15 replies to this topic

[Serge]

I'm usually all for Yelp, and although I take reviews with a grain of salt, I do take them into account (especially negative reviews).

My dad wrote a 1-star review for a local cleaning service a month ago; done and done, right? Unfortunately not. I checked the company's Yelp page and noticed something odd. The review which was once there... is gone! So I figured he removed it, right? I asked my dad to check if he did and when he's logged in under his account, the review is still visible. Log out, it's gone.. log back in, it's there. Perhaps it's cached? Tried his account on another computer... *SHOCK* it's visible.

14 reviews
Logged in as poster:







13 reviews
Logged out (or through another account):

Edited by LiquidKernel, 12 March 2010 - 06:53 AM.

[Serge]

Wow, read tons of reports from people who have had the same thing happen. Kind of sad, really.

[Stormtrooper1]

Pretty Crappy. Whats the point of doing a review if just because you leave a bad one it gets hidden?

[Fudge_Brownie]

I'm confused. What's the motivation for Yelp to set things up like this?
Is it intentionally done, or just poor code?

[Austin H]

Guitar Center, Musicians Friend, Best Buy all do this as much as possible. 

You can't sell a product with a bad review...

[Mesoam]

what about Angies list?

[7 VII 7]

What did he spill that he needed a cleaning service.

[flyfishing3]

i do the same thing here.

anybody posts something negative about me, boom, its gone and i raise their warn status. be warned.

[7 VII 7]

Weird... I just checked out a long review I left for a BBQ place that I ALWAYS go to in Austin, TX when I am down there.... nothing... it is gone!

I left 5/5 because it is great... but wtf?

EDIT: I just logged in... and there it is.. ok, what is up with that?

Edited by 7 VII 7, 12 March 2010 - 01:54 PM.

[Fudge_Brownie]

I still wonder if this is a bug, or if they manually approve each comment to prevent spam.

[Chilled Man]

flyfishing3, on 12 March 2010 - 01:49 PM, said:

i do the same thing here.

anybody posts something negative about me, boom, its gone and i raise their warn status. be warned.

you noob

[Serge]

Fudge_Brownie, on 12 March 2010 - 02:33 PM, said:

I still wonder if this is a bug, or if they manually approve each comment to prevent spam.

Apparently it's a Yelp revenue model. They offer a business to "sponsor" Yelp for about $500/mo (check out yelpscam.com for the details). If you pay, you can choose which reviews you want to show as "highlighted" and apparently hide bad reviews. If you opt to not pay, certain positive reviews will disappear.

[Fudge_Brownie]

LiquidKernel, on 12 March 2010 - 05:50 PM, said:

Apparently it's a Yelp revenue model. They offer a business to "sponsor" Yelp for about $500/mo (check out yelpscam.com for the details). If you pay, you can choose which reviews you want to show as "highlighted" and apparently hide bad reviews. If you opt to not pay, certain positive reviews will disappear.

WTF. I thought something like that could be a motivating factor, but I thought it was far too corrupt. I guess I have some growing up to do

[Mesoam]

meh, submitted to NPR

[Account_Deleted_T5M]

Theres no point in getting reviews for your business etc if you can't take the bad with the good lol

[brick-a-brac]

LiquidKernel, on 12 March 2010 - 05:50 PM, said:

Apparently it's a Yelp revenue model. They offer a business to "sponsor" Yelp for about $500/mo (check out yelpscam.com for the details). If you pay, you can choose which reviews you want to show as "highlighted" and apparently hide bad reviews. If you opt to not pay, certain positive reviews will disappear.

Their "packages" start at $300/mo and go up to $1000/mo. They have younger people trained in the hard sell doing the telemarketing.

Ask me how I know ...