Chaos Elevators - Latest Comments in Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

Stilespj — Sun, 19 Feb 2012 00:23:20 -0000

I live in Mountain View and have written four review in the last year and a half. I'll write a review about a place if I have been there several times and I think I have a feel for the place. Of couse, the place cant be bad if I've been there several times and that tends to weed out places that would get a bad review.

Of my reviews, two have been for five stars and two for four stars. Yelp censored three of them.

I am less than thrilled with the integrity of Yelp.

Paul

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

Hargen — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 13:27:50 -0000

Yelp removed my review of the Red and Black Cafe (along with all other negative posters) as they said they didn't allow political discussion in a review. Funny, the Red and Black Cafe is a anarchist cafe that will remove you (including a local policeman) from the premises if they don't agree with your political views. I thought pointing that out was relevant to a review of the cafe. Yelp didn't agree and censored all the negative comments about Red and Black's discriminatory policies.

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

Brian — Mon, 17 May 2010 08:35:24 -0000

As a private business Yelp has the right to present information however they wish. It is freedom of speech. However, when we're dealing with things like reviews, these things can have a measurable effect on others. If it can be proven that Yelp purposely manipulated how they present their information in order to harm a business or to extort them into paying a monthly fee for their service, then a civil suit is more than warranted.

Right now the best thing to do is spread the word. Tell your friends not to trust Yelp. Let them know how reviews are censored, blocked, and even deleted according to how much money is being paid. I was a new reviewer until they erased three positive reviews of my friend's restaurant, tanking his rating. This is what made me decide to stop writing for them and stop consulting the site for ratings.

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

mary — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 22:23:31 -0000

I will happily join any suit against Yelp. Their biased practices have made my business suffer greatly in this economy. Please let me know if you have any information about a lawsuit against Yelp. It would have to be a group suing because as an individual you will never win.

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

David — Sat, 16 Jan 2010 23:48:36 -0000

Yelp does have the right to censor, and we have the right not to post to Yelp. My own experience was that they removed my review, but that it shows up when I logon.

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

janetreererer — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 11:08:24 -0000

Yelp is a complete racket! I have had eight 5 star reviews removed but one disgruntled associate loses her job and spend the next two months becoming an elite yelper just so she can post a negative review about my business. And, it will never be removed. Now they call weekly to get me to advertise on their site. They want me to pay them money to facilitate a blank bitching board for any peon to write any biased review about my business without any verification or recourse? Oh Yes, now businesses can respond but that doesn't affect the star rating which is what clients see when they do a search. I am astonished that there is no legal recourse. I am so looking forward to Yelp going down. They are greedy bastards and deserve to be sued into oblivion.

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

Sam — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 03:35:52 -0000

Yelp! is operated by a buncha post-nazi's. They preach first amendment but then censor anything they deem inappropriate". Any communication with them is full of FAQ answers, and nothing, nothing is ever written from the heart. I understand that they may get millions of e-mails a day, but hey, they're not in it just for fun. Stop copy and pasting e-mail answers to complaints. They're real smart, though, in leaving just enough negative light on themselves as to not seem "too" good or suspicious. Smart move fella's.
Visit www.yelp-sucks.com. Not as many people know about this place though.

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

EdmundL — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:38:40 -0000

Yelp's CEO can deny things all he wants, but proof printed on his own website says otherwise. Below's a thread about someone giving a company a bad review, and then a Yelp employee going out of their way to contact and eventually harass the reviewer. When the reviewer blocks the employee's communications to avoid further harassment, the employee then opens a public thread, and divulges private emails.

The employee at first vehemently denies being paid by Yelp, but later gets caught confessing to the whole thing:
"yelps pays me a lot of money to protect its sponsors. its a good racket. dont blow it for me."
The fact that this same employee who began the harassment has also given the other company a glowing review, is completely unethical to say the least.

See for yourself, and quickly, before Yelp pulls the thread down to cover up their tracks:
http://www.yelp.com/topic/s...

Re: Yelp silences reviewers voices. Faces class action suit.

kc — Wed, 03 Sep 2008 23:33:41 -0000

i wrote some reviews on yelp previously and even got 1st to review on one of them that was published in the past. Now that I check back at those retailers/restaurants reviews I don't see the ones I wrote. However I can still see the reviews I wrote on 'My account'. Yelp is scum for not publishing my reviews.