Yelp: Web 2.0's Mafia?

Interesting article:

A San Francisco wedding photographer relayed a similar story. About two years ago, a Yelp sales rep contacted her to advertise. The photographer — we'll call her "Mary" — declined the offer. But the sales rep was pushy; Mary said she received about three phone calls and as many as ten e-mails per week asking her to advertise. Still, she declined. "All of a sudden my reviews started disappearing," she said. "I called them up and said, 'I'm a little curious why my reviews are disappearing.' They said, 'Well, people stop reviewing, we take them down.' ... I talked to the clients — they're still actively reviewing."

Does anyone have any experience to share with regards to advertising on Yelp? I tried to inquire, and sent an inquiry form to them, about marketing many months ago. I just never heard back from them. Go figure. From the looks of it, though, I probably wouldn't be able to reasonably afford their services ($300/month) anyway.

And I did notice a few months ago that two reviews went away. Then one came back. My positive review from Seth is lost forever, which is too bad but what can I do? *shrugs*