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

[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.

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.

 

[tommyboy]

yelp calls me weekly to have my business advertise. have never once responded to them.

yelp is only good for looking up restaurants and writing scathing reviews on crappy businesses

 

[Bucky86]

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.

D-BAG ALERT!!!!!

 

[ChiefD]

Here's the thing about Yelp:

People use them. For good or bad, they do. And I have several clients that get a direct, fair amount of business from their FREE listing on Yelp. These clients actively have their good customers go to Yelp and Google+ to submit reviews.

The amount of reviews will directly impact the search engine rankings of your website. What the search engines want to see is engagement on the social platforms that you are tied to as a business. So activity on these sites are good for you and should be encouraged.

I would NOT pay for any of Yelp's add-on services. You can get the benefits on Yelp without paying for a "Enhanced Listing".

You absolutely need to respond to these negative responses. Make it generic, such as: "Our goal is to always provide the best in customer service. Please contact our office and we will do our best to make sure you are a satisfied customer."

That's all that needs to be said. It shows potential customers that you are willing to respond. And people do use Yelp - I've seen plenty of analytics accounts that prove this to be true.

 

[SacramentoBob]

This thread is quickly using up all my likes.

Can we even trust the like system? How do we know certain likes aren't being suppressed unless you pay a fee?

 

[RC94]

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.

I agree with you except for the d-bag part. He asked a legit question, but Mad Cow has done business with people here and IMO he has earned the good reviews. They aren't fake reviews, just the timing of them have been prompted by this thread.

 

[Aaron Rudnicki]

can someone leave a review on yelp in the voice of SWC?

 

[Harry Manback]

Thanks for the payment SacBob, the like is on the way.

 

[Buckfast 1]

I took a look at the positive reviews that were filtered, and it looks like the likely reasons they were filtered by Yelp's automatic filtering software are because (1) each person has very few total reviews (no more than 4, only 1 review in one case); (2) each person has no "friends" on Yelp; (3) each person does not have a picture of themselves on their account profile; and (4) each person gave a 5-star review, which are more likely to be filtered as an "extreme" review. These are all indicators that the Yelp software uses to identify potential fraudulent reviews posted by fake accounts. The automatic filtering software is definitely biased against new users who have not yet established themselves on Yelp, but it certainly helps prevent people from boosting a company's ratings by making unsophisticated fake Yelp accounts. It is sometimes funny to look at the filtered reviews for a restaurant because there are often a number of filtered reviews that have been clearly been written by either an owner or employee of the restaurant or by a competitor. Apparently, 16% of all Yelp reviews are filtered by the software. While the Yelp filtering software is by no means perfect and often filters legitimate reviews as well, it almost certainly improves the overall accuracy of businesses' Yelp rating on a macro level.

Yelp certainly shouldn't be suggesting that they will unfilter the positive reviews only if you decide to advertise with the site. This is contrary to Yelp's stated policy, and, in fact, Yelp claims that its employees don't even have the ability to override the automatic filtering software that distinguishes "recommended" from "not recommended" reviews. I have no doubt that Yelp has some pushy ad salespeople, much like other businesses, but I don't think there is any evidence that they engage in extortion of businesses by intentionally filtering positive reviews to punish a business for not advertising with the site. I just don't think that Yelp is nearly as nefarious as some people here seem to think.

The fact is that any time there is a public forum where anyone has a voice to express their opinions, you are going to have to deal with hearing from the idiots and jerks of the world. Unfortunately for Mad Cow, the first Yelp review of his business was from one of those dregs of society. However, I don't really see how Yelp is to blame for that.

 

[SeveredHorseHeads]

I had no idea it was a blackmale service.

Link to black males?

