CLINTON, Ill. -- Can you get flowers for clunkers? Well, as a matter of fact, you can't.
But a small-town florist in central Illinois had been fielding hundreds of calls a day from people asking about cash for clunkers after General Motors began advertising a toll-free cash-for-clunkers number that's nearly identical to the shop's toll-free number.
Only the prefixes are different. GM's is 877 and the shop's is 800.
The owner of Flower Corner in Clinton said she had been getting around 150 calls a day. Judy Van Fossan said it was a major nuisance and threatened to damage her business because regular customers couldn't get through.
Many callers appeared confused. Even when they were told they had reached a florist, Van Fossan said some still asked about clunkers.
The popular federal program ended early last week.
