Claims of Yelp extortion starting to hit the news

13 replies
Many business owners in Sacramento and around the country are frustrated with Yelp. Gonul Blum has been in the restaurant business for 10 years in Sacramento and said Yelp employees have cold-called her, asking her to pay for web ads on their site.

"They told me if I want to have the good reviews on the top when you open the Yelp page ... I've got to advertise it."

#claims #extortion #hit #news #starting #yelp
  • Profile picture of the author datingworld
    Yelp is disgusting.
    I read about Yelp and their scammed reviews few days ago, there are lots of people saying negative about Yelp.
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  • Profile picture of the author zoomsixx
    I hear the same stories over and over from my clients. They are shady and then they go out with these publicity stunts to try and clear their name. It's ridiculous.
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  • Profile picture of the author stodog77
    Yup. Have a client in the same boat. All the bad reviews are showing up at the top. Worst thing about it is, they are all fake reviews. Legitimate reviews are being filtered. One of the worst companies on the Internet.
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  • Profile picture of the author marketingva
    I heard a radio station in San Diego talking about this two years ago. I have a client who had all good reviews on Yelp. She was approached by their sales person and when she turned them down all of her good reviews were filtered making it appear that her business was new. I reported Yelp to the Attorney General's office in California when this happened.

    Bonnie
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    • Profile picture of the author OnlineStoreHelp
      And through the hard sell and scamminess they are rolling in the bucks... oh wait, they haven't made a profit yet, last quarter they lost 23 cents a share...
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      • Profile picture of the author Paul Myers
        Bonnie,
        when she turned them down all of her good reviews were filtered making it appear that her business was new.
        Sounds like a more aggressive version of the BBB.

        Centuries ago (in the 1980's) I lived in Port Richey, FL. I went into New Port Richey one morning and registered a new company. Stopped at the bank and opened an account for it. Then I headed home.

        Less than a half hour after I walked in the door, the phone rang. It was someone from the Pasco County BBB. The pitch started out by claiming they'd had inquiries from consumers about the company, and went on to say that, unless I joined, all they could tell anyone was that the company was "not recommended by the BBB."

        The company had not been registered for more than 4 hours at that point. As far as I knew, only two people beside me even knew it existed, and neither of them could tell you precisely what the product line was going to be.

        I had a lot of fun with that scamming creep.

        It can't be fun to be put in the kind of position you describe when you're running a brick and mortar business like a restaurant, though. It's way too easy for lying scumbags, or even reasonably disgruntled people who just aren't typical of the customer experience at a place, to scream louder than the happy customers online.

        This is one of the big reasons for Rule #1 in this forum. Too often these claims of "protecting the consumer" are cover for malicious lies and outright extortion.

        Were he to write "The Inferno" today, I think Alighieri would have set aside a special place in Hell for the slime who use deceit to destroy the livings of honest folk. And a crowded Circle it would be.


        Paul
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        • Profile picture of the author marketingva
          Hi Paul,

          Thanks for sharing that story of the BBB. They called me a couple of years ago with the same response when I declined. I told them to tell everyone that I was not recommended because I only accept clients through personal recommendation. I didn't want a bunch of strangers calling me!

          I did get those reviews unfiltered for my client after I threatened to call the local television stations with the story. The client is a hypnotherapist who has a tiny practice and couldn't afford advertising. She had reviews from long time Yelp members that were filtered. We became close friends but unfortunately she is now dying from brain cancer.

          Bonnie
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          • Profile picture of the author ladybug252
            Originally Posted by marketingva View Post

            I did get those reviews unfiltered for my client after I threatened to call the local television stations with the story.
            Good for you, Bonnie!
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  • Profile picture of the author aizaku
    Extorting protection money the Yelp way!

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  • Profile picture of the author webboost
    Sounds like some very shady actions
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  • Profile picture of the author Joe Thio
    I've heard stories of people giving 1 star reviews to stores, then extorting them to change the review. I don't even look at Yelp because it's so unreliable.
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  • Profile picture of the author zoomsixx
    The thing about the BBB is that some people actually think it's a government agency. I had to re-assure a few clients that they weren't. Yelp just gets good placement in Google and they use that to extort businesses. What Google needs to do is make their reviews more prominent in searches, then bottom feeders like Yelp would just die off.
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    • Profile picture of the author dvduval
      Originally Posted by zoomsixx View Post

      The thing about the BBB is that some people actually think it's a government agency. I had to re-assure a few clients that they weren't. Yelp just gets good placement in Google and they use that to extort businesses. What Google needs to do is make their reviews more prominent in searches, then bottom feeders like Yelp would just die off.
      Yelp was there first, and Google orchestrated a plan where they started out as friends, and then they didn't need them anymore. Similar situations have occurred in many other business dealings with Google such as DMOZ. You have to wonder if this is only a case of Yelp not running a good business or if a situation was created that resulted in the business losing market share.
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