We have a Beef with Yelp!

My name is Christine Hartman and I have been Capital Cab & Car Service’s creativity consultant from the beginning.  I met Tim Bingham while we were both volunteering for Montpelier Alive.  I had often expressed the view that Montpelier needed a taxi and was excited for the opportunity to support his new business.

Generally speaking, Tim and the Cow Cab team are glass half full people!  Tim is known in the community for his volunteerism and helping hand, and has become known in his business for his pleasant and accommodating nature.  We are grateful for our success of the year past and our place in the Central Vermont community….and we are far too busy to jump on any negative bandwagons!

Tim is always looking for new ways to serve his clientele and to spread the word about Capital Cab and Car Service.  When customers mentioned looking for the business on Yelp, Tim made it a priority to get a business profile up on the website.  He watched with curiosity to see what his first review might reveal…and that first review revealed the inconsistencies of being a member of Yelp.

The first review was great….and it was filed under “Reviews Not Recommended” by Yelp.  Tim continued to watch, and to see two more excellent and unsolicited reviews follow the same path.  He began to share his frustrations with the people around him and even wrote a letter to Yelp.  Yelp’s response was predictably as automated as the software it uses to recommend reviews, but Tim began hearing stories from others about businesses that have run into issues with Yelp, and the creative ways they addressed them.

A small Italian restaurant, Botto Bistro, in CA launched a campaign to become the “worst rated Restaurant” on Yelp, even offering 25% off meals for a one star review!

Longman & Eagle Restaurant in Chicago made their “favorite” recommended Yelp Review into a promotional postcard! 

Yelp Complaints has a Blog offering sources for consumers and businesses to report their problems with Yelp and of course they have their own Facebook Page. 

I decided to do some research of my own and found numerous reports that a Freedom of Information act request filed with the Federal Trade Commission resulted in the release of over 700 complaints against Yelp over the past four years. While the FTC blocked identifying information, restaurants have filed complaints accusing Yelp of filtering out positive reviews, of harassing them to buy advertising, of refusing to pull libelous reviews, and more.  

Yelp is not accredited by the Better Business Bureau. A visit to the BBB website revealed that on September 16, 2014 the FTC filed a stipulated order for permanent injunction & civil penalty against Yelp alleging that Yelp was collecting and using personal information from children under 13 in connection with operating their online service.  Yelp was ordered to pay a $450,000 civil fine along with other penalties. 

Always one to view both sides, I visited Yelp’s site.  I learned about the “Yelp Elite Squad” who appear to be rewarded with private parties and opportunities in exchange for providing businesses with excellent reviews and also found these helpful insights: 

• We use automated software to recommend the reviews we think will be most helpful to the Yelp community based primarily on quality, reliability, and the reviewer’s activity on Yelp.
• There are a number of reasons why a review might not be recommended. For example, the review may have been posted by a less established user, or it may seem like an unhelpful rant or rave. Some of these reviews are fakes and some suggest a bias, but many are real reviews from real customers who we just don't know much about and therefore can't recommend.
• It's also important to note that because our recommendation software is automated, the Yelp Support team cannot manually override the software to recommend or not recommend a review.

Automated software that cannot be overridden seems like a problem if you are a business relying on Yelp to share information.  I have come to the conclusion that it is a waste of time to join Yelp when you’ve had a fabulous experience with a business and want to support that business, because you will be “unknown” and your review will not be seen.  An exception to this may be children under age 13.  The Huffington Post weighed in with their 9 reasons NOT to trust Yelp Reviews.

Want to see what all the fuss is about?  Here are Capital Cab & Car Service’s three reviews “not recommended” on Yelp:

Sam C., Montpelier:  Tim offers top notch service! On top of that, his 'herd' of Cow Cabs are pristine. He keeps the cars clean, offers professional help, and is timely. Not your typical cab experience for sure!

Barba M., Providence RI:  I spoke directly with Tim to pre-arrange a late evening pick-up at the Amtrak station in Montpelier. I was concerned about my daughter's arrival in the dark and need for transportation to a nearby Park and Ride. Typically cab services pass on such a short distance but Tim understood my concern and willingly reserved the booking. Tim promised to monitor his Amtrak App for the train's ETA and he communicated directly with my daughter via text. He even made sure her car started at the Park and Ride before driving away. This type of personal and sincere service was just what our situation needed - this was a professional and kind experience.

Pat L., Kerrville TX:  Capital Cab and Car Service provided fantastic service for me and my family of six with ample room for luggage and even accommodating a cello.  We were attending a family wedding and coming from Texas.  The driver was completely punctual picking us up from the Burlington airport and took us to our remote location one and a half hours away and picked us up three days later.  All for a reasonable price, engaging historical conversation as we passed Vermont landmarks on the drive, and a most helpful attitude.  I highly recommend this company and could not have been more pleased.  They really took the worry out of our long distance trip.

Tim took this photo of  Pat's family for a Facebook post, our first ever cello transport!

Thanks to our customers for these positive reviews!  
We will be a lot more selective moving forward on the websites that we list our services with…and we’d love to see your review on our Facebook page!