Be careful who you do business with. Occasionally I’ve sent flowers to people using 1-800-FLOWERS and it never occurred to me that they would try to scam me. A few days ago I get a check from them for $9.25 which was kind of a mystery. I turned the check over and on the back was an agreement (above) that if I cashed the check then they would send my credit card information to someone called Elite Excursions who would start billing me $19.99 a month.
I wonder how many people who get a lot of checks in the mail might deposit this without realizing they signed up for some bogus service that’s just going to con them out of their money.
I damn sure will never use 1-800-FLOWERS again!
#20 I agree with you but Bank of America tries to pull what I consider to be scams with their own customers.
I like the people at the local bank but if I was starting out I’d go to some local bank. The only reason I’m with bank of America is they bought my old bank. I think John D. is right about the need to avoid the big boys unless you move around.
Seriously, what the hell is wrong with all these people who don’t read what’s presented to them before they sign it? Are they too rushed for time? Too lazy? They can’t read? They forgot their reading glasses? Or are they simply assuming that every business they come into contact with is legitimate?
What kind of country is yours? To us, the rest of the world, you sure look pathetic. A cowboy land. Most civilized countries have a government regulation agency to protect consumers from this king of abuses. But you don’t trust your government, right? Maybe they will come to get you… scary. You only trust private companies. Well, you get what you asked for.
#23, Agenda,
Very wise words. Only in this country we have a lot of people that think it is still every person for themselves.
As Marc is warning people of a scam, you can see how long it took before someone criticized him for it. Yup, the first post.
It doesn’t matter what the critics say because I own the server and I rule.
The way I see it any company that deliberately tries to trick people into joining things because they aren’t paying attention is immoral. And I feel it’s my duty to express my outrage.
#25 Yeah thanks for the warning. I sometimes get checks like these and think its cool to receive free money. When I turn it over and read that I have to join something if I cash the check I tear it up and throw it away. I get the same disappointed feeling I get when my new twitter follower is just a porn spammer.
How is this for coincidence…While reading through the comments my Blackberry buzzed with an email from PayPal…”Get $10 off from 1800-Flowers.com! Hilarious.
#15 – Awake
Did they fix the bug yet where you could just click the back button when prompted for the token key and then log in again without entering it? I haven’t tried in awhile, but that system is only as secure as it is implemented – which used to be poorly. That said, it’s a good idea and I’m trying to convince some of my other online sites to use similar ideas.
Regarding the original post, there’s nothing wrong with alerting people to this “scam”, but this kind of thing is seriously OFN. I mean, like e-mail spam ads, SOMEONE must be falling for this to keep the people sending it out in business, but I struggle to understand why. Alarm bells should go off whenever you get a check in the mail that isn’t for money you know yourself to be owed. Yes, it stinks that people are trying to “trick” you, but if you didn’t ASSUME it was scam and try to disprove that notion the second you saw a company handing you money for no particular reason, then you have a problem.
Plus, and I can’t believe I’m coming to the defense of a company that wants to take advantage of the elderly and the judgement-impaired, but that agreement is pretty hard to miss and pretty clear about what you’re doing. I’ve got to guess that most of the people who sign that agreement know the risk they’re taking, understand the terms, but figure they’re going to take the free $9.25 and then be the savvy one who fights though the intentionally difficult cancellation process to “win” the $9.25. It’s not worth it. (That’s just my opinion, but everyone values their time and that risk differently I suppose…)
It’s funny people still order through a call center middleman (1800flowers.com and FTD) when you can google and call a florist direct. In other words, you spend $100 with 1800flowers or FTD, you get $60 worth of flowers. – Call a florist direct and get $100 worth of flowers.
yeah and some local florist are just as bad at schimming off the top of orders as well, So there let the truth be told,
This guy is right about what 1800, FTD and TF will do with your money.
This country was built on honest Mom and Pop shops, the big guys have perverted it and now have found another way to steal from you. It’s sad. Don’t let them get away with it, just don’t buy from the big guys. Stay local.
leslie, why would you say that?
You must be an employee of 1800.
Local florist would never run a scam like the one referred to here.
Having worked at many shops over the years, say you get a order for 100.00 from the local FTD or 1-800 flowers, They then take out a deliver charge of 10.00 then they will then take out say 20 perrcent for labor on this, Then you will get then a 75 percent of the order filled. They won’t do the check thing of course not, But I have seen many shops say that it is the growers.fault that prices are so high, Well that is bogus BS they can be fair and charge you what they want to, So why is it that Pro Flowers can charge 29.99 a dz roses, Well the local shop can as well,The reason folks are ordering from these places is because of the guarantee and that of easier calls.
ditto what he said.
People have no brain when they call a idiot service instead of calling the merchant direct. All 800flowers and ftd.com and teleflora.com want is a cut of the action and they do not do any of the work and do not see what is sent. If people would wise up and call the Real Florist direct they would not have these issues.
Real Florists are there to serve you!!
leslie:
order a doz roses from proflowers and a dozen from a real shop. See what you get. Maybe you can arrange them but most cannot….and oh yea make sure you get the box in from the cold before they FREEZE!
proflowers and Real Florists are apples and oranges.
The funniest part is when people order flowers from proflowers and send them to a funeral home!!! slap my forehead……and someone at the FH has to arrange them or the deceased family has to ………not that is a crock of doodoo.
I got a $8.25 check from 1-800-flowers yesterday. I had already got one in December. When I called customer service to tell them I would never use 1-800-flowers again, the woman tried to give me a
different phone number to call to tell them. So customer service isn’t even taking responsibility. 1-800-flowers lacks integrity, and I will never shop with them or any company that engages in this.