"1800Flowers Screwed Me Over..."

[RJD]

Forget FTD, 800-Flowers, ProFlowers--our worst enemy is ourselves.

PF exists solely because people think local florists are overpriced and under-quality. Crap like this just proves the point.

This is another reason why I personally like state certifications. This is, I'm sure, not an isolated case across any state. Large enough numbers, and it becomes a consumer protection issue.

I said this in another thread--people choose from the photo, and that's what they're expecting. If you're on the receiving end, and can't fill the order properly, you have an obligation to refuse it. This is where the middleman 800-Flowers, et al, hurt the industry. Assume for a moment the photo was on a local florist's website, but the proper flowers weren't in the cooler. Not an uncommon situation, and completely understandable. At the moment of purchase (or shortly after the order came down from the website), the florist could (and should) have called the customer and explained the situation. I've personally had very, very few people upset we don't havethe exact flowers when I explain it to them, and very many were grateful for the clarification. Direct contact with the customer is the time to find out if they ordered based on color or flower variety, and you can work out the substitution particulars there in only a few moments.

With the OGs and their ilk, there's no direct communication back to the customer from the florist. If the OG even bothers to contact the customer, they have no idea what's in the cooler. This disconnect is where reality shatters expectations, and the result is POd customers and an industry with a black eye.

 

[bloomz]

Can we look at his blog please. One of his 'categories' is @@@@@fest. This man has NOTHING significant to say.
It's sad that this happened, but, do we know for sure that it really did?

By listing this on flowerchat, we've yet again given someone his 15 minutes of fame that he does not deserve.
I think posting garbage like this every time it happens makes the floral industry look worse and worse and worse and worse and...

Mistakes happen (big ones in this case). I'd like to see us all start posting all the wonderful stuff that happens in our shops day to day instead of worrying about some order that we didn't fill in the first place.

Opinions vary. jenny

YES a thousand times YES!

Thanks Jenny! You are so RIGHT! I fell into the trap of "feeding the bad wolf" again. Hey BOSS...can you repost that old legend about the good wolf/bad wolf that you posted a few years ago?? I think we need to read it again.

Happy Thanksgiving y'all!

Ditto - we waste so much time here griping about how bad so and so is doing what and what - it just becomes noise to me after a bit. So and so ripped some customer off - SoFriggingWhatIsNew?

He says as he wastes time responding to this post.

But I liked what you had to say about this matter.

opinions my how they do vary.....

 

[avenuegardensflorist]

interesting note from the purchasers viewpoint:

After going through the shopping cart I see a place for a coupon. A quick google search reveals a $10.00 off of any arrangment priced $39.99 or greater. I once again upgrade the arrangement… this time to the largest size @ $39.99 I don’t mind the price at this point because shipping is a flat $12.99… take away the $10.00 coupon and we are looking at $3 shipping.

...the purchaser assumes the $10 coupon is a reduction in the "shipping" fee and not the product fee.


I wonder how much 800 flowers submitted the order for to the florist?

 

[CHR]

After reading the florists' comments to his post, I am so proud to be among such smart professionals. Bravo!

You all were amazing. That thread is a keeper and says so many positive things about what we really do.

Have to give a special shout-out to Sher - who knows how to connect 'what we do' with the real, human emotions of caring florists. Great explanation and great advice. You go girl!

Everybody was smart, articulate, thorough without being self-serving.

This is why we need to engage with the 'outside world' and this is why I post about consumer bloggers. Who else to better explain 'what really happened' but us?

 

[Tuberose]

Several years ago I attended a floral seminar in a fairly large city. An FTD rep was part of the presentation and he did a sampling of several of the local shops of the Birthday basket at that time. I think only one out of 7 or so came in looking even remotely like what was intended, a few were downright awful. This is not a new thing, but I think it has gotten worse, I've seen stuff in some of the grocery stores that were better than some of the pieces coming out of shops. We have recently had a hard time finding a qualified designer, the grocers are paying better wages and giving better benefits than the shop I work at.

We hired someone awhile back that we were hoping to train, but she never did "get it" even when she had a picture in the TF book to go by it was awful and looked nothing like what was ordered. What was even more frustrating was that they refused to say or do anything because they might hurt her feelings. We just continually tried to keep it so that she didn't get a chance to do the orders, thankfully we no longer have that problem. Unfortunately, most people don't complain to the shop that they got a bad arrangement, they just tell the world how bad it was. I would rather get the complaint and try to make it all better.

 

[CHR]

Tuberose -

You make a good point. We can't pay respectable wages or keep quality designers in the industry by primarily filling orders at 70% or less on the dollar.

