Delayed Response Program?

[purplegirl]

Today was the first time I thought ftd's DRP would come in handy for a $110 funeral spray that was not delivered. My customer came in very upset that his spray was not at the funeral home. I apologized up and down and refunded his money. Sent the florist an ask regarding the missing spray and to reject the order due to non-delivery. The florist calls indicating that the spray was not delivered. "One of our girls is new and screwed up a bunch of things." He asked what do we want to do with the order, told him to reject, meanwhile, there is a woman in the background yelling that we have to cancel the order. Florists' know the loopholes around this program so now it is ineffective.

So I called ftd since the drp is their program. "Sorry, we can't force a florist to reject the order, we sugguest you cancel the order. We can credit you $50 for an apology arrangement that the florist will be charged back." Fine, but what's the point of the program?

Tomorrow the family will be back in my delivery area and I can send a very nice arrangement on behalf of my customer (and I'll know they will get it! I'm just fustrated with a program that claims to "protect you, your customer. protecting our industry." Right!!! Thanks, just had to vent!

 

[BOSS]

Florists' know the loopholes around this program so now it is ineffective.

It was impotent for the get go. FTD put it out there to placate a few vocal order gatherers and themselves in an attempt to get florists to respond in a timely manner.

That's all well and good, but they went about it the wrong way. They built no fail-safes into the program, where you could ASK a question and wait for the answer. So florists in many cases simply reject, out of hand any order that has the slightest defect.

I had one just today. Delivery within our parameters, to a local business. No problem, except the local business is in the mall and the name of the business was not given, just the mall address... Sorry... REJECT... don't have time to wait for some fool to get back to me before the penalty kicks in....

The DRP *could* be a worthwhile program, if they wanted to fix it, but since they don't,...it's not, unless your an OG or something...

 

[prestonway]

The DRP *could* be a worthwhile program, if they wanted to fix it, but since they don't,...it's not, unless your an OG or something...

Since FTD is apparently one of the ultimate OG's, it wouldn't surprise me if "they wanted to fix it", with a change coming soon.

But let's not forget the blame in this case.

It's not with FTD.

It's not with an OG.

It's with the stupid friggin' florist that lost the order and now wants to bail!!!:alcoholic

 

[bloomz]

It's a killer program, just needs some more tweaking to make it run smoother.

I'll be collecting $180 this month from one this week for a soldier in Iraq's anniversary - their printer was out of ink and they had to wait 2 days for FTD to send it to them!

Next time I bet they look for an Office Max. Or learn to suspend.

I've cried many times now that someone needs to intervene and reject when they won't and are obviously incompetent or stubborn that they shouldn't get fined for screwing up, but not that many florists even seem to know about it.

And by the way, PurpleG - you just need to make the wheel squeek louder cuz your exact situation happened to me earlier this month and they told me to cancel it and send another and they will just bill it to the offender (that's their workaround for now).

But Preston nailed it spot on - who's fault is this anyway???

OG or not - it's a good program for anyone that ever sends an order thru FTD.

As for the fillers that don't like it - geez I wonder why???

 

[Bigted]

As for the fillers that don't like it - geez I wonder why???

I still don't like it. It is a one sided program designed only to protect the OG senders. If it was really a consumer protection program there would be rules against the egregious stuff done by the OGs.

I do agree that it stops the ridiculous practice of letting the order sit there until it's too late. But why enforce that rule and turn your back on the blatent skimming and general consumer rip off practices that we all see every day?

Why enforce that rule and yet still put out pictures of arrangements that have all the flowers crammed into the front when there is no way a real flowershop can duplicate the picture?

I think we know the answer.

 

[bloomz]

Ted, hasn't it been beneficial at all to your outgoing business?

You send a couple orders too...

 

[CHR]

It is a one sided program designed only to protect the OG senders. If it was really a consumer protection program there would be rules against the egregious stuff done by the OGs.

Well said, Ted.

 

[bloomz]

It protects every sender large and small.

silly.....


This addresses one part of the problem, unprofessional order handling.

and it's a start, those other matters are - well, other matters.

