Post: #1

I received a nasty Yelp review under my employers business page from an even nastier woman. She posted it under a fake name but I was able to figure out who wrote it after looking at her past reviews. I emailed her asking if she could give me a ring and she relied for more details. I wrote back that a colleague of mine brought a Yelp review to my attention. I didn't accuse her of writing it but said that if she'd like we can discuss it over email instead. She hasn't wrote back and the review is still up.

I don't want to put anything in writing as she might use it against me so I haven't responded yet. Bitch might be crazier than I think. I might call her but I don't know if the number I have is active. What would RVF do? The review is completely bullshit and I'm afraid now that this may effect my career. Defintely enough lies that it defames both my professional and personal reputation. I could have a lawyer serve her with a letter but I don't know wherre she lives. I did find her LinkedIn and know where she works. I have her SS# and a current address doesn't come up. Anyone ever been in a similiar situation.

Post: #2

Yelp itself will take stuff down if you pay them advertising *cough* shakedown *cough* money.

Post: #3

Yelp is the scum of SMB's.

That's EXACTLY what it is, shakedown/extortion money - to make the bad reviews go away.

Fuck them and the ass hats that post on that app.

Post: #4

If this post isn't trolling (the low comment count sets off my suspicion meter), here is my suggestion/story.

When I gave an auto repair shop a negative review, the manager got on Yelp and responded to my review, telling me to come back in the shop and he'd look into what happened. Then he let everyone know that what happened with me (a $1500 quote on a repair I got done elsewhere for $160) was not standard practice and there must have been a misunderstanding.

My advice is to do that because even if you're in the wrong, you reset the frame to make it look like you're the one who can solve whatever problem comes up. This might even work better in the long run because people will think you're such a good businessman you even go out of your way to take care of disgruntled, angry customers.

I'd also get a few friends to post positive reviews to counterbalance the negative one.

Post: #5

(07-29-2015 06:20 PM)Ruga Wrote:  I received a nasty Yelp review under my employers business page from an even nastier woman. She posted it under a fake name but I was able to figure out who wrote it after looking at her past reviews. I emailed her asking if she could give me a ring and she relied for more details. I wrote back that a colleague of mine brought a Yelp review to my attention. I didn't accuse her of writing it but said that if she'd like we can discuss it over email instead. She hasn't wrote back and the review is still up.

I don't want to put anything in writing as she might use it against me so I haven't responded yet. Bitch might be crazier than I think. I might call her but I don't know if the number I have is active. What would RVF do? The review is completely bullshit and I'm afraid now that this may effect my career. Defintely enough lies that it defames both my professional and personal reputation. I could have a lawyer serve her with a letter but I don't know wherre she lives. I did find her LinkedIn and know where she works. I have her SS# and a current address doesn't come up. Anyone ever been in a similiar situation.

If its defamatory, have your lawyer send her a cease and desist via email. Word it in such a way where its very vague yet highlight your losses and potential loss of income based on false and defamatory statement. Chances are she'll ignore it but that's basically all you can do right now. You can file an action if you want, but this probably isn't worth the time and money. If you want to be a real dick, file a small claims lawsuit against her and have the sheriff's deputy serve her at her place of employment.

I did something similar with an online message board for my industry. People were writing defamatory things and I contacted the administrator directly and they just removed the offending material rather than have to deal with me.

Post: #6

Just flag it.

Also, for worrying about how you portray yourself professionally, you have a ton of errors in your post. Proofreading helps

Post: #7

I dislike yelp with a passion. At first the negative reviews were featured prominently about our website which one seemed like a troll from another doctor, and another was patient wanting everything for free. They had no other reviews, but the ones that had multiple review which gave us good rating were hidden. They finally hid those review, but not from us asking about what their algorithm for showing review. Than they wanted you pay them so they could harass customer to give good reviews. And it sounded like those reviews, which could be fake would disappear after you stopped paying them and they weren't cheap.

There is no way of getting out of yelp too since it doesn't really drive traffic to doctors offices, maybe its different for other services.

Post: #8

Depending on your budget...there's a database for that.

A licensed PI or lawyer would be able to find an address no problem given an SSN.

Disclaimer: consult a lawyer.

Post: #9

Do businesses themselves sign up to be on Yelp or is it the customers that put the places on there?

If I was a business owner I wouldn't even want to be on there. That site and the people that use it are scum.

Post: #10

I know multiple people who've had the Yelp page for their buisnesses marked as closed, and I'm not talking in the 'out of hours' sense either.

Post: #11

No, you can't pay Yelp to have a bad review taken down. I have used it regularly for years to find stuff when travelling and review restaurants myself very occasionally. Big fan, as are most people who travel domestically and don't want to eat at Applebees every night. I have written one negative review about a scumbag who cobbed together some shoddy repairs on something before selling it to me as new (filed a chargeback and won). He was a Yelp advertiser and very actively tried to get the review removed, succeed the first time because I published a last name and contact information. Also managed to get a couple screencaps of texts where he admitted to performing the "repairs" taken down. After reposting without his last name the review stuck.

Not only that, but he made a bunch of fake accounts and spammed his page with positive reviews - every one of those was taken down as well, despite being an advertiser. Read their TOS carefully, if the review in question violates any you can probably get it removed. If the reviewer has only a couple reviews, especially all posted on a single date, or all 5 or all 1 star reviews it will also likely be removed soon automatically.

Post: #12

You can sue the reviewer in small claims. 9/10 times this will get the review removed because the poster doesn't want to go to court.

Post: #13

Its the same with Amazon.
I just had a nasty review on Amazon by someone I suspect is connected to on of my competitors because he mentioned the other product TWICE in the review. The A-hole even admitted he didn't know how to use my product, but this didn't stop him from going on for seven paragraphs. I contacted Amazon and told them I wanted the review removed from my listing and they sent me some BS about how it falls within their guidelines.
I'm thinking of drafting a response to the review where I question his ability to do basic math or doubt his lineage. Most people give out a quick refund, but I don't want this clown anywhere near my products in the future.

Post: #14

I see this all the time (run SEO agency). Try to resolve it on your own. Even if you're out $500+ it's less expensive than your other option, which is paying for advertising and getting tight with the account rep.

As Yelp's stock plummets and Thumbtack (Google-backed) soars in SERPs after getting out of a penalty *in less than one fucking week*, you'll see this shift onto that platform as well. Unfortunately, if you're a review-dependent business, sometimes you have to give nasty customers too much free shit to avoid the predatory alternative.