Merc Network.....

[theRKF]

My merc has worked fine all day, never noticed it down.

I am on modem mercury still, maybe something to be said for the old-fangled?

Old technology breaks down...NUF said!

Every order I had went out in real time... don;t need the Merc no mo

From the people responding to this it sounds like it was the 'new' technology not the old that was on the blink.. Bloomz & I are both on dial up modems and I really did not see a problem.. so far I have had only 2 problems.. it sounds like it was those on cable or that new 'merc direct' that had the issues.. Isn't merc direct done on the web thru cable or dsl?? and I haven't heard of anyone on dsl having a problem..so was it only those on cable connectionis??

So maybe the old technology is working better than the new technology.

Hey John S... bet you are glad you are no longer there..

That's correct - it's the new MNAPI system that frequently goes offline. Most of the time it's not noticed by the majority of shops - if it's offline for an afternoon in July, 80% of shops won't catch it, unless they become suspicious due to the lack of marketplace ad GEN messages.

By our records, it was down on Feb 12, 13 and 14th. The biggest problem was that shops on dialup were sending, but shops on Merc Direct weren't able to receive. Our orders were being bounced all over God's green earth, and resulted in many "That's not in our area" rejects. I guess the $1 per REJ will help FTD pay for the mistake.

my FTD logos are all pulled...EVERYTHING...even have removed them from my work tickets

How about your license plate, Mikey??

 

[bluebonnet]

Cathy,
Info for your newsletter.....
It did not matter what system or Internet service you were using. (merc, mas, etc.) or (dial up, cable , DSL) the problem did not lie with the individual florist, it was at the major host comp. that distributes out the orders. No orders with FTD go from A florist to B florist direct the host comp is in the middle which caused the problem ,results: receiving did not exist or sending. Rather, it was sending confirms, incoming orders, sending orders, or asks, general messages, rejects. It would leave florist A and stop at host comp. and never get to florist B.(or be delayed hours later)

When you have a web page with FTD, all orders again go thru that host computer redone or translated from comp. jumbo to florist ticket layout. Results: florist did not get their web page orders, some like me knew I was getting orders, called FOL and they would fax the web page orders to you via land line phone. (I get emails that a WWWconsumer has made an order, that's how I know) but others do not have this and had no idea orders were sitting at the host comp from their web page. I did not get my translated web page orders thru the merc system until the 16th, luckily I had made the call to get them faxed to me.

I use the answering service of FTD, when I started noticing my merc was off several times on the 9th, I had decided to just rollover my lines to another line and my cell, how we notice this is you get a printout that says COMMUNICATIONS ALERT which means if your comp. dialed into the host comp. or a message is trying to come thru, your comp is not on line it shoots that alert out to let you know you are not on line. With the situation on 12,13,14th even the alerts did not shoot out to let anyone know what was happening!

BBJ had made a good point from another thread, FTD has only 1 central host comp. where others have several throughout the country, if 1 goes then the other hosts can handle those transactions of the broken host, but because FTD only has 1 the whole system falls.

Who was hurt in this whole mess up was any CONSUMER that made a purchase from FTD.com, OGs, or FTD florists that only have or went thru the mercury system in that 3 day period. Any orders that were made prior that 3 day period went thru fine.
No one benefited from this.... Dot coms or OGs because their orders did not get thru either.

Hope this gives you some input on your newsletter,
Cyndi

 

[bloomz]

(I get emails that a WWWconsumer has made an order, that's how I know) but others do not have this and had no idea orders were sitting at the host comp from their web page.

Redundancy is great isn't it? I get all orders also via email if for some reason they do not parse into my system - so I can check on them and reenter them if necessary.

What I am finding appaling is the lack of them letting us know somehow there was a problem - but then again - how are they going to do that? By Mercury?

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

on monday...when the license bureau opens.....

