From the category archives:

Consumer News

Fall is in the air~!

September 18, 2009

Can you feel it yet?  We do here in Michigan… Fall is in the air!
The hot muggy days of summer have given way to the cooler and dryer days of Fall with their Autumn hues of gold, orange, bronze, yellow and accents of green and purple.  We’re always excited for the seasonal changes in the [...]

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Why your flowers don’t look like the picture – Part 4

December 15, 2008

Blogger Chris took FTD.com up on a offer he’d received via Netflix to purchase a Christmas arrangements for his wife. What he was sold:

 
What he got:

 
Chris said “I didn’t know it was supposed to be DIY. I figured as much from the way it came in the box, but my wife–who hadn’t seen the original [...]

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Why Your Flowers Don’t Look Like the Picture – Part 3

January 8, 2008

Because according to a 1800Flowers.com customer service rep, pink is out of season.
Blogger, the Trading Goddess, wanted to send pink flowers and ordered a “Florist Select European Hand Tied Bouquet”, relying on the product photo to make her purchasing decision. (It displayed a mixed pink and white bouquet wrapped in pink paper.)  
While the bouquet description mentions “Components will [...]

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Customer Service Run-Around

October 19, 2007

This month, Ron Burley of the AARP Magazine showed readers how to fight ‘company policy’ at 1-800-Flowers and get their money back for faulty products and services.  The AARP member’s flower gift had arrived two days after Mother’s Day and was dead on delivery, ”crushed and brown,” and the company has refused to refund the cost or replace the whithered blooms.
Burley described 1-800-Flowers’ [...]

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Today Show Compares Local Florist to Online

September 10, 2007

On NBC’s Weekend Today this past Saturday, anchor Amy Robach and CNBC reporter Vera Gibbons featured a story about Tricks of the Trade – What Your Florist Won’t Tell You. (video)
The consumer advice segment included a comparison of two arrangements – both costing $50 – with one being purchased from a local florist and the [...]

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Florist Mapspam on Yahoo Local – Part 2

August 31, 2007

How many flower-buying consumers haven’t heard of 1-800-Flowers or FTD? When they decide to purchase direct from a local florist and skip a middleman, it’s logical a shopper would head to a Local resource to help find a brick and mortar flower shop in the city where their gift is destined.
In our first article about [...]

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Florist Mapspam On Yahoo Local – Part 1

August 29, 2007

Do you see a flower shop here? Neither do we. But according to Yahoo Local, it’s the location of NEW YORK FLORIST (FREE DELIVERY TO ALL ZIP CODES) – 60 Reade St., New York, NY.
Take a few steps east and you can stop into a real local flower shop, Langdon Florist.
Where is NEW YORK [...]

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Florida AG Sues Meola Company for Fictitious Florist Listings

August 28, 2007

In a press release today, Florida’s Attorney General, Bill McCollum, announced his office has sued New Jersey-based Flowers With Gifted Elegance and the related companies owned by Tom Meola, alleging they “created fictitious florist listings” and “named them so as to lead consumers to believe that the companies were located in Florida cities and towns.”

“Meola [...]

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Why Yahoo Local needed to change its review policy

August 28, 2007

User ratings and reviews can be one of the most useful aspects of sites focused on local businesses and services. CitySearch, InsiderPages, Yelp, Yahoo Local and others have built legions of loyal users who enjoy sharing their experiences and reading the opinions of others.
The future of those sites depends on users’ trust – in [...]

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King of Fictitious Florists Files Bankruptcy

August 21, 2007

An article today from the Star-Ledger details Tom Meola’s Chapter 7 filings in Newark NJ. His two companies, TTP, Inc. (the retailer operation under the name Flowers With Gifted Elegance) and Preferred Florist Network (the wire service operation) have long been a source of complaints from both local florists and consumers.
Through a third company, Lower [...]

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