ComplaintsforYelp Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/17/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Yelp does NOT provide any contact information to reach them. Yes should not be allowed! The website states that to change any information of mine, I MUST login to my account. I NEVER set up an account nor ask for an account to be setup for me. They did this without my permission. This should be illegal.

  Business response

  08/19/2024

  Hi ****,
  
  Thanks for writing in. Unfortunately we are unable to identify your business with the provided phone number and email. Feel free to respond back with the website to your Yelp business listing. 
  
  Regards,
  Daisy
  Yelp, Inc.
  
  

  Customer response

  08/20/2024

   
  Complaint: 22156704
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

  Customer response

  08/20/2024

  I am unsure what should be entered here. I reject the statement by the company and included a PDF with my response.

  Business response

  08/20/2024

  Hi ****,
  
  Thank you for writing back. 
  
  If you'd like to close your Yelp user profile, please submit a request here: ***********************************************************************************************
  
  That way, we can further assist you.
  
  Regards,
  Lacey
  Yelp Inc.

  Customer response

  08/20/2024

   
  Complaint: 22156704
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  I AM GOING TO MAKE THIS PERFECTLY CLEAR FOR YOU OR ANYONE TO UNDERSTAND.

  1. I DID NOT CREATE AN ACCOUNT ON ******************** WEBSITE.

  2. YELP CREATED THE ACCOUNT WITHOUT MY PERMISSION.

  3. I DO NOT HAVE A PASSWORD BECAUSE I DID NOT CREATE AN ACCOUNT.

  4. YOU ARE REFUSING TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY FOR THIS MATTER.

  5. DELETE ANY AND ALL INFORMATION WITH REGARD TO THE ADDRESS ********************** AND YOU INFORM ANY AND ALL PARTNER SITES THAT YOU PROVIDED MY INFORMATION TO.

  6. IF THIS IS NOT DONE WITHIN 7 DAYS, I WILL TAKE FURTHER ACTIONS.

  7. THIS IS THE FINAL RESPONSE YOU WILL GET FROM ME PERSONALLY.

  8. THE BBB MAY, IF THEY WISH, CANCEL THIS COMPLAINT AFTER FORWARDING THIS RESPONSE TO YOU.

  9. BE ASSURED I DO NOT TOLERATE ABUSE.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *********************

• Initial Complaint

  08/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I was contacted by Yelp at my Business phone number. My daughter who is our morning shift manager was on the phone with a person by the name of ***. She couldnt decipher if it was a scam call or if it truly was from a legitimate business I asked her to put me on the phone with them and I asked the Yelp employee *** that I did not want them to call my business that I would contact yelp directly and he would not take no for an answer. I told him please do not call me again and I disconnected the phone. He called my business again and said he didnt understand what the problem was. At this point. I was very irate and I told him do not call my business again. Im going to report this call to the police and he needed to disconnect the call. He would not disconnect the call. I disconnected the call and he called again. I told him please do not call again and ask him many times not to call again and to place me on a do not contact list and he would not take no for an answer so we had to disconnect the call and block the phone number His behavior was very disturbing. I was not sure if it was a legitimate business at first so I called Yelp and sure enough it was an employee of yelp. At this point, I feel unsafe and also feel that this person is going to retaliate against our business. They have all of our information and was very unprofessional and Was harassing me and my business I would like to make sure that Yelp never call again and we never have this interaction with them or any of their employees. I called Yelp @ 12:16PM CT and ***** answered the phone he said he Would contact Benz supervisor and place our phone number on a do not call list. Here is the employee who called and his email as he did send an email as well to our business email ********************* *************************************

  Business response

  08/16/2024

  Hi,
  
  We have placed your business on our internal Do Not Call list, and going forward you should receive no further sales communication unless you explicitly request otherwise.
  
