Yelp is a freaking scam - small business owners agree? (1 Viewer)

[McGarnicle]

I'll leave a good review too. Stories like this really piss me off. It's injustice is what it is.

 

[TheAristocrat]

brohans this thread is restoring my faith in people way to fight the crapheads out there bromigos

An error occurred
You have reached your quota of positive votes for the day

 

[Das Boot]

Wow, I was pretty naive about Yelp - I definitely won't trust it anymore.

 

[General Malaise]

Can you post the text of the review here?

 

[flapgreen]

Cali courts (well the 9th circuit) have stated this practice is perfectly legal.

I saw that. Doesn't make the practice any better if the law calls it "legal". They are no better than the neighborhood ruffians coming to collect protection money.ETA the fact that they allow negative reviews to always show and censor only positive is reprehensible.

That's as ####ty as it gets, but not surprising. A lot of turds in this world.

 

[flapgreen]

Madcow is the man. Bent over backwards to help me out before. I'll take a pm. Would love to leave a good review.

 

[AhrnCityPahnder]

pm me yo links n ####

 

[gameday]

Can you post the text of the review here?

here it is:

Absolute WORST optometrist I've EVER been to! He is a massive #####, first of all. He doesn't listen to his patients' needs or requests. I told the secretary when I made the appointment, the secretary again when I got there, and I told him directly that I need to get dilated to get an accurate prescription, because I over-focus. He completely ignored this.

He went ahead with the exam, and forced me into a pair of contacts which I knew were completely wrong. (I've known my eyes for 22 years and he thought his 5 minutes with my eyes made him more knowledgeable about my specific situation.) I wore them, he made me sit in the exam room for ~10 minutes so I could get used to them (which he assured me was what I needed for the contacts to look right) and again ignored me when I told him the prescription wasn't right. I told him I couldn't see properly and wouldn't even be able to drive home with them, which he didn't care about. So I took them out and left immediately.

He doesn't care about his patients in the slightest. My husband has gone to him before and the doctor has been just as rude and douchey as he was to me. If you want a great optometrist who listens and cares, go see Dr. Beene at the Pleasant Grove Wal-Mart vision center. Avoid this jerk like the plague.

 

[pollardsvision]

Can you post the text of the review here?

here it is:

Absolute WORST optometrist I've EVER been to! He is a massive #####, first of all. He doesn't listen to his patients' needs or requests. I told the secretary when I made the appointment, the secretary again when I got there, and I told him directly that I need to get dilated to get an accurate prescription, because I over-focus. He completely ignored this.

He went ahead with the exam, and forced me into a pair of contacts which I knew were completely wrong. (I've known my eyes for 22 years and he thought his 5 minutes with my eyes made him more knowledgeable about my specific situation.) I wore them, he made me sit in the exam room for ~10 minutes so I could get used to them (which he assured me was what I needed for the contacts to look right) and again ignored me when I told him the prescription wasn't right. I told him I couldn't see properly and wouldn't even be able to drive home with them, which he didn't care about. So I took them out and left immediately.

He doesn't care about his patients in the slightest. My husband has gone to him before and the doctor has been just as rude and douchey as he was to me. If you want a great optometrist who listens and cares, go see Dr. Beene at the Pleasant Grove Wal-Mart vision center. Avoid this jerk like the plague.

Good news is that anybody with a clue is going to immediately know that review is written by a moron and/or it's complete bull####.

Best of luck Mad Cow. It seems you are a great guy offering a great service. I doubt this is going to get in your way.

 

[(HULK)]

One terrible review of Dr. Beene coming up.

 

[(HULK)]

Thinking about:

Dr. Beene is an alright guy and seems knowledgeable enough to trust your eyes with. My complaint isn't with him... It's with the other people using his business. I've been to him twice and both times I've spent way too much time in his waiting room... which is packed to the gills with fat pig ladies who bathe infrequently. The smell was unbearable. Then add in the blatantly racist conversation I had to overhear. When you're a giant pig who doesn't shower, it's kinda amusing that you think you're superior to entire races. Like, who cares if your yoga pants are under duress (as well as anyone who sees you in them), at least you care less about money than the Jews. Unreal the conversation I overheard. In still not over it. Anyways, Dr. Beene seems okay, but his clients make any visit to his office unbearable.

