Complaint Review: YELP - San Francisco California

Surf Gidget The Pug 11:20 AM (1 hour ago)     to me             I am the Business owner of It's A Dogs life Academy. I am addressing an issue with YELP as I had a customer contact me a few days ago regarding a 5 star positive rating recommendation post on YELP which was moved to a "Non Recommended" section. After looking into my YELP account I noticed nearly 20 legitimate customers who still attend today were also moved out of the positive rating section. With determination I found a number for YELP & spoke with an employee named Denise

Customer Success Manager | Yelp.com

855 380 9357

We have asked why all of our 5 star Positive Recommendations have kindly been put under the "Non Recommendation" list. She stated its the algorithm & we cannot fix it, well your algorithm is broken. We have recommendations that go as far back as when we opened nearly 9 years ago. Ratings that are 5 star ratings with lovely recommendations. Shamefully we have good customers who still attend who have written 5 star YELP recommendations & those 5 star positive recommendations have been deleted & have been put into the "Non Recommendation" section as well. This is discrediting to our business as YELP is moving our positive recommendations to a section that cannot be seen by possible new customers as being recognized as a "NEGATIVE Business". The YELP employee Denise hung up on me this afternoon during this conversation, that was professional. I have made it clear with Denise prior to hanging up that I will be contacting the BBB, the RIP OFF REPORT, YELP complaint board & possibly small claims court as this is deliberitally damaging my financial well being. Welcome to the world of algorithms & bots as humans cannot control YELP if you have a problem. We will take this further, meanwhile we appreciate your Positive Recommendations in hope that the algorithm does not move you to the "Non Recommendation" section. As a new customer if you only saw 4 positive comments & 17 "Non Recommended" comments would you attend the business? YELP has generated negative impact against my business & its fraud. They have done a Bait & Switch at it's finest! I will assume the algorithm will recognize this as a "Non Recommended" comment & move it as well. Please recognize this statement as an official complaint against YELP. Researching YELP complaints at yelpcomplaintsboard.com established since 2004. The complaints are a recurring issue. They take off positive 5 star reviews for loads of businesses that don't pay a monthly $300.00 a fee a month, who knew. We all thought as a business owner having YELP was a positive platform for business owners. Maybe YELP should have FACT checkers. I noticed one complaint from a gentleman in San Diego on YELP reviews & complaints. He stated back in August of 2022 that YELP is calling 5 star reviews fraud. WOW! He has stated that if you do not pay the $300.00 a month they allow all negative reviews and take down good ones. Well, he nailed it on the head no doubt. Now we truly know what's going on with YELP, SCAM! I will be asking some of our customers to remove their positive comments & when they find the time to comment with a positive review once again in the future will see how quickly the 5 star positive reviews will stay out of the "Non Recommended" section. My only question is YELP How do you explain this one in court? Not easy is it? I'll be taking screenshots of my current YELP as proof before you tamper with it again, have a nice day.

Best,

Alecia

It's A Dogs Life Academy

Please Note:

*This complaint & personal review will be posted on my business web site so customers are aware until the YELP page is adjusted correctly.

*The BBB is quite astounding with over 1,800 complaints since 2013 to say the least.

*YELP complaints board has the same result of excessive complaints with only 20 addressed. You heard it only 20!   *Rip Off Report has an exstinsive amount of complaints regarding the same problem