What Wire Service To Choose???

[kristyw94]

I have looked through the responses on this thread the newest seems to be almost a year old, so I was hoping to get some newer info. I have been open now a little over 6 months and I have heard nothing but horror stories about wire services. Unless of course you are talking to someone who had a flower shop 10+ years ago and they all say wonderful things about them. So from what I have gathered: DON"T USE FTD OR TELEFLORA. Even looking at old invoices from the previous owner of my store, he never made anything with Teleflora. So I chose not to have one. Then a few months ago I got a call from BloomNet. I turned them down several times at first, then they said I could have a free trial run basically until the end of the year. That summer was the slowest time at a Flower Shop and that I needed the wire orders. So I thought I would give them a try. I now have Bloomnet. After having them for a month, (which I have not received my first statement yet) I have heard terrible things about them, that I didn't hear before. I am really doubting my decision, but really think that I might need one for the slow summer months. I have heard some nice things about the Flower Shop Network, but one of the two other florists in town uses that one. So, I don't want to step on any toes. Any and all thoughts, info & recommendations would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance
Kristy

 

[michelle launsby]

I have looked through the responses on this thread the newest seems to be almost a year old, so I was hoping to get some newer info. I have been open now a little over 6 months and I have heard nothing but horror stories about wire services. Unless of course you are talking to someone who had a flower shop 10+ years ago and they all say wonderful things about them. So from what I have gathered: DON"T USE FTD OR TELEFLORA. Even looking at old invoices from the previous owner of my store, he never made anything with Teleflora. So I chose not to have one. Then a few months ago I got a call from BloomNet. I turned them down several times at first, then they said I could have a free trial run basically until the end of the year. That summer was the slowest time at a Flower Shop and that I needed the wire orders. So I thought I would give them a try. I now have Bloomnet. After having them for a month, (which I have not received my first statement yet) I have heard terrible things about them, that I didn't hear before. I am really doubting my decision, but really think that I might need one for the slow summer months. I have heard some nice things about the Flower Shop Network, but one of the two other florists in town uses that one. So, I don't want to step on any toes. Any and all thoughts, info & recommendations would be wonderful.

Thanks in advance
Kristy

Do me a favor and write your certified letter right now and back out of joining this organization. I was told over the phone that they take $7.95 per order for their fees. Not correct they take that plus an % of the order. It worked out to be 30% of the order when all is said and done. If you want to work that into each order than go ahead but you will get complaints about the order. Then you will get a cancellation after you have delivered it and even though you dispute it, the cancellation will still stand. Loss 100%. Then they have all kinds of hidden fees--like Valentine's Day if you don't refuse an order within two hours you get charges, If you don't confirm an order that same day, big fee, If you happen to miss an order in the shuffle of holiday paperwork you get charged 3x's the order amount. This is great if you are a slow shop but if you are not and have holiday help--its a big fat Loss!
So with that said--I joined two weeks before a holiday because the salesperson called and swindled his way in by name dropping of local florist of who he said he was friends with. I stupidely fell for it. I have contacted him 4 times to cancel my supposed to be trial with them and each time gave me the run around that they were going to give me credits for mistakes and so on. I Didn't even get a small percentage of those fees back. Then when I finally gave up with him I read how to cancel the services. It told me to go to a link and request cancellation. There in no existing page at this address. OK, phone call back to Tommy----He tells me I have to send a certified letter to them. Sent the letter only to get a phone call back from someone stating that I still have to pay their fees for the next 4 months because I missed the June 10th deadline for the directory. Bull-poopy! I am now going to the better business bureau to start a report with them. Organizations like this is why shops go under.
Long story short--I love FSN. Look at joining them. They are upfront in what their fees are. Their customer service is by far superior. They are growing everyday. Tell Bloomnet to stick it where the sun doesn't shine!!!

