What is a real local Florist? A real florist is one that has a brick and mortar shop in a certain town. This florist will have coolers, vans, and caring staff, with a fresh stock of flowers, plants, and gifts.
What is an order gatherer? An order gatherer is like a broker service who collects orders from the customers and then contacts the real local shop to fill these orders.
Order gatherers use advertising to entice consumers. Here is an example ad for Tallahassee Florida. This came up when I searched "Tallahassee Florist".
Tallahassee #1 Florist - Same Day Flower Delivery
Ad·www.flower.com/Tallahassee/flower-delivery Shop Local! Tallahassee Florist Delivers Flowers Same Day. Family Owned/Operated. Shop Local! Tallahassee Florist Delivers Fresh Flowers Sameday. Family Owned. Send Your Love w/ Flowers. Support Local Florists. Flowers, Plants & Gifts. Brighten Your Home Today.
This is one of many google ads targeting our city, not only ours but every city
I searched. So what does this mean? Let's break this down. If you read the heading
it says Tallahassee #1 Florist. Are they located in Tallahassee? NO! So are they
Tallahassee's #1 Florist? NO! Let's go down a little further, the next line says shop
local. Well, we know that they are not local. That is three lies just to start.
When you click on the ad it takes you to this page. Notice in the top right-hand
corner, there is a BBB accreditation? I checked out BBB
accreditation and this is what I found:
This Business is not BBB accredited.
"BBB files indicate that this business has a pattern of complaints concerning.... Consumer complaints allege advertising issues. Complaints allege business provides misrepresentation of floral arrangements being purchased.
And they also have a F rating, and from consumers less than 2 stars.
Now let us look at the flowers on this website. The pictures are stock images from
Teleflora. They are photoshopped and are not real. This is just one of the reasons
when you read so many reviews from these types of companies,
consumers are unhappy about the arrangement because it does not look like
the picture. As a professional florist, I know for a fact that it is impossible to
replicate these photos in real life. Besides that, the price is also deceptive. These
order gatherers collect at least 30% more than what they give the filling shop. One
customer informed us that one order gatherer was charging him $100 and they
were "trying" to give us 60.00 to fill his order, which we refused and he called us
directly. This is commonplace and we see this time and again.
Our shop is not affiliated with any of the top wire services. This is one reason
when you visit our website, you will find mostly product photos of our own
arrangements that our designers have created.
More and more flower shops across the country are doing this as well.
To our customers, we offer a cost-effective service for you to send flowers and
you can be assured that you will receive flowers filled to order. If you
are looking to send flowers to another city, your best bet is to send through your
local florist, or if you want to search online for a real local shop here is what I
suggest. In your search bar put City/florist, like Tallahassee Florist. The first thing
you will see is mostly ads. In some cities, that is all you will see. You may
scroll down to see the google map or click on the map above the ads. Either way,
this will show you a real local florist in the city you are searching for. Find your
local florist and save money and save the florist.
Below is a list of order gatherers, along with top wire services, that
have deceptive advertising and unethical practices:
Flower order gatherers:
Avas
From You Flowers
Terry's Florist
Flowershopping.com
Blossom Flower Delivery
Rita's Florist
Sendflowers.com
Amazon
The Sympathy Store
Wire services that gather orders:
800flowers
FTD
Teleflora
ProFlowers
Shopping at your local flower shop,
you will find unique and unusual designs.
Here are a few links to help you find local shops as well.
Bloom Nation
If you are a florist reading this I hope you will take this information to heart and stop
filling these deceptive orders. The only way we can combat these order
gatherers is to stop filling their orders. Order gatherers are not honest businesses.
They deceive customers! They are not good for the floral industry! If we fill their
orders it will affect our integrity and hurt us all in the long run. Being
busy filling their orders doesn't help our bottom line or the customer.
Let us all band against order gatherers and put honesty and integrity back into our
wonderful flower industry. Remember that the emperor didn't have any clothes on.
Let's quit pretending that these gatherers and wire services are helping us.
Start taking pictures of your product and place them on your website. Show your
customers your diversity and creativity and see what happens. You will find
fewer complaints and more profit.
Please if you have any questions or I can help please let me know. I care about the
flower industry. It is time for it to return to the local flower shops.
Be blessed!
Annette
Annette McGuffey is the owner of A Country Rose Florist in Tallahassee. She has
more than 30 years in the floral business. Her florist has been a top member of FTD,
Teleflora and 800flowers for many years. She left all these wire services starting 10
years ago and left the last one 4 years ago and has never looked back.
"Freedom is wonderful."
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