Facebook used to slander local florist in my town

retro

retro

New Member
Jul 10, 2011
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Cullman
State / Prov
AL
Folks this is a true story. A retired military contractor in Afganistan placed an order online thru Wesley Berry that got routed to a florist friend of mine via Teleflora. It was for Teleflora's My Heart is Yours Bouquet, which shows a vase with a silver heart necklace attached. The florist did not have the vase accent necklace (plus he just got the order on VDay since it was sent after he closed 2/13.) So he sent the arrangement out without it. Now the customer says the delivery driver stole the expensive necklace her husband sent from overseas to his little girl. She has posted a picture of her kids to this effect that has gotten over 7000 shares. I posted this on his page:
"Dear friends, as a florist in the same town I wanted to share my opinion of the story regarding Fairview Florist. The bouquet that was ordered by the dad has an open heart necklace attached to the vase. This is a silver colored costume jewelry open heart on a black cord worth about $10 tops. According to the posts I've been reading, the florist elected to send out the bouquet without the necklace ...because they did not carry that vase accent necklace in stock. No one stole the necklace! The florist did not get the order till Valentine's Day. Wesley Berry is NOT a real florist, but simply an order gatherer website that sends very little of the $ the customer paid to the real florist. The story has been spread around the the dad sent a very expensive necklace from overseas directly to the florist. As a professional florist I wish to correct this assumption. ~Karen Laney, City Florist "



http://www.teleflora.com/flowers/bouquet/my-heart-is-yours-bouquet-by-teleflora-497890p.asp


https://www.facebook.com/fairview.f...p?fbid=4819977369976&set=o.75155261177&type=1

https://www.facebook.com/fairview.florist.7?fref=ts


Obviously he should have turned off the dove machine. He posted a pic of the actual invoice from Dove showing the time sent, the price received, and showing that something similar was ok'd. That or refused the order! Or picked up a cheap similar necklace, but who has time for that on VDay? This could happen to any one of us.
 
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And after reading all that nastiness, the mother still hasnt taken the post down. I sincerely hope that the florist sues them for defamation of character. The mother states that she heard the driver admit to stealing the necklace. If I was Fairview florist I would screen shot. print out all that vitriol and make sure the solicitors get it, the local paper and also for the mother to contact everyone who has shared and commented and to tell the TRUTH!
 
BOSS said:
It still amazes me, that florists put themselves into this position by accepting dysfunctional orders in the first place.
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on the "other" hand, who could have imagined such a "lie" from a military "family"....IF, during the delivery confirmation, that the fill shop stated that they did NOT have the container/necklace, TF had better get their arse in gear!
 
Perhaps after this dies down, it would be a good time for Fairview Florist to put up a proper Facebook business page. I see their page is a personal page which facebook looks down upon. However, in this case, it probably gave them a little protection against this vitriol.
 
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Even if you do not have a wire service Wesley Berry will still try to call and give orders with a credit card. I refuse them EVERYTIME. They have a website that says they are actually located in all these small towns in Michigan. They do have a few locations in the Detroit area, they are evil!!! I wish florists would stop taking orders from these types of places and from wire services. The customer WILL call direct when they do not have all the garbage places to call anymore!
 
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flow2178 said:
Even if you do not have a wire service Wesley Berry will still try to call and give orders with a credit card. I refuse them EVERYTIME. They have a website that says they are actually located in all these small towns in Michigan. They do have a few locations in the Detroit area, they are evil!!! I wish florists would stop taking orders from these types of places and from wire services. The customer WILL call direct when they do not have all the garbage places to call anymore!
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Well, that's true,and FALSE......stats are showing that customers WILL NOT CALL DIRECT.....BECAUSE of all the "garbage & baggage" when it comes to ordering flowers. I have a "how about" for you.......maybe you travel, you find a GREAT DEAL on a discounted room in Sheboygan, and book it through the online 3rd party vendor, then plan your time away. Suddenly, just before, you get a message that the HOTEL will NOT accept your booking!!....who you gonna be mad at??....huh??..
 
If I understand what you are saying correctly I would be mad at the third party that I bought the tickets from. That is why they should call direct. And this is much different when you are talking about something as emotional and personal as sending flowers, where someone is actually designing something for you, why not call the florist that is ACTUALLY making it? So I guess what I was trying to say is if florists just stopped excepting wire orders and third party orders (even if paid with a credit card) then who would they have to fill those orders?? No one so the customer would have to call direct, and if you are a good florist they will get what they ordered and paid for because the florist knows what container it will be in and the flowers they will use.
 