 

[BGfloral]

I purchased my shop five years ago and recognized immediately that the wire services are set up so that the florists do not make money, only the wire services. I agree completely with the previous poster, we find that even when we do accept orders from them almost every order comes with a complaint from either the recipient or the sender, not because the flowers are not beautiful but because they paid $40 and expected $200 worth of flowers as promised on the wire service website. This results in us giving the flowers away for free, so it is not worth it. I have time and again disputed with Teleflora, FTD, and Bloomnet orders that resulted in complaints and find that it is a waste of time, they always refund the customer and I always eat the cost of the flowers. If I am going to give away flowers its going to be to one of my local charities, not someone who called Teleflora instead of coming to me directly. Because we are with Teleflora, we also spend a substantial amount of time on the phone with companies like 1-800-Flowers denying their requests to drive 25 miles within the next hour to deliver $100 worth of flowers for $35. It took me over a year to leave FTD after which they threatened to sue and tried to hit me with 6 months worth of marketing fees. I joined Bloomnet because the sales rep gave me a "free trial" which of course was not free and resulted in a bill of almost $700. It took me 4 months and massive amounts of threatening emails and calls to separate from them. I joined FSN a year ago and it has resulted in a 12% increase in my business. Customers tell me they order because the website is so beautiful, unlike that Teleflora website which is generic and cheap looking. The FSN website is easy to use and they took the time to show me exactly how to set it up so I can continually add new products. One caveat, I have locked each page so that new products cannot be added, because previously they automatically downloaded new products to the website that I don't have and you don't know about it until a customer calls and asks for it. Locking each page of the website prevents that from happening. I also highly recommend their marketing package, which sends emails to customers who have ordered through my FSN website. Its not expensive, $200 I think, and pays for itself with new orders every time the emails go out. I have the Teleflora Dove POS system and process my credit cards through Teleflora, so today I am again going to talk to my rep about cutting my ties with Teleflora and will be sending them a certified letter today. FYI any assistance that anybody can provide concerning how to get all of my marketing information off of the Dove system before I terminate the membership would be much appreciated, I tried yesterday but couldn't do it. Ideally I would like to figure out how to get my marketing info out of Dove and send it to FSN so it can be incorporated into my next marketing campaign. I am also interested in opinions concerning the best POS system to use when I get rid of DOVE pos.

 

[Derek Contreras]

To keep a long story short, I had Teleflora, Bloomnet, and FTD. I cut them all out and actually make a profit with FSN! Go with FSN!

 

[Steve Smith]

I purchased my shop five years ago and recognized immediately that the wire services are set up so that the florists do not make money, only the wire services. I agree completely with the previous poster, we find that even when we do accept orders from them almost every order comes with a complaint from either the recipient or the sender, not because the flowers are not beautiful but because they paid $40 and expected $200 worth of flowers as promised on the wire service website. This results in us giving the flowers away for free, so it is not worth it. I have time and again disputed with Teleflora, FTD, and Bloomnet orders that resulted in complaints and find that it is a waste of time, they always refund the customer and I always eat the cost of the flowers. If I am going to give away flowers its going to be to one of my local charities, not someone who called Teleflora instead of coming to me directly. Because we are with Teleflora, we also spend a substantial amount of time on the phone with companies like 1-800-Flowers denying their requests to drive 25 miles within the next hour to deliver $100 worth of flowers for $35. It took me over a year to leave FTD after which they threatened to sue and tried to hit me with 6 months worth of marketing fees. I joined Bloomnet because the sales rep gave me a "free trial" which of course was not free and resulted in a bill of almost $700. It took me 4 months and massive amounts of threatening emails and calls to separate from them. I joined FSN a year ago and it has resulted in a 12% increase in my business. Customers tell me they order because the website is so beautiful, unlike that Teleflora website which is generic and cheap looking. The FSN website is easy to use and they took the time to show me exactly how to set it up so I can continually add new products. One caveat, I have locked each page so that new products cannot be added, because previously they automatically downloaded new products to the website that I don't have and you don't know about it until a customer calls and asks for it. Locking each page of the website prevents that from happening. I also highly recommend their marketing package, which sends emails to customers who have ordered through my FSN website. Its not expensive, $200 I think, and pays for itself with new orders every time the emails go out. I have the Teleflora Dove POS system and process my credit cards through Teleflora, so today I am again going to talk to my rep about cutting my ties with Teleflora and will be sending them a certified letter today. FYI any assistance that anybody can provide concerning how to get all of my marketing information off of the Dove system before I terminate the membership would be much appreciated, I tried yesterday but couldn't do it. Ideally I would like to figure out how to get my marketing info out of Dove and send it to FSN so it can be incorporated into my next marketing campaign. I am also interested in opinions concerning the best POS system to use when I get rid of DOVE pos.

HANA POS is designed to work with FSN. I've had it for almost a year now and it works great.