 

[Joe T]

I took a look at the positive reviews that were filtered, and it looks like the likely reasons they were filtered by Yelp's automatic filtering software are because (1) each person has very few total reviews (no more than 4, only 1 review in one case); (2) each person has no "friends" on Yelp; (3) each person does not have a picture of themselves on their account profile; and (4) each person gave a 5-star review, which are more likely to be filtered as an "extreme" review. These are all indicators that the Yelp software uses to identify potential fraudulent reviews posted by fake accounts. The automatic filtering software is definitely biased against new users who have not yet established themselves on Yelp, but it certainly helps prevent people from boosting a company's ratings by making unsophisticated fake Yelp accounts. It is sometimes funny to look at the filtered reviews for a restaurant because there are often a number of filtered reviews that have been clearly been written by either an owner or employee of the restaurant or by a competitor. Apparently, 16% of all Yelp reviews are filtered by the software. While the Yelp filtering software is by no means perfect and often filters legitimate reviews as well, it almost certainly improves the overall accuracy of businesses' Yelp rating on a macro level.

Yelp certainly shouldn't be suggesting that they will unfilter the positive reviews only if you decide to advertise with the site. This is contrary to Yelp's stated policy, and, in fact, Yelp claims that its employees don't even have the ability to override the automatic filtering software that distinguishes "recommended" from "not recommended" reviews. I have no doubt that Yelp has some pushy ad salespeople, much like other businesses, but I don't think there is any evidence that they engage in extortion of businesses by intentionally filtering positive reviews to punish a business for not advertising with the site. I just don't think that Yelp is nearly as nefarious as some people here seem to think.

The fact is that any time there is a public forum where anyone has a voice to express their opinions, you are going to have to deal with hearing from the idiots and jerks of the world. Unfortunately for Mad Cow, the first Yelp review of his business was from one of those dregs of society. However, I don't really see how Yelp is to blame for that.

oof

 

[Somebody]

It's often pretty obvious when an employee of the company being discussed shows up...

 

[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 illegitimately boost or depress 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 review 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.

I took a look at the positive reviews that were filtered, and it looks like the likely reasons they were filtered by Yelp's automatic filtering software are because (1) each person has very few total reviews (no more than 4, only 1 review in one case); (2) each person has no "friends" on Yelp; (3) each person does not have a picture of themselves on their account profile; and (4) each person gave a 5-star review, which are more likely to be filtered as an "extreme" review. These are all indicators that the Yelp software uses to identify potential fraudulent reviews posted by fake accounts. The automatic filtering software is definitely biased against new users who have not yet established themselves on Yelp, but it certainly helps prevent people from boosting a company's ratings by making unsophisticated fake Yelp accounts. It is sometimes funny to look at the filtered reviews for a restaurant because there are often a number of filtered reviews that have been clearly been written by either an owner or employee of the restaurant or by a competitor. Apparently, 16% of all Yelp reviews are filtered by the software. While the Yelp filtering software is by no means perfect and often filters legitimate reviews as well, it almost certainly improves the overall accuracy of businesses' Yelp rating on a macro level.

Yelp certainly shouldn't be suggesting that they will unfilter the positive reviews only if you decide to advertise with the site. This is contrary to Yelp's stated policy, and, in fact, Yelp claims that its employees don't even have the ability to override the automatic filtering software that distinguishes "recommended" from "not recommended" reviews. I have no doubt that Yelp has some pushy ad salespeople, much like other businesses, but I don't think there is any evidence that they engage in extortion of businesses by intentionally filtering positive reviews to punish a business for not advertising with the site. I just don't think that Yelp is nearly as nefarious as some people here seem to think.

The fact is that any time there is a public forum where anyone has a voice to express their opinions, you are going to have to deal with hearing from the idiots and jerks of the world. Unfortunately for Mad Cow, the first Yelp review of his business was from one of those dregs of society. However, I don't really see how Yelp is to blame for that.

It's often pretty obvious when an employee of the company being discussed shows up...

Exactly.

"Yelp is a fantastic website used by many and provides a very valued service. Yelp is not at fault at all here. This is the fault of the disgruntled reviewer and the overly ambitious salesperson. "

 

[ffjunk]

Yeah, Kee was great to help me. I appreciate any offers to counter her and will PM the info.

I thought long and hard about leaving terrible reviews about her at her job, but I really don't want to sink to that level. It was an exercise in restraint.

If you know where she works send her a nice review.