 

[Joe Mioux]

The net effect is that this program will push more retail florists out of FTD and judging from the size of the directory, I bet there are already large gaps in delivery areas now.

Honest mistakes happen and the penalty seems excessive.

Conversely, certain shops will hold certain orders and I can see why PW and Bloomzie like the program.

oh well, I am gone from FTD soon. Last week we didn't receive a single florist to florist FTD order.

 

[BOSS]

Jon, we've discussed this before, and you and I both know the "fix" to the DRP is a simple one... the program has been out long enough to work out the kinks and they have chosen to leave a faulty program in place rather than fix it.

As we have agreed, all they need to do is allow an ASK message to stop the clock, so that there is time for fixing an order. Just like the one I mentioned, had I been allowed time to get the business name (that was not supplied) I would have taken that order, but the DRP removes the sometimes needed time frame for research.

My reject message read: This order is being rejected due to the FTD Delayed Response Program. Not enough time to find recipient address before the penalty is invoked.

I have said I think it's a worthwhile program, but in it's current form it is creating trigger happy shooters.

 

[LJVF]

Jon, we've discussed this before, and you and I both know the "fix" to the DRP is a simple one... the program has been out long enough to work out the kinks and they have chosen to leave a faulty program in place rather than fix it.

As we have agreed, all they need to do is allow an ASK message to stop the clock, so that there is time for fixing an order. Just like the one I mentioned, had I been allowed time to get the business name (that was not supplied) I would have taken that order, but the DRP removes the sometimes needed time frame for research.

I agree with this, seems an ASK should stop the clock. Problem is, what if the ASK comes when it is too late, like a day after the delivery was supposed to be made?

My reject message read: This order is being rejected due to the FTD Delayed Response Program. Not enough time to find recipient address before the penalty is invoked.

Sometimes I think some florists think REJect first just so they can include your message in it out of spite.

After many months of evaluating this program, I still have mixed feelings. I think it's a good idea, but the program in it's current state has many unfair glitches.

It does potentially benefit all senders depending if the fillers know the loopholes or not, but it is clear to me that the real beneficiary of the program is FTD and FTD.com themselves and I'm not talking OG's. Not knocking them, but it is what it is.

One step to making this fair is to put everyone on an equal plane.

Why is the filling florist allowed to FORward any OG or florist to florist order, but not an FTD.com order? Seems to me it should be one way or the other. Either we should be allowed to FORward a .com order or they should do away with the FORward message all together, what's fair is fair.

Who benefits from the increased revenue stream of all REJected orders due to this program? As ridiculous as it sounds, FTD makes money on every quick triggered REJected order.

Technically, in the current playing field, the only sender that has the unhindered ability to benefit from this program is FTD.com. With florist to florist orders and OG orders, all it takes is half a brain to bypass any penalties of the DRP. The ability to bypass via loopholes defeats the purpose doesn't it? But there aren't any loopholes with the .com orders, things that make you go hmm....

We'll see how this unfolds, in the meantime I'll play by the rules.

 

[BOSS]

I agree with this, seems an ASK should stop the clock. Problem is, what if the ASK comes when it is too late, like a day after the delivery was supposed to be made?

Then the penalty kicks in just as it would otherwise, as the time limit has expired.

This is not rocket science. FTD has set this up to be favorable to FTD. Plain and simple. I mean, Jon and others here tell us each month how much money they make off of florists mistakes, just imagine how many thousands FTD makes each month.

Florists are stupid!:ssmoke

 

[LJVF]

Then the penalty kicks in just as it would otherwise, as the time limit has expired.

This is not rocket science. FTD has set this up to be favorable to FTD. Plain and simple. I mean, Jon and others here tell us each month how much money they make off of florists mistakes, just imagine how many thousands FTD makes each month.

Florists are stupid!:ssmoke

I agree, there are a lot of "stupid" florists and in a lot of cases (not all) they deserve to be penalized for their "stupid" mistakes on OUR customers orders.

My beef is that the glitches defeat the purpose of the DRP benefiting everyone. For everyone to benefit equally, there should be no loopholes. There are no loopholes for FTD, why are they present for everyone else? In Purplegirls case, what's the purpose having the program when it didn't make a difference?

