Flower Buyers Warned of Fake Local Florists

A number of television stations, newspapers and online reporters have written stories warning consumers about distant call centers posing as 'local' florists in the White Pages, Yellow Pages and on the web.

Known as fictitious florists, these businesses often charge undisclosed fees, transfer orders to unwitting real local florists and leave your Valentine with less blooms for the buck. 

A recap of Valentine's Day Coverage:

FTC Warns Against Phony Florists Posing As Local from CBS-13 of Sacramento, CA.  includes video report

"That call may be transferred to a call center. That call center could be located anywhere in the country," said Mary Engle, Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

So, while you think you're ordering from an area florist, you may actually be on the phone with someone hundreds, even thousands of miles away. The FTC says it's received complaints about the practice."

Valentine's Day Flowers from CBS-3 of Philadelphia, PA. includes video report

"And along with being overcharged, he was hit with a foreign transaction fee! The flower shop he thought was down the street wasn't even in this country!

"It was a Canadian company," said Barrett."

Phantom Florists from Fox 5, Washington, DC. includes video report

"Americans will spend billions of hard-earned dollars on their sweethearts next week and much of that will be on flowers. Before you order your next bouquet, you may want to double check who you're dialing."

Buyer Beware? 'Local' Florists Might Not Be So Local from WBNS-TV10 of Central Ohio. includes video report

10TV put the theory to the test. We ordered another $40 bouquet directly from a local company that filled the first order. At first glance, the two bouquets looked identical. However, the bouquet ordered directly from the local florist included two stems of white lilies, adding another $10- to $15 to the value of the arrangement, Kocot reported.

Fake Florists Buy Local Phone Numbers from the Corvallis Gazette-Times, Corvallis, OR

"The type of arrangement the flower call centers advertise may not be something the local florist can fill. Or, more often, the call center takes a big portion of the total cost, leaving the local flower shop unable to provide the type and size of arrangement it could have if the flowers had been ordered locally in the first place.

Consumers get sucked in by listings in their local Yellow Pages that give no indication the company they’re calling is some distant brokerage that provides no service other than tacking an extra fee onto the transaction. To ensure a steady stream of customers, call centers set up toll-free phone lines or buy up local-exchange phone numbers in cities all over the country."

'Local Florist' Might Not Be from the Akron Beacon Journal, Akron, OH

"It goes even further on the Internet. When you see some of these same listings, they also list an address -- in many cases a phony address, or a real person's address apparently without their permission."

Flower Shopping? Get Real from Human Flower Project

"The problem is that folks unaccustomed to buying flowers may not know a real florist. Looking in the phonebook or on the internet, they may contact what seems to be a local shop but is actually a company in another city that gathers orders, skims money off the top, and then arranges to have someone in or near the destination make the delivery."

Local florists send bouquets of thanks to these stations and publishers for covering the story of phony locals. We hope consumers will heed the advice and find real local flower shops to send their love this Valentine's Day.