Yelp sucks

[vraiblonde]

This is complete bull####.

This is what I wrote on Buzzfeed, Yelp itself, and a couple of other national websites:

I posted a great review for a new local restaurant and Yelp stuck it in the "not recommended" pile. Oh, and the rest of their "not recommended" reviews are all 4 and 5 star as well. The reviews looked legit to me, and were pretty much on par with my personal experience, yet Yelp didn't think they needed to make the cut. All those 1 and 2 star bitch fests? Yeah, those are public and part of the rating.

There is no other reason for Yelp to do this except to extort businesses into advertising with them and punishing them when they don't. I'm sitting right here looking at it with my own eyes, with a business that I have personally reviewed.

The restaurant is Brick Wood Fired Grill in Prince Frederick, MD and anyone can get on and see for themselves the kind of crap Yelp pulls. They have lost ALL credibility with me and I will never use them for recommendations again now that I know what they do.

I am really pissed about this. I've used Yelp a great deal in the past to find out where to eat, stay, what to do, etc, when on travel and now I find out that they're really in the practice of destroying small businesses. They need to be targeted with a class-action lawsuit. I personally will never use their ass again, that's for sure.

 

[cheezgrits]

Good info, I was reviewing places I like and never thought to check back.

 

[vraiblonde]

Anyway, we had another amazing dinner at Brick tonight. For apps we had the meatballs, the sliders, and the wings and every bite was delectable. The meatballs in particular were delicious and you could easily make a meal out of them. I had the Salume pizza, Monello had the maple pork chops (OMG they were so good!), Vince had my new boyfriend the chicken, and Frequentflier had the mushroom pizza. The pork chops came with a few pieces of fried polenta that were addictive. The manager told us it was really just a garnish but that polenta is now my second favorite thing at Brick. Yes, the garnish was delicious. Don't judge.

They were busy tonight but our server, Joe, kept up with us just fine, even though we kind of ordered in stages.

And I want to be clear:

I am not affiliated with Brick in any way. They don't even advertise with us. My reviews are pure and unbiased, so Yelp can suck it.

 

[vraiblonde]

Good info, I was reviewing places I like and never thought to check back.

I encourage everyone to stop using Yelp. They are completely bogus and their website is a scam.

When you go to look at the reviews, you'll see your own because their site sets a cookie. But if you clear your cookies or use another browser suddenly your review has disappeared.

 

[Monello]

Lots of stories online of YELP trying to extort businesses.

John's restaurant has more than one hundred reviews, and averages a healthy 3.5-star rating. But when John asked Mike what he could do about his bad reviews, he recalls the sales rep responding: "We can move them. Well, for $299 a month." John couldn't believe what the guy was offering. It seemed wrong.

John may sound paranoid, but he's got company. During interviews with dozens of business owners over a span of several months, six people told this newspaper that Yelp sales representatives promised to move or remove negative reviews if their business would advertise. In another six instances, positive reviews disappeared — or negative ones appeared — after owners declined to advertise.

Because they were often asked to advertise soon after receiving negative reviews, many of these business owners believe Yelp employees use such reviews as sales leads. Several, including John, even suspect Yelp employees of writing them. Indeed, Yelp does pay some employees to write reviews of businesses that are solicited for advertising. And in at least one documented instance, a business owner who refused to advertise subsequently received a negative review from a Yelp employee.

a lawyer serving as a small-claims judge in San Diego likened Yelp to a “modern-day version of the Mafia going to stores and saying, `You want to not be bothered? You want to not have incidents in your store? Pay us protection money.'”
The judge, Peter Doft, made the comments when he ordered Yelp to pay San Diego lawyer Julian McMillan $2,700 over a contract dispute involving advertising on Yelp.

Yelp sure is making a name for themselves.
http://yelp-sucks.com

 

[steppinthrax]

I encourage everyone to stop using Yelp. They are completely bogus and their website is a scam.

When you go to look at the reviews, you'll see your own because their site sets a cookie. But if you clear your cookies or use another browser suddenly your review has disappeared.

I use Yelp all the time. Yelp works based on how many times you've been to Yelp and you're freinds/ review status etc.... I've never had any of my reviews go to the "Not recommended".

 

[vraiblonde]

I use Yelp all the time. Yelp works based on how many times you've been to Yelp and you're freinds/ review status etc.... I've never had any of my reviews go to the "Not recommended".

Have you looked for them after clearing your cookies or using a different browser?

Regardless, I'll never use those aholes again and I hope someone sues their ass off.

 

[steppinthrax]

Have you looked for them after clearing your cookies or using a different browser?

