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In a comment last week in Mike Blumethal's blog about Yahoo Local Mapspam, I mention the frustration of a local Butler PA florist being challenged to prove his company was a real brick and mortar store while a national affiliate marketer had managed to place 'local' listings without addresses throughout Y Local.
The 1-800-Flowers remote call forwarded (RCF) 'local' numbers were appearing in city pages right along with brick and mortar flower shops:
- "Meanwhile, over the last few days Y Local (along with yellowpages.com, switchboard.com and AOL Yellow Pages) has added 1-800-Flowers’ listings (which feature local phone numbers that remote call forward to 1800Flowers.com’s call center) to cities all over the US. See Pittsburgh, Philadelphia, Boston and St. Louis for examples. See any ‘physical locations’?"
1-800-Flowers' listings included tracking codes (in addition to the remote call forwarding numbers [RCFs]) and typically appeared in regular Local results looking like this:
A few member florists of FlowerChat contacted senior management at Bloomnet (1-800-Flowers' florist services division) and expressed concerns about the new marketing tactic.
As of last Friday, the 'local' campaign - banner ads and 'local listings' - were removed from yellowpages.com and its related sites (including Yahoo Local). One FlowerChat member reported 1-800-Flowers' management as being unaware of the RCF's.
"...they have taken down the (listings on the) sites that they had control of, and are communicating with their (hired) marketing company to remove anything that appears to be a "local" listing that is in fact not. They do not want to be part of listing local numbers that forward to their call centers, they use 800 numbers for corp. ads."
RCF's purchased by affiliate marketers of flowers to appear 'local' are not new, but their use, coupled with local-sounding names and/or phony addresses violates consumer protection laws in 24 states. Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum recently filed suit against a New Jersey flower telemarketer stating
"Consumers are entitled to know with whom they are doing business, and companies who deliberately attempt to conceal their true identity or location have no business operating in our state."
Kudos to the 1-800-Flowers leadership for pulling down a campaign that made them look like they are running local businesses when they weren't.
The questions still remains as to how Yahoo Local can provide an accurate data set when a partner like yellowpages.com appears to be able to place 'local' listings there for companies with no physical presence.
FTD member florists report receiving a mailing outlining the flower marketer and wire service company's new plan for mirror site Florist.com. After spending an estimated $6-$8M to purchase Florist.com late in 2004, and rebranding it as an FTD-owned site, the company has now decided to remove all references to FTD.
The old version (screen shot below) included the online retailer's name in both the products and descriptions.
Today's update shows many product categories removed, and 'FTD' omitted from product titles and descriptions.
Could FTD believe they'll sell more flowers with their brand removed from the site?
Based on early reports, FTD members must opt out of participation in the new plan for Florist.com, which includes agreeing that
Substitution of flowers or containers (with the exception of greens) is not permitted, price adjustments will not be accepted. SRPs include delivery.
Orders destined for an area with no FTD local florist participant will be offered drop-shipped products only.
FTD member florists must now 'take it or leave it' at a fixed price when it comes to order fulfillment. Based on early reports, many are saying 'leave it'.
Florist Rick King, AIFD, SCCPF, NCCPF penned the following letter to Weekend Today in response to their segment about ""What Your Florist Won't Tell You".
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As a professional retail florist, I have to say that you portrayed the local retail florist in a bad light. Yes, There are those unscrupulous people who do scam the customer and degrade our reputation as an industry whole. However, the vast majority of local, in-your-town retail florists are upstanding business persons and do not do the customer an injustice.
In future, when alerting the public to these scam artists, there are a few resources you should add to your files of research material.
All of these websites are for professional floral organizations that STRESS high quailty and ethical business practices.
First on the list is The American Institute of Floral Designers - aifd.org
This is an organization whose mission is to promote higher standards and artistry in the field of professional floral design. We have a quite strict ethics code that we members must adhere to or risk losing our membership status. This organization is composed of floral designers, some are business owners, some are involved with other aspects of our industry.
Second on the list is The Florist Detective - floristdetective.com
This is an organization that reports on those unscrupulous individuals and businesses that DO skim and scam the customer. The persons who are profiled on this site are the ones who give our industry the reason for the type of reporting that you showcased with your peice.
