FTD Blames Customers

BBJ (Big Bad John)

BBJ (Big Bad John)

Flower Dude
Oct 31, 2002
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United Online, parent company of FTD and Classmates.com, a company that the government said banked $70 million via the three marketers said: "We believe that our marketing practices provide clear disclosure. We do not transfer our customer's credit or debit card information to third parties without our customer's consent."
Priceline said the terms of the deal have "been clearly and fully explained."
It's all your fault
The inference is clear: The people complaining about this are the ones who screwed up. The terms of the deal were all in the ad so that means anyone who was charged the monthly fee either wanted it at the time or was negligent.


Here's a link to the full article
 
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there's something wrong with that statement - customers credit card numbers were captured by the "rewards" companies... did that just filter through air to them when it was an FTD ordering site? Me thinks they should restate their position. Customers did not enter their credit cards twice.
 
What a crock... I pray congress is not as stupid as Goldston thinks they are...
 
It is a crock, yet I run into it all of the time. There are several "junk" catalogs that I order from on-line, and I almost fell for it once. During my check-out, I get a gigantic, colorful box saying something about click here to find out how to get $10 free! If you bother to read it, it does tell you that you will be charged a monthly fee. I have learned to be extremely wary, and just take the time to read before I click, because you are "agreeing" to the charge.
As for praying that congress isn't as stupid as Goldston thinks......:dearbob:, I guess I'll add my prayers too.
 
Comments are up to 90 as of this morning...

I liked the one from the Etailer in Kansas... seems Goldston eluded to "not knowing what offers (code) we're on our site"...
 
Better pray harder

Mark said:
What a crock... I pray congress is not as stupid as Goldston thinks they are...
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I would not count on congresses intelligence or common sense to rule the day. This is the same group that was all for going to Iraq to put an end to the stockpile of "weapons of mass destruction".

I suspect that whatever they do with this will be based on one thing, perceived public support (translated = potential vote value). Unfortunately as nobody likes having their privacy breached online or being ripped off this will probably be a hot topic with congress rallying around it.

Now, while its lots of fun to bash the likes of 800 Flowers, FTD, or Proflowers (the big 3) the reality is that to many consumers these names are synonymous with flowers, particularly online. So having the online flower industry dragged though the mud (justifiably so or not) can only hurt our industry as a whole.

Today's consumers have a lot more online gifting choices than even a decade ago, in fact there is very little that can not be ordered and delivered the next day. Flowers no longer have a monopoly.

What we should all be in fear of with this mess is that the consumer makes choices other than flowers. There are not many retail florists left that do not derive a portion of their sales from an online presence (some via FTD FOL sites) and in years to come this by rights should continue to grow for individual retailers. The last thing anyone in this industry wants or need is a loss of consumer trust in ordering flowers online.

It would simply be naive to believe that the average consumer is informed enough to know or even cares that the business practices of the "Big 3" are not the industry standard.

So lets all hope that this dies a quiet death and that the companies involved correct their business practices.

Trust me, being proven right about deceptive business practices will prove little comfort if your own sales decline because of it.
 
Doug,

You make some good points - however I think we can find a little solace in this case as the investigation goes wider than just the flower industry. WebLoyalty has hooked up with retailers in just about every industry. We just happen to focus on the FTD/1-800 connection here because that's where it hits closest to home.

Ryan
 
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Infinite said:
Doug,

You make some good points - however I think we can find a little solace in this case as the investigation goes wider than just the flower industry. WebLoyalty has hooked up with retailers in just about every industry. We just happen to focus on the FTD/1-800 connection here because that's where it hits closest to home.

Ryan
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Ryan, your point is well taken. This is the one time that we should all be grateful that as an industry we tend to rank fairly low on the consumers list of priorities. Hopefully some of the the other industries involved will absorb most of the consumer backlash and we can quietly slip under the radar.

As well I truly hope that the companies in our industry take heed and change their practices.
 
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Alas, I suspect you are right

Mark said:
Because much money's involved, it'll only happen by force...change that is.
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Unfortunately, if you are correct it means being dragged through the mud
 
I agree that financial back-lash is the only way. If they are not making money on it, they will go find something else. The biggest fear in my mind is that should congress decide on some sort of financial punishment, and it would have to be significant; all parties, including those "unknowingly participating", could/probably would share in that burden. Perhaps not fair, but more than likely the scenario.
 
Goldston and the UNTD participation in the CC scams is in the news again today. Seems a lady from Kentucky whose bank accounted was raided by Classmates.com ($900 in debits and overdraft charges caused by the debits) could only get her money back by calling Goldston's wife. Read the entire story on CNET: E-tail Scrooges and how one woman defeated them.

Florists should especially pay attention to:
There seems to be a new and alarming trend among tech and e-tailing firms on how to make a fast buck and the formula goes something like this: a merchant sneaks a few smallish charges into a customer's bill and then claims it was the customer's fault for, say, hitting the wrong phone key--or in the case of the controversial marketers--for not reading the fine print in advertisements. Next, the goal seems to be to make the process of obtaining a refund especially difficult.
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Sounds very much like they have to deal with WS statements. ;)
 
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CHR said:
Goldston and the UNTD participation in the CC scams is in the news again today. Seems a lady from Kentucky whose bank accounted was raided by Classmates.com ($900 in debits and overdraft charges caused by the debits) could only get her money back by calling Goldston's wife. Read the entire story on CNET: E-tail Scrooges and how one woman defeated them.

Florists should especially pay attention to:
Sounds very much like they have to deal with WS statements. ;)
Click to expand...

wonder if Goldston is going to fine himself double the amount, like FTD does for problem wire orders? :rolleyes:

it's good to be FTD-free.

joe
 
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Joe Mioux said:
wonder if Goldston is going to fine himself double the amount, like FTD does for problem wire orders? :rolleyes:

it's good to be FTD-free.

joe
Click to expand...
One has to wonder if this whole things is getting ready to blow up in Goldstons face.
 
Mark said:
One has to wonder if this whole things is getting ready to blow up in Goldstons face.
Click to expand...

the sooner, the better...hope his wife has something to say about it!!
 
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