Floral Source?

retro

retro

New Member
Jul 10, 2011
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Cullman
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AL
Ok Floral Source called today. They have a pretty sweet deal at the moment, $10 rebate for the first 10 orders you send for the next 3 months, after that $5 rebate for every order you send. No fees first 3 months, then $69.99. Directory fees about $29 per quarter after 3 months. What's the catch? I am paying $3.99 to send my order now w FSN plus the annual fee so this looks to save me $. Then I started doing research...cheapflowers.com uses them and I don't want my name associated with that! This site advertises free delivery to the customer too. Comments on this offer? The rep is calling me back in the morning.
 
Stay away. You will probably be flooded with high volume, low priced arrangements. And there is always the catch in the fine print.
 
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retro said:
Floral Source called today. What's the catch? I don't want my name associated with that! Comments on this offer? The rep is calling me back in the morning.
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I think you already answered your own question. And I would add... I'd bet FSN has better coverage that FSI... what does FSI have...a couple thousand members?

I would have nothing to do with them.... cheapflowers.com is just the tip of the debacle...
 
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Ok I am not going with them. They sent me an email about 3 sites they advertise my shop on....Locateaflowershop.com looks legit. Flowercenterusa.com looks ok so far. Yourprofessionalflorist.com has order gatherers! I called one and the guy answered "flower shop" a dead giveaway. I asked him what flowershop? He said they are assoc w many and are from Prof Flowers Online! I asked if they were in the city I called about and he said yes. I asked for the address and he put me on hold. Duh. So the rep from Floral Source called back. He is very nice, but I told him I couldn't possibly use his company and told him way. He seemed surprised to know Cheapflowers.com sends exclusively thru Floral Source. He went to the website while we were talking and I had him scroll down to where it shows his company. I explained the website is misleading and promises free delivery which is not true. I told him the savings wasn't worth the cost to my reputation. He said he understood and would check with his boss about what I said.
 
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Here's an article written by the owner of cheapflowers.com:
http://www.impulsecorp.com/how-i-bought-a-flower-store

it is awful!

Update: the guy's supervisor called me. She said that Floral Source is not associated with cheapflowers.com, that cheapflowers.com is simply a member like I would be. Huh? She said FSI simply wants to help florists and would never do anything to hurt their business. I explained to her that by allowing order gatherers to be members she WAS hurting my business as well as her own company's reputation. She replied well since I can't change your mind I'll just call another shop in your town...I said Good Luck! This ends my saga.
 
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Another problem that I wanted to solve was that most florists have horrible customer service. Many local florists are disorganized and often make mistakes, but are very unwilling to give you refunds or compensate you for these mistakes. They will usually offer to redeliver the flowers for free if they mess up, but for example when it is a week after your grandmother’s birthday that they missed, that does not help much. Or, they will deliver the flowers, but forget the balloon you ordered. Or, they would deliver the order on time, but the gift card won’t say who it was from. And, under no circumstances will any florist ever refund your order and give you something extra as compensation to make up for the problem. In my opinion, if a florist loses your order and makes you look like an idiot for forgetting someone’s birthday or anniversary or whatever, it is not enough just for them to give you a refund and say they are sorry it happened.
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Ugh.


after a few years I shut the retail stores down. I was losing $5,000-$10,000/month combined on them and could not afford to keep them open any longer
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Do you suppose this was because he filled so many of his own discounted orders? It's my gut feeling that he will never understand that.
 
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retro said:
unbelievable....hope he reads FC
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Did you read the letter?

I thought it was very well thought out, and it pretty much nailed the flowers by wire side of the biz. My only contention to it was as I noted on the article.

And trust me when I say, John and I have had our wars over the years... I don't think he reads here, but I know he gets fed posts by some...
 
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BOSS said:
Did you read the letter?

I thought it was very well thought out, and it pretty much nailed the flowers by wire side of the biz. My only contention to it was as I noted on the article.

And trust me when I say, John and I have had our wars over the years... I don't think he reads here, but I know he gets fed posts by some...
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I thought it was very long and hurt my eyes with the tiny print. I have read it over and will read it again...
 
BOSS said:
Did you read the letter?

I thought it was very well thought out, and it pretty much nailed the flowers by wire side of the biz. My only contention to it was as I noted on the article.

And trust me when I say, John and I have had our wars over the years... I don't think he reads here, but I know he gets fed posts by some...
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I skimmed ... did he mention that the guys kicked out of FTD & TF have a habit of landing in FSI to prop up their​ order volume?
 
anytimeflowers said:
It's my understanding that somebody else owns Cheapflowers, not John. Am I wrong?
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Right ... I'm just talking about the type of OG that has wound up as members of FSI over the years.
 
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RKF said:
I skimmed ... did he mention that the guys kicked out of FTD & TF have a habit of landing in FSI to prop up their​ order volume?
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Now Ryan... you know it didn't... no wire service will talk about their "stables"...

I did talk to John via email this afternoon... I did mention that any "viable" wire service will have to devoid itself of OG's and FOG's (new term :) Florist Order Gatherers, ie: Kremp and Berry) to remain credible in florists eyes...
 
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Yes I read the letter, but since he's from Floral Source, it's like the pot calling the kettle black.
 
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Mark, I like the new terminology "FOG" (Florist Order Gatherer).

Perhaps this will clear up some of the misunderstandings with regard to the term OG.

I'm guessing that FOG refers to a Florist that has gone too far in marketing itself. Someone who could not possibly deliver to locations thousands of miles away (Kremp/Berry).

I suppose there could be another classification. A real florist who delivers and markets to towns (that have no services of their own), that they actually can and do deliver to.

Thanks.
 
roysecityfloristand gifts said:
I suppose there could be another classification. A real florist who delivers and markets to towns (that have no services of their own), that they actually can and do deliver to.

Thanks.
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We have that... RealFlorist.... I have no issue with anyone that markets to any area that they actually deliver to....

retro said:
Yes I read the letter, but since he's from Floral Source, it's like the pot calling the kettle black.
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Yes, to a point, but honestly, FSI does not have the fee structures the other guys do. I'm not defending them in any way, but we need to keep things straight. I'm no fan of FSI, just like the rest of them I feel their time here is done as there are/will be better options, but that said, **if** a ws made "adjustments" to remain viable there could be a place for ONE... florists are notoriously bad at paying their obligations... perhaps a clearinghouse is still needed...perhaps not.
 
I have one thing to say..I read the Carruthers FSI letter on Florist for change board....This offer kind of negates everything he said and supports that his company is willing to play the same games as the big guys to gain memebrship although he says he believes it is what is wrong with the wires..This is the evry thing that makes me crazy, florists know that the wires and ogs are competeing against them harder than ever and complain yet fill their orders faster and harder than they fill their own paying customers orders, wire services say what is wrong with the industry, yet keep their prices going up and reward the problems with more money...How does anyone think all of this nonsense will stop...if you keep letting thieves out of jail there will be more robberies....
 
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