[SIZE=-1]By RICHARD MULLINS | The Tampa Tribune [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Published: February 11, 2010[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]TAMPA - On the eve of Valentine's Day, flower giant 1-800-Flowers.com is cancelling hundreds of flower deliveries in their tracks and has stopped honoring coupons on thousands of boxes of chocolate, each worth $5 to $20 instantly off a flower order.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]This is not pleasing some customers.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]These are flowers, after all. And this is Valentine's Day. Tensions run high.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In this age of instant vilification, customers are unleashing torrid rants about the giant of flower delivery, including rants by customers on the company's own Facebook page.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"I WILL NEVER buy ANYTHING from 1800flowers or any of their affiliates," protested Marie Jingle Soetidjo on the company's Facebook page.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Nikki Moeller wrote "you can't be trusted to follow through when you say you will deliver. I would steal flowers out of a graveyard before ordering from you ever again."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Jen Walters wrote, "I AM ABSOLUTELY MORTIFIED! IT IS 4 DAYS BEFORE VALENTINE'S DAY AND 1800FLOWERS HAS REALLY STUCK IT TO ME."[/SIZE] Other customers are suggesting class-action lawsuits.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]The company is trying to respond, executives say, stating that the whole thing boils down to a nationwide coupon program that went awry.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Here's how it happened.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Long Island-based 1-800-Flowers company also owns food brands like Harry London chocolate, Fannie May and Cheryl & Co. cookies, and periodically cross-promotes them through coupons. This year, the company put peel-off stickers on Harry London chocolate boxes, with discounts of up to $20 on a 1-800-Flowers order. It was a savvy offer for customers who were already at CVS or Walgreens to buy chocolate and might be pondering which flower company to use for Valentine's Day. A coupon might tip the scales.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Customers were supposed to buy the chocolates, peel off the sticker and then order from 1-800-Flowers online, using a special code printed on the sticker to get their discount. Instead, deal-savvy shoppers pounced on the offer, and so did more than a few fraudsters, the company says.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Company vice president Joe Pititto says, "Unfortunately, some people were going to a CVS or another store, peeling all the stickers off boxes – not buying them – and then using the codes online."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Worse, some people were going online and selling those codes to other people. Pititto said the fraud remained relatively contained. He estimates only a few hundred people may have attempted to use them illegitimately.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the company had to do something.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1-800-Flowers canceled a string of orders made with the coupon codes that appeared fraudulent. Those customers should receive an e-mail, Pititto said, asking them to call the company and go through the procedure again. "If it's legitimate," he said, "we'll place their order."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]This displeases customers.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Some customers bought five, 10 or 20 boxes of chocolates and planned to give the coupons out as gifts. Others fear their flower orders won't be delivered on Valentine's Day. Sam Parekh wrote on the company's Facebook page that he wanted to give the chocolates as gifts to his kid's teachers, and use the coupon for Mother's Day. "I WANT THE MONEY THAT I PAID FOR THE CHOCOLATE BACK!!"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Even for legitimate customers, there's a catch.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Now, customers who buy the chocolates and try to use the coupon must go online, and pay full-price for their Flowers. Then they're supposed to find their receipt from the store, or cut out the UPC bar code, and mail them to 1-800-Flowers in Long Island, which will process the discount and apply a credit back to the customer's credit card.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Pititto says this should not take more than a couple weeks.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The company is trying to handle the situation on Facebook, too. Customer service reps are jumping into the comment flow to offer help.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Hi Nikki!" one rep wrote. "We're so sorry to hear that you had a disappointing experience with us! Can you please e-mail us at wecare at 1800flowers dot com … . We'd love to help you with this!"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Here's the address where customers can send their receipts/UPC codes:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Harry London Savings Pass[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1-800-Flower.com Inc.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1 Old Country Road, Suite 500[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Carl Place NY 11514[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919. [/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Published: February 11, 2010[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]TAMPA - On the eve of Valentine's Day, flower giant 1-800-Flowers.com is cancelling hundreds of flower deliveries in their tracks and has stopped honoring coupons on thousands of boxes of chocolate, each worth $5 to $20 instantly off a flower order.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]This is not pleasing some customers.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]These are flowers, after all. And this is Valentine's Day. Tensions run high.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]In this age of instant vilification, customers are unleashing torrid rants about the giant of flower delivery, including rants by customers on the company's own Facebook page.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"I WILL NEVER buy ANYTHING from 1800flowers or any of their affiliates," protested Marie Jingle Soetidjo on the company's Facebook page.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Nikki Moeller wrote "you can't be trusted to follow through when you say you will deliver. I would steal flowers out of a graveyard before ordering from you ever again."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Jen Walters wrote, "I AM ABSOLUTELY MORTIFIED! IT IS 4 DAYS BEFORE VALENTINE'S DAY AND 1800FLOWERS HAS REALLY STUCK IT TO ME."[/SIZE] Other customers are suggesting class-action lawsuits.
