My company has numerous positive and no negative reviews on Yelp. Yelp calls the office from time to time to get us to advertise with them, but we always decline. This has had no negative impact on our ratings.
Now, Angie's List -- that's another story. My company has several hundred all-A reviews and only a couple B, C, D and F reviews. All of the C, D and F reviews are from people we never worked for and Angie's List refuses to remove them from our profile. We have earned all of our As, but have done nothing to merit a C, D or F. It's funny how we don't have any As from people we didn't work for, but several negative reviews from people we didn't work for.
Angie's List wants money from us. They tell us if we buy a certain level of advertising from them, our company's name will show up higher on the list than those who didn't pay that amount for advertising. And, the more you pay in advertising and other Angie's List products, the higher still your name will appear on the list. I am sure once you reach a certain amount, your complaints about false reviews will mean more to Angies List and they will probably do something about those pesky reviews. You know how it works -- the more you pay, the better you're treated -- they don't want to lose that income.
Angie's list is a sham. They make their money from the very people they are supposed to be protecting their paying customers from. I don't feel particularly proud when somebody tells me they found me on Angies List, but I do when they tell me they found me on Yelp or Washington Consumers' Checkbook -- a publication with no advertising -- all of their income coming from their paying (and reviewing) customers.
Bruce
