BBB reports 47% Increase in Complaints about Florists

[CHR]

It's a gut-wrenching headline:
Better Business Bureau Warns: This Valentine’s Day Express Yourself with Care- Complaints Against Florists Up 47%


Follow the link and read the article. A quick snippet:

Complaints about Florists increased 47 percent in 2011 compared to 2010. Last year 588 individuals filed complaints; in 2010 that number was 398 according to the Better Business Bureau serving Chicago and northern Illinois.

I dug through the Chicago BBB site, saw some staggering numbers and called the BBB on them. (I literally picked up the phone and talked to their head of marketing. He kept saying 'the data is correct'. To which I kept saying, your data shows FTD as the overwhelming source of your complaints. Don't your realize the article puts all local Chicago florists in a bad light?

The truth is 95% of the complaints about florists to the BBB were about .... FTD.com. 558 out of 588. And still, that BBB rates FTD.com A+,

This article so frosted me, I wrote a post on the Real Florist Blog:
Valentine’s Day BBB Florist Warning: Top Source of Complaints

Please read the article and post a reply over on the blog.

Share the link on FB, Twitter and other social media.

If you are a BBB member, ask them to write a more enlightening article about florists. Also request they stop calling FTD, TF, 1-800 and OGs 'florists' and insist they create a more appropriate category.

Please be on the lookout for other incendiary headlines that slam florists, but are really caused by OGs and dOGs.

No one will fight for us but us. Hope you'll help spread the word.

 

[BOSS]

OUCH.... and I still wonder why florists associate with the brand...

 

[Simon Says]

OUCH.... and I still wonder why florists associate with the brand...

...or with the so-called BBB

 

[BOSS]

In related news from another thread, the BBB has taken down Wesley's A+ rating and now shows his as "being reviewed"...

http://www.bbb.org/detroit/business...ley-berry-florist-inc-in-commerce-mi-6015021/

 

[kt4ye]

Earlier this week, I contacted our local BBB. (They are also a customer of mine.) The local CEO advised BBB HQ. Here is the text I just received from the local CEO (edited somewhat)

"Bill,
Here is the response I received from our national legal counsel. This should be taken care of in short order.
Thanks for bringing it to my attention.

Tom


Dear Tom,

I will take care of this. The business is also using the BBB Torch and Start with Trust logos which businesses aren't allowed to use, only BBBs. Hopefully, we will get a cooperative web hosting company that will take the site down for us.

Thanks for reporting. This one is particularly egregious so we'll make it a top priority."

BBB can be a powerful tool. But only if we communicate with them directly, IMNTBHO.

All the best,

Bill

 

[Kristine]

Bill - great work with your colleague. Kudos!

Now, any way he can influence them to move the FTD, Teleflora, 1800Flowers.com, Blooms Today, Just Flowers iel; floral "brokers" into a different category instead of the misleading "local florist" category

Not only are they snakes in the woodpile but poisonous ones at that.


as for the Chicago BBB. Gosh, they don't allow comments. Wonder if they have a facebook page..... EDIT: here is the link to the BBB chicago and yes they have posted this article there.... anyone care to comment? https://www.facebook.com/#!/BBBChicago

I will

and as for the FTD A+ rating... so did they buy that too? again call me MRS SKEPTICAL when the BBB wants you to pay to join.

 

[CHR]

Great work, Bill! Can you be sure to pass along all the domains WB uses where the BBB logo with an A+ rating is displayed on every product page. WB is still raking in shoppers by prominently featuring the BBB logo and rating. They're also still advertising the A+ in their Google Adwords ads.

The domains are:

800wesleys.comflowers-nationwide.com
flowerdeliveryexpress.com
americanfloraldelivery.com
wesleyberryflowers.com
wesleyberryflowers.net
wesleyberry.net

I hope the BBB 'gets' that WB was/is intercepting complaints intended to be sent to the BBB by spoofing that page.