[SIZE=-1][/SIZE] [SIZE=-1]The company is trying to respond, executives say, stating that the whole thing boils down to a nationwide coupon program that went awry.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Here's how it happened.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The Long Island-based 1-800-Flowers company also owns food brands like Harry London chocolate, Fannie May and Cheryl & Co. cookies, and periodically cross-promotes them through coupons. This year, the company put peel-off stickers on Harry London chocolate boxes, with discounts of up to $20 on a 1-800-Flowers order. It was a savvy offer for customers who were already at CVS or Walgreens to buy chocolate and might be pondering which flower company to use for Valentine's Day. A coupon might tip the scales.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Customers were supposed to buy the chocolates, peel off the sticker and then order from 1-800-Flowers online, using a special code printed on the sticker to get their discount. Instead, deal-savvy shoppers pounced on the offer, and so did more than a few fraudsters, the company says.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Company vice president Joe Pititto says, "Unfortunately, some people were going to a CVS or another store, peeling all the stickers off boxes – not buying them – and then using the codes online."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Worse, some people were going online and selling those codes to other people. Pititto said the fraud remained relatively contained. He estimates only a few hundred people may have attempted to use them illegitimately.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]But the company had to do something.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1-800-Flowers canceled a string of orders made with the coupon codes that appeared fraudulent. Those customers should receive an e-mail, Pititto said, asking them to call the company and go through the procedure again. "If it's legitimate," he said, "we'll place their order."[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]This displeases customers.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Some customers bought five, 10 or 20 boxes of chocolates and planned to give the coupons out as gifts. Others fear their flower orders won't be delivered on Valentine's Day. Sam Parekh wrote on the company's Facebook page that he wanted to give the chocolates as gifts to his kid's teachers, and use the coupon for Mother's Day. "I WANT THE MONEY THAT I PAID FOR THE CHOCOLATE BACK!!"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Even for legitimate customers, there's a catch.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Now, customers who buy the chocolates and try to use the coupon must go online, and pay full-price for their Flowers. Then they're supposed to find their receipt from the store, or cut out the UPC bar code, and mail them to 1-800-Flowers in Long Island, which will process the discount and apply a credit back to the customer's credit card.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Pititto says this should not take more than a couple weeks.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]The company is trying to handle the situation on Facebook, too. Customer service reps are jumping into the comment flow to offer help.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]"Hi Nikki!" one rep wrote. "We're so sorry to hear that you had a disappointing experience with us! Can you please e-mail us at wecare at 1800flowers dot com … . We'd love to help you with this!"[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Here's the address where customers can send their receipts/UPC codes:[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Harry London Savings Pass[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1-800-Flower.com Inc.[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]1 Old Country Road, Suite 500[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Carl Place NY 11514[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]
[/SIZE]
[SIZE=-1]Reporter Richard Mullins can be reached at (813) 259-7919. [/SIZE]
