Another HAPPY Teleflora Customer??

[lori042499]

The fact of the matter in this case is that even if you were paying top dollar for 70-80 cm roses and used a whole bunch of seeded euch the costs would be around 72.00....That's counting 1.10 per rose, 8 bucks for the seeded, 10.00 for the basket and 2 bucks for the foam...at a straight 3 x mark up that is 216.00....no labor...but you know that most people are not using the super premium flowers...and you can tell the flowers used were not super premium..the florist flat out should not be filling orders nor be operating as a florist and TF just sux anyway, they just don't care at all, period..not about the customer, not about getting the order right, not about the florists they let be members...not until it all goes wrong anyway and then they will just take the money off the florists statement whether or not they agree because they hold that power...in the words of Mel Brooks, "It is great being King!"....

There were so many things the florist could have done to make this not happen, the least of which would have been to tel tf to take a hike...but they probably needed the order to offset the loss on their tf bill...and because they already harbor bad feelings about TF aren't even thinking f the customer in the middle just about how they are so stuck in a @@@@ty situation and need to make as much money as possible on every order...they are drowning and don't know how else to keep their head above water...it might not have even occured to them to quit or they could be stuck in some contracted deal...anywho, still the florists fault because their name is on it, they made it poorly and they of free will took the order and promised to fill it right and failed miserably...that is not TF fault...only their fault that they don't properly vette florists..

 

[dbdflorist]

I cant believe flowerchat championed teleflora in the email newsletter that brings up this thread/post... ill be leaving the flowerchat group. can you spell "sell-out"? F L O W E R C H A T

 

[lori042499]

I cant believe flowerchat championed teleflora in the email newsletter that brings up this thread/post... ill be leaving the flowerchat group. can you spell "sell-out"? F L O W E R C H A T

What in the world does this mean? Sell-Out? Why because the florist is actually being told as the biggest problem of this equation? Do you actually think the florist shouldn't be blamed as part of the problem in this issue? If you cannot fill a tf order right it would be in the florists best interest to not fill it at all, instead of create an abomination like the one pictured....Blame gets thrown around many places in this it is everyones fault and we all suffer from it...even those of us who wised up and left the wireservices, we all suffer when florists and wire services behave badly...

 

[LOTAKIDS]

I cant believe flowerchat championed teleflora in the email newsletter that brings up this thread/post... ill be leaving the flowerchat group. can you spell "sell-out"? F L O W E R C H A T

dbdflorist... not sure what the problem is.. Wire service are discussed very openly here and the wire service are encouraged to be member so that they know how florist really feel about their schemes and encouraged to rebuttal on other thing. I am not sure what you are afraid of... relaliation from the wire services??? Teleflora??? They already do that with our this board by all the charges they charge you and new charges they add on and the ones they are dreaming up to get your money.

I particularly was not thrilled with the picture of the arrangement a florist sent out... but I can't controll them and it's a shame that they even let that horrible arrangement out their door. If you can't fill it... reject it!!!

 

[BOSS]

I cant believe flowerchat championed teleflora in the email newsletter that brings up this thread/post... ill be leaving the flowerchat group. can you spell "sell-out"? F L O W E R C H A T

you're not serious? really?

I see nothing in this that "champions Teleflora"...

[Ryan note: Don't double-check your calendars or go back for extra coffee ... today really is Monday, and yes you're getting the Friday newsletter. Strider HQ has been hopping and rocking lately, and we just weren't able to get the bulletin sent on Friday. For this we apologize and offer a complete refund of your subscription price for this free newsletter Cheers!]
Our biggest discussion thread on FlowerChat this week had to do with yet another complaint posted on the Consumerist web site regarding flowers ordered from a national brand.

While it can be tempting to serve up a healthy dose of righteous indignation about how national brands are underselling with unrealistic prices, along with a side order of griping about service fees, commissions and like, in the end we're faced with a simple and undeniable truth: When flowers disappoint, we ALL lose.

Whether it's boxed flowers at a funeral, delivered product that in no way resembled the arrangement ordered, or simple bad flowers and poor mechanics, every time a customer is anything less than thrilled out industry takes another punch to the jaw.

