Not only can you make reservations at thousands of restaurants through Yelp, soon you’ll be able to order delivery. The latest expansion for the review site comes after it agreed to purchase delivery site Eat24 for $134 million. [More]
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Did This Laundry Service Respond To A Bad Yelp Review With A Violent Threat?
By 2.6.15
Emma used the same wash-and-fold laundry service at a laundromat in her neighborhood in Brooklyn, NY for years, and had a bad experience in August. She did what people normally do in that situation: she left them a one-star but respectful Yelp review, and switched to using a different place. Just another day in the free market… until she received a threat by private message that contained her home address. [More]
Yelp Goes To Court To Protect Identity Of Anonymous Review-Writer
By 1.30.15
Once again, a business who is displeased with an anonymous review on Yelp is trying to sue that reviewer and attempting to compel Yelp to reveal that user’s actual identity. But this morning, lawyers for Yelp and consumer advocates were in court to argue that there is no justification for unmasking the writer of this review. [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]
Yelp Says That The FTC Investigation Of Yelp Is Complete
By 1.6.15
The Federal Trade Commission has received a lot of complaints about Yelp––more than 2,000 from 2008 through last spring. These led to what Yelp calls “a deep inquiry into our business practices” by the FTC, which has lasted almost a year. Today, Yelp announced that the feds have closed their investigation, and won’t be taking any action against Yelp regarding its business practices. [More]
Chef Who Threatened Yelper Over Negative Review Issues Public Apology
By 11.3.14
We recently brought you the story of a restaurant customer in Cleveland whose one-star Yelp review of a new eatery led to the chef/owner sending the customer angry, threatening messages via Facebook. The Yelper subsequently told us that he’d received a private apology from the chef, but that the restaurant continued to mock him through its social media outlets. After weeks of not directly addressing this story in a public forum, the chef posted an apology late last week. [More]
Yet Another Court To Hear Yelp’s Argument Against Revealing Reviewers’ Names
By 10.27.14
For more than two years, a carpet cleaning company in Virginia has been trying to compel Yelp to turn over the identities of reviewers the company accuses of posting false and defamatory information. While both a trial court and a state appeals court have told Yelp to fork over that info, the crowdsourced reviews site has not yet done so — and tomorrow it takes its case before the highest court in Virginia. [More]
More Info From Yelper Who Says He Was Threatened Over Negative Review
By 10.24.14
Earlier today, we told you about the apparent dispute between a Cleveland consumer and the chef/owner of a local restaurant who allegedly reacted to the customer’s negative Yelp review with a series of nasty, threatening messages on Facebook. Now that diner has reached out to Consumerist to share more of his side of the story. [More]
You Can Now Reserve A Hotel Room Through Yelp
By 10.21.14
In an effort to keep travelers who might be checking out the reviews for hotels on Yelp’s website or in its mobile apps instead of going elsewhere when it comes time to book lodging, Yelp announced today that it’s teamed up with travel site Hipmunk to offer hotel reservations directly to users. [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]
FTC: Yelp To Pay $450,000 For Collecting Personal Information From Children
By 9.18.14
With each new settlement the Federal Trade Commission announces, it appears more likely that mobile apps and children just don’t go together. In the most recent case, Yelp settled allegations that it improperly collected children’s’ personal information – a big no-no that means the online review site will pay hundred of thousands of dollars to rectify. [More]
NYC Steakhouse Goes To Court To Obtain Identity Of Fake Yelp Reviewer
By 9.11.14
It’s one thing for a company to pursue legal action against an online reviewer who posted negative things about the company when it is actually true. Currently the Sparks Steakhouse in Manhattan, a former job applicant, Yelp, and a mysterious fourth party are involved in legal action to discover the identity of “Besfort S.,” a Yelper posing as a former Sparks employee who posted about how spitting in food is routine. [More]
Appeals Court: Yelp’s Ad Team Isn’t Extorting Small Businesses
By 9.4.14
For several years, some have accused online review site Yelp of strong-arming small businesses into paying for ads on the site, and a handful of these companies have even sued Yelp, hoping to prove their allegations. But this week a federal appeals court shot down extortion claims made against Yelp by California business owners, saying the site’s ad sales methods are just “hard bargaining.” [More]
Yelp Reviewers File Class Action Lawsuit, Want To Get Paid
By 8.12.14
Last fall, while we were covering fake Yelp reviews of real businesses and real Yelp reviews of fake businesses, a lawsuit questioning the nature of online reviews in a different way was filed on the West Coast. The lawsuit was dismissed in February, but has since been filed again with different attorneys and a different lead plaintiff. Their argument? Elite Yelp reviewers provide a service to the site, and some reviewers are paid, so all of them ought to be. [More]
How Should Business Owners Respond To A Negative Online Review?
By 8.8.14
We know that the proper response of a business to a bad online review shouldn’t be to post their own fake positive ones, or to fine wedding hosts for the bad reviews by their invited guests. Yet what should the proper response be when someone expresses dissatisfaction with your business…or when you take over a business with a history of bad reviews? [More]
Yelp Accused Of Lying To Investors About Quality Of Online Reviews
By 8.7.14
Since it launched a decade ago, some business owners have grumbled that the online review site Yelp allowed users to post fake, negative reviews. Now a potential class-action suit filed against Yelp accuses the site of trying to mislead investors about the quality of user-generated reviews and the way in which the company screens this content. [More]
