Yelp Communication

I am still upset with Yelp for taking my review down, so I decided to contact them. Following is our correspondence.

********@*******.com
Yelp! Feedback: My reviews
Subtopic: my-reviews
Comments:--------------------------------
How come my reviews only show up on the business pages when I am logged in? Why can't other users see my reviews?



~~~~~~~~~~~~YELP REPLY~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Date: Tue, 5 May 2009 20:16:28 +0000
From: support@yelp.com
To: ********@*******.com
Subject: Message from Yelp HQ [ ref:00D3vCN.50047gK8t:ref ]

Hi,

Thanks for contacting us about your reviews.

We decided early on that Yelp wasn't going to be another anonymous review site where everyone is given credibility whether they've earned it or not. We created an automated system that decides how much trust to instill in a particular reviewer. If the reviewer isn't involved with Yelp, it's awfully hard for our software to have much confidence in the reviewer and so it may not display that review (as is the case here).

While this is may seem unfair to you, it's a great relief to a business owner that is targeted by a competitor with a fake review, or to a consumer who may be tempted to trust a fake review written by a business. It's worth mentioning that your review is always in your personal profile, which is still publicly posted and therefore publicly visible, and it may reappear on the business listing over time.

Regards,
Edgar
Yelp User Support
San Francisco , California
Yelp Official Blog http://officialblog.yelp.com/
Yelp Frequently Asked Questions http://www.yelp.com/faq
Yelp for Business Owners http://www.yelp.com/business




~~~~~~~~~MY REPLY TO EDGAR~~~~~~~~~~~

RE: Message from Yelp HQ [ ref:00D3vCN.50047gK8t:ref ]

Hi Edgar,
Thanks for replying to my message. I find it interesting that you say that my review isn't publicly available on the business webpage because I am not "involved with Yelp." I have 18 reviews so far and have had a Yelp account since January of 2009. Other reviewers who have reviews listed on the business page from which my review has disappeared have only 1 review (7 of the 11 reviews to be exact). Why are their reviews still publicly available on the business page and mine is not? What makes their Yelp account, with only 1 review, more valid than mine?

I find the timing in which my review was removed from the business page to be extremely suspect. I left my review on Friday, April 24. On April 25, I was contacted by the business owner, who was upset with my review and sent me a 9 paragraph missive about it. However, my review is accurate and I let her know that I will not be changing it. By the next Wednesday (April 29th), my review was gone from her page. Do you find this timing suspicious as well?

I have a feeling that this article from the Chicago Tribune is spot on (http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/mar/09/business/chi-0309-yelpmar09). I think that the business owner contacted Yelp with her concerns over my review. I think that Yelp arranged a deal to remove my review from her page in exchange for something. This is disgusting and completely against the whole premise of Yelp. What is the point of leaving reviews if the business owners can contact Yelp and have them removed? I don't even know what to think anymore.

Can you please let me know why reviewers with 1 review can still have their reviews visible, while mine has been taken off the page?