Regardless, I'll never use those aholes again and I hope someone sues their ass off.

I run my mouth with every place I review. I give good and bad reviews. I've reviewed just about every place I've been to in Dunkirk/Owings etc etc... One good positive I'll say about Yelp is if you have good standing within the community, they will keep your post there. The company can't do #### about it. I have a few bad reviews on a place and the company has fought like hell to remove them. CANT!!!! You have review places like Glassdoor where they will remove reviews if the company threatens them...

 

[kom526]

Where in PF is this joint?

 

[vraiblonde]

I run my mouth with every place I review. I give good and bad reviews. I've reviewed just about every place I've been to in Dunkirk/Owings etc etc... One good positive I'll say about Yelp is if you have good standing within the community, they will keep your post there. The company can't do #### about it. I have a few bad reviews on a place and the company has fought like hell to remove them. CANT!!!! You have review places like Glassdoor where they will remove reviews if the company threatens them...

I'm okay with a business not being able to have their bad reviews removed - if the review is unfair, other customers will come on and say so with gusto. Happens on here all the time. But I'm not okay with Yelp picking and choosing which reviews will count and be public and which ones won't. That's not the benchmark of a good review site, it's them being biased and shady.

 

[vraiblonde]

Where in PF is this joint?

Where Jasper's used to be, right across from the fire dept.

 

[littlelady]

Where in PF is this joint?

On the corner across from PF Fire Dept. .. 60 Sherry Lane .. Where Jaspers used to be.

Vrai beat me to it. But, now you have double knowledge of where it is. And, it is good.

On topic: I have never relied on yelp or other reviews because every one's tastes/opinions are different. I just discover on my own.

 

[vraiblonde]

This is what I wrote on my FB:

I just deleted my Yelp account and won't be using them again, either to check out a business or review one. They're basically nothing more than bull#### extortionists who pick and choose which reviews will be public and count toward rank, and which will be filtered, based on whether the business advertises with them or not.

I got to see this first hand with a local restaurant that I reviewed. The restaurant is terrific, yet only had 3.5 stars on Yelp. Yet when you go down and open up the filtered reviews (which do not count toward rank) almost every one of them has 4 and 5 stars. Um, yeah, including mine.

I am not affiliated with the restaurant in any way, nor do I post reviews anonymously. There is no reason for them to have filtered my review except for the reason the rest of them were filtered: because the restaurant didn't buy advertising from them. The owner himself told me that his good reviews started getting filtered when he told the Yelp sales person that he didn't want to buy advertising, and I saw it for myself. So this is not complaining from a faceless stranger or a poorly reviewed business owner; this is me - someone you know - saying that I personally saw this happen.

Apparently this is a common practice with those nozzles, so what I'd really like is for everyone to delete their account and put these crooks out of business. Since that's not possible, the next best thing is for people to be aware that Yelp rankings are NOT accurate and to check the filtered reviews before making a buying decision.

This makes me so angry and is truly the worst part of the internet. I don't even see how it can be legal.

In researching this, countless business owners are telling the same story - that their good Yelp reviews started disappearing once they told the salesnozzle that they didn't want to buy advertising. So that line about how their "algorithm" does the filtering is clearly a lie.

 

[Hank]

the maple pork chops (OMG they were so good!).

I'm pretty sure those are the best pork chops I have ever had.

 

[officeguy]

On the internet, if you dont pay for the service, you are the product.

 

[vraiblonde]

I'm pretty sure those are the best pork chops I have ever had.

I thought they'd be sweet but they were so savory and delicious.

 

[Monello]

Many restaurants struggle to serve juicy pork chops. Mine were quite succulent. The veggies and polenta were a nice accompaniment to the dish.

 

[dgates80]

I love your term "salesnozzle". It's awesome. Oughta be in the dictionary.

 

[dgates80]

If I were one bringing a lawsuit, I would try to get someone in the know from the inside at Yelp to spill the beans on how it works and their "secret" internal business practices. I am sure Yelp makes them sign a major non-disclosure agreement, but a good lawyer can find ways around those, particularly if there is unlawful conduct (civil or criminal) going on due to company policy or practice.

There almost has to be a filter algorithm parameters adjustment control panel for the results to be as badly skewed as they clearly are. A screen shot of that, along with managements instructions as how it is to be used. Remember the movie "The Rainmaker" where the Great Benefits claims examiner send a letter with"you must be stupid stupid stupid"..... The Yelp trial would be like that movie, I think.

 

[creekman]

I stopped using Yelp a good while ago. I use TripAdviser. I only write reviews when I can say something good. But I rely on others and I follow their advise.