 

[MANORVILLE]

Though we had a strong delivery holiday our numbers were off with all three big WS in astronomical proportions. Teleflora and FTD #'s devastated us, and & 800 was off by at least 50%. Also guesstimate a loss of over 500 walkins due to the ice in Long Island the 12th and 13th.
In all it was a nightmare for us.
Regular supplier since we opened 4 years ago created a riot when we sent back over 7,000 red roses. Took another 2,000 apprehensively which resulted in 75 replacements and a lot of customer service effort to preserve the relationships. Backed up other roses & product we were shaky about with 10,000 red and 75 boxes of mixed flowers direct from Equador which arrived Tuesday morning before the storm hit.
Pushed our staff above and beyond, and called in favors from dozens of friends to help us get processed and through the rest of the holiday.
We got all but two deliveries out, which never showed up on the system until the 16th, lost one of our refer tractors for 6 hours resulting in a total loss to the contents, and have received no satisfaction from the WS's whatsoever on the orders we never received except their apologies for their malfunctions.

Many of you make us look so small, and we are for the most part, but our people have heart, which normally pulls us through the peak periods without fail.
How do you recover from what we've just described?

Disgusted, disgruntled and.............

Kevin and Bennetta
Manorville Florist
Long Island, NY

 

[jsenne]

Found out today, all employees had to work an overtime shift of 4 hours yesterday to clean the mess up!! With one emp. tackling over 300 reimbursements back to consumers because of the system down....Now , I have done some major figuring and I will leave it up to y'alls calculators, mine doesn't go up that high! You take 300 orders @ say $100 a pop, times emps at HQ all working 4 hour shifts, think of the money lost! A lot of shops were calling because the orders on their side were going thru but not on the receiver's end, as well as all dotcom orders were going thru on their end but fillers didn't receive them. Terrible and so sad....

To add to this sad situation, think of all the consumers that now have a bad image of the floral industry regardless if they went thru dotcom or a shop using technology! That means now we have to work extremely hard to get them to buy from an actual shop and do more actual phone calling, not relying on technology that we all have taken for granted.
Let alone all the ones that will pay for it as an escape goat that is let go, like Cathy had found on a forum.

This is almost like a BLACK SUNDAY, but called (BLACK VALENTINE'S DAY 2007) instead.

Such a sad start for a New Year.

Cyndi

Please do not forget all those FTD.COM orders. that never arrivedor all the direct shipped stuff that frooze as it arrived. all that money needs to be refunded/and replaced... Big Big Bucks... lost.

The Old Modem banks at FTD for Advantage merc 2000 and 3000 and Mercury systems on Modem dial up where OK. it was Everyone that is useing High speed connections for the mercury orders.....

 

[MANORVILLE]

Well said and stated Cyndi .

 

[carol]

The Old Modem banks at FTD for Advantage merc 2000 and 3000 and Mercury systems on Modem dial up where OK. it was Everyone that is useing High speed connections for the mercury orders.....

Unlike Mark S. I like old technology.. I still have a rotary phone on an extention on each of my phone lines. Even when the electricity goes out these phones work..
so I rarely throw anything away. but I sure am glad I have my system on these old modems that did not go down.

Lots of heads should roll at FTD.. there is no excuse for this. One of the few real benefits..and it is getting close to the ONLY REAL BENEFIT of being a member of a wire service is the reliable transmission of orders. There is no excuse for the equipment not to work and it is even worse that it was the new stuff that is being pushed so hard that went down.
New comers to this industry don't know about past problems but those of us with long memories remember Mother's Day when Chicago got hit with a lightening storm and many industry systems including FTD were down for almost 2 months. Back then we florists all went back to the old phone lines.. old technology once again pulled through.
The amount of data & orders that pass through the mercury system at major holidays like Valentines & Mothers Day is absolutely tremendous.. but also absolutely predictable.. that is what the Big Guys get paid for ..to make sure it works... when it is needed. They fell down on the job and have proved they are not worth what they are/were paid.. I hope Green et al take note and put a little reality back into the paychecks and accountablitly of these top guys. They might not have been the tech.s working on the system but they are RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TECHS OR LACK OF TECHS.. the buck stops at the top guy's desk.. no excuses..

