B Brooks

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cross wire

If you try to wire a b brooks to a location with out a bbrooks florist they will cross wire it to teleflora for an addional fee.

I am dropping them - or they are dropping me, because as of October, you have to maintain a certain volume of transactions, and I don't. I may wire 3 or 4 items a month, as a courtesy to my corporate clients. but they want you to wire 10 with an average check of $100, and it will just be easier for me to go back to my credit card, especially since, more often than not there was not a b brooks where I was sending.

I also did not get many wire ins - 4 or 5 per month.

It is easier to send online than to call with a card - but not $75 easier!
 
CHR said:
Not really.... it's 10 outgoing orders with an average of $100/order including delivery. Let's see..... $50/mo vs $290 for TF and $235 for FTD and whatever BMT is is still a whole lot less.
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Joe Mioux said:
not in all cases.

I pay $84.95 for FTD membership including Merc direct. No reciprocity, low sending or Quality Assurance fees either.

TF is $99 per month
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Thank you - I read those numbers as way high as well.

fatcatflowers said:
If you try to wire a b brooks to a location with out a bbrooks florist they will cross wire it to teleflora for an addional fee.

I am dropping them - or they are dropping me, because as of October, you have to maintain a certain volume of transactions, and I don't. I may wire 3 or 4 items a month, as a courtesy to my corporate clients. but they want you to wire 10 with an average check of $100, and it will just be easier for me to go back to my credit card, especially since, more often than not there was not a b brooks where I was sending.

I also did not get many wire ins - 4 or 5 per month.

It is easier to send online than to call with a card - but not $75 easier!
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The plot thickens yet again.

IS the fee $50 or $75? Additional fee? Per order or what?


I'm gonna shoot another guess here that part of the attraction of bbrooks is simply they way they make people feel ("Yippee, they accepted me for membership" ploy, etc), as well as the convenience of being able to send anything you need but not have to fill anything but higher dollar orders.

When we first started in business FTD wouldn't "accept" us because our experience level didn't qualify, and it made them seem "higher end" somehow.
 
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bloomz said:
I'm gonna shoot another guess here that part of the attraction of bbrooks is simply they way they make people feel ("Yippee, they accepted me for membership" ploy, etc), as well as the convenience of being able to send anything you need but not have to fill anything but higher dollar orders.
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I think you bring up a good point. I also think it was a smart move on B Brooks part since they are targeting a higher end clientele (both florist and customer). Sometimes "exclusivity" carries more weight than anything else when it comes to this demographic.

I just wonder how pretentious customers would feel if they thought they were ordering Godiva chocolate to be delivered out of town, but instead got See's? (Sorry Cathy, I couldn't help myself) ;)
 
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B Brooks fills most of my orders throgh the florists on their network. It is way more affordable to bre a member with them than with anny other wire service.

They have incredible customer service and I have had to deal with ONE problem pertaining to a delivery from them.

They are in it to make money ( SO ARE WE ALL) but I can count on them to take care of my business the way Teleflora NEVER WOULD.
 
We're a new member of bbrooks, and yup...I do feel honored to be accepted as a member. Yup...I'm even gonna brag about it when I update our "About Us" page on my website.

I joined bbrooks to be able to send out my wire orders when TF hits the dumpster at my shop.

bbrooks was designed around what florists told the company they liked and disliked about the exisiting wire services. The most frequent complaint involved issues of quality; the second involved payment. If a florist owes a wire service at the end of the month, the invoice arrives quickly. If the wire service owes the florist, the check was substantially slower than the invoice; not to mention the onerous reporting procedures required to receive payment. Additional fees and charges, such as quality assurance fees, selection guide, fees for for additional city and zip code listings and fees for listing toll free numbers were also mentioned.

bbrooks offers florists the choice to pay for orders they send with a credit card (either the florist's card or the customer's card) or with a house charge account. You can flip back and forth with each order within a month. Their fiscal month runs from the first to the end of the month. Checks/invoices are cut by the 4th of each month.

bbrooks customer service is superb and the network of member florists is top notch. Their complaint rate is well below 1%. Works for me!
 
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NavyBrat said:
I joined bbrooks to be able to send out my wire orders THRU TELEFLORA when TF hits the dumpster at my shop.

Their complaint rate is well below 1%. Works for me!
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I recently analyzed mine and find it less than 1/2 of 1%.

I'm fairly sure you'll find that true of pretty much any decent order gatherer that cares about their business.
 
Update...

I feel obliged to post an update on my experience with BBrooks.

