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Florist Calls on SAF to get AT&T to play fair |
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Florists who thought they were paying for an exclusive YellowPages.com listing have been sharing their online real estate with competitors for months — and would still be doing so if it weren’t for a fed-up florist in San Diego whose actions led to a promise from parent company AT&T to stop selling the space.
Early last week, Teri Egenberger of Molly Malloy’s Floral Company noticed two brightly colored ads for online flower sellers on her shop’s YellowPages.com listing. Now, it wasn’t the first time she’d seen the ads. Flower.com and Dial-a-Flower.com advertise on the main page that pops up when users search for florists and San Diego. But this was the first time she’d seen them on the right hand side and bottom of the Molly Malloy page, the one she pays $338 a month for.
“I don't have a problem with them having as many ads as they want on their listing page,” Egenberger wrote in an e-mail to SAF. “My problem is that once a customer has chosen MY ad and wants more information on me, I expect my shop info will open without diversions to my competition.”
When she searched on YellowPages.com for florists nationwide with paid listings, she was slack-jawed to discover online flower ads on every page. She called her sales representative, who at first was incredulous that such a thing could even happen but after talking to her supervisor, offered to let Egenberger out of her contract.
She didn’t want out of the deal. She just wanted a fair deal for all florists whose listings were being parceled off to competing online flower sites. Recognizing this affected florists nationwide, Egenberger contacted SAF Tuesday, Aug. 11. “I knew we’d have to raise awareness and bring some pressure from the national level,” she said. “I immediately thought of getting SAF on my side and helping me spread the word.”
SAF contacted Jodi Bart, AT&T PR contact for the YellowPages.com on Wednesday afternoon and heard back almost immediately. Bart promised to investigate the matter further.
By Friday morning, Bart told SAF that “customers had brought this to the attention of AT&T” and the company was working “as quickly as possible,” to remove the ads and end the practice of selling space on the directory pages of advertisers. Bart said AT&T began running the sidebar ads earlier this year but couldn’t specify a date.
At press time the ads were on Molly Malloy’s page, but AT&T assured SAF they will be taken down. Egenberger will believe it when doesn’t see them anymore, but she is convinced of the power of speaking up and reach out to her national association.
“The independent florist can’t fight every fight alone,” she said. “It’s good to know that when we work together, we get results.”
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