![]() The company's been subjected to several class-action lawsuits, at least one of which included an extortion allegation. You see it at or the Facebook page We Hate Yelp, or, ironically, Yelp's page for itself, which boasts a three-star overall rating, dragged down by livid small business owners seeking comeuppance. Indeed, the internet is teeming with these claims. As Banks wrote in her April 20 column: "Hundreds of disgruntled business owners have accused Yelp of tweaking its review system in order to prod low-rated companies to advertise on its site." Banks' column was picked up by the Huffington Post, Eater, SFist, others. Intrigued, she found they weren't alone in believing Yelp was extorting them. ![]() We asked Yelp, we were told, "Perhaps if you paid to do Yelp ads, we could help you with this." Los Angeles Times columnist Sandy Banks happened to walk past Bai Thong Thai and saw the sign. Our customers tell us they've submitted very good reviews of our food and service. Believing the two things were connected - declining to buy ads and the positive reviews disappearing - Hagerty and her husband hung a sign in the restaurant's window: Stop the bully. Some regular customers even told her that they'd written raves that also disappeared.ĭuring this time, she began receiving calls and emails from Yelp salespeople soliciting ads that run between about $300 and $1,000. Soon after, though, she began noticing those positive reviews were disappearing from her business's page. The next day she went online and saw what any new business owner craves: a long scroll of five-star Yelp reviews. Two and half years ago, she held a grand opening for her Thai restaurant in San Francisco's Hayes Valley. Thousands of hardworking independent business owners have told, and still tell, the same heartbreaking tale.
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