Bloomnet

[ourfathershou25]

We sent our Certified Letter today to Bloomnet, requested a signature for the letter, we are cancelling our membership. Is there something else we need to do. Thanks.

 

[spentflowers]

Certified letter should suffice but now be prepared for the graveling. They will more then likely come back with free, free, free. So I ask you, if they were bad enough to cause you to send the certified letter are you going to be happier in 3 months? Probably not!

Put the date you sent the letter on your calendar then start counting the days til you begin realizing savings back into your cash register.

 

[purplegirl]

Keep all your paper work and documentation. They got my letter, ended my membership but forgot to tell the publication side. I was getting bills for the book. Provided all the documentation and everything was dropped. Just a pain in the tush. Save everything!

Best of luck to you. Dropping 1800 was the best decision for my shop.

 

[Dior]

Spentflowers is right, it's their protocol to send cancellations over to their person who is in charge of "saving memberships." This employee has to personally call the shop who requested cancellation and offer free dues and fees for 3 months if you agree to stay on board. BTW, I did hear a bad story from a florist in my area who agreed to stay, then quit after the 3 free months again, and the "save" employee reinstated retroactively all of the stuff they gave them for free for the 3 months -- stuck all the charges on their last statement.

 

[Luc]

People People People.
THe offer of three months free is just until they can get you back into the directory. If they take you out of the directory before they give you your three free months, who said you will be getting any orders at all.

I realize this with ALL of the wire service. Free for three months it is done until the next directory comes into play and they can start charging you.

I left FTD years ago and I am not missing it.
I did not join Bloomnet. Never did andnever will.
I did Flower Network for a year and see if it was worth it. Did'nt....Cancel and free again.

Just got a free listing for Direct 2 Direct florist for 1 year. Will be able to see if it is worth it. If not, I am not joining in a year.

I am TF and that is plenty enough.

Luc

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

Another cautionary note...if they bill you after you leave for anything you believe you do not owe, don't pay them and don't be afraid of them.

There was a thread about 5 months ago maybe, where they had sent bills to a ton of shops for 800.00 or other odd amounts. We all discussed it and I hope no one fell for paying.

 

[inferno63]

Another cautionary note...if they bill you after you leave for anything you believe you do not owe, don't pay them and don't be afraid of them.

There was a thread about 5 months ago maybe, where they had sent bills to a ton of shops for 800.00 or other odd amounts. We all discussed it and I hope no one fell for paying.

I continue to get bills for $180 that I will not pay. I sent them a certified with signed receipt letter asking for an itemizing of the charges. They signed for the letter and never sent itemization. Then they sent another bill for $180 and I sent them another certified request for itemization. They signed and still nothing. Then another bill. I quit sending certified letters now. I think I have enough documentation to fight them in court if necessary. Their record keeping is a big-a@@ mess!

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

Completely agree with you Inferno, Bloomnet has to be the absolute worst for bookkeeping.

They are the worst for not paying the florist everything they owe them, this from personal experience.

 

[PhillyPhlorist]

I continue to get bills for $180 that I will not pay. I sent them a certified with signed receipt letter asking for an itemizing of the charges. They signed for the letter and never sent itemization. Then they sent another bill for $180 and I sent them another certified request for itemization. They signed and still nothing. Then another bill. I quit sending certified letters now. I think I have enough documentation to fight them in court if necessary. Their record keeping is a big-a@@ mess!

Yup. Speaking from sim. experience here.
Stick to your guns, don't pay them unless they can get an ITEMIZED bill - which they can't...

-H.

 

[mperry]

We sent the certified letter in March of 2007. About every six months we would receive another bill always more than the last. Each time I sent letters, copies of all the letters certified. Never did I get a response. Last month I got a letter from a collection agency. That's when I started calling. I hope it is finally over but I had to call every day and ask to talk to Greg in the collections dept. Also mentioning Darrell Lake seemed to help. He is the one who called me and tried to get me to stay with them. If you want it to end get on the phone. I kept everything and documented everything.

 

[sfox]

We sent the certified letter in March of 2007. About every six months we would receive another bill always more than the last. Each time I sent letters, copies of all the letters certified. Never did I get a response. Last month I got a letter from a collection agency. That's when I started calling. I hope it is finally over but I had to call every day and ask to talk to Greg in the collections dept. Also mentioning Darrell Lake seemed to help. He is the one who called me and tried to get me to stay with them. If you want it to end get on the phone. I kept everything and documented everything.

Years ago, when we quit FTD we had the same problem. The final bill was wrong and we never paid it. BUT we started a file just for the final FTD events. They tried collecting and we never gave a dime. Much paperwork went back and forth and every piece was saved.

After a very long time, it went to a collection agency. They tried to bully us. Finally the collection agency stated they were taking us to court.

