HOLD UP! ALL FTDer's

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Carol to answer the confusion.
1st, the cancels do not work in a 24 hr period, they work monthly as the statement does. (usually on the 25th) If you do not do a DEN or CON at the end of the month it automatically adjusts itself for orders that have been missed thru the month.

What you have to realize is I have 18 incoming CANs right now that I do not have incoming orders for, did not get in over merc. as a printout, realizing not having printouts went into the merc to find these orders, they do not exist.
So basically what I am informing you about or others that are on high speed intranet, is to not CON if they do not have an order, because you know as well as I do once the money is taken to get back in credits is a rollover process that never happens!

You also should be checking for these outstanding CANS until they appear or if they appear on your merc., then go with the process of CONing them. But do not CON if you do not have the order.



One of the problems that I have is a Mercury system I got in 04 that is obsolete now, it does not consolidate orders like the newer systems do, some of the mercury directs people still have do not do this either, so on my statements the rej or can column will not match the incoming side of statement. Some have this system thinking when seeing a rej or con on that section think that it was a previous month order and do not go back and check it out to see when it did or what month it is rej or can order for.

Had a call yesterday from a shop in CA for an order that showed on their side sent to me fine, had a verification as well, but found out I never got the order. Although she had CAN, I did not get that either which that is the way it is suppose to be, but with DOTCOM it's another story. I am receiving CANs that I do not have orders for. So until I see or get those orders I will not CON b/c the money will be taken from me that I never received incoming in the 1st place.

Hopefully, some that do not check their statements more detail now will in the future! One of the things that a lot of florists like Connie said was a shop gets a check; that's fine but is he really checking to see what all was taken out? Some think, OH! I got a check or I get one every month and do not even look at the statement...... It's really sad that half the florists in FTD are new and do not understand how to sifen the monthly statement manually by depending on all these high fluting systems that is causing them to be stuck or bonded like a marriage forever. They are never explained or taught how to do this for that reason, "to be stuck" (FTD sales). So the only way they can learn is to talk to other florists or read up on FC!

Hope this clarifies the thread!
Cyndi
 
Re: The FAT LADY has sung!

MANORVILLE said:
I am a traditionalist. A believer in what our ancestors began.
Click to expand...

I was a traditionalist too except for the fact that, the old member owned and operated BRAND which took our ancestors 74 years to build, only took the FOR PROFIT corporation nine years to destroy.

And YES, QUITTING is the ONLY SOLUTION!

When a WS tries to place the blame for their Valentine's Day (F)ailure (T)o (D)eliver on the backs of DA FLORISTS when it was their own software mainframe problems, ya gotta believe it's your time to walk away.

Even the CEO of JETBLUE took out full page ads to apologize to their customers after their system went down due to the ICE STORM in the North East while issuing a new JETBLUE customer bill of rights.

I venture to say that, none of you holdouts will ever experience the same courtesy from your service provider and in fact, they have blamed YOU for their debacle.

And PLEASE do not consider this reality to be just another WS bashing. If anyone is bashing, it's them on YOU!
 
I had a few calls from florists who sent us Dove orders (we quit our TF membership in Nov 06) We don't even have the computer plugged in that the Dove software was installed on. These florists called because the orders they sent to my shop were never delivered. But were somehow confirmed. We turned the "Stop receiving orders" button on before unplugging the computer 3 months ago. I told them "I'm sorry but we are not members etc....I really don't understand why this happened and I am not going to call TF because life is too short to be on hold with those guys and I want to keep my blood pressure down. After quitting TF I'm thinking perhaps I may have added a few years to my life. Maybe....:)
 
Manorville

MANORVILLE said:
Does that make it right Joe ?

Quitting is not the only answer.
In my situation I took the time to over explain that in a previous post.
Do you still think that it's that simple ? Call, quit, done ? It's not !

What has happenned here has jeopardized the consumer-florist relationship !
FTD will survive, without a doubt, but what about the small shops that will suffer as a result in the court of public opinion ? We will be guilty whether it be by association or not. I am seeing and hearing it already .
We have all advertised the WS for generations and have enabled the beast to dictate the majority of opinions.

