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I yelp. when I read fellow yelpers I look to see how many posts they have. If I see a odd negative or positive critique and its a one time yelper than I don't take it literally. So you really need to see if the poster is seasoned in order to take take a critique serious.
I was unaware of the lawsuits and will google to read about it.
Everyone of the various restaurant evaluation websites has a lot of "planted" reviews - especially those ones that are sanctimonious about not allowing reviews by owners and friends.
What smart restaurant managers do is to make friends with the local foodie groups. Allow them to schedule get togethers, charge them at or below your cost and let them do your marketing. On some sites, you read some of the reviews, see some great pictures, and decide to eat there. When you get to the restaurant, you find out that none of the food featured in the review is on the regular menu or available to you.
I find Yelp helpful in areas where there is not a lot of restaurants. I also find it helpful to eliminate some restaurants. In general, reviewers have a tendency to nit pick restaurants.
Everyone of the various restaurant evaluation websites has a lot of "planted" reviews - especially those ones that are sanctimonious about not allowing reviews by owners and friends.
What smart restaurant managers do is to make friends with the local foodie groups. Allow them to schedule get togethers, charge them at or below your cost and let them do your marketing. On some sites, you read some of the reviews, see some great pictures, and decide to eat there. When you get to the restaurant, you find out that none of the food featured in the review is on the regular menu or available to you.
I find Yelp helpful in areas where there is not a lot of restaurants. I also find it helpful to eliminate some restaurants. In general, reviewers have a tendency to nit pick restaurants.
This.
I'm a yelp elite (one of those reviewers whose writing is highly ranked by others as helpful), which is mostly foodies. Local establishments host yelp events ALL. THE. TIME. They know who to cultivate to market for them. Because the yelp community is small enough in my city, I've gotten to attend most of them without a waitlist.
I am in the process of opening a business and created a yelp profile with my hours, address, and a few pictures. I am not yet open. About a week ago a one-star review was posted claiming that my food was greasy and salty and I was rude and arrogant, again I have not conducted a single transaction yet. I flagged the review, this is the response I received: "We rely on community engagement to help keep Yelp useful, and although we didn’t agree that this content should come down, we appreciate you bringing it to our attention."
The profile that left the review had no previous reviews or activity on Yelp, and as I'm not yet open there is no possibility of this review being authentic.. Why would Yelp refuse to take it down? Has anyone out there had similar experiences?
I have friends who have had that problem with their bakeries. It's usually a competitor intimidated by new business coming to the area, if it happens when they haven't opened yet.
yelp probly wants you to pay them, to take that bogus review down
if yelp was wise and legitimate, it would go thru facebook to leave comments,,
ive set up many businesses on facebook, and most folks are pretty decent because they are aren't anonymous-(most people have their pictures and profiles ) go on youtube(anonymous),,,looks like most of the comments are all teenage immature dicks..
same as yelp,,,you can be anonymous, competitors, can rip you apart... falsely
I think you can try to leave your own message or have someone else do it- and set the record straight
yelp ... is hopefully going by the wayside because I isn't fair what they are doing to you, and I think YOU as the business, have to PAY to respond..
Last edited by mainebrokerman; 10-19-2014 at 04:24 PM..
Location: Montreal -> CT -> MA -> Montreal -> Ottawa
17,330 posts, read 32,892,053 times
Reputation: 28898
Oh my god, that's RIDICULOUS! Just awful. I hope that Yelp rectifies the situation. The really unfortunate part of this is that it takes more than one 5-star review to offset that 1-star review, since that would only get you to be average. ACK! Is there a way for you to delete your business profile and create a new one?
Also: Do you have a profile on TripAdvisor? Even when I'm looking for a restaurant in my own city, I tend to trust the reviews on there much more than other sites, like Yelp.
I'd heard about the extortion thing and all the class-action lawsuits going on. It does seem like Yelp is declining in popular opinion in light of these revelations, I'm hoping I can get this blatant example of Yelp facilitating libel seen by the right person.
Yeah, I'm just going to scrap it and create a new profile, though it will probably happen again. I don't expect Yelp to do much about it without me throwing money at them. I'll get on TripAdvisor, UrbanSpoon, etc; hopefully they have a bit more integrity.
I am in the process of opening a business and created a yelp profile with my hours, address, and a few pictures. I am not yet open. About a week ago a one-star review was posted claiming that my food was greasy and salty and I was rude and arrogant, again I have not conducted a single transaction yet. I flagged the review, this is the response I received: "We rely on community engagement to help keep Yelp useful, and although we didn’t agree that this content should come down, we appreciate you bringing it to our attention."
The only thing worse than Yelp are Helpers. I have had two friends who are restaurant owners who told me that Helpers were asking him for special deals ... "or else.". There is something that smells about that site but it is helpful some of the time.
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