 

[[icon]]

I don't work for Yelp and I agree with Buckfast and ChiefD.

Also, Yelp has offices in NYC/SFO/PHX... and I don't theink either of them live there.

 

[EYLive]

I've been yelp elite for several years, but I didn't bother to re-up for 2015. I've heard plenty of shakedown stories and there's is certainly shady stuff done behind the scenes for money.

 

[Buckfast 1]

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 illegitimately boost or depress 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 review 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.

I took a look at the positive reviews that were filtered, and it looks like the likely reasons they were filtered by Yelp's automatic filtering software are because (1) each person has very few total reviews (no more than 4, only 1 review in one case); (2) each person has no "friends" on Yelp; (3) each person does not have a picture of themselves on their account profile; and (4) each person gave a 5-star review, which are more likely to be filtered as an "extreme" review. These are all indicators that the Yelp software uses to identify potential fraudulent reviews posted by fake accounts. The automatic filtering software is definitely biased against new users who have not yet established themselves on Yelp, but it certainly helps prevent people from boosting a company's ratings by making unsophisticated fake Yelp accounts. It is sometimes funny to look at the filtered reviews for a restaurant because there are often a number of filtered reviews that have been clearly been written by either an owner or employee of the restaurant or by a competitor. Apparently, 16% of all Yelp reviews are filtered by the software. While the Yelp filtering software is by no means perfect and often filters legitimate reviews as well, it almost certainly improves the overall accuracy of businesses' Yelp rating on a macro level.

Yelp certainly shouldn't be suggesting that they will unfilter the positive reviews only if you decide to advertise with the site. This is contrary to Yelp's stated policy, and, in fact, Yelp claims that its employees don't even have the ability to override the automatic filtering software that distinguishes "recommended" from "not recommended" reviews. I have no doubt that Yelp has some pushy ad salespeople, much like other businesses, but I don't think there is any evidence that they engage in extortion of businesses by intentionally filtering positive reviews to punish a business for not advertising with the site. I just don't think that Yelp is nearly as nefarious as some people here seem to think.

The fact is that any time there is a public forum where anyone has a voice to express their opinions, you are going to have to deal with hearing from the idiots and jerks of the world. Unfortunately for Mad Cow, the first Yelp review of his business was from one of those dregs of society. However, I don't really see how Yelp is to blame for that.

It's often pretty obvious when an employee of the company being discussed shows up...

Exactly.

"Yelp is a fantastic website used by many and provides a very valued service. Yelp is not at fault at all here. This is the fault of the disgruntled reviewer and the overly ambitious salesperson. "

I'm not an employee of Yelp. I regularly use Yelp to find restaurants/businesses, but am not part of their Elite circle and I rarely even post reviews. I'm an attorney who bases my feelings about businesses on facts, rather than conspiracy theories.

 

[Brony]

Can someone write a bad review for Yelp itself?

 

[[icon]]

I've been yelp elite for several years, but I didn't bother to re-up for 2015. I've heard plenty of shakedown stories and there's is certainly shady stuff done behind the scenes for money.

Re-Up? You're supposed to do something? I was just automatically made Elite again for 2015 last week. Odd.

Perks for Elite are nice here... bi-weekly private dinners and events that usually include free food, drink, and often entertainment.

 

[Fennis]

Can someone write a bad review for Yelp itself?

21/2 stars for Yelp

http://www.yelp.com/biz/yelp-san-francisco

 

[Buckfast 1]

Can someone write a bad review for Yelp itself?

Yep. Here is the Yelp page - http://www.yelp.com/biz/yelp-san-francisco

The reviews are filled with business owners complaining about Yelp "burying their best reviews" because they don't understand the automatic filtering software.

 

[Fennis]

Can someone write a bad review for Yelp itself?

Yep. Here is the Yelp page - http://www.yelp.com/biz/yelp-san-francisco

The reviews are filled with business owners complaining about Yelp "burying their best reviews" because they don't understand the automatic filtering software.

I'm giving this post a bad review.

