I was a loyal business customer of yelp for several years. During the pandemic they repeatedly asked me to spend more money. I said " no I can't afford it" after Yelp called 5 x and I said " no" 5 x I suddenly noticed a fake review on my Yelp page. Now I know it was fake for many reasons. The fake reviewer mentioned something that wasn't possible and didn't happen and also this reviewer did not post on any page BUT mine. Worse yet I noticed the review was literally back dated with a date of 2016. This was 2020, how did a fake review ( one I've never seen before) show up on my page in 2023 yet dated 2016? I don't have a ton of reviews, so it's easy for me to know every review that exists…. I know every single review and I am telling you all that this review did NOT exist before 2020. When I informed Yelp that the review was fake - they refused to do anything at all. In addition by Yelps OWN ADMISSION … reviews do not get posted to a business' recommended page if the reviewer is not a Yelper. Well it was obvious that this was not a Yelper as it was literally the Only review that this supposed Yelper ever made. This reviewer did not have any comments, reviews or posts- on any page BUT MINE! I immediately canceled Yelp for their obvious planted review. Now fast forward to 2023 I get a call from Yelp. The yelp agent outright promised to remove the fake review ( agreed it was fake) and promised a $900 credit for signing up again. Well this Yelp Agent Outright Lied…When I signed up they didn't remove the review. I emailed the Yelp 'dedicated agent', that's what they call themselves…more like a dedicated LIAR…who promised to remove the fake review or even move the fake review to 'not recommended'.
After I signed up with Yelp my dedicated agent stopped responding to emails, didn't answer or return my calls. …my supposed support agent was not reachable. I called another Yelp number to ask about the promises that never came to fruition…the yelp agent says " all you have to do is report the review" ok I went online and when I report the fake review I get a message saying " you already reported the review" …and the $900 credit also doesn't exist. Yelp claims that they gave me $900 i didn't get $900 off my statement Yelp claims " we gave you $900 in free ads".WOW. REALLY? I got one phone call! I can see the $900 went so far.this is blatant fraudulent business activity…this is called Switch N Bait. Lucky for me we have devoted customers. We are blessed with business. However Yelp is nothing but a lie! They not only planted a fake review they also made sure to put most of our legitimate 5 star reviews to the " not recommended" page. Yelp and all of its employees, affiliates, investors- should be ashamed of themselves. How can a person stoop so low and go against their morals.oh wait I guess if you Work at Yelp you have no morals!. Now you may think I have bad reviews and that's why I am complaining….- on the contrary! We have all 5 star reviews ( something we worked so hard for over many years) except for the fake planted review. And if we did get a legitimate negative review I would be ok with this or would take action to see how I could address or fix the disgruntled reviewer. All I can say is we need a real and honest Review page for businesses.so that Yelp cannot be dominant forcing businesses to comply or possibly ruin their reputation their livelihoods. I have seen businesses who were really disrupted by Yelp. If we have a review site anything that is abusive should never be posted - there can be dishonest disgruntled individuals who can do serious damage and this too should not be allowed! Reviews should include only non abusive non retaliatory only honest review s and of course they should be REAL!

