Yelp Reviews 

I was lied to by the Yelp Representative. I was signed up for a $350 credit for 1 month of free ads in September. I told them I do not want to spend more than $300 per month. According to their page I still had $194 credit at the end of September. (I found out later that this number is delayed by their billing process.) I found out I was charge for their highest promotion level, and brought it down to $10 per day in September. I couldn't cancel while I had credits, so I kept it open. I was charge over $300 for September ads, and another $311 for October ads, and when I finally cancelled on November 4 , I was charged for my special promotion I didn't know I had another $154, because of 4 days use of that promotion used in November. I was charge over $782 for a free ad campaign. I do not EVER plan on using or recommending Yelp again for any business owner.

My experience with Yelp has been incredibly frustrating and financially draining. I was charged over $600 a month for ads, and when I turned the ads off, the charges didn’t stop—they continued billing me more than $300 monthly for a “premium listing” that was never made clear. Months later, after realizing the charges, I called Yelp to end everything.

Despite that, I was hit with yet another charge—$120—because I “canceled on the 10th,” which they counted as usage for the previous month. That logic makes no sense, and it feels like a deliberate way to squeeze more money out of small business owners.

Yelp’s lack of transparency, confusing billing structure, and continued charges after cancellation make this platform extremely difficult to trust. I wish I had seen other reviews before using them.

ٌYelp advertising is a scam
Be honest with people and do not lie.
Monitor your sales with new customer, and call them to make sure everything is all right with their purchase.
Let them know that you are going to charge them and send them an invoice before withdrawing funds from their account

Yelp was horrible across the board. They did a bait and switch, said they would give me 1 month free ads. They kind of did, then I went and cancelled a few days later, they don't let you know their site is tricky, you have to cancel TWO DIFFERENT parts, you can't just Cancel. They don't show you this or tell you. I ONLY RECEIVED 8 to 10 Spam Calls a day, not 1 lead, not 1 call, text, or email from anyone looking online. Only Spammers trying to sell me SEO. Yelp sent me a bill for $212 and I called 5 or 6 times asking for help, negotiating and they would not budge. They sent my bill to a Collection Agency trying to destroy my credit score. Horrible service, no one seems to have autonomy to do anything. You can't go up the ladder to talk to the right person who will make a good decision to even consider helping. Very Bad Business Practices.

A VERY DECEPTIVE company. Very sad that they would not even consider doing something write and even taking $10 off.
STAY AWAY FROM YELP!! DO NOT ADVERTISE WITH THEM. Go elsewhere.

This company is a complete scam. I signed up for a free marketing campaign and after canceling the campaign I was charged $360 for items that I never used, wanted to use or even knew that I could use. I tried to ask for a refund and they don’t give refunds. Don’t fall for their scams like I did.

False promises and advertising. Do not deliver upon claims of leads and the ROI is abysmal. Closed my credit card So I wouldn't get charged ridiculous prices for a service that was not delivering . They kept calling me after that claiming I had un-paid balance. I'll pay my balance because my credit score and my promise to pay even if I agreed to something I didn't fully comprehend the cost of is on me I guess. But I will forever be negative about my Yelp experience and will be a megaphone to others to not trust Yelp.

When you sign up they give you a $300, promotion, but they are click based. the next month you are charged over $1000.00. Even if you cancel the promotion, they swear they never receive it and they charge your card on file. Do not allow this company to promote your business, You will get no business from them, they however have your money. They are a joke. I received 25 clicks and 2 leads at the glenoak location and 69 visits 5 leads at the texas location and no business. That's a pretty steep cost for wanting business.

