My husband and I haven't hosted a holiday for the extended family for a few years. When we decided to do Thanksgiving this year, I thought I'd splurge, and get a big, beautiful, expensive bouquet from my favorite convenient online floral place, 1800Flowers.com.I picked out the absolutely gorgeous "Fields of Europe, Fall" bouquet, and ordered the large size for $60 (pictured, above right). Beautiful, isn't it? I wanted it for my front hall table so people would see it as they came in. I was excited. I am a frequent customer with 1800Flowers.com, but I've never bought for myself before, so this would be a treat.
The flowers arrived the day before Thanksgiving, as ordered. I ripped open the packaging, and was disappointed to see that the arrangement was considerably smaller than I had pictured it being. Sure enough, I pulled up the picture and the measurements online, and it was indeed smaller, in fact two sizes smaller, or the equivalent of $20 smaller! It also had a different vase, and the "river rocks" on the bottom looked like fish tank gravel (and dirty fish tank gravel, at that). See what you think:
What I got was very pretty, but it wasn't like the pictured bouquet. I measured it, and rather than 17" tall and 14" diameter, it was 15.5" tall, and 11"-11.5" in diameter (which is their small size). I e-mailed in my complaint at around noon on Wednesday. At 8:45 on Wednesday evening, I got a terse e-mail reply asking if I wanted them to have the florist come back and pick up the bouquet and deliver a large one. Um, well - since that's what I ordered, yeah, I guess so. Could they get it to me before noon on Thanksgiving? No. (Of course not). I also made it quite clear that I wanted the vase, rock and raffia to be identical to the image they presented on the website.
Friday morning I got a message on my cell phone saying that they couldn't find anyone who could deliver the replacement bouquet Friday, but that a different florist could get them to me Saturday. The person, without apologizing, said that she had specifically spoken to the new florist, and that they had the correct vase and rocks, and that they had all the necessary flowers except one, so there would be one substitution. Whatever.
So this afternoon (Saturday), the new bouquet arrives on my doorstep. If the first bouquet was a joke, this replacement bouquet showed that the joke was on me. Here is the pitiful thing:
Vase? Wrong! Raffia? Wrong! Rocks? Acceptable. Size? WRONG! (15" x 12", instead of 17" x 14") Type of flowers... Did they even know which arrangement I ordered??? Colors? FAIL!
Seriously... in whose world is it acceptable to charge $60 for flowers that look like the picture at top, and to send the bouquet at right?? They knew this was a replacement for a disappointed customer, and not only is it wrong, wrong, wrong, but the large lily in the front is crushed and damaged.
In my original e-mail I told them that I am a regular customer and asked how often this type of thing happens. I said that I am somewhat concerned that what I have been buying and paying for is not what my friends and family have been getting. I received no response to that.
Is bait-and-switch their standard modus operandi? I have a new e-mail in to their Customer Service. Unless I receive some kind of plausible explanation and amazing apology, it's time to say goodbye to 1800Flowers.com, because for all the perceived convenience, it seems they've been taking me for a ride. And had I not decided to splurge on myself, I would've blindly kept shopping there, never knowing that what I've been paying for isn't even remotely close to what I've been getting.
4 comments:
First of all....as a florist I apologize for your bad experience. Secondly, as a florist, I thank you for being a regular flower buyer.
Lastly, I would like you to continue to buy flowers AND be happy and satisfied with your purchases.
While I know that it's convenient to order from the big online retailers like 1800flowers, FTD.com, etc., you ARE paying for that convenience. These online order gatherers do just that: GATHER ORDERS and then send them on to local florists to be filled. However, first they take their cut off the top....so the local florist is given a lesser amount for the order AND the delivery charge. I'm not making excuses for the local florists who filled these orders, however you should know that they probably recieved about $42 out the $60 you paid to fill that order.
The online order gatherers also put lots of lovely pictures on their sites that may or may not be able to be filled by a local florist at any given time. When dealing with a perishable and seasonal product, what flowers are available may vary from day to day. While some substitions that don't compromise the overall look and feel of the arrangment are generally considered acceptable, if the florist couldn't fill the order close to the picture, then they should have refused the order from 1800flowers. Since I don't know what conversation happened between 1800 and the local florist, it's hard to say who's to blame.
May I suggest that the next time you would like to order flowers (and I do hope there is a next time!) you call or stop in to your local florist shop and see firsthand what they have in stock. ALL of the money you spend will be used to make the arrangement and deliver it. If you are sending flowers out of town, there are many local florists who have online sites-so it should be no difficulty to google a florist in the town you want to send to. You will get more for your money and have a much better idea of what will be sent.
I hope this experience won't keep you from buying flowers in the future...and I hope my explanation will help you to be a more satisfied flower buyer.
Hi Sandy--
I appreciate the awesome explanation of how the whole online-retailer thing works with florists. You basically said the same thing that so many of my friends have said to me over on Facebook - go with someone local. I do think that seems to be the best answer. Even if it's not nearly as convenient, the results will be much more satisfactory, and the local florist gets the revenue, so it's win-win.
I'll definitely order flowers again - flowers are an important part of life! From now on, however, I'll just do it at a local level.
Thanks so much for stopping by White Pine Lane, Sandy! I do hope you'll come back!
Kim
Hello and i will mirror Sandy's apologies for your bad experience...I too am a florist and there are no excuses for what your recieved and as Sandy said because 800-flowers is essentially a middleman it is very difficult to really tell who is to blame, the florist could have very well notified 800 of the sub and 800 neglected to tell you...
As far as it being more convenient to shop with 800-flowers, once you get to know a florist in your area and build a repore, you will be able to order from their website, because most neighborhood florists do have one now. Try several out, google them to see if the have a website, buy from them in person, when in there ask about their sub policy on their website...some website do not directly reflect the true image of the local florist so it is important that you make a visit the first few times and see how their operation works, see if you like the flowers and how the shop is kept...Once you know you like the florist, it will be very easy to trust what they send from the website...
I myself have a website and do need to make subs on occasion, but I try my best to contact the sender to let them know and give some options to find out how important the actual picture is to them, it is one of the most important thing that ionline shopping removes from our jobs, the personal conversation with the customer on a very emotional gift, we can assume all we want why a certain picture was chosen, but without actually speaking to the client it is impossible for us to know the true reason a person ordered something, it can run the gamut from price, to favorite flowers, to color to style.....what caught your eye may or not be affected by the sub and there is no way for us to know that by assumptions...
I do hope you build a relationship with a local florist, I am 100% sure you will be very happy with one and get your full moneys worth on everything you send in the future, Flowers are a great gift when ordered from a reputable company in control of their own orders...Good luck in finding the florist of your dreams...
Hi Lori--
Thanks for chiming in too. It's interesting to hear from actual florists on this subject. I noticed that your website is affiliated with Teleflora. Is Teleflora the same kind of operation as 1800Flowers.com, or do you have more of a relationship with them?
Thanks so much for visiting! I hope you will come back again!
Kim
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