Oh the joy of FTD reps....

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rswaneck77

rswaneck77

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Sep 8, 2008
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Columbus
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OH
I informed my rep back in July last year that I was leaving FTD because they were charging way too much for their services... She came back saying oh I got you in at a special deal, 99.99 per month! That's It! I asked, "No hidden fees? No extra charges?" She said no...
January comes and of course I am hit with all kinds of extra fees and BS! I called, asked her why the extra charges. She gave me some lame excuse and I reminded her of our conversation and asked why she felt it was ok to lie to me... She hung up on me... I called, left messages, now I'm supposedly stuck until May in their services and having to pay all of their extra BS...
I called to tell them today they can bite me! I'm not paying for services when she lied to me about cost and such. If they want their money. Take it out of her pay!
We shall see who wins this fight... If I do end up losing I'll do my best to make them hate me... 5.00 a week? Don't you guys think? Lets see, so it would take almost 5 weeks to just pay off the 99.99 fee... Let along the other charges...
 
May... I think you have to let them know 3 or 4 months in advance. I wouldn't wait, I would contact them asap! Don't let them talk you into another (Deal ) either.
 
We got out of FTD a few years ago. This is what happened.

After reviewing our contract, the membership book and their website, we contacted them and asked how to cancel. They say send it over the merc.

Okay, we do that and asked for confirmation. No reply. 2 weeks later, sent another message asking for confirmation. No dice.

I then contacted our rep and lm. I also called FTD and they had a man call us back. He informs me that we missed the deadline. I ask what deadline? He says that we can only quit before each quarter deadline. I ask him where this information is? He says on page 26 of the 300 plus pages of the stupid book that they send.

I then ask him why is it not in the contract, not in the membership book, nor on the website but only on page 26 of a book we never even take out of the plastic because we have the computer and no need for it?

His reply is that no one ever phrased it like that before. I tell him we want out right now. A few hours later, my rep calls and I tell her the same thing. A contract is a contract and placing this important information in a book that no one reads is BS. It belongs in the contract AND membership book. We were let go out of it.

Now, I don't know if they have changed any of their contracts, membership book, etc. but that is how we got out of it. We will not go back.
 
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Rules...what rules?

If FTD lies and does not adhere to their own rules and regulations, why on earth should you? Send them a certified letter saying you dispute any and all charges related to your former membership. You are no longer a member. You were a member, not an inmate.
 
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We have a really nice FTD rep, Tammy Sablic. I informed FTD that I was dropping their website last year. She called and asked why. I told her that we had received only 5 or 6 orders through it in a year and it was an extra expense that wasn't paying for itself (FTD technicians said it was something about SEO that we had no control over). She understood. Haven't talked to her about those reciprocity fees....but I don't own the flowershop anymore. Those started appearing around the time I sold the flowershop.
 
rswaneck77 said:
May... I think you have to let them know 3 or 4 months in advance. I wouldn't wait, I would contact them asap! Don't let them talk you into another (Deal ) either.
Click to expand...

thanks.

I have dumped them twice already, it's not a big deal.
I just Merc them a cancellation and they go away.
 
rswaneck77 said:
I informed my rep back in July last year that I was leaving FTD because they were charging way too much for their services... She came back saying oh I got you in at a special deal, 99.99 per month! That's It! I asked, "No hidden fees? No extra charges?" She said no...
January comes and of course I am hit with all kinds of extra fees and BS! I called, asked her why the extra charges. She gave me some lame excuse and I reminded her of our conversation and asked why she felt it was ok to lie to me... She hung up on me... I called, left messages, now I'm supposedly stuck until May in their services and having to pay all of their extra BS...
I called to tell them today they can bite me! I'm not paying for services when she lied to me about cost and such. If they want their money. Take it out of her pay!
We shall see who wins this fight... If I do end up losing I'll do my best to make them hate me... 5.00 a week? Don't you guys think? Lets see, so it would take almost 5 weeks to just pay off the 99.99 fee... Let along the other charges...
Click to expand...

Seems like you signed up for a 6 month promo but she failed to let you know it was only temporary. Did you have to sign a contract or was it only verbal?
 
Chezbloom said:
If FTD lies and does not adhere to their own rules and regulations, why on earth should you? Send them a certified letter saying you dispute any and all charges related to your former membership. You are no longer a member. You were a member, not an inmate.
Click to expand...
Chez, your post points to a huge misconception about FTD.

FTD is not a membership or association, it is a business where they are your vendor. You pay dues, which is old terminology. It should actually be stated as your are paying fees to access their network and services.

Florists should get over the old ideas of FTD as an association. They are a stock corporation that exists for the benefit of itself and its stockholders. You are their customer on the florist side, just like the average citizen is on their consumer side.

As such, treat them as a vendor. They are not your partner, but rather a business that exists to extract as much revenue from you as is possible.