That's when the fun began. I stated to the gentleman "go ahead". BUT if I were you I would be sure that your client has given you all the facts. I proceeded to tell him that we have a file showing that the amounts they have been trying to collect was wrong and we had proof to show it. SO please take us to court because we would like to get this over with. That lead to a discussion of what was the correct amount. We gave him our number. He stated that he would be willing to settle for that. My answer was NO. We have invested way too much time and energy trying to settle this and we feel we should be compensated for that. We stated that we tried to pay the correct amount from the very beginning but FTD would not budge. So after all this time we would only settled by paying 10% of the orginal correct amount. And we further stated that that offer was only good for 24 hours and after that we would only settle by going to court.

The next morning they called back and accepted. We stated that they could have their money immediately, but we would need a letter stating that no marks would be made on our credit report and that the amount we are willing to pay is the Final Total, nothing else remains. We got it, they got their money.

 

[TOTO]

Getting in is EASY! Getting out is another story.

Years ago, when we quit FTD we had the same problem. The final bill was wrong and we never paid it. BUT we started a file just for the final FTD events. They tried collecting and we never gave a dime. Much paperwork went back and forth and every piece was saved.

After a very long time, it went to a collection agency. They tried to bully us. Finally the collection agency stated they were taking us to court.

That's when the fun began. I stated to the gentleman "go ahead". BUT if I were you I would be sure that your client has given you all the facts. I proceeded to tell him that we have a file showing that the amounts they have been trying to collect was wrong and we had proof to show it. SO please take us to court because we would like to get this over with. That lead to a discussion of what was the correct amount. We gave him our number. He stated that he would be willing to settle for that. My answer was NO. We have invested way too much time and energy trying to settle this and we feel we should be compensated for that. We stated that we tried to pay the correct amount from the very beginning but FTD would not budge. So after all this time we would only settled by paying 10% of the original correct amount. And we further stated that the offer was only good for 24 hours and after that we would only settle by going to court.

The next morning they called back and accepted. We stated that they could have their money immediately, but we would need a letter stating that no marks would be made on our credit report and that the amount we are willing to pay is the Final Total, nothing else remains. We got it, they got their money.

Tis SAD but TRUE SFOX!

I think your story could be said of all of the WSs.

Getting in is EASY, but getting out is TOUGH!

During my exit strategy, I signed off to one SIGN ON service at a time.

Once I had finally stopped all options to include my old FAH and their website, the end was near.

On your advice, I got my credit cards out from under them FIRST THING!

My quitting date was right after Mother's Day back in 2004 and I posted that on the old FTDI bulletin board. That was after being a member in good standing since 1970 and an FTD ONLY! shop since 1984. At that point, small bob shut off our mercury since he didn't like what I had to say about what he was doo-ing. And then, he shut down the bulletin board for the same reasons as others didn't like it either.

Anyway, wee bee gone and they tried to bill us for stuff we didn't owe them for. They even tried to charge us for the old mercury 3,000, the same one we purchased from FTDA for $1 when our old lease ran out.

Creative financing 101 is their order of the day and your advice should be taken to heart by every florist.

Keep all your paperwork, statements, and correspondence when disputing those FINAL BOGUS EXIT CHARGES.

And most of all, DO NOT ALLOW THEM or their subcontracted collection agencies to intimidate you!

If you can prove that, you don't owe them the money, DON'T PAY IT and be prepared to tell them so, even when they threaten to take you to court.

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

A cautionary note.

If you pay anything on a disputed amount, that action will renew the debt and cause it to show up on your credit report in it's original severely delinquent form.

Also, Once a debt has been sold to a collection agency, that means the original owner of that debt (WS) has written it off. The collection agency has bought it for maybe 10cents on the dolloar, and will be happy to take any amount they can get BUT...go back to paragraph one...it will show on your credit report.

Heard all of this on the TODAY Program this week. They also mentioned something about each state having a different amount of time debt stays on your credit report some as few as three years.

I don't pay what I don't own, and I sure don't support the crooked swimming sharks!

What can I say, I love listening to the news. hehe!

 

[roysecityfloristand gifts]

http://www.debtsteps.com/debt-collection-statute-of-limitations.html

Check out this website for the number of years your state uses for the Stutute of Limitations regarding debt and credit reporting.

It's very informative, and will tell you what I said about not paying on old
unsubstanciated debt claims against you.

 

[lizzie ann]

it took me 4mo to finally get out of bloomnet and another 4mo to get the charges thaqt kept adding up removed. I had been given one of the district managers e-mail at one time so......I e-mailed him every day for two weeks....and lo and behold he got everything cleared up pretty quick. FYI if he is still with the company his 3-mail was [email protected].....

 

[avenuegardensflorist]

We sent the certified letter in March of 2007. About every six months we would receive another bill always more than the last. Each time I sent letters, copies of all the letters certified. Never did I get a response. Last month I got a letter from a collection agency. That's when I started calling. I hope it is finally over but I had to call every day and ask to talk to Greg in the collections dept. Also mentioning Darrell Lake seemed to help. He is the one who called me and tried to get me to stay with them. If you want it to end get on the phone. I kept everything and documented everything.

darrell lake=previous carik dude
smooth operator
w/ bloomnet huh?
glad i never went that route