WS website images & "photoshop"

I see that the 2011 TF Kinkade piece for this Christmas is a masterpiece of adjusted imagery.

The actual Kinkade piece, as used in the TF "Resource Guide" May-July, looks as if it is a complete fabrication of 2D creativity while the floral images, especially when comparing std. with the next step-up, deluxe, have the stamp of "photoshop" all over them.

As for the pricing on this all-around piece, in particular the deluxe version with seemingly 3 each red and white spray roses + other floral, using the WS mark-up structure and assuming Christmas flora prices Dec 2011 as in Dec 2010 - which is very wishful thinking I believe, this is a continuation of the unrealistic price vs. image these people peddle to the consumer.
 
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Yes! I have argued with both Teleflora and FTD over exactly this! They show arrangements that cannot POSSIBLY be designed as shown, and if there is a complaint, they will not stand behind us! Of course, to top this, they also underprice them and then take 27%! They put us in an impossible situation, and therefore I cannot buy their codified products!
 
PHOTOSHOPPING OF FLOWERS ILLUSTRATED WITH PHOTOSHOP

vases1.jpg

RF-DIGITAL-ROSE.jpg

readyflowers-admirer.gif

ordered_this-got_this2.gif


SOURCE : http://fair-trading.com/reports/ready-flowers.html

MEDIA RELEASE : http://fair-trading.com/reports/media1.pdf
 
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The codified items from TF are amongst the worst for "photoshop" work -and who knows, maybe even silk- and unrealistic pricing based upon TF's own formulas and, if you want, their Stems & Bunches pricing.

Look at T404-1A & the -1B version, as endorsed by Faith Hill. Compare the -1A and the -1B pictures and the "photoshop" activity is plain to see. Then look at the recipes - 1 stem pink hydra which Stems & Bunches were boasting only on the 26th May they can supply, delivered, to N. America florists if you buy 30 stems, @ $4.86 each; 3 lav roses, 2 alstro & 1/2 a varie pitt + their mirrored cube which, assuming you buy 48 is, with freight, $7.00. TF sell at $42.95 + $7.00 for delivery. Following the -1A recipe and mark-up structure you cannot make for $49.95 never mind deliver. Your costs - product, inc. in-coming freight, your delivery cost, Dove order acceptance is around $23.00 minimum outside of holidays and you get $33.00 (next month).

Then move on to the next in the sequence, T404-2, then TF405-1 and so on...All cut & paste jobs with the actual flora often at odd angles to the container.

One reason codified are amongst the worst, especially on the pricing with the recipe, is the royalties due to the personality - Faith Hill; the brand - Kinkade (& also a personality so may be a double whammy fee especially if his image is involved), Radko, Williamsburgh et cetera. Of course we do not know what, for example, the license agreement with Ms. Hill is but she is certainly taking her cut from the use of her name.
 
5/28/11
I take a 3 prong approach to wire service pictures
1. The florist has a right to refuse any order they cannot duplicate as the picture shows.
2. The florist should then make the problem/s known to the wire service--just a courtesy
3. Remove the offending picture from your website. Replace the picture with the arrangement the way you do it.

It is about meeting the needs and wants of the customer and giving them what they see, not false expectations.
The size of the vase should also be noted in the description. The WS I belong to is notorious for using 5 1/2" and
6 1/2" vases and, I'm sure, the customer is expecting a standard 8" vase for the money they are paying.
Grandma Nancy
 
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Grandma Nancy said:
5/28/11
I take a 3 prong approach to wire service pictures
1. The florist has a right to refuse any order they cannot duplicate as the picture shows.
2. The florist should then make the problem/s known to the wire service--just a courtesy
3. Remove the offending picture from your website. Replace the picture with the arrangement the way you do it.

It is about meeting the needs and wants of the customer and giving them what they see, not false expectations.
The size of the vase should also be noted in the description. The WS I belong to is notorious for using 5 1/2" and
6 1/2" vases and, I'm sure, the customer is expecting a standard 8" vase for the money they are paying.
Grandma Nancy
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Grandma Nancy. I agree with the florist refusing the order. The "courtesy" of letting the wire service know about a problem image is very well known to them already, but they will not change it because they are too afraid of missing out on orders which brings me to the third approach you listed. That is a great idea for florists "own" ws website but the reality is, most of these orders are NOT coming in through that gate, they come from a variety of ogs, including the ws themselves.

