Not many people know how Teleflora LLC or in particular, the Teleflora "network" works. We are a very small florist shop and like most small shops, you have to be a member of one of these telefloral network systems in order to stay in business. I will explain how this intricate fraud works and how people should steer clear of these companies and deal directly with their local florists to help them stay in business without the need for deceptive companies like this one. So let's begin.
If someone calls our shop and wants to send flowers to a person in Alaska, we could never do that without using one of these "networks" or at least not very easily. Before companies like Teleflora came into the picture, a florirst shop would take the information for the order and then search for another florist in the town closest to where the customer wanted it delivered to. The order would be passed onto that shop and the shops would square up the deal between each other. The customer would pay for the flowers and the flowers would be delivered to the specified person. The problem comes about when the customer wants to spend $100 on a flower order. Now how much should the first shop get and how much should the second shop get? Other than taking the order and making some calls or doing some searching, the first shop didn't do much work. The second shop spent their money on the flowers, the container and delivered the flowers to the recipient so obviously, they did the majority of the work and had the most invested. So that second shop should get the majority of the $100. The first shop should at least get reimbursed for the time spent tracking down the second shop.
Now in comes a company like Teleflora or FTD who decides to organize this same process by getting a bunch of flowers shops to be a part of a "network". Teleflora operates as the mediator who takes the order from one shop or directly from a customer and forwards it on to a local florist in the area where the flowers are to be delivered. 1. Saves the customer from having to look through yellow pages or searching by other means to find a florist in that town or 2. saves the local florist from having to do that same thing for a customer who wants to send flowers to someone way out of the delivery area of that first shop.
So now here is how Teleflora takes your $100 order. First and foremost, people need to understand that Teleflora is not a flower shop; they don't own any flower shops; and they do not physically deliver any flowers themself. They can't answer questions about when flowers are going to be delivered because they do not ever deliver any flowers. If they say they are on a truck out for delivery, they are lying. They do NOTHING except pass your order on to a local florist in the area of the person who is receiving the flowers. With that said, everyone also needs to understand that Teleflora charges each and every shop a monthly fee to be in their "network" whether they ever receive an order or not. So no matter what, Teleflora makes money off of each shop in the network every month. Ok so you walk into your local florist who is part of this network. Your $100 order is taken by the florist but first you have to understand that the order is already turned into a $90 order because Teleflora considers every order to have a $10 delivery fee. So your $100 is already down to $90. The local florist passes the order onto the Teleflora network through a system called the Dove network. That florist is charged a monthly fee for being part of the Teleflora network and also another fee to be able to use the Dove network which is just an internet based program that lets the florist send and receive orders over the Internet. These fees are supposedly used to pay the people to keep these systems running and up to date. Now, Teleflora, in addition, charges a fee for each order sent through their network by the florist. That part seems small but when you add it all up, it actually isn't. Ok so where does your remaining $90 go? Teleflora takes $1.75 immediately off that order which makes your order $88.25. They divide the original amount between the two shops. 27% goes to the shop that took the order and 73% goes to the shop that receives the order, creates the arrangement and delivers the flowers. So now your original $100 order is only $73 in the eyes of the shop doing all the work. That shop subtracts that $10 delivery charge so now your order is really only $63. So now you know why that flower arrangement that was supposed to be worth $100 only looks like a $50-60 arrangement. Now lets say you only want to spend $50 total. How much do you think actually goes into making that flower arrangement?? $26 THATS IT. So don't always blame the florist that created that arrangement for the person you wanted to send flowers to.
Teleflora doesn't care about either of those shops even though Teleflora would not survive one second if all these shops dropped this network service. Why should they care since they are making money no matter what. Even if they don't send one order to my shop, I still have to pay them a fee somewhere around $300 per month and for each and every additional minor service, there are more fees added on. Our shop buys all the flowers to fill any order we receive from Teleflora but they only pay us once per month and that isn't done until about 25 days after the end of that monthly period. So lets say we were the shop that was on the receiving end of that initial $100 order. We would buy enough flowers to make a $63 arrangement which would probably be about half of that amount...roughly $30-35. Our labor would be used to make the arrangement and deliver the flowers. So our profit already is only about $30 on that $100 order but that isn't the end of it. Teleflora deducts about $300 off our check for their monthly fees so if we only get that one order, we lost even that $30 profit. We spent $30 on flowers, wasted our time to create the arrangement and spent our gas money to deliver them. Teleflora made $300 off us, $300 off the shop that sent that order to them and neither one of our shops would get a check if that was the only order we did for Teleflora that month. So Teleflora just made $300 (shop 1) + $300 (shop 2) + $1.75 which is what they tell people their fee really is + $100 from that one order because they didn't have to pay either shop for that one order. Teleflora and Shop 1 spent nothing but we spent over $30 total but got nothing in return. If this was the one and only order sent through Teleflora in that monthly period they would still make around $700 from both shops and that one customer. In order to even just break even, we would have to process several $100 orders from customers because once we subtract the cost of the flowers along with Teleflora fees and gas, it would take quite a few orders to cover all those costs.
So you may ask why would flower shops get involved with these people or stay involved. The answer is simple..... the customer is the cause and we the flower shops are part of it too. People have gotten lazy and that includes the flower shop owners. Customers don't want to waste their time trying to find a reputable flower shop in the town where they want the flowers to go. Flower shops owners don't want to take the time to search for another shop to fill an order for a customer of theirs. And finally, flower shops don't want to bicker over which shop gets what portion of that customer's money. So all of us have brought about these companies who do nothing but yet skim money off the top and not worry about whether the customer is happy or the flower shops go bankrupt. Why would they? They make money no matter what!!!!
