OUTSMART DECEPTIVE
ORDER GATHERERS
Learn how to protect your brand and strengthen your position as the local florist of choice.
BY SARAH SAMPSON
one else wanting to place an order. Earlier that day, Upshaw’s staff had struggled repeatedly with a
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pushy customer using the same phone number who had attempted to use a series of failing credit cards. When Upshaw directly questioned the caller about why they were spoofing the hospital’s phone number, the explanation made no sense. She accused them of being a deceptive order gatherer, and after a brief, defensive denial, the caller hung up. This wasn’t an isolated incident. Upshaw’s shop now averages
two to three of these calls a day. “It’s been going on for a couple of years, but they’ve gotten really sneaky lately,” she says. “They are really pushy.” While order gathering itself is a legitimate part of the floral
marketplace, problems arise when companies misrepresent who they are, where they are located or how orders are fulfilled. Deceptive practices include spoofing a local number and imper- sonation calls. Those tactics are in addition to companies posing as a local florist in online search results. Search engines allow advertisers to bid on competitors’ names — a practice upheld by courts — but prohibit ads or websites that falsely imply affiliation or mislead consumers about identity, location or pricing.
hen Tricia Upshaw, AIFD, AMF, answered a call at Shirley’s Flower Studio in Arkansas recently, she immediately knew something felt off. The caller ID displayed the name of a local hospital she knew well, but the voice on the other end claimed to be some-
Spoofed calls and misleading online ads can divert orders and erode customer trust.
The magazine of the Society of American Florists (SAF)
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