Should I post a negative review on Angie's List?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yelp extorts small businesses to remove negative reviews. If they don't pay up, all positive reviews are deleted. It has been documented time and time again. A lawyer I know has had the same issue with Yelp.

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/04/yelps-controversial-business-tactics-contribute-to-2000-complaints-received-by-ftc/

+100 Yelp is just scary. If you go to a small business and give your name (such as dropping something off) then complain on Yelp expect to have it all published. I would not believe Yelp for anything.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Post. But don't rely on AL to select contractors. It's a wildly rigged system.

Really? How so? I thought that AL was generally pretty good. I know about Yelp being unreliable, but I didn't realize Angie's List is, too. I always sort by something besides "offering a deal" or whatever.

Contractors pay to be on Angie's List. If they are good and have a network of referrals, why pay to be on the list.

That's not true. I've entered the first review for some companies and I know it was posted. It is obvious, however, that some pay to advertise/offer deals and show up at the top of a search.

So it is not true that contractors pay to be on Angie's List, but it is true that some pay to advertise and show up at the top of the list. What am I missing?

Angie's list offers contractors that have received grades of B or better the opportunityto advertise as long as they also offer a coupon or other benefit to the buyer. the default search results will list these companies first, just like Google does for sponsored sites. Very easy to get around, just change results to "by grade". The reviews are written by real people and are available to review regardless of whether the contractor has paid anything. not that difficult to understand.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yelp extorts small businesses to remove negative reviews. If they don't pay up, all positive reviews are deleted. It has been documented time and time again. A lawyer I know has had the same issue with Yelp.

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/04/yelps-controversial-business-tactics-contribute-to-2000-complaints-received-by-ftc/

This is correct.

Regarding Angie's List, I've known that it's impossible to write bad reviews on some service providers. Angie's List will keep rejecting it. It's a scam as well as Yelp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yelp extorts small businesses to remove negative reviews. If they don't pay up, all positive reviews are deleted. It has been documented time and time again. A lawyer I know has had the same issue with Yelp.

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/04/yelps-controversial-business-tactics-contribute-to-2000-complaints-received-by-ftc/

This is correct.

Regarding Angie's List, I've known that it's impossible to write bad reviews on some service providers. Angie's List will keep rejecting it. It's a scam as well as Yelp.

Hasn't been my experience and I've written a good number of negative reviews on AL. I only write for really good and really bad service. All are posted.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yelp extorts small businesses to remove negative reviews. If they don't pay up, all positive reviews are deleted. It has been documented time and time again. A lawyer I know has had the same issue with Yelp.

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/04/yelps-controversial-business-tactics-contribute-to-2000-complaints-received-by-ftc/

+100 Yelp is just scary. If you go to a small business and give your name (such as dropping something off) then complain on Yelp expect to have it all published. I would not believe Yelp for anything.

Say what you will, but Yelp has never led me astray. Good businesses get good reviews, and bad businesses get bad reviews (and suspicious positive reviews hidden). Advertising on Yelp can bring your business further up the search chain, but it won't affect your star rating. That article says that businesses are annoyed with bad reviews but gives no evidence of manipulation by Yelp.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yelp extorts small businesses to remove negative reviews. If they don't pay up, all positive reviews are deleted. It has been documented time and time again. A lawyer I know has had the same issue with Yelp.

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/04/yelps-controversial-business-tactics-contribute-to-2000-complaints-received-by-ftc/

+100 Yelp is just scary. If you go to a small business and give your name (such as dropping something off) then complain on Yelp expect to have it all published. I would not believe Yelp for anything.

Say what you will, but Yelp has never led me astray. Good businesses get good reviews, and bad businesses get bad reviews (and suspicious positive reviews hidden). Advertising on Yelp can bring your business further up the search chain, but it won't affect your star rating. That article says that businesses are annoyed with bad reviews but gives no evidence of manipulation by Yelp.

You're naive.

When a business gets listed on Yelp, Yelp then calls them and pushes their ad program, promising more business with the ad program. The more you pay the more they feature you. There are dozens if not hundreds of articles online about the Yelp manipulation and their elusive "algorithm" that hides positive reviews when businesses won't pay their blackmail demands. I've been a business owner they've done this to and I've known several others. You should do more research. This is well documented online.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yelp extorts small businesses to remove negative reviews. If they don't pay up, all positive reviews are deleted. It has been documented time and time again. A lawyer I know has had the same issue with Yelp.

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/04/yelps-controversial-business-tactics-contribute-to-2000-complaints-received-by-ftc/

+100 Yelp is just scary. If you go to a small business and give your name (such as dropping something off) then complain on Yelp expect to have it all published. I would not believe Yelp for anything.

Say what you will, but Yelp has never led me astray. Good businesses get good reviews, and bad businesses get bad reviews (and suspicious positive reviews hidden). Advertising on Yelp can bring your business further up the search chain, but it won't affect your star rating. That article says that businesses are annoyed with bad reviews but gives no evidence of manipulation by Yelp.

You're naive.

When a business gets listed on Yelp, Yelp then calls them and pushes their ad program, promising more business with the ad program. The more you pay the more they feature you. There are dozens if not hundreds of articles online about the Yelp manipulation and their elusive "algorithm" that hides positive reviews when businesses won't pay their blackmail demands. I've been a business owner they've done this to and I've known several others. You should do more research. This is well documented online.

