Thanks Linda that was funny and I did know the post would stir reaction but it was more about alerting people and frankly does not do much good to push things under the rug .
Chargebacks begin
- Thread starter steve
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lori042499
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Steve, I am sorry you felt like you were ganged up on..I am really very surprised that with your amount of knowledge and such that you would have filled such an order...I am so confused by florists even myself on why we do things for these companies and it took many of these kinds of threads for me to see, that not only were the orders damaging my business and not really profitable, but stressful and a waste of valuable time...I am hoping that people will read these threads and see that there is alot more than just the money they cost but so many things you cannot put andactual value on that these orders affect, such as time, stress, health, mind..all these..
You keep saying it so stressful well there is no stress here within a min I had everything at my finger tips the documentation support the case I will prevail not an issue. And I explain the critiera for what few orders might get filled by us from such a vendor, that is not going to change I am not going to give away any large order that is in fact a profitable order just so I can build my competition but mind you that is very few orders that we are talking about as most of their orders are under valued and highly unprofitable and those are dumped on a grocery store not another florist in the area vs paying a reject fee. And I will say it again this is not about the wire services this is about how the order gatherer's get these orders in the first place, they lurk on the same internet page that your listing is on they create an impression that they are in your town and in many cases they might even use your name if we don't win that battle in each and every state we are going to lose this industry plain and simple.
anytimeflowers
Linda
Well said Steve. Yes, you are probably right, that consumer more than likely thought they were ordering direct from you or another "real" shop.
What do you mean "lay low a little"?
I'd say the same about any of the proven jack ass companies like Blooms Today and Just Flowers. They are notorious for charge backs or not honoring the total given..... If you fill for them expect it to happen. Pure and Simple.
you eat a dozen doughnuts a day- you'll get fat
you smoke cigarettes- you have a good chance of lung cancer
you run red lights- you may get hit by on coming traffic
You live a life of crime- expect to get murdered or go to prison
you fill for JF or the like- don't expect to get paid
Besides- we aren't talking about the "it could be's" we are talking about JUST FLOWERS.
When you fill the order for them- the consumer thinks they did the right thing by ordering from Just Flowers.
Why would a consumer order directly off your site when they know they can go to Just Flowers and get YOU to fill the order.
Look- If I thought for a moment I could order through burger king a filet mignon and pay burger king prices but a fancy steak house will cook it for me and I get all the benefits of the fancy steak house- Why would I order directly from the fancy steak house?
I know why we took their orders for so long. That's what we have always done. Take orders and fill them for Teleflora, FTD etc.. I have been the the biz a long time but it has changed completely. I'm trying to stay on top of it but it's more challenging every day.
Shannon I am not looking to argue with you but I will say when I google your city and state you got more florist there then the entire state of Vermont and you got every single order gatherer known to man representing themselves as being in your city also. You have not accomplished a thing by rejecting a profitable order as that order is going to get filled by one of the florist in your city. We need to beat these guys at the order source.
bootcampguy
Well-Known Member
Well, well, well..........................that's the root right there
Steve- I'm not arguing either, I just see it differently. How do you beat them by filling for them?
I am with you Steve. I don't fill orders for JF anymore, but one month I did get about 10 chargebacks from them. I just called FTD's member services and they asked me to fax the invoices showing the order marked delivered. I got paid. The CSR told me that for Just Flowers, they don't even really investigate. If you claim it was filled then you get paid.
Also, I don't know what the $1.50 rejection fee is that you are talking about. FTD charges $2.00 for every incoming mercury order (more for phone orders)whether you fill or reject it, but if you reject the order then they will refund that money. You just have to call member services after the statements post and ask for all rejected and canceled mercury charges to be refunded. If you are a large filling shop then you probably have alot of rejections/cancels. If you haven't been calling for credit, you should call immediately. They will refund everything from the last 90 days. Statements post on FTDI.com on the 10th, and I always call on the 11th. It's a 5 minute phone call that saves me about 60 bucks a month.
They will NOT automatically refund the money every month, and sometimes the CSR "forgets" to actually do it after you call. So check your statement every month to make sure the money actually comes back.
So far as I know (and I scrutinize every fee on my statement), FTD has no "rejection fee" unless you miss the 2 hour deadline and have to pay the $10.00 "Delayed Response" fee. FYI if you ever miss the 2 hour deadline just call the sending shop (usually FTD.com for me), tell them you can't do it and ask them to send a cancel. If they send a cancel then you don't get nailed with a DR fee.