 

[Joe T]

I'm not an employee of Yelp. I regularly use Yelp to find restaurants/businesses, but am not part of their Elite circle and I rarely even post reviews. I'm an attorney who bases my feelings about businesses on facts, rather than conspiracy theories.

Good to know.

I'm glad the facts showed you that Yelp is not responsible for their own overly aggressive salespeople. Hey, they only work there.

 

[Buckfast 1]

I'm not an employee of Yelp. I regularly use Yelp to find restaurants/businesses, but am not part of their Elite circle and I rarely even post reviews. I'm an attorney who bases my feelings about businesses on facts, rather than conspiracy theories.

Good to know.

I'm glad the facts showed you that Yelp is not responsible for their own overly aggressive salespeople. Hey, they only work there.

Aggressive salespeople do not make a business a "scam" or call into question the validity of their review filtering system. It sounds like their salespeople can be quite annoying and persistent at times (as many salespeople are known to be). I never said that they weren't responsible for the conduct of their salespeople.

 

[GoFishTN]

Who picks an optometrist from Yelp?

 

[belljr]

What's Yelp?

 

[EYLive]

I've been yelp elite for several years, but I didn't bother to re-up for 2015. I've heard plenty of shakedown stories and there's is certainly shady stuff done behind the scenes for money.

Re-Up? You're supposed to do something? I was just automatically made Elite again for 2015 last week. Odd.

Perks for Elite are nice here... bi-weekly private dinners and events that usually include free food, drink, and often entertainment.

I'm in west LA where there are tons of applicants and maybe a monthly event. It's no longer worth the hassle.

 

[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.

I agree with you except for the d-bag part. He asked a legit question, but Mad Cow has done business with people here and IMO he has earned the good reviews. They aren't fake reviews, just the timing of them have been prompted by this thread.

Okay, i will concede that i don't know B-Deep well enough to make a snap judgment that he is a d-bag. But i will warn that he is walking on thin ice.

 

[Buckfast 1]

I did a Google search to see if I could find any persuasive evidence of Yelp engaging in shady business practices. The first result that came up was an article titled "Yelp accused of bullying businesses into paying for better reviews", which was published yesterday by CBC News. The article indicates that Nadia Kalnieva, the owner of moving company called S & Sons Moving in Toronto, is accusing Yelp of unfairly highlighting negative reviews while hiding positive reviews in the "not recommended" section. She claims that this practice is Yelp's attempt to coerce her into paying for advertising, although she admits that Yelp never explicitly said this to her.

But let's do a better job of investigative journalism than Canada's CBC News. S & Sons Moving currently has 5 "recommended" Yelp reviews for an overall rating of 2.5/5 stars. However, they also have 18 "not recommended" reviews that were filtered by Yelp's software. According to Ms. Kalnieva, Yelp is suppressing these filtered positive reviews in an attempt to extort her into paying for advertising. Well, 9 of the filtered reviews are 1-star negative reviews by Yelp accounts of questionable merit (less than 4 reviews, no friends, no pictures). If Yelp was attempting to extort Ms. Kalnieva for advertising, it is strange that they would do so by filtering these negative 1-star reviews. The other 9 reviews are positive 5-star reviews by Yelp accounts of questionable merit (again - less than 4 reviews, no friends, no pictures). Interestingly, several of these positive 5-star reviews are clumped closely in time -- 3 positive 5-star reviews in the span of a week around the end of May 2012 and 3 positive 5-star reviews in the span of a month in July 2014. The three positive 5-star reviews in July 2014 were all posted shortly after a legitimate negative 1-star review was posted in June 2014, which negatively impacted S & Sons' overall Yelp rating. I think it is clearly apparent that Ms. Kalnieva has been engaged in a fraudulent practice of posting false reviews under fake Yelp accounts to try to combat the negative legitimate reviews that she has received. I also think that it seems very possible that another rival company has been posting fraudulent negative reviews on S & Sons Moving. I would wager that the rival company is Rent-a-Buddy Moving, as one of the reviews recommends them instead of S & Sons and, if you look at Rent-a-Buddy's "not recommended" reviews, they have 40 filtered reviews (compared to only 12 legitimate reviews), almost all of which are 5-star reviews of questionable merit (less than 4 reviews, no friends, no pictures). I believe it is obvious that both S & Sons and Rent-a-Buddy have attempted to game the Yelp system by posting fraudulent 5-star reviews for themselves and fraudulent 1-star reviews against their competitors. But, thankfully for the integrity of the Yelp rating system, the automated filter has caught and filtered the vast majority of these fraudulent reviews by disreputable and dishonest business owners.