If I may ask, what would your long term solution be that would benefit all florists ? Keep in mind the varying budgetary concerns.
Click to expand...

Since you say you are new, you then have not been around to see and hear all the FTD has done in the past. You are correct about FTD breaking the consumer florist relationship. But why should FTD care? They have no responsiblity to you or your consumer. Their only concern is increasing value to the corporation and the stockholders.

Joe is correct in saying if you don't like it leave. You have no other choice and all the bricks in the world are not going to change FTD. They will work very hard at making things up to the customers that ordered thru them, but they will give the florists nothing.

Think about the fact that many florists are putting in countless manhours trying to sort out the mess. They will get nothing for their efforts by FTD>

Joe's right. You don't like it, LEAVE. Otherwise, you can yell into the face of the storm, but no one will hear you.
 
keep reading...

dear mr. manorville,

we love your spirit ! keep posting!!

hope you have or will get the chance to read some of the archive discussions
on fc concerning : to be or not to be ... ( a wire service member)

many of us started out fighting back. we lost many battles before we finally "won the war" by cancelling our ftd membership -- tf is next

as good business sense would dictate, we have purposefully surrounded ourselves and partnered with the best, most efficient, most professional, and most profitable vendors and support companies available.

we feel the ws's aren't in this category

you should do what you feel is best for YOUR business.
 
sfox & Joe

Agreed !


Guess you can't blame me for trying !
On the phone with then as we speak. Waste of time as you all know.
I've never heard so much baloney in all my life. No-one is getting the story right and I've heard about ten different explanations.
" FTD Damage Control to the 10th power ! "

I'm wasn't trying to say that you, Joe or anyone else is wrong.
I do understand the basis of your knowledge and opinions.

Can everyone survive the oust ?
Probably not and that is a terrible shame for the smaller shops.
Wish everyone could join together and tell them all where to go.

Note :
The WS websites we have worked very well for us. If you take a look at the Pop Up on the front pages you'll understand why.
http://www.manorvillefloristny.com & http://www.ManorvilleFlorists.com
73% of all visitors that want to order do in fact call us directly.
100% of the order . Beautiful thing !

( And, just noticed, once again, the TF Pop Up is back to a previous version & screwed up ). Not surprised !
 
Thanks VaseStuffer

And read I will and probably continue to fight on.
Not really good at giving up !
 
It's not giving up

MANORVILLE said:
Thanks VaseStuffer

And read I will and probably continue to fight on.
Not really good at giving up !
Click to expand...



It's just good business. Most of the florists on board here are with the WS for mainly 2 reasons, 1) they have way more outgoing then incoming. 2) they are stuck in technology jail and will have to pay the box off with no support.

The last numbers I heard a few years ago was, if your not atleast 5 out to 1 in your not going to make money with them. I'm sure that has not gotten any better thru the years.

We've been WS free for 6yrs now, less stress, no melt downs, no bickering over the statements, and making alot more money in my pocket.

I'm not a quiter either, it just makes good business. Knowing when to hold um, or when to fold um.
 
bluebonnet said:
Carol to answer the confusion.
1st, the cancels do not work in a 24 hr period, they work monthly as the statement does. (usually on the 25th) If you do not do a DEN or CON at the end of the month it automatically adjusts itself for orders that have been missed thru the month.

What you have to realize is I have 18 incoming CANs right now that I do not have incoming orders for, did not get in over merc. as a printout, realizing not having printouts went into the merc to find these orders, they do not exist.
So basically what I am informing you about or others that are on high speed intranet, is to not CON if they do not have an order, because you know as well as I do once the money is taken to get back in credits is a rollover process that never happens!

You also should be checking for these outstanding CANS until they appear or if they appear on your merc., then go with the process of CONing them. But do not CON if you do not have the order.



One of the problems that I have is a Mercury system I got in 04 that is obsolete now, it does not consolidate orders like the newer systems do, some of the mercury directs people still have do not do this either, so on my statements the rej or can column will not match the incoming side of statement. Some have this system thinking when seeing a rej or con on that section think that it was a previous month order and do not go back and check it out to see when it did or what month it is rej or can order for.

