Natalie R.

It all started because I wanted my business to appear on Alexa. To do that it has to be on Yahoo. To get on Yahoo you have to be on Yelp and use Yext because Yelp may or may not send your listing to Yahoo. Yelp is worthless anyway because nobody uses it. So, Yext will charge you at least $500 for it's lowest level listing to get you on such coveted sites as "hotfrog" and "citysearch" which again, no one uses anyway. You run a search of your business with them and they show you all the sites you are not listed in, or something is wrong with your listing, even though you know it's not true. For instance, I knew I had a strong Google, Facebook and Bing listing, but Yext said I didn't. So, I figured, what the heck, I will fork over the $500 this one time and see if it makes a difference. They show that within 24 hours nearly all of the sites are now updated with my information. About a week later I go to one of the sites and it prompts me to run a search for my business. Guess what? I am not found, so they will scan my listings for me. And wow! My business is missing from all the big sites, like Google, Bing, Facebook, Twitter, and... HOTFROG! And all I have to do is sign up for YEXT to improve my business rankings. So, this is an endless cycle they have you running around in never to return. You need Yext no matter which way you go - only Yext can save you. But guess what? Yext doesn't do squat. Alexa still can't find my business when asked for a local recommendation but she can give my address when asked for by name. Then again, who uses Alexa for directions? People use Apple or Google maps and my business has been on there for years. So, audios Yext.

When I started my wedding business I thought advertising on Wedding Wire would be a sound investment. I realized within a month that it was a scam and that the few inquiries I got were fake, undoubtedly employees of Wedding Wire itself that were contacting me for quotes and never responding back. This continued for another 2 months before I told them I wanted OUT. They said "sorry but you are in this for a 1 year term". I immediately reported them to the Better Business Bureau and that worked like a charm to get me out of the contract but I still had my free listing. Then, I had a couple come for a small elopement and I gave them wonderful service. The next day the bride left a 1 star review on my wedding wire account, so I know that WW paid her to do that. (a year later she left me 5 star reviews all over the web because she felt guilty). I got other 1 star reviews from people I never heard of. Shortly after that WW permanently removed my account and banned me from their platform! Lol My advice is do NOT pay for advertising in the wedding business - all the other wedding sites are the same way. Fake leads from within the company. I found facebook to be the same - people from other countries would click LIKE on my posts. Even Google ads didn't generate all that much for my business. Craigslist ads paid off more than all the expensive companies. Go figure.

This scam company had me print off forms, notarize them for their client and scan them back. I did all of that and charged them a small fee of $25. They didn't even bother confirming receipt of the scanned back forms, they didn't follow up with me and they expected me to fill out an I9 form as an independent contractor. Seriously? NOBODY DOES THIS. I am not about to do an I9 for a lousy $25 job. Needless to say, they are ignoring my emails and invoice. Will be putting a complaint in to the Better Business Bureau.

My biz averages 1000 views on Google each month and 4 on Yelp. People don't use it. They scam business owners out of money trying to get them to advertise. Also, this dude Spencer calls us 2-3x/week every single week trying to get us to advertise with them. We have his calls blocked but he keeps trying to bug us constantly. Take the hint Spence - your company sucks and you are way too pushy. Also, many customers have left me 5 star reviews on Yelp and yelp won't publish any of them. AVOID THEM AT ALL COSTS. Also, they send FAKE requests to make it seem like people actually use them. I respond immediately to quote requests from potential customers and never have received a single response back from the "customer". Facebook advertising works the same way. Many scammers out there. My business keeps growing just with my Google free business listing. Stick with Google.

I purchased a large pack of credits as a wedding officiant. Our typical price is about $100. They started to charge 4 credits per quote, which was about $12 or more. Discovered that the majority of my quotes were unread or the person had hired someone within seconds of my quote. I also believe that employees of Thumbtack put out fake requests to eat up your credits and force you to purchase more.