Yelp or youch…

By blackmountaincycles,

Filed under: Rant

Always thought “yelp” was something that a dog did when it got stung on the butt by a bee. It appears that Yelp is also some sort of forum that anyone can write a review of any business. Now, I’m not here complaining because someone wrote a bad review about my bike shop. Quite the contrary. I’m complaining because it seems too many folks wrote glowing reviews about the shop. Seems Yelp has some sort of filter that hides reviews they deem unfit for Yelp.

Here’s the link to the Yelp page for Black Mountain Cycles. If you go to the bottom, there is a little, easily missed bit that says “1 to 3 of 3 (3 filtered).” The “3 filtered” is a link where you have to type in a security code which lets you see the 3 filtered reviews. Fact of the matter is that these three filtered reviews are also darn nice reviews that were done by customers, but someone at Yelp decided they wouldn’t show up on a quick view of the Black Mountain Cycles Yelp page. Why?

I don’t know why. I sent an e-mail to someone at Yelp who called me a while back wanting me to sign up for a Yelp business account. I couldn’t figure out why I should and how it would benefit me so I declined. Never got a reply to my e-mail asking why the reviews were filtered. They must care more about signing up businesses than why reviews are filtered.

Should also point out that all the filtered reviews are 5-star reviews. Even the review that Yelp pulled totally because it “violated their review guidelines or terms of service,” was a 5 star review. So, in my book, I’ve got seven reviews on Yelp. All are 5-star reviews. I’m pretty pleased with that. Yet, on a quick glance, folks only get to see three reviews. Strange.

And to the folks who wrote reviews, thank you.

(What’s playing: Sitting in Studio A at KWMR monitoring the board)


0 responses to “Yelp or youch…”

  1. Stephen says:

    looks like they've fixed it now. if i go to the BMC page on yelp i see all 3 reviews listed normally.

  2. Anonymous says:

    Congrats on the great reviews, not surprising in the slightest.

    Yelp has a slightly shady business model. The reviews are legit, but then Yelp tries to leverage the good reviews in a sort of 'soft extortion' to get businesses to advertise with them. No reason you should enjoy the benefits of good reviews without paying up!

    http://www.eastbayexpress.com/eastbay/yelp-and-the-business-of-extortion-20/Content?oid=1176635

  3. blackmountaincycles says:

    There are three more reviews that are filtered and not shown unless one clicks on a not so clear hyperlink below the last review where it says "1 to 3 of 3 (3 Filtered)" The (3 filtered) is the link to the hidden reviews.

  4. Gloria says:

    Yelp's got huge issues with covert methods of ranking reviews, etc., so therefore this is not surprising but definitely disappointing.

    There's one thing to do, people, please sign up and give Mike some recognition he deserves.

    Thanks Mike, you're the best!

  5. Mountain Goat Cycles says:

    I like the one guy who complained about prices at all the area shops except one and that was his only Yelps. Can you say employee?

  6. sherpaehb says:

    I too have a web business and have heard about the extortion tactics of this social review site. I only hope that the common sense online shopper knows the difference between a great business and not one that is painted negatively by a sorry excuse for a web review site. Yelps time in the sunshine is fading…

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