What I am posting here is what I have FOUND on the Internet. Nothing here is new, unique, or original. Everything summarized here can be found with a simple Google search on the Internet.
All over the Internet businesses are complaining that that YELP makes it difficult to find POSITIVE reviews for a business, but makes it very easy to see a negative review. That wrongfully makes a business look bad and businesses are complaining.
A common complaint on the Internet is this: YELP often predominantly posts a business's negative reviews. If you dig long enough and hard enough, you MIGHT find 5-star reviews. However, you truly must DIG to find those reviews. Therefore, YELP makes businesses look bad. LEGITIMATE REVIEWS ARE HIDDEN FROM VIEW. Business have wonderful 5-star reviews that YELP makes it difficult to find. A search on the Internet can make a business look horrible on one negative review when the firm truly has dozens of 5-star reviews.
All over the Internet, it is written that YELP makes efforts to "sell" advertising services when you call to complain about the bad reviews. There are articles on the Internet indicating YELP sales representatives have been "busted" for trying to extort advertising dollars to remove bad reviews. There are many videos and recordings exposing real YELP salesperson phone calls. Here is one. Listen to a real phone call with YELP sales: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxivVdg_YOc
YELP's response to complaints often cites they feel their algorithm is just fine regarding reviews. However, how can this possibly be accurate when there are literally THOUSANDS of YELP complaints on the BBB website alone? The algorithm can't be good if so many businesses are complaining. Let's also keep in mind that a competitor can literally MAKE UP a bad review and post it about another business. For example, a restaurant owner can easily post that if you eat at "ABC" restaurant, you will get food poisoning. I have seen articles indicating their competitor was posting bad YELP reviews about their business.
YELP touts their algorithm is an appropriate way to treat reviews. Notice that nobody can write a YELP review about YELP on YELP's website. Just think about that for a moment. They very system YELP touts as being appropriate is something that they themselves would not dare avail themselves to on the Internet. Does this not suggest that YELP is afraid of how they, themselves, would fare using their own algorithm?
There are articles and videos that state YELP wants to get your attention by putting a negative review high in a SEO search. They hope this will trigger you to call YELP. When you do, they launch into a sales pitch like this one… Listen to a real phone call with YELP sales: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxivVdg_YOc
There have been thousands of complaints to the BBB and FTC complaints. Some complaints alleged YELP was displaying the bad reviews in order to get businesses to call YELP, just so that YELP can make a sales pitch for advertising.
When I did research, I found articles and videos like these:
YELP IS A SCAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OosiRvr3bA4
YELP SCAM EXPOSED: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmlh6OsCh7Q
YELP IS A SCAM: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OosiRvr3bA4
Heavy drinking, sex tapes, and a pyramid scheme: YELP insiders speak out about the company's high-pressure sales culture:
https://www.businessinsider.com/YELP-insiders-disturbing-stories-high-pressure-corporate-sales-culture-2020-11
Documentary explores the allegedly shady business practices of the review site: https://www.eater.com/2016/7/21/*******/yelp-film-billion-dollar-bully
If you google "why is YELP bad" you get this response: It's no secret that YELP makes running a business harder... It's also possible for a business to pay someone to write fake good YELP reviews to boost their scores. Business owners have also accused YELP of extortion, claiming YELP moves positive reviews to the top after a business pays to advertise
A current Google search of "YELP SCAM" yields 25,000,000 results, and "YELP RIP OFF" currently yields 4.9 million results.
If you google "why yelp is bad for business" you will find: It's no secret that Yelp makes running a business harder. The Wall Street Journal points out that business owners often see a dip in profits after a slew of negative reviews, and the fact you can be anonymous on Yelp means it's possible for competitors to leave as many fake negative reviews as they want.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals had ruled that YELP's manipulation of reviews and advertising tactics were a form of "hard bargaining."
I have also read many articles on the Internet stating YELP has retaliated against people that have posted complaints against YELP.
I have seen people write on the Internet: "YELP is a bully and an extortion machine. Horrible. They lie and mislead consumers. Disgusting."

I wouldn't spend a dollar with yelp after they charged my buisness $300 for just clicks. No calls!

Yelp is a BIG Fraud Company! Do NOT do business with this company. Fraud for sure reporting to BBB!

