Teleflora to require DCON's in August

[Doug Munro]

Our customers expect us to deliver and on time and we DO. Why do wire service florists *need* confirmation before the recipient has even called the sender to thank them??? Are people really that shallow? Let's talk about that.

Dorothy,

The issue is not whether or not people are that shallow, we can't change that. People are what people are. Let the psychiatrist analysis them

As retailers part of our job needs to be in finding ways to enhance the purchasing experience and make it stress free. To resolve ongoing issues.

If customers feel they need to know the product has been delivered before they call the recipient then find a way to do it. Simple.

When you go out to eat do you want the waiter telling you that you really don't need your steak cooked the way you request it, but rather you should accept it in the fashion that is most convenient for the cook. Of course not!

So why would anyone expect their customers to accept less than good customer service simply because it is easier for the retailer.

The bottom line here is that confirming delivery from a customer service point of view is logical and shouldn't even be up for debate. How we get there is an entirely different issue.

 

[Dorothy]

1) We ran out of flowers
2) We were overwhelmed
3) We were short staffed
4) Oooops we missed that one
5) Our delivery truck broke down
6) My flower shipment did not arrive
7) We had snowstorm
8) there must be something wrong with our Mercury we didn't recieve it

and my personal favorite

8) We had to look after our own customers first

The sad part is this is only a partial list and we have all heard them

These are all lame excuses but everyone knows that. Question: did you get these excuses via electronic means or by phone? Having elecontric delivery confirmations won't eliminate the excuses. They're just easier to type.

 

[Eric S]

We have our drivers enter in all delivery confirmations.

Sure in the beginning its a little difficult.

But then again I have been doing this for my own customers for the past three years.

 

[Knife's Wife]

As for Proflowers and 1-800 Flowers inventing delivery confirmation to rectify their own mistakes, give me a break


I think you misunderstood me... I did not say they invented dcon to rectify their mistakes.

I said the customers needs for dcons comes in part from getting burned by them.

 

[David]

We have our drivers enter in all delivery confirmations.

Sure in the beginning its a little difficult.

But then again I have been doing this for my own customers for the past three years.

Our drivers do it on their cell phones. Even before I had the technology (over four years ago) I would do it myself with outlook. The automatic email dcons feature was why I bought Mercury and dropped Daisy.

 

[Dorothy]

So why would anyone expect their customers to accept less than good customer service simply because it is easier for the retailer.

Why wouldn't your customers expect they're receiving the best customer service in the first place?

In a small town, we know our customers AND our recipients...there is no question.

We really don't need a little (well, actually LARGE) piece of paper printing that out to confirm it.

In a small town, recipients ARE our customers. Not only the sender....

I do understand that this subject is more relevant in a large city or for an OG.

 

[Doug Munro]

Going to dinner, and been playing with my little boy - so sorry Joan I didn't take (waste) all afternoon to debate a good idea.

In short, for now - it looks like get with the times or get left behind - times are/have changed, who's "fault" it is they changed doesn't matter.

It's the way it is - deal with it, and thanks for the thumbs down right after I gave you a greenie. It's OK - I'm collecting them.


May I please take time to go out to dinner now?

Bloomz,

You said it!

The fact is that many have already been left behind by the changing times, and yet no lesson is learned from this.

I won't apologize for the fact that it will take effort and cost money to improve our industry. The simple truth is that while other retail sectors have invested and moved ahead (even some within our industry such as PF or FTD.com) as a group retail florists generally prefer to ignore the obvious if it will force them to change.

Here we are debating whether or not there is a need for delivery confirmation, hardly giving a care as to how it would improve the shopping experience for our customers.

So go out and enjoy your dinner, I imagine this debate will still be raging when you return

 

[Knife's Wife]

We have our drivers enter in all delivery confirmations.

Sure in the beginning its a little difficult.

But then again I have been doing this for my own customers for the past three years.

No one said that sending the dcon would be difficult. Time consuming yes, difficult no! The difficult part would be getting the co-op delivery service members to get this information to you so that you can do the dcons.

I know the limitations of my self and my staff they are very few, the limitations come from other 15 florist and will be beyond my control, I can not make them comply to a new rule of TF when 1/2 of them are not TF.

Wheels are turning, still thinking...

The answer will come....