Rather than crowing about the perceived failures of competing companies, I say we should all shed a tear each time our product & service disappoints a client, because over time that lack of consumer confidence has contributed to stagnant growth, shifting buying patterns and the demise of thousands of local florists.
Am I completely off base? Should we just blame the WS for their pricing and costs to florists, or dump on the one florist who delivered this catastrophe? Share your comments (for free) in the FlowerChat forums today!

 

[jamie]

The bottom line is you can blame Teleflora for selling it. You can blame Teleflora for undercutting your price with discounts. You can't blame Teleflora for what actually got delivered. The manager of the shop who filled that order is to be blamed, solely and entirely. I, for one, wish that they would have named that shop and the town they service. As it stands, every comment made on consumerist is "the florist." That makes it too easy to paint us all with the same brush.

I can't tell you how many times I "ate crow" and delivered a product where my CoGS was more than I would be getting from FTD. However, if I didn't get it rejected in time then I did A+ quality work no matter the price. That's how we do things at my shop.

My motto is "First class, not half-a$$ed" I'm putting that on my Christmas mailers

 

[josie posie]

I could do that order for $200.00 plus delivery and it would look great.. Tf needs to bump up their prices by about 15% and the florist who made that arrangement should be kicked out of tf asap!

 

[Tom]

Yes, we should all shed a tear each time our product & service disappoints. Yes, it reflects on all of us. Yes, it makes consumers less likely to buy our product in the future. The big "but" is... we're dealing with someone, be they order gatherers or wire services, who are misleading the customer by displaying photographs that don't accurately depict the product being sold. We can be nice guys and fill the order, resulting in a happy recipient and a happy sender (the sender being both the customer and the OG or WS). What we can't do is repeatedly fill these orders for less money than we need to continue to operate. A happy sender is very likely to continue to patronize whoever satisfied them. An unhappy sender is going to look for an alternative product that will make them happy. There is no happy ending to this scenario. If we continue filling orders for less money that it takes us to operate, we will ultimately fail. If we fill the order to value and provide something that barely resembles the picture, the customer will be unhappy and look for alternatives. No matter how you look at it, we, the filling florists, are the ones holding the bag. And money is leaking out of the bag.
BTW, like someone said above, if we fail to ask for more money or reject an order in timely fashion, we do our best to make it look like the picture.

 

[sandytf]

I cant believe flowerchat championed teleflora in the email newsletter that brings up this thread/post... ill be leaving the flowerchat group. can you spell "sell-out"? F L O W E R C H A T

I, also, fail to see how anything in the newsletter "championed" Teleflora? Are you so blinded by your dislike of the wire services that you can no longer be reasonably objective?"

 

[josie posie]

This should be a wake up call to Tf , to which I am a member, to choose the shops they let become members much more carefully. If tf initially had higher standards than things like this probably would not happen. I am in a town where our tf rep signed up a shop that was a barn, literally, on a farm, with chickens running around and a design room set up in the back with dog doo on gound in the front entrance where I guess you go in. WHen questions by me, the rep said, every shop is different. Really?? Low standard accepted just to get a shop signed up and collect fees. Until tf kicks out order gatherers and crap shops ...the industry will have a difficult time accepting a ws as a good entity.

 

[LOTAKIDS]

Here is the propery description of the Latest FTD, Teleflora and 1800 florist just 13 miles away.. Both a 1800 website and FTD website.

8910 1st Pl SE, Lake Stevens, WA 982584 bed, 2.5 bath, 2030 sq. ft. house located at 8910 1st Pl SE, Lake Stevens, WA
98258 sold for $299990 on Jun 22, 2006. View sales history, tax history, ...

They really don't care if you work out of your garage in a residential neighborhood.

 

[josie posie]

very sad..

 

[Eric S]

I want to find out more about this article and this so called order first.

I have sent an email to the writer of the article and sent a message to our TF rep.

I want to know if this really happened first before I start pointing fingers.


I hope I'm not the only one that thought of doing this!!

 

[duckbutter517]

Who really know what happened - we can all only guess - yes the arrangement was awful - yes it was not to value - but the whole thing could have been avoided if the consumer would deal with the florist direct and quit going thru a middleman. Yes the florist should have refused if they did not have the product but perhaps they were not tf and only received a verbal description, that does not always list the quantities and they just guessed or they have a really high price for roses the problem is a true lack of communication and understanding from the consumer to the filling florist. If the consumer were only educated in the process of many hands on one order make for less of a satisfied consumer a good many times because they only see the pic and don't read the small print and assume that a pic is the same on both sides - see 50 roses on the pic they think they're getting 100. Lack of communication and education, it's killing us all.

