One way to deal with Yelp

Found this little gem this morning …

http://arstechnica.com/business/2014/09/why-this-tiny-italian-restaurant-gives-a-discount-for-bad-yelp-reviews/

That’s awesome. I would never have the balls to do it but I commend them for it.

Just had our first Yelp review - 5 Star
Now waiting to see if they contact us about joining.
Thanks but no thanks

I love it… (Because I HATE the Yelp strong arm tactics) Best for me is that since I am not in the store there is no-one there that can talk to Yelp when they call. Trip Adviser is not much better.

Looks like Yelp is now filtering just about every review they are getting now. Pages and pages of reviews being filtered. That made my day!

That’s so awesome. I love it. Major kudos to that operator!

This might even be better…

https://twitter.com/brilliant_ads/status/515517215660343296

this is great! if every restaurant did this yelp would be dead in months!

Yelp’s letter to them is the money shot:

Hi Davide,

I’m contacting you from the Yelp User Support Team because we’ve received complaints from the community that you may be offering incentives in exchange for reviews.

To be clear, this violates our Terms of Service (http://www.yelp.com/static?p=tos&country=US), and reviews written under such circumstances violate Yelp’s Content Guidelines (http://www.yelp.com/guidelines). We also often find from user feedback that such practices do more harm than good, as the practice creates distrust amongst customers and users who now eye all reviews on a listing with suspicion.

If you are offering incentives in exchange for reviews, we ask that you immediately discontinue such activity. If we learn that this type of behavior has continued, we may take action on your Business Account which could include suspending access to your listing. It may also result in a Consumer Alert being placed on your listing: http://officialblog.yelp.com/2012/10/consumer-alerts-because-you-might-like-to-know.html

Regards,

Marvin

I’m sure these guys give a $hit about Yelp’s “Content Guidelines” and them possibly “taking action on their Business Account”.

I give Yelp a 5 star review for obtuseness.

I answer every negative yelp review with a positive comment or an advertisement for my restaurant. I will list my most recent specials or recommend people look at the other POSITIVE reviews posted. Most are very unreasonable comments and are just a joke. You cant please everyone and you will kill yourself trying to. I NEVER apologize for anything on yelp. If they say they are never coming back, I thank them for anything positive they mentioned in the review and recommend that OTHER people will enjoy what we have to offer. I have had people complain they can’t find the entrance to the restaurant?? OMG… It faces the parking lot with a HUGE BANNER that Says “ENTRANCE” with our hours…I have been in business for over 40 years and will not stand for a few and I mean a few people from out of town trashing my business. I will NEVER accept phone calls from yelp and I will NEVER advertise with them. I think if every owner / operator took this attitude it would put a huge dent in their already dismal business practices. And don’t get me wrong we are in a town with some VERY STRONG INDEPENDENT competition and all the National franchises. We are a VERY Successful restaurant and have some of the best customers in the world! If you don’t like it hit the road and make room for people who do.

Did you catch the FAQ page on the above mentioned bistro’s website? Pretty funny…

http://www.bottobistro.com/FAQ.html

Spectacular!!

I hope to see more people doing that.

I wish I had known all of this before I signed up for Yelp when we opened.