
Yelp tried to strong-arm us - z0a
https://www.reddit.com/r/Entrepreneur/comments/b76d01/yelp_tried_to_strong_arm_us_today/
======
duxup
It's a sad but predictable pattern you see from everyone from the Better
Business Bureau to more recent companies.

Being established isn't enough, eventually they have to push on those whose
information / access they provide.

Personally I gave up on Yelp as years ago I could see so many reviews for
places by people who clearly had no clue what that place even was. Such as if
you go to a Neapolitan pizza place... you really shouldn't complain that the
pizza is "just thin crust". Or the always great "this place isn't as good as
X" where X is a place that costs 3x as much....

~~~
throwaway2048
Its not just enough to make money, you have to make increasingly more money
every year.

------
argonaut
This sounds like a misleading / high-pressure sales call, but if you read into
it carefully there's nothing that indicates to me anything illegal, scammy, or
even anything that would back up the claim that Yelp penalizes businesses that
don't advertise.

A charitable interpretation is that the salesperson is basically claiming
there were 21,000 searches the business showed up in, where they could have
been shown at the top if they advertised.

~~~
judge2020
There are many cases of yelp doing these actions (we obviously don't have the
source code as hard proof):

[https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/01/09/yelp-accused-hiding-
posi...](https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2018/01/09/yelp-accused-hiding-positive-
reviews-non-advertiser/)

[https://raymondfong.net/a-candid-yelp-advertising-review-
is-...](https://raymondfong.net/a-candid-yelp-advertising-review-is-yelp-
ripping-people-off/)

[https://www.searchenginejournal.com/yelp-filter-positive-
rev...](https://www.searchenginejournal.com/yelp-filter-positive-reviews-
business-refuses-pay-advertising/98695/)

~~~
millzlane
For my clients they basically said that if we didn't purchase and edit our
page with them. That our competitors ad's would show on or page. (No mention
that yelp basically puts them there.) So if we paid and setup our page they
would cease to show our competitors? Nope, they would move to the bottom of
the page where most visitors end up anyway.

------
kadendogthing
Why should I believe a self post? There's a weird anti-Yelp cult but never can
the people who claim Yelp is involved with nefarious business practices
provide any actual proof.

Yelp employees don't know about these practices.

Yelp says it doesn't have these practices.

And these people can't ever offer substantive evidence for the outrage porn
they're writing.

I'm thoroughly convinced after reading countless of these types of posts that
the anti-Yelp sentiment is purely born out of salty business owners who don't
like the fact that they get terrible reviews from an experienced audience.

This post does not belong on HN. There is nothing worth discussing about this
story except to fulfill someone's outrage porn fetish.

~~~
millzlane
You don't have to believe it. I believe the post because I have experienced
this similar behavior with two clients that were involved with yelp. And both
times yelp tried to use scare tactics to get me to purchase their services on
behalf of my clients. I won't go into detail. But this is more than some anti-
yelp cult like some people from yelp would love for you believe.

~~~
kadendogthing
>You don't have to believe it.

I know I don't. I asked why I should. The principle behind the question was
providing rational evidence to lend credence to these stories. Your statements
don't offer anything that help with this.

~~~
AstralStorm
The only "rational evidence" you could ever get is Yelp stats and they're
obviously biased.

Or you could compile anecdotes into actual data, read between the lines of
their reports on retain rates.

~~~
kadendogthing
>Or you could compile anecdotes into actual data,

So we should believe the IRS does actually call people and ask for their
information? Because if you think listening to these types of posts are the
equivalent of massaging anecdotes into actual "data", that's the conclusion
you're going to come to on either subject matter.

Or we could realize the fundamental ego-stroking absurdities of these posts,
take into account there's no evidence, take into account that no employees
former or current say that Yelp is involved with nefarious business practices,
and take into account the business' own statements on this matter, and come to
the very rational conclusion that these posts aren't based on any actual
actions taken by Yelp.

------
gotocake
Nothing about this seems credible or interesting enough to be posted here.
These stories emerge every so often, and they rarely seem to exist beyond
Reddit. I’d be interested in this if it could be verified, but as it is this
is internet rumor momgering.

~~~
Nicksil
What would you require for verification?

~~~
gotocake
I’d trust a reputable news outlet to do the vetting of the story, but that
never seems to happen with these Reddit posts. They just become cultural
artifacts and get repeated ad nauseum.

------
ilikehurdles
This sounds like a scam call. Did the user verify that the agent was in fact
in any way associated with yelp, and not just someone trying to blackmail a
business owner? As a domain owner, you get these scammy SEO agents pretending
to be affiliated with google all the time.

~~~
jordache
really? Based on otherwise pristine reputation for Yelp?

~~~
ilikehurdles
No, of course not. But over the years I’ve heard tons of anecdotal and second-
hand stories about yelp doing variations of this but nothing concrete or well-
documented. That, and knowing that these kinds of scammers exist.

------
saagarjha
Interestingly, the Reddit comments seem to mention Google as a better
alternative.

~~~
GCA10
So this is where it gets frustrating. When I'm heading to a new city for
business meetings (which happens often) Google is great about auto-magically
surfacing restaurant names close to where I will be. It's much faster and
easier to use than Yelp.

But Google's "reviews" aren't really reviews at all. They're one-liners that
people type into their phones, without telling me anything about local
specialties or WHY some particular dish was good or bad. (What's "too spicy"
for someone might be just what I want, etc.)

The best Yelp reviews are really informative. They're quirky and opinionated,
but that's part of the fun of reading them. I routinely collect a couple
Google-generated names and then look up the places on Yelp to get the real
deal.

I understand that Yelp's sales team plays dodgy games with merchants to "fix"
negative reviews, or to shake down merchants who don't buy ads. Wish they
didn't.

But from a consumer standpoint, a seriously flawed Yelp is still more useful
than a deluge of momentary burps from a Google system that is practically
insight-free.

~~~
daxterspeed
Google has the annoying tendency to ask people to rate and review places
they've been near. When they get it wrong you get reviews like "never been to
this place 1/5 stars".

I wish Google would incentivise helpful reviews and better verify that a user
has actually been to a place before prompting them to review it. Something as
simple as creating a guide on how to write a meaningful review could probably
go a long way.

------
oliwarner
I do wonder —with so many examples— how they avoid being charged with
racketeering or extortion.

~~~
noddingham
Because it isn't true? Because it's an unverified self-post on reddit, one of
the least trustworthy places on the internet?

~~~
oliwarner
This is _far_ from the first individual report of this, and what happens if
you don't pay. It's allegedly been happening for years. See other comments in
here for more.

~~~
pwinnski
And yet they've still avoided being charged with anything, which suggests that
stories might be less credible than they first seem.

------
omershapira
Good time as ever to mention that Foursquare is still great in every big city
I try it in.

~~~
ardy42
> Good time as ever to mention that Foursquare is still great in every big
> city I try it in.

Isn't their new business model basically track your location and sell the data
to anyone with money? The title to their website it literally "Foursquare -
The Trusted Location Data & Intelligence Company"
([https://foursquare.com/](https://foursquare.com/)).

------
grandsui
Okay, you keep on going on about Yelp. Why do I care about Yelp? Seriously
now, let's think about this for one second, okay? I've been in business for 24
years. Why do I care if Yelp has a review about me? Do you think I really care
about Yelp? I don't give a fuck about Yelp!