  If you would like to update your email notification preferences, you can do so by following the instructions given here: *************************************************************************************************************************************
  
  Regards,
  Daisy
  Yelp, ****

• Initial Complaint

  08/15/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  In July of 2024 I was contacted by a Yelp representative who was trying to get me to pay for the Yelp services. I was reluctant but the more she talked the more it sounded like it might be something that would be good for the business. I gave her my credit card number but was not ready to move forward. She said she would call me back in a few days. When she called back I was busy and told her I would call back. It slipped my mind to call her back. She took it upon herself to run my credit card. I started getting an in flux of Yelp messages. I started answering the inquiries back. I wasn't completely sure why they started coming in like they were. i got a notice stating that my account was over drawn. So I contact6ed them and was told that she processed my card without my permission. I cancelled the account and tried to get my money back. they denied my request. On top of it all I was charged for clicks which not one customer called or responded to my ********************** text. I feel like they were creating clicks and customers because I answered right away and no responses or business was generated. That should be enough to get my money back. Please do not give your information to anyone unless you are 100% positive you want to move forward. Which I discourage as well.

  Business response

  08/16/2024

  Hi,
  
  Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Pro Auto Collision.
  
  Our records indicate on 7/19/24, you ran an advertising program with a $300 monthly Cost Per Click (CPC) budget (or a $10 per day average). You also included a promotional $120 monthly Page ******* Package (or a $4 per day average) for total charges of up to $420 per month. This monthly maximum was stated in the "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!" email we sent when you signed up for this program. Your advertising program was also billed in arrears, which means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous month, and anytime you hit your billing threshold.
  
  Additionally, you redeemed a Yelp Boost promotion of up to an additional $600 in free Yelp ad clicks be applied over 3 months. Please note that this promotion was for an additional ad budget of up to $100, $200, and $300 each respective month, and not a discount on the services you signed up for.
  
  Your advertising campaign ended on 7/31/24. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms (**********************************************************************************) you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refund. Thanks for understanding.
  
  Regards,
  Daisy
  Yelp, Inc.
  
  

  Customer response

  08/19/2024

   
  Complaint: 22146802
  
  I am rejecting this response because: None of that should come into play since I was not ready to move forward which I told the representative. She called once I couldn't talk so she took it upon herself to move forward and process my card. Again not one customer was generated from what did come through. I feel like those hits were generated by Yelp to create clicks to get more money than what you were already charging. So I feel scammed all the way around!!

  
  Sincerely,
  
  Pro Auto Collision

  Business response

  08/21/2024

  Hi,
  
  Thank you for your response. Were sorry to hear about your continued frustration.
  
  While our sales **** are able to walk you through the steps of the sign-up, our program is designed to be a self-service program. Sales **** do not have the ability to sign up for features. Signing up for advertising required you to click through each on-screen prompt as they appeared. These prompts displayed information which includes a full description of the promotion, cost per click estimate, daily average budget, monthly maximum budget and first expected billing date. All information is available to review in the final step of the advertising set up before you select to start advertising. This information was also sent in the "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!" email, which was sent to the email used to login to the **** after you signed up for your program. We also provide multiple resources such as our Customer Success Team to assist you with any issues.
  
  Our decision not to refund will stand. You may reach out to our Customer Success Team at ************ or ****************************************** with any further questions.
  
  Regards,
  Daisy
  Yelp, Inc.
  

  Customer response

  08/22/2024

   
  Complaint: 22146802
  
  I am rejecting this response because: Again your *** told me she was not going to process my card until I was ready. When she called and I couldn't talk and told her I would call her back, she said because she didn't get a call back that day, she took it upon herself to process my card. The bottom line, self service or not she said she processed it without my consent. That cost me because my account was over drawn. I didn't expect you to give me my money back because I think that whole process is a scam for you to get money from people whether they ever get business from your site or not. Not one phone call. I think I got a response from one person that sent a message and I responded and never heard anything back. I would advise anyone to just go the free route instead of wasting time answering a bunch of emails to never really get a response after the initial contact and zero phone calls. I sent my number, an answered a good majority as soon as the emails came in. I should get my money back just because of that reason. On all fronts I am an unhappy customer. As a customer if I had a choice of texting a shop and calling I'm definitely calling. Not one phone call because i asked. I wanted to know if the business was generated by yelp. It was not!!!! Then you have the nerve to keep sending emails about $20 and some change you didn't get because I stopped you from taking anymore money. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  *******************

