They must be so proud or their reputation.......

keith

keith

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Jan 22, 2003
298
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Beaverton
www.beavertonflorists.com
State / Prov
Oregon
I get Google alerts for several key words to keep up on what's happening and when I saw this today I could not help but chuckle, Is it TOO ironic? to come in on the same alert?

ScreenHunter_01 Aug. 10 12.59.gif

An ad followed by a ripoff report.....lol

Lets push for a 1000 likes conference next week!

Keith

(excuse the title typo or should have been of)
 
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Keith, I went to the site listed on your screen shot, ftd.pissedconsumer. They just got a new review on August 6th. After reading through it, I was not surprised at the laundry list of complaints, it was not just one thing wrong.

[h=1]FTD Delivered late and incorrect product[/h]
FTD Complaint by Unluckyconsumer

I ordered a "Sweet Surpises " Bouquet thought FTD to be delivered Sat Aug 6th. Paid $15.99 service fee on top of product price . Later that day, recieved mail that they were not able to reach me using the number I had listed to let me know that delivery was going to be delayed. First of all- my phone did not ring one time that day- THEY DID NOT TRY TO CALL!sECOND STRIKE: They delivered that bouquet Monday, it was supposed to be an upgrade due to the missed delivery Saturday, however, the arrangement looks nothing like the photo online! The vase should have been a clear glass cube and the flowers should have contained red roses, white daisies, off white and red carnations waith a little bit of green foliage. What was delivered: A clump of red and white carmations, one daisy don't know if it contained any roses( could not see any in the photo that was sent to me)with overstated foliage".The vase was an opaque dark colored matte finish container,. THIRD strike: I filled out the customer survey and gave them less that great marks- their response: "We are sorry you had such a bad experience, we will use this as a opportunity to improve our service"'. How about offereing to refund some on my money for getting esentially nothing that I ordered?I sent them a direct e-mail again voicing the fact that I felt like I was ripped off and that , if they are outsourcing to other flower shops, they need to make sure those flower shops are stocked with the supplies needed to fulfill the bouquets that are presented on their web site!.I don't send flowers that much but now I know to directly contact the local florist to get what I want.
Click to expand...

I was concerned when I read the RED highlight, I am afraid some people really don't understand that FTD is not an actual florist. The last part that I emphasized is enough to give me a little lift, though. Here is one consumer that seems to have enough faith in the gift of flowers to give us another chance.
 
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How many of us get asked if we are Interflora, FTD, Teleflora shops etc. No one understands this is just a relay service and nothing more or a boxed offering. When I was in TF, I used to get asked this all the time. I always stated that I was an independent florist that used the relay service to send an order to another independent florist via the relay system. Every customer I told never new this and thought I was owned by TF. If they told me they like such and such flowers in my shop I always explained that I could not guarantee the receiving florist had any of the same stock but would let the shop know what they liked. And as for the small print regarding substitutions I don't think anyone ever reads that at all. The eFlorist network in the UK now offer alot of designs as florist choice in different colour ways and these seems to be the most popular type of design.

I find most of my website orders are for this type of thing and not for specified designs. It makes life so much easier and there is less chance of disappointment for the sender or the recipient.

When I look at what is offered by most of the big boys there is very little way in florist choice designs. Which in general are more profitable as the florist can find good deals for colours rather than specified flowers and colours together.

I know at any one time for eFlorist there are around 125/150 designs for customers to choose from. This is mind boggling for the customer IMO (well actually I am told this often) and is a nightmare for the florist to try and make sure they have in stock for these. Be it fresh flowers or containers which is just as bad. In the UK we are lucky that not as many designs have very specified containers and the ones that are you can normally get very similar from wholesalers without having to buy huge quantities direct from the WS.
I have really had my eyes opened on here to the US and Canadian Florists plight with this as well as all the extra fees you seem to have to pay over there. I can see how you could make any money even if you have sole coverage of a prosperous area. The containers you are expected to stock must sit around for decades.

Sorry for digressing but it is all part of the problem.
 
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anytimeflowers said:
Keith, I went to the site listed on your screen shot, ftd.pissedconsumer. They just got a new review on August 6th. After reading through it, I was not surprised at the laundry list of complaints, it was not just one thing wrong.

[h=1]FTD Delivered late and incorrect product[/h]

I was concerned when I read the RED highlight, I am afraid some people really don't understand that FTD is not an actual florist. The last part that I emphasized is enough to give me a little lift, though. Here is one consumer that seems to have enough faith in the gift of flowers to give us another chance.
Click to expand...

Linda "knows" EXACTLY how to put it!!...:)
 
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Ok so on this particular order there are many failed issues...ftd faild a bunch of times befor ethe order was actually sent...wether they sent it out and it bounced around because noone could fill it to specks, no one wanted it or what not, there comes a point in a day that the call rep needs to call and find out what the problem is and cal and talk to a human to get the order placed for customer satisfaction, it is what they got paid 12.99 or more to do...they didn't even bother to call the sender rather just sent an email and lied that they tried, then they sent it out again over the machine for Mondays delivery with an upgrade...now you bet your bottom dollar that if this was most actual flowershops, it wouldn't have gotten past the first reject beofre a flowershop got on the horn and asked what the problem was and how they could correct it and then called their customer and had an actual discussion about this order far before it became an actual problem, because none of us want to get a complaint ever...

Now the order was filled bay a shop that either A. was not given the full spectrum of the problems behind it and let it get filled by a novice just thinking it was a regular order that would be just fine(maybe not filled awesome, maybe filled bad, maybe the shop sucked who knows) I would venture to guess that the upgrade sent was not even recognized by the shop and it got filled at regular price because a whole lot of shops do that sort of thing...again if a real shop had dropped the ball and couldn't get this order resolved on Saturday, you bet your bottom dollar they are calling the shop doing the order, letting them know all the issues with the order and giving them a heads up that if it ain't perfect it will just be afurther problem, giving the new shop the option to say no thanks, I am all set, of give this order extra special attention froma very qualified designer to not have a further problem...

so it comes down to the fact that communication and customer service from the beginning would have or could have made this situation better, but because the big guys spend so much money on marketing to get the customers, they don't want to spend anymore making sure those customers have a great experience because it would cost them further money from the 50 they already spent getting the customer...there in lies our problem...we spent so much time, effort and money in making sure the customers experince is great that se don't have enough left over to tell anyone about it, we take it for granted that people know these things because it is just something we have always done, yet the consumer has no idea...it isn't that we are bad marketers per se it is that we prioritize differently where the dollars must be spent in order to keep our customers happy and loyal...the big guys just spend the bulk of the money getting the customers and appeasing them when things go worng...we would rather things never go wrong in the first place...
 
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I actually made a nice little chunk of profit filling for ftd. I am quitting EXACTLY because things like this go on every day. It is embarrassing to have thier logo on my door.
 
My new sign alone is $5k........logo is embedded into the sign. I wonder if I could send them a bill for advertising for them?
 
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