We received an e-mail last week from an unhappy consumer in Down East Maine. The writer had a less than pleasant experience when he ordered flowers from a Web site touting “hand delivery by our local florist.”
He had searched the Internet for “florists in Bangor” and was directed to a site called Pink Lotus Florist. After placing his order, our consumer received an invoice for $62. He found his credit card had been charged $77 (the site notes charges are in “USD,” which we assume means U.S. dollars; we learned later the company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia).
Not one to be bait-and-switched, he tried calling the company’s toll-free number, only to find that “the mailbox was full.” An e-mail message canceling the order was not acknowledged, and the flowers were delivered. The credit card company said it could do nothing since the delivery had taken place.
This story apparently is typical of experiences many people have had with this company and others that sell flowers online. There may be thousands of these operations, and rarely if ever do any of them remotely qualify as “local.”
They may pose as local businesses by including a city in their names; unless you happen to live near a place where they operate a flower shop, you’re being hooked by the name.
Our Down East consumer tried to think locally by searching for a firm whose name suggested it must be local. That’s exactly why many “online only” flower sellers have the names they do.
When we searched the helpful-sounding Web site for “Florists in Bangor,” we were shown an area map of Greater Bangor. However, the first return was Phoenix Flower Shops, based in (you guessed it) Arizona!
While this firm and others promise nationwide or even worldwide delivery, their critics wonder how they can guarantee freshness or even delivery. Often, terms of the agreement include a requirement that you be home “during normal business hours” to take delivery; otherwise, you might find your flowers left at the door, freez-ing or hot weather notwithstanding.
In reality, many such firms often merely collect inflated payments, passing on orders through wire services to local florists, who are left to deal with often unhappy customers. The markup can range from $7 to $25 per order, for “handling” or “convenience” fees.
There’s a lot of information on such scams on a Web site called Florist Detective. Its message is simple: When dealing with a perishable commodity such as flowers, deal locally or not at all.
Florist Detective gives specifics, listing dozens of firms using business names created to fool customers into thinking that they are local. Some Web sites have fake addresses, even map locations, to enhance the fraud.
One common misleading statement is an offer of “free” delivery. As anyone who buys gasoline knows, no delivery is truly free. Some online firms may claim it is, but they’re building the cost into their pricing, with local florists racking up the mileage and likely not recovering their true costs of delivery.
Northeast CONTACT usually suggests buying locally whenever possible. In the category of fresh flowers, we strongly suggest this practice.
Consumer Forum is a collaboration of the Bangor Daily News and Northeast CONTACT, Maine’s membership-funded, nonprofit consumer organization. Individual and business memberships are available at modest rates. For assistance with consumer-related issues, including consumer fraud and identity theft, or for more information, write: Consumer Forum, P.O. Box 486, Brewer 04412, or go to http://necontact.wordpress.com.