A representative called me out of the blue saying that he is my account manager and he wants to help me with my account. Since I'm not computer savvy I went along with it not knowing that I was signed up for a 15 dollar a day advertising program until I get a bill for 394 dollars that I cant afford. Before I even got the call I got an offer to list my business on yelp when I got my website. That came with free credits and my budget was 30 dollars a month. Well, I tried it out and it didn't work for me because I was only getting spam calls and calls from other companies trying to sell me services. So I stop it before I used all the free credits. About a month after that's when I received the call from the guy who said he was my account manager. I told him that the service didn't work for me due to all the spam that I was receiving. He told me that my account was bare and that he was going to help me setup my account so that it looks professional. He told me that I needed to set a budget, I told him that I'm a new company and that I just wanted to use the service to list my business, I told him that I can only afford around 30 dollars a month which is what I had it set to when I first tried the service. However, I find out later that I was signed up for enhanced services that were totaled 15 dollars a day for a bill of almost 400 dollars. I called the billing dept to voice my concerns they had me to fill out this form to request a refund which I did in the meantime I get a call from my bank that yelp is trying to debit my account for 400 dollars. This company ain't right they use fast-talking con men to act like they want to help you with your account only to sign you up for services that you cant afford. If I want to pay 15 dollars a day to advertise I would've done that when I first listed my business on their site up. If they take the time to look at my account they would've known that before this con man called me that I signed up for the cheapest service that they had, and that I canceled all of the services when I found out that it didn't benefit my business. When canceling my account the first time they ask me why am I canceling my service, I told them I couldn't afford it and because of the spam calls. I never called Yelp for any help with my account, Whoever the account manager was he solicit me, I'm thinking that he was there to help me with my profile not trick me into advertising for 15 dollars a day, and they did this during the Covid pandemic. This is totally wrong, to take advantage of people during the pandemic is very unethical. They need to hire better salespeople and from the other complaints, I see that I'm not the only one.

Avoid their advertising! Gains no new business and will cost FAR more than they promise you!

Yelp contacted me about trying their advertising and taking advantage of a $600 advertising credit promo over 6 months but I had to sign up for an $8 average per day budget. This seemed like a lot of money for me to spend on marketing (at $240 a month) but with the $100 per month credit I decided to give it a chance. Specifically because I was told I could cancel at any time without losing my promo or dealing with any hidden charges or fees.

After 10 days I had no potential clients contact me via phone or email. The ONLY contact I had from "potential customers" was through Yelp's direct messaging and they were all inquires about services that I do not provide at my business. Of course when I contacted the "people" back to inform them that I did not offer the services they were inquiring about, I never got a single response. Were these contacts even real people? Hmmm

I decided this was not the right direction for me to take since I did not even have 1 real lead in 10 days so I cancelled the next day. Math: $8 a day × 11 days = $88 -$40 (total for 11 days ad credit) = $48
THIS amount is what I expected to pay! THIS is what I signed up for. So color me surprised when I was charged $85.93.

I figured they must have made a mistake and forgot to remove my ad credit. No problem, mistakes happen. I would contact them and get it resolved. So I email Tessa (the ad specialist I'd been working with) she never got back to me. I gave her a few days to respond and when she still hadn't replied I called. No answer. I left a polite voicemail explaining the charge and my concern of not having the ad credit applied. She did not call me back and instead sent me an email saying everything was correct and that my ad credit had been applied and that the $8 a day is an average not an exact. I explain that that would make the cost significantly more than what I agreed to. Double in fact. She then gives me a bull$#*! phone number to contact billing at Yelp.

So I contact billing. This rep says if I have a dispute on the bill I have to contact a different department. He transfers me, Yelp drops the call. I call back, I finally talk to a customer service rep. I'm certain they hear this same exact issue from clients all day, every day because their ad program is misleading and dishonest.

I explain my charge situation to her. She tells me they already credited my account the $40 for the promo. I asked how I could still be charged at the cost of $8 a day if it had been applied? She explains that $8 is an average and my ad costs had come out to be more than that. So I ask how is that possible when I hadn't gotten 1 lead and only inquires not related to my business? And what would be the point of this "promo" if the average is more than the $8 a day you're agreeing to, so you are never actually saving money on anything and are paying exactly what the full cost would be? Then she became argumentative and defensive and I then realized they had no plans on doing the right thing and reimbursing the $40 credit I was swindled out of. Total con artists.

Should have known better than to advertise with them when I learned years ago from a business owner friend that they were contacted asking them if they were interested in paying to have Yelp not show negative reviews on their business. And when they refused because the review was bogus, and didn't meet criteria for a valid review, Yelp refused to remove it unless they paid. Scammers!