Third on the list is Flowerchat - flowerchat.com
This is a forum that is composed entirely of people within the floral industry who exchange information concerning those unscrupulous businesses and unethical person who you were trying to profile on your article, but ended up placing the local florists in a bad light. We also exchange information that helps us to build our businesses and new tips and techniques to enable us to render better service to our local customers.
Fourth on this list is the Wholesale Florist and Floral Supplier Association - wffsa.org
This is as association of reputable floral wholesalers and floral suppliers throughout the nation that are concerned and endeavor to help better our industry.
Fifth on the list is the Texas State Florists Association - tsfa.org
This is an association of professional florists throughout the state of Texas.
The last resource on this list is the National Alliance of Floral Associations - nafainfo.org
This is an associated alliance of State Florists Associations that have come together to help combat unethical procatices with our industry. Those same practices of which you profiled.
As a retail florist, I fully understand the underlying reason why you presented the piece, but the person who gave the report exhibited some poor journalistic integrity when she lumped all of us in the same basket with those persons who are deserving to be exposed for the reprehensible vermin that they truly are.
It is my sincere wish to not offend, but to eduate and to give you the resources that will better aid you in your future reporting on the floral industry as a whole.
Please, In the future, when you are planning a journalistic piece on the unethical facets of our industry that quite frankly, degrade and injure all of us, avail yourself of these and more resources that can be had for the contact and asking.
Rikc King is an accredited designer and professional florist in West Columbia, SC.
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 other being ordered through an online or 'virtual' florist.
The $50 local-florist-ordered bouquet is on the left, the 'virtual florist' design on the right.
Some would assert (mostly marketing firms and 'online only' florists) that there's no difference between purchasing direct from a flower shop located in the community where the flowers are to be delivered and a 'virtual florist'. Arguments typically run along the lines of comments made by Russell of InfoCommerce Group:
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"Florists have several elaborate national networks that allow them to accept orders for prompt delivery anywhere in the country. The customer doesn't know who fulfilled the order at the distant end, and the customer doesn't care."
- "What seems most important is not the actual physical location of the retailer, but whether or not they can deliver on the promises they make to their customers. The florist business can do this."
Perhaps Russell doesn't realize there are typically $12-$15 service charges when going through most 'online florists'. Sometimes the fees (called 'shipping charges' or 'service charges') are added above the price of the flowers and local deliver, and sometimes they're deducted from the total budget. On a $50 order, the consumer may only end up getting $30 in flowers after the service fee and local delivery charge are deducted.
We have no way of knowing if the fees reduced the overall value of the 'online florist' flowers in the Today Show comparison test, but we do know dollar-for-dollar that local florists provide more flowers for the budget. And as Vera Gibbons said, regardless of which ordering route a consumer goes, a local florist will be making and filling the order.
In discussing the Today Show segment, fellow florist Erlene LeBorgne of Rosemont Floral pointed out:
- We thought on the whole the report was very informative for consumers, but we are a bit confused as to the subtitle of the report. Any reputable florist is willing to share the same information with their customers and to educate their customers on care and handling of the flowers after purchase.
In other words we WANT you to know, and we're happy to share information with you!
Informed consumers are happier customers and happier customers are what any business wants. Perhaps a better subtitle would have been "Here's What Your Local Florist Wants You to Know".
She's right. Local florists do want you to know. There is a difference.
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 Mapspam on Yahoo Local, we covered an out-of-market ‘order gatherer’ (an affiliate of a national wire service) creating local-sounding company names, using manufactured addresses, spamming user reviews and leaving black hat negative ratings on legitimate local florists.
One of the questions left unanswered was how that set of bogus listings made their way into Yahoo Local in the first place.
In investigating this next set of phony ‘local’ companies, there’s a strong correlation between the florist’s listings in Y Local and those shown in data provider/Y Local marketing partner YellowPages.com (owned by AT&T).