 

[Rhonda]

When the WS pay the wages of my person who's going to sit and type in all those dcons and send them on their way (especially at holidays) then I'll join. But until then, the @@@@ recepient can phone the sender and say THANKS for the Beautiful Flowers!

 

[Doug Munro]

Why wouldn't your customers expect they're receiving the best customer service in the first place?

In a small town, we know our customers AND our recipients...there is no question.

We really don't need a little (well, actually LARGE) piece of paper printing that out to confirm it.

In a small town, recipients ARE our customers. Not only the sender....

I do understand that this subject is more relevant in a large city or for an OG.

Dorothy,

You seemed to have missed someone in your train of thought, the sending shop. As the sending shop when I place an order with you to be fulfilled am I not your customer? After all I place the order with you, you fill it, I pay you (via the wire service).

So as your customer I want a delivery confirmation.....period.

I in turn can then provide delivery confirmation to MY customer (the sender). I bolded the "MY" because the fact is that the sender has placed their trust in me, not you. You are simply a "supplier" for the product that I have chosen to use.

If there is a problem MY customer comes to me, not you. MY customer expects me to resolve the issue, not you. My customer expects me to refund their money, not you.

My suggestion on this is not to debate the merits of what customer service MY customer want but rather worry about what your customer (the sending shop) wants.

On a last note, trust me I am not trying to be callous, but the reality is that for too many years many fulfilling shops have treated an order as if they owned it once it came off the Mercury or Dove machine.

 

[Knife's Wife]

Going to dinner, and been playing with my little boy - so sorry Joan I didn't take (waste) all afternoon to debate a good idea.

In short, for now - it looks like get with the times or get left behind - times are/have changed, who's "fault" it is they changed doesn't matter.

It's the way it is - deal with it, and thanks for the thumbs down right after I gave you a greenie. It's OK - I'm collecting them.


May I please take time to go out to dinner now?

Wow, Bloomz I thought you were making fun of me with the picture of the guy falling down the stairs. Never have been any good at interpreting cartoons! Can someone explain that cartoon to me, I am blonde after all, simple things confuse me. I like complex issues.

I really thought that you would be the one to offer up a suggestion that might at least spark an idea for a solution. Oh well!


Do any of you send orders to Syracuse, NY? Who do you send to?

Joan

PS. Enjoy you time with your son, the years go fast!

 

[Doug Munro]

These are all lame excuses but everyone knows that. Question: did you get these excuses via electronic means or by phone? Having electronic delivery confirmations won't eliminate the excuses. They're just easier to type.

Typically we received these excuses 1-3 days after non delivery by whatever the method.

Right now there is NO check and balance. You assume that all orders are delivered by default until you receive a complaint.

I would suggest that fines be imposed for orders that had been confirmed as delivered but in fact were never delivered. And so that no one accuses me of trying to provide the WS with another revenue stream, the money collected on the fine would go straight back to the sending shop. This fine would be in addition to a full refund or free replacement by the fulfilling shop. This would hopefully allow the sending shop to save a customer they might otherwise lose through no direct fault of their own.

Sound to harsh, I don't think so. If a shop felt they could not live up to the conditions, don't accept incoming orders.

 

[Doug Munro]

When the WS pay the wages of my person who's going to sit and type in all those dcons and send them on their way (especially at holidays) then I'll join. But until then, the @@@@ recepient can phone the sender and say THANKS for the Beautiful Flowers!

Rhonda,

Nice dodge, but I for one do not buy it.

I don't for a moment view this as a "wire service" issue. The fact is that they are simply reacting and attempting to solve an existing problem that is affecting the reputation of our industry with the consumer.

If you step back for a moment and take an honest look at what we offer the consumer it falls a long ways short of what other gifting options offer.

1) When ordering flowers you may or may not receive the actual product that you saw in the picture. You will not know that until the product is actually delivered.

2) When ordering flowers although you were in fact quoted one price for the product and another price for the delivery the fulfilling supplier may determine they need more for delivery and in turn simply reduce the product supplied.

3) When ordering flowers you will not know if the delivery was actually made unless you investigate yourself (call the recipient) in some cases your call may occur before the delivery. In this case you can either ask outright and possibly ruin a surprise or beat around the bush and hope the recipient says something. This method can be dangerous to relationships as you may assume the recipient is simply an ignorant ass for not expressing their gratitude for your thoughtfulness when in fact they never recived the gift.

