Saturday, October 20

Ordering Flowers?



If you have any intentions of ordering flowers in the future, please read this first! AND, do NOT call 1-800-flowers.




and read the comments too, as some of them pertain to the problems with flower order takers.

16 comments:

Jean-Luc Picard said...

We order Interflora here in Britain.

Michele sent me.

Granny Annie said...

I knew you would see this post of Maria and comment. I'm sure never going to 1-800-Flowers again.

Anonymous said...

wow. thanks for the public service announcement. i've never ordered flowers from anyone but a local florist but if i ever did i would have probably called that number first because it's in my head kwim?

michele and i both say hi :)

rosemary said...

Been there done that. Also had flowers delivered from my hubby to me last Valentine's Day in a broken vase.....never did get it replaced. Also a 1-800 floralsomeone.

Tabor said...

I remember once several years ago when my mother needed some cheering up and I ordered her blueiris and yellow daisies along with other smaller flowers. I knew that these were here favorites in color and flower. I ordered from one of those very expensive sites--probably my guilt kicking in. Well, when I called my mom she said she got some lovely purple tulips and yellow daffodils!! I called the florist to complain and they at least refunded my money...although they did charge me for the vase.

kenju said...

Tabor, I had much the same experience when I ordered flowers for my uncle's funeral and requested blues and yellows - NO babies' breath and no cheap greenery. I was not at the funeral, but I heard that my arrangement did not resemble what I ordered. Their excuse was that they couldn't order from the wholesaler and get a delivery in less than 3 days. Bah! I knew better; they just didn't want to have to order anything they didn't already have in stock.

Catherine said...

Interflora seems to work find for sending flowers overseas - otherwise a phone order to a florist in the area works well - we don't have 1-800-Flowers in New Zealand. (It sounds as if that's a good thing!)
Michele sent me

Anonymous said...

It's hard to get anything more than the standard carnation/mum/alstromeria mess when ordering long distance. I always call back to Ann Arbor to my favorite florist when I send flowers to friends there- he knows me, knows what I like and does beautiful work. Speaking of beautiful work- I will be consulting you repeatedly over the next few weeks as I start on a big project. That starts Tuesday...
Hope you and Mr. Kenju are doing okay and having a good weekend.

OldHorsetailSnake said...

That was, uh, "interesting". Maybe 1-800-Flowers only does this now and then. But I am taking the warning....

OldLady Of The Hills said...

Horrendous story, my dear...
I trued to leave a comment over at her place but there was a problem...Basically I said that what you said in your comment is what I do!

Thanks for the heads up, Judy....
I have always felt that these services were just too much like Message Machines. I was right.

OldLady Of The Hills said...

I was finally able to leave a decent (sort of) comment over at her place.....
I had a bad experience recently, (NOT with my wonderful florist--he was on vacation). I odered flowers for myself, from the florist I used to use before I found The Wonderful One, and they used to do very beautiful work....But I had noticed that things were not as good as they once were....So when I found Van, I was thrilled and haven't used that first one since....
SO, long-story-short---They did nothing right, including the delivery. It arrived at 8:15 at night!!! I DID get some satisfaction though, I spoke to a "manager" the next day and told her everything that was wrong, including the delivery and they gave me a partial refund.
In this case Judy, This place has just gotten much too big. They aren't able to give the same kind of care as they had before. Sad, because they once were probably one of the top three florists here in Los Angeles.

brendalove@gmail.com said...

Judy, if I ever get married again (don't hold your breath), I want YOU to do my flowers.

Anonymous said...

Judy,

I love to send flowers to cheer up my family and friends.

They are scattered all over the country so I don't know their local florist, but it's not hard to find out who their local florist is.

Just type in Yellow pages in your search engine and enter FLORIST the name of the CITY where your friend or family member lives.

Up will pop a selection of local florists who will be delighted to take care of your order. They want to do a good job so the person who is receiving the flowers will think of them when they want to order flowers themselves.

In case of a snafu, you can call the shop directly and they will handle the problem themselves. No being put on hold or having to listen to 10 minutes of awful music. They really want to make your flowers special for you and the recipient.

This method has never failed me.

carmilevy said...

I've never been a fan of The Borg in any industry, so this really doesn't surprise me. In too many places, technology is used as a replacement for real people who really care and who really have the ability to serve.

Thankfully the transformation isn't complete.

I'm so glad Maria's granddaughter is going to be OK. God, what a frightening thing.

Shephard said...

I refuse to use 1-800 Flowers. They suck petunias!
~s

Weary Hag said...

Boy, what a horror story. It's marvelous when someone blogs about a real, specific complaint ... a real and specific company, etc. Many times we bloggers will feel too intimidated and won't use real names.