Also, I don't know what the $1.50 rejection fee is that you are talking about. FTD charges $2.00 for every incoming mercury order (more for phone orders)whether you fill or reject it, but if you reject the order then they will refund that money. You just have to call member services after the statements post and ask for all rejected and canceled mercury charges to be refunded. If you are a large filling shop then you probably have alot of rejections/cancels. If you haven't been calling for credit, you should call immediately. They will refund everything from the last 90 days. Statements post on FTDI.com on the 10th, and I always call on the 11th. It's a 5 minute phone call that saves me about 60 bucks a month.
They will NOT automatically refund the money every month, and sometimes the CSR "forgets" to actually do it after you call. So check your statement every month to make sure the money actually comes back.
So far as I know (and I scrutinize every fee on my statement), FTD has no "rejection fee" unless you miss the 2 hour deadline and have to pay the $10.00 "Delayed Response" fee. FYI if you ever miss the 2 hour deadline just call the sending shop (usually FTD.com for me), tell them you can't do it and ask them to send a cancel. If they send a cancel then you don't get nailed with a DR fee.
LOTAKIDS
Well-Known Member
What a wire service game.....What a time waster just to get YOUR money!!!
I am so glad I do not belong to FTD!!!
lori042499
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Yeah, imagine all the email blasts, promo posters and website work that could be done instead of making all those silly calls to get a few bucks each arrangement to make them marginally profitable...Holy h-e-double hockey sticks...i would rather slice my wrists than call any of these places up every single month and beg for my money...They really do stink...
Mikey the Flower Guy
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you got me thinking...I WOULDN'T "slice my wrists" for ANYONE!!
lori042499
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I wouldn't either, but I would much rather do that than deal with the crap that Jamie is...that is just plain old crazy talk...and furthermore, I have never ever had a wrieservice call about any kind of money back take 5 minutes, ever...more like 5 calls and a half a days work....but maybe thats just me...
Please don't say you heard it from me, I wouldn't want to end the way FTD handles my rejects, I get 10-40 mostly FTD.com per month that I cannot fill due to the low price. (Even with 3X markup and no labour charge they are too low, who fills this stuff??)
I don't pay refusal fees. Every month I get my statement and send my FTD rep a list of all the rejects (and cancels) with a note saying "below codified minimum" or "cannot fill recipe at this price" or "florist cancelled" and I get a credit the next month for the charges. It's crazy to have to pay the fees, sometimes I get the same orders 2-3 times, there is no way the receiving florist should have to pay. We have the extra problem in Canada of FTD.com and TLF.com not charging taxes that we have to back off which leaves even less to fill already underpriced items. It's a fair bit of work but well worth the effort.
Also note to any US florists sending wire orders to Canada. We have to muliply by 84.24% before we back off delivery. (Both FTD and Teleflora have it in their rules/catalogues) but no one tells US florists this. Avoid customer disappointment and charge them an extra 15% to cover taxes in Canada.
I don't pay refusal fees. Every month I get my statement and send my FTD rep a list of all the rejects (and cancels) with a note saying "below codified minimum" or "cannot fill recipe at this price" or "florist cancelled" and I get a credit the next month for the charges. It's crazy to have to pay the fees, sometimes I get the same orders 2-3 times, there is no way the receiving florist should have to pay. We have the extra problem in Canada of FTD.com and TLF.com not charging taxes that we have to back off which leaves even less to fill already underpriced items. It's a fair bit of work but well worth the effort.
Also note to any US florists sending wire orders to Canada. We have to muliply by 84.24% before we back off delivery. (Both FTD and Teleflora have it in their rules/catalogues) but no one tells US florists this. Avoid customer disappointment and charge them an extra 15% to cover taxes in Canada.
They call us and try to give us orders, We simply say we do not accept orders from them. It seems like a few years ago there was a 800 number you could fax a "do not call us" to for these people. Does anyone know if there is such a number now?
Mikey the Flower Guy
It's a GREAT DAY to live, and love!
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yes there is....it's 1800 DumpFTD
Mikey the Flower Guy
It's a GREAT DAY to live, and love!
- Nov 10, 2002
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