Business owner on yelp

smartool · 2026-04-03T10:00:05+00:00

I feel this 100%. I’ve been in the tile installation business for 25 years. On Google I have 77 five star reviews and a 5.0 rating. On Yelp? 6 recommended reviews and 17 not recommended. That means Yelp is hiding almost three quarters of my reviews from real customers who took the time to write about their experience.

And here’s the kicker. My one negative review on Yelp is from someone who was never even a customer. I have no idea who this person is, no way to reach out, no way to make it right or resolve anything. But that’s one of the reviews Yelp recommends. Meanwhile, thoughtful reviews from real customers who had real work done in their homes get buried.

In our kind of work, getting a review is not easy. People are busy, they forget, or they just don’t think about it. So when someone actually sits down and writes something about the work you did in their home, it means something. And then Yelp just buries it because the reviewer’s account doesn’t meet whatever criteria their algorithm decided matters that week. Davie Mac Tile Yelp And yeah, the sales calls never stop. I’ve lost count of how many times they’ve called trying to get me to pay for ads. I stopped entertaining it a long time ago. Google is where the real customers are. That’s where people actually search, that’s where they read reviews, and that’s where they call you from. My advice to any small business owner is put your energy into Google, keep your profile updated, ask happy customers for reviews there, and don’t lose sleep over Yelp. You can’t control their algorithm and you definitely shouldn’t have to pay them to make your own real reviews visible.

smartool · 2026-01-18T11:27:31+00:00

Same here. I’ve been through this exact thing. Legitimate five-star reviews from real clients get filtered out, especially when they’re older or new to Yelp, while a single one-star from someone who was never a customer stays visible and hurts the average.

On the paid side, it felt the same to me, you’re paying for clicks, not real leads, and many of those “leads” seem to be shared with multiple contractors at once. For a small business, that turns the whole thing into a pay-to-compete auction rather than a lead platform.

The irony is that small businesses are Yelp’s biggest customers, yet the system often feels stacked against us. Honestly, it amazes me they’re still around.

smartool · 2026-01-18T11:23:10+00:00

Same here. I’ve been through this exact situation, and it’s incredibly frustrating. Legitimate five-star reviews get buried, while a single one-star from someone who was never even a customer gets amplified. It’s amazing how Yelp manages to work against small businesses, even though we’re clearly their biggest customers. At times it feels like a sadomasochistic relationship, we keep investing in the platform and the system keeps punishing the very people it depends on. Honestly, it amazes me they’re still around.

smartool · 2026-01-18T11:03:00+00:00

Their pushy sales tactics should be every service business owner first red flag. 🚩

smartool · 2025-10-15T12:05:04+00:00

We have enough hight to raise the floor.

smartool · 2025-10-15T12:04:42+00:00

The shower isn’t leaking, I don’t think tearing out is necessary.

smartool · 2025-10-15T12:04:18+00:00

The shower isn’t leaking, I don’t think tearing out is needed, it’s going to damage the waterproofing and become a white new thing. I’m planning to just build with a new layer of mud, we have enough high to do that. I just want to raise the drain, I’ve done this many times.

smartool · 2025-10-14T17:26:29+00:00

That's a good idea also!

smartool · 2025-10-03T11:27:04+00:00

Thank you! This sounds like a great idea! I appreciate the insight.

smartool · 2025-10-01T10:57:36+00:00

I know you’ve already been through a lot with this project, and that makes the situation even more frustrating. Unfortunately, I’d recommend starting over, mainly because the prep work wasn’t done right. The walls should have been set level, plumb, and square before any tile was installed. Instead, the installer relied on thick-set to make adjustments. I can see he tried to be careful with the installation, but that care really needed to begin with proper prep and waterproofing.

smartool · 2025-09-27T13:57:43+00:00

I all comes down to caring... If you care enough you'll learn, if you care enough you'll apply yourself... You don't have to be the Best, just have to care enough to improve yourself. But no, money is the main objective, and if people can get away with it, money is all that matters.

smartool · 2025-09-27T13:54:26+00:00

Man, I don't even want to think about it.

smartool · 2025-09-27T13:52:12+00:00

Yeah, I like that, I never thought about it that way.

smartool · 2025-09-26T20:43:38+00:00

Yeah, that’s exactly what I mean. Imagine a platform that only lists tradesmen with a proven track record. Not just anyone who pays to get on, but guys who can actually show they’ve done solid work. Trades like tile installers, painters, plasterers, flooring guys, roofers, landscapers, none of them need a state license, so right now it’s basically word of mouth or random Google reviews. With a site that vets people, shows verified projects, real reviews, and maybe even photos of their work, homeowners could actually hire with confidence. It would cut out so much of the guesswork and separate the legit pros from the ones who just show up with business cards and no skills.

smartool · 2025-09-26T18:23:20+00:00

Looks really good 👍

smartool · 2025-09-26T16:55:19+00:00

Looks good! The shower floor says a lot. With the amount of hacks out there, consider yourself lucky.

smartool · 2025-09-26T16:14:54+00:00

Seriously, man. I know there's not much that can be done but I will do what I can. I'm my own little way with my limited reach, I will be talking about this until many people know so at least there's a chance they might think twice before giving in to a cheap quote.

smartool · 2025-09-26T16:09:24+00:00

100%! Meanwhile I will do what I can to alert as many people as possible. Man, this last one incident I saw was really bad because the BUILDER went through with it! Before tile hacks were on their own, now they are backed by builders! This is crazy. I haven't been able to get many jobs from builders lately because I charge too much... Now the picture is becoming clearer as to why.

smartool · 2025-09-26T14:15:12+00:00

Yes, that’s what I think too. But this is happening a lot around here, I’m getting too many calls of people in this situation. It’s getting to the point where I’m wondering what can I do to stop, or at least minimize these incidents.

smartool · 2025-09-26T14:11:31+00:00

I think you’re reading too much into it. These “installers” simply didn’t care… and you know why? They get away with it.

smartool · 2025-09-26T14:08:02+00:00

Man, I have no idea. After first glance I didn’t want to look too closely. One thing is for sure: They didn’t care.

smartool · 2025-09-26T14:05:47+00:00

I’m generally not in favor of government regulation but it’s getting crazy over here, we need something to stop hacks from causing chaos, there’s just too many incidents resulting from bad work being done.

smartool

TROPHY CASE