Seen On CBS 5

(CBS 5) Business owners are raising more complaints about the popular consumer review site Yelp. Some owners say they are not getting what they paid for, which is hurting their business.

Soni Pislor is part of a dying breed, the owner of a small mom and pop business, La Copa Loca in San Francisco. Pislor's gelato shop has been named the best place for ice cream by SF Weekly, and on Yelp was given a rating of 4.5 out of 5 stars.

But when CBS 5 ConsumerWatch searched for La Copa Loca on the Yelp site, an ad for the Tuttimelon yogurt shop pops up, with directions.

Yelp has been trying to get Pislor to become part of their sponsorship program, which businesses can have more control over their page. The program costs $150-$1,000 a month with a one-year contract.

Pislor talked to Yelp to find out what it would take to remove ads for competing shops from her section. They said if she became a paid sponsor, no other ads would be on her page and her ads would appear on her competitors' pages.

That's one of the reasons astrologist Joyce Van Horn signed a year-long sponsorship contract.

"I pay $300 a month and yes, there are still competitors on my page and I have no idea why," Van Horn said. Since becoming a member, she also said seven positive reviews have been removed. Van Horn called Yelp, but she said "Can't get a straight answer."

"I think that the money aspect starts to creep into what I would at least call perhaps not fair…" said Core Cheshire of the UC Berkeley School of Information. "That can undermine the credibility of the site and it effects how people come to trust or not trust the information or the people who are supplying the information."

Yelp told CBS 5 ConsumerWatch having competitors' ads on a businesses page is no different than advertising in the Yellow Pages. But businesses CBS 5 spoke with say the Yellow Pages does not post reviews by individuals, reviews that some feel are unfounded.

Weimax Wines in Burlingame had 25 positive reviews and one negative on Yelp, but it's not about the store, it's about manager Ellen Weisl.

"This is a personal attack on my character," Weisl said.

Someone Ellen doesn't even know wrote this review saying: "She must have a miserable life...Someone who thinks her poop doesn't stink." The reviewer also said, "Sorry I didn't waste my education on wines..."

Weisl emailed Yelp requesting the review be removed.

But Weisel said Yelp told her," They reviewed the posting and that they wouldn't remove it."

As of Thursday, the negative review is still near the top of Wiemax's page.
Shop owner Gerald Wiesl said Yelp told him the review at the top has "the greatest impact" but he could place the review of his choice at the top by becoming a sponsor.

"They're holding a little bit of a gun to heads of people who don't participate to ask them to pony up some money," Weisl said.

"Real peoples' businesses are at Stake. So again if we're going to make these kinds of rules that are going to effect real people with real lives, with real money, real businesses I think we need to take those needs into account," explained Cheshire.

Yelp declined CBS 5's request for a prerecorded on-camera interview. But in a statement said a business profile on Yelp is simply a page of useful content about a business with an ad on it. Sponsors are buying ad space they'd otherwise sell.

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