We are no longer the "only game in town" for out of town delivery on a couple of days notice. So if we don't want to see this portion of our business simply disappear we better get our act together.

 

[Knife's Wife]

Typically we received these excuses 1-3 days after non delivery by whatever the method.

Right now there is NO check and balance. You assume that all orders are delivered by default until you receive a complaint.

I would suggest that fines be imposed for orders that had been confirmed as delivered but in fact were never delivered. And so that no one accuses me of trying to provide the WS with another revenue stream, the money collected on the fine would go straight back to the sending shop. This fine would be in addition to a full refund or free replacement by the fulfilling shop. This would hopefully allow the sending shop to save a customer they might otherwise lose through no direct fault of their own.

Sound to harsh, I don't think so. If a shop felt they could not live up to the conditions, don't accept incoming orders.

Doug, There is no doubt that if I can not find a viable solution than I will no longer fill incoming orders. I do not believe in being a member of any club and not playing by and following the rules. I would like to find a way for myself and those in my position of belonging to a delivery pool to make it work for my customers and for yours.

This is much less of a debate about why it should be done, it is more of a debate about how it can work for all of us.

Lets get beyond the...I do it, it works for me, get with it or get out mantality!

Joan

 

[prestonway]

...and now for another perspective...

We've tried to creat a win/win for both the customer sending AND the filling shop.

Like Jon & Doug, we tend to send out one or two orders during the year.

Yes, we sometimes have trouble receiving DelCons in the past (hi, Dorothy!)

Yes, we have removed shops from our preferred list of fillers because of this.

Yes, many, many, MANY shops provide DelCons without being requested, as that is part of their customer service. Some do it by technology, others by calling us on our toll-free. Some even send us GEN message which costs them money, instead of a free ANS message, but that's another thread. Excellent customer service nonetheless.

But there are still some shops that can't/won't/don't know how/don't want to respond to a request for a DelCon...

Soooooo...about a month ago, in fact just before Mother's Day, we changed our ASK message requesting a DelCon to the following:

"Please note that we will be marking this order "Delivered" at 2:00 pm PDT on the DAY FOLLOWING THE DELIVERY DATE REQUESTED. If you have/can not deliver, please message us before then. Thank you."

No reply required. No time "wasted". No cost to the filling shop when we send them an ASK message. We simply automatically mark the order delivered on our end by a certain time the following day.

Not fast enough for some senders? Well, we simply tell them that we only mark the order delivered when the drivers return with their delivery logs. As soon as they do, the orders marked delivered, but sometimes this doesn't happen right away. If this answer still isn't good enough for those REALLY persistent senders, then we phone the filling shop for verbal confirmation...but this is quite rare.

97% of the time, this has worked like a charm, even during Mother's Day week. Most shops delivered in a timely fashion as can be expected. Other shops couldn't complete the delivery, BUT notified us of any delays so we could let the sender know.

It's the other 3%.

Those shops that when we mark an order delivered, AND they really haven't delivered AND do not bother to let us know it wasn't delivered?

YES, THEY DO STILL EXIST!!

When this happens, we request the order be REJected, with any subsequent penalties that involves.

For any future orders, this shop is immediately removed from our list of preferred fillers.

They're failure to provide this elementary level of customer service makes them look stupid....us look stupid...and the sender look stupid.

...and yes...STUPID ain't gonna' happen twice...

 

[RWK]

To take and steer this thread back to it's intended direction - Those of you WHO DO regular D-CONS......For those who do not yet do this or face difficulty incorporating this..... tell us the method you employ to ensure this gets done......step by step if need be.

We know this is taking place - Now, Here is where those of you who can, help those who can't.

 

[RWK]

We've tried to creat a win/win for both the customer sending AND the filling shop.

Like Jon & Doug, we tend to send out one or two orders during the year.

Yes, we sometimes have trouble receiving DelCons in the past (hi, Dorothy!)

Yes, we have removed shops from our preferred list of fillers because of this.

Yes, many, many, MANY shops provide DelCons without being requested, as that is part of their customer service. Some do it by technology, others by calling us on our toll-free. Some even send us GEN message which costs them money, instead of a free ANS message, but that's another thread. Excellent customer service nonetheless.

But there are still some shops that can't/won't/don't know how/don't want to respond to a request for a DelCon...