Terrible platform to advertise your business. They do nothing to help you gain clients, while charging you for the telemarketers that are seeing your ads and calling about charging you more for seo optimization services. Complete waste of money and time. Don’t get into business with yelp

Reading through the reviews I note that businesses have paid for advertising. Yelp put my former business on their platform for free with no request from me, no authority, no contact, nothing. There were other business pages that did the same. I closed my business and cancelled my ABN in 2022. I spent hours contacting all of these 'advertisers' to get them to remove the listing. As I ran my business from home my address and mobile number are now residential and there is no business. I have tried to contact Yelp several times. Their terms say they dont have to remove it. It was advertised without my permission! I've followed their instructions and downloaded the app, claimed the business and have sent edit submissions to mark it as closed. No action has been taken and they are near impossible to contact. In addition I have asked google to remove it from search results which they denied as it's a business page....I'm still working on this one. Google suggested to make contact with the owner of the website...Yelp! Google is also impossible to contact other than through a contact form. GoogleAds removed my data from THEIR platform so with technology today surely they could have granted my search result request based on matching this. It should be against the law for places like Yelp to go ahead and advertise business pages without authority. I'm sure I'm not alone in this and others have closed their business. Yelp needs to be investigated!

Yelp’s advertising is a complete waste of money for small businesses. Their sales reps are extremely pushy, constantly offering $100–$300 ad credits just to hook you into their overpriced platform. They charge $10–$15 per “lead,” but those same leads are sold to 3–5 other companies—most of which are cold or dead-end inquiries. You’ll spend time responding to people who never reply back.

When you try to cancel, their reps won’t take no for an answer, and if you stand firm, they’ll hang up on you. The quality is terrible, the cost is high, and the return is nonexistent. I do not recommend paying to advertise on Yelp.

I put my business on Yelp and a client left me a 5 star review. They immediately took it down. No explanation except it violated their AI policy. Then every couple weeks they have a sales person call me and try and get me to pay them for better placement. I have told each one that I won’t be paying them any money when they take unsolicited reviews down. They keep calling, nonstop. This is a terrible company.

Yelp put up our business page without our consent or wish, like every one else. They contacted us to sell an ad, promising we "wouldn't pay until we got leads." Yelp then sent what appear to be deliberate false leads (unclear if they are real people on Yelp's direct or indirect payroll, or bots), unqualified leads, and leads for services our company does not provide. We wasted many hours trying to "fix" the problem by updating our settings and doing work on the site. Then, the salesman told us we had a new account manager and every email we sent Yelp about our expensive, time wasting experience was ignored. In a month we got ZERO qualified leads, spent over fifteen hours trying to make their platform work, and were charged nearly $400 when we cancelled the "service." (It is not a service- it a site that extorts small businesses using market position, size, and their ability to manipulate reviews and what customers see.) These people should be out of business in a functioning free market, not giving fat payouts to shareholders.

Yelp is a very strange platform. They allow unverified reviews and make it difficult for business owners to manage their profiles unless they pay for advertising. It creates an unfair system that harms real businesses trying to deliver quality service. Very disappointing.

I used Yelp for my business in 2020 and ultimately found the experience frustrating and limiting. Yelp allows businesses to upload photos, but you have no control over which image gets featured unless you pay. In my case, they continue showcasing an outdated photo from a wedding service I no longer offer, even though I’ve repeatedly tried to update it. I no longer provide wedding hair, makeup, or lash services, but these continue to be associated with my business. I’ve searched extensively for ways to remove them from my page, to no avail.

Yelp also discourages asking for reviews, but ironically, they filter and hide several of my most genuine ones. Out of 14 honest reviews (all from real clients), four were filtered without clear explanation. Meanwhile, irrelevant or outdated content remains visible.

I paid over $300/month for advertising with promises of new business leads tailored to my specialty services (hair extensions and hair replacement). Instead, I received inquiries for cheap cuts and color, not my clientele. It wasn’t worth the cost or the ongoing sales calls pressuring me to advertise again.

Most frustrating of all, there is no way to remove your business from Yelp once it’s listed. They position themselves as a public directory, so even if your services change or you close down, your page remains, potentially misleading clients with outdated info or photos you can’t control.

I just spoke to yet another rep today who cold called me and asked him to explain all of this and nothing has changed. If you’re a small business owner considering Yelp, I recommend to save your money or at the very least proceed with extreme caution and do not spend money with them unless you are absolutely certain they’ll bring value to your specific niche.

They charge me for 106.00 for two days after canceling my ad campaign even though I had a 15.00 a day ad spend /450.00 a month. They said it was related to Threshold billing which seems to be a term that Yelp make whatever it mean to bill more. I would not recommend Yelp business to do ad spending.

