HYelp! HYelp! My Little Flower Shop is the latest in a long line of wedding businesses to find that Yelp! seems to have a really unfair, arbitrary non-algorithm that pulls down positive reviews left by real customers, leaving subjective, often unfair reviews to sink your online reputation.

Do you use Yelp, the crowd-sourced review website? Unfortunately, some vocal (and prolific) customers have taken the tool that’s meant to share information on local businesses with the community, and begun to wield it as a weapon against companies that have displeased them in any way whatsoever.  Say, by telling them we are closed on a holiday weekend, and can’t take their flower order.

So the kicker is, Yelp! knows that some businesses try to game the system with fake reviews, and pull “suspicious reviews” – often 100% true, from happy customers.  To top it off there are “rumors” of  Yelp! sales people who offer to wipe out bad reviews or restore good ones with the purchase of advertising.  It’s gone as far as groups of small businesses suing the company for extortion. Patt Morrison, Southern California KPCC radio journalist, covered it on her call-in show, with this chat with Yelp! spokesman Vince Sollito. (Patt also has her own hot dog on the menu at Pink’s Hot Dogs.  Now that’s an accomplishment).

My Little Flower Shop needs your help on Yelp!  When you’re happy with our work, like we do your wedding or someone sends you flowers, please leave a genuine review for us.  We’ll hope that some of them stick!

Be well, and love well.

-Dinah

*we posted a version of this in 2011 – history repeats itsyelp.