But who gets the blame for filtering those fraudulent 5-star reviews by Ms. Kalnieva? Yelp.

 

[NREC34]

What motive does the lady have to make up lies and give a bad review? The only times I have taken the time to go to one of these sites and ding a business was because they definitely deserved it and I was majorly po'd. Has she left all bad reviews on her others? Maybe there is some truth to what she is saying here, who knows.

 

[GroveDiesel]

I'm not an employee of Yelp. I regularly use Yelp to find restaurants/businesses, but am not part of their Elite circle and I rarely even post reviews. I'm an attorney who bases my feelings about businesses on facts, rather than conspiracy theories.

Good to know.

I'm glad the facts showed you that Yelp is not responsible for their own overly aggressive salespeople. Hey, they only work there.

Aggressive salespeople do not make a business a "scam" or call into question the validity of their review filtering system. It sounds like their salespeople can be quite annoying and persistent at times (as many salespeople are known to be). I never said that they weren't responsible for the conduct of their salespeople.

If the salespeople consistently tell business owners that advertising with then will improve their reviews, then yes, it is a scam.

 

[pollardsvision]

The sales people are definitely persistent. My staff all knows Sarah from Yelp and her New Mexico area code very well.

I was in direct sales for years, so I really try not to string people along, but this chick won't stop.

 

[sbonomo]

What motive does the lady have to make up lies and give a bad review? The only times I have taken the time to go to one of these sites and ding a business was because they definitely deserved it and I was majorly po'd. Has she left all bad reviews on her others? Maybe there is some truth to what she is saying here, who knows.

ya she is pretty negative. I think 30-40% were one star

 

[Das Boot]

I did a Google search to see if I could find any persuasive evidence of Yelp engaging in shady business practices. The first result that came up was an article titled "Yelp accused of bullying businesses into paying for better reviews", which was published yesterday by CBC News. The article indicates that Nadia Kalnieva, the owner of moving company called S & Sons Moving in Toronto, is accusing Yelp of unfairly highlighting negative reviews while hiding positive reviews in the "not recommended" section. She claims that this practice is Yelp's attempt to coerce her into paying for advertising, although she admits that Yelp never explicitly said this to her.

But let's do a better job of investigative journalism than Canada's CBC News. S & Sons Moving currently has 5 "recommended" Yelp reviews for an overall rating of 2.5/5 stars. However, they also have 18 "not recommended" reviews that were filtered by Yelp's software. According to Ms. Kalnieva, Yelp is suppressing these filtered positive reviews in an attempt to extort her into paying for advertising. Well, 9 of the filtered reviews are 1-star negative reviews by Yelp accounts of questionable merit (less than 4 reviews, no friends, no pictures). If Yelp was attempting to extort Ms. Kalnieva for advertising, it is strange that they would do so by filtering these negative 1-star reviews. The other 9 reviews are positive 5-star reviews by Yelp accounts of questionable merit (again - less than 4 reviews, no friends, no pictures). Interestingly, several of these positive 5-star reviews are clumped closely in time -- 3 positive 5-star reviews in the span of a week around the end of May 2012 and 3 positive 5-star reviews in the span of a month in July 2014. The three positive 5-star reviews in July 2014 were all posted shortly after a legitimate negative 1-star review was posted in June 2014, which negatively impacted S & Sons' overall Yelp rating. I think it is clearly apparent that Ms. Kalnieva has been engaged in a fraudulent practice of posting false reviews under fake Yelp accounts to try to combat the negative legitimate reviews that she has received. I also think that it seems very possible that another rival company has been posting fraudulent negative reviews on S & Sons Moving. I would wager that the rival company is Rent-a-Buddy Moving, as one of the reviews recommends them instead of S & Sons and, if you look at Rent-a-Buddy's "not recommended" reviews, they have 40 filtered reviews (compared to only 12 legitimate reviews), almost all of which are 5-star reviews of questionable merit (less than 4 reviews, no friends, no pictures). I believe it is obvious that both S & Sons and Rent-a-Buddy have attempted to game the Yelp system by posting fraudulent 5-star reviews for themselves and fraudulent 1-star reviews against their competitors. But, thankfully for the integrity of the Yelp rating system, the automated filter has caught and filtered the vast majority of these fraudulent reviews by disreputable and dishonest business owners.

