Gary,

I read your post and looked at yelp... here's what they post in the FAQ regarding "not recommended reviews". I'm not making a value judgement on your post or BOT intelligence, just listing what they do state:

"Why would a review not be recommended?
There are a number of reasons why a review might not be recommended. For example, the review might have been posted by a less established user, or it may seem like an unhelpful rant or rave. Some of these reviews are fakes (like the ones we see originating from the same computer) and some suggest a bias (like the ones written by a friend of the business owner), but many are real reviews from real customers who we just donâÂÂt know much about and therefore canâÂÂt recommend."

Yes, their review filter is BS. It frequently assumes that good reviews are written by an employee of the business, and bad reviews are written by competitors. Terrible software.

Yes I am a "less established member"!!!!
I've only written 2 reviews on it and one was refused .

Doesn't that defeat the whole review process?
Instead of getting reviews from an "Every day Joe" type guy like me, they get them from folks that posts reviews all the time ("semi-professional reviewers"), if you will?

Gary

Funny. I suppose if you keep adding reviews that get tagged as "not recommended", then eventually you might get yours added to the "recommended" list and become a more established user. What would be nice then, is that your previously tagged "not recommended" reviews would automatically be placed on the "recommended" list! Sure, I bet that's how it works (being sarcastic)!

That said, I imagine it's not an easy algorithm to implement. At least they do not just filter out completely the less worthy reviews.

"At least they do not just filter out completely the less worthy reviews."

Well, I beg to disagree, take a look at the reviews here.
(Click the helpful link at the end of my post here).

Note these are all 5 star reviews that were put into the "Not Recommended" category.
This company , "To Me", is really getting ripped off.

Gary

Here is a link that might be useful: Yelp Not Recommended Reviews

I think you misinterpreted me but I agree with how bad the algorithm seems to be. This one cracked me up (1st time poster from your link (recommended reviews)).

from the site...

"My freezer stopped working and I checked yelp and saw the great reviews and true to form they are very good . I called in the morning and got a tech that evening! Tommy fixed my freezer and said I have another 10 years on it! Highly recommend them!!!"

my skeptical commentary...

a) Who's Tommy? (perhaps Yelp knows... maybe Tommy is NOT the poster's Uncle?) ?

b) +10 yrs, wow! I want service from that company :-). Hard to see why that does not get onto the "Not recommended" list.

Where do I begin! These wretched losers delivered my furniture in the rain and left it there to soak. They dropped a large cabinet on the sidewalk and badly damage it. I was out of town and was not notified about the delivery. They refused to replace the furniture or refund my money. I will tell everybody I meet about how badly I was treated. These folk's are very unprofessional shady and dishonest

Maybe chrck with your bank or credit card company and see if they can offer helo?

I am so disgusted with this place! I purchased a rug that was on sale for about $150. It looked ridiculous in my house and I wanted to return it. Either I had to drag this rug somewhere and pay for shipping, or do the Houzz return and had to pay the shipping - which was around $40! I shop a lot on line, and never encountered this issue with any other vendor. I kept getting emails telling me how to wrap and send, because if I didn't do it right, it would cost me more. NEVER SHOPPING AT HOUZZ again. ever,

Placed an order that was delivered to an incorrect address. I have contacted them 3 times, still waiting. Not sure what to do, except NEVER use Houzz again and to tell everybody I know to not do business with them.

I would definely be aware of this company and I wish I had read reviews prior to my order. They state on website a delivery date but when called upon the time frame we were told it is an estimate and it can come in two to three weeks past the estimate. Also our item went on sale a few days afte we purchased and they wouldn't honor the new purchase price. Upon talking to their representative regarding the date of delivery I noticed that I could purchase the item for $500 less and get it delivered three days sooner than the expected delivery. I was encouraged to cancel the order. I told them I didn't want to cancel and then after much ado I agreed to be told I would have to pay for the item to be shipped back to warehouse since it was in transit and then I could purchas anew. What a bunch of run around and bs!!!! I will never do business with them again. Live and learn.

This has been my worst experience purchasing anything. I was told my furniture would be delivered on a specific day, so I took time off work to receive it. On the day of the scheduled delivery, I received a call informing me that it would not be delivered. Two days later, the furniture finally arrived, but the box was broken and the furniture was damaged. When I contacted customer service at Houzz for a refund, I was given the runaround. Do NOT buy from this website; it’s not worth the headache.