Had a call yesterday from a shop in CA for an order that showed on their side sent to me fine, had a verification as well, but found out I never got the order. Although she had CAN, I did not get that either which that is the way it is suppose to be, but with DOTCOM it's another story. I am receiving CANs that I do not have orders for. So until I see or get those orders I will not CON b/c the money will be taken from me that I never received incoming in the 1st place.

Hopefully, some that do not check their statements more detail now will in the future! One of the things that a lot of florists like Connie said was a shop gets a check; that's fine but is he really checking to see what all was taken out? Some think, OH! I got a check or I get one every month and do not even look at the statement...... It's really sad that half the florists in FTD are new and do not understand how to sifen the monthly statement manually by depending on all these high fluting systems that is causing them to be stuck or bonded like a marriage forever. They are never explained or taught how to do this for that reason, "to be stuck" (FTD sales). So the only way they can learn is to talk to other florists or read up on FC!

Hope this clarifies the thread!
Cyndi
Click to expand...
Cyndi,

I can assure you that Carol knows how the system works - probably better than 95% of florists out there. She's used it, trained it, worked it ... and she's right that a CAN message that is not responded to within 24 hours stands as cancelled automatically.

Also, you aren't understanding that a CAN doesn't take money away - it cancels a charge. You are only getting CANs because you have been credited as receiving the order. If you didn't receive the order (in this case because of FTD's issues; other times it can be a computer problem or printer out of paper ... list is endless) the only responsible thing is to CON the CANs.

And like Herb said, check over your statement. Also reconcile the in and out side, every months. Always.

Ryan
Career Florist IT & POS Guy
 
Normally , that would be the case on the con/can and credit of incoming orders but in this case with FTD issues during the valentine day fiasco it is orders/money that did not come in to me. Still as of today I am sitting here with 18 cans of orders that I did not receive incoming orders for on mercury!!! I have denied all, after the statement is received I will tackle it on the phone with FTD then.

When denying these I put in text <incoming order did not receive, so therefore can not confirm cancel.>
It was verified and not rejected as a message out. I would think if this would not be correct in denying this cancel it would of rejected it. Don't you think? Because it would cause the calculations of money wrong and kick it back as a reject to me. But time will tell with human eyes after the statement comes out in the first few days of the month.

For some reason, some seem to think I have received incoming orders and not wanting to cancel because I want to keep money for not fulfilling the order; where this comes from I have no idea!
What has happened is I am getting requests for confirms on cancels of money taken away from me of orders I did not get in!!

Cyndi
 
Don't sweat it Cyndi !
It'll out work itself out in the wash.
 
Maybe this will help some that is still not getting it, what I am trying to say.

you have 2 customers come in to your shop, give you $100 for a delivery on VD. that is the only 2 customers you have, you are the only employee (just for scenario sake). You deliver them. On the 14th, evening you have 18 customers come in to your shop at 6pm, they are wanting money back.....

You look at them to be weird or something because you know they did not purchase flowers from you, but you play the game by looking thru your 2 tickets and none of the 18 customers are any of the 2 that actually paid you the money and you delivered for.
But they are insisting you give them money and wanting to cancel their orders.

So, you say OKAAAY! Let me open up my cash drawer while you make up a ticket and sign it that I have given each one of you 18 customers money back for a cancellation.


Are you going to give them each $100 totaling $1800 or deny that they came in and gave you $100 each? the technology on the cash register says no! they did not give you $100 each, and that if you did give them the money the register at 9pm would say <<< -$1800!.

So help me understand if my mercury and ftd.com do not work in this similar type situation.

Confused.....
Cyndi
 
Cyndi-

My first question would be 'why does FTD not just administratively fix these orders without requiring local florists to CAN?' but I suppose they can't really tell which orders actually got through to shops and which didn't.

I think your cash register analogy is lacking a crucial element. FTD is not asking for a 'refund', they are requesting you to verify that the orders were unfilled and you are therefore not due payment for them.

Had one or two gotten through and you could prove delivery, you could deny the CANs. If you never filled the orders (since you didn't get them in a timely fashion) the CANs allow FTD to removed the 'dollars credited to your shop' when the orders were sent to you. They credited 73% or whatever into your account when the orders were 'sent' even though you never received them.

