How Do I Get My Money Back from Yelp?

Yelp is an online business directory service that is based in San Francisco, California. The firm has a website and mobile app through which they publish crowd sourced reviews about businesses.

Since reviews are crowd sourced, there is no payment. Payment on Yelp involves paying for advertising space on their site and buying vouchers from merchants.

You will then be billed depending on the advertising arrangement you make with Yelp or the voucher you buy. Acceptable methods of payment on Yelp include debit cards and credit cards.

However, you can also receive a refund from yelp for deals and gift certificates. The terms and conditions are different for yelpers and business owners.

Before asking for a refund from Yelp, it is crucial to know their terms and conditions.

Vouchers

A Yelp voucher has two components: the paid component and the promotional component. Vouchers are bought from merchants who are usually third parties.

The paid component of the voucher is redeemable for in terms of the amount of goods and services indicated on the voucher for the full price that you paid for it.

The promotional component of the voucher is only redeemable during the promotional period indicated on the voucher. The promotional part of the voucher is the full value of the voucher minus the paid component. The end date of the promotional period is typically on the voucher. However, sometimes it may be missing and if so, the period will end one year from the voucher's purchase date.

The merchant is the party responsible or redeeming the voucher.

Redemption

You cannot carry a balance for any unused portion of the promotional component for later use as per Yelp. The unused portion loses its value if it is not utilized.

On the other hand if you redeem a partial amount of your voucher, the purchase will first be charged against the paid component of the voucher and the remaining balance charged to the promotional component.

Since the voucher can only be redeemed by the issuing merchant, you can only contact Yelp to ask for a refund if the merchant refuses to redeem the full value of the voucher. In such a case, the merchant is required by law to redeem the full value of your voucher.

You cannot redeem your voucher if you create multiple copies of the voucher and sell them or if you redeem your voucher in combination with other offers or promotions. It is also prohibited to apply shipping charges or gratuity to the voucher.

If you violate any terms and conditions set out by Yelp, the voucher will only be redeemable to the extent that it does not violate the terms. You will then be refunded the remaining balance of the voucher's paid component.

Warranties

Yelp explicitly states that it does not offer warranties to any merchant or any merchant's products or service. When you buy product or service from a merchant through Yelp, you agree that you are using the service or product at your sole risk. You cannot ask Yelp for a refund if a product is faulty or damaged and also if a service was poor or inconclusive.

Requesting a Refund

If you want a refund for a Yelp deal or gift certificate or would generally like to contact Yelp customer support to ask for a refund, you should do the following:

1. Launch your web browser and open the Yelp support page

2. On the page's main menu select 'Using Yelp'

3. Scroll down the next page and click 'Yelp Deals and Certificates'

4. On the next page click the highlighted phrase 'contact our support team'

5. On the subsequent page, input your redemption code, email address and proceed to describe your issue and why you want a refund. Yelp will reply with an email soon.