YELP.COM

You know there is a site online that allows a platform for anyone to post anything, slanderous or otherwise about businesses and I am sure that some are justified, but, if I were a betting man, I would say that the majority could be deemed either gray-area remarks or simply flat out lies. There are businesses that actually should be put out of business for unsavory business practices and that's why we have a court system, Chamber of Commerce, The Better Business Bureau, etc. etc. but there are many that get slandered, belittled, disgraced on the site called YELP.com and without any proven facts whatsoever. This site allows for bewildered people, nut-cases, habitual trouble makers, people who can't get attention anywhere else in life so they vent their power to attempt to destroy someone's business just because they can whether they have in fact be mistreated by a business or not. Most stores have some specific policies(i.e., all sales final, no returns, all warranties by the manufacturer, etc.) and when these are explained before the purchase and the customer buys with a clear understanding, takes it home and decides they just don't want it and attempt to return knowing there is a no return policy and they are then refused the return, they go to YELP.com and try to slander a business in to getting their way. I actually had a customer come in to my furniture store and part of the way in to showing my product the customer asked if I Yelped and I told her I didn't know what that meant. She explained it was a website where she could post what she thought about my business and that she had something like 72,000 visitors and that I better give her a good deal if I didn't want a bad Yelp. If I had of been a little smarter at the time, I would have told this person I will not do business with her, this was actual a threat, a black-mail tactic. You guessed it, I did everything I could to make her a happy customer and had a couple small mistakes that I admitted I made and told her I would correct immediately, but, before I could do anything to right the situation she negative YELPED me. I remedied the situation by telling her we would pick up all the merchandise, refund every penny of her money and she could do her shopping anywhere else she wished, just not here. No site or media should ever be allowed to publish any unproven stories without knowing any portion of the facts and/or without knowing the mental stability or intentions of the person posting. It is my opinion that there will soon be very strong legal actions taken against YELP and they will be held accountable and I will assist in any legal actions. I believe the public should know about crooked dishonest businesses, but, for someone to simply throw a tantrum because they didn't get their way and to post a bunch of lies in an effort to try and destroy someone and/or their business is libelous and will eventually be addressed in the court system and some could suffer their liabilities.