertising program was terminated on June 11, 2016.Finally, we wanted to let you know that the remaining balance of $192.51 for advertising services delivered June 1, 2016 to June 11, 2016 has been waived, so you will not incur further charges. If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to reach out to [redacted] to discuss.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted]Thank you for your response.It looks like a manager, [redacted] reached out to you on May 6, 2016 to discuss your concerns. As you may recall, we have waived the early termination fee of $700. However, you are responsible for the remaining balance of $1081.67 for advertising services delivered March 1, 2016 to April 29, 2016.Additionally, while we appreciate your feedback regarding the calls you received, we want to be clear that you were charged when someone clicked on your ad impression, not when someone called your business. While people who called your business may have found your business page through your Yelp ad, it's also possible that they found your business page through other means, such as our natural search results. The goal of advertising on Yelp is to drive more traffic to the business page, which may ultimately result in more customers, but we cannot guarantee a certain level of results, and we cannot guarantee that certain types of people will or won't click on your ads.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/11/16) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for The [redacted].
We first want 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.
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. You wrote, "I want my positive reviews to show as recommended," but please 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
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because: I do not understand how you can consider people I do not know and have never been clients as reliable sources of information. I do not agree with this. Sincerely,[redacted]

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/07/15) */
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 that incorrect hours were displayed on your...

business page. We have systems in place to keep our data accurate and timely but from time to time, errors or delays can occur. We've gone ahead and removed the hours and apologize for any inconvenience: [redacted]
For future reference, if you would like to submit changes to your business page, we suggest that you do so by logging in to your business account at https://biz.yelp.com. Changes made from a business account will be displayed immediately, but please note that they will still need to be approved by our moderators.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.

Hi [redacted],Thank you for writing again.We appreciate your concerns but, after careful consideration, we ultimately reached a different conclusion than you about whether this review violates our terms. As you noted, we don't take sides on factual disputes, so we can only therefore reiterate what we previously communicated to you: if a review appears to reflect the user's personal experience and opinions, we allow the user to stand behind their review.You also wrote, "In the spirit of judicial economy, our firm is DEMANDING Yelp provide any and all information it has to help our firm identify and locate [redacted]." Please note that we don't disclose user information under these circumstances due to privacy concerns. Please see our Privacy Policy ([redacted]) for more information about how and when we might disclose this kind of information.Regards,[redacted]Yelp Inc.

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/10/13) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your business page for [redacted].
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.
Additionally, as indicated on the first page of the advertising agreement you signed, "Please note that businesses cannot pay to remove, reorder, or otherwise impact reviews. If you decide not to enroll in a Yelp Ad Program, that won't affect your reviews, either."
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_Reviews?l=en_US
We have forwarded your feedback regarding your conversations with our account management team to the appropriate parties. Additionally, it looks like a manager, [redacted], has since been in touch with your colleague [redacted]. As you may recall, the early termination fee has been waived.
Please note that per the terms of your contract, we require 30 days written notice to your account management contact if you wish to terminate your advertising program. As you provided your cancellation request on September 29, 2015, your advertising program is set to cancel as of October 29, 2015. Because your advertising program is billed in arrears, please note that you will see a final charge on November 1 for services delivered in October. Thanks for understanding.
Regards,
[redacted]
Yelp Inc.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 7, 2015/10/19) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
These are the messages sent back and forth from yelp. I explain to them that I do not want to be charged for anything I will not pay them another dime they are scamming people for there money and it is not fair. I would like for yelp to return all money back to me. I am highly upset with yelp and there scamming about there reviews being utilized by a software they pick and choose what reviews are on your page. And I understand I am not paying for reviews. But it is not right that my clients cant put a good review and it gets taken off, ITS A SCAM.
Hi [redacted],
Thanks for your time today. Sorry we got disconnected. I wanted to follow up via email to cover what was discussed, as well as outline the plan for moving forward.
Written notice is required 30 days in advance to stopping a Yelp Ads program. With today being your cancelation notice (please reply back to confirm), your Yelp Ads will be shut off 10/29/2015.
The early termination fee of $640 will not be assessed.
The charges from your Yelp Ads program (ad clicks and enhanced profile) will be collected. You should see a charge on 10/1 for services received in the month of September, and one final charge on 11/1 for services received in October.
You still have Account Management support until the end of your term of termination date of Yelp Ads. We can be reached at (XXX) XXX-XXXX.
I encourage you to continue to engage with your Business Owner's Account and reach out with any questions you have. I wish you the best moving forward.
Thanks,
[redacted], Associate Manager- Local Accounts
p: [redacted]
[redacted]
Sep 29
to [redacted]
[redacted],
I think I told you that when you can come to a better resolution instead of bullying me and harassing me about Fee's that I am not authorizing then we could talk. I will go ahead to further notice let the better Revdex.com know what you are trying to charge me for and also let them see this email. If I was today to cancel my account that means I WOULD NO LONGER BE CHARGED FOR ANYTHING! If I am terminating my account that means I should not be charged any FEE'S!!
Its called a early termination! If you continue to harass me I will get law enforcement involved!!
Charges from a cancelled Yelp Ads program (ad clicks and enhanced profile) will not be collected. I should not see a charge on 10/1 for services not received in the month of September, and one final charge on 11/1 for services not received in October because I am prompting to cancel my account! You will not charge me anything you might think you can try to scam me but you wont.
Hi [redacted],
Thanks for the reply. I apologize, I do not intend to harass you or bully you for fee's. I have attached a copy of your original advertising agreement to use for reference. This should outline what services were rendered and the fees associated with those services.
I am more than happy to schedule a call to discuss further concerns, but as of now your account is set to discontinue on 10/01/15 with no early termination fee.
[redacted],
I am glad my account is set to discontinue on 10/01/15 with no early termination fee. Like I said I don't want any further Fee's to be accessed!
Final Business Response /* (4000, 9, 2015/11/04) */
Hi [redacted],
Thank you for your response.
Our records indicate that you signed up for a packaged Cost-Per-Click program, which means you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impression. You were also paying for additional features such as competitor ad removal, a photo slideshow, featured video, and call tracking.
We also want to reiterate that we require 30 days written notice in order to terminate your advertising program. As noted in Section V (Term and Termination) of the advertising agreement you signed: "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." Because you provided your cancellation request on September 29, 2015, your advertising program was terminated on October 29, 2015. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with your contract, we will not be able to offer you a refund.
With regards to your concerns with the recommendation software, 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.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 11, 2015/11/06) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
My records indicate that I signed up for a packaged Cost-Per-Click program, which means you elected to pay every time a user clicked on your ad impression WHICH I ONLY GOT A FEW CLICKS WHICH WERE CHARGED AT DIFFERENT AMOUNTS MAJOR "SMAM".. I did not sign up for additional features such as competitor ad removal, a photo slideshow, featured video, and call tracking.
I provided My cancellation request before September 29, 2015, your advertising program should have been terminated before October 29, 2015. As advertising services have not been delivered in accordance with my contract,you will refund every dime I ever paid you. Because this is a scam.