The florist, Exceptional Flowers and Gifts, 2800 N Federal Highway, Boca Raton, FL is and member of FTD. (FTD also hosts the florist’s website and keeps a percentage of each order destined back to the city where a shopper thought he/she was purchasing direct from in the first place.) Y Local users’ orders through Exceptional Flowers & Gifts numerous listings will be filtered through their Florida location, then passed though FTD and then relayed back to a real local florist in the community.
Exceptional Flowers & Gifts (EF&G) has acquired remote-call-forwarded local phone numbers in cities across the US, listed the locations of real B&M stores, and is now running what appears to be coordinated banner ad campaigns across Y Local and YellowPages.com. – using the same data and the same tracking code - yp5.
Here's an example from Nashville, TN:
Yellowpages.com listing:
Yahoo Local Nashville banner ad:
Yahoo Local listing of 'Nashville' store:
By adding in a hefty dose of review spam, the team has managed to push some of the faux ‘natural listings’ higher in each city’s results.
Note that some of the reviews were originally written about different fake local listings but have been recycled, redirected and now appear under newer 'local florist' EF&G profiles. Did Y Local have a roll in redirecting the reviews? They sure help give the newer listings instant cred.
What’s to stop any and every other out-of-area flower seller from purchasing RCF and buying ads for the misleading listings? AT&T can sell the RCF, YP.com can sell the ads there and in Y Local, and then 10 of these in each city (plus one cooperative real local florist) could crowd out the other real local florists entirely.
(We note that in claiming physical addresses, companies can trigger requirements in many jurisdictions to hold applicable business licenses, register with the states’ tax boards, and collect & remit appropriate sales taxes.)
Local florists had hoped that sites like Yahoo Local would help cut through the affiliate marketing clutter of FTD, 1-800-Flowers and other ‘order gatherers’ and become reliable sources for consumers seeking to purchase direct from real brick and mortar flower shops. We believe their users expect that, too.
Instead, Y local is starting to look more like yellowpages.com, where real locals get buried deep beneath a layer of affiliate marketers ‘serving your city’.
Are local florists the only people who think florist wire services should stop members that use false addresses or who believe publishers shouldn't monetize their sites if it means selling out their users?
Added: A big thanks to the Understanding Google Maps and Yahoo Local blog for covering Yahoo Local Mapspam and bringing the issue of phony local florist spam to light.
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 FLORIST (FREE DELIVERY TO ALL ZIP CODES) and why does Yahoo Local list them as the #1 result for Florist in New York, NY? First - they're really located at 11411 Jefferson Blvd, about 3000 miles away in Culver City, CA with a local Los Angeles area phone number - (310) 391-3333. To get to the #1 spot for their fake local florists in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Dallas, Houston, Seattle, Boston and many other major US markets, it appears this local mapspam abuser has used a crafty combination of tactics including:
- Keyword-rich fictitious flower shops names
- Fake addresses that indicate locations at or near the center of each city
- User review spam praising their services with mutiple identities like this, this, this and this. (Note that one of these 'objective reviewers' is the source of the uploaded photo on the New York profile page.)
- In at least a few cases, Black Hat user review ratings that anonymously damaged the star ratings of real local florists who would have been top results. (Thankfully, Yahoo has at least stopped their ability to easily hit competitors with anonymous negative reps although creating mutilpe user logins is still an option.)
Attempts to correct the bogus listings with the proper name, address or phone number via Yahoo's 'update this business' link are futile.
How could Yahoo Local have spotted these phony florists? In Yahoo's case, a 'local listing' without a local phone number should be a big clue. Additionally, none of these addresses appear on the linked website and none of them appear in conjunction with the phony business names on any other credible sources on the web (sounds like Yahoo needs an algo. ;) )
How did the listings make it into Yahoo Local in the first place? None are marked 'Merchant Verified'. Perhaps one of Yahoo's data partners knows.
A few Yahoo users have tried to warn others about these fake florists, but most warnings - like the ones in the fake Boston listing - have been met with yet more five-star reviews from first-time reviewers.
Yesterday, Florida's Attorney General announced a lawsuit against a company that used fictitious local-sounding florist names . The Tampa listing from California-based AAA Flower Mart deserves his attention, too.
AAA Flower Mart is a member of the Floral Source florist wire service.
