Another FTD termination horror story

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Ken

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Mar 17, 2004
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Greenwood
www.theflowermarket.com
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I need to vent so here is my story.

I sent termination letters to FTD via Fax, Mercury, and certified mail in early November terminating our membership effective January 31, 2007. I did everything by their rules and thought all was well. Ah, but not so fast says FTD, we called and gave you a deal so you agreed to stay. Yes, they did call and talked to my wife, but she told Greg from FTD that she was not interested and still wanted our termination effective January 31, 2007. When the FEB-APR directory was delivered our shop was still listed and I new we probably were going to have problems with FTD. I received a statement with all of the charges for the month of February. I immediately sent them copies of all correspondence and again emphasized that we considered our relationship terminated as of January 31, 2007. Today I received a letter advising me that we are to be responsible for all charges (membership, directory, etc) for the months of Feb-Mar. I should have waited 24 hours before calling customer service, but to make a long story shorter, I was told by a service rep via the telephone that the charges would not be going away and advised me to continue using their service until May 1st. My response was that we had not used their service since January 31, 2007 and if FTD was the last wire service available, I would not being using them. At this point she said that she was terminating the call as she had nothing more to say to me. I now realize that I should not have been so brutal with the employee, but the letter really made me sizzle.

Anyway, my question to all, have you had similar experiences? How was it resolved.
 
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Ken said:
I need to vent so here is my story.

I sent termination letters to FTD via Fax, Mercury, and certified mail in early November terminating our membership effective January 31, 2007. I did everything by their rules and thought all was well. Ah, but not so fast says FTD, we called and gave you a deal so you agreed to stay. Yes, they did call and talked to my wife, but she told Greg from FTD that she was not interested and still wanted our termination effective January 31, 2007. When the FEB-APR directory was delivered our shop was still listed and I new we probably were going to have problems with FTD. I received a statement with all of the charges for the month of February. I immediately sent them copies of all correspondence and again emphasized that we considered our relationship terminated as of January 31, 2007. Today I received a letter advising me that we are to be responsible for all charges (membership, directory, etc) for the months of Feb-Mar. I should have waited 24 hours before calling customer service, but to make a long story shorter, I was told by a service rep via the telephone that the charges would not be going away and advised me to continue using their service until May 1st. My response was that we had not used their service since January 31, 2007 and if FTD was the last wire service available, I would not being using them. At this point she said that she was terminating the call as she had nothing more to say to me. I now realize that I should not have been so brutal with the employee, but the letter really made me sizzle.

Anyway, my question to all, have you had similar experiences? How was it resolved.
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If you have sent a termination request in writing etc.... do you not have an official legal instrument that would require something else in writing to terminate the termination ? Verbal should not override written, especially is everything was by the book.
Where would FTD's proof be if all documentation was received in a timely fashion and they refused to let you out ? They'd have none !
Wouldn't be worth their time fighting in out legally !
Someone please correct me if I'm wrong .

I know this is worded kinda corny but it may be worth looking into.
Hope you have copies of all correspondence.
 
Similar experience here. We had a preponderance of correspondence (copies of everything, including names, date and times), and we suggested the next letter would be from our lawyer and the Ontario Ombudsman (I'm not sure they would know what that was but...). Fight them, you have the paperwork on your side.

V
 
FIght FIght Fight!!!!!!!

As I read it, the ball is in your court.

YOu have all the paperwork trail telling of the cancellation.
They can't bring a conversation into court on their side telling the judge, that you agreed to continue another three months.

I would write them another letterand certified it and copies to a whole freaking bunch of people in FTD that you are not responsible for any debts, charges after January 31st. Telling them that you will not send or receive any orders under the ftd service.
Even if they have talked to your wife, it may have been a mis-undestanding that you had to stay for 3 more months after the cancelation.
Now did you cancel before the new directory deadline?
If oyu did they do not have a leg to stand on.
Pay what you think you owe and the rest they could take off.
Luc
 
Response to Luke

I sent the termination letter via fax, certified mail and Mercury Direct on November 28, 2006. I thought I did everything by the book, that is why it is so upsetting to me.
 
I don't know if this is the case or not, but the date January 31st and the date of your letter may be the problem. I think FTD & TF work by their publication & codification deadlines, which I think are middle of of the month of the first month in the previous quarter. Changes to your membership after that would tie you in for another quarter.