 

[CHR]

Carol -

Weren't users of the older MIM/Modems hit with a monthly surcharge or fee increase recently? IIRC the explanation was that it was too costly to maintain those products and they were less stable.

Seems DG got it backwards this holiday.

 

[carol]

I haven't noticed a new charge on my statement.. the last change I had to merc.network charges was in Aug. 2005 when it went up $10. from $69. to $79 a month.. But Advantage is not considered 'old technology"
I think that was a fee on the old black boxes. and merc 2000's and those reall reall old modems. I have kept my system upgraded ..

so I guess my comments about old technology are a little 'tongue in cheek'. but I really do have those rotary phones plugged in and I am still using windows millinium on 2 boxes. and I still have a few sdds terminals working.. actually I like them.. no fuss no muss..and at home I still use dial-up but that is mostly because there are few other options for those of us deep in the woods.. both cable & dsl stop short about a mile down the road and my TV dish will cost an arm & a leg to add the network.

It will take a lot, I mean a whole lot, to get me off linex and onto a windows server box to handle my terminals... that is why I still have Advantage..

 

[BOSS]

so I guess my comments about old technology are a little 'tongue in cheek'.

And thats the way I take them:hug:

It will take a lot, I mean a whole lot, to get me off linex and onto a windows server box to handle my terminals... that is why I still have Advantage..

No WinDOZ...please tell me you won;t move to WinDOZ..... you know Carol they'll give it to *you* free, just for the promotion

 

[jsenne]

STill Miss the Flower Business BUT

From the people responding to this it sounds like it was the 'new' technology not the old that was on the blink.. Bloomz & I are both on dial up modems and I really did not see a problem.. so far I have had only 2 problems.. it sounds like it was those on cable or that new 'merc direct' that had the issues.. Isn't merc direct done on the web thru cable or dsl?? and I haven't heard of anyone on dsl having a problem..so was it only those on cable connectionis??

So maybe the old technology is working better than the new technology.

Hey John S... bet you are glad you are no longer there..

Carol
You are Correct EFOS or the Real (OLD) Mercury System was not at fault.... It was the new interface that connectes the internet to EFOS was the issue I have heard different stories, that it was hard ware, a Firewall that went bad. Too many orders for server to handle,... What ever...

The issue is equiptment goes bad, telephone lines or cables get cut, but there needs to be some type of Redundancy which is missing.....:soapbox:

They still have the microwave tower (not connected) sitting there from when the telephone switch burned on Mother days way back when..

But let me let you they have redundancy for FTD.COM's 3 call centers..

oh EFOS = Florist Electronic Order System a 1970's term which is used today

Thanks and Have a Great week...

 

[CHR]

Does anyone know if Merc Direct is the primary method of communicating with FTD's drop-shippers? Might explain all the late DHL deliveries.

 

[carol]

No WinDOZ...please tell me you won;t move to WinDOZ..... you know Carol they'll give it to *you* free, just for the promotion

Mark, they have never given me anything *free* yet. I try to cut just as good a deal as everyone else. A few times I cut the deal too soon and others got better deals..but then I also got the new stuff early on so I guess it all comes out in the wash. I did do a little testing on the new mercury window box way back when and had the machine sit in my store for a month to play with.. It is pretty good as far as it goes.. problem I had was.. again I do not want to go back to windows as a server for many stations.. and Advantage still has a few things that I really need that the window machine does not.
and.,,, I have perfectly good working equipment no one wants to integrate into a new system..they say it is too time consuming to integrate and want me to buy all new stuff... that's not going to happen in the near future.

 

[jsenne]

Sad thing is Mike willget a severance package

Unlike Mark S. I like old technology.. I still have a rotary phone on an extention on each of my phone lines. Even when the electricity goes out these phones work..
so I rarely throw anything away. but I sure am glad I have my system on these old modems that did not go down.

