Northern Piedmont News
We have a florist, David Pridgen of Eddies Floral Gallery in Wilmington, to applaud for this one. I call him our voice in the east. His business, personally affected by order gatherers, was motivated with his associates and colleagues in the Wilmington area to evoke Senator Boseman's interest in this very important issue. Every Florist in this state, and consumers of Floral products, owe David and his colleagues in the Wilmington area a vote of gratitude.
As we now know, Senate Bill 514, Sponsored by Senator Julia Boseman, cleared the appropriate committees in both the Senate and the House and was returned to the Senate for a final vote. It was approved by the NC Senate today, July 19, 2007, by a unanimous vote. Now, it will be forwarded to the Governor for his signature.
This piece of legislation is vital to NC Consumers of Floral products and to the over 600 busy local retail florists remaining in NC. These florists have provided the end fulfillment and delivery of the large majority of all floral orders, whether it be by walking into a store on main street, calling a local number, a 1-800 number, or in the latest variance, via the Internet.
However, with technology has come a new creature, called the order gatherer. We call them PHONEY FLORISTS because they seek to deceive the public by posing as a local florist, .while residing in the far away comfort and safety of a telephone call center and Internet order gathering center.. They will be severely limited in NC by the passage of Senate Bill 514.
Our next task will be to provide evidence for enforcement to the Attorney General of their activities, by filing complaints, locating their deceptive advertising and their unlawful activities. If you are not clear about how order gathers operate, go to www.floristdetective.com .
The following news article, posted online at the Society of American Florists web site, www.safnow.org, elaborates the nature of the beast. A creature we should clear from business in NC, as other States like Tennessee are now doing.
A list of NC State Senators follows the story, so please identity your representative and email their office to thank them for their support. The vote was unanimous so all senators can be thanked for their support.
Most Sincerely, Jon Miller, President
Tennessee Bans Deceptive Advertiser
A Pennsylvania-based order-gatherer which had placed numerous deceptive listings in Tennessee has been banned from the state for 15 years and must pay the state $26,000. "We want consumers to be able to get the best value for their hard-earned dollars," said Tennessee Attorney General Bob Cooper in a press release. "Small businesses and consumers deserve to know whom they are dealing with when they order flowers."
Cooper and Mary Clement, director of consumer affairs in the Department of Commerce and Insurance, signed an agreement with Pennsylvania order gatherer Teleflorist, Inc., which is not affiliated with Teleflora, to settle allegations that the company failed to disclose more than 800 business name listings and more than 50 phone numbers in a previous settlement. This is the second time the state has taken Teleflorist to court. Issue First Raised by State's Florists
"We are all very excited about this," says Jerry Hankins, AIFD, TCF, executive director of the Tennessee State Florists' Association, which first brought the matter to the state's attention in 2006. "We are just hoping the attorney general continues to pursue this issue."
As reported in the Oct. 25 issue of E-Brief, in September 2006, Cooper ordered Teleflorist to give every Tennessean who had placed an order with the company $40 in restitution for misrepresenting itself as a Tennessee business in 39 cities, using more than 50 assumed company names. As part of that settlement, the company also agreed to pay $13,000 to the state and to stop representing itself as a local business. This most recent settlement follows a subsequent investigation into what the state believed had been other floral order gatherer operations. Based on the findings of the investigation, Cooper moved aside the previous settlement and brought a contempt motion. "They didn't abide by the original agreement [to stop representing as a local business] so we took them back to court," says Sharon Curtis-Flair, a spokeswoman for the attorney general. In addition to the 15-year ban and the $26,000 payment, the agreement includes a five-year ban that prevents one of Teleflorist's key corporate officers from conducting a similar business in Tennessee, and a five-month extension of time for Teleflorist's customers to request refund checks from the company. Teleflorist does not admit any wrongdoing in either settlement. |
NC Senators 2007-2008 Session (50 living – 2 deceased)
Party |
District |
Member |
Counties Represented |
|
Dem |
10 |
|||
Rep |
42 |
|||
Rep |
48 |
|||
Dem |
18 |
|||
Dem |
1 |
Beaufort, Camden, Currituck, Dare, |
||
Dem |
7 |
|||
Rep |
26 |
|||
Rep |
33 |
|||
Rep |
22 |
|||
Dem |
9 |
|||
Rep |
34 |
|||
Rep |
6 |
|||
Rep |
31 |
|||
Dem |
37 |
|||
Dem |
16 |
|||
Dem |
46 |
|||
Dem |
38 |
|||
Dem |
28 |
|||
Rep |
30 |
|||
Dem |
24 |
|||
Rep |
41 |
|||
Dem |
32 |
|||
Rep |
35 |
|||
Dem |
45 |
|||
Dem |
40 |
|||
Dem |
27 |
|||
Rep |
36 |
|||
Dem |
4 |
Robert Lee Holloman |
Bertie, Chowan, Gates, |
|
Dem |
43 |
|||
Rep |
15 |
|||
Rep |
44 |
|||
Dem |
3 |
|||
Dem |
4 |
Ed Jones [ Appointed |
Bertie, Chowan, Gates, Halifax, |
|
Dem |
5 |
|||
Dem |
23 |
|||
Dem |
20 |
Jeanne Hopkins Lucas |
||
Dem |
14 |
|||
Dem |
20 |
Floyd B. McKissick, Jr. |
||
Dem |
49 |
|||
Rep |
39 |
|||
Rep |
2 |
|||
Dem |
25 |
|||
Dem |
47 |
|||
Dem |
19 |
|||
Dem |
21 |
|||
Rep |
12 |
|||
Dem |
50 |
Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Jackson, Macon, Swain, Transylvania |
||
Dem |
8 |
|||
Rep |
17 |
|||
Dem |
11 |
|||
Rep |
29 |
|||
Dem |
13 |
The June 20th Meeting of the NORTHERN PIEDMONT FLORISTS ASSOCIATION focused on having a Social gathering for FUN and fundraising for the North Carolina Certified Professional Florist, Scholarship Program. The next meeting will be in September, 2007.
Floral Dimension’s Bea Miller introduced these two very successful and FUN activities.
The first was a your "Favorite Recipe”, as we asked members to bring a prepared dish from one of their favorite recipes. All the entries were attractively presented (as Florists do) with the printed recipe attached.
The second was "The Great Cake Top Competition", replacing our annual centerpiece competition. It enhanced the top 5 large round dinner tables for great buffet presented for us by the Durham Hilton on Hillsborough Road. We were looking for creatively decorated 6” cake tops, contributed by our members and a few commercial bakers. We asked for a variety of different theme designs and that’s exactly what we got. The winner received a very nice prize contributed by Vice President Larry Wood, owner of “Ninth Street Florists” with locations in Durham and Raleigh, together with one of his business customers.
All the items were successfully auctioned by V.P. Larry Wood, and it generated an additional $600 for NPFA’s scholarship program. Our treasurer, Michael Turner of “Sarah and Michaels Flower Farm” located in Northern Durham, had reported earlier that our Spring Plant Sale, held in Conjunction with the Sarah P Duke Gardens had generated almost $1,000, the largest amount raised in recent years for the scholarship program.
Reception was at 6:15, Dinner at 7pm., with our President, Jon Miller, updated the group at 8:30pm on the status of the DECEPTIVE ADVERTISING LEGISLATION. Senate Bill 514 is now making its way through the General Assembly in Raleigh. He made the point that the Bill has strong support from the legislators; however, FLORIST SUPPORT MUST BE SHOWN to YOUR state representative before it comes to a final vote in both houses of the legislature.
The Meeting adjourned at 9pm.