 

[BOSS]

And Flowers-nationwide.com too

 

[jamie]

It's a gut-wrenching headline:
Better Business Bureau Warns: This Valentine’s Day Express Yourself with Care- Complaints Against Florists Up 47%


Follow the link and read the article. A quick snippet:

I dug through the Chicago BBB site, saw some staggering numbers and called the BBB on them. (I literally picked up the phone and talked to their head of marketing. He kept saying 'the data is correct'. To which I kept saying, your data shows FTD as the overwhelming source of your complaints. Don't your realize the article puts all local Chicago florists in a bad light?

The truth is 95% of the complaints about florists to the BBB were about .... FTD.com. 558 out of 588. And still, that BBB rates FTD.com A+,

This article so frosted me, I wrote a post on the Real Florist Blog:
Valentine’s Day BBB Florist Warning: Top Source of Complaints

Please read the article and post a reply over on the blog.

Share the link on FB, Twitter and other social media.

If you are a BBB member, ask them to write a more enlightening article about florists. Also request they stop calling FTD, TF, 1-800 and OGs 'florists' and insist they create a more appropriate category.

Please be on the lookout for other incendiary headlines that slam florists, but are really caused by OGs and dOGs.

No one will fight for us but us. Hope you'll help spread the word.

I do not know where you got the numbers about the BBB complaints and FTD.com, but if I were a Chicago/northern Illinois florist, I would be on the phone with the BBB. This is extremely irresponsible. Especially considering FTD's rating with the BBB.

 

[Kristine]

here's my facebook post on the BBB chicago web site. thanks Cathy, I used your expedia/travelocity comment (you put it more eloquently than I could)

I read your article and did some checking on your statistics of the 588 "florist complaints” Of those 588, FTD, garnering 558, is not a LOCAL Florist, but more of a flower order broker/national call center whose headquarters are in Downers Grove.

By lumping this broker in the same category as a local florist (that’s like saying Expedia or Travelocity is a hotel or airline.) You are doing the local business owner a disservice and painting them with the same brush. These call center/national marketers/flower brokers SHOULD be in a category all of their own, especially as they seem to be the source of most of the complaints filed with the BBB.

As more and more companies become Internet based and are virtual store fronts perhaps it is time that the BBB begins to differentiate between the two; virtual resellers that exist on the hard drive and those that stock merchandise, personally interacting with the consumer and tend to be the local business owner located in the community it services. Thanks.

 

[Doug Munro]

Over the years I have placed very little faith in the BBB. In todays world with the access to the internet and social media the BBB is basically an organization looking for a "cause'.

The concept has always been flawed to say the least, acting as a consumer advocate but deriving your funding from retailers (the very people you are intended to police).

Unfortunately, technology has caught up with the BBB. In the old days (pre-internet) there was no central gathering place for consumers to lodge complaints except for an organization like the BBB. This meant that if the BBB was acting in a way that was not totally unbiased who could check facts, after all they were the clearing house for complaints.

Now a simple search on the internet tells you a lot about any company and its practices.

The BBB still serves a purpose, more to businesses that consumers. It acts as a "Seal Of Approval" for a retailer. In fact I have it on our web site as t is recognized and does inspire consumer confidence to a certain level. I personally expect the day will come that the BBB will be listed with the likes of Brylcreem, Polaroid, VHS, or other relics that only exist in our memories.

 

[Flowerchatter03]

Here is my e-mail to their VP for whatever it's worth:

Dear Mr. Pinto:
The article written by your office regarding florists http://chicago.bbb.org/article/32310 is an insult to real brick and mortar florists across our great nation. If you would care to do a little research, you will find that it is not actual "florists" but rather on-line companies that are receiving most of your complaints. FTD, Teleflora, Flowers Sent Today, Just Flowers, From You Flower, etc etc are companies that take orders and send them on. They do not fill orders. They do not have a staff of designers. They do not have a cooler. All they do is act as a broker, a go-between consumers and florists and charge big money to do this. What is worse is that they are continually allowed to pretend to be local florists to scam consumers out of money by charging their brokerage fee and sending only a portion of what is actually paid to actual florists in hopes that the order will be filled.
Many real florists have contacted their elected officials to try to develop laws to protect consumers, by stopping these on-line companies from their deceptive advertising practices but those cries of fraud have continually fallen on deaf ears. Contacting your organization to remove the description of "florist" from these companies have also continually fallen on deaf ears.
As a former BBB employee, I find it suprising that your organization would only give consumers half of the actual facts regarding ordering flowers. I also find it surprising that your organization as a whole refuses to have a different classification for these on-line predators rather than bundling them into the catagory of actual florists.
I certainly hope that someday your organization will correct your classification of these companies and give real brick and mortar florists their reputations back as the hardworking, local businesses that they actual are.
I look forward to hearing your reply if you so choose to do so.
Sincerely,
Patricia Harold
Cross Lanes Floral

