Exactly this! I worked for a plumbing company years ago and my old boss told us that businesses pay for their high ratings. Like your company can have a decent rating but if you pay $10k, BBB will list it as a much higher or perfect rating.

Like you said, it’s Yelp for old farts - except those farts pay for high ratings. It’s also pretend power for the consumer, I’ve been threatened with a BBB report at nearly every customer service job I’ve had. It’s just something old people yell about when they don’t get their way, and since learning about how it really works those threats were met with a ‘go on then’ smile.

[–] thermal_shock@lemmy.world 1 points 14 hours ago (1 children)

Yelp filters bad reviews like it's no one's business too. They make your business review higher, then threaten to remove it if you don't continue to pay for the upkeep.

[–] notwhoyouthink@lemmy.zip 1 points 6 hours ago

Oh wow, I didn’t know that and totally believe it. Esp since it’s pretty much dying.