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flow2178 said:
If I understand what you are saying correctly I would be mad at the third party that I bought the tickets from. That is why they should call direct. And this is much different when you are talking about something as emotional and personal as sending flowers, where someone is actually designing something for you, why not call the florist that is ACTUALLY making it? So I guess what I was trying to say is if florists just stopped excepting wire orders and third party orders (even if paid with a credit card) then who would they have to fill those orders?? No one so the customer would have to call direct, and if you are a good florist they will get what they ordered and paid for because the florist knows what container it will be in and the flowers they will use.
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ahhhh....but, you DO REALIZE that ONLY 4% of the population would "agree" with you!!..and those 4% make up business owners, that "understand"...the rest don't give a rat's arse about whose "fault" it is...they'll just blame the one that takes a stand and says "NOPE, ain't gonna do it!" (and by the way, I'm on YOUR side)..no darts please!..:)
 
Oh no I know you are my side I have read your posts and love them! :) You are just trying to point out something that I don't want to believe. :) I am constantly telling customers (the ones that I think will care) about the truth, they seem to be very interested... But like you said a very small %
 
except that those OG's are getting very good at blaming the local florist who will not fill their orders. Once in Jan and at Val day we have had 2 irate guys calling because their flowers didn't get delivered and they were told it was because we, the local florist dropped the Ball - NOT THEM (FT.CON and Weaslie) . Makes you wonder how often this happens, after all I am just in a little town, what about larger geographic areas.

I made it very clear that we did not do business with third party order companies. One guy's attitude was still snippy after we tried to educate him - not that he cared - he was pissed because Mom didn't get flowers. The other guy thanked us. And yes, we did deliver flowers for both guys - same day and saved their tushes.
 
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We as a company policy, do not deliver customers items....I had a customer last week trying to deliver money with the flowers and some of his own candies. Very nicely we told him that our Insurance does not
allow us to carry someone elses product. It is so easy to not bother about such issues. An issue which has always stayed in my mind, years ago a florist driver (delivering for the delivery pool), sat in a park and ate all the fruits and chocolates from the basket and threw the basket in the trash and threw the vased roses in the bushes. A friend of ours was resting in the park, heard this loud noise, then saw the driver leaving the parking lot. He found the basket and the roses, but no card. I called a few florists in the neighborhood and told them what had happened. Not sure how they explained to the customer that the driver ate the fruits and chocolates and dan found the roses.
 
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two things:

1) the florist should not have accepted to order if they did not have the vase. We can all make excuses for them, but it doesn't change the fact that they are responsible for the quality of that order.
2) Wesley Berry convinces customers that they ARE a local florist. The unlucky customer simply gets scammed. Internet scams take place every day. You can't do much about it except keep your shop out of that cycle.

Avas hits my town pretty hard. I have had clients tell me that they ordered flowers from me and were not delivered. After looking at their credit card charge, it turns out to be avas (or JF). All I can say is, "Sorry, but you are the victim of an internet scam. Contact your credit card company to dispute the charges. If you would like to place an order with me, I will be happy to take care of it for you. The next time you need something please call our local number or make sure that it is our website in the address bar of your browser."

It's really frustrating, but you can't save people from themselves.

FYI, I do not accept any incoming orders from florists for volume holidays. WB and their ilk have gotten into the habit of just saying they are calling from "Flower Shop", and my holiday help isn't trained to watch out for the tell-tales. If I get a complaint from a client, it is my fault.
 
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The truth is majority of the people don't know the difference and frankly don't care. They just want to "get it done with". They will click on the first link that shows up in their browser and if it "screams": 20% OFF on the top of it - sale is done. I'm afraid that this fight will not be won through "educating consumer" as much as "educating the search engine". At the same time, we the florist have to accept that "reseller" term has become acceptable norm in the society (I for one shop on Amazon), and that average human being will rather place an order in 5 minutes with "money back guarantee" on first website that pops up, than look for "local florist" for 5 minutes. At the same time, there are and will be "filler shops" and they will not abandon the filling concept. So the question begot: What do we do?
 
You all may think I am living under a rock but I do not believe that the wire service effects my business at all. I have a very strong local following and have 60 - 70% walk in! We have busted our butt to bring the business to us. We have advertised, facebooked, and marketed to our own market so heavy that we are finally becoming more noticed. This shop has been here for 20 year, 3 years ago when we purchased the phrase "where is that" was what people would say when we told them our name. Now they say, "Oh that's the one on Pershing right?" Much better. I stopped worrying about the big guys when I cut ties a few years ago and I choose to ignore them. I understand what you are all saying about the bad taste of flower ordering but I am bringing up a new generation of buyers to come directly to me. If they fall pray to the too good to be true ads on the internet they will learn their lesson and come back to me. The only thing I can control is what goes on in our shop.
We have to provide the best quality, with the best service, at a reasonable price. It is what we do and it is what keeps us growing by 10% or more every year for the last 3 years.

Now if you would excuse me I'm going to put my head back in the sand where it's safe and warm hehe.
 
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