 

[anytimeflowers]

Thanks for finding this Cathy, and more, for doing the research behind the 47% ~ clearly the author did not.

Either that, or this was an effort on their part to grab some of their own attention, why else would they choose florists two weeks before Valentine's Day? I honestly think it was their own marketing ploy because they know consumers will be typing in "Valentines Day Flowers" and want their own piece of search engine love.

The three bullet points were especially interesting. They do seem to have some sort of handle on the order-gathering but the third one completely passes through my brain without finding any logic as it pertains to flowers.

Be wary of any email received from an unknown sender. Do not open any unsolicited email and do not click on any links provided. Fake e-cards coming from scammers/hackers may send you an infected card or send you to a link where you are could compromise your computer’s safety.

That was the topping of weird for me.

 

[KABERS]

Unfortunately, technology has caught up with the BBB. In the old days (pre-internet) there was no central gathering place for consumers to lodge complaints except for an organization like the BBB. This meant that if the BBB was acting in a way that was not totally unbiased who could check facts, after all they were the clearing house for complaints.

Now a simple search on the internet tells you a lot about any company and its practices.

. I personally expect the day will come that the BBB will be listed with the likes of Brylcreem, Polaroid, VHS, or other relics that only exist in our memories.

I think it's ironic that you recognize that the BBB is obsolete but not the wire services

 

[BOSS]

While wire services are obsolete, order transfer is not. We simply need to support a new model!

 

[jamie]

wire services are not obsolete for big senders. They are a huge source of revenue.

 

[BOSS]

Ah yes Jamie, they are... Today, but even big senders know, those days are numbered. And that number is very low.

 

[Doug Munro]

I think it's ironic that you recognize that the BBB is obsolete but not the wire services

Jenifer,
The ones that keep the WS's in business are the consumer whereas the ones who keep the BBB in business are retailers. Big difference, one that apparently you did not pick up on.

The consumer ultimately drives all business and when they decide the WS's are obsolete they will be. They will decide this by no longer supporting them. However in the meantime they are still the "kings " of the internet when it comes to selling flowers, a position they hold because of consumer support.

As for the BBB, as consumers migrate away from using them, retailers will see little reason for supporting them and ultimately even their "seal of approval" will have little value

 

[Sabrinas]

Jenifer,
The ones that keep the WS's in business are the consumer whereas the ones who keep the BBB in business are retailers. Big difference, one that apparently you did not pick up on.

The consumer ultimately drives all business and when they decide the WS's are obsolete they will be. They will decide this by no longer supporting them. However in the meantime they are still the "kings " of the internet when it comes to selling flowers, a position they hold because of consumer support.

As for the BBB, as consumers migrate away from using them, retailers will see little reason for supporting them and ultimately even their "seal of approval" will have little value

Don't you mean the Connedsumer? Because if the consumer knew what was being done to them they would not use them. If the BBB, the national news and the legal system did what they are supposed to do which is protect and inform the consumer and punish those that break the law or are deceptive, the consumer would be able to make an informed choice. Until then the playing field is not even and the market can not function as intended.

I alway have to laugh (or cry) at your defense of these predators...you know the old saying "Go to bed with DOG'S you wake up with fleas...

 

[CHR]

The ones that keep the WS's in business are the consumer whereas the ones who keep the BBB in business are retailers. Big difference, one that apparently you did not pick up on.

Really? You don't think businesses (florists) keep WSs in business? Without filling shops and income from florists services (commissions, fees, technology, web hosting, cc clearings, ads, product purchases, dues) how profitable would FTD, 1-800 or TF be?