Soooooo...about a month ago, in fact just before Mother's Day, we changed our ASK message requesting a DelCon to the following:

"Please note that we will be marking this order "Delivered" at 2:00 pm PDT on the DAY FOLLOWING THE DELIVERY DATE REQUESTED. If you have/can not deliver, please message us before then. Thank you."

No reply required. No time "wasted". No cost to the filling shop when we send them an ASK message. We simply automatically mark the order delivered on our end by a certain time the following day.

Not fast enough for some senders? Well, we simply tell them that we only mark the order delivered when the drivers return with their delivery logs. As soon as they do, the orders marked delivered, but sometimes this doesn't happen right away. If this answer still isn't good enough for those REALLY persistent senders, then we phone the filling shop for verbal confirmation...but this is quite rare.

97% of the time, this has worked like a charm, even during Mother's Day week. Most shops delivered in a timely fashion as can be expected. Other shops couldn't complete the delivery, BUT notified us of any delays so we could let the sender know.

It's the other 3%.

Those shops that when we mark an order delivered, AND they really haven't delivered AND do not bother to let us know it wasn't delivered?

YES, THEY DO STILL EXIST!!

When this happens, we request the order be REJected, with any subsequent penalties that involves.

For any future orders, this shop is immediately removed from our list of preferred fillers.

They're failure to provide this elementary level of customer service makes them look stupid....us look stupid...and the sender look stupid.

...and yes...STUPID ain't gonna' happen twice...

Thanks for telling us how YOU make this work. I am sure there are people on this discussion who appreciate this.

 

[Doug Munro]

It's not my mentality......thats a for sure

Doug, There is no doubt that if I can not find a viable solution than I will no longer fill incoming orders. I do not believe in being a member of any club and not playing by and following the rules. I would like to find a way for myself and those in my position of belonging to a delivery pool to make it work for my customers and for yours.

This is much less of a debate about why it should be done, it is more of a debate about how it can work for all of us.

Lets get beyond the...I do it, it works for me, get with it or get out mantality!

Joan

Joan,

I appreciate your standards in adhering to the rules, unfortunately those standards are not held by all florists.

I am a firm supporter of mandatory order confirmation simply because I believe it is one step in improving the image of our industry with the consumer. That in turn will benefit all of us in the long run.

I realize that in instances such as yours confirmation will be more of a challenge than for some. However I am sure that someone will come up with a solution for delivery pools.

 

[Flore]

No one said that sending the dcon would be difficult. Time consuming yes, difficult no! The difficult part would be getting the co-op delivery service members to get this information to you so that you can do the dcons.

I know the limitations of my self and my staff they are very few, the limitations come from other 15 florist and will be beyond my control, I can not make them comply to a new rule of TF when 1/2 of them are not TF.

Wheels are turning, still thinking...

The answer will come....

This is a tough call because I understand where you are coming from, but at the same time I understand the importance of improving the floral industry as a whole. This is actually a time where I believe what TF is asking members to do is good for the industry as a whole.

Yes, I believe there is a possibility that it is being implemented mostly for the benefit of the corporation and the OGs, but, in this case, I say "so what", because it will benefit every member as well. I agree that in an ideal world every flower order should not only receive email confirmation, but a picture. I think the floral industry needs to do this to stay competitive with other online retailers.

We are already losing the younger generation that feel flowers are a waste of money. If we do not keep up with technology, we will lose them for yet another reason.

In these economic times, and in the fallout after we are out of this time, customer service is going to be one of the contributing factors that separates businesses that succeed from those that don't. Maybe you could present this to the members of your carpool as an idea you are personally implementing in your own business that will improve all of your business' CS rather than asking them to do it because TF is asking you to do it??

 

[Doug Munro]

Near and dear to my heart

This is one of those threads that is near and dear to my heart as I have taken my share of calls from irate customers to inform me that the flowers they ordered from us were not delivered for the dear aunts funeral, wife's birthday, or to a terminally ill friend.

It's bad enough when the mistake occurred because we dropped the ball internally, but frankly it is even worse when the fulfiller simply didn't deliver as requested. At least I can take measures to ensure that procedures are in place so that we don't make the mistake ourselves a second time.

So as much as I would like to hang around and debate this all night (seriously) I have to run so I can watch my son's ball hockey game. However I may sign on later tonight and pick up where I left off........