• Initial Complaint

  08/13/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Resolved

  More info

  At the beginning of 2024, I was offered a promotion with Yelp. I was called and the representative was very nice and telling me all the wonderful things that Yelp could do for my business, he told me the promotion was for $600. He explained ** also have to commit to paying some during the promotional period to help boost my promotion. I agreed, but stated when the promotional period was over, I couldnt afford to continue being charged. The promotional period for my Yelp ads was scheduled to end on March 30, 2024.During the promotional period, I sent several emails (2 such emails are attached) requesting that I receive some extra support to help me maximize my promotion. I never received a response. I requested all charges be halted, however the monthly fees continued to be charged. Unfortunately the fees were going to a credit card I had been not been using in an attempt to pay it off (I was paying each month vs checking the statement), so the charges kept coming.My account was charged $389.99 every month from April to August, which is past the end of the promotional period.I have attached copies of the relevant charges totaling $1,949.71. I reached out to Yelp via email to resolve this, with no response. I called and couldnt reach anyone who could help me. All the support I saw during the effort to sign me up was completely gone. Since my explicit request to stop the ads was not acted upon, Im requesting a full refund of the charges incurred after the promotional period ended.I have always valued the services Yelp provides and Im stunned to see this type of bait and switch tactic used by them.Im requesting a full refund after the promo period of $1,949.71.

  Business response

  08/16/2024

  Hi *******,
  
  Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Fetch! Pet Care Loudoun.
  
  Our records indicate on 1/30/24, you ran an advertising program with a $300 monthly Cost Per Click (CPC) budget (or a $15 per day average). You also included a promotional $120 monthly Page ******* Package (or a $4 per day average) for total charges of up to $420 per month. This monthly maximum was stated in the "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!" email we sent when you signed up for this program. Your advertising program was also billed in arrears, which means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous month, and anytime you hit your billing threshold.
  
  Additionally, you redeemed a Yelp Boost promotion of up to an additional $600 in free Yelp ad clicks be applied over 3 months. Please note that this promotion was for an additional ad budget of up to $100, $200, and $300 each respective month, and not a discount on the services you signed up for.
  
  As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms (**********************************************************************************) you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refund. Thanks for understanding.
  
  Regards,
  Daisy
  Yelp, ****

  Customer response

  08/17/2024

   
  Complaint: 22137951
  
  I am rejecting this response because, I find the practice of offering a promo to get a client to begin paying a higher than normal monthly payment, without any follow up during or at the end of the promo period to ensure the customer wants to continue paying, is a shady business practice, at best.  Even outside of that, I messaged Yelp on 04/02/2024 asking to cancel my ads and they were not canceled. 
  

  I will begin further action to ensure that Yelp can not continue to do this type of thing to consumers going forward, if this is not resolved.  People get busy and lose sight of things like promos, which Yelp appears to take advantage of.  Regardless of what I agreed to in the beginning, I asked for the charges to stop and they were not stopped. This is the second time Yelp has done something like this to me, which is why I decided to come to the BBB to try to get resolution. 

  please use the attached email to Yelp requesting my services be canceled, as proof that I did not want to continue services past the date of my promo period and refund my money as requested.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************************

  Business response

  08/21/2024

  Hi *******,
  
  Thank you for your response. Were sorry to hear about your continued frustration.
  
  After review, our Customer Success team has approved a refund in the amount of $1,559.96. Thanks for understanding.
  
  Regards,
  Daisy
  Yelp, ****

  Customer response

  08/22/2024

  Better Business Bureau:
  
  I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID ********, and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***********************************

• Initial Complaint

  08/12/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Billing Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I signed up for an ad program, and immediately regretted it. On July 22, 2024 I called to cancel. The representative tried to slow me down, saying, well, let's just do the math here...but I cut him off, saying, let's not get into it, I just want to cancel this service and not get charged any more! He sighed and said, OK. A few minutes of typing and he said, OK, your account has been cancelled. Only I kept getting email "leads" and checked back into the account, and sure enough, there is a bill for August, when I cancelled on July 22! $67 for nothing. How can I trust them again when they say they've cancelled? The debit card they have is plugged into a lot of different auto-pay accounts and I am loath to cancel it, but I really do not want to give one cent more to this rip off Yelp company. Please let me know if you can help, thank you.

