Comments on: Does Yelp Use Blackmail As A Monetization Strategy?

By: Yelp Supposedly Turned Down Google’s Acquisition Offer Of $550 Million

Yelp Supposedly Turned Down Google’s Acquisition Offer Of $550 Million — Mon, 21 Dec 2009 19:34:53 +0000

[...] now there are reports surfacing that Yelp has turned down the acquisition offer. This is surprising considering that Yelp has a reputation for bullying local businesses over negative [...]

By: webmastere

webmastere — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:38:59 +0000

http://Www.drzahrahakim.com……We are experiencing unfair treatment from Yelp also. Our business has some negative reviews posted on Yelp which as a public business is regrettable but par for the course. The reviews are either fictitious or innaccurate, but hey thats free speech…….However, any and I mean any of the many positive reviews our clients leave for us are removed by Yelp. How can they validate the negative reviews more highly than the positive ones.

Also how can they remove these negative reviews and include the positive ones for a 299$ a month fee. Is this tax deductable?? We are very saddened by Yelp. Also very saddened and hurt by the negative reviews but with Yelp's participation we are getting scared to turn the computers on. If you have similar a experience we would like to hear from you. Contact webmaster@extraordinarysmile.net.

Also have you noticed there is no front end to Yelp, no direct contact page. Also have you noticed the language used on the site for guidelines and use is also confrontational and inflamatory.

It is fine in our age for programmers to develop social utility sites, there are a plethora of them with Facebook, Myspace, Twitter et. al. But Yelp comes across as independant, aggressive and sadly of the impression it is above the law.

We are deeply concerned about Yelp. Minus a million stars so far.

Also how can a social utitility site

By: webmastere

webmastere — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:38:59 +0000

Also have you noticed there is no front end to Yelp, no direct contact page. Also have you noticed the language used on the site for guidelines and use is also confrontational and inflamatory.

We are deeply concerned about Yelp. Minus a million stars so far.

Also how can a social utitility site

By: Lorenzo A.

Lorenzo A. — Wed, 20 May 2009 01:57:17 +0000

I can attest to the verasity of this article. I’ve had a restaurant in New York City for the last 21 years and have enjoyed considerable success over the years. I was unaware of yelp until recently when a customer mentioned that we had been reviewed on their site. At first, our reviews were predominately positive along with the occasional constructive critasisim. But recently, we have received a slew of outragiously negative and even offensive reviews which included factually innacurate / inapropriate information. Oddly enough, these highly critical reviews coincided with the first sales calls that we began receiving from yelp representatives offering to resort our reviews so that only the most posative ones would appear on our page. This of course was contingent on our willingness to “advertise” on their site…. To make a long story short, I am now considering my options, including any leagal recourse, to protect myself from these vultures. Wish me luck. I think that I will need it.

By: Paul B.

Paul B. — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 05:56:59 +0000

Whose to say that the authors of this very article didn’t fabricate the whole story because they have a vested interest in seeing Yelp fail. I’m not saying that the idea of businesses having the opportunity to remove negative reviews of their biz is not worth looking into it’s just that all media content nowadays has to be read/watched/listened to with a certain level of helthy skepticism.

By: Pau

Pau — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 23:48:57 +0000

Here is a free alternative to Yelp for local businesses: http://www.rateitall.com/promote