 

[BOSS]

there should be no loopholes. There are no loopholes for FTD, why are they present for everyone else?

You don't really need an answer to that question do ya?:ssmoke

 

[LJVF]

You don't really need an answer to that question do ya?:ssmoke

Nope, the answer seems obvious, it was meant more as a statement than a question.

 

[bloomz]

Totally with you on that Boss, and you know a point I have been repeatedly asking for since its inception. I was even told that the software is in place to do just that, just hasn't had the switch thrown.

Except not necessarily STOP the clock, but reset the 2 hours. I don't want the clock stopped - that would be too easy to manipulate.

Don't forget tho that with a valid reason the penalties are being washed. Tho I think you minimize when you call them florist "mistakes" - these generally aren't targeted toward mistakes, they are targeted at unprofessional non-timely order handling that, uncurtailed, loses everyone customers.

Valid reasons?

opinions vary I'm sure

printer out of ink doesn't qualify in my book tho i bet I'll get a call next month on that one. "mistake"? I guess...valid? no - important Anniversary flower message went undelivered.

that one I had when the patient died - yeah - valid

But given the choice (for now) of a hair triggered reject or a non-delivery/lost customer - well, let me think..........


Couldn't be it benefits ftd.com more because they send more orders yeah? I bet it benefits Shane more than it does me too.

Now if I could just get more orders than ftd.com, hmmmm


That still doesn't mean it doesn't benefit a florist that sends 1 or 2 or 3 orders a month. Those 3 orders are every bit as important to the business of that shop a ftd.com's are.


But ya know what? I've definitely noticed a difference in tmely order handling (among professional florists like yourself Boss) since the program started and the penalties have most definitely helped me to retain customers I used to either have to lose or pay for someone else's mistakes myself.

 

[LJVF]

I had one just today. Delivery within our parameters, to a local business. No problem, except the local business is in the mall and the name of the business was not given, just the mall address... Sorry... REJECT... don't have time to wait for some fool to get back to me before the penalty kicks in....

The DRP *could* be a worthwhile program, if they wanted to fix it, but since they don't,...it's not, unless your an OG or something...

Question, was this an FTD.com order? If not, why not send the ASK? If you FORward the order after the allowed time you will NOT be penalized. This is what I'm getting at, the loopholes create an out for the filling florist. This defeats the whole purpose of the program.

 

[purplegirl]

Thanks for all your feedback. Here's the update. Sent the florist two more asks to reject the order. They ignored both. Even though I shouldn't have to, I canceled the order today. Still have not received a con or den, whatever, it will automatically con after no response. FTD will credit me $50 to send an arrangement to the family. Great, but I'm out the total sale from my customer. I agree that the drp benifits FTD and og's. If an ftd.com order is not delivered, ftd forces the florist to reject the order through their end. However, I sent this order to a florist who knows how the program works (or got busted by it) and they know how to get around it by not being fully penalized.

Not that this will help, but I've called my ftd rep (who is on vacation until monday). If I can't get my sale back from the drp program, I'm going to work on getting the quality assurance program fee wavied since it is a joke and I did not get a "quality" delivery for my customer. It would be nice to see some changes made to this program so it would work when it should. Thanks again for the venting session. It's great to have such a large 'support group'!

 

[BOSS]

Question, was this an FTD.com order? If not, why not send the ASK? If you FORward the order after the allowed time you will NOT be penalized. This is what I'm getting at, the loopholes create an out for the filling florist. This defeats the whole purpose of the program.

Yes it was dot-coN, and even though I do not normally handle them, they called prior to sending it. Even so, if it was a florist order, I am the ONLY FTD shop within 22 miles... no one to FORward to anywho....

And Jon, yes, I agree, the printer out of ink thing is a bogus response, that deserves a penalty... but we have a jaded view, we process everything electronically, and know within 2-3 seconds when we get an order message... some folks have the Mercury printer in the back office, or garage and only go in there once or twice a day...

 

[bloomz]

some folks have the Mercury printer in the back office, or garage and only go in there once or twice a day...

and that's how I spell - unprofessional!