Yelp is useless. People like to threaten bad yelp reviews (and then follow through with them) if their unreasonable demands aren’t met. There are an awful lot of stories out of the restaurant industry about people explaining that they’re reviewing for Yelp and so they want a free meal. When they don’t get it, they leave negative reviews. Then Yelp will call the restaurant and offer to bury the bad reviews and float the good reviews to the top if the restaurant pays for a “membership.” Once bribery and extortion becomes a part of the review process, you can’t trust the reviews generated by that process.
MAYBE. The BBB is an organizations I’d businesses run by businesses. File a complaint against a company that’s on the board of the BBB - it’ll end up on the trash bin.
I agree that Yelp can be taken with a grain of salt
One of the reporters for the Los Angeles times already wrote 2 . . . ! . . . scathing articles about Yelp
Pretty much everything you said. And it was also reported that Yelp supplied business owners with the real names and contact info of negative reviewers. Naturally the business owners then “suggested” that the negative review get removed, or changed to a positive review. Yes, there WERE threats
As far as yelp goes, I know of a business that got such a call from them. Pay and we will remove the bad reviews and make you good. I still read the reviews at times. Most businesses don’t have the time and resources to chase yelp. You also have to take the reviews with a grain of salt, either good or bad.
I also read a lot of hotel reviews on travel sites. I weed through the worst ones. Some are real red flags (bugs, dirty rooms, shady neighborhoods). Others are people being winy; the next door family was noisy; we arrived at 2 AM and were tired but the receptionist wasn’t smiling enough…
I do the same thing when I read reviews, whether it be CR, Yelp, amazon, tire rack, or what have you
I purposefully read the most negative reviews first. If the guy is clearly a crackpot, I disregard it. But if a bunch of different guys write rational bad reviews, and they’re all complaining about the exact same thing, I take notices. Yeah, I look for patterns
Then I read the positive reviews. I disregard reviews where the guy hasn’t had sufficient time to properly evaluate the service and/or product he received. For example, a guy who buys a set of tires, and gives a glowing review the very same day has less credibility, versus a guy who bought a set of tires, and posts his review after 20K miles of use on the tires.
Sadly, most people I know aren’t as savvy as I am, when it comes to reading reviews. They have a mindset, such and such product is great, and they only seek out those reviews which confirm what they believe to be true. They completely ignore any bad reviews. Talk about wearing blinders
if you can’t resolve your problem with the business,or the state attorney’s consumer rights division-
check out this organization: Public Citizen - a consumer rights advocacy group in Washington D.C.
for guidance, help, assistance-
there is also a new law- the consumer review fairness act H.R.5111
protecting your right to leave truthful bad review -