 

[The Big Guy]

How do you let a Dr talk you into contacts you don't want? Then you choose the Walmart Dr as your go to guy?

 

[BillyBarooo]

First, you can pursue legal action if she is in fact posting outright lies. Basically if she is stating something as fact and it's proven to be a lie, you have a case. Note, FBGLawyers can chime in with a more knowledgeable opinion.

Second, welcome to the internet, where every look, every maniac, and every person who forgot to take their meds has a voice just as loud as everyone else. Ah technology,

 

[Quez]

I help out with a little SEO for my wife's screen print / embroidery business. They have more corporate clients, so reviews aren't that big of a deal.

I spoke with a Yelp rep & got the typical pitch, but declined.

I did notice they seem to be manipulating the SEO when I used to pay close attention to the Google Analytics for the site. GA shows a decent amount of visitors coming from Yelp, but I'm pretty sure it's bs.

 

[GroveDiesel]

I avoid Yelp like the plague. It became very obvious that Yelp allows people with an ax to grind to rip a business to shreds while filtering positive reviews. One local restaurant was bought by new owners, changed and re-opened. They immediately had terrible reviews and about 7 of them mentioned that the business was "now owned by someone from out of state who was trying to pretend to be local." It was completely obvious that a single person had posted them all but that didn't seem to matter to Yelp.

I've gone to restaurants I found on Yelp and found them out of business. I've seen restaurants marked as out of business that I knew were still open.

The whole thing is a complete joke.

I find TripAdvisor much better for restaurants. For everything else, I typically just throw a post up on Facebook and recommendations come pouring in. Need a mechanics? Ask my FB friends. Need a new doctor? Ask FB. Etc.

 

[comfortably numb]

I avoid Yelp like the plague. It became very obvious that Yelp allows people with an ax to grind to rip a business to shreds while filtering positive reviews. One local restaurant was bought by new owners, changed and re-opened. They immediately had terrible reviews and about 7 of them mentioned that the business was "now owned by someone from out of state who was trying to pretend to be local." It was completely obvious that a single person had posted them all but that didn't seem to matter to Yelp.

I've gone to restaurants I found on Yelp and found them out of business. I've seen restaurants marked as out of business that I knew were still open.

The whole thing is a complete joke.

I find TripAdvisor much better for restaurants. For everything else, I typically just throw a post up on Facebook and recommendations come pouring in. Need a mechanics? Ask my FB friends. Need a new doctor? Ask FB. Etc.

Agree, local friends are best as you know who you are dealing with.

I also like tripadvisor

 

[Quez]

Haha Hulk is killing jt in here. Im gonna run out of likes.

 

[shadyridr]

I was looking at remodeling my bathroom and I heard about this company on a radio commercial so I decided to look up reviews. First I goto Google reviews and the overall rating is 4.5 stars with 32 reviews. I read the reviews and most of them are glowing. So then I goto yelp reviews and the overall rating is 2 stars with 13 reviews and most of them are scathing. Something does obviously not compute here.

 

[Mad Cow]

The two things that I really like about Google reviews are 1) you cannot post them anonymously anymore. You want to review it, your name is going there and 2) people Google before anything else. That is your online reception area. I truly appreciate the stream of people willing to help. She is a turd. The pity is her husband is actually a very nice guy and had been coming here for years. I remember him well, and we always had good conversations. I feel badly for him living with that. That she would say her husband feels the same as her is an absolute lie, but oh well.

Thanks to all again.

 

[Guest]

Wow, I was pretty naive about Yelp - I definitely won't trust it anymore.

Me too. It's seems like there should be a campaign exposing Yelp for what it really is.

 

[Mister CIA]

Wow, I was pretty naive about Yelp - I definitely won't trust it anymore.

Same here. Yelp deleted.

 

[Mad Cow]

LOL What if Yelp were real life

 

[Apple Jack]

Yelp can come in handy if you're looking for a good restaurant in an area you are not familiar with but that's about all I use it for. Well, that, and some of the reviewers are -worthy in how far up their own asses they are. There is great comedy in yelp reviews.

