So called Florists ripping off other florists

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Here a a few problems I have had in wiring out in the last 3 weeks:

a) a request for an additional 25.00 on top of 10.00 I had sent them because it was MD(as if I didn't know) and they were busy. I gave them the order 3 days before it had to be delivered.

b)a funeral arrangement not delivered because it wasn't in the paper. I had provided them with the hours.

c) a delivery that never made it...I gave them 13 days to respond with explanation (several inquiries were sent and 3 cancels they denied the cancels but could not respond with why or how it was or was not received)

d) A florist that claimed they delivered something that they never delivered. Then they decided that didn't deliver it, wouldn't confirm cancellation, and sent it anyways even though they were informed the recipient was not out of the country.They left it on the door step. Wanted us to pay for both orders delivered.

Teleflora called each of these unreasonable florist for us and compensation was made. In each of these situations all we asked for was a confirmation of our cancellations. As it turned out.. they had to confirm the cancel plus TF had us resend the order to another florist. I'm not sure who pays for that, the bad florist or if TF takes care of it.
I am tired of florist with bad customer service. I have often thought about going florist to florist, but I can't imagine having to go through all the BS after to get the charges on my credit card reversed when the florist delivery fails and the shop won't admit it.
TF does not get enough credit for the services they provide for us members. Yes, I pay for it I know, but I don't feel I am paying for a worthless service. At least not at this point anyways.

Knife's Wife
 
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Knife's Wife said:
Teleflora called each of these unreasonable florist for us and compensation was made. In each of these situations all we asked for was a confirmation of our cancellations. As it turned out.. they had to confirm the cancel plus TF had us resend the order to another florist. I'm not sure who pays for that, the bad florist or if TF takes care of it.
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Unfortunately all of us Teleflora members pay for it. It usually comes out of a problem order pool that the members fund. After June 1, this won't happen with FTD anymore.
 
Knife's Wife said:
Here a a few problems I have had in wiring out in the last 3 weeks:

a) a request for an additional 25.00 on top of 10.00 I had sent them because it was MD(as if I didn't know) and they were busy. I gave them the order 3 days before it had to be delivered.

b)a funeral arrangement not delivered because it wasn't in the paper. I had provided them with the hours.

c) a delivery that never made it...I gave them 13 days to respond with explanation (several inquiries were sent and 3 cancels they denied the cancels but could not respond with why or how it was or was not received)

d) A florist that claimed they delivered something that they never delivered. Then they decided that didn't deliver it, wouldn't confirm cancellation, and sent it anyways even though they were informed the recipient was not out of the country.They left it on the door step. Wanted us to pay for both orders delivered.

Teleflora called each of these unreasonable florist for us and compensation was made. In each of these situations all we asked for was a confirmation of our cancellations. As it turned out.. they had to confirm the cancel plus TF had us resend the order to another florist. I'm not sure who pays for that, the bad florist or if TF takes care of it.
I am tired of florist with bad customer service. I have often thought about going florist to florist, but I can't imagine having to go through all the BS after to get the charges on my credit card reversed when the florist delivery fails and the shop won't admit it.
TF does not get enough credit for the services they provide for us members. Yes, I pay for it I know, but I don't feel I am paying for a worthless service. At least not at this point anyways.

Knife's Wife
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For what it's worth....since I have gone direct florist to florist either through a credit card and in many cases on a 30 day account, the problems you describe here disappeared.....so far anyway. I think there is a growing bad attitude towards orders that come over the WS. Those orders seem to get kicked down to the bottom because the florist knows coming out of the gate that they won't make money on them. So whether they come from FTD, TF, 1800, or another florist they don't carry the weight of importance to the filler that their own 100% orders do.

Not advocating.....just observing.
 
LJVF said:
Unfortunately all of us Teleflora members pay for it. It usually comes out of a problem order pool that the members fund. After June 1, this won't happen with FTD anymore.
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I gather you are refering to their 2 hour reject policy and fee. Are you implying that that will be a good thing or a bad thing. I think FTD is doing a huge disservice to their real florist members. This benefits the OG's and FTD.
 
Knife's Wife said:
I gather you are refering to their 2 hour reject policy and fee. Are you implying that that will be a good thing or a bad thing. I think FTD is doing a huge disservice to their real florist members. This benefits the OG's and FTD.
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I'm holding overall judgment for now. There are some things I like about it and some I don't.

I was just pointing out that there probably won't be a problem order pool with FTD anymore.

Edit, rephrase last sentence: In theory, there will be less need for a problem order pool with FTD.
 
Floristique said:
Are you guys in a big city like Atlanta? Just wondering if you have seen our phone books here. All the suburbs have different directories. I deliver to 9 different cities & don't have all the directories. If I don't have a phone number for a recipient when I wire something out, I will ask my customer to see if they can get one for me to give to the filling shop. It makes everyones life easier. Half the time if I don't have a phone number, I take the order to the address given & if it is a problem then I will call the florist back, especially when half the people don't list their number in the phone book. I hate it when a shop doesn't even attempt the delivery without a phone number. Gas is expensive I guess... :) I will look up a number if I have a problem, not before I have a problem. Oh well different way of doing things...
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We generally won't accept an incoming order without a phone number. We always send an ask immediately saying we'd love to fill their order for them but must have a phone number.