So beware! They are not concerned with long term, honest business relationships. They are money grabbers.

Lesson learned for me. Thank God I ditched them after 11 days... I can't imagine the gauging they would have done beyond that.

Earlier this month I received a call from a lady who said she was from the Yelp Advertising and wanted to help get my business going and hopefully get some clicks. I talked with her and set up my ad campaign. She gave me a code which she said once applied would give me my first month free as a trial period to see if Yelp adds are something I wanted to try. I was all in for this and followed her instructions, added my credit card and selected the options she said would "best help my business gain attention". I was under the impression that I would call back in a few weeks and either say its working and that I would like to start paying the following month or would cancel it. Receiving one website click in 3 weeks I called and canceled, making sure I would not be billed if I continued to use the service since it was completely useless and did nothing for me. Then the next day I get a statement saying I was charged $254.44 from Yeld Advertising. Immediately I call Yelp customer support and after an hour on hold being passed onto another agent who hangs up on me. I try calling the lady that had originally reached out to me and she did not answer her phone. I called once again this time the billing department number and after another hour on hold was told by the man that I had signed up for it and that there was never such thing as a free month trial and that the code I had been given only meant that if I spent $300 or more I would be given additional credit or something like that. Outraged I called around and finally got a hold of the original yelp advertising lady who just blew me off and pretty much said shes sorry but I. Must have misinterpreted what she said. The thing about this whole situation that angers me the most is that I spent $250 and did not even receive as little as an email or anything in return for the advertising. When I looked st the cost breakdown I was apparently signed up for stuff such as "Enhanced Profile" and "Business Highlights" which was something I had never even heard of before and was unaware of signing up for. I was also charged for stuff like a "call to action" button that I never even set up but was charged $79 for. DO NOT ever use yelp advertising and get scammed by one of their representatives into signing up for any trial because they are just trying to steal your money. The whole thing is a scam and a giant money fest and they could care less about your business and help you. I was NEVER able to get a refund on my $254.44. YELP IS A SCAM, TAKE MY WORD AND NEVER USE IT.

THE GREED, & THE LIES! NO WEAPON FORMED AGAINST ME SHALL PROSPER! AMEN. AMEN. AMEN. GOD BLESS...

Wow! Where to start... Seems like a lot of other businesses has had the same issues as I did. When a lot of people say the same thing you know it's an issue and should be fixed.

This may be long but I wanted to give a good insight into what happened to me so others don't fall into the same issue.

Just to start off, I am not only doing this review because it is negative. I give positive reviews as well. So I am not one of those who only gives reviews when it is a negative one.

I was also offered $900 in free ads. I was also told I will not be charged to try out the service since I would be getting $900 towards the ad service.

I was very adamant from the beginning about not wanting to pay to advertise since I already invested money in other options. The sales person told me nothing was going to be charged and this would be a promotion so I can try out the service and see if would like it.

The whole service was explained line by line over the phone while they had me navigate the system. All the limits were set by the salesperson and explained that all of it was going to be under the $900 cap amount. Believe me, I asked to make sure since they needed my credit card information to set up the account. (by the way, you can't even delete your credit card from the system once they have it) I thought the limit amounts were high but I was told to take advantage of the free service and get as much exposure as I could then at the end of the month I would get a call to go over everything and if I liked it they can help me set it up on a reasonable budget I can afford.

I started the service mid-month in March 2018 so I was expecting a call about a month from the start date. On April 2nd, I was charged $567. I did not get any leads from the ads until March 29th, 3 days before the end of the month. To which I felt a little suspicious in not getting a single thing from them until the end of the month. I did not get any sales from those few leads. But that is neither here nor there since it's not Yelps fault on the types of leads we receive. However, the initial sale pitch is and how they get you to sign up with them.

So back to me waiting on the phone call to go over clicks, impressions, and how the service would benefit my business. Of course, It's not mid-April 2018 yet for me to get a call and I understand but already getting charged for something I was not supposed to get charged in the first place is an issue.

