Think twice before advertising with Yelp. My experience as a business owner
I’ve had my handyman business listed on Yelp for 3 years. Every year their sales team calls to push ads, and I always said no, because the one time I tried, the “leads” were marketing agencies trying to sell me services.
This year they called again, saying their new AI makes ads more accurate. They offered a $600 ad credit and told me I’d only start paying if I got enough leads and income from it.
What happened next:
My credit ran out about 3 months ago. I was never notified.
Yelp then started charging my card $500/month without my consent, and $1,500 in total.
During those 3 months, I received zero leads from the platform.
When I called to request a refund, they refused. Their written response said the programs are “self-managed” and I could have stopped the service myself.
Charging a small business $1,500 without notice when the free credit expires, for ads that delivered nothing, is unacceptable. If you’re a business owner, please be careful: ask exactly when any credit ends, check your card statements, and don’t give them a card you can’t monitor.
I’m sharing this so other small business owners don’t go through the same thing.
This year they called again, saying their new AI makes ads more accurate. They offered a $600 ad credit and told me I’d only start paying if I got enough leads and income from it.
What happened next:
My credit ran out about 3 months ago. I was never notified.
Yelp then started charging my card $500/month without my consent, and $1,500 in total.
During those 3 months, I received zero leads from the platform.
When I called to request a refund, they refused. Their written response said the programs are “self-managed” and I could have stopped the service myself.
Charging a small business $1,500 without notice when the free credit expires, for ads that delivered nothing, is unacceptable. If you’re a business owner, please be careful: ask exactly when any credit ends, check your card statements, and don’t give them a card you can’t monitor.
I’m sharing this so other small business owners don’t go through the same thing.
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Mmeedt
They won’t let you cancel a subscription
You can start a subscription with the click of a button but to cancel it you will hav it call and sit on hold for hours just to be transferred between people who don’t know what they are talking about or how to refund something you never agreed to pay for. Stick with the superior google ads.
IKi hate KOT
Orientation is sideways
Not usable on iPad, orientation is sideways.
IIczer1
Awful review moderators
I left a 3 star review from my personal account about a business, I didn’t say anything bad, in fact I praised them for the majority of it but left some negative feedback as well. Next day the review is gone and I’m unable to review other businesses. Meanwhile my personal business got bombarded with a handful of fake 1 star reviews and they refuse to take them down even when I showed proof. On top of it they’ve taken down about half of my five star reviews (some of those accounts have been active for years and have hundreds of other reviews but they didn’t care, just took our reviews down and gave no reason. I’ve given up contacting them and dealing with them altogether. I eventually started a new business account because of slander on my other business page. After 6mos and 9 reviews taken down we remain a zero star business. Don’t bother calling, they will just blame their automated system that relieves them from any accountability or control yet they can’t explain how it works. They make it impossible for small businesses to succeed especially when you don’t have nearly the budget of the big companies and all you can rely on is reviews of others to get business.
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GGordonthompson
Poor support and an unreliable review system
As a business owner, I deeply regret ever getting involved with Yelp. Customer support has been extremely disappointing, offering no meaningful help with reviews we believe come from people who never received our services or may be connected to competitors.
Meanwhile, seven genuine five-star reviews from our customers were placed in the “not recommended” section. Seeing honest customer feedback filtered out while questionable negative reviews remain visible has destroyed my trust in the platform.
In my experience, Yelp fails to adequately support business owners or address their concerns. This filtering makes me question how accurately its ratings reflect real customer experiences.
Meanwhile, seven genuine five-star reviews from our customers were placed in the “not recommended” section. Seeing honest customer feedback filtered out while questionable negative reviews remain visible has destroyed my trust in the platform.
In my experience, Yelp fails to adequately support business owners or address their concerns. This filtering makes me question how accurately its ratings reflect real customer experiences.
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GGorban4e
