The second installment of “Consumer Beware!” has now been posted on the MoonFlower Florist website. More to Watch Out For is about misleading claims, deceptive practices, and other spin that some “flower sellers” use on their websites. But the flower biz is just a case study – the same sort of thing goes on all over the Internet. Our advice to online shoppers: be suspicious!

Some of the main points are as follows.

• What you see may not be what you get. One deception is that the vase you see is actually not included and only available at extra cost.
• Beware of hidden and extra charges that are only revealed after you start into the order process.
• Beware of superlative claims like “top”, leading”, “premier”, “nationwide”, and so on. These are almost always bogus or detrimental to you as a consumer.
• Don’t trust even the small claims. It’s easy to put up an image that looks good but that has nothing to do with where your flowers are actually coming from.
• Free delivery? There’s no such thing. It really means “delivery included” at best.
• Free vase? Same thing, see above.
• “We buy direct from the grower” is another claim that’s just loaded with spin to the brim.
• Courier box delivery of your order may sound okay, but it can actually cause big problems, like dead flowers. And it doesn’t make for a great presentation – see the video.
• There are some links for further info and reporting problems if you’ve been ripped off.

Read the full story at Consumer Beware! Part 2, More to Watch Out For.

2 Responses to “MoonFlower Florist Posts “Consumer Beware!” Part 2”

1. Helen W. says:

   October 22, 2008 at 9:55 pm

   I wish I had seen this a while ago. I got married last year and I wanted to impress my mother in law on her birthday so I sent her some really nice flowers. I ordered online and ended up spending $87. Then we were over there for dinner 2 days later and I saw the flowers. They were really awful. The arrangement was a lot smaller then I thought it was going to be. They were nothing like they looked like in the picture. I was so embarrassed. I tried complaining to the company but they said it was the local florist’s fault. I didn’t know anything about this local florist. I really felt like I got ripped off. After seeing your article, now I know what happened.
2. Greta says:

   September 22, 2008 at 8:07 pm

   I’m a florist too but I’m in California. Bravo to you for putting this on your web site. The e-marketers and order gatherers are a big problem in our business. I got to the point where I quit my wire service and I refuse to take any orders from them and from any of the others. All florists should do this to protect their business in the long run and to give full value to our customers.