Yell probed for manipulating online reviews

The company behind the Yellow Pages has been accused of gaming a major customer review website to get better scores.

Yell, which sells online listings and marketing services to businesses, is giving staff cash rewards if they convince clients to leave positive reviews on Trustpilot.com.

But the policy has sparked an investigation by Trustpilot after Yell staff were told to only seek positive write-ups.

Trustpilot rules say a firm ‘ may not selectively invite users to submit reviews; as a general rule, the company must invite all or none of its users’.

But a leaflet distributed to salesman at Yell, which faces complaints from businesses for shoddy service and rip-off prices, tells them: ‘ For every happy customer you speak to, ask them if they mind writing a review on Trustpilot.

‘If there’s any risk that customers may leave a negative review, please don’t ask them.’ Trustpilot said it took potential rule breaches very seriously, adding: ‘Our team is investigating this matter.’

It comes after the Mail revealed Yell faced complaints from frustrated entrepreneurs who say they are not getting services they were promised.

Many pay Yell for marketing services, but some say their place on Yell’s website and app was superseded by other businesses paying nothing.

There are also claims Yell’s promotional tactics can leave them with worse rankings on Google. But when firms withheld payment out of frustration, Yell threatened to send debt collectors round.

It has prompted calls from some business owners for Yell to pay compensation. Yell holds a four out of five stars rating on Trustpilot, giving it an overall rating of ‘great’, based on over 5,840 reviews.

Only 15pc of them are ‘poor’ or ‘ bad’; 2pc are ‘ average’; and 83pc are ‘great’ or ‘excellent’. The thousands of positive comments left for it include ‘Fantastic customer service’, ‘Pleasure to talk to’ and ‘Operator was amazingly informative’.

however, among hundreds of complaints against Yell are claims its services are ‘extortionate’, ‘useless’ and ‘leave you feeling manipulated and stupid’. One user wrote: ‘I was fooled by the good reviews. They are not delivering the service they sold me... but they still expect me to pay. ’

The Yell leaflet shows staff get £ 10 for each five- star review they bring in, or £5 for four-star reviews.

A spokesman said: ‘Yell has invested heavily in our service model and we actively encourage customers to review us like any other business.

‘The [document] you refer to incentivises our service staff on great service, one of the measures of this is Trustpilot in accordance with their guidelines and six monthly audits.’

Yell has said it takes complaints about its services seriously and would investigate.