Earlier quoted context omitted.
Have any data to back up that claim?
Probably not. That’s what makes it a bet. But if you’ve ever worked in a restaurant, it certainly seems logical.
"How late are you open tonight? Ok, thanks."
Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
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Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#42I never use Yelp because they have very sketchy/bullying business practices. I much prefer word of mouth and Google, combined those two are more than enough for my needs.
Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#43Could this be considered libel? ‘Publishing’ knowingly ‘wrong’ phone numbers associated with a business, would that cause damages?
[deleted]
Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#44When 2 extortionists (Yelp and Grubhub) meet, what you get is extortion 2.0.
“People of the same trade seldom meet together, even for merriment and diversion, but the conversation ends in a conspiracy against the public, or in some contrivance to raise prices.” ― Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations
Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#45Does anyone have an alternative to Yelp. What I care about:
- Open Now (Optional)
- Sort by Rating
- Search by food category, not name of restaurant.
Part of the problem is I have a food allergy. I'm highly allergic to soy, so I can't eat all dishes at most restaurants except their drinks. The few I can eat at tend to be very high end or very highly rated, because the alternative to ingredients that use soy is almost always better tasting (eg, they make their own bread from scratch at a sandwich shop), so if I sort by rating I can find restaurants I'm not allergic to. I still have to ask 20 questions when I call in. Flavor is not enough alone, but it's a surprisingly accurate indicator. I use Yelp for this reason and feel disgusted when doing so.
Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#46Does anyone have an alternative to Yelp. What I care about: - Open Now (Optional) - Sort by Rating - Search by food category, not name of restaurant. Part of the problem is I have a food allergy. I'm highly allergic to soy, so I can't eat all dishes at most restaurants except their drinks. The few I can eat at tend to be very high end or very highly rated, because the alternative to ingredients that use soy is almost…
Foursquare! I prefer it to Yelp, and the people running it care about making a good, non-scammy product.
EDIT: It's mostly a mobile app, and their web version is here: https://foursquare.com/city-guide
Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#47Yelp executives belong in prison for fraud.
Where is the fraud? The restaurant must have agreed to the commission Yelp is asking for if the restaurant owes it to Yelp.
Not sure why you're being downvoted. It's pretty obvious that Yelp wouldn't do this if their contracts didn't cover it. The question is whether the contracts and sales language being used are worded to mislead the restaurant owner. I see no reference to contract language or sales language anywhere in the article or this thread.
Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#48While the solution from NYC seems good to start, why don't customers get charged for fees if they are the ones calling? I feel like in the US splitting fees between the caller and receiver causes a lot of problems (see: spam calls which can become prohibitively expensive if the caller has to eat all the fees)
Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#49Earlier quoted context omitted.
The problem is yelp has more money for lawyers than a low-margin local restaurant. That's why this should be treated as a criminal matter, with state prosecutors taking down Yelp.
Could this be considered a RICO violation? Is this not bribery?
It's never RICO
https://www.popehat.com/2016/06/14/lawsplainer-its-not-rico-...
specifically, I don't see how this can be bribery. Who is the person or official that Yelp is bribing?
It's not Grubhub, since Grubhub doesn't really have any authority to guide purchases through their systems.
In fact, if anything, it's yelp which surreptitiously can guide purchases through more expensive (for the restaurant) services. But I don't think this is extortion either: Yelp is not forcing the customers to use them, nor the restaurant to use them. If one really pushes, I think that Yelp might yield and delist your business (which would be bad, but in a different way), and they anyhow aren't asking you for money for an extortion. They're (together with grubhub) "simply" asking the business money for an (unwelcome) service they provide.
(also, you'd probably have to sue Jeremy Stoppelman, and not Yelp if you really want to make a RICO claim)
Yelp is surely scummy, but I think that if people want to press charges, they should be for more run-of-the-mill fraud claims.
Re: Yelp Is Replacing Restaurants’ Phone Numbers So Grubhub Can Take a Cut (2019)
#50I understand charging a fee to the customer who is making the choice to call, but if a restaurant simply answers the phone - how is it acceptable that Yelp can charge them for doing so? Did they consent to this fee?
It's not Yelp who is charging them. They have a pre-existing business relation with Grubhub that generates leads for them for a fee, and, according to Yelp, allows Grubhub to charge them for any lead generated on any partner platform, which Yelp became in 2018.
So now what used to be a free stream of customers is hijacked by Grubhub. I'm sure it hasn't crossed their minds when they signed up with Grubhub that in addition to new sales generated with them, they will also start paying commission on their existing clientele.
A business owner trapped in a market where the Grubhub-Yelp duopoly is proeminent is basically fucked, and they will use their rent seeking revenues to further entrench their dominance by offering consumer discounts, fidelity options etc.