WOODSTOCK, Ga. — A local business discovered a major website's policies it feared could jeopardize the safety of its employees after receiving negative reviews online.
But the owner said Channel 2 Consumer Investigator Justin Gray She says bad reviews are what pisses her off the most right now.
When Jessa Slaven went to respond to a one-star review on Yelp, she realized that she or her employees needed to post their own photo and name, not the business's photo on Yelp. Ta.
She worries it's not safe.
Jessa's Tea Parlor in Woodstock takes pride in its glowing reviews online, with 4.8 stars on Google and 4.9 stars on Yelp.
“A lot of people will say, 'Let's read the negative reviews first,'” Slaven said.
She told Ms. Gray that she would respond whenever a bad review comes in, like the one-star review that was posted everywhere last week. I'll never go back. ”
“We were trying to be patient. We asked her to put the dog on her lap because the dog was on the table and they were eating Chinese food,” Slaven said. Told.
Slaven said the dog was not wearing a vest or anything to identify it as a service dog, and that she simply asked it not to climb on the table.
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She was quick to explain the Google reviews, but learned that on Yelp she could only respond on behalf of a company if she included her own personal photo and profile.
“It's a small business, it's all women-owned, and the girls are all young, so it's not safe,” Slaven said.
Yelp acknowledges that channel 2 action news This is their policy, they wrote in a statement.
“In line with our mission to foster connections between local businesses and consumers, Yelp's policies require business owners to represent themselves in their profile photos when responding to reviews. Records show that it is uncommon for business owners to receive hostile remarks or negative ratings when they respond to or acknowledge poor reviews.
“In this world, you never know what's going to happen. And it doesn't feel safe to put personal information in a photo,” Slaven said.
The business owner told Ms. Gray that she recognized that speaking to us about this matter was sharing her personal identity, but she wanted to speak up for other small businesses.
Gray learned that the policy was only aimed at small businesses.
Yelp allows businesses with 10 or more locations to use a logo in place of a personal photo.
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