If you place a business profile here- then get hit by a fake review by a crazy neighbor who is basically stalking you- then there is nothing you can do.
Even if you close your business- the profile remains. If the address is displayed, then you cannot be approved for another google places biz at the same address- because of the conflict of dual addresses at one location.
There is zero up-side. No calls- ever. Even with a sponsored ad. The only way Yelp makes money is by naive new business owners trying out the sponsored ads.
If you cannot get your biz removed- your only alternative is to deprecate your profile with false information. Since, they'll never remove.

A 1 star is insanely generous! If any business deserves a zero, it's Yelp for sure! Total SCAM, completely unethical practices - AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

As a business owner and marketing professional, I feel compelled to share my experience with Yelp to warn other business owners.

I signed up for what was advertised as a “Free Business Listing.” Shortly afterward, I was charged over $200 for Yelp Ads and “Upgrades” I never knowingly opted into. There was no clear notice that paid services were being activated, and nothing to suggest I was entering a paid trial.

When I contacted customer service, I was told that I must have entered my credit card to activate Ads - but when I asked how to remove my card (since I clearly don’t want Ads), I was told that a credit card is required even for the Free Business Listing, and cannot be removed. This directly contradicts their explanation and leaves users with no control over preventing future charges.

To make matters worse, you can’t even close your Yelp account directly. You can only “request” closure, and must go through customer service to do so - which raises serious questions about how seriously they take user control and privacy. I was told my account would be canceled and that I’d receive confirmation, but I haven’t received any follow-up to date.

So then I called, and was informed (again, inconsistent) that my card has to stay on file because there will be more charges. MORE CHARGES??? And now I have to wait 5 days to get a call back to try and dispute that with them. I don't have high-hopes.

This entire experience feels intentionally opaque and predatory. As someone who also runs a marketing firm and advises other businesses, I can no longer ethically recommend Yelp in any capacity. Transparency, accountability, and user trust are foundational - and Yelp has failed on all three.

I hope this helps other businesses avoid similar frustration.

Multiple attempts to remove photos and video of the owner business posted on Yelp. Illegally they insisted not remove it.
Yelp and Yelp worker extremely rude and their decisions are illegal. Yelp hear us you are nothing but criminal. Company like Yelp won't last long because scammer managers who trying to get your money for useless Yelp ads. They also do fake inquiries so you think real people seeking your service
Don't fall for it. Stay away from spending money on Yelp or trusting them.

I was trapped in Yelp's scam while being new, inexperienced, trusting and seeking help from them to spread a word about my very first, small family business. But instead I was scammed by Yelp. After receiving an add from Yelp, I decided to sign in for a free account which was the main thing in the ir Add. I really hopped and wanted to see Yelp's help.
After not receiving any communications, any emails from potential customers, NOTHING! I just stopped visiting my Yelp account. A few days ago I discovered 2 charges totalling in over $300 that were placed by Yelp on my credit card. I was in shock.
I checked my yelp account and there was ONE email requesting service I DO NOT PROVIDE! That's all. How could Yelp without any prior disclosures, without my consent just charge me for something I actually did not sign for? I demanded a refund but of course it was denied. It's a pure scam. A real, reputable company will refund those charges! Yelp is Fraud. Be aware.

I signed up for a free trial of Yelp’s business advertising services, but what followed was extremely disappointing and misleading. After the trial ended, I was charged without any clear notification or consent. I never received invoices or receipts by email, so I had no idea they had started billing me.

When I tried to investigate, it was incredibly difficult to find where these charges were coming from within my Yelp account. Their billing section is not transparent, and it took a phone call to their customer service for someone to finally show me how to locate and cancel the campaign.

Despite being charged, I received zero leads or actual value from their advertising. It felt like a completely unjustified expense, and I will be filing formal complaints with consumer protection agencies and disputing the charge with my credit card company.

No business should have to deal with unclear billing practices, lack of communication, and no return on investment. Based on my experience, I would strongly advise others to avoid using Yelp’s advertising services.