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shakahorn

By shakahorn
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shakahorn

shakahorn 1645

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Tons of rumors about their business practices and how evil they are.  Anyone here have any direct experience?  I have suspicions but like most others, nothing provable.

Rumors: Yelp will remove bad reviews for paying advertisers.  Yelp has a limit on the number of five star reviews for non-paying businesses.  Yelp has a bunch of “bots” that generate bad reviews for businesses that piss them off for whatever reason.  There are more rumors but you get the drift.

TL; dr: In my experience, for my wife’s dental practice, we have not been able to get a clearly illegitimate review taken down.  We used to be a paying customer, and they wouldn’t take it down even then.  When they call back to try to get us to re-up, they hint that they can take down bad reviews, but we haven’t bitten.

Lately, we’ve had a bunch of five star reviews get lumped into the “not recommended” pile, for no discernible reason.  These are reviews from legitimate patients who are credible Yelp users, multiple reviews, a mix of ranges in these reviews for other establishments, been on for years, and have multiple friends on Yelp.

When we inquire about these reviews, we get the “our algorithm is finely tuned…”  Which is the same response we got when we asked about the illegitimate review.  My suspicion is that we are somehow flagged as former advertisers and our good reviews get tossed until we sign up again.

Thoughts from the surlosphere?

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SHOOTER12

SHOOTER12 8800

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I think Yelp is the bottom of the garbage pan. I've heard a lot of rumors as you have and it seems to me where there's that much smoke there must be fire. However I have also heard that malicious false negative reviews have resulted in people getting their pants sued off. I don't know whether that's in line with what you're suffering from but it has happened successfully.

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Richard Kimball

Richard Kimball 1494

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Just now, Spur08 said:

Apparently, I should feel bad about this. Yelp is my main go to when looking for reviews.

You can't trust review sites. There are dozens of ways to game the system, even if they try to keep it legit. Particularly don't trust a review site that takes advertising payments from the people being reviewed.

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Clintonaldo

Clintonaldo 2572

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2 hours ago, Neonmoon said:

I think Yelp is garbage and the people who spend time to write Yelp reviews are insane. 

Seriously this. Yelpers are the most narcissistic douchers out there. Fuck off with your ” wanted to love the salsa but it wasn’t complex enough”. Yelp is where unimportant people go to feel important. 

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Lhorn

Lhorn 4911

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To piggy back on the above, my opinion is that Yelp is garbage too.

It's clearly a forum for people to do hatchet jobs, so ya gotta take into account that the average Yelper is a piece of trash.  To many "We got there just as they were closing and they refused to seat us.  One star!"  Amazon reviews suffer from this too.  "This off brand $7.00 rice cooker didn't have the features of $85.00 Kitchenaid model so I have to deduct 2 stars."  

I went to a lock smith once and had a good experience so after the fact I checked out their reviews.  One of the 1 star reviews read "$1.69 just to have a key made....REALLY??!!"  So obviously Yelp and social media in general gives a voice and importance to the opinions of lunatics.  

Too many restaurants ranging from barely acceptable to really quite good fall into the 3.xx star.  Therefore the stars aren't particularly useful.  

To specifically comment on the OP question, my wife's business had some dealings with Yelp and feel that IMO they do allow reviews to stay up or be removed based on whether you pay them (in part at least).  She previously worked in an office run by a loser who payed Yelp.  While there he actively encouraged office staff to write reviews for the business.  When my wife left and started her own business, she wanted no part in Yelp, but of course you can't opt out.  She got a review or two that seemed like retaliation from the former colleague, and it was difficult to get them removed despite the fact that they broke certain Yelp rules about posting.  All the while he was getting over the top 5 star reviews being written by people with no or minimal prior postings - an obvious red flag for fakes.  These seemed to stick even though similar legitimate postings from my wife's customers were taken down right away.  We didn't want to start a Yelp war in part because we are above it, but also because he was at a distinct advantage having Yelp automatically favor his side it seemed.  I think he didn't want to start anything either because he thought we might retaliate so it all died down.  

Ultimately I lost all faith in the legitimacy of Yelp's rules and how they manage suspected fake postings.

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Hook1997

Hook1997 5351

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I use it all the time for restaurants and if they have over a 100 reviews and above a four star rating it’s never been bad.  The pics posted and menu are also very helpful to approve if it’s actually good.  I would think bot reviews on yelp would be pretty easy to catch....   I’m sure you can pay and get bad reviews deleted but still a good judge to go by in a area new to you I would say.  

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WhatTheBuck

WhatTheBuck 28775

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14 hours ago, Larry T. Spider said:

My strategy is to look at the pics and menu and judge if a place is worth a shot. What your average yelper thinks of a place is worthless to me.

This. I mainly use it to find businesses nearby. Pics are a big help in the case of restaurants. I'm pretty good at filtering reviews. And really, how many small businesses can afford to pay Yelp to delete bad reviews? The reviews are just one small factor in my decision making process. I recently used the reviews to choose between two Indian restaurants near a friend's place. Just by comparing the positive reviews of both places I'm pretty sure I chose the better of the two and it was pretty much what I was expecting. 