Not positive, but that's my thought. Check the dates in the membership info -in TF the pub date deadline is Sep 1, Advertising deadline is Sep 12, Coding deadline is Sep 20 - for the Nov/Dec/Jan book. Any changes after that, or cancellation after that deadline and you'd be on the hook for payment.

good luck,

tracy
 
Now with the new information, I would have to agree with tracey.
You miss the deadline which mean you may have another three months to go.
However, it is my opinion that if they can stop your membership at anytime, you can do it also.
Just my 2 cents
Luc
 
Now with the new information, I would have to agree with tracey.
You miss the deadline which mean you may have another three months to go.
However, it is my opinion that if they can stop your membership at anytime, you can do it also with 3 month of notice to go before it ends.
Just my 2 cents
Luc
 
The exact same thing has happened to us with Teleflora. However, I received a phone call from Andy Potter of TF literally screaming at me. Why? Because I received a bill for over $400 membership fee etc..I disputed it as we also sent a termination letter-Nov 06. Funny thing is, Andy called me in Jan 07 saying Jan would be the last bill we received. When he called two days ago-he informed me that he had never called me.-Ever...It really is unbelievable to me that this was how TF handles things.
I quite honestly did not know what to say, although it did'nt much matter as I could not get a word in edgewise. I guess I have no choice but to let it go to collections and dispute it there. I did everything by the book, certified letter with return receipt etc. I got lots of misinformation and conflicting info every time I called TF. IMHO TF is the most unprofessional company I have ever had the displeasure of dealing with.
 
Always a 90 Day Directory lag time factor

While it's sad, but true, and even though your correspondence indicated January 31st as your date of termination, there is always that 90 day lag time.

They use the directory deadlines as the default in addition to any outstanding debits by sending florists who are not on Merc rec autopilot for final reconciliation.

The quarterly directory recycle period must've been December, January, and February which means that, YES, you will still have to pay them for January and February.

Had you let them know in November and before the directory deadline back then, you would not have appeared in the DEC, JAN, FEB directory, and so, you could've been FREE.

Lastly, and while you have a right to be ANGRY, they really don't have to be nice to you anymore since, you are no longer one of their customers.

BEE HAPPY just knowing that, you were smart enough to know when to CUT YOUR LOSSES by eliminating them as a liability on your spreadsheet in addition to helping them to COMPETE AGAINST YOU!
 
Clarification

From the FTD directory "A voluntry Termination Letter must be completed and signed ty the Member, and received by FTD no later Than December 5, 2006 to removed from the FEB/MAR/April 2007 issue of the FTD Directory."

I faxed, mailed a certified letter and general message via the FTD Mercury terminal on November 28, 2006. I have receipts for all methods of transmissions. The certified letter was signed for on November 30th at 8:49 a.m.. Unless I am still missing something, I should not have been in the FEB/MAR/APR directory.

Correct me if I an wrong.
 
Ken said:
From the FTD directory "A voluntry Termination Letter must be completed and signed ty the Member, and received by FTD no later Than December 5, 2006 to removed from the FEB/MAR/April 2007 issue of the FTD Directory."

I faxed, mailed a certified letter and general message via the FTD Mercury terminal on November 28, 2006. I have receipts for all methods of transmissions. The certified letter was signed for on November 30th at 8:49 a.m.. Unless I am still missing something, I should not have been in the FEB/MAR/APR directory.

Correct me if I an wrong.
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Ken, It looks like you did everything by the book, I did not even send in a certified letter, but I did send a letter to resign, and I had no problem getting out, they did offer me a good deal two weeks before Nov 1, but I turned them down. I feel there is a general lack of integrity with the wire services I belonged to that I could not stomach, so I left.
 
Photocopy the page, re-email, fax, certified letter etc etc, with a CC to your attorney. I didn't realize that the deadline with FTD worked so close to the publication - I thought it was the same as TF.

Did the membership guide give different deadlines for pulication changes, or codification changes? If they all jive with membership deadline, you have issue with their claim for sure.

And about the employee you think you offended, I would call again. Typically you don't get the same CS rep twice - just start over with your story.

Good luck, and let us know how it turns out!
tracy
 
I think the way I ended up handling it was that after we received a notice from a credit collection bureau, we packaged up every piece of paper related to the whole fiasco and mailed it to the credit agency in the 20-day alloted time period.

We never heard a word from FTD or the agency again, and our credit history remained clean.
 
12BucksFor2Dozon said:
I think the way I ended up handling it was that after we received a notice from a credit collection bureau, we packaged up every piece of paper related to the whole fiasco and mailed it to the credit agency in the 20-day alloted time period.

We never heard a word from FTD or the agency again, and our credit history remained clean.
Click to expand...

:) Now that's INSPIRED!!!

V
 
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