I called to get clarification to which I was told I needed to contact the sales person that I spoke with. I was told that they must be away from their desk cause they couldn't reach her to have me transferred. I looked through my past emails and I found the sales person's number and what do you know, I got in touch with her as soon as I called. Once I caught her up on the issue she then changed her pitch and explained herself different than what she had sold me at first. What startup business would agree to a $30 per click service and agreeing to $750 a month budget? I know I didn't! Then she told me that I needed to contact account management so they can assist me further. I see where this was going, typical call center answer to give me the runaround and send me to another person so I can explain everything once again.

Once I contacted account management they told me that they do not give services for free and that I must have misunderstood. By all means, I am not the most experienced business owner, however, I am not stupid to start my business in the negative and agree to give money away without first getting results. They put all the blame on me and took no accountability for the misinformation given to me. They didn't even offer anything to put me at ease and told me they can't give me a refund. I told them that I was going to dispute the charges with my bank and he said to go ahead. Wow!

Yelps software system filtered many of our good reviews but was able to keep the bad reviews. For instance, back in March, we had a bad review about our lettuce, and a customer did post a picture of it. I admit that the salad was not that great since we didnt have any Romaine lettuce in Michigan, and got some from out of States. Long story short, we didnt serve that kind of lettuce, and it died quickly after we served it to our carry-out customer. By the time other customer came back and showed us, we couldn't even believe that salad was served from our store. Eventually, we threw out 93 cases that were stored in our nine restaurants. We preferred our customers safety and satisfaction over the $4,185 worth lettuce.

Now, six months later, a customer called my manager and said: I love the Mediterranean salad and you were recommended at work, but I dont want to spend money on old lettuce. My manager explained to him exactly what happened, and this customer decided to give us a try. This client became a loyal customer and ordered eleven salads in just three weeks (According to my supervisor), and didnt even find one piece of bad lettuce. The happy customer told us "I would spread the words"- and started posed his fresh and clean lettuce on Yelp. However, sadly, "Yelps software" didnt recommend this review. I called one of Yelp's top managers- and he gave me the same answer as every business owner gets. Our software did not recommend it, and when I suggested to him that their software need to be updated, he added Our soft is accurate than Google's. It knows- every time- if a business owner pays someone to write a good review. And that is why consumers only trust Yelp's reviews.

As I have stated, a customer came six months later after our non-happy customer review had written, why would I wait that long to pay someone and cover the bad review? Is it smarter if I called the customer who wrote the bad review, and offered her $400 worth gift card? Despite the questions. Our salads team got rewarded from my supervisor a $400- after the good review about the lettuce posted. Do you know why they got $400 awards? It is because they disposed of more than twenty-four cases of unhealthy lettuce- in less than four months- since we cant control the farmers. Our salad guys got rewarded because they kept their eyes on our customers safety- which lead our client to satisfaction service. Wait to hear the most interesting question is, What kind of software is this- It keeps the picture of the bad salad online- but couldn't attract 1,200 unseen dangerous lettuce? When I said unseen lettuce, I meant the sense that our salad guys use to tell if the lettuce is bad without discoloration leaves or smell. They tossed this kind of lettuce before it got mixed with our house dressing that made of extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, red vinegar, garlic, and Mediterranean herbs and spices- which can be hard for even farmers to tell if the lettuce were good or bad! What kind of software is this?

Did you know that I still advertise with Yelp even though they did all that to us! Now it is far-fitted. Two reasons we still advertise with Yelp. First, they bring more customers. Second, specifically, they make the job easy for me- by keeping and highlighting only the bad reviews. Therefore, it makes it easy for me to increase the sales and see only its bad reviews. I think it is fair for my customers, but is it fair for my honest employees not the see their efforts on top of our business page as long they worked hard for it since 2000 before Yelp exist? So, How long Yelp will stay in business if business owners are not satisfied, their employees will keep getting blamed, and consumers themselves are upset?