Any yelp users out there?

[Doc]

We use it for our business and I'm trying to talk my partner into dumping it. We had a PR person doing our social media for a while and she set up all this accts (facebook, twitter, yelp, etc) and they sort of sit out there and spin. However it seems now they are more trouble than they are worth at least in my opinion. Let me explain why

A few weeks back we had a client come in for boarding. We always give require all pets be current on vaccines and always give estimates which are signed when the owner drops off. No different in this case. As is common in FL in October, the storms come through and some pets don't tolerate it so we called the owner and recommended some light sedation. The owner OKed some valium for her dog. When the nephew picked the dog up he amazed at the bill which was $20.00 over the signed estimate presented to the aunt. He went home and "yelped" us. Now looking at his other reviews, this kid loves to 1 and 2 star review. Everything from "worse burger I ever ate" to "chicken wings not edible even after I washed the sauce off" type of stuff. OK no biggie but we did contact the aunt and make sure she was fine. We sent a letter explaining and she was fine with everything.

Now comes the kicker. On 10/11 of this year one pops up from a former employee (she worked 2 days last December, as in 11 months ago), claiming I beat, kicked a dog in the head and choked it. This is a 5 paragraph biography about what a bastard I am and how I abuse my patients. In essence she is accusing me of breaking the law and that she had reported me to the authorities. You can be sure none of this happened. Additionally prior to her employment she signed a nondisclosure agreement stating she would not discuss anything that occurred inside the building (standard practice, just like human medicine). I didn't notice the review until I had a client call asking it I was going to be working! Now I have numerous reviews about how wonderful I am, what a great practice we have, etc... but one review like this makes all the others irrelevant.

Of course we have contacted yelp to ask the review be remove since its from an ex employee and not a review but rather an attempt to discredit a former employer. Also contacting my lawyer tomorrow and considering filing some type of order against her. Not heard back from yelp yet and the review is still there. But boy does it piss you off.

I guess my thinking is that what does a service like yelp get me? I'm not thinking any "good clients" come by way of yelp, right? If you were looking for a veterinarian, would you go to Yelp? Would you ask a neighbor? Is the trouble caused by bad reviews worth the benefit of good reviews? When you read the reviews on a site do you put as much emphasis on the positives as the negatives?

[dan_bgblue]

I have never used Yelp so can not help there. As to product reviews, I do use them quite often when making a purchase on line, but I may do more research than most and I use multiple product sellers reviews before making a determination. You are spot on about some reviews being phony bash reviews, but they are easy for me to spot, and I disregard them.

If a business is going to advertise on line, then I think idiot reviews are to be expected. To answer your question about seeking my own medical provider or if I had a pet the same would be true, I will talk to real people I know to get advice, not some internet site, and that includes twitter and Yelp.

[Darrell KSR]

I don't think I would be swayed by an isolated random review, but I wouldn't go to Yelp either.

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[PedroDaGr8]

I use Yelp and Trip Advisor A LOT when looking for things to do. Almost never when looking for professional services.

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[KSRdallen]

I use Yelp and Trip Advisor A LOT when looking for things to do. Almost never when looking for professional services.

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Ditto here except I use for restaurants and hotels as well but not professional services.

[KSRBEvans]

A lot of people use Yelp, but the format never really appealed to me so I don't use it. I use Tripadvisor a lot. (Obviously professional services aren't covered there.)

Yelp will often manipulate ratings based on whether a business buys ads from them, and the 9th Circuit has said that's OK (http://www.sfgate.com/news/article/Yelp-can-give-paying-clients-better-ratings-5731200.php).* So Yelp also has a real credibility problem with me. Maybe other sites like Tripadvisor do the same thing, I don't know.

If I had a business I don't think I'd like social media very much. It's too easy for one malicious person (as in Doc's case) or some crackpot to put a 1-star review up there and create real problems for your business. Many people are actively anti-Yelp for that reason--see this thread (http://forums.louisvillehotbytes.com/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=23600) from a Louisville restaurant forum I frequent, for example.

If I see a stray 1 star review or 2, that doesn't affect my thoughts on the reviewed business. If there are more than just a couple, it does get my attention.





*--Interesting quote from that article: "Cats and Dogs Animal Hospital of Santa Barbara said Yelp offered to 'hide negative reviews' in exchange for ad sales." Thought that was interesting given Doc's profession.

[Darrell KSR]

It is very easy to say, "don't worry about it," and much harder to do.

And truthfully, somebody will be swayed by that comment. If somebody thinks it through, they won't be. But not everybody does that.

