Florists Warn Of Price Gouging By Internet And Phone ‘Mills’

MONROE — With December as the busiest flower and plant-sending month, Connecticut’s floral industry warned consumers this week to be wary of telephone and Internet operations that assess overly high service charges and masquerade as local flower shops.

“If you use the web to send holiday flowers, make sure it’s the site of a local florist you know,” advised Bob Heffernan, executive director of the Connecticut Florists Association (CFA). The state floral trade group noted there are “dozens and dozens” of Internet operations that routinely charge service fees often double what local Connecticut florists charge.

“Many of these websites and ‘phone mills’ are nothing more than a distant room full of computers that only gather the flower orders but never produce or deliver a single arrangement or plant,” Mr Heffernan char-ged. “Consumers always get a better value if they go direct to a real florist nearby.”

For example, typing in the name of any Connecticut town and the word “florist” in the Internet search engine Google brings up at least a dozen non-Connecticut businesses on just the first page alone. “These order gatherers haven’t got a clue what’s in the inventory of the local flower shop, so if you order direct instead from the real florist, you’re more likely to get what you really wanted in the first place,” Mr Heffernan said.

And be careful about fictitious business names, CFA advised. Both the Internet and phone company directories contain thousands of misleading florist listings that use the name of a town to trick consumers into thinking they’re dealing with a local shop, when in fact they’re not. For example, the SBC Fairfield County Directory has listings for “Bridgeport Florist” and “Danbury Florist,” but there are no such business with those names physically located in those cities.

“Deal with a shop you already know, or get a recommendation from the local chamber of commerce or us,” Mr Heffernan urged. CFA, a nonprofit floral organization, can be reached at 800-352-6946 or on the web at www.RealFlorists.com.

CFA, based in Monroe, has proposed legislation giving the US Federal Trade Commission power to regulate fictitious florist listings and has asked the state’s Congressional delegation to introduce it.

Connecticut’s floral industry includes more than 550 independent flower shops and 30 floral suppliers with annual sales of nearly $100 million.