But who gets the blame for filtering those fraudulent 5-star reviews by Ms. Kalnieva? Yelp.

Your investigation and rational counter-point is appreciated.

 

[[icon]]

What motive does the lady have to make up lies and give a bad review? The only times I have taken the time to go to one of these sites and ding a business was because they definitely deserved it and I was majorly po'd. Has she left all bad reviews on her others? Maybe there is some truth to what she is saying here, who knows.

ya she is pretty negative. I think 30-40% were one star

Yep. You gotta take those kinda whiners with a grain of salt. Those folks are never gonna be happy.

 

[Christo]

Can someone write a bad review for Yelp itself?

Yep. Here is the Yelp page - http://www.yelp.com/biz/yelp-san-francisco

The reviews are filled with business owners complaining about Yelp "burying their best reviews" because they don't understand the automatic filtering software.

Or maybe they think the software is

 

[The Big Guy]

yelp has weird answers at time. http://www.icanhasinternets.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Fords-Theatre-Gets-Reviewed.jpg

 

[Jefferson the Caregiver]

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 illegitimately boost or depress 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 review 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.

This is accurate.

Yelp probably did see something fishy in the one off reviews that you got and quite honestly as a consumer I want them to filter reviews like that.

On the original complaint that Yelp will publish those reviews if you do pay them money to advertise, I do agree that's fairly shady. It does seem like common practice since you are not the first one who's said it. They probably look at it like, we will let you write whatever the hell you want on our site, but you need to pay us if you want to do that.

I think Yelp is useful but you can't take anything for granted if a business has less than 30 reviews. If I see hundreds of reviews for a business overall and the Yelpers making such reviews have a long track record of being on the site, the review is usually valid and I'm not usually disappointed with the good recommendations.

 

[pollardsvision]

FWIW, our Yelphound hasn't mentioned anything about paying customers having our positive "not recommended"s moved up. I don't doubt they might be doing that to others, but I haven't seen it.

And the not recommended's seem to be serving a good purpose. We have 5. Two are negative and nasty. Two are very clearly from the son of the former owner. We have one positive buried, but I suspect that one is also a relative of the son, and it's a single reviewer.

 

[Mad Cow]

All I can report is my own experience. I also see a LOT of other businesses with similar experiences which lead to the allegations. Given so many reporting similar outcomes, it seems reasonable to assume that it is not just software at work, but that is me. I am very appreciative of so many FBG's that are willing to help a fellow iFriend. It was not on my mind at all in the posting, just wanting to see if others had seen the same trend.

As for this lady and those that might have said she was telling the truth, she is easily top 2 people in my life for the most repulsive personalities I have ever met. Truth in her review? Yeah, she came to my office for an exam. My staff cannot ever remember a patient as nasty as her, either.

 

[The Big Guy]

All I can report is my own experience. I also see a LOT of other businesses with similar experiences which lead to the allegations. Given so many reporting similar outcomes, it seems reasonable to assume that it is not just software at work, but that is me. I am very appreciative of so many FBG's that are willing to help a fellow iFriend. It was not on my mind at all in the posting, just wanting to see if others had seen the same trend.

As for this lady and those that might have said she was telling the truth, she is easily top 2 people in my life for the most repulsive personalities I have ever met. Truth in her review? Yeah, she came to my office for an exam. My staff cannot ever remember a patient as nasty as her, either.