 

[[icon]]

At least Google is now making reviewers attach a name to it. With yelp, you can go on, create a dummy account and slander anyone you like. It's tough for small business because they can do a great job and then have one ####### client who destroys their online rep.

I have a half dozen Google accounts... creating "dummy accounts" with Google is no more difficult than Yelp.

 

[[icon]]

Yelp can come in handy if you're looking for a good restaurant in an area you are not familiar with but that's about all I use it for. Well, that, and some of the reviewers are -worthy in how far up their own asses they are. There is great comedy in yelp reviews.

Yep. I'm fairly active on Yelp both writing (elite) and using reviews. I always take scathing reviews with a grain of salt though... Most that I know who use the service do the same. The images of location, services, dishes, menus are pretty handy. Recommendations on dishes (for restaurants) are also helpful.

Agreed there are quite a few ######s who just love to leave bad reviews. You've got to wade through that crap on any review site though. The fact that they tweak owners for advertising to remove bad or expose good reviews is no bueno though. It's a solid business model in it's own right... tarnishing it with that tomfoolery isn't very bright, long-term. Shame.

 

[comfortably numb]

At least Google is now making reviewers attach a name to it. With yelp, you can go on, create a dummy account and slander anyone you like. It's tough for small business because they can do a great job and then have one ####### client who destroys their online rep.

I have a half dozen Google accounts... creating "dummy accounts" with Google is no more difficult than Yelp.

Yelp just seems like the internet mob.

You get some good reviews, they contact you

You pay them, they keep your good reviews and probably give you some other reviews from Yelp people who never went to your business

You DONT pay them and they remove good reviews and put in poor ones probably from people who have never been to your business

 

[Abraham]

MC - my review should stay at the top for a while. HTH.

 

[B-Deep]

The most likely reason that your positive reviews were filtered is because the reviewers created an account simply to post one review for your business and did not include any personal information or pictures. Reviews such as these are often automatically filtered in an attempt to prevent people from creating fake Yelp accounts to illegtimately boost the ratings of a single business. The reviewers should be able to get their review for your business unfiltered if they add some personal information and a picture, review some other businesses, and perhaps contact Yelp. While people often get annoyed at Yelp's filtering software, it likely does more good than harm overall.

I would probably recommend posting a thoughtful response to the negative response and encouraging more patients to post reviews on Yelp if they are satisfied. Like it or not, Yelp is an extremely useful tool that many people use to select the businesses that they frequent.

PM me your business name and i will leave you a good review (I have a verified yelp account i use often)....i will also report the crazy lady as such to Yelp as well, a crazy person.

And thanks, PM sent.

umm

not to be a d-bag, but isn't this as bad as what yelp is doing? Generating fake good reviews from friends on an internet message board?

 

[B-Deep]

wow i am gonna get killed for that post

 

[Mad Cow]

wow i am gonna get killed for that post

No I understand what you are saying. I pondered that, but to be fair most of those that have posted have been helped by me in one way or another, whether getting things from me or through answering questions. That said, I do not blame you for that point.

 

[Quez]

The shark play is to throw a little bait out there for the Yelp customer service guy & find out as much info on them as possible. Once you find their LinkedIn & FB accounts start posting fake CL adds, etc. The next time you talk to them offer some reputation management services of your own.

 

[B-Deep]

wow i am gonna get killed for that post

No I understand what you are saying. I pondered that, but to be fair most of those that have posted have been helped by me in one way or another, whether getting things from me or through answering questions. That said, I do not blame you for that point.

and i am not saying don't do it

i guess i am just pointing out online reviews suck

i'd give a positive review for any of you who asked (were i a yelper)

 

[SacramentoBob]

Can you post the text of the review here?

here it is:

Absolute WORST optometrist I've EVER been to! He is a massive #####, first of all. He doesn't listen to his patients' needs or requests. I told the secretary when I made the appointment, the secretary again when I got there, and I told him directly that I need to get dilated to get an accurate prescription, because I over-focus. He completely ignored this.

