Yelp Reviews 

Similar story as everyone else here (that has a small business). They pester you to sign up, promise big, but can't prove they deliver. They 'help' you by turning things on, but don't tell you how to turn it off. Hard to find how to turn off your ad. Then there and addition change 'below the fold', so they get more of your money until you figure that out. Charge for every little thing.

They won't post reviews, even those from people who have left lots of reviews. I suspect that if you keep shoveling money at them, they'll eventually show something. I can understand not posting reviews from people who have only 1 or 2 reviews.

Plenty of other choices.

As a small business owner, I was told by a Yelp rep that I’d receive $300 in ad credits over three months—not that I’d be charged. I explicitly stated I couldn’t afford paid advertising. Believing this was a promotional offer, I agreed.

I was shocked when charges appeared twice!! I called immediately to inquire and explain, but Yelp refused to refund me despite their rep’s misleading sales pitch. They cited “system confirmation screens” that don’t match what I was promised.

I’ve filed complaints with the FTC and BBB, and I’ve opened a credit card dispute. I’m also sharing this experience publicly because I don’t want other small business owners to be misled like I was. I will never work with Yelp again—period.

DO NOT REGISTER YOUR BUSINESS ON YELP BUSINESS.

Terrible experience from the start. They offer free advertising then trap you into paying. Not to mention the only thing you get out of their advertising is daily spam calls from marketing agencies wanting you to use them.

I didn't get one lead out of this, but about $150 worth of unauthorized charges on my credit card (despite trying to cancel my account/close the business) that a customer service rep says they won't refund. I was forced to cancel my credit card to stop receiving charges.

There is a customer service number they tell you to call that you can NEVER get through to anyone at. Emails take months to hear back.

As a small business owner trying to stay afloat and grow using my own hard earned money, this experience has been awful.

Do. Not. Use. Yelp.

Yelp Canada is a terrible company. Their customer service is non existent and they never help a business. They promote negative reviews and always hide the positive reviews. I asked them to remove my business profile and they declined saying that the information are for public interest. Even the pictures are my own pictures and I have the rights over all my business profile has posted. No business should allow to this woke organization to handle any business information.

I’m extremely disappointed with Yelp. They hid many of my real, positive reviews, claiming they “don’t meet their guidelines,” even though they were 100% genuine from happy clients. Meanwhile, they leave negative reviews front and center, which doesn’t reflect the actual experience my customers have with my business.

What’s worse, they keep calling me over and over, trying to sell advertising. They basically said that if I want better visibility and for my good reviews to show up, I need to pay them. That feels shady and unfair. It’s like Yelp punishes small businesses unless we pay to play. Not cool.

This platform used to help businesses — now it just feels like a pay-to-win scam. Very frustrating experience. I also get a new review for a happy client and my score went up! After that I received a call of them again saying that I have run ads with them , and I said NO I don’t trust anymore, after that call my score went down without any new bad review!

There needs to be a class action beat down of this company as well as a federal investigation. They suppress real, positive, verified reviews until businesses pay for advertising. They also refuse to remove fake reviews and reviews left for the wrong business. I know a company that has had every single positive review left for them by customers put in a "not recommended" folder by Yelp and hidden from view. And then a few negative reviews that are fake or for the wrong business but contacting Yelp they claim they don't have the ability to remove and reviews and it's all "done by algorithm". After the business contacted yelp to have them removed, they were immediately spammed relentlessly by Yelp to advertise with them... phone calls, emails etc.

Tech issues prevented me from accessing "leads" from mobile and desktop. Had to go through "Can't remember Logon/password" to get a e-mail to reset. Then go into system. Customer Success rep tried to get tech support to help, no response. I sent screenshots to validate problems. Leads? They define leads as anyone that clicks through to your site. No qualified leads came in. No business was contracted from Yelp "leads". Customer Success rep discounted my service due to the tech issues and lack of leads. I cancelled after 6 weeks. Was told I'd have no more bills from Yelp, but here came another $319. Multiple e-mails and calls into the Customer Success help line, hold times 60 minutes + still waiting. My service is for high end high dollar clients. This has proven to be such a waste of time... Oh, the best part. I was overwhelmed by calls from India telling me they have a better solution than Yelp. Literally overwhelmed with calls spamming me daily....

scam and fake, i try to subscribe my restaurant, but they never approve or even answer.
they only interested to scam you, coppy the sites from other websites but is not real to add your own busines.
so safe the time and don't subscribe there

This company is a scam! They lure you in with a promotional credit and then go over it and then say you have to pay claiming on posting thousands of impressions when they have no proof. Customer Beware!!