Let's hope Yahoo Local will quickly clean up this weed patch of fake flower shops and help ensure their users get real local florists when they're looking for them.
Part 2 of this series will address a company that purchases remote call forwarding to make itself appear 'local'.
As many florists know, Tom Meola's Preferred Florist Network filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in US federal court earlier this month. The information below, compiled by a FlowerChat.com member, may be helpful to florists who are currently owed funds by PFN.
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Court: US Bankruptcy Court for the District of New Jersey
Martin Luther King Jr Federal Building
50 Walnut Street
Newark, NJ 07102
phone # 973-645-4764 or 877-239-2547
website: http://njb.uscourts.gov
Trustee: Joseph J. Newman
Judge: Donald J. Steckroth
Case # 07-21760-DHS
First Meeting of the Creditors: September 17, 2007 @ 9:30 am - Newark, NJ
Companies in bankruptcy covered by this claim: Preferred Florist Network (PFN), TTP Inc and Lower Forty Gardens, Inc.
To File a claim with the Bankruptcy court: Go to http://njb.uscourts.gov and then click on bankruptcy forms. Once you get the forms page up, go to form B-10 (Proof of Claim). (I believe you can fill this form in on the computer. However, YOU WILL WANT TO PRINT IT OUT AND MAIL IT BY CERTIFIED MAIL TO THE COURT.) Be sure to attach copies of all invoices, etc or other documentation. (Since we are not attorneys we cannot file electronically). Be sure to keep a copy for your files. (You should check off "goods provided" in the category of why you are filing -- this possibly may move you up a little higher on the distribution chain.) Claims are then handled usually in this order: first - Federal & State governments owed; employee wages, benefits, pensions, secured creditors (mortgage holders), and then finally , unsecured creditors.
It does NOT require an attorney to file a claim. It is a simple 1 page piece of paper. It does get you on the creditor list, and you are kept up to date on all the proceedings. And it does give you the opportunity to object to a proposed payout/settlement, should one ever come.
DO NOT GIVE UP!!!! File a claim, Get on the list!! It does not take long to fill out 1 piece of paper.....The court needs to know how bad this really is, and I'm not sure that Meola really knows.
Possible Fraud reporting: In the left-hand bar of the US Bankruptcy forms page, there is a bar for the "United States Trustee Program". Click here & read first. This is a 1 page explanation of how to report to the Department of Justice any suspected FRAUD that you have direct knowledge of. (ie: are there any other companies or places that the Trustee should be looking to for assets. Are there any other companies he should know about?) Information is on there for the direct reporting of any suspected fraud, or information that you might have. I urge you to report, if you have any direct information.
Meola's filing for Chapter 7 means that these companies will be LIQUIDATED. The liquidation, however, could mean that his other companies, or another OG, will buy the phones numbers and any other assets. That's why it is important for EVERYONE who has any direct knowledge to inform the Trustee. (He's like the court administrative manager of this case.)
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If you are professional florist who is owed money from Preferred Florist Network (PFN), and you have been negatively impacted by PFN's bankruptcy filing, you are welcome to join our discussion about this issue at flowerchat.com. (Login required)
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."
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"Meola and his company were investigated by the Attorney General’s Economic Crimes Division, which will also litigate the lawsuit. The investigation has been ongoing since December 2005, focusing on violations of Florida Statutes which prohibit individuals from advertising a fictitious business name if the name and context of the advertisement leads consumers to believe the business is located somewhere other than its true location and if calls to the local telephone number are routinely transferred to a business location outside the state. Violations of Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act carry penalties of $10,000 per violation."
Earlier this month, Meola's companies filed for bankruptcy protection under Chapter 7 just days in advance of a scheduled hearing in a Missouri Class Action suit. The Aug. 22 hearing was to discuss sanctions against Meola for failing to appear for deposition.