  Business response

  08/16/2024

  Hi *****,
  
  Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for ******** Appraisal.
  
  Our records indicate on 7/16/24, you ran an advertising program with a $450 monthly Cost Per Click (CPC) budget (or a $15 per day average). You also included a promotional $120 monthly Page ******* Package (or a $4 per day average) for total charges of up to $570 per month. This monthly maximum was stated in the "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!" email we sent when you signed up for this program. Your advertising program was also billed in arrears, which means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous month, and anytime you hit your billing threshold. 
  
  Additionally, you redeemed a Yelp Boost promotion of up to an additional $300 in free Yelp ad clicks be applied over 6 months. Please note that this promotion was for an additional ad budget of up to $50 each month for 6 months, and not a discount on the services you signed up for.
  
  Your advertising campaign ended on 7/23/24. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms (**********************************************************************************) you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refund. Thanks for understanding.
  
  Regards, 
  Daisy
  Yelp, Inc. 
  
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/11/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Yelp is a horrible business. They refuse to add any good reviewed to my business site. There are atleast 5 good reviews that they won't add to my page. They added one and it is a bad one. Help should be shut down.

  Business response

  08/12/2024

  Hi,
  
  Thanks for writing in. Unfortunately we are unable to identify your business with the provided phone number and email. Feel free to respond back with your business name, the phone number, and email address associated with your Yelp business listing.
  
  Regards,
  ****
  Yelp, ****

• Initial Complaint

  08/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Sales and Advertising Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  On 8/8/2024 I reported to Yelp that they had inaccurate information about me on their website, specifically they were still showing *********************** ***** Valley Properties which company ***** I left 5 years ago. There isn't a way to change the company information on Yelp. My company name has been ************************* since 2019 and I have a duty to advertise accurate information to the public. I have tried to get Yelp to remove the page since ***** Valley Properties is no longer in business a d I have no association or affiation with ***** but Yelp refused and it is still showing up on the internet with my name at ***** in a search of my name. Please assist in getting Yelp to remove my name, *********************** from their website. I do Not wish to be on Yelp.

  Business response

  08/12/2024

  Hi *****,
  
  Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding *************************** page on Yelp. 
  
  We generally don't remove business pages because our use of this information is protected under the law. In this case, we've rejected the closure request because we verified with our publicly available sources that you're still active within your field.
  
  Your business page has been updated:
  
  ********************************************************************
  
  We encourage you to take advantage of the features available to you on your Business Account. To learn more, check out ***************************************************************************.
  Regards,
  _____
  Yelp Inc.

• Initial Complaint

  08/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  The employees of this company only nice on the phone before the get your money. I've registered on Yelp for some time now but my ad wasn't active (didn't ready to spend yet) other priorities were more important. A employee of Yelp call me to tell me that people are searching for my type of service on a regular and I was missing out on some good opportunities, I explained my situation and that I could not afford it right now, he then said there was a 14 days trial and $450 credit I can take advantage of through a code number that he gave me. at this point he encourage me to add my debit card on file so that the setup would be smooth when of if I am ready to continue with the service after all the freebees. within 3 days there was an attempt to withdraw money, so I went over billing to cancel my card, but was unsuccessful because they did not put that option there, however, I cancel my account and sent an email not to charge my card. Today they still charge me $103.40 and locked my card in for another $21 for next month. I found ************ misleading and they need to properly explain what you will be charged for, that way everybody understood. I am requesting my money back in my account and a recording of the conversation between me and Yelp employee.

  Customer response

  08/09/2024

  My full name is *****************

  Business response

  08/16/2024

  Hi ****,
  
  Thank you for writing. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding your advertising program for Torunz.
  
  Our records indicate you redeemed a two week trial promotional credit for our Page ******* Package on 8/1/24. To redeem the trial towards the ******* Package, you were required to sign up for our Page ******* Package, which includes features such as Business Posts, Business Logo, Removal of Competitor Ads, Business Highlights, a Call To Action, Business Portfolio, and Slideshow feature, which required putting payment information on file. Our records indicate you signed up for an advertising program on 8/1/24 with a $180 monthly Page ******* package (or a $6 daily average) for total charges of up to $180 per month.  This monthly maximum was stated in the "Welcome to Yelp Advertising: Your Ads Are Now Live!" email we sent when you signed up for this program. Your advertising program was also billed in arrears, which means that we typically bill on the first of the month for advertising services that were delivered in the previous month, and anytime you reach your billing threshold.
  