They are not that trustworthy. Tried using them to advertise my new business. They told me that I wouldn’t be billed until I started putting adds and getting responses. Then like 3 days later I got a charge. For a couple hundred dollars. Called and canceled. They said I wouldn’t get charged again. Then the beginning of the next month. Got charged like $20. Definitely don’t use them. I wish I would have checked out their reviews.

I had an awful experience with Yelp’s advertising team, specifically Michael Alsaigh (his LinkedIn /in/michael-alsaigh-555403219). He promised me a $900 ad credit to test Yelp’s services and clearly stated that my credit card would not be charged. He assured me that after using the $900 credit, I could decide whether to continue.

However, Yelp still charged my card without my consent. When I reached out for a refund, they completely ignored the fact that I was misled. I requested that they check their call recordings, where this promise was made, but they refused to acknowledge it. Why won’t they review their own proof?

To make things worse, Yelp does not allow users to remove their payment method, which feels like a deliberate trick to keep charging people. Before signing up, I received multiple calls daily, but now that I have a complaint, they have gone completely silent.

Small business owners, BEWARE—Yelp’s advertising team uses deceptive sales tactics to get you to sign up, charge you without consent, and then refuse refunds. Avoid Yelp at all costs.

Absolutely a scam. Don't give them your credit card, they just keep charging you even after you cancel the ad services.

Shocking customer service, emails ignored.

If you're considering Yelp for your business, save yourself the headache. My experience has been absolutely terrible.

From the start, I was misled by Michael Alsaigh, who assured me I wouldn’t have to pay anything until December. Turns out, that wasn’t true at all. I started getting random charges on my account without explanation, and when I tried to get help, their customer service was nonexistent. They promise a “30-second wait time,” but when you actually need help, no one ever picks up—I’ve waited 30, even 45 minutes with no response.

Yet, if you want to run ads or give them more money, suddenly they’re quick to respond. Their aggressive and rude sales reps (often calling from random numbers) kept pestering me with, “How are your Yelp ads running?”—as if it’s their concern. It was beyond unprofessional.

What’s worse, I believe their system is completely fraudulent. The so-called “clicks” on your page are likely from scammers or bots just running up your bill. You're not paying for real customer engagement—you’re paying for fake activity. It’s a broken, shady system.

I had to take drastic measures to protect myself: I canceled my Yelp Business account, shut down my Venmo card, and ordered a new one to ensure no further unauthorized charges. This was, hands down, the worst experience I’ve had as a business owner.

Yelp does not prioritize helping businesses—they’re just out to make money, and they don't care how they do it. Don’t fall for their traps. Stay away.

Our business has several five star reviews that Yelp labels as not recommended. While they're happy to broadcast the four negative reviews and not count the good ones at all. In Arizona real estate law that's called steering and it's illegal. Yelp should be investigated.

It the option was available, my rating for YELP business would be less than a zero.
Recently a review posted about my business, Cheat River Lodge & Cabins, from a person that did not stay at our property. I notified YELP and they refused to remove it. It contains false & inaccurate information, mentioning a one day stay in a 'room'. We do NOT rent for ONE night stays, and If you visit our website, you will clearly see that we do not have 'rooms' as cabins are pictured. Additionally, the picture that the person posted has no relevance to our properties. I asked YELP to remove this listing as well as other listings of locations that I have no association to me. They refused, and asked that I provide a 'personal' photo of myself in order to reply to the reviews. My image is my personal property, and I am not going to provide them with any additional information to publicize a listing that I do not want. I asked that they remove my listing, and they said they wouldn't because they were an internet 'directory'. YELP is a slimy bunch, hiding behind the loopholes that the California liberals value by promoting the use of their website with false and misleading information.

Yelp sucks. Especially for businesses. They negate good reviews and promote bad reviews for no reason at all. Stick with Google, trustpilot, and any other social outlet but Yelp. They suck.

When you trust software over actual people, something is wrong. I’m a small business and get many reviews on yelp, google, facebook and to the other businesses the refer people to me. It would seem that especially yelp does not like people giving me reviews. The last at least 3 reviews I received yelp took off. There excuse is there software believes they are not credible. I got news for you yelp. I keep records of all my customers and these are people that are just thankful for the work I do for them. The fact is that all of my customers are referred to me by my competitors. Goldsmith and Morrison Jeweler’s here in Bowling Green Kentucky. Why don’t you ask them if they think these reviews are real. This is why I don’t use you for advertising!
Sincerely, Keith Hageney
Keith’s Watch Repair Service and now Engraving

You can't avoid them if you run a business. Very shady sales tactics.

When you use Yelp, you find out why they chose that name. They scam, and you can not remove your information. Then you lay down and lose all your money, and Y E L P. Do not use Yelp, period. I am not the only one who has experienced their deception.