Don’t Get Scammed This Valentine’s Day
Hey there, it’s Courtney - your local neighborhood florist!
I wanted to share some tips and tricks this Valentine’s Day to help you avoid common floral scams and make sure you get what you pay for!
Floral Scams? What Are You Talking About?
Did you know that some of the florist websites that pop up first on a Google search are not actual florists? Nope - these websites are what the floral industry refers to as “tele-florists”.
Tele-florists are call centers that reach out to real, local florists in order to fulfill your order. The catch is, they take a cut of your total price paid and harass local florists to fulfill the same order at a much lower price. This is why so many people are disappointed at the quality of arrangements they receive.
To give an example; say you purchase a floral arrangement online for $100. These tele-florists will reach out to actual florists and ask that they fulfill the same order for $80. That means less flowers for you and more headache for your florist.
Tips to Avoid Getting Scammed This Valentine’s Day:
Watch out for stock images
Local florists will likely have actual images of their arrangements on their websites. Try a reverse Google image search if you’re not sure if you’re looking at a stock image.Don’t be fooled by a huge selection of arrangements to choose from
Let’s be real here - flowers are living products and therefore have a limited shelf life. Most florists aren’t able to keep every type of flower and color in stock at all times. An enormous catalog of arrangements is a red flag for sure.Don’t be fooled by big discounts either
Large discounts are VERY rare in the floral industry. Flowers are expensive to buy and arrangements require skill to make. If you see “too-good-to-be-true” deals, like 40% off plus same day delivery, you’re probably dealing with a tele-florist.
Check the phone number of the florist
Almost all 800 or 844 numbers are call centers. Actual local florists almost always have an area code matching the delivery area code.Is there a physical address on the website?
Or just a PO Box? If there isn’t an address listed on the website, you might be dealing with a tele-florist.Check out their social media pages
If you find lots of stock images, limited customer engagement, and/or over-the-top deals, you’re probably looking at a tele-florist.Lastly, avoid these known teleflorists
Ava’s Flowers, Patricia’s Petals, Terry’s Florist, Teleflora, 1-800-Flowers, and From You Flowers, to name a few.