  Your advertising program was a self-serve program, which means that ads can be turned off by the business at any time through the Yelp for Business Owners Account. If you only wanted to use your promotion, you would have needed to log in and end the programs once that credit was used. During your ad setup there were Q&As on the page explaining that you could stop your ads any time through the Yelp for Business Owners site.
  
  You also ran an advertising program with a $450 monthly Cost Per Click (CPC) budget (or a $15 per day average) for total charges of up to $630 per month. 
  
  Additionally, you redeemed a Yelp Boost promotion of up to an additional $900 in free Yelp ad clicks be applied over 3 months. Please note that this promotion was for an additional ad budget of up to $150, $300, and $450 each respective month, and not a discount on the services you signed up for.
  
  You ended your advertising program on 8/6/24. As advertising services have been delivered in accordance with the Terms (**********************************************************************************) you agreed to, we will not be able to offer you a refund. Thanks for understanding.
  
  Regards,
  Daisy
  Yelp, Inc.
  

• Initial Complaint

  08/09/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  We are an orthopedic practice and we have a horrible review rate because YELP continues to put great reviews in the not recommended section of their website. I understand that they use AI to get rid of reviews that are outliers however we have approx 10 out of the 17 reviews on the not recommended that were put there by actual active yelpers and these reviews need to be put on the recommended side so that the star rating is appropriate. It seems that AI is only choosing horrible reviews to post as recommended instead of letting the 5 star reviews speak for themselves. We have amazing reviews on all other sites and YELP needs to be help accountable.

  Business response

  08/16/2024

  Hi,
  
  Thanks for writing in. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding the business listing for ******* Sports Medicine and *******************
  
  Yelp engineered its automated recommendation software in an effort to provide consumers with the most helpful and reliable reviews and level the playing field for all businesses. Reviews that the software determines to be less reliable and useful, or which are written by users we just dont know enough about, are moved to a not currently recommended section and do not factor into a businesss overall Yelp star ratings.
  
  We hope youll take the time to learn more about Yelps recommendation software here: *****************************************************************
  
  You can also watch this video for an overview of how our recommendation software works: ***********************************************
  
  Regards,
  ******
  Yelp, ****

• Initial Complaint

  08/08/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Customer Service Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Subject: Request for Review Removal Due to Privacy Violation Dear Yelp Support Team,I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to request the removal of a review that I believe violates Yelp's privacy standards.The review in question is from helper *** contains the full name of one of our moving consultants , which, as per Yelp's privacy standards, is considered private information that should not be disclosed in a review. I understand that certain professions, such as doctors, lawyers, or realtors, may be exceptions to this rule; however, the individual mentioned in the review does not fall under these categories.Given the privacy implications and in accordance with Yelp's guidelines, I kindly ask that this review be removed or edited to exclude the individual's full name.Thank you for your attention to this matter. Please let me know if you need any further information from my side.Best regards,

  Business response

  08/16/2024

  Hi,
  
  Thanks for writing in. We are glad to have this opportunity to address your concerns regarding W C.'s review of Veteran Moving.
  
  We do allow reviewers to use full names for individuals who personally represent their business or are in roles who are commonly identified by their full names. Business owners, managers, licensed professionals or service providers (like doctors, lawyers, or contractors), and sales representatives in the auto, insurance, and realty industries are all commonly identified by their full names, so it's fine to share those in a review.
  
  With that in mind, we've taken another look and we stand by our original decision to leave the review up, as we did not find it to be in violation of our guidelines.
  
  You may want to consider reaching out to the reviewer or publicly commenting on the review, which you can do with your free business account. While it is ultimately up to the reviewer to decide if they wish to engage further, responding to your reviews can show both the reviewer and visitors to your Yelp page that you care about your business. You can learn more about directly messaging your reviewers or publicly commenting on your reviews at ********************************************************************.
  
  For additional guidance on using your business account, visit ***************************************************************************.
  
  Regards,
  ******
  Yelp, ****

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