Yelp should have slapped a consumer alert warning on the Yelp listing for SNS Nails & Spa. SNS got caught, offering a 20% discount in exchange for Yelp and Google reviews. On October 1st, 2020, a Yelp representative advised me that this practice violates its Terms of Service. If this is a violation, why didn’t the business get slapped with the consumer alert warning? The consumer alert warning should have been the normal progression after acknowledging the offer was a violation. Yelp doesn’t allow for any form of review solicitation. You are also not allowed to over any form of a discount to encourage a review.
I was alerted to the initial complaint on the Google My Business Community Forum. Google already took action and enforced its TOS. Why hasn’t Yelp? Yelp had a significant crackdown and enforcement in October 2018. Yelp also ran a media blitz campaign after labeling 232 businesses with consumer alerts for listings attempting to manipulate their ratings. Yelp contact several local news stations as part of their campaign of education. A reporter approached me about Yelp’s crackdown and enforcement.
Yelp also took action and started moving more and more reviews into the not recommended section. Several businesses starting seeing massive drops in their Yelp review counts in November 2018. Craig Mount wrote about the increase in reviews getting filtered out by Yelp. Craig also highlighted a direct uptick in tweet replies from Yelp mentioning their recommended review software. Yelp, like most companies, relies heavily on AI software to tackle review fraud or remove suspicious reviews. AI can’t catch all fraudulent activity, and Yelp knows this.
Yelp also users and businesses to flag and report reviews. Yelp does review all reviews that are flagged. Yelp will either remove a review or allow it to remain. The issue I have is a Yelp employee told me in an email that SNS Nails & Spa’s text message offering a discount was a direct violation. It appears that Yelp is super inconsistent when it comes to its enforcement or penalizing businesses, even with photographic evidence. I doubt I will hear back from Yelp. Time will tell if Yelp takes action and slaps the SNS Nails & Spa listing with a consumer alert warning. If I were one of the businesses that got penalized, I would be angry and demand answers.