Now when you are leaving, they have the legal right to enforce their contract to a point. They can force you to pay their monthly fees if you don't comply exactly with their rules, but the one thing they can't do, is force you to fill any of their orders or any orders from anyone else. Filling orders is the right of your business, not theirs.

Also keep in mind that once you express your intention to leave, they most likely will try to extract as much revenue from you as possible in the form of extra fees, etc.
 
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LJVF said:
Seems like you signed up for a 6 month promo but she failed to let you know it was only temporary. Did you have to sign a contract or was it only verbal?
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I knew it was temporary but she lied concerning any extra charges... She told me that there was only going to be a monthly charge of $99.99 each month. I specifically asked her if there was going to be any extra fees or charges included and that if there was any chance it would go over the 99.99 a month I did not want it. She said, "No, that there won't be any other charges."
She knew what she was doing... I have no trust in her whatsoever. If I purposely lied to a client like that I would have been fired if I were with any type of good company. It is not only a mark on her as a person but also a mark on the company and their (supposed) good name...
I'm calling a lawyer today to see if they have any ground at all. I don't think they do.
 
rswaneck77 said:
I informed my rep back in July last year that I was leaving FTD because they were charging way too much for their services... She came back saying oh I got you in at a special deal, 99.99 per month! That's It! I asked, "No hidden fees? No extra charges?" She said no...
January comes and of course I am hit with all kinds of extra fees and BS! I called, asked her why the extra charges. She gave me some lame excuse and I reminded her of our conversation and asked why she felt it was ok to lie to me... She hung up on me... I called, left messages, now I'm supposedly stuck until May in their services and having to pay all of their extra BS...
I called to tell them today they can bite me! I'm not paying for services when she lied to me about cost and such. If they want their money. Take it out of her pay!
We shall see who wins this fight... If I do end up losing I'll do my best to make them hate me... 5.00 a week? Don't you guys think? Lets see, so it would take almost 5 weeks to just pay off the 99.99 fee... Let along the other charges...
Click to expand...
Wow, I'm still stuck on your remark that "she hung up on you." When I was an FTD rep in the '90s, they would immediately FIRE one of us if we did that! But, I guess that was THEN, when FTD was a member owned association, and we were field SERVICE reps, not sales reps.
 
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Joe Mioux said:
thanks.

I have dumped them twice already, it's not a big deal.
I just Merc them a cancellation and they go away.
Click to expand...


That's not always the case. There are lots of florists who have gotten sued by FTD for cancelling outside of the contract. It probably depends on how entangeled you are with them, how far off you are in the deadline, etc.

This is similar to the yellowpages BS. If your business is listed, even if you closed down or sold to another, they WILL go after you. Something about the "advertisting" on your behalf.

FTD lists you in their directory. They will go after you for the "advertising" of your business.

Make no mistake....you are dealing with a large corporation who has more lawyers than we do customers.

I think talking to your own lawyer is a great idea. Don't forget to document, document, document.
 
rswaneck77 said:
I knew it was temporary but she lied concerning any extra charges... She told me that there was only going to be a monthly charge of $99.99 each month. I specifically asked her if there was going to be any extra fees or charges included and that if there was any chance it would go over the 99.99 a month I did not want it. She said, "No, that there won't be any other charges."
She knew what she was doing... I have no trust in her whatsoever. If I purposely lied to a client like that I would have been fired if I were with any type of good company. It is not only a mark on her as a person but also a mark on the company and their (supposed) good name...
I'm calling a lawyer today to see if they have any ground at all. I don't think they do.
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I guess I'm confused. Were you only being charged $99.99 from July through December, and then they began charging all the extra fees in January? Or were they charging all the extra fees from the beginning?
 
Why is it anyone sees wire services as anything but providers of services? It's even right in the name.

Vendors, plain and simple, not the mothers of all things floral.

Use them or don't - buy their services or don't, but never ever let them dictate to you, which includes their "mandatory programs".
 
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LJVF said:
I guess I'm confused. Were you only being charged $99.99 from July through December, and then they began charging all the extra fees in January? Or were they charging all the extra fees from the beginning?
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From July through December they were charging me close to 200.00 each month! I told them I wanted out. I signed up for a six month deal that was only supposed to be 99.99 from January till June.. They told me no hidden fees, only 99.99... Boy was that a lie or what
 
goldfish said:
rswaneck77, if I were to dispute the charges, I would stop using any services that FTD provides immediately. Stop merc, don't send any orders via FTD, don't fill any FTD orders. Then dispute the charges.

It won't help your case if you are still doing any of these activities and not paying.
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As soon as I found out what was happening I turned Merc off, suspended the account and I removed all FTD programs from my computer... I have since received numerous calls from other florists who have supposedly sent me orders only for them to find out they were automatically forwarded. This whole BS of not being able to remove us is a crock! My husband is a computer programmer! He says it is just a matter of code...
 
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