First Impressions Video

For the last year or so, I have reluctantly created a Yelp business page for my business. A friend of mine is a huge fan, but I have followed the hundreds (if not THOUSANDS) of complaints logged by business owners. Just listing such complaints would take a separate blog posting, so I will confine my remarks to yesterday’s interaction with Yelp. I try real hard to not use profanity in my interactions with companies, but this was the last straw! As business owners, we all strive to get great reviews and recommendations from those for whom we do business. Sometimes we don’t get it right, but we always have a chance to make “lemonade out of lemons.” But when we do get it right, and then get penalized for doing so…well, you just read the thread and make your own conclusions. The thread is in reverse order, so it reads from the most recent comment to the first (oldest).

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From: Me
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 12:48 PM
To: Yelp HQ
Subject: Thanks for contacting Yelp! [ 4559203 ]

SHAME ON YOU!! All you do is respond with bullshit boilerplate…you can’t even craft an individualized reply. Frankly, I would feel better if you just DELETED my business listing because going forward, I will never have anything to do with Yelp. I did what I was supposed to do and got penalized for it. You DON’T care about the small business owner and your response just proved it.

I will now go very public with this case.

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From: Yelp HQ
Sent: Tuesday, May 10, 2016 9:54 AM
To: Me
Subject: Thanks for contacting Yelp! [ 4559203 ]

Hi,

Thanks for writing.

We use automated software designed to recommend the reviews that will be most helpful to the Yelp community. The software applies the same standards to every business and every review, and we can’t manually override the results for any single business or review. If we could, people might think that we favor some businesses over others (we don’t).

Nevertheless, it’s always helpful to get feedback – we are continually working to improve the algorithm so that it can recommend the best reviews for our community.

-The Yelp Support Team

Original Message:
Additional Information:
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From: Me
Sent: Monday, May 9, 2016 3:22 PM
To: Yelp Customer Service
Subject: I am being penalized?!?!

OK, so now I am REALLY pissed!! I have worked hard in the short time I’ve been in business to nurture good feelings among the clients with whom I’ve done business. I reluctantly set up a Yelp page for First Impressions Video because I’ve had my suspicions about how you guys work. Well today, I discovered something that set my blood boiling and provides proof why I will NEVER buy advertising from Yelp. Two very gracious reviews, including one for a job I recently did for an attorney, have been disabled from view by your so-called “recommendation engine.”

I don’t give two hoots about this algorithm as it dehumanizes the whole process and again, I worked hard to EARN the trust of clients who say good things about my business. And if your system penalizes a business owner for doing the right thing, how could you, in good conscience, even THINK about trying to sell me anything–let alone advertising!

Just so you know, before starting my business, I worked in digital marketing for over a decade. I know how things work and this kind of “punishment” will NOT serve Yelp well. Should anyone ask, I will be sure to tell them how I feel!

Thanks for a crappy start to my week! By the way, I originally sent this note to Chris H****, but received a bounce back message that his “email account has been disabled.” I’m sure he’s moved on, but it doesn’t change how I feel. And I doubt that I’ll hear from anyone at Yelp about a resolution to this. You guys SUCK!!

I’m curious…what would you do? I even tried sending a LinkedIn “InMail” to Yelp’s “Director of Small Business Outreach,” but doubt seriously that I will hear from him, or any other human that isn’t trying to sell something! **SIDEBAR** The “Chris” in this thread called to pitch advertising at least twice a month.