- Oct 17, 2011
- 181
- 49
- First Name
- Dan
I'll start off by getting this out of the way, "I hate Yelp." There I said it. I hate their business model. I hate their unethical treatment of businesses (mine included). I hate their unscrupulous businesses practices. I hate the owners. I hate the users. I mean hell, I even hate the negative connotation of the word "Yelp".
When I hear the word of sound "Yelp!" rarely do I associate it with something positive. Yelp is the painful sound dogs make when you mistakenly step on their tail. It is not the sound of a reasonable customer. Nor is it the sound of a reasonable business model.
So, Dan, what is your major gripe with Yelp?
Here it is in a nutshell. About two years ago the dealer caught wind that there was a raising number of negative reviews building up on some of store's yelp pages. Mind you these are not pages we set up but rather pages set up on our behalf by either one of our few unsatisfied customers, former employees, or perhaps Yelp. The dealer was sold by a marketing adviser we used to employee to advertise with Yelp and that our reviews would take a more positive climb. Spoiler Alert: That Was Not What Happened.
Instead we spent a bunch of money per store, saw no increase in leads or phone calls generated through Yelp (which they promised us) and our negative reviews continued to grow. Our marketing adviser called them out on this and Yelp's response "Spend More, it'll get better."
Again... Not The Case. Who didn't see that one coming?
Now it's 2014 and we are once again having issues with Yelp. Remember when I told you that we were not the one's who originally built our Yelp pages? Keep that in mind for this next part. We have been asked by the dealer to streamline our phone numbers and have all outside lead sources send calls to an Auto Attendant setup at each location. We've streamlined it on Google Local, NO PROB. Our Dealer.com sites, BREEZE. Even our Cobalt and Ford Direct sites it was no biggie.... YELP, as expected is giving us an issue.
And Now the Moment You've all been waiting for Rising Action: ----->
Yelp won't let a multi-roof top organization claim all of their business listings even if the sole purpose is just to make sure the contact info is accurate. Yelp also won't let you delete the listing and start with a fresh one that has the correct contact info for the business. No, No... Instead Yelp would like us to once again "Partner" with them. You know, pay them a monthly fee of just over $1,000 per store to correct the information and on top of that they'll even let us advertise!!!
Climax: Yelp, you are the worst, most backwards, most asinine companies I've ever come across (and believe me the list of stupid vendors and companies in this business is staggering). Your business model is essentially highway robbery and completely unethical. Your business holds other businesses hostage with no way out other than to pay you. As if your methodology for displaying reviews wasn't suspect enough, this is the real kicker you say "PAY US or F.O.?" are you serious?
Conclusion:I have sent a letter to the BBB and Martha Coakley (http://www.mass.gov/ago/about-the-attorney-generals-office/about-attorney-general-martha-coakley/) complaining about these very business-unfriendly, possibly illegal activities of this company Yelp.
In the meantime if anyone has any advice on how to either a.) Further combat Yelp or b.) Claim our Yelp business listings short of paying an Arm and or a leg it would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the long winded rant. I just really, really hate Yelp. Bastards.
When I hear the word of sound "Yelp!" rarely do I associate it with something positive. Yelp is the painful sound dogs make when you mistakenly step on their tail. It is not the sound of a reasonable customer. Nor is it the sound of a reasonable business model.
So, Dan, what is your major gripe with Yelp?
Here it is in a nutshell. About two years ago the dealer caught wind that there was a raising number of negative reviews building up on some of store's yelp pages. Mind you these are not pages we set up but rather pages set up on our behalf by either one of our few unsatisfied customers, former employees, or perhaps Yelp. The dealer was sold by a marketing adviser we used to employee to advertise with Yelp and that our reviews would take a more positive climb. Spoiler Alert: That Was Not What Happened.
Instead we spent a bunch of money per store, saw no increase in leads or phone calls generated through Yelp (which they promised us) and our negative reviews continued to grow. Our marketing adviser called them out on this and Yelp's response "Spend More, it'll get better."
Again... Not The Case. Who didn't see that one coming?
Now it's 2014 and we are once again having issues with Yelp. Remember when I told you that we were not the one's who originally built our Yelp pages? Keep that in mind for this next part. We have been asked by the dealer to streamline our phone numbers and have all outside lead sources send calls to an Auto Attendant setup at each location. We've streamlined it on Google Local, NO PROB. Our Dealer.com sites, BREEZE. Even our Cobalt and Ford Direct sites it was no biggie.... YELP, as expected is giving us an issue.
And Now the Moment You've all been waiting for Rising Action: ----->
Yelp won't let a multi-roof top organization claim all of their business listings even if the sole purpose is just to make sure the contact info is accurate. Yelp also won't let you delete the listing and start with a fresh one that has the correct contact info for the business. No, No... Instead Yelp would like us to once again "Partner" with them. You know, pay them a monthly fee of just over $1,000 per store to correct the information and on top of that they'll even let us advertise!!!
Climax: Yelp, you are the worst, most backwards, most asinine companies I've ever come across (and believe me the list of stupid vendors and companies in this business is staggering). Your business model is essentially highway robbery and completely unethical. Your business holds other businesses hostage with no way out other than to pay you. As if your methodology for displaying reviews wasn't suspect enough, this is the real kicker you say "PAY US or F.O.?" are you serious?
Conclusion:I have sent a letter to the BBB and Martha Coakley (http://www.mass.gov/ago/about-the-attorney-generals-office/about-attorney-general-martha-coakley/) complaining about these very business-unfriendly, possibly illegal activities of this company Yelp.
In the meantime if anyone has any advice on how to either a.) Further combat Yelp or b.) Claim our Yelp business listings short of paying an Arm and or a leg it would be greatly appreciated.
Sorry for the long winded rant. I just really, really hate Yelp. Bastards.