Service Provider Recommendations & Yelp

[dennisrobitaille]

I hope I'm not creating a thread that may already be here, but I searched and did not find one. I have been providing a professional service for over 34 years. I am in the twilight of my career, but as long as the body and mind stay sharp, I will continue with my service. I never really had the need to spend much money on advertising because of the number of satisfied clients I have had over the years. But my son is taking over the majority of the business and could use a little advertising exposure.

Anyway, I want it to share my experience with Yelp. I have had several conversations with a few of their sales reps, concerning spending money to "boost" the business exposure. My (non-paid) listing had several 5 star rated comments and nothing lower. Shortly after I refused to give Yelp money for advertising, all but one of my 5 star rated comments disappeared to the "not recommended" section on my Yelp listing. When I complained to Yelp, they gave me the BS response that they don't manipulate the comments.

I did some research and couldn't believe the number of businesses getting hurt by Yelp. An extortion theme was quite prevalent. One of those web sites that shows the dark side of Yelp can be viewed at www.yelp-sucks.com

[thinkxingu]

I hope I'm not creating a thread that may already be here, but I searched and did not find one. I have been providing a professional service for over 34 years. I am in the twilight of my career, but as long as the body and mind stay sharp, I will continue with my service. I never really had the need to spend much money on advertising because of the number of satisfied clients I have had over the years. But my son is taking over the majority of the business and could use a little advertising exposure.

Anyway, I want it to share my experience with Yelp. I have had several conversations with a few of their sales reps, concerning spending money to "boost" the business exposure. My (non-paid) listing had several 5 star rated comments and nothing lower. Shortly after I refused to give Yelp money for advertising, all but one of my 5 star rated comments disappeared to the "not recommended" section on my Yelp listing. When I complained to Yelp, they gave me the BS response that they don't manipulate the comments.

I did some research and couldn't believe the number of businesses getting hurt by Yelp. An extortion theme was quite prevalent. One of those web sites that shows the dark side of Yelp can be viewed at www.yelp-sucks.com
Hi. I see this is your first post--what is your connection to the lakes region?

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[Charlie T]

Yelp is setup to extort money from legitimate businesses. If you don't become a paid subscriber business you end up with bogus bad reviews. It is simply a con game designed to take advantage of well run small businesses. I've had bogus reviews for my company appear on yelp, they cite transactions and actions that never happened. It's impossible to get yelp to verify or remove bogus reviews unless you are a paid subscriber business. Don't trust yelp or any review you see on it!

CT

[dennisrobitaille]

I moved to Laconia 5 years ago after 58 years in MA. I ran a home inspection business as Able Home Inspection, Inc. But I couldn't register that business name in NH, because someone had the name Able in their business name. So I registered as Legal Home Inspection Services, LLC (dba Able Home Inspection) www.ablehomeinspection.com

[8gv]

A class action suit might change Yelp's business model.

[HellRaZoR004]

I was thinking the same thing, but you need to have solid proof.

[Lakegeezer]

Last I checked, Yelp had been taken to court and won. Freedom of speech lets them publish comments in the order they want, with the business practices they want. Unfortunately, some people trust Yelp reviews, so each Lakes Region business has to decide if the extortion is worth it.

[brk-lnt]

I did some research and couldn't believe the number of businesses getting hurt by Yelp. An extortion theme was quite prevalent. One of those web sites that shows the dark side of Yelp can be viewed at www.yelp-sucks.com

Yelp is just the online version of the Better Business Bureau (another useless scam). It's unfortunate because so many people buckle under and pay them, resulting in more consumers trusting Yelp listings. I avoid Yelp entirely, but you might need to look at the bigger picture and pay them anyway.

[dennisrobitaille]

There had been a number of lawsuits filed against Yelp. But so far their high paid lawyers have fought them off. Yelp is today's modern day Mafia. Pay us and we'll protect your business. I also heard of someone who was contacted concerning a bad review they had and was told for $400 it could be removed!