What you have there is a great idea though. Maybe what the ws should do for each named design is have an ever-changing slide show of the "same" design by different florists. Maybe that would help the consumer see how different shops interpret any given design. Once they see that, perhaps they could better understand the very nature of....well.....nature.
 
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I have to agree with Linda (well I don't have to but I usually do!) If I had a dollar for every time I gave TFTD the "courtesy" of my opinion, I'd be rich woman. The fact is, they are not interested in the opinions of florists, which is the main reason I quit them all. If I treated my customers like that, they certainly would quit shopping at Concord Flower Shop.
 
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What most florists fail to realize is there is a 'loophole' in the wire service guidelines that let's you refuse as much or as little as you want. It's called "Improperly transmitted orders" Too low a price, below your minimums, requesting flowers not in stock", even something as simple as putting two items on one ticket.......all qualify as an 'improperly transmitted order"
 
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Ricky -

The WSs have changed the game when it comes to refusals. Shops who regularly refuse the 'worst offender' arrangements will be 'penalized' by received far less orders overall. You pretty much have to take them all if you want to fill year-round.

Word on the street is that FTDs parent company's CEO basically told the top member that if they turned off their Mercs during major holidays, they wouldn't be invited back to next year's event.
 
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Did not know that Cathy....just one more thing to confirm that if I ever find myself owning a shop........NO Wire Services PERIOD !!!!!!
 
What's ironic is that they will keep trying to send you orders when you quit and don't want them. I had attempts by all the OG's over the holidays as well as TF HQ who said they would give me the full amount and pay by Amex. I know there are still members in this area so I don't get why they keep pestering me.
 
CHR said:
Ricky -

The WSs have changed the game when it comes to refusals. Shops who regularly refuse the 'worst offender' arrangements will be 'penalized' by received far less orders overall. You pretty much have to take them all if you want to fill year-round.

Word on the street is that FTDs parent company's CEO basically told the top member that if they turned off their Mercs during major holidays, they wouldn't be invited back to next year's event.
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It is increasingly a dangerous tussle between WS (and OGs) on one side and the florists handling WS (and OGs) orders on the other. The problem is that if the WS do go down in a death spin, florists, those handling the WS and those not, will be caught in the wreckage and many damaged without hope. The contagin from all of this is driving more and more of the consumer to other forms of expressing a sentiment.
 
Flame said:
It's called False Advertising - happens all the time. It started out with models and now it's gone as low as flowers....:-(
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It is true that it is false, or at the least deceptive, advertising. In many ways the tricks of the floral pieces is akin to models selling clothing or people driving fast cars in TV adverts or even the cigarette ads of decades past. It all sold aspiration: you too can look glamorous or achieve this life style or be this sexy (with cigiarettes) - before we "all knew better". But with floral arrangments, people still believe they will get what they see so, I suppose, congratulations to the WS for pushing this deception so successfully, so far, at least.
 
concord said:
What's ironic is that they will keep trying to send you orders when you quit and don't want them. I had attempts by all the OG's over the holidays as well as TF HQ who said they would give me the full amount and pay by Amex. I know there are still members in this area so I don't get why they keep pestering me.
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Tell them Visa/Mastercard only at 100%..... they don't like that answer
 
Rhonda said:
Tell them Visa/Mastercard only at 100%..... they don't like that answer
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I don't take Amex but I also don't take TF orders even at 100% because I wouldn't trust them to give me 100% and I don't want to enable the OG's that they support. I say that every time but they keep calling around the holidays. Must me the volume is too much for the one member in the area.
 
concord said:
I don't take Amex but I also don't take TF orders even at 100% because I wouldn't trust them to give me 100% and I don't want to enable the OG's that they support. I say that every time but they keep calling around the holidays. Must me the volume is too much for the one member in the area.
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The next time they 'phone, ask for their 'phone number, then, when you have it, advise them that the number they called you on is under the "Do Not Call" 'phone number scheme organized by the FTC and if they call again, they will be reported. I find this usually stops that company 'phoning again. I have not tried it yet with TF or the OGs using TF as the "Do Not Call" ploy would fail as I do have business contacts with them for a couple of more months. See if it works with the WS/OGs.
 
jamie said:
what you should do is accpet the TF order via Amex, then send them an email at 9pm the day of the delivery saying you cannot deliver their order and offer them a $10.00 coupon on their next order
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BRILLIANT! I might just do that should the occasion arise.
 
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