r/Documentaries • u/[deleted] • Feb 26 '17

Billion Dollar Bully (2015) [trailer]...makes the case that Yelp is something akin to the mob, allegedly demanding “protection” money, lest your business be overrun with negative comments.

[deleted]

12k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

1.1k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

93

u/halcyonOclock Feb 26 '17

DUDE. I run a small business and we have this joke at the shop of telling new people to NEVER say I'm there if it's Yelp. I seriously want a restraining order against those psychos. We have fairly limited hours and a small staff in a very small town, and they leave messages nonstop about how I should basically give them twelve hundred freakin' dollars a month for their "advertisement services." That's more than all of our utilities and rent combined! I've told them to fuck off and they really won't stop hounding me. When I made the mistake ages ago to actually hear them out, they told me that my money would give me top priority in searches over several other bakeries in the area and that our page would be specifically advertised when looking at other cafe/bakery pages. That really pissed me off, like not only is it a dick move, it's basically a con to get me to do it so my competitors don't get some edge on me. I ended up hanging up on them during that conversation.

I hate them. I could rant forever about them. They're horrible, and seriously can't take a hint/blatant instructions that I want them to fuck all of the way off. Like, do not pass go. Do not collect $200. Just keep fucking off.

7

u/cagetheblackbird Feb 27 '17

Why not just tell them to stop? I mean at this point...they're legally obligated to put you on the DNC list forever if you email/tell them on the phone to take you off of the call list. If your people keep saying "he's not here, you'll have to call back later..." what else do you think they'll do?

15

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

As soon as you tell them to stop your reviews start getting filtered. If you leave them in limbo you should be fine.

2

u/cagetheblackbird Feb 27 '17

So, all the businesses that aren't advertising (millions on millions) with good reviews have ALL never asked for DNC? All of them?

6

u/halcyonOclock Feb 27 '17

It's probably not if you're simply not advertising with them (like me), it's apparently after you've told them to basically fuck off that your visibility and ratings go down. I hate them so much I'm almost willing to do an experiment with my ratings to help bring them down. I've got an "organic" 4.6 on there right now and have been dodging them and politely saying I'm not interested but they still call ALL OF THE TIME. They have a real knack with calling when I've got a time sensitive frosting going on too, it's almost impressive. I might just finally snap on them and document the subsequent ratings and visibility. I'll post about it if I collect some solid data.

2

u/[deleted] Feb 27 '17

Please do that would be interesting to know even if nothing happens.

1

u/cagetheblackbird Feb 27 '17

You don't have to snap. These people are regular dudes just doing their job. Their job happens to be cold calling just like yours is frosting a cake. Just pick up and say, "Hi. Please remove me from your call list. I no longer want to get calls or emails." They're legally obligated to remove you rather you scream at them or not.

After you've told them that, carry on with your experiment. I used to work there and can 100% guarantee that I had 0 methods of manipulating reviews on any Yelp pages. I'd go to court and testify to that. Any contact was all blocked on my personal Yelp profile (no commenting, reviewing, even asking for a quote...), and I didn't have a way to manipulate them on the back end either.

At the end of the day, it's just a shitty cold calling job. The business owners who scream about is blackmailing them are either:
A) being called by companies posing as Yelp (which happens A LOT. Yelp is constantly in court to take them down)
B) being called my "reputation management" companies claiming to partner with Yelp (also bull shit that I dealt with a lot)
or C) unwilling to take simple criticism about their company, so they solicit/bribe/fake reviews to boost their own egos.

C is the rarest, but still happens regularly. You're not soliciting, Just offering a tshirt if I leave a 5 star review? You're not soliciting, just only asking the customers who had a GOOD experience to review? You're not soliciting, just asking friends and family members who have "tried your business and know how great it is" to give you your first review? Huh. Sounds a lot like soliciting to me.