War of the Roses
File Under: Business Battles
Ah, the war over roses... FTD has sued rival delivery service ProFlowers, for allegedly making false claims in it's advertising. (actually, they sued Provide Commerce Inc., which operates ProFlowers.) FTD claims that ProFlowers does not "ship its flowers 'direct from the fields' or 'cut flowers from a field on day one and have them in consumers' hands on day two of three.'" Instead, they're stored in a refrigerated warehouse. And they even keem 'em in inventory!FTD wants ProFlowers to stop "making further false or misleading claims" and wants a "corrective ad campaign". And they want to be compensated for "unfair competition."
Provide Commernce, Inc., said that the lawsuit is "without merit" and plans to aggressively defend it their "direct business model". What else did they say? Not much else about the lawsuit. Basically, their press release was an ad, which mentioned the lawsuit in passing. They better not be like that at the trial!
Lawyer: Do you, in fact, hold flowers in refridgerated warehouses?
ProFlowers: We remain committed to giving the best customer service. And that goes to our special Rose special, avaliable at select retailers across the nation. It's just $10 a rose! At this price, how can you say no?
Meanwhile, we wonder if FTD really thought that a company "freshly picks" and sends the flowers across the nation as urgently as possible, as if it were a matter of national security.
6 comments:
Like FTD shops sell the field fresh flowers! Good grief. Here's a dirty secret from someone who knows... FTD direct stuff is trash. And stuff from FTD affliated shops was probably not in a field the day before. They're still the highest quality shops, but please. To the customer on the first or second day after cutting? Right, and I'm the queen of England.
My my, the queen has gotten younger.
I hate lawsuits like this. It is none of FTD's business what ProFlowers is doing. The consumers will determine for themselves which flowers are better. If ProFlowers is lying, consumers will quickly discover this and not purchase their goods, especially if they're selling garbage.
Perhaps if FTD wasn't selling trashy flowers they wouldn't be complaining so much about their compitition. The fact that FTD is complaining would lead one to believe that they're being nailed by a superior product.
Listen - the deal is that the quality of flowers varies from shop to shop. I'm quite leery of internet and 800 number flower sellers, but some of them do sell decent flowers. As I said, FTD direct stuff is garbage. Some FTD shops sell garbage. Sometimes you'll find nicer flowers at a Teleflora shop (the next rung down on the totem pole), an Andicotts, or even the grocery store. Other FTD shops take extreme pride in the quality of their flowers. It all depends. FTD is losing clout as e-competetors gain ground. They need to either get their act together or shut up and deal with tough facts.
Sorry for the rant, y'all. Flowers are one subject I know a lot about and I don't get to talk about them that much. :-)
The Queen of England speaks! So let it be said, so let it be done.
My reign is finally acknowledged! Gratifying, though overdue.
Bless you all, loyal subjects!
Time for a coup. Down with the monarchy!
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