Show me proof that what you're saying is happening, rather than unproven conjecture on what Yelp supposedly does. Of course paying for advertising is going to make your business more prominent and visible. That's what advertising does. Every newspaper and Google operates that way: you pay more, you get highlighted (top of the search engine, full page and color ads, etc.). Bottom line is that no matter how much you pay, your rating is not altered. If somebody has tangible proof that the algorithm is changed based on your ad spending, please share that proof with us.

[Anonymous]

How many requests for payment have they sent you?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yelp extorts small businesses to remove negative reviews. If they don't pay up, all positive reviews are deleted. It has been documented time and time again. A lawyer I know has had the same issue with Yelp.

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/04/yelps-controversial-business-tactics-contribute-to-2000-complaints-received-by-ftc/

+100 Yelp is just scary. If you go to a small business and give your name (such as dropping something off) then complain on Yelp expect to have it all published. I would not believe Yelp for anything.

Say what you will, but Yelp has never led me astray. Good businesses get good reviews, and bad businesses get bad reviews (and suspicious positive reviews hidden). Advertising on Yelp can bring your business further up the search chain, but it won't affect your star rating. That article says that businesses are annoyed with bad reviews but gives no evidence of manipulation by Yelp.

You're naive.

When a business gets listed on Yelp, Yelp then calls them and pushes their ad program, promising more business with the ad program. The more you pay the more they feature you. There are dozens if not hundreds of articles online about the Yelp manipulation and their elusive "algorithm" that hides positive reviews when businesses won't pay their blackmail demands. I've been a business owner they've done this to and I've known several others. You should do more research. This is well documented online.

Show me proof that what you're saying is happening, rather than unproven conjecture on what Yelp supposedly does. Of course paying for advertising is going to make your business more prominent and visible. That's what advertising does. Every newspaper and Google operates that way: you pay more, you get highlighted (top of the search engine, full page and color ads, etc.). Bottom line is that no matter how much you pay, your rating is not altered. If somebody has tangible proof that the algorithm is changed based on your ad spending, please share that proof with us.

This is the whole point of these tons of lawsuits. Yelp won't disclose how their alleged formula works for knocking out good reviews but so many businesses have reported that this is the case. More businesses than can be ignored.

http://www.ibtimes.com/yelp-filtered-reviews-blues-businesses-hate-mysterious-algorithm-there-any-way-crack-it-1543366

http://www.forbes.com/sites/ericgoldman/2014/07/30/does-yelp-have-the-most-trusted-reviews-a-court-wants-to-know-more/

http://www.entrepreneur.com/article/235271

http://searchenginewatch.com/sew/opinion/2364585/court-rules-yelp-may-demand-money-for-adding-and-removing-reviews

And there are dozens more. They continue to get away with it by defending themselves, but it's not even worth going tit for tat and looking into this. They've already proven themselves to be questionable at best and unethical at worst, to me it's BS.

But Amazon's reviews are a lot of BS too. They pay people to write good reviews. I know some people who write reviews for their products and it's hilarious. They get the product for free or some other incentive and basically those people can never write a bad review. So almost everything online is fake. And back to the original question here, it won't matter much if you write a review or not. I'd just try to resolve it with the business.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:How many requests for payment have they sent you?

I think 3 or 4. I paid them the day they did the work and received all notices after that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Post. But don't rely on AL to select contractors. It's a wildly rigged system.

Really? How so? I thought that AL was generally pretty good. I know about Yelp being unreliable, but I didn't realize Angie's List is, too. I always sort by something besides "offering a deal" or whatever.

I found yelp to be more reliable. I see angieslist as a way for contractors to advertise to get pushed up in the listings.

+1

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yelp extorts small businesses to remove negative reviews. If they don't pay up, all positive reviews are deleted. It has been documented time and time again. A lawyer I know has had the same issue with Yelp.

http://consumerist.com/2014/04/04/yelps-controversial-business-tactics-contribute-to-2000-complaints-received-by-ftc/

+100 Yelp is just scary. If you go to a small business and give your name (such as dropping something off) then complain on Yelp expect to have it all published. I would not believe Yelp for anything.

Say what you will, but Yelp has never led me astray. Good businesses get good reviews, and bad businesses get bad reviews (and suspicious positive reviews hidden). Advertising on Yelp can bring your business further up the search chain, but it won't affect your star rating. That article says that businesses are annoyed with bad reviews but gives no evidence of manipulation by Yelp.

+1

[Anonymous]

I read Yelp for the negative reviews. The negative reviews are more valuable than anything.

[Anonymous]

Yes! Omg! They recommended a contractor that stole over $200,000 from me but also from 6 other home owners, the irs and all his suppliers! Im trying to collect via his insurance company but obviously they did no research whatsoever! The company had done this at least over 6 times using different names as owners and companies! How deceitful, dishones, ignorant, greedy and incompetent is Angie’s list and this company!!I wish I had the money to sue you for false advertising, bait and switch and such incompetence! The emotional, physical and financial strains are unforgivable!

[Anonymous]

Do you have anything from him in writing which states the bill is paid in full? If yes, I’d send a copy with the next bill