Teleflora Reviews
Not many people know how Teleflora LLC or in particular, the Teleflora "network" works. We are a very small florist shop and like most small shops, you have to be a member of one of these telefloral network systems in order to stay in business. I will explain how this intricate fraud works and how people should steer clear of these companies and deal directly with their local florists to help them stay in business without the need for deceptive companies like this one. So let's begin.
If someone calls our shop and wants to send flowers to a person in Alaska, we could never do that without using one of these "networks" or at least not very easily. Before companies like Teleflora came into the picture, a florirst shop would take the information for the order and then search for another florist in the town closest to where the customer wanted it delivered to. The order would be passed onto that shop and the shops would square up the deal between each other. The customer would pay for the flowers and the flowers would be delivered to the specified person. The problem comes about when the customer wants to spend $100 on a flower order. Now how much should the first shop get and how much should the second shop get? Other than taking the order and making some calls or doing some searching, the first shop didn't do much work. The second shop spent their money on the flowers, the container and delivered the flowers to the recipient so obviously, they did the majority of the work and had the most invested. So that second shop should get the majority of the $100. The first shop should at least get reimbursed for the time spent tracking down the second shop.
Now in comes a company like Teleflora or FTD who decides to organize this same process by getting a bunch of flowers shops to be a part of a "network". Teleflora operates as the mediator who takes the order from one shop or directly from a customer and forwards it on to a local florist in the area where the flowers are to be delivered. 1. Saves the customer from having to look through yellow pages or searching by other means to find a florist in that town or 2. saves the local florist from having to do that same thing for a customer who wants to send flowers to someone way out of the delivery area of that first shop.
So now here is how Teleflora takes your $100 order. First and foremost, people need to understand that Teleflora is not a flower shop; they don't own any flower shops; and they do not physically deliver any flowers themself. They can't answer questions about when flowers are going to be delivered because they do not ever deliver any flowers. If they say they are on a truck out for delivery, they are lying. They do NOTHING except pass your order on to a local florist in the area of the person who is receiving the flowers. With that said, everyone also needs to understand that Teleflora charges each and every shop a monthly fee to be in their "network" whether they ever receive an order or not. So no matter what, Teleflora makes money off of each shop in the network every month. Ok so you walk into your local florist who is part of this network. Your $100 order is taken by the florist but first you have to understand that the order is already turned into a $90 order because Teleflora considers every order to have a $10 delivery fee. So your $100 is already down to $90. The local florist passes the order onto the Teleflora network through a system called the Dove network. That florist is charged a monthly fee for being part of the Teleflora network and also another fee to be able to use the Dove network which is just an internet based program that lets the florist send and receive orders over the Internet. These fees are supposedly used to pay the people to keep these systems running and up to date. Now, Teleflora, in addition, charges a fee for each order sent through their network by the florist. That part seems small but when you add it all up, it actually isn't. Ok so where does your remaining $90 go? Teleflora takes $1.75 immediately off that order which makes your order $88.25. They divide the original amount between the two shops. 27% goes to the shop that took the order and 73% goes to the shop that receives the order, creates the arrangement and delivers the flowers. So now your original $100 order is only $73 in the eyes of the shop doing all the work. That shop subtracts that $10 delivery charge so now your order is really only $63. So now you know why that flower arrangement that was supposed to be worth $100 only looks like a $50-60 arrangement. Now lets say you only want to spend $50 total. How much do you think actually goes into making that flower arrangement?? $26 THATS IT. So don't always blame the florist that created that arrangement for the person you wanted to send flowers to.
Teleflora doesn't care about either of those shops even though Teleflora would not survive one second if all these shops dropped this network service. Why should they care since they are making money no matter what. Even if they don't send one order to my shop, I still have to pay them a fee somewhere around $300 per month and for each and every additional minor service, there are more fees added on. Our shop buys all the flowers to fill any order we receive from Teleflora but they only pay us once per month and that isn't done until about 25 days after the end of that monthly period. So lets say we were the shop that was on the receiving end of that initial $100 order. We would buy enough flowers to make a $63 arrangement which would probably be about half of that amount...roughly $30-35. Our labor would be used to make the arrangement and deliver the flowers. So our profit already is only about $30 on that $100 order but that isn't the end of it. Teleflora deducts about $300 off our check for their monthly fees so if we only get that one order, we lost even that $30 profit. We spent $30 on flowers, wasted our time to create the arrangement and spent our gas money to deliver them. Teleflora made $300 off us, $300 off the shop that sent that order to them and neither one of our shops would get a check if that was the only order we did for Teleflora that month. So Teleflora just made $300 (shop 1) + $300 (shop 2) + $1.75 which is what they tell people their fee really is + $100 from that one order because they didn't have to pay either shop for that one order. Teleflora and Shop 1 spent nothing but we spent over $30 total but got nothing in return. If this was the one and only order sent through Teleflora in that monthly period they would still make around $700 from both shops and that one customer. In order to even just break even, we would have to process several $100 orders from customers because once we subtract the cost of the flowers along with Teleflora fees and gas, it would take quite a few orders to cover all those costs.
So you may ask why would flower shops get involved with these people or stay involved. The answer is simple..... the customer is the cause and we the flower shops are part of it too. People have gotten lazy and that includes the flower shop owners. Customers don't want to waste their time trying to find a reputable flower shop in the town where they want the flowers to go. Flower shops owners don't want to take the time to search for another shop to fill an order for a customer of theirs. And finally, flower shops don't want to bicker over which shop gets what portion of that customer's money. So all of us have brought about these companies who do nothing but yet skim money off the top and not worry about whether the customer is happy or the flower shops go bankrupt. Why would they? They make money no matter what!!!!