Complaint:[redacted]I am rejecting this response because:
A.  It was not clearly defined
B.  I have never received any bills concerning these charges
C.  I did not intend to ever advertise online for any amount
D.  I have not ever received any list of clicks or actual indication that these  so called 'clicks' were actually done - very ambiguous claims and not verifiable as I have asked numerous times for evidence
E.  I never ever received any confirmation from your company concerning registration etc. so therefore had no knowledge that this was going on.
Sincerely,Judith [redacted]

Hi Beth,Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Ng Computer Services.  Our records indicate you redeemed a $300 promotional ad credit on May 31, 2017. To redeem the $300 credit towards Yelp ads, you were...

required to sign up for our Cost Per Click (CPC) advertising campaign and put payment information on file. You set your Cost Per Click monthly budget at $450. You also signed up for enhanced profile features which cost an additional $75 per month. 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 be turned off by the business at any time through the Yelp for Business Owners Account. If you only wanted to use your $300 promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the program once that credit was used. During your ad setup there were Q&A's on the page explaining that you could stop your ads any time through the Yelp for Business Owners site.Additionally, after you signed up for your advertising program, we sent you an automated email with the subject line "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!" that recapped your purchase and the details of your campaign, including that the payment method on file in your account will be charged monthly, up to a maximum of $525, and your programs will continue unless cancelled. Billing statements were available in the Billing tab of your account, and advertisers also have the option to opt in to receiving billing confirmation emails in the Account Settings section of their account. Below is a more detailed description of how the promotion was applied: May 31, 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $0.53- $0.53 of your $300 credit was used and you paid $0June 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $241.68 - $241.68 of your remaining $299.47 credit was used and you paid $0July 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $474.58- $57.79 of your remaining $57.79 credit was used and you paid $416.79August 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $517.49- You had 0 remaining promotional credit for this month because it was used towards you May, June, and July ads- You paid $517.49 for advertising services delivered in AugustSeptember 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $525- You paid $525 for advertising services delivered in SeptemberOctober 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $403.15- You paid $403.15 for advertising services delivered in OctoberNovember 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $404.74- You paid $404.74 for advertising services delivered in NovemberDecember 1 - 25, 2017- You received ad clicks and enhanced profile features which cost a total of $398.02- You are responsible for $398.02 for advertising services delivered in DecemberYou can view ad click and billing information in the Yelp Ads and Billing tabs of your Yelp for Business Owners Account at [redacted].We also want to address your comments, "I tried to stop the ad campaign (that I do not believe I signed up for) and was unable to do so from the business account page" and "I sent a message asking Yelp to end my ads in October, but it was never acknowledged." Instructions on how to cancel your ads were available in the Support Center:[redacted], we were unable to locate such a message from you from October, but if you provided a written cancellation request in October, could you please forward us the email (including headers) to[redacted], so that we can look into this further? Please be sure to indicate that it is in regards to Revdex.com case[redacted]You ended your advertising program on December 25, 2017. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms[redacted]8) you agreed to, we will not be able to waive the outstanding balance of $398.02 for advertising services delivered in December at this time. Once this amount is collected, you will not incur further charges. Thanks for understanding.Regards,HelenYelp Inc.

Complaint: [redacted]I am rejecting this response because my personal address and contact information is being displayed. 
Sincerely[redacted]