Lots of heads should roll at FTD.. there is no excuse for this. One of the few real benefits..and it is getting close to the ONLY REAL BENEFIT of being a member of a wire service is the reliable transmission of orders. There is no excuse for the equipment not to work and it is even worse that it was the new stuff that is being pushed so hard that went down.
New comers to this industry don't know about past problems but those of us with long memories remember Mother's Day when Chicago got hit with a lightening storm and many industry systems including FTD were down for almost 2 months. Back then we florists all went back to the old phone lines.. old technology once again pulled through.
The amount of data & orders that pass through the mercury system at major holidays like Valentines & Mothers Day is absolutely tremendous.. but also absolutely predictable.. that is what the Big Guys get paid for ..to make sure it works... when it is needed. They fell down on the job and have proved they are not worth what they are/were paid.. I hope Green et al take note and put a little reality back into the paychecks and accountablitly of these top guys. They might not have been the tech.s working on the system but they are RESPONSIBLE FOR THE TECHS OR LACK OF TECHS.. the buck stops at the top guy's desk.. no excuses..

Sad thing is Mike will get a severance package which will probely be more than any of us would make in our life time..... :fdevil:

 

[jsenne]

Same server different software....

Does anyone know if Merc Direct is the primary method of communicating with FTD's drop-shippers? Might explain all the late DHL deliveries.

Same server different software....

they just need shipping software.... No accounts recievable, no picking FTD florist, just print a shipping lable ... sticking it on and sending out...

 

[Joe Mioux]

Sad thing is Mike will get a severance package which will probely be more than any of us would make in our life time..... :fdevil:

Are you reporting, suggeting or predicting something here?

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

Are you reporting, suggesting or predicting something here?

better be......:soapbox:

 

[CHR]

Article for Blog

I've put together an article for the blog and need feedback before its published. Have used some quotes from FC (without attribution). Please have a look and let me know if I've mis-stated or missed anything.


I want to use one of Mikey's photos of his FTD signs in the blog post.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Word of an FTD Tech melt-down started brewing on florist message boards on Friday, February 9, when flower shop owners started reporting orders sent through FTD's proprietary Mercury Network as not getting through to their stores. Some of the florists said FTD's Tech department was initially blaming interfaces with Point Of Sale systems sold by third party vendors.

"After umteen phone calls finally a tech told me that all high-speed intranet members a gadget that is connected to host is down and that is what they are working on."

"We started the holiday on DSL and serious problems for two days, with FTD telling us it was our fault. We were fortunate enough to still have the old equipment sitting there so we went back to the good ol modem--which worked fine the rest of the holiday. We invested a good amount of time, effort and money in moving our system to dsl and to have it fail us during the holiday is a joke."

What ensued in the days leading up to and including February 14, Valentine's Day, was a catastrophic failure of the web-based Mercury Direct interface to the host computer housed in Downers Grove, IL - leaving FTD member florists to scramble as best they could to retrieve flower orders sold by FTD.com itself, other florists and via their own FTD-hosted websites.

"February 12 and 13 we had almost no orders sent to us from our web site to our POS system. We had to go to the web portal and print them out one by one. Each order we had to log in a second time to view the credit card information and hand writes the credit card #. Every order had to be typed into our POS system. The format they print out from the portal is hard to read."

Ironically, FTD members with older technology interfaces - dial-up MIMs and modems, were able to access the Downers Grove host. But their orders still had severe problems since the communications never made their way to the filling florists using web-based Mercury Direct.

"it's the new MNAPI system that frequently goes offline. Most of the time it's not noticed by the majority of shops - if it's offline for an afternoon in July, 80% of shops won't catch it, unless they become suspicious due to the lack of marketplace ad GEN messages.

