Unwanted addvertising

alex23

Hi Guys


Few months ago a company called yelp.com contacted me and asked me if i want to add my website in their directory.I told them no and that was all.Few days latter they added my website to their directory,they added some weird uk phone number and a very bad review.I emailed them to ask them what s going on and i found out that they have the legal right to add companies to their directories without asking if they want to be added.I complained to google ireland and they told me that there is not to much they can do about it.How is this legal?I refused to be added to their directory and they added my company anyway,then they added the worst review ever.What can i do about it?They want me to buy addvertising in their directory.

Many thanks

mneylon

Yelp has an Irish office as far as I know

I'm confused though - why are you contacting Google? What's it got to do with them?

alex23

Hi

Well they come up first on google ranking.This website is not an classified website,is forcing people to join them.So google cant alod them to get the first ranking if the use ilegal data.They have a special profile for my company invented by thenself,phone number invented by themself and wrong email.But the review is addvicing people to dont use our services.I asked my customers to post reviews after i did few jobs,the reviews were on for 1 day and then it was gone.So its a scam to force me to pay for addvertising.I just dont want to join their website,is my right.Do you think is right to be on the first position on google ranking with a very bad review just becouse you dont want to buy addvertising?For a restaurant or pub having such a review is equal with closing down


Thank u

BrianD

Yelp is a review site. I didn't know that they did online sites - it seems to be mainly retail places e.g restaurants, shops etc.

You really need to manage your own online reputation. Whether you like it or not, anybody can add you to a review site.

I would recommend that you go to yelp.com or yelp.ie create an account and then manage it. As far as I know you can then respond to reviews.

Unfortunately, it could have been a vested interest who gave you a bad review.

You don't have to advertise to manage an account on yelp.com though they will probably try and sell it to you.

alex23

But then why they dont keep the good reviews?I asked my customer to add few reviews and all the good reviews were gone within 24 hours.The spanish lady who posted a review on my website without using my services was a professional review writer.She had over 400 reviews on her account.Who writes 400 reviews on the same website?

(do a search on google "is yelp a scam" and there are amounts of information coming up from america,they were sued big time all over america)

But at least americans did something about it.If you open a restaurant and they post a bad review about you then you are screwed!Any weirdo can say that a rat was found in your restaurant and very few people will ever book your services.Then for "only 300 euro" that review can be deleted.

BrianD

alex23 wrote: »

But then why they dont keep the good reviews?I asked my customer to add few reviews and all the good reviews were gone within 24 hours.The spanish lady who posted a review on my website without using my services was a professional review writer.She had over 400 reviews on her account.Who writes 400 reviews on the same website?

(do a search on google "is yelp a scam" and there are amounts of information coming up from america,they were sued big time all over america)

But at least americans did something about it.If you open a restaurant and they post a bad review about you then you are screwed!Any weirdo can say that a rat was found in your restaurant and very few people will ever book your services.Then for "only 300 euro" that review can be deleted.

That's they way of the world these days - you're going to have to work with it. Review sites are here to stay.

I would lodge a complaint with them. They have an Irish branch - yelp.ie

Also if somebody states something libelous you can take legal action.

Are you stating that a negative review would vanish with payment?

Ben Moore

Hi, I have come across Yelp when searching online and wondered why half of the links didn't work. Thanks for the unintended clearing up of that small mystery.