Comments on: Yelp Is Way Cooler Than I Thought

By: Tom

Tom — Thu, 19 Mar 2009 20:52:00 +0000

YELP is a total scam. My review about an auto repair shop that got me to do a bunch of repairs I didn’t needed was remove 4 times. The last review was on for a couple weeks and now when I came back it’s no longer there. The auto shop only have good reviews now. I will never use YELP again. The reason I am mad is because YELP was the only reason I went to that auto repair shop in the first place.

By: yelp it's a scam

yelp it's a scam — Sat, 21 Feb 2009 19:09:57 +0000

Yelp has been aggressively contacting local small businesses in my area and asking for $500 a month to get yelp “benefits”. When they are denied, reviews magically disappear and negative ones are added to the top. This is extortion. The lawsuits will be flying and yelp will be gone soon. More opportunist internetting to come! What a sad state these scumbags are in. Why don’t they just bust in their door with a baseball bat and threaten their family like real mafiosos!

By: John T.

John T. — Tue, 16 Dec 2008 22:53:21 +0000

Yelp is fake. I live in San Francisco and have left bona fide reviews on Yelp of businesses I’ve gone to. All of my reviews were removed. I could not get them re-instated. I left new ones and they got taken off, too. I used a couple of services on Yelp that got 5 stars and that turned out to be awful. It looks to me like some business owners have friends at Yelp. I won’t use their site again because it seems to be a scam.

By: Vic

Vic — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:40:59 +0000

Can I ask you, that real photo, can it be a photo of me or somebody else or maybe if it can be somebody else can I get it from google images when I google lets say Jay. Wow “Results 1 – 21 of about 63,200,000 for jay [definition]. (0.23 seconds)” that’s a lot of real photos of real people Jay or should I say sucker.
Vic.
Oh and that’s my real name.

By: Vic

Vic — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:28:46 +0000

Yelp is a scam and I can prove it. I wrote 15 reviews, some good some bad. After some time they all were removed. Don’t believe me, try yourself. Another thought, some of this reviewers have like a 1000 reviews. I mean can you imagine the time it takes to write all this crap. Nobody is going to do it for free. Another thought in my town there is two businesses on the same street. Business one 30 years old 1 review, business two 3 years old 5 reviews all 5 stars. If you still think Yelp is great I have a nice bridge for sale, CHEAP!

By: Vic

Vic — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:12:16 +0000

It is a total scam. It removed my reviews. You have to pay to look OK on it. Another site for suckers like you. Google maps much better.

By: Vic

Vic — Thu, 11 Dec 2008 07:09:31 +0000

Yelp is total scam! I left some reviews on it. Some was good some bad. Guess what after some time they were all removed. Yelp says that it removes suspicious reviews. My were normal reviews of normal businesses. Nothing suspicious. Don’t beliwe my try it for yourself. Yelp is another site for suckers. Vic.

By: Todd in Cali

Todd in Cali — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 01:30:58 +0000

Yelp is a huge and horrible scam. They edit posts down in response to complaints. They scam the people that get good and great reviews.

My current dentist, had HORRIBLE yelp reviews, my former one, who was a HORRIBLE dentist, had excellent ones. I found out that yelp tries to get you to buy advertising from them for like 300 bucks a month, and if they contact you and you decline, boom, there go ALL your good reviews !

Yelp is essentially a big FRAUD. I refuse to use it anymore. They have zero credibility with me, and if I were to meet someone who works for Yelp, I would tell them they should be ashamed and make it clear that I think they are big liars and frauds.

Consumer, beware !

By: Just a random blog !

Just a random blog ! — Fri, 03 Aug 2007 01:04:04 +0000

[...] recently poked fun at Yelp when a review popped up for a “full service” landscaper – but in reality the site is [...]

By: Lawn Mower Reviews

Lawn Mower Reviews — Thu, 26 Jul 2007 04:47:44 +0000

Lanw Mower Reviews…

Tips on choosing the right lawn mower ……

By: PSST! it

PSST! it — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 23:57:56 +0000

Yelp Is Way Cooler Than I Thought…

Haha, read the landscaper’s review very carefully….