Regards, rm






~~~~~~~RESPONSE FROM YELP~~~~~~~~~~~
Date: Thu, 7 May 2009 19:13:48 +0000
From: support@yelp.com
To: ********@*******.com
Subject: Message from Yelp HQ [ ref:00D3vCN.50047gK8t:ref ]

Hi,

Thanks for taking the time to write.

Unfortunately, I can't provide details as to how our algorithm works because that reduces its effectiveness at protecting against spam, fakes, etc. I can tell you that the system operates without regard to communications between business owners and reviewers, star rating, or anything else. While I understand your concerns regarding the timing of the reviews, the correspondence and the suppression, it is not the result of any deal with this business owner. The business in question is not a Yelp sponsor, but even our sponsors must sign an agreement stating that they understand their sponsorship status will not affect their reviews before we will conduct business with them.

I will send your information to our engineering team so they can make sure everything is working properly. They are always refining our system and sometimes it does misfire, so your feedback is very helpful and will go towards improving the system.

Thanks again for expressing your opinion and for trying to make Yelp better for everyone.

Regards,
Edgar

Yelp User Support
San Francisco , California
Yelp Official Blog http://officialblog.yelp.com/
Yelp Frequently Asked Questions http://www.yelp.com/faq
Yelp for Business Owners http://www.yelp.com/business

My Response to Stephanie

Thanks for filling me in and letting me know what happened. We were clients in the late fall and were not aware that you had a substitute walker filling in for you. It is actually a little disconcerting that you provided our keys to and sent an unknown person with obvious dishonesty issues into our home without telling us. I know we did receive an e-mail once stating that you were unable to complete the walks one day, but we never received the communication about the substitute dog walker. Perhaps we were mistakenly left off of that mailing.

Since we were under the impression that this was an owner-run business with you as the only dog walker and the fact that you had keys to our home, when we noticed that walks were not being performed, we didn't feel comfortable complaining to you. Prior to the day I went home sick from work, we had suspicions about whether the walks were taking place. We tried to do things that would let us know - like leaving a treat where our dog would eat it if he was actually taken for a walk or a piece of tape on the door so we could tell if it had been opened. When these items often hadn't been disturbed when we came home, our suspicions only mounted. However - someone always came by on Fridays to pick up the check! We thought the irresponsibility was solely yours and discussed mentioning it to you, but decided against it since we didn't think that we could trust you anymore anyway and opted just to cancel the service. I'm sure you can appreciate the situation we were in, being under the impression that it was only you doing the walks. I wish we had been told that it was another walker performing our walks and we would have gladly brought our concerns up to you as soon as we started to have them.

I doubt a refund is an option because I don't have a record of the days we suspect our dog wasn't walked. I'm ready to chalk this up to a bad experience and move on. I am very sorry to hear of the circumstances that led you to employ another walker and hope that 2009 is a much better year for you.

Stephanie's Response to Me

Thank you for your review of KSM Pet Care on Yelp! While I welcome reviews that are less than five stars as they can be useful in helping me improve my business, your review really concerns me.

Based on the details of your review, your bad experience must have taken place several months ago, in the fall. At that time, I was using an outside dog walker on an as-needed basis. Most of my clients were aware of this, as the occasional absence of notes led them to inquire as to what had changed. This is because a close family member of mine had suddenly fallen very ill, and I had become their primary caretaker and emergency contact. This meant responding to emergency calls, taking them to and from the hospital as well as house/pet-sitting for them while they were there. I often had little to no notice for this, which is why I enlisted the extra help on some days.

It was eventually brought to my attention that my hired dog walker was not performing up to par. Some people reported that the dog walker had been missing days, as in your case, as well as other issues. Other clients though, reported a great experience so he was clearly missing some walks but not others. Therefore, I had no way to know when he was actually filling in properly and not.

When I realized that I could not continue to use this substitute dog walker, I promptly refunded all of the payments that my clients had made that covered days in which I was not the walker. I had no way of knowing when the walks were completely properly or not, so I refunded each and every walk that I did not personally give and could account for. I still held myself personally accountable for the problem. From there, I contacted all of my clients and informed them of the situation, explaining that I would not consistently have anyone to cover their walks for the time being as I may be called away occasionally and that I was not comfortable hiring another outside dog walker. I took the remaining time off entirely to finish my caregiving duties until she passed, and arranged (and paid for the first week of) dog walking for all of my clients with another company. When I was able to perform all of my walks again, each and every client of mine that had used the other company returned to my services.

Because of your review, it is apparent that you were one of the few people who did not contact me with your concerns when you discontinued your service around that time. I am not sure why this is, but I wish you had so that I could have refunded your payment and arranged for an alternate solution as I did for most everyone else! People start and stop their dog walking/pet sitting services all the time, so I had no way of knowing who was canceling due to these issues and who was canceling due to other, personal reasons.

It is unlikely that I would be able to refund you this far in the future, as I may or may not still have your payment/walk records. However, it is possible and I would be glad to look into it if you could provide me with more details (who your dog is, exactly when the missed walks occurred, etc.). If a refund is not possible at this time, I would be willing to discuss other options with you as a way to compensate you for your bad experience.

While no business can satisfy 100% of their clients/customers 100% of the time, this experience of yours really troubles me because it could have been easily remedied when it occurred. Also, a portion of my profits are regularly given as donations to support two Chicago-area animal shelters/adoption centers that I work and volunteer for (primarily, the foster care programs which I am active part of, especially now that it is kitten season!). One bad review can turn a client away that would have actually had a great experience and helped contribute to getting some dogs and cats temporarily out of their shelters! While I am not asking you to revise your review, I am asking you to consider allowing me to remedy the situation. Please let me know what I could do to improve your view of KSM Pet Care.