Yesterday I received a call from BBrooks - and, based on the referral of a friend here (you know who you are), agreed to talk with them. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the caller from BBrooks (some of you know, Stephanie) was someone who I had worked with long ago when I was an installer/trainer with FTD. After a good talk, and after hearing what BBrooks is now trying to do, I agreed to take another look at their operation. I made it clear to Stephanie my displeasure in my last dealings with her company, and that the - shall we say "tone" of the last person I talked to there was a whisker shy of demeaning.

After the holiday, I will look at what they have to offer, and if I feel my business would benefit from being a member, I will join.

- Herb
 
BOSS said:
Herb... is that my long lost Stephanie???? The one that took such good care of us in the days on the road?

Give her my email and cell # if it is... would love to catch up...
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Believe to be one in the same! She said she used to work with the installers/trainers and remembered going out on a job in NC (I think), she said she had worked with me. I don't remember EXACTLY working in a shop with her, but I do remember her from various phone calls - when disaster would strike!

Will forward info on...

- H.
 
Update...we joined BBrooks

What??? Update: I decided to join BBrooks, as they invited us in. While the jury is still out on this company, I liked the presentation Stephanie gave, and the new model they are focusing on. While still high-end, they do realize that there are great high-quality shops out there, who would mutually benefit by being a member of BBrooks.

And, try this on for size.

We are a member - online for ONLY 4 hours. Our first BBrooks order comes in via phone.
Could YOU have done this:
Order comes in at 3:50pm Friday. Order is calling for a $600 arrangement, for a funeral the next morning by 10am. Ok so far. (I like BBrooks!) The monkey wrench is inserted here: the arr. MUST be all White/Cream flowers, with Green flower accents, and ALL high end stuff. No mums of any kind, no carns, no BB.
Problem for us: have MAYBE $200 in white flowers, NO wholesalers open. Had to say we couldn't do the order. Timing is everything.
(UGH!!!!)

The sending florist was REALLY understanding, and clearly had a pickel of an order for her client. We could have done "summer colors" as we had tons of other nice stuff. I do hope she was able to get the order filled.

Anyway, there's proof that BBrooks orders are - ahem, HIGH end.

- Herb
 
We have been with Barbera for 2 years now. They are getting desperate choosing shops they are less than high end. (not referring to anyone here) I was looking through the directory and wow... granny panty city. I called an complained and money > integrity a lot of the time. They said something about coverage, but i will not lower my integrity for my customer's sake, because of coverage.

And one of my biggest complaints bout wire services is they compete against us.. I just found out from a customer, bbrooks took their order and I got % of it. So yes bbrooks competes against it's members; now I look like a hypocrite. I called and complained, but I didn't get to talk to Barbera this time.

I am sick of this sh*t. Can we not get a f*(&cking wire service that is for the florists 100% and high end?

When I have a customer who wants something wired out and there isn't a good florist in that town who is a bbrooks member or a GOOD TF florist, I don't let them farm it out to just some TF florist either. I tell my customer, sorry there is no florist there I can stand behind. I'm not in this business to make a buck, but rather do the best job I can for the customer... the money will follow.

Bbrooks is nothing more than TF now in my opinion. I need out; because I am against supporting a floral business that charges it's members and then competes against them. Has the world gone mad? Where are the ethics??? I am pissed that something good sold it's soul.

If anyone is ever up for a revolution, count me!
 
Dazeal said:
.......I am sick of this sh*t. Can we not get a f*(&cking wire service that is for the florists 100% and high end?.........
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Ok, I am curious - I am not nor have I been a shop owner but as I understand it......The way a wire service is susspossed to work is this way.

I take the order, collect the money from my customer......send that info to the wire service......they look at the amount that was sent to my shop and the amount that was sent from my shop....and either issue a check for the fifference or ask me to make up the difference.

The split up of the money should be 70 to 80 percent of the amount to the filling florist and the remainder to pay for the work that the wire service does.

So, my question is this......How could a wire service give to the filling florist 100 percent of the amount and not take any of that amount for operating expenses and stay in business?

For purpose of illustration I am the wire service, but I am not drop-shipping or trying to reach the buying public.....not a d'OG.
 
Yayyyy people are still using the word I coined, dOG. :) It's the only thing I ever did right here.

In my craziness, and I promised myself I would not post about wire service, maybe I didn't explain myself well.

When I said 100%, I wasn't talking about filling. I am mad that they compete against me by having their website take orders for them. I had a customer the other day use their website and bbrooks got the money and not me. The only reason why my customer knew about bbrooks is because we promote it on our site with a link. I know, I am a naive fool.

