I decided not to write this message earlier today because I was so agitated and upset, I knew that every other would be f*ck, and the post would not be understandable.

As entitled, 1-800-Flowers really screwed up this time. On Thursday, February 28, just one week from today it’s my girlfriends Birthday. Unfortunately I have alot going on right now, and as much as I want to be there for her, I knew this year it would be an impossibility. So I got this novel idea to put my faith in a multi-million dollar company (which is like putting faith in a politician) in the hopes that they would be able to send her flowers on her birthday. I placed the order nearly a week ago and everything was all set to go. Today I decided to check my bank statement which I have been doing from time to time. The bank has made a couple of mistakes also over the past couple of months so it’s in my best interest to keep an eye on them too. I noticed that the charge from 1-800-Flowers was posted twice to my account. I immediately called 1-800-Flowers to try and clear up this mistake hoping that they would not send 2 of the same types of flowers the following week. I spoke this b*tch Genay who gave me a load of crap about how some sort of "holding fee" which was being applied to my account; although she could only justify why it was applied, she could only tell me that it’s "something the company does from time to time and that she would clear it up immediately." This could have been a real problem if I did not have enough funds in my checking account to protect myself from an overdraft fee. Fortunately it was not a problem because I did have the funds, but it still irritated me. Finally I established with Genay that everything was alright and the shipment of flowers was still scheduled from February 28. Everything was A Ok, I was assured. So I got off the phone with her and resumed my day. About 2 hours later I got a call from my girlfriend who was confused and surprised, thanking me today for the flowers, but unsure of why I got them for her. Fortunately we have been together for a long while and we trust each other, or she may have been very suspicious. I was furious but I held it together enough to give the company a call back and have a civilized conversation with customer service. What I am so upset about is the fact that they basically ruined the surprise, and now I have to think of something better to do for her birthday. I was also pissed because I had just got off the phone with this bitch who assured me everything was tip top and I had "nothing to worry about." When I called this company back I asked to speak with Genay, but when I told the customer service rep why I wanted to speak with here, they were unable to locate her and had a million reasons why I couldn't speak with her. To make matters worse I was very polite in the beginning and they treated me like shit. They were extremely unsympathetic to my situation and told me that in all the time the company has been sending flowers this very rarely happened. This is all well and good but it happened to me and now I want to be F**king compensated!!! I was not upset with the fact that the flowers were delivered as much as the surprise had been blown, and now I was SOOL for the following week. After a half hour on the phone the told me they could do one of two thing. They said they could either give me 20% off my next purchase, which I quickly denied exclaiming that this would be my last purchase with the company, or I could tell my girlfriend to wait home and they would come pick the flowers back up and then redeliver them the following week. Can you honestly believe this shit?????? That was there best suggestion!!! They had audacity to tell me that they wanted her to wait around for them to come and pick them up so they could be redelivered the following week. Again that pretty much defeats the purpose, correct? Anyway after an hour on the phone I was given a lot of grief and then a $10 cash refund. $10 wow! I asked them if they honestly thought that their offer was reasonable, and asked the customer service representative if she had been put in this situation; wouldn’t she want to be fully refunded; I asked “wouldn’t that be the proper thing to do? I was told that the flowers were sent so that was an impossibility and they only way the could give me a refund on the flowers (not including the delivery, which was expensive might I add) was if they came and picked them up permanently. Although I wanted to make them spend their time and money on gas to come and get them I just couldn’t take them away from my girlfriend, that would have been a shitty thing to do. When I asked to speak to the florist that sent the flowers they told me that it was there policy not to give out that information. All the while they were very nasty to me on the phone and told me time and time again how they would be glad to come back and pick them up and redeliver them next week, but that’s about all they could do. Fortunately the phone number of the local florist that sent them was on the vase and I was able to get the number from my girlfriend and give them a call. They were very nice and told me next week they would come and surprise here with something "different" even though I told them that would not be necessary. They said they would surprise both of us in that case and send something anyway, which is pretty thoughtful. That’s fine with me. In any event, I rearranged my entire schedule to be with her on that day....which is what I should have done in the first place.

So moral of the story boys, you may never have a problem with this company, but if you do, beware.... they will not do the right thing.

DG

1-800 -xxxxx isn't that through the national florists assoc?

I used proflowers.com and used the "rush" discount.

As I finished the online order, an advertisement was offered for a $15 off coupon on the next order. I declined and at the next billing statement was presented with a $14.99 monthly charge for some marketing / discount club.

Pro flowers would not take my complaint and did not answer the emails.

I had to call the marketing group and cancel my membership.

All I can say is the flowers are great and my aging Aunt loves how pretty they are, and always arrive when promised.

I think I've used 1-800 some crap or another, once or twice, but I prefer to use a local florist. I've bought so much from them that I have a working relationship with them now and just pick up the phone

These 800 clubs rip off both the consumer and the florist

AS for you problem, there's still several remedies.

1) BBB
2) Written complaint to the corporate head of 1-800-flowers (need the info let me know?)
3) Dispute the charge with your bank
4) A small claims suit

The latter are usually cheap to file, I think you have a pretty defensible position, and you can usually get the courts to award costs as well as actual damages in the settlement

If nothing else, you can rattle thier cages for a while and maybe make a couple of heads roll. Corporate HATES law suits

I've been using "proflowers" for the last four or five years. They seem to get the job done and have a geat reminder service which I use.

Better luck next time.

That is aggravating. A full refund is in order, and should have been given to you without asking once it was established the flowers were delivered on the wrong day.

But you need to find out if it was the 1-800 folks who sent the florist out on the wrong day, or if it was the local outfit, who maybe got ahead of themselves.

Well, I didn't spend enough that I feel a lawsuit is really in order. It would cost me in money and time to go to court. I think that what I am doing right now is adequate. The more places I post this the more people who will be informed about my situation and may make different arrangements when they decide to order flowers.

I agree though, they should have refunded me the money right away. They wouldn't refund me the money though, unless I waited around for the florist to come pickup the order. That is really sleezy and low class as far as I am concerned. And why should I have my girlfriend wait around all day for them to come and take her flowers away? Retarted.


DG

Thanks for the tips. I've used them before, and didn't have problems, except for all the unwanted solicitations I couldn't remove myself from.

But based on your experience I won't use them anymore. Every business makes mistakes, but the good ones make it right afterwards.

You paid them a huge wad of cash to surprise your girlfriend with flowers on her birthday. They failed to provide that service. I'm amused by the fact they wanted to retrieve the flowers and resell them to someone else. The markup on those things has gotta be huge, and I doubt they paid much for em.

I had a problem with them last year. I sent my mom (out of state) flowers for her bday. I ordered in time and paid extra for a saturday delivery. I checked the tracking # over and over and they weren't delivered. So I had to call my mom and tell her that I sent her flowers, but she wouldn't get them until Monday. She was ok with it, I wasn't. I was pretty ticked. I called up (i'm good w/customer service) and they gave me a refund for the expensive delivery costs, but it still didn't correct the problem. I won't use them again.

Matthew

that is one helluva story, dude... I have heard other stories like that in relationship to 1-800-flowers.

Their customer service is bad news.

Oh, please, Dan, use the enter key... that started to hurt about 1/2 way through...

Quote:

Guys, I am really sorry for the annoyingly long post. I try not to come on here to bitch, but this just ticked me off so much I had to vent. Thanks for actually taking the time to read my post, its much appreciated. I hope if anyone uses this company in the future they don't have the same experience.

Dan