I almost created a Yelp account a few weeks ago just to post a bad review about a really bad experience I had at a wing joint nearby. I didn't because that would've required some time and effort on my part, not the least of which would've been coming up with a username I could live with. 

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shakahorn

shakahorn 1645

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15 hours ago, blacklab said:

Yes, if you pay them they will remove bad reviews and post good reviews.

Is there some sort of double-secret password you have to use to get this done?

When we were paying customers, we asked if they would remove a review that was clearly illegitimate - reviewer only had one post, no friends, joined the day of the post - and they said no.  When we canceled our sub, one of the reasons we gave was they would not help us get rid of this bitch-made review and they still didn't bite.  Now when they call to get us to re-up, we tell them about that and their response is "so...if we tell you we'll get rid of the post, will you renew?"  But of course, we have to renew first and then trust that they'll take it down.

Oh and when I referenced "bots" in the OP I wasn't necessarily meaning automated bots, but also low-paid staffers whose job it is to enter bad reviews.  Kinda like that pic of the Chinese girl in front of 100 phones.

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Wally Fairway

Wally Fairway 5541

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16 minutes ago, shakahorn said:

Is there some sort of double-secret password you have to use to get this done?

When we were paying customers, we asked if they would remove a review that was clearly illegitimate - reviewer only had one post, no friends, joined the day of the post - and they said no.  When we canceled our sub, one of the reasons we gave was they would not help us get rid of this bitch-made review and they still didn't bite.  Now when they call to get us to re-up, we tell them about that and their response is "so...if we tell you we'll get rid of the post, will you renew?"  But of course, we have to renew first and then trust that they'll take it down.

Oh and when I referenced "bots" in the OP I wasn't necessarily meaning automated bots, but also low-paid staffers whose job it is to enter bad reviews.  Kinda like that pic of the Chinese girl in front of 100 phones.

how much are we talking about to be a subscriber.
 

oh yeah, and to help surly decide if we should take your side in this - it might just help if you posted a photo of that Chinese girl that you mentioned
(hint, hint, nudge, nudge, know what I  mean, wink, wink - knew you would)

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NeverMarryAStripper

NeverMarryAStripper 21874

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I never look at yelp when making decisions.  However, I did make a profile for the sole purpose of making one bad review for a car place that was fucking me over on some repairs.  They figured out who made the review and in less than a day I got a call and they made things right.  That's my one and only experience with yelp, oher than when I accidently step on my dog.

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Lhorn

Lhorn 4911

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11 hours ago, WhatTheBuck said:

I almost created a Yelp account a few weeks ago just to post a bad review about a really bad experience I had at a wing joint nearby. I didn't because that would've required some time and effort on my part, not the least of which would've been coming up with a username I could live with. 

You did the right thing by letting it go. A brand new account writing a negative review - almost certainly would have been flagged and take down in a day or two. Not worth the effort even if your beef was justified and the review was legit. 

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LongestHorn

LongestHorn 759

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If you're a business owner and you get a bad Yelp review, you can get it taken down if they mention a competitor in the review and/or the review is second hand i.e. my gf had a negative experience.  Best practice is to respond the the review assuring that it was an isolated incident and your business is valuable yada yada.

But yeah, fuck Yelp and their blackmailing bullshit.

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52-80

52-80 19147

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19 hours ago, Sbbruin said:

I crack up at some yelpers who write this long-winded reviews like they are some New York Times critic and everyone should hang on their every word.  

Website is designed to encourage use by people who enjoying smelling their own farts.  i.e. millenials. 

Why the fuck should a review ever be classified as Funny, or Cool?  It's either useful, or it's not.  Nor should number of "Friends" by a reviewer be pertinent information.

Flawed as it is, I still use Tripadvisor

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Vic Mackey

Vic Mackey 47012

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This has been known for a long time. Yelp is a big pile of shit and is very misleading and manipulative. I hate recommending a place to go eat and someone says "but I see it doesn't have that many good reviews on Yelp". Stfu. Anyone who is not willing to try a new place based on Yelp are the worst. Now you see a lot of places around that provide service or food tell you teo leave a good review on Yelp. No thanks, I'm good. 

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Your Mom

Your Mom 4805

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On 12/10/2018 at 7:27 PM, Larry T. Spider said:

My strategy is to look at the pics and menu and judge if a place is worth a shot. What your average yelper thinks of a place is worthless to me.

This. Pics of the interior and pics of the food, and a pic of the menu, and I can tell it’s a place I want to be.  I don’t believe I’ve ever yelped anything other than a restaurant, coffeeshop, or bar.  Using yelp and reviews for anything medical seems really stupid. 

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1 hour ago, Vic Mackey said:

This has been known for a long time. Yelp is a big pile of shit and is very misleading and manipulative. I hate recommending a place to go eat and someone says "but I see it doesn't have that many good reviews on Yelp". Stfu. Anyone who is not willing to try a new place based on Yelp are the worst. Now you see a lot of places around that provide service or food tell you teo leave a good review on Yelp. No thanks, I'm good. 

Agreed.

To be fair, you probably have some of the best leads on eateries that anyone could ever hope for.

or is it a chicken/egg thing?  Hang out at the trough until feeding time?

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