By: Marian G.

Marian G. — Mon, 23 Jul 2007 10:16:53 +0000

Thank you Meredith for your insightful comment. I had no idea to how a simple review could be so effective. There are always two sides to any new idea.

By: Meredith

Meredith — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 01:34:55 +0000

Marian, just in case you are still reading this – I think most people realized that you were referring to a leaf-blowing service. The reason your review was highlighted was because it was unintentionally funny – of COURSE you meant leaf-blowing, but it came out in a slightly different way that was amusing to some. It isn’t a criticism of you that it was read that way, it’s just an amusing tidbit…nobody thinks you didn’t know what the OTHER meaning of “blow job” was, we just think you were focused on writing a quality review and didn’t realize the double entendre.

As for everybody saying that Yelp reviews are paid – I was about to say “well damn, where can I sign up, I write mine free!” – but then I realized that Washington DC has intern positions available, so…I guess that’s where I sign up.

A more interesting question about Yelp is whether a negative review can hurt a small business. I know of one prolific Yelper who quit the service because of a friend’s experience. Someone had not been happy with the business this Yelper’s friend provided, and so posted a review of the business saying they had child molesters working there. This was patently false but Yelp refused to investigate it and the person’s business was hurt as a result. It’s one thing to say “I got really bad service” but it’s another thing entirely to say “my kid got molested” just to be vengeful.

I agree with those who have said that Yelp Mobile is awesome. Me and my Sidekick 3 definitely love Yelp Mobile. I just wish I could WRITE reviews on the go!

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 23:41:14 +0000

A website is claiming to help people addicted to yelp:

http://yhelp.org/

By: bernie lomax

bernie lomax — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 02:47:29 +0000

ORLY!

By: Ryan Mickle

Ryan Mickle — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 19:11:39 +0000

There is actually probably a much greater chance that one of Jose’s caballeros wrote this review (perhaps while wearing a sun dress, for inspiration).

By: yellowbot

yellowbot — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:37:38 +0000

Thanks for clearing that up, Marian G!

By: Simon

Simon — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 15:23:38 +0000

“isn’t exactly as sexy as hanging out in MySpace”

MySpace is sexy? Michael, you’re great, but you desparately need to get a better life.

By: fluencev

fluencev — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 03:08:03 +0000

taken a second glance at the site ,o(∩_∩)o..

By: patricia

patricia — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 02:46:10 +0000

Well, I think Yelp had/has potential in the sense that City Search sucks, and the idea behind both could be useful, but I don’t think it’s structured to fit that gap and I don’t think it’s useful enough to go beyond people wanting to write reviews about wherever they hang out (which are too hard to read and I end up skipping most). I am on it and write stuff about L.A. but only because I get bored writing about business and fashion, and I don’t think i have in a while. My friend is obsessed with it, but I think she’ll tire of it too.

They need to do something different. I am not sure what.

By: mika

mika — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 02:30:51 +0000

I must say that techcrunch reviews have been really decreasing in value in the last few months and this is such a good example of that. More likely than not, this was a joke. Why was this techcrunch worthy? What is techcrunch doing these days anyway? Too much money coming in to report on any real technology stories? Hey, why don’t you print a story that degrades guys in some way and see how much conversation you get going.

By: David Mackey

David Mackey — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 02:27:47 +0000

The idea of reviewing sites isn’t a bad idea….And I think MySpace is being abandoned for Facebook – sure you don’t want to change analogies?

By: itblows

itblows — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:39:31 +0000

yelp is going bad the way epinions did, bad reviews dont scale.

By: Marian G.

Marian G. — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:26:47 +0000

My front and back yard is 2,000 square feet. It would take a long time to sweep with a broom. I think that your term bj is commonly used today. It is not common in my circle.

By: bernie lomax

bernie lomax — Tue, 10 Jul 2007 01:25:34 +0000

Hey Will! I think blow job refers to blowing leaves around to clear a pathway. ORLY!