Yes that might be YOUR version, but she does know better since afterall, she has owned her eyes for her own life and therefore should know how you are to treat them. But you should get kudos for being able to "force" someone with that loud a mouth into buying contacts when she apparently did not agree with your methods of checking her vision nor did she want contacts.

 

[B-Deep]

what i took from this is yelp sucks and online reviews are not reliable

 

[Mad Cow]

All I can report is my own experience. I also see a LOT of other businesses with similar experiences which lead to the allegations. Given so many reporting similar outcomes, it seems reasonable to assume that it is not just software at work, but that is me. I am very appreciative of so many FBG's that are willing to help a fellow iFriend. It was not on my mind at all in the posting, just wanting to see if others had seen the same trend.

As for this lady and those that might have said she was telling the truth, she is easily top 2 people in my life for the most repulsive personalities I have ever met. Truth in her review? Yeah, she came to my office for an exam. My staff cannot ever remember a patient as nasty as her, either.

Yes that might be YOUR version, but she does know better since afterall, she has owned her eyes for her own life and therefore should know how you are to treat them. But you should get kudos for being able to "force" someone with that loud a mouth into buying contacts when she apparently did not agree with your methods of checking her vision nor did she want contacts.

Buy? She bought nothing. She stormed out of my office without having paid any of her fees. I took pleasure in at least billing her vision insurance which gave me a few dollars, but not much considering she did not pay any of her part. And yes, I know that your comments were in my favor, just clarifying that she didn't get roped into anything. I could type for another 10 minutes and not finish saying all of things that she was a ##### about.

 

[El Floppo]

just looked at her other reviews- an all or nothing type/hyperbole of person. everything's either the best or worst ever with her reviews- all 1s or 5s. and she looooooves her amazing haircut from dollar cuts.

I've never liked people like this.

 

[[icon]]

what i took from this is yelp sucks and online reviews are not reliable

Perhaps but the fact of the matter, as ChiefD stated above, is that online reviews are here to stay. People use them. People love them.

LIke it or not, Yelp is used by a ####load of people to choose where to eat and, to a lesser extent, where to engage in other forms of business. You can either complain about it, you can ignore it... (neither of which are helping your business), or you can take a little time and engage folks on there and manage your online reputation.

I almost invariably use Amazon's reviews before purchasing a product, even if I'm not buying it from amazon. I almost always look up a restaurant on Yelp before dining there, or even go so far as use Yelp to find a restaurant when I'm travelling in an area where I'm unfamiliar of where I should eat. The monocle feature is fantastic in major cities. Trip Advisor is a site I use for travel guidance. I rarely if ever use Google reviews.

I personally have faith in Yelp's automated screening process. Is it perfect? No. Is the service better for having it in place? Most definitely. I don't believe Yelp is intentionally filtering valid reviews in an effort to extort advertising. However, I have no doubt there are cases where unscrupulous sales folks at Yelp are making promises about opening up filtered reviews. Yelp should likely take action against those employees and do a better job of fighting that sort of activity as they ARE responsible for their employees and it does tarnish their brand.

There are always going to be #######s like the pig who tore into MadCow's business. Every business owner that pours their heart and soul into their company wants to see a 4 or 5 star rating to validate their efforts. Seeing crap like that is going to sting. You've just got to learn that:

1) it's GOING to happen because there are crappy people out there

2) You can mitigate their sting to prospective clients by responding to the claims in a professional manner

3) Most folks will see a review like that and gloss over the "woman scorned / scorched earth" review as tainted.

JMHO.

 

[El Floppo]

I use yelp for restaurants- but as a guide to what kind of restaurant is in what neighborhood. if we're looking for Burmese in NoHo, that's where I go.

for reviews here in NYC, I use Zagat, NY Magazine or NYTimes- all of which have reviews by "professionals" and not nutjob losers who freak out because the waiter didn't put ice in their milk.

 

[The Big Guy]

All I can report is my own experience. I also see a LOT of other businesses with similar experiences which lead to the allegations. Given so many reporting similar outcomes, it seems reasonable to assume that it is not just software at work, but that is me. I am very appreciative of so many FBG's that are willing to help a fellow iFriend. It was not on my mind at all in the posting, just wanting to see if others had seen the same trend.