 

[FANCIES]

I'm with Linda on this one. Something COULD of happened to this arrangement. It is strange that there is some babies breath in the back. Something does not seem to be right. I tried to figure out where this arrangement was sitting when the picture was taken. I couldn't really tell by the picture but I think it must have been at the viewing because the card is still in it. This whole situation does not make sense to me. So, I'll be looking forward to what Eric finds out what happened with this order. As for me, I could have filled this order and still made some money on it. I would have never sent anything that even remotely resembled what is pictured. Like I said and Linda pointed out, why is there a piece of babies breath in the back? Something is not right here. We need all the facts like Eric said. Go Eric go!

 

[Eric S]

Who really know what happened - we can all only guess - yes the arrangement was awful - yes it was not to value - but the whole thing could have been avoided if the consumer would deal with the florist direct and quit going thru a middleman. Yes the florist should have refused if they did not have the product but perhaps they were not tf and only received a verbal description, that does not always list the quantities and they just guessed or they have a really high price for roses the problem is a true lack of communication and understanding from the consumer to the filling florist. If the consumer were only educated in the process of many hands on one order make for less of a satisfied consumer a good many times because they only see the pic and don't read the small print and assume that a pic is the same on both sides - see 50 roses on the pic they think they're getting 100. Lack of communication and education, it's killing us all.

This is exactly the reason why I'm looking more into this. It really dosen't make sense and I'm starting to really question the realiability of the source. Especially since the writer has not responded to my emails. I sent another one today and still waiting.

I have already talked to Teleflora and they are looking into this as well.

What is found on online may or may not be the truth and its up to people in general to dig a little deeper. Google does not have a "Truth Algorithm".

 

[BOSS]

BOSS's Quote of the day!

the whole thing could have been avoided if the consumer would deal with the florist direct and quit going thru a middleman.

Couldn't have said it better myself...

 

[Toddxxx]

I cant believe flowerchat championed teleflora in the email newsletter that brings up this thread/post... ill be leaving the flowerchat group. can you spell "sell-out"? F L O W E R C H A T

I think you may be misinformed as to what Flowerchat is - it's not Florists For Change, it's not an official anti-ws group. Flowerchat is a forum for those involved in the floral industry to discuss everything and anything to do with the industry.

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

I cant believe flowerchat championed teleflora in the email newsletter that brings up this thread/post... ill be leaving the flowerchat group. can you spell "sell-out"? F L O W E R C H A T

I nominate this the "dumb" post of the month!

 

[Eric S]

From: Everyday Flowers [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Monday, September 12, 2011 6:57 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Information About (Is This Flower Arrangement Worth $200?)

http://consumerist.com/2011/09/is-this-flower-arrangement-worth-200.html

I was wondering if there was any proof submitted that this order was placed with Teleflora? Is there any reference to the name of the shop that delivered the order? I am in the floral industry and just want to make sure that this order was properly taken care of or not since this reflects on our whole industry. I want to also find out if the order was placed with Teleflora if they have taken steps to remove this florist from their member list?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Sincerely Eric Shaw
Owner Everyday Flowers

On Tue, Sep 13, 2011 at 1:26 PM, Everyday Flowers <[email protected]> wrote:
I was just checking to see if you had received this email and if you had more information about the order in question that the article was talking about.

We have quite a few members of Teleflora that are wondering if the quality of the service is no longer up to par and as a member I want to make sure that this service is compromised then I need to find a better way to send my orders to another florist.

Any information would be appreciated.

Sincerely
Eric Shaw
Owner
Everyday Flowers

From: Laura Northrup [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 8:52 AM
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: FW: Information About (Is This Flower Arrangement Worth $200?)

I can put you in touch with the customer if you like, but I don't have any more information about this transaction.

From: Everyday Flowers [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, September 14, 2011 12:09 PM
To: 'Laura Northrup'
Subject: RE: FW: Information About (Is This Flower Arrangement Worth $200?)

That would be great if you could.

Sincerely
Eric Shaw

Still have not heard anything.