FloristDetective.com

[BOSS]

From the FloristDetective Mail Bag

Letters for the week of 1/20/07-1/26/07

Kay's Complaints - 8

Flowers with Gifted Elegance - 1

Consumer questions - 2

TV and Newspaper Reporters - 5

The last one has been a constantly growing area with more and more requests coming in more and more often.

The Detectives thought you all might like to know.

 

[BOSS]

ProFlowers Unprofessional advertising

Fighting the good fight, the Detective's carry on HERE

Link up folks...this is all out war!

 

[BOSS]

Some new page updates on FloristDetective.com

800Flowers vs. Real Florists

Proflowers vs. Real Florists

Share them!!!

 

[PhillyPhlorist]

800Flowers vs. Real Florists

Proflowers vs. Real Florists

Share them!!!

LOVE IT! Too funny. Thanks BOSS.

- H.

PS - forgot to say that her PF order most likely originated from Zieger & Sons wholesale florist in Philly - about 4 minutes from my shop...

 

[NavyBrat]

Boss,

I wuv you and your good stuff! Will u be my Valentine? Thanks for all you do! I finally added a link to my homepage for Florist Detective.

 

[FlowerShopSolutions]

I finally added a link to my homepage for Florist Detective.

I added a link too!

 

[BOSS]

Yesterdays visitors

And grow it does...yesterday's unique visitor count...

Drum roll......

1500

 

[clay]

Fielded questions

Letters for the week of 1/20/07-1/26/07

Kay's Complaints - 8

Flowers with Gifted Elegance - 1

Consumer questions - 2

TV and Newspaper Reporters - 5

The last one has been a constantly growing area with more and more requests coming in more and more often.

The Detectives thought you all might like to know.

Have you fielded any questions from the news reporters?

 

[Buzz]

And grow it does...yesterday's unique visitor count...

Drum roll......

1500

I added a link a few weeks ago too!. Also, FYI...Tomorrow night on Channel 7 (ABC) News in Denver, they should be airing an episode on how to avoid phony florist flower scams. I don't know how much they will edit the original tape, but I gave floristdetective.com a pretty big plug! I posted some tips on how to avoid these scams on my website too. So if the customers go to www.bloominbee.com or www.floristdetective.com they will find some good info. The folks at channel 7 told be to get ready because these things will usually get the phone a-ring'n ! We'll see!

 

[BOSS]

Have you fielded any questions from the news reporters?

Yep, have had many requests, I have answered some, and a couple other "Detectives" have too...

Wall Street Journal, Smart Money, two national TV reporters, and local TV from 5 different states ... so far

 

[BOSS]

Report it to the FTC

A new page has been added to www.floristdetective.com for consumers and florists to complain to the FTC... Federal Trade Commission.

You can view it HERE

 

[BOSS]

Another page update, FTD vs. Florists

A new page has been added to the FloristDetective.com site HERE

Titled FTD vs. Florists it includes some mail to the Detectives from a consumer as well as a recap of the Vday fiasco.

The Detectives would like to thank you all for your support and links...

 

[BOSS]

Page updates

Just wanted to advise about recent page updates on Floristdetective.com

The OG page has been updated HERE

As well as the "letters from Consumers" page HERE

FloristDetective is also getting 3-4 Thank You letters a week from florists...

The Detectives thank you too!

 

[Tracy D'Amico]

Nice chart. I love charts. I'm copying this and re-working it for in-store use. My girls are getting better at hearing those names on the phone and saying "no thanks, we don't deliver or fill for you."

tracy

 

[Eric S]

I think the Feb 6th letter should have included a response to file a complant with the FTC. The BBB is a joke!!!!

Great updates as always.

 

[BOSS]

New Page added, Kay's and FTD

Well, it finally became necessary to give Kay's Flowers outa Bellaire Texas and their association with FTD an page of their own on Floristdetective.com.

By far, Kay's and their associated bogus names and affiliates generate the most mail into FloristDetective, and they finally tipped the scales to warrant their own page.

READ IT HERE

As you can see from reading the sad letter from this consumer (a rather high powered one at that) Kay's continues, with FTD's help to do more damage to our industry than any other outfit. You can also see, that this consumer, did his/her homework, and knows his/her way around not only the web, but the FTC as well.

The Detectives continue to shake their collective heads when these things pop up, and still we wonder when will FTD be taken to task. It appears that day is drawing ever closer as more and more consumers take action into their hands.

 

[BOSS]

Update

Just to let you folks know about http://www.floristdetective.com/loca...rflorists.aspx Phony local florist listings in Yahoo Local and the owners/employees writing bogus reviews and slamming real flower shops.

 

[CHR]

Sheesh! Anybody know which wire service(s) AAA Flower Mart belongs to?

Did you see how they were going around slapping bad ratings on real florists? What can any of us do to protect ourselves from liars and cheats like this?

 

[12BucksFor2Dozon]

I remember reading a post from some tech blog a few years ago about the potential for "fake-user abuse" on the reviews areas of these directory sites, and basically, due to the anonymity of the internet, its almost impossible to combat...

Given the predatory nature of online marketing and sales, I'm surprised its not more prevalent then it already is becoming...and, no, Cathy, I really don't think we can protect ourselves, because soon everyone would edit ANY bad rating and say it was spam...

 

[CHR]

Yesterday, the Miami Herald did a story about the Florida AG suing Meola and included a link to FloristDetective.com.

The florist scam is common enough for genuinely local florists, who often take the blame for the scammers' schemes, to have set up their own website, www.floristdetective.com, to report on the crooks.