He went ahead with the exam, and forced me into a pair of contacts which I knew were completely wrong. (I've known my eyes for 22 years and he thought his 5 minutes with my eyes made him more knowledgeable about my specific situation.) I wore them, he made me sit in the exam room for ~10 minutes so I could get used to them (which he assured me was what I needed for the contacts to look right) and again ignored me when I told him the prescription wasn't right. I told him I couldn't see properly and wouldn't even be able to drive home with them, which he didn't care about. So I took them out and left immediately.

He doesn't care about his patients in the slightest. My husband has gone to him before and the doctor has been just as rude and douchey as he was to me. If you want a great optometrist who listens and cares, go see Dr. Beene at the Pleasant Grove Wal-Mart vision center. Avoid this jerk like the plague.

Then write your own prescription, #####.

 

[[icon]]

At least Google is now making reviewers attach a name to it. With yelp, you can go on, create a dummy account and slander anyone you like. It's tough for small business because they can do a great job and then have one ####### client who destroys their online rep.

I have a half dozen Google accounts... creating "dummy accounts" with Google is no more difficult than Yelp.

Yelp just seems like the internet mob.

You get some good reviews, they contact you

You pay them, they keep your good reviews and probably give you some other reviews from Yelp people who never went to your business

You DONT pay them and they remove good reviews and put in poor ones probably from people who have never been to your business

Hard to argue.. thought they don't simply remove all good reviews in my experience. If they see a surge of great (or crappy, though less often) reviews from new(ish) users, they'll often quarantine them as fabricated. I've never had a review (good or bad) pulled by them.

 

[thayman]

wow i am gonna get killed for that post

No I understand what you are saying. I pondered that, but to be fair most of those that have posted have been helped by me in one way or another, whether getting things from me or through answering questions. That said, I do not blame you for that point.

and i am not saying don't do iti guess i am just pointing out online reviews suck

i'd give a positive review for any of you who asked (were i a yelper)

Some online sites are ok. Yelp is a total abortion, abuse the he'll out of those extortionists

 

[[icon]]

(I've known my eyes for 22 years and he thought his 5 minutes with my eyes made him more knowledgeable about my specific situation.) I wore them, he made me sit in the exam room for ~10 minutes so I could get used to them (which he assured me was what I needed for the contacts to look right) and again ignored me when I told him the prescription wasn't right.

Then write your own prescription, #####.

The shark play is to throw a little bait out there for the Yelp customer service guy & find out as much info on them as possible. Once you find their LinkedIn & FB accounts start posting fake CL adds, etc. The next time you talk to them offer some reputation management services of your own.

FIVE STAR REVIEW FOR BOTH THESE POSTS

 

[Smack Tripper]

People yelp for restaurants but it's good this word spreads. My friend had the exact same scam run on him ( burying bad reviews and bumping good if you advertise)

 

[Quez]

"I'm a Yelper"

 

[Joe Summer]

My company only has 4 Yelp reviews, and they are all from the cheapest and most annoying customers that we've ever had.

 

[Jobber]

Those of you helping the OP out with good reviews, make sure to spread them out a few weeks/months. Put something on you calendar for March or whatever. Otherwise it looks fishy to get a bunch of 5-stars all within a short time frame. Hell, it may throw up a red flag at Yelp and they'll remove them.

That said, I'll be sure to AVOID using Yelp in the future. I had no idea it was a blackmale service.

ETA: Oh, and I just left Yelp a 1 star review on Google Play with the expanation behind it. See how they like a taste of their own medicine. I suggest all FBGs go and do the same.

 

[(HULK)]

ETA: Oh, and I just left Yelp a 1 star review on Google Play with the expanation behind it. See how they like a taste of their own medicine. I suggest all FBGs go and do the same.

Lol.

FWIW, I had no idea they were such extortionists before this thread either. Which basically makes their site completely useless. If you can't trust it, you can't use it.

 

[Gawain]

That said, I'll be sure to AVOID using Yelp in the future. I had no idea it was a blackmale service.

If it was, Wetdream would be Yelp's #1 Super User.

 

[Joe T]

The most likely reason that your positive reviews were filtered is because the reviewers created an account simply to post one review for your business and did not include any personal information or pictures. Reviews such as these are often automatically filtered in an attempt to prevent people from creating fake Yelp accounts to illegtimately boost the ratings of a single business. The reviewers should be able to get their review for your business unfiltered if they add some personal information and a picture, review some other businesses, and perhaps contact Yelp. While people often get annoyed at Yelp's filtering software, it likely does more good than harm overall.

