RevLeap Responds to Lawsuit: Yelp Uses Legal System to Control Small Businesses

LOS ANGELES - Feb. 23, 2015 - PRLog -- Yelp bills itself as a service designed to help customers figure out which businesses have the best reputations. If a plumber is good, the online word-of-mouth should reflect that -- simple as that.

But there’s more to the story.

Business owners are being victimized by Yelp because it uses a mysterious system called “recommendation software” that determines which reviews they will post on a business’s page. Once a business is on Yelp, it cannot be removed, and Yelp has the authority to lock owners out of their accounts.

Sometimes a business deserves its bad reputation. But many times, good businesses are being unfairly categorized by an algorithm that doesn’t fairly reflect what most of its customers think.

Here’s an example: I know a husband and wife team that owns a small retail store in Los Angeles County. They have been in business for more than 20 years. They have an A+ rating with the Better Business Bureau and five stars on every other review site. But for some reason, Yelp hides all their good reviews and only chooses to post the negatives. Their revenue has dropped 30% and they’re truly struggling.

Unfortunately, this business’s predicament is common. As co-owner of RevLeap.com, I field these calls every day from entrepreneurs who say they feel “helpless.” Revleap has created a system to help customers leave reviews on businesses’ Yelp pages in a way that helps them appear on Yelp’s front page and not be factored out because of Yelps algorithm.

Yelp has called this a scam and have filed a lawsuit against RevLeap.

Revleap denies these accusations, and plans a vigorous defense in Federal Court. Our only aspiration is to promote a more fair and open marketplace.