And we virtually never send one without.

When you tell the sender it is a requirement to get their flowers sent, they always find it.

They try that "I don't have it" deal, but they always come up with it.

I think it's quite rude to send without a phone number, unless it's to a hospital or funeral home. It's totally taking advantage of your fellow florist.
 
BOSS said:
Hence the reason I give out 3 phone numbers to my customers, especially on orders under $50.00.

Everything is going up, and while a $30.00 in store customer sale is OK, a $30.00 even plus delivery wire order is no longer a viable sale. I know your order was more than that...but the point remains...

Florists are terrible at maintaining their minimum order amounts...one local shop had $15.00 as little as 2 years ago....
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AMEN Brud-dah!

- H.
 
Knife's Wife said:
Teleflora called each of these unreasonable florist for us and compensation was made. In each of these situations all we asked for was a confirmation of our cancellations. As it turned out.. they had to confirm the cancel plus TF had us resend the order to another florist. I'm not sure who pays for that, the bad florist or if TF takes care of it.
I am tired of florist with bad customer service. I have often thought about going florist to florist, but I can't imagine having to go through all the BS after to get the charges on my credit card reversed when the florist delivery fails and the shop won't admit it.
TF does not get enough credit for the services they provide for us members. Yes, I pay for it I know, but I don't feel I am paying for a worthless service. At least not at this point anyways.

Knife's Wife
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I think you make a good point about wire membership.

I know how much more hassle it is to dispute a credit card charge.

And - if a florist sends on a credit card and has one of those bad experiences - then somehow in order to refund (in my experience) the flwoers must be returned to the filling florits.

Can you imagine asking your customers to have their loved ones go to the trouble of returning them? Wouldn't fare well I would think.

Any independents ever had to dispute one?
 
Flowerchatter03 said:
There are multiple posts here ranting about wire services ripping off florists but what do you do about other florists who try to rip you off other than putting them on a "do not use" list?

Yesterday, I needed to wire an order to another state. I went through our choices and decided on a florist who is in the same zip code as the funeral home. My customer wanted a planter, dish garden or plant. I chose a florist who lists their starting prices at $30 with a $9 delivery. I sent the order to them with a total of $45.

I get a message back that they needed $10 more for delivery. So, I call the florist and ask why they are requesting the additional money. I am told that everything is going up. I tell them that they are supposed to abide by the prices THEY placed on the Dove. I am told that FTD (wrong wire service) hadn't changed it even though they have requested it.

She goes on to tell me that she was sure that my prices have gone up too. I tell her that we don't charge that kind of delivery fee in our own zip code. She explains that they have a wide delivery area and I tell her that if she can't fill the order, then refuse it and I'd send it to another shop.

There was one more shop in that specific zip code. I call and ask if they can fill the order. They tell me of course. I give them the info and my order is placed.

Just for fun, I go out to mapquest and see just how far this funeral home is to this florist. According to mapquest, it is 2.70 miles. So they needed $19 to deliver 2.70 miles WTF? Needless to say, they are now on our DNU list.

I would love a website where you can go and give feedback like on ebay. The opposing party can list their rebuttal (like ebay) but I would love to know what other florists are doing this type of shady business practices so I can avoid them like the flu.
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It sounds like they needed to be a little more specific in their response.

Just because you sent $36 for plants and $9 for delivery through the dove on their end all they see is what they set their minums for.

Example My delivery is $9 so if someone sent me a $50 total order my system would spit out an order for $41.00 and $9 for delivery. Dosen't matter if they sent me $45 for product and $5 for delivery. The other thing to look at is the min for plants versus the min for orders. Did their min for their Plants say $30.00?

$25.00 Minimum Order
$9.00 Delivery

$35.00 Arrangements
$35.00 Blooming Plants
$45.00 Fresh Fruits
$50.00 Funeral Flowers
$65.00 Roses Arranged
$35.00 Balloons
$25.00 Candy
$35.00 Gourmet

See even this example above shows a $25.00 Minimum order but thats because of the candy not the flowers or the plants. I used to get this all this all the time and other florist would call me up and say that the min order is $35.00 and yet we are listed at $50.00. I would have to tell them to look again because the Minimum order of $35 was for candy only. I finally just raised everything up so that My minium would be $50 plus the delivery fee of $9.00

Just something to keep in mind.
 
Eric S said:
I finally just raised everything up so that My minium would be $50 plus the delivery fee of $9.00
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Bigted said:
This would be a problem for us. Even on our website, everybody wants to spend $39.95 now.
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Ted,

that's still doable for you.

You charge $39.95 plus $9.95 service fee - total $49.90.

You wire it out to Eric for a total of $59.00 ($50.00 + $9.00)

You still earn a commission of $7.70 assuming you receive five dollar sending rebate.


RC
 
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