Flower shops say call centers take huge cuts, leave angry customers

In January, when Cheryl Russell of Albany ordered a bouquet of flowers to be delivered in California, she assumed the florist she found in the phone book was locally owned and operated.

When the flowers weren't delivered and a phone message informed Russell that the company needed another $20 for a delivery fee, she got mad. Russell began investigating and learned that the company wasn't located in Albany. Not even Oregon. It's in New Jersey, and it isn't a florist at all - just a call center that brokers sales.

After weeks of haggling, Russell eventually got her money back. Others aren't so lucky, according to Jan Margosian of the Oregon Department of Justice.

"These types of things are driving us nuts," Margosian said. "Florists and locksmiths have been doing this for years. When someone dials a 1-800 number to order flowers, they don't realize they might be dealing with someone from out of state who simply relays their order through a local company and pockets a fee."

The end result is that customers don't always get what they're paying for.

The type of arrangement the flower call centers advertise may not be something the local florist can fill. Or, more often, the call center takes a big portion of the total cost, leaving the local flower shop unable to provide the type and size of arrangement it could have if the flowers had been ordered locally in the first place.

Consumers get sucked in by listings in their local Yellow Pages that give no indication the company they're calling is some distant brokerage that provides no service other than tacking an extra fee onto the transaction. To ensure a steady stream of customers, call centers set up toll-free phone lines or buy up local-exchange phone numbers in cities all over the country.

Jennifer Reeser is the manager of Bill's Flower Tree in downtown Albany. The shop has been in business for 34 years, and she has worked there for 10 years. Reeser says the problem with long-distance call centers is growing.

"It's definitely a problem for us," Reeser said. "I was just reading an article in one of our floral publications about trying to develop state regulations against this type of thing."

Reeser said that in addition to the consumer getting shortchanged, local businesses are often left to clean up the mess call centers leave behind.

"We get phone calls from people complaining that they didn't get their money's worth. We had one gentleman call who said he had spent more than $100 and we only had about $70 to work with," Reeser said. "There's nothing we can do about it. The companies aren't in Albany. They're not even florists. They're call centers. They don't know anything about flowers, they are just taking your money."

Bill's Flower Tree charges $5 to relay an order to another shop for a customer. Out-of-state call centers will charge from $15 on up.

Reeser said consumers can protect themselves by simply doing business with people they know. She said if a customer can't drop by the shop, they can ask whether the person they are dealing with is local. If the person on the phone is evasive or won't answer, hang up.

Chambers of Commerce often have directories of local businesses as well.

According to a recent article in Floral Management magazine, some states are enacting laws against deceptive floral marketing practices, including misrepresenting the geographic location of a business in a telephone directory.

Alex Paul can be reached at alex.paul@lee.net or 812-6076.