I am just saying, I would like a WS to be 100% on our side. Not 90%. I am going to call Barbera tomorrow and talk to her about taking the order part off of her website, because that is just BS. Now I know how the FTD florists felt when FTD made their site, just for them (FTD). The FTD florists had it worse since the FTD brand name is much bigger than bbrooks.... and those florists are the ones to helped FTD build that brand.

Why can't FTD or bbrooks take their e-commerce off their site and not support the freaking people paying their bills(the florists)? The answer is easy. Money. We pay them, they get their % and then they take a % and compete against us with their website. Would you pay an employee each month who took part of their wages to compete against you? No you wouldn't. There is something fundamentally and ethically wrong with this picture. Our industry is so different than any other.

I know florists are stuck with these WS, and I am not ranting about the florists, just that these freaking WS have us bent over and only provide us with the off-name lube; which doesn't really work too well.
 
And sorry I got so passionate in my first post, I get upset when values are sacrificed for money. I was never raised that way and I might be only 34, but I am old fashion when it comes to a hand shake and people working together to help our industry. I know naive.

The good thing about bbrooks is the orders are high and 0 complaints in 2 years. I was their first beta tester for their e-commerce form and it works fine, but now it is too much money for what it is. I can create that form easy. Customer service is good too.

Some might be thinking, then what's the problem? You are making money and they have good service. My answer is that I would rather die a poor man knowing I didn't help a corporation compete against the mom and pop shops working their asses off in this country to be treated that way. Florists already have it hard, we don't need to pay the mafia their % just to compete against us.

I can't wait till this industry evolves, this is getting so old.

I'll let you know how my conversation with Barbera goes.
 
Ok, just got off the phone with Barbera who is very smart, charming, savvy and a good person.

We talked for an hour, about a lot of things, but I brought up my questions about the new florists coming in and that she sells to the public on her site, which competes against her members.

Herb, she said great things about your shop and used you as the example. I didn't even bring up any specific florists, but she talked about you... I think. It was some TF florist from Philly, so I assume you.

Tim Huckabee gave Barbera the idea to expand in an economy that was less that great. She had hired Tim to help her. He came up with the idea of BBtoo, a new name brand for TF florists who could join under the bbrooks family. (that is why you see the BBtoo next to some florist's names in the bbrooks backend) She explained that there are good florists who might sell cookie cutter stuff, but, if told, could do awesome stuff too, which I agreed.. since Herb and Dianne are members and are in the top of their league. So bottom line, economy is bad, need to figure out how to make more money, create "new brand" (BBtoo) and let TF florists in if they can do high end work. - And please don't get me wrong, I am not cutting on Herb or one of my bestest buddy here, Dianne.

When I told her about my customer finding out, through my website that we went through bbrooks and went directly to the bbrooks site and placed her order, leaving me with 0% and a lost customer forever (when it comes to wiring out her flowers) she told me she was offended that I was accusing her of stealing a customer and that it wasn't her fault, but my fault for having the bbrooks name on my site. Wow. Yeah my fault that she gathers orders on her site. I asked her to take down her e-commerce on her site or make it so when a customer orders, they can give credit to their local bbrooks member florist OR even add her florist list. She said no, it makes too much money.

I find it fascinating to listen to justifications. You are either for the florists or against, it's black or white. If you say you are for the florists 90% of the time, you are not for the florists. Am I the only sane one in this world? Is there any other industry, other than the mafia, in which we pay an organization and then they take some of that money and compete against us? Am I really awake? I know... I am a naive fool. I want to believe that their are businesses who treat me, like I would treat them.

I wonder if a WS, who paid $1000s to a server host or webmaster found out that they started a WS and were competing against them? Do you think that the WS would still use them? Am I the crazy one here? Is this concept that hard for them to see or is justifying the means that easy? MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY......MONEY.

And I am not blaming Barbera for my actions. I signed up for bbrooks after being invited, I should of done my do-diligence and saw that bbrooks collected orders from the public. So that is my fault. Barbera is a wonderful lady who I can learn a lot from, I just feel a little empty right now and don't know what to think.

My son is eating a bar of butter, I have to go.
 
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SpringCity said:
Does anyone use the network of florists here? Is it an active thing? Just wondering.
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I try if there is a place I need ....
I've called Tracy(pieface) and Eric's shops for orders...and Flowers Insolita (Goldfish's) also.
 
Dazeal said:
she was offended that I was accusing her of stealing a customer and that it wasn't her fault, but my fault for having the bbrooks name on my site. Wow.

She said no, it makes too much money.
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Where have I heard that before??????

DAZ said:
You are either for the florists or against, it's black or white.
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Right on dude!:argue:
 
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