A while back, I had one of those delightful experiences where a door-to-door salesman rings my bell in the middle of the workday - despite the fact that I have three clearly visible "No Soliciting" signs on my property. The dogs went nuts, I was in the middle of recording, and I had to stop what I was doing to deal with this guy.

He gave me the usual "I'm not trying to sell anything, just sharing information" routine, which is a tired old tactic. I asked him what company he was with, and he told me: Soligo. Some solar energy outfit. I let him know - politely but firmly - that I don't do business with companies that ignore clearly posted signs and disrupt people's homes under false pretenses. Then I posted a review on Yelp and Google Maps describing what happened, specifically warning people that this company does not respect "No Soliciting" notices.

Google left it up. Yelp took it down.

I got an email from Yelp Support telling me my review was removed because it wasn't a "firsthand experience as a customer." Their policy, they claim, excludes reviews from non-customers - apparently even if the person you interacted with was a company representative who showed up uninvited at your front door.

So let me get this straight: if I walk into a business, speak with an employee, and get mistreated - but don't hand over any money - Yelp doesn't consider that a legitimate review?

That's absurd.

If I walked into a restaurant and in the middle of ordering my meal, I see the person behind the counter pick their nose, and I decide to not complete my order and walk out, then that restaurant deserves to be reviewed for that. The fact that I didn't swipe a credit card doesn't erase the fact that I had a direct interaction with the business. Why should it be any different if the interaction happens on my doorstep instead of inside their building?

The salesman was sent by the company to knock on doors. That is a customer-facing interaction, whether I bought something or not. When someone is representing your business, their behavior reflects on your brand. If your lead generation involves sending people to ignore private property boundaries and pester homeowners, then yes, you deserve to be reviewed for that.

But Yelp disagrees. And that raises a much bigger question. Yelp makes its money from businesses that pay for advertising. So when they start removing legitimate reviews because someone didn't hand over a credit card, it makes you wonder: who exactly are they protecting?

It's possible Soligo advertises on Yelp. (1) But even if they don't, the pattern is still clear: Yelp leans toward shielding businesses from unflattering reviews that fall outside its narrow (and selectively enforced) interpretation of "customer." Which makes me question whether Yelp is a platform for truth, or a partner in damage control.

I wrote back to Yelp explaining that my review was based on a direct, personal experience with a company rep. I wasn't speculating. I wasn't reporting hearsay. I was documenting something that actually happened to me. If they want to require that reviewers must spend money with a business in order to post, they should come out and say that - clearly. But as it stands, their own guidelines say reviews must be based on firsthand experience. Mine was. They just didn't like what it said.

This reminds me of another similar situation... Years ago, I had a competitor who sold computer training videos and ran late-night infomercials on TV. I'm not going to name any names, but his marketing was shady enough to earn him an F rating with the Better Business Bureau. Then one day - poof - the F rating vanished and was magically replaced with an A+. All the complaints? Gone. What changed? He became a paid member of the Better Business Bureau. (2)

Sound familiar? Just like Yelp, the BBB claims to be a watchdog but acts more like a lapdog when the checks clear. Paid membership has its perks. And I love how they try to sound like some kind of official government agency by calling themselves a "Bureau." Nope. They're just another for-profit company that profits more when the businesses they "monitor" are also their paying customers. (3)

So now I'm done. Yelp has shown me it's not a neutral platform. It's a curated ad feed with a sprinkle of reviews they allow as long as they don't threaten the revenue stream. If you're a business that pays them, it sure looks like you get special treatment. And if you're a consumer trying to warn others? Tough luck. And as for the BBB? Same story. Give us some money and watch your negative reviews vanish.

From now on, I'll rely on Google Maps and word of mouth. Yelp and the BBB have lost my trust.

And Soligo? You're on my list. Not because you sell solar panels. But because you sent someone to my door who ignored posted signs, interrupted my work, and tried to play games with language. I told him to his face that I would make sure others knew what kind of company operates this way. Consider this me keeping that promise.

