Thursday, May 7, 2015

Help! I've been Yelped!

When you get that notice that someone has written a yelp review about your restaurant, you can't help but to swallow, take a long breath, close one eye, and open your yelp account to see if it is a good or bad review. Most people don't write about their good experiences. Some folks write a bad review on just about anything. Sometimes a reviewer will only give you a couple of stars and refuse to explain the reasoning behind it -- in fact those very same patrons rave about your establishment but only give you 3 or 4 stars. What can you do?

Well in September of 2014, the Ninth Circuit in San Francisco ruled that Yelp can revise, edit and prioritize business reviews based on advertising money it receives from that business. Basically, now Yelp can delete your reviews based on advertising money you give them. While they did not admit doing it previously, the Court ruled that they can moving forward. 

So now -- there is something you can do about a false yelp review or an unreasonably difficult patron (the one that no matter what you do, they are not happy).