The six-month saga of the Texas petsitter who sued a customer for up to $1 million in damages over a negative Yelp review appears to have come to an end, with a judge agreeing to dismiss the case that made national headlines. [More]
with a little yelp from my friends
A Year After Restaurant Owner Asked Me To Change Yelp Review, Things Got Weird
By 8.11.15
You may remember reader Mark, who left a bad Yelp review for a local tavern back in 2013, then received a request from the business’s new owner asking him to change or remove the review. Mark declined. That was a year ago: the owner apparently went through his Yelp inbox recently to rage at correspondents. Here is our gift to small business owners: another cautionary tale about how not to handle your online presence. [More]
Yelp Reportedly Testing The Merger Market
By 5.7.15
Yelp might still be the most recognizable name in crowdsourced online reviews, but it may be hitting a wall in terms of audience growth as it faces increasing competition; all the while, the company’s stock price remains less than half of what it used to be. All of this might explain why the company is reportedly looking to find a buyer for its multibillion-dollar business. [More]
Pizzeria Doubles Discount Given For Bad Yelp Reviews
By 1.8.15
There’s an Italian restaurant in Richmond, California that doesn’t take Yelp reviews very seriously. The restaurant has earned a lot of publicity by bragging that they will give discounts to customers who give it bad (one-star) reviews. This stance is apparently working out for the eatery, since it is now offering a 50% discount on a pizza to anyone who trashes them on Yelp. [More]
Restaurant Responds To Negative Yelp Review With Role-Playing Exercise
By 10.7.14
When a ticked-off consumer goes on Yelp to unleash a nasty rant about your restaurant, what’s the best way to respond? For one eatery in Kansas City, it was to flip the tables on the Yelper with a bit of dramatic role-playing. [More]
Yelp Swears It Doesn’t Manipulate Reviews, Even Though It’s Allowed To
By 9.19.14
Earlier this month, a federal appeals court held that Yelp is free to shuffle positive and negative reviews around at will, and can even use that freedom as a way to urge businesses to advertise on the site. But even in light of this ruling, Yelp maintains that buying ads on the site does not determine which reviews show up for your business. [More]
Yelp’s Controversial Business Tactics Contribute To 2,000 Complaints Received by FTC
By 4.4.14
Consumers head to Yelp to provide and/or peruse the praise and criticism left by other users about local businesses. But the tables have turned a bit with thousands of people taking their complaints about Yelp and its business practices to federal regulators. [More]
Chef Apologizes For Calling Yelper “Mentally Ill Raging Alcoholic”
By 1.30.14
Oh Yelp, thou art a ceaseless font of stories about restaurant customers overreacting to bad meals and service and the chefs who make headlines by flipping the f&@! out on social media about a review that most people would probably have ignored to begin with. [More]
How To Make Sure Your Yelp Restaurant Reviews Aren’t Completely Worthless
By 10.2.13
While authorities in New York concern themselves with the legal issues involved with businesses that post fake online reviews on Yelp and other sites, some are asking a more important question: Is there any real worth to crowd-source restaurant reviews? [More]
Yelp Sues Law Firm Over Allegedly Bogus Reviews
By 9.12.13
The folks at Yelp have decided to get tough with what they believe are businesses that post fake reviews on the site in order to appeal to customers or to counteract genuine, negative feedback from actual customers. The company has sued a small San Diego-based bankruptcy law firm, alleging that it filled its profile with false, positive reviews. [More]