 

[JCT]

Too bad he didn't call the shop that sent the order, or talk to the driver as she was delivering it, since he was right there.
My frustration with stuff like this is this is the way our society is going. '1800 screws me again...' O.K., take some responsibility. Call the shop and tell them to make it right. The analogy I always use - If you're out at a restaurant and get a back steak do you sit there and eat the whole thing, then complain? No! You talk to the waiter and have them correct it.
I think we as an industry are bombarded with 'tales' like this.
I read his blog again this morning - florist comments are excellent - thank you for making us sound like the professionals that we are.
I couldn't help but notice one of his comments though...Bold emphasis is mine.

Thanks for the AWESOME comments (keep them coming) all of this information is great and the links are very helpful.

I think he accomplished just what he was hoping to - more incoming links to his site.

 

[CHR]

Mona -

I believe he meant the links to AIFD and Florist Detectives provided by florists in their comments. He went on to say

I’m getting so much info here I’m already planning a follow up blog post and a resource page on here as well.

I hope he creates a useful page for consumers about how, why and where to find local shops.

The incoming link from here at FC won't help his blog since our posts in this forum aren't spidered by search engines.

 

[ivygreen]

CHR, do you sleep at night? Or do you just hang up the superwoman cape? I am impressed with your dedication and devotion to this industry. I said this in one of your blog comments and I'll say it again, you are a credit to the floral profession. Thanks! ~melissa

 

[Kristine]

CHR, do you sleep at night? Or do you just hang up the superwoman cape? I am impressed with your dedication and devotion to this industry. I said this in one of your blog comments and I'll say it again, you are a credit to the floral profession. Thanks! ~melissa

Cathy is the energizer bunny! She ROCKS

 

[lori042499]

Actually 1-800-flowers did not screw this person, the filling florist did and at a loss to boot. That arrangement is only either 29.99-34.99-39.99. It is all daisies, mini carns and asters. Can be done profitable and full looking like the picture. The fact that the florist chose to put in a stargazer lily is absurd. I am sure if it is counted it is more money than the order is supposed to get value wise, but the integrity of the arrangement was totally messed up with the design and flowers chosen by the designer. The responsible thing to do was reject the order and let someone else do it.

800-flowers keeps records of how the florists perform. We can call and ask for our report cards. The report tells the consultants at 800 how many complaints the particular florists have and how they handled them and how many times they reject orders and for what reasons. This is how they judge who to send orders through. I have gotten my report card and keep up on it all the time because I am a real florist and I do take pride in my work non-discounted local and incoming discounted. They are treated 100% the same by me. There are some florists that just don't make nice arrangements and this happened to go through one of them. It is a chance you take when using any WS. Flower design skills vary all across the world, some people can take two daisies and make them look like a million bucks and others just don't have the skills to do it...

 

[bloomz]

Actually 1-800-flowers did not screw this person, the filling florist did and at a loss to boot.

Good point....

 

[CHR]

That blogger hit the nail on the head with his latest reply:

Solution: Don’t do business with 1800flowers or any other middleman that doesn’t allow you to make a decent profit.

Any business owner that takes part in getting business in a way that causes him/her to loose money if he/she gives the customer exactly what they want needs to find a new way to get business.

If they can’t drum up business using other sources, then maybe they should close their doors and do something else for a living.. rather then give a the customer a poor product and blame it on someone else.

Do I hear an Amen!?

 

[Jerry]

Amen!!!!!!!!!

 

[kt4ye]

Yes! Every few days we have to call a customer to advise them that the specific flowers shown on our website are not in stock.

In addition, we sometimes get an order that appears to be inappropriate for the occasion. For example, we have the TF Gentle Thoughts funeral spray on our site. It is pink and white. (We have a pull down menu to allow other color choices.) But we occasionally STILL get orders for this product going to a MAN's funeral. So, we call the customer, explain, and almost always get a color change.

Once, when an OG sent us such an order, I contacted them to suggest a color change. They canceled the order with us! Imagine the sender's embarrassment!

Bill

 

[12BucksFor2Dozon]

That blogger hit the nail on the head with his latest reply:

Do I hear an Amen!?

ahhh...this poor soul is trying to attach logic to the flower industry...truly a lost cause. yes that order could be filled for profit, but who knows what the overall wire volume of the shop was. if the shop was only getting a few orders a month, or was REJed from a big-boy filler, its possible that even though profit was made on this particular order, overall after the fees and other bric-a-bat, that the shop lost money on it.

that's why these p&l discussions here about wire never make sense to me...wire profitability is totally a function of volume, and without discussing volume no blanket statement about WS profitably can be made.