The Florida AG lists Meola's company as using the following names to do business in Florida:
Florist in Oviedo, Florida’s Florist in Jacksonville TTP, Florida’s Florist in Brooksville TTP, Florida’s Florist in Coral Springs TTP, Florida’s Florist in Daytona Beach TTP, Florida’s Florist in Gainesville TTP, Florida’s Florist in Melbourne TTP, Florida’s Florist in Orange Park TTP, Florida’s Florist in West Palm TTP, Florida’s Florist in Palm Beach, Florida’s Florist in Panama City TTP, Florida’s Florist in Orlando TTP, Florida’s Florist in Boca Raton TTP, Florida’s Florist Cocoa Beach, Florida’s Florist Cooper City, Florida’s Florist Winter Springs, Florist in Hallandale, Florist in Sanford, Carol City Florist, Cutler Ridge Florist, Davie Florist, Deerfield Beach Florist, Ferry Pass Florist, Hallandale Florist, Hollywood Florist, Jupiter Florist, Lauderdale Lakes Florist, Miami Florist, Miami Beach Florist, Norland Florist, North Lauderdale Florist, North Miami Florist, Pensacola Florist, Pompano Beach Florist, Riviera Beach Florist, Florist in Bartow, Bartow Flowers, Florist in Bradenton, Florist in Clearwater, Florist in Dunedin, Florist in Lakeland, Florist in New Port Richey, Florist in Sarasota, Florist in Seminole, Florist in St. Petersburg, Florist in Carrollwood, Lealman Florist, Plant City Florist, Tampa Florist, Tarpon Springs Florist.
More than 20 states have legislation outlawing misleading fictitious florist listings. The California Senate is scheduled to vote on a similar measure this week.
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 the sites and in each other.
Savvy businesses know that ratings and reviews can impact both the perception of their companies and the positions of their listings. So it was only a matter of time before unscrupulous elements started exploiting ratings and reviews to improve their visibilities and harm the credibility and reputations of competitors.
Thankfully, Yahoo Local's recent update closed a loophole and changed the way it allows users to rate and review companies. For local businesses like florists, it's a definite step in the right direction.
Prior to the change, Yahoo users with logins were allowed to leave anonymous ratings (without reviews) or to leave written reviews anonymously. On one level, the practice gave users the ability to rate freely - but local businesses, especially those with anonymous, reviewless dings to their reputations, had no way of knowing why they were earning negative marks (unless they accidentally spotted them while viewing a user's profile...which was highly unlikely.)
Yahoo's new review policy should go a long way in preventing the kinds of ratings and reviews seen in this screen shot (taken before Yahoo Local's recent update.)
For the record, all the 5-star ratings are for listings owned by the same company (some employing mapspam techniques by using fake addresses) and all the 1-stars (which appear without attribution in those business' listings) are for their local competitors.
This negative rep abuse of florists was reported to Yahoo Local and it appears at least some of the anonymous slams were reversed (though the large group of phony local florist listings still stands - we'll have more about that soon).
Yahoo Local now requires comments (with only a 50 character minimum) and requires the reviewer to identify his or herself by email address or nickname. While there are still ways to game the ratings system, Yahoo's change goes a long way in stopping review abuse.
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 Forty Gardens, Meola purchased local phone numbers and used local city names in the listings of his fictional 'flower shops' across the US. Calls to the numbers were forwarded to his Randolph NJ-based call center.
Reporter Greg Saitz of the Star-Ledger sums up the issue well:
..some florists and consumers complained Meola's business model amounted to deception because people who called his numbers likely believed they were dealing with a local business. In response, 19 states, including New Jersey, passed laws that prohibit misrepresenting one's geographic location, according to the Society of American Florists, a trade group.
In addition, several state attorneys general have investigated or are investigating Meola's practices. He agreed to pay Virginia officials $10,000 in 2005 to settle and $50,000 to Delaware authorities in 2002. He also agreed not to publish phone listings creating the false impression it was for a Delaware business.
Among creditors are hundreds of local florists owed for Spring and Mother's Day orders they filled and delivered through the Preferred Florist Network.
It's unclear as to the status of Lower Forty Gardens and the future for Meola's phony local listings.
Unfortunately, Flowers With Gifted Elegance isn't the only call center operation to use remote call forwarding and local-sounding florist names, but they were the first and largest.
As more states enact legislation (North Carolina just passed a bill and California awaits a final reading and vote in the Senate) real local florists hope this business model will become a thing of the past.
