Bleeding Heart Bakery in Chicago is one of many businesses suing Yelp!
One of the most popular review websites, Yelp! has been under significant heat lately as the list of companies suing for “extortion and fraudulent business practices” grows. Though Yelp! promises “Real reviews. Real people,” organizations claim Yelp! manipulates reviews based on revenue. Business owners compared Yelp! to the Mafia with some too petrified to publicly denounce the site. Other recently folded companies blame their collapse on negative reviews, illegally managed by the website.
Founded in 2004, Yelp! began as an e-mail service for San Francisco residents. The aim was (and still reads) to provide active locals with a fun online community to share tips, deals, and buzz. Though CitySearch had been running for nine years, Yelp!’s popularity soared, largely from its expansion to event listings, discussion boards, and the “elite squad” label applied to particularly active and charismatic users. Its enthusiastic and informal vibe make it particularly successful with the young and media savvy, as its recent partnership with Facebook also reveals. During March 2010, Yelp! received over 30 million visitors.
For revenue, Yelp! relies solely on advertisers. Businesses have complained of the company’s aggressive sales people, who harass them sometimes daily. Some say Yelp! sales persons promised to remove or re-arrange reviews if the organization did not agree to the $299 monthly advertising contract. One disturbing incident reveals a business owner who noticed his positive reviews moved up after declining the pitch. The sales person called again and said, “Did you notice what I did? Well, we can keep doing that for you.” Feeling unsettled rather than excited, the owner declined once more.
In defense, the website says businesses are misinterpreting its pitch. Formerly, the sales pitch included the perk of moving up an advertiser’s favorite review to the top of the page under the label “sponsored review.” When the lawsuit began, this feature was no longer offered. Yelp! says no other link between revenue and reviews has ever existed.
The company also implements a review filter, which it argues is not perfect but stems from the intention to block spammers and other sham accounts posting fake reviews. Reviews consistently giving five stars and reviews from accounts with little information provided or a short history will be filtered out. However, if the account information is updated or the user starts producing a variety of reviews (positive and negative), the account may be considered legitimate and the user’s reviews reappear. Yelp! admits the difficulty of correctly filtering among millions of its reviews but claims it never filters based on advertising. It also does not explicitly state its filtering rules on the grounds that doing so would weaken the system. However, the filtering system has also been amended since the lawsuit began. Yelp! has allowed every business’ filtered reviews to be visible, on a new “filtered reviews” section. The move comes from the company’s attempt to prove its honest business practices.
But the recent policy changes have not assuaged many entrepreneurs’ burning anger. Sites like Yelp Sucks and Facebook fan pages “Don’t Support Yelp” are growing in popularity, as more organizations voice the victimization by the website.
Regardless, Yelp! continues to be a major factor in many of today’s consumer decisions. Despite the growing anger, the company remains confident in its integrity and principles, as its blog post, “Lady Justice Needs a Lawsuit Filter” indicates. Perhaps Yelp! was created to assist the public and provide a democratic platform, but greater clarification is needed if its sales pitch and tactics are as genuine and fair as it claims. Otherwise, it will receive poor ratings as well.
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Victoria is a writer for various social change and environment-focused websites. Previously, Victoria taught English in Thailand and worked in the film industry on sets, at festivals, and in production offices. Born and raised in Virginia, Victoria studied film and English at Boston University. She looks forward to future international adventures and hopefully, the eventual publication of her short stories and the novel she has just begun. She currently resides in Brooklyn, NY.
Thanks for an interesting article! I was only aware of a few of these things going on through Yelp. I do know that while it’s usually useful for getting the overall flavor of a place, as of late it has been wrong on just too many accounts, and reviews have been all over the place. I also heard that for a few hundred dollars, a business could erase all reviews! It all seems very odd, and overall I’ll definitely think twice before using the site in the future.
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You’re welcome, Kathryn. I’m glad the article provided some insight on the organization. I too was surprised by the various complaints against the company’s practices and will also think twice before relying on the site’s reviews!
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