Now they just want to clear out the credits and take those orders back to zero.

What I find surprising is that you had 18 'Merc-ed Up' orders. If that number is average per store then 15,000 florist members X 18 would be 270,000 orders - or around 1/4 of the entire holiday volume for FTD.com.
 
PURELY UNDOCUMENTED & UNSUBSTANTIATED

Was speaking to someone today that suggests that by getting the florist to accept or send the CAN it makes it appear that the original problem was a result of the filling, or in this case, non- filling florist.
Creates a paper trail for damage control & minimizes their overall responsibility for the fiasco.

You all would have better insight into this than I.
I have no opinion as yet !
 
I'm thinking the whole computer clinches is why the orders didn't come thru but the cans did slip thru to me.

I would not X's the 15,000 florist b/c all 15,000 do not fill DOTCOM orders. I would probably put it in the category of 2,000, as well all 2,000 not filling the same count that your bigger fillers fill, but still that is a lot.

Manor you are exactly correct on your statement and at least I am not the only florist being in this situation as you spoke with 1 today same situation.

Basically I am waiting on the 5-7th, usually that is when the statement is up, go thru the mess and call to deal with it, and like Manor said it will all wash out!


I will just have to put the earplugs in when sis gets here to check the whole printed statement out!

Cyndi
 
carol said:
Well, I may be wrong..but if you do not DEN a Can within 24 hours it is an automatic Cancellation..
Click to expand...

I concur with Carol. She is correct - if no action is taken on a CAN order within 24 hours, it is automatically confirmed. What I do NOT like is FORCE CAN's...Teleflora is famous for these. Order is canceled and confirmed AUTOMATICALLY. You have no chance to dispute, even if you DEN the CAN immediately. You have to fight the battle after the Clearinghouse Statements are sent out...
From what I've seen, FTD does not do this regularly.

- H
 
bluebonnet said:
When denying these I put in text <incoming order did not receive, so therefore can not confirm cancel.>
It was verified and not rejected as a message out. I would think if this would not be correct in denying this cancel it would of rejected it. Don't you think? Because it would cause the calculations of money wrong and kick it back as a reject to me. But time will tell with human eyes after the statement comes out in the first few days of the month.

For some reason, some seem to think I have received incoming orders and not wanting to cancel because I want to keep money for not fulfilling the order; where this comes from I have no idea!
What has happened is I am getting requests for confirms on cancels of money taken away from me of orders I did not get in!!

Cyndi
Click to expand...

So Cyndi. please let us know what happens on your statement. According to my experience these 18 DEN's should show up on your statement on the combined report as "filled orders".. and if they don't show up then we will all know that FTD has changed it's method of accounting for these orders... so please let us know how they show up on your statement.
Thanks
 
flowers all hours

CHR said:
What I find surprising is that you had 18 'Merc-ed Up' orders. If that number is average per store then 15,000 florist members X 18 would be 270,000 orders - or around 1/4 of the entire holiday volume for FTD.com.
Click to expand...

One other missing segment....The Flowers All Hours Orders...Cathy will let you know how it all pans out next week.
 
PhillyPhlorist said:
I concur with Carol. She is correct - if no action is taken on a CAN order within 24 hours, it is automatically confirmed. What I do NOT like is FORCE CAN's...Teleflora is famous for these. Order is canceled and confirmed AUTOMATICALLY. You have no chance to dispute, even if you DEN the CAN immediately. You have to fight the battle after the Clearinghouse Statements are sent out...
From what I've seen, FTD does not do this regularly.

- H
Click to expand...

I am quoting myself because I have new information on this...

Spoke to a "Nancy" at FTD (regarding a problem order with a florist in CA) who CORRECTED me about the 24 hour thing. A florist has until THE END OF THE MONTH to respond to a CAN message. If no DEN or CON is sent by the end of the current month, the order is AUTOMATICALLY cancelled. So it is better to DEN the CAN request if you have any issues with an order, or feel that you filled the order correctly. That way, you will be paid for the order (ASSuming it is yours and you filled it correctly) and the florist CHARGED for the order will then be able to file an ADJ and the wheels of detective work will start.

Clear as mud?

- H.
 
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