As for this lady and those that might have said she was telling the truth, she is easily top 2 people in my life for the most repulsive personalities I have ever met. Truth in her review? Yeah, she came to my office for an exam. My staff cannot ever remember a patient as nasty as her, either.

Yes that might be YOUR version, but she does know better since afterall, she has owned her eyes for her own life and therefore should know how you are to treat them. But you should get kudos for being able to "force" someone with that loud a mouth into buying contacts when she apparently did not agree with your methods of checking her vision nor did she want contacts.

Buy? She bought nothing. She stormed out of my office without having paid any of her fees. I took pleasure in at least billing her vision insurance which gave me a few dollars, but not much considering she did not pay any of her part. And yes, I know that your comments were in my favor, just clarifying that she didn't get roped into anything. I could type for another 10 minutes and not finish saying all of things that she was a ##### about.

Sorry, the sarcasm dripping out of my stuff is not working, since it is too close to you, I imagine. I was just overstating some of the crap that she had posted in the review. I loved how she tells us that she is 22, but she knows her eyes better than a Dr does. Awesome.

 

[Joe T]

Ignoring the scamming and extortion problem with Yelp, you have the paid reviewer, friend, nephew, cousin, and FBG friend reviewer problem that screws all the ratings. Sure you can wade through and try to decipher which ones are real and which ones are not if you have time to waste, but for most people it just isn't worth it. The ratings are too easily manipulated to be of value. Avoid.

 

[Mad Cow]

All I can report is my own experience. I also see a LOT of other businesses with similar experiences which lead to the allegations. Given so many reporting similar outcomes, it seems reasonable to assume that it is not just software at work, but that is me. I am very appreciative of so many FBG's that are willing to help a fellow iFriend. It was not on my mind at all in the posting, just wanting to see if others had seen the same trend.

As for this lady and those that might have said she was telling the truth, she is easily top 2 people in my life for the most repulsive personalities I have ever met. Truth in her review? Yeah, she came to my office for an exam. My staff cannot ever remember a patient as nasty as her, either.

Yes that might be YOUR version, but she does know better since afterall, she has owned her eyes for her own life and therefore should know how you are to treat them. But you should get kudos for being able to "force" someone with that loud a mouth into buying contacts when she apparently did not agree with your methods of checking her vision nor did she want contacts.

Buy? She bought nothing. She stormed out of my office without having paid any of her fees. I took pleasure in at least billing her vision insurance which gave me a few dollars, but not much considering she did not pay any of her part. And yes, I know that your comments were in my favor, just clarifying that she didn't get roped into anything. I could type for another 10 minutes and not finish saying all of things that she was a ##### about.

Sorry, the sarcasm dripping out of my stuff is not working, since it is too close to you, I imagine. I was just overstating some of the crap that she had posted in the review. I loved how she tells us that she is 22, but she knows her eyes better than a Dr does. Awesome.

No I detected it just fine. Merely reiterating my experience in my post which was quoting yours.

 

[The Big Guy]

Ignoring the scamming and extortion problem with Yelp, you have the paid reviewer, friend, nephew, cousin, and FBG friend reviewer problem that screws all the ratings. Sure you can wade through and try to decipher which ones are real and which ones are not if you have time to waste, but for most people it just isn't worth it. The ratings are too easily manipulated to be of value. Avoid.

I use reviews as a tool in my decision making process. But any time I read reviews,I look for quantity and blow out the 5Star superfan ones and the 1Star superhater ones and work out of the rest to build a more total picture of what is closer to reality. Having said that, there is a certain amount of truth that sometimes can be pulled out of the lunatic reviews as well as from the superfan reviews too. What I tend to look for are the common comments that people say. When multiple people say that an item was impossible to assemble, or that it fell apart after a week, well that is something that grabs my attention. But the single person who posts "THIS IS THE BIGGEST POS EVAR!!!!!1!" gets no attention from me.