LLAP
RR

(1) I haven't found evidence that Soligo is actively advertising on Yelp at the time of writing. Their business listing does not show a "Sponsored" or "Ad" label, which Yelp uses to identify paying advertisers. However, their listing is claimed and filled with branded marketing photos, which is often part of Yelp's advertising push. Whether or not Soligo pays Yelp, the fact that my honest review was removed while nearly identical complaints remain from others raises questions about how Yelp enforces its own policies. Meanwhile, Soligo is definitively a paid member of the Better Business Bureau, having become BBB accredited in January 2024, which confirms they are paying that organization directly. They have an A rating. Shocker.

(2) That company eventually went out of business after years of complaints, lawsuits, and mounting customer backlash over its marketing and billing practices. The BBB did downgrade them back to an F - presumably after they stopped paying for membership.

(3) Full disclosure: I was a BBB member back in the 1990s when I started my first business, primarily to gain access to group health insurance rates. But as far as any other benefits I got from being a member, I can't say they helped me out at all. At the time I also just assumed it was "what good businesses are supposed to do." I was in my 20s. Don't judge.

P.S. I did a little more digging on this subject. Yelp isn't the only platform guilty of this kind of nonsense. Other review sites have faced similar allegations of protecting businesses who pay them, while making it harder for consumers to share honest feedback. Some interesting finds:

Angie's List - now rebranded as Angi - has long been suspected of removing or burying negative reviews for paying contractors. While they deny favoritism, plenty of users and small business owners have reported that bad reviews mysteriously disappeared once the business signed up for a paid plan. Angie's List settled a $1.4 million class action lawsuit over allegations that they manipulated search results and suppressed negative reviews for paying service providers.

Trustpilot has also come under fire. Their tools allow businesses to selectively showcase only glowing reviews on their websites and ads. There have even been reports of them removing positive reviews for businesses that don't pay, while letting subscribers cherry-pick what shows up.

Fashion Nova, the clothing brand, actually got nailed by the FTC for outright suppressing negative reviews. They only posted 4- and 5-star ratings on their website and hid everything else. That case led to a $4.2 million settlement and marked the FTC's first enforcement action against online review suppression.

Even worse, some companies have tried to weaponize legal threats. One infamous example is KlearGear, which tried to charge customers $3,500 if they left a bad review. When they got sued, they lost, and the case led to new laws banning those kinds of shady "gag clauses."

And of course, let's not forget the booming fake review market on sites like Amazon, TripAdvisor, and Google, where review farms crank out paid five-star write-ups while drowning out real feedback.

If all this makes you skeptical of star ratings, good. You should be.

P.P.S. And the more I research this, the better it gets... Back in 2009, ABC's 20/20 ran an undercover investigation showing that the Los Angeles BBB gave an A+ rating to a non-existent business called Hamas - yes, named after the terrorist group - just days after receiving a $425 membership payment. The expose also showed that legitimate businesses that refused to pay were stuck with poor ratings, even if they had clean complaint records.

These findings triggered national backlash, including a demand from the Connecticut Attorney General for reforms. One of the main criticisms was that a company's BBB accreditation - something you have to pay for - was directly tied to its rating. The BBB later claimed to remove accreditation from its grade formula, but many observers say the damage to credibility was already done.

In fact, a 2013 Time article noted that accredited businesses with numerous unresolved complaints often had higher ratings than non-accredited ones with spotless records. And when pressed, the BBB expelled its entire Los Angeles chapter for failing to follow its own rules on complaint handling and rating criteria.

If this all sounds familiar, it should. Just like Yelp, the BBB wants you to think it's an impartial watchdog - when in reality, it's a subscription service with a glossy PR front. Funny enough, "disgruntled consumers can't complain to the BBB about the BBB. The Better Business Bureau isn't a member of the Better Business Bureau." - HowStuffWorks

P.P.P.S. And see, this is what happens with these Captain's Log entries. I sat down this morning just to write a simple article about what happened to me with that door-to-door salesman and Yelp, and it turned into this! LOL.