Florist News: August 2007 Archives

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."

"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.