Public Mediation

yelp.com-Dispute-#1184445

M. D. vs. Yelp
140 New Montgomery St, San Francisco, California, 94105-3705, United States
Amount Involved: Other terms
Complaint(s): Bad business practices
    • Status: In Negotiation
      This claim has posted for public comment and negotiation. It will remain posted until resolved to the claimant's satisfaction. Suggest a resolution to help these parties reach a settlement.
       (seeking public comment)
    • Claimant Seeks: 1 non-monetary items.
    • Claim #: 1184445
    • Amount Involved: N/A
    • Filed On: Jan 12, 2013
    • Posted On: Jan 23, 2013
    • Complaint(s):
      • Bad business practices
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Statement of Claim
Complaint Involved (1) - View
Claimant says:
"I have a problem with Yelp.com and the way they allow their subscribers to write vicious reviews filled with lies and also the fact that they have the power to "filter" out positive reviews by their guidelines. I know for a fact that these slanderous reviews are scaring away potential new customers and costing my company an unknown amount of business.

In Yelp's general guidelines, it allows consumers to write reviews using "colorful language and imagery," but they are not to resort to broad generalizations and conclusory allegations. Reviewers are also supposed to make sure that their review is factually correct.

Yet in Yelp's guidelines for business owners, they state that Yelp.com rarely removes public comments, but they will if the business owner does not adhere to common sense norms that they think of as yelp-worthy behavior, such as "personal attacks, name calling, or belittling." They say that even if the original review was offensive, customers expect you to take the highroad. These are two different sets of rules for consumers and business owners where obviously Yelp.com is not looking out for the business owners' best interest.

A review listed under my business by Carlos A. states "These guys are crooks,", and then goes on to say that we are one of the "worst shops in Las Vegas." The customer forgot to mention that he brought his vehicle in and requested that we install a motor that he had purchased from a junk yard. After the motor was installed and found to be no good, he was upset that he still needed to pay for work completed. He did not list any facts in his statements and he also made conclusory allegations which are both supposedly not allowed under the guidelines. Yet the review is still up and is posted first in the list of comments. Although I will write a response on Yelp.com to his review, many new potential customers will not read my response. They see the first line that states "these guys are crooks" and then that is it. I have now lost the possibility of gaining that person's business for good.

That is simply one example of the many reviews for my business that contain no facts and simply just slander. Now of the many positive reviews that do contain facts about the customer's experiences, five have been removed by Yelp's filtering system which they describe as this. "The filter sometimes affects perfectly legitimate reviews and misses some fake ones, too. After all, legitimate reviews sometimes look questionable, and questionable reviews sometimes look legitimate. We think the filter does a good job given the sheer volume of reviews and the difficulty of its task, but it doesn't really matter what we think — consumers will only use Yelp if we do a good job of showcasing the most helpful and reliable reviews." So in that last statement, Yelp has decided that they have the right to determine which reviews are included and which are not.

In conclusion, Yelp.com is a place that is supposed to give the consumer a way to voice their rights of freedom of speech to the public. Negative reviews from customer's that do not contain any facts and violate their so-called guidelines are kept up and used, while positive reviews that do follow the rules are removed at Yelp's own discretion because they believe they do a "good job" of making those decisions. I request that my business and ALL reviews be removed from this site immediately before I lose more potential customer's because of the negative way Yelp has decided to portray my company. Thank you."
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What Claimant Wants Hide
What By When How Much
1. Remove false or malicious web content, business reviews, etc.: Remove All European's listing and all reviews Jan 27, 2013 N/A
Non-cash: 1 items
  • 0
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Respondent's Counteroffer

There has been no response to this claim from Yelp. This claim will remain posted until resolved
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  • Comment: by Jennifer Sheehy — Online mediator
    • On: 01-26-2013
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  • Yelp, unfortunately, does not have any liability as a third party review site. They are protected by the Communications Decency Act of 1996. Also, because Yelp functions similar to a yellow pages or a business advertising site, even if you were able to get your business information to be deleted, another customer apparently could relist your company information and open it up for reviews. Now, the person you stated that left the review that you gave an example of, however, is potentially liable for any false, misleading, or malicious information that they leave as a review for your business. Apparently there is a way to post a rebuttal on Yelp itself, but if you feel that the review is damaging enough, perhaps a consultation with an attorney may be helpful to you for potential legal action against that third party reviewer.
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