While it’s rare for a business to do this, it does occasionally happen. Yelp stands firmly against businesses pressuring customers or paying them to change or remove reviews. Even if the exchange is friendly in nature, consumers shouldn’t accept payment or a refund in exchange for removing or changing a review. Activity like this—whether initiated by businesses or consumers—violates our Terms of Service and deceptively alters a business's reputation on Yelp. Undisclosed incentives for reviews are also discouraged by the Federal Trade Commission.
We encourage consumers to stand behind their reviews as written or to update them (without expecting payment or other incentives) to reflect any new information that may be useful to other consumers.
We understand businesses can have an off day and may want a consumer to give them another chance after reviewing their feedback. Instead of asking for an updated review, we recommend businesses respond to critical reviews by thanking the customer for the feedback, acknowledging what went wrong and how they are addressing the issue. Many customers will appreciate being heard and will often update their review on their own.
If you’re in a situation in which a business owner is harassing you, pressuring you, or offering you something in exchange for changing or removing a review, please contact our Support team to give us more information so we can help you and other consumers.