I would probably recommend posting a thoughtful response to the negative response and encouraging more patients to post reviews on Yelp if they are satisfied. Like it or not, Yelp is an extremely useful tool that many people use to select the businesses that they frequent.

PM me your business name and i will leave you a good review (I have a verified yelp account i use often)....i will also report the crazy lady as such to Yelp as well, a crazy person.

And thanks, PM sent.

umm

not to be a d-bag, but isn't this as bad as what yelp is doing? Generating fake good reviews from friends on an internet message board?

Yeah, minus the extortion it is exactly the same.

 

[Buckfast 1]

At least Google is now making reviewers attach a name to it. With yelp, you can go on, create a dummy account and slander anyone you like. It's tough for small business because they can do a great job and then have one ####### client who destroys their online rep.

I have a half dozen Google accounts... creating "dummy accounts" with Google is no more difficult than Yelp.

Yelp just seems like the internet mob.

You get some good reviews, they contact you

You pay them, they keep your good reviews and probably give you some other reviews from Yelp people who never went to your business

You DONT pay them and they remove good reviews and put in poor ones probably from people who have never been to your business

This is just simply not true. Let's not let the Yelp backlash get out of hand.

 

[sbonomo]

The most likely reason that your positive reviews were filtered is because the reviewers created an account simply to post one review for your business and did not include any personal information or pictures. Reviews such as these are often automatically filtered in an attempt to prevent people from creating fake Yelp accounts to illegtimately boost the ratings of a single business. The reviewers should be able to get their review for your business unfiltered if they add some personal information and a picture, review some other businesses, and perhaps contact Yelp. While people often get annoyed at Yelp's filtering software, it likely does more good than harm overall.

I would probably recommend posting a thoughtful response to the negative response and encouraging more patients to post reviews on Yelp if they are satisfied. Like it or not, Yelp is an extremely useful tool that many people use to select the businesses that they frequent.

PM me your business name and i will leave you a good review (I have a verified yelp account i use often)....i will also report the crazy lady as such to Yelp as well, a crazy person.

And thanks, PM sent.

ummnot to be a d-bag, but isn't this as bad as what yelp is doing? Generating fake good reviews from friends on an internet message board?

mad cow has been a trusted board member here for a long time. He has offered a ton of deals on eyewear along with tons of free advice for this community. Not sure what is wrong with leaving him a good review. And yes you are a d-bag. Now go away.

 

[Brony]

This is why I don't trust FBG reviews.

 

[The Big Guy]

wow i am gonna get killed for that post

No I understand what you are saying. I pondered that, but to be fair most of those that have posted have been helped by me in one way or another, whether getting things from me or through answering questions. That said, I do not blame you for that point.

and i am not saying don't do iti guess i am just pointing out online reviews suck

i'd give a positive review for any of you who asked (were i a yelper)

I gave a legitimate review based on both my purchase from MC and his helpful advise to us. I know it looks weird coming from a different state, but every word was true. All you have to do is look at one of his eye threads and you will find multiple people having been helped in the past and discounts thrown out there to us.

 

[Joe T]

This thread is quickly using up all my likes.

 

[El Floppo]

Wow, I was pretty naive about Yelp - I definitely won't trust it anymore.

Me too. It's seems like there should be a campaign exposing Yelp for what it really is.

I always took it with a grain of salt, strictly from a consumer stand-point; I don't really care what Jebby J from the Bronx thinks about anything. also feel like people tend to reply more if they're pissed about something, and reading most of those are so specific to whatever kind of idiot that person is, I discount as well.

but seeing that Yelp is completely controlling what reviews get posted based on strong-arming it's clients? completely ####ed, so #### them.

 

[sublimeone]

Wow, I was pretty naive about Yelp - I definitely won't trust it anymore.

Me too. It's seems like there should be a campaign exposing Yelp for what it really is.

I had this same thought. There should be a website for business owners to anonymously give scathing feedback on clients or at least a place to respond to their negative reviews.

It would use people's full names and be optimized so that when their neighbor/friend/potential employer etc... google their name it comes up in search results.