I've had a mildly similar experience, and a buddy a much bigger experience, and it is extremely difficult to swallow allowing the rogue person to get away with what they're doing.

Good luck with it. Hope you nail that culprit.

[Doc]

It is very easy to say, "don't worry about it," and much harder to do.

And truthfully, somebody will be swayed by that comment. If somebody thinks it through, they won't be. But not everybody does that.

I've had a mildly similar experience, and a buddy a much bigger experience, and it is extremely difficult to swallow allowing the rogue person to get away with what they're doing.

Good luck with it. Hope you nail that culprit.

I have contacted my lawyer. Waiting for her to call me back. I have the reviewers address, etc from her application from a year ago.

In most cases, we don't worry. Its no big deal. Lots of "they charge too much". Personally I don't mind those because I also have plenty of "they charge too much but its worth it". To me those are gold. I want to be the guy who charges a lot but the value is there. Let some other person charge half what I do and see twice the number of people. Meanwhile I work half as hard, provide better service and net a high amount (both % and total)

[Doc]

Yelp removed the review. Still debating 1) going after the girl for libel and 2) dumping yelp

[Darrell KSR]

Outstanding, Doc. And that was pretty quick, too.

[Doc]

Outstanding, Doc. And that was pretty quick, too.

Not quick enough for me.

[KentuckyWildcat]

When we in IT bring up the concerns of social media we are just accused of not wanting to do anything new or innovative...

I say dump it, especially if you do not have someone dedicated to monitoring and maintaining it.

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[KentuckyWildcat]

Yelp removed the review. Still debating 1) going after the girl for libel and 2) dumping yelp
Teach her lesson, even if you don't really press it, at least scare her. JMO

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[StuBleedsBlue2]

Yelp removed the review. Still debating 1) going after the girl for libel and 2) dumping yelp

Don't dump yelp, unless you don't care about where you show up on search engine results. After wrapping up my trading career, I transitioned into digital advertising and actually got my start within Search Engine Optimization. I don't want to make this too boring but here are a few tips and some explanations:

1. ALWAYS respond to negative reviews. While search engines are always changing their algorithms and I've been removed from that for a few years now, I can say with confidence, how one responds to negative reviews will always be a key contributor on the results page. For Yelp, not only will it affect your ranking positively when people are searching with keywords, it will also affect which reviews show up first, which leads to my next point...

2. DON'T be afraid of negative reviews. Common sense will tell you never trust a full set of reviews when they're all 5 stars. You need a distribution of reviews. It's about how you respond to them that makes or breaks your business in the social media world. Also, don't be afraid to respond to the positive reviews too.

3. When dealing with disgruntled or those that always post negative reviews, you must do so tactfully. Your example of the worker who made false accusations, you can call her out as someone not telling the truth and issue a response saying something like "I've never had an instance of abuse claims in all of my years and my loyal customers can attest to the care that I have provided", or something along those lines. Respectfully make her look unstable. For the person that is the a consistent negative reviewer, a common tactic is to respectfully ask them what you could have done to make their experience better. Of course, you don't have to take their advice, but the respect to engage is not only a social media plus, it will positively affect your rankings.

4. Don't be afraid to actually take advice. If someone gives you a negative or mediocre review, by thanking them in your response and inviting them to see the change in action, it can be a very effective means to turn a negative review into a positive one, which is the grand slam of all reviews.

If any of this still doesn't convince you to keep Yelp, keep in mind that 90% of all consumers use online reviews. About 85% of those using them will let a negative review affect their decision. Online reviewers will look at 6 or fewer reviews to make their decisions. If you drop the online review services it WILL affect your search engine results on Google, Bing and all other major search engines. My advice is to learn how to use it most effectively. Don't forget, online advertising(which encompasses review sites) is the present and future of advertising. People can always find a way to review and you must be aware of what's out there instead of turning your back.

Good read on Review tactics (http://searchengineland.com/10-ideas-fix-damning-business-review-222141)

[Doc]

I don't see on yelp where the business has the ability to reply to the review. Perhaps its there is you log in though.

[StuBleedsBlue2]

I don't see on yelp where the business has the ability to reply to the review. Perhaps its there is you log in though.

There definitely is. I love to read companies that I like and how they respond to negative reviews.

[KentuckyWildcat]

Ironically I find out that my friend is now a Social Media Agent for GE. I am a fan of social media for business, I just think that most small business and even some larger ones do not do enough with it after they set up. If you are not or cannot dedicate the time to it, just don't do it.