Also, please note that the reason an abundance of reviews were made on Yelp within a few days of each other is because I claimed my "Yelp for Business Owners" account on February 7, 2009 and sent out an e-mail to all of my clients notifying them that I was listed on Yelp and would be thrilled to have them list their experiences for all to see! Many of my clients (like myself) were unfamiliar with Yelp, so did not have prior reviews. I can assure you that they are all current or past clients that I use regularly for references as well, some of which have been with me for years!

Again, please consider letting me make up for your past experiences in one way or another. Due to this past problem, KSM Pet Care is now proud to be and intends to stay strictly a two-person owner-run business! It restricts us in size, but at least we are able to give quality care at all times.

\Feel free to contact me directly at: **********@yahoo.com.

Be Wary of KSM Pet Care

This is my review of the services provided to me by KSM Pet Care. I had previously left this review on Yelp.com, but my review mysteriously disappeared from the site after the owner of the business contacted me with a 9 paragraph message and asked me if there was anything she could do to "improve my view of KSM Pet Care." (not that she was asking me to change my review, of course!)

I started dog-walking service with KSM Pet Care (Stephanie). Stephanie and her boyfriend own the business and their website specifically states that her and her boyfriend personally provide all petcare. At first, things were fine. The dog was getting walked mid-day so we were satisfied with the service. Then after awhile we began to notice that some days, he was more rambunctious when we arrived home than other days. We were paying for 30 minute mid-day walks, so we figured maybe he hadn't been walked for the full 30 minutes - maybe just let out to go to the bathroom and then put back inside. But then on some days, he had accidents in his crate, so we began to wonder if he was let out at all. At the beginning, there were notes left letting us know how the walk went and the notes gradually stopped being written. The absence of the notes coincided with the days when he seemed especially energetic when we arrived home. We tried to do things that would allow us to tell if someone had been by to let him out - like arranging the leash in a strategic position, and then checking when we got home of the leash had been disturbed. Or, putting a piece of clear tape on the door or putting a dog treat in the path to the door. Often times these items were left undisturbed when we arrived home, so our suspicions grew.

We discussed whether we should bring this up to Stephanie and ask her if she had really been walking our dog. We felt uncomfortable doing this as there is not really a polite way to ask if someone has really been doing their job. Plus, she had keys to our home, so we didn't want to upset her. Then one day I went home sick from work. Our walks were scheduled to be between 12-2pm. I arrived home at 12:15 and let the dog out and he peed a lot and also pooped, so I knew he had not been out since we left in the morning. I didn't call Stephanie and cancel the walk because I felt like crap and didn't want to take the dog for a walk. So I laid on the couch for the rest of the afternoon and waited for Stephanie to come. No one ever showed up. I think it's incredibly shady for a dogwalker to charge for the service and then not show up. If there is some reason you can't stop by that day - whatever, I get it, sometimes things come up. If you can't make it, so you have a friend do the walk - okay, fine, not ideal, but okay. We pre-paid for the week every Monday - be honest and say that you couldn't make it over and you are only charging for 4 walks that week instead of 5. But don't try and pretend like you fulfilled your obligations, hope we won't find out and take money for a service you never performed. To make it worse, when we canceled our service, we asked her to just come by and drop the keys off the next day (the last day we had paid for) but that she didn't need to walk the dog. She said she wasn't going to be in the area and could we pick the keys up from her over the weekend. Uhh....WHAT?!? How were you going to do the dog-walk if you weren't going to be in the area?

Also, on her Yelp page, prior to me leaving my review - there were 12 reviews - all with 5 stars. Oddly enough, 11 of the reviews were written within a 2 day period in February and 7 were written by "reviewers" with only 1 review on their account (their review for KSM Pet Care).

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The above is the review I left on Yelp. I left this on 4/24/09. On 4/25/09 I received a lengthy message from Stephanie trying to explain away our bad experience and by 4/29/09 my review had disappeared from her page. In her message to me, she said that my bad experience must have taken place in the fall and that she had a sick relative and had to employ an outside dog walker who was not performing up to par. She said some people had reported that the outside dog-walker had missed days and when she realized she couldn't continue to use him, she refunded all of the payments that her clients had made that covered days in which she was not the walker since had no way of knowing when the walks were completely properly or not [weird, I never got a refund]. I got the feeling that she wanted me to change my review after she explained to me that there was an outside dog-walker. I don't understand why the fact that there was an outside dog-walker excuses the fact that I was defrauded by paying for services I didn't receive. Employers are responsible and accountable for their employees - if the employees provide bad service, obviously it is going to affect the employer.

She said that it was apparent that I was one of the few people who did not contact her with my concerns when I discontinued service and she doesn't know why - but that she wished I had so she could refund my payment. She said people start and stop their dog walking/pet sitting services all the time, so she had no way of knowing who was canceling due to these issues and who was canceling due to other, personal reasons. I feel that if she knew that some people were canceling due to shoddy service provided by her outside walker, that when people started canceling service, she should have at that time informed them what was going on (that she was not personally completing the walks) and check to make sure the cancellation wasn't due to dissatisfaction. And actually, I feel that if she is going to send someone else into her client's homes, she should inform them of that. I am upset that keys to my home were provided without my knowledge to someone who was obviously dishonest .

What makes me the most upset about this whole situation is that my review was taken off her Yelp page. I have a feeling she contacted Yelp and worked out a deal with them to get my review off her page. I have heard of other cases in which Yelp removed or rearranged reviews for business in exchange for the business starting advertising service with them, or doing some other favor. (See this Chicago Tribune article from March 2009: http://archives.chicagotribune.com/2009/mar/09/business/chi-0309-yelpmar09 ) I find it highly suspicious that all her reviews are 5 stars. I wonder how many other time she has had Yelp squash a bad review left for her. It completely undermines the whole premise of Yelp - I thought Yelp is supposed to be "Real People. Real Reviews."? I guess it's really just 'the reviews that the business wants you to see.'