By our records, it was down on Feb 12, 13 and 14th. The biggest problem was that shops on dial-up were sending, but shops on Merc Direct weren't able to receive. Our orders were being bounced all over God's green earth, and resulted in many "That's not in our area" rejects."

FTD's Affiliate Order Gatherers Abandon Ship

Some FTD affiliates who also belonged to competing wire services like Telefora and 1-800-Flowers' Bloomnet, used those networks to send outgoing orders, with a number of florists expressed surprise at receiving Teleflora and Bloomnet orders from FTD's top affiliate resellers (order gatherers).

How much of an impact?

The numbers of lost, undelivered orders is unknown as of today but florists have shared their knowledge of the real and potential impact:

"From a very reliable source, there are two (flower) shops in one of the largest states that belong to FTD. One shop got 250 Mercury orders, the other 200 Mercury orders AT THE END OF THE DAY ON THE 14TH.

There was no way to reject the orders. JUST 2 SHOPS, 450 ORDERS. IF THERE WERE JUST 1,000 FTD SHOPS WHO HAD THE SAME PROBLEM WITH MERCURY, THAT WOULD BE 250,000 FLOWER BUYERS WHO MAY DECIDE TO NOT SEND FLOWERS AGAIN."

"To date (I) have spoken to over 70 florists that could not get orders through to us and several hundred coast to coast that suffered greatly.

FTD's Lack of a Back-Up Plan

Information from former FTD insiders shows how such a catastrophic failure could occur:

"(The) EFOS (Florist Electronic Order System) or the Real (OLD) Mercury System was not at fault.... It was the new interface that connects the internet to EFOS was the issue I have heard different stories, that it was hard ware, a Firewall that went bad. Too many orders for server to handle,... What ever...

The issue is equipment goes bad, telephone lines or cables get cut, but there needs to be some type of Redundancy which is missing... But let me let you they have redundancy for FTD.COM's 3 call centers"

"It's going to cost FTD a bundle now but they are going to have to set up a different system with pods in several areas so that if a problem occurs in one area orders can be automatically be rerouted through another pod and continue on it's merry way to the final destination (the recipient). Phone companies have systems like that in place.......when a major phone line goes down all long distance calls are redirected, it may slow things down a little but it usually doesn't kill the system and if enough pods are used it would only effect a small section of the landscape.

It only makes common sense, when we order flowers for a major holiday most of us don't order everything from one supplier to all come in on the day before (I sure don't). FTD did and now it's really going to cost them big $$$ to fix along with a loss in unhappy members that will likely resign after this episode......not to mention the ton of customers that will not trust the floral industry any more.....Not just FTD but all flower vendors will suffer because all FTD's eggs were in one basket."

A Failure to Communicate

Frustration from florists abounds at FTD's inability to inform them the system was non-functioning.

"What I am finding appalling is the lack of them letting us know somehow there was a problem - but then again - how are they going to do that? By Mercury?"

Blame and Apologies

Most disturbing to FTD florists are reports of consumers being told far-too-late that their Valentine's Day flower orders would not be delivered, and an FTD spokeswoman even blaming non-deliveries on lack of 'product availability'.

Sadly, many florists reported having the flowers and staffs in place to fill those orders - it's just that FTD technology Failed To Deliver consumer's purchase requests.

"Sorry does not cover the losses the shops incurred and we feel for the smaller shops that took a severe beating."

"Who was hurt in this whole mess up was any CONSUMER that made a purchase from FTD.com, OGs (order gatherers), or FTD florists.

FTD's technology failure and lack of communication with consumers and florists looks to make this the most complaint-filled and costliest Valentine's Day in the ninety-seven year history of the company.

 

[12BucksFor2Dozon]

simply awesome, CHR...WTG, although I cannot help to wonder who exactly would be interested in the issue. FTD members don't really want an expose of how their IT infrastructure is shaky, non-FTD members don't see anything in the article that advises customers that FTD should be avoided, and DSs *love* anything that casts a negative light on TFTD.

Hmmm....