Complaint Review: Yelp - San francisco California

Yelp contacted me several months ago regarding paid advertising. They told me to create a free profile to get exposure for my business, even helped me create a bit of it. Then we discussed paid advertising and how they can really help grow my company. I told them to send me the contract and I would look it over and get back with them.  I completed my profile on Yelp.  The sales rep that initially sent me the contract hounded me daily by calling. I told her I had not yet had a chance to look it over, but promised I would and get back to them.  The calls from Yelp were relentless.  I eventually ceased answering all calls and finally they stopped.  I had just completed a Honeymoon for a couple and this client asked me where she could go and write up a review as they were thrilled with my services.  I gave her two websites if she wanted to do that.  One was Yelp and the other was an agency I contract for. I had totally forgotten that she was going to write a review. About a month later she e-mailed me and said "done". I figured out what she meant and wrote her back and thanked her.  

A few days later I went into Yelp to update some information and add pictures.  While I was in my profile I saw "1 Review Not Currently Recommended".  Wow!  my clients know to contact me immediately if they were not satisfied with a trip I was planning or had planned. When I clicked on the "1 Review Not Currently Recommended", I saw the clients name.  Imagine my surprise as this client totally loved her trip as I was with her every step of the way.  The review was great.  I will post it here so you can see for yourselves. I contacted Yelp and asked why in the world they tagged this review as "not currently recommended".  They had no answer other than their automated system did it.  I then asked them to update or remove it.  They refused to do both. I called them again today to completely remove my profile from Yelp.  They refused.  If someone were to go onto Yelp and search for Travel Agents in Fort Worth, TX, they might find my profile. Consumers go to Yelp to decide if they want to do business with a certain business, i.e. dining, travel, see how good a restaurant is by the number of reviews and/or star ratings, etc.  So, if someone just happens to land on my profile, they will immediately see this one review as "not currently recommended". I told Yelp this rating system of theirs has and will hurt my future business as consumers will simply see "Not currently recommended" and move on. They probably will not even bother to click on the review and read for themselves.  I am filing a lawsuit against Yelp as they refused to re-rate the review or remove my profile entirely.

 This is a shady business Yelp has going.  Please be aware if you list your business on this Yelp site, you might get a great review, but Yelp will flag it as "not currently recommended".  Here is the review from my client that Yelp has deemed this review is not currently recommended, meaning MY business is not recommended to do business with. As I stated, I will be filing a lawsuit against Yelp as well as filing a complaint with the attorney general's office either here in Texas or California.  I will also go onto the Better Business Bureau and file a complaint against them. Of course I am leaving off my clients name for privacy reasons.  Here is the review that Yelp deemed "not currently recommended"  ******My husband and I did things a little backwards. I didn't start planning our honeymoon until we had already been married for a month in June, and didn't have the slightest idea where we wanted to go. All we knew was that we wanted to go in August. I had never used a travel agent before, but started searching for one. I found Cheryl W through my search and within an hour already had a response from her! I knew then she was going to be great to work with. With her help we decided on Kauai, Hawaii. During the planning process she was extremely helpful and had thought of everything before I even had to ask. She planned our entire honeymoon for us and researched to find us the best bang for our buck. I am the kind of person that always gets my hopes up, and I had prepared myself to not be let down if the trip was not up to my expectations.

Well I was wrong, our trip exceeded my expectations!! I could not have imagined it being any more perfect than it was! We were having so much fun that we did not want to leave the island when we were scheduled to leave. Instead of having to deal with the airlines, hotel and rental car... We simply called Cheryl and she made all of the arrangements for us and I know it was not an easy job making the changes the day we were supposed to depart. She was the nicest person to work with and did not get irritated once with us through all of the changes we decided last minute to make. It was very comforting to have Cheryl because we could relax and enjoy every moment of our trip and not have to worry about the headache of planning. I am extremely grateful that we found Cheryl and will be using her for all of our future vacations! I recommend anyone thinking of planning a trip to send Cheryl an email or give her a call because she will make your trip the best it can be!!  That was the review Yelp refused to upgrade.  Do not do business with Yelp.  This company should be put out of business.  Thank God I never signed a contract with Yelp.  I would be willing to bet had I signed a contract with Yelp, this review would NOT have been tagged as "currently not recommended.