05/28/2026
A warning to fellow small business owners about Yelp advertising
I own RMI Works, a contracting business with 55 years behind it. I'm posting this so other small business owners don't get caught the way I did.
A Yelp sales rep named Jonathan called me and pitched a deal: a $900 free first-month trial, and if it produced results, I'd continue. I agreed to a verbal, month-to-month arrangement and authorized no more than $400 a month. I never signed a contract. I never sat at a checkout page. I never clicked "agree" on any advertising terms.
What showed up instead was a "purchase confirmation" for an ad budget of about $450 a month plus a $120-a-month upgrade package I never asked for — and a claim that I'd "accepted" terms I never saw. When I called to fix it, Jonathan stopped answering his phone. The attendant told me all calls are recorded, then turned around and said there was no record of my conversation. Both of those can't be true.
Then came the real trap: Yelp says you must cancel in writing, but every option on their site dead-ends at a phone number. There is no form, no chat, no way to actually submit a written cancellation. I even tried to remove my own credit card from the account and was blocked from doing it. A company that makes it this hard to leave is telling you something.
I'm now disputing the charges through my bank and have sent written cancellation by certified mail. If you're a small business owner being pitched Yelp ads over the phone: get every term in writing before you agree to anything, never give them a card you can't quickly cut off, and understand that "verbal" and "month-to-month" can turn into charges and runarounds you didn't sign up for. Buyer beware.
— Rocky McCoy, RMI Works TN llc
