Support local florists, don't use 1-800 firms

[reflection]

Not only do you generally get fresher flowers and better service, you reduce your risk of the having the card on your flowers imply that your dead grandmother had diarrhea.

http://consumerist.com/2014/09/30/bad-transcription-means-1-800-flowers-card-implies-dead-grandma-had-diarrhea/

Douglas, a reader of the New York Times’ “Haggler” column, decided to send flowers with a lighthearted message to his grandmother’s funeral instead of attending. He sent them through 1-800-Flowers, dictating his message for the card to the customer service representative who took his order over the phone: “FAR WELL GRANDMY YOU HAD A GOOD RUNS.” Wait, that doesn’t sound right.

When you want flowers sent at the last minute or shortly before before the day’s delivery cutoff, you have no choice but to call the vendor directly on the phone, like it’s 1989 or something. That means dictating your message, unless you have access to a fax machine He had no complaint about the flowers, but was unhappy with the message. Anyone who read the card could probably figure out what he meant, and they would be confused, insulted, or just amused.

This card was supposed to say, “Farewell Grammy, you’ve had a good run.” Douglas noted that the customer service representative wasn’t a native English speaker (though that doesn’t always mean that the call center is in another country) and seemed to have trouble taking the message down. Douglas saw the mangled message when he received a confirmation e-mail.

Here’s the first consumer lesson in this story: Douglas e-mailed his complaint, but sent it to the return address of the order confirmation e-mail. That’s usually not an address that can receive messages. When the Haggler contacted 1-800-Flowers, indeed, they had never received a complaint about this order. They issued a full refund for the flower arrangement once they learned of the error. “We offer extensive training to our customer service agents, which provides them with the opportunity to help our customers express themselves perfectly with our thoughtful gifts,” a 1-800-Flowers representative told the Times. Or make inadvertent poop jokes at a funeral.

[Peacetrain]

1. I cannot endorse what you said enough!

years ago I did 1 800 flowers for and aunt's funeral and they delivered them after the service..

[MineralMan]

2. Try Teleflora. They use local florists.

That's what I do when I send flowers to my 90-year-old mom. A local florist makes up the flowers and someone my mother knows delivers them to her door. There are Teleflora member florists everywhere. You pay Teleflora a fee, and the florist gets the rest. It works great, and you can even pick the florist, if you wish.

1-800-FLOWERS only uses local florists sometimes. For many arrangements, they overnight the stuff via FedEx or UPS. Then, it's up to the recipients to arrange them in the vase that come with the flowers. That sucks. I want my mom to get her flowers delivered all arranged and by a local person she knows. They live in a small citrus growing town in California. There are three Teleflora florists in that town, alone.

Choose your flower delivery service carefully. 1-800-FLOWERS sucks most of the time.

[reflection]

3. Was not aware of Teleflora but knew about how bad 1-800-FLOWERS was.

Thanks for the info. But just out of curiosity, why would you not just call the local florist directly, and let them keep all the profit instead of giving another firm a %age? Or do florists pay a membership fee to be with Teleflora and thus do not have to give them a commission on each sale?

[MineralMan]

13. I've done that, but I don't like giving my credit card info over the phone.

Silly, probably. Teleflora members get the money for the flower arrangements. The customer pays Teleflora a fee. I'm not sure of the exact arrangement, but Teleflora has been around just about forever and florists have used their system for all of that time. I like them because they always use local florists. If it weren't profitable for the local florists, Teleflora wouldn't have been around for so long.

I've been using Teleflora since before the Internet existed, and know the local florist in my parents' home town personally. I always select that florist specifically for my orders.

[pinboy3niner]

16. OR google florists where the flowers are to be sent and call directly to order

Advantage: No middleman, and you're actually talking directly to the folks who will do the job.

[Orsino]

4. I made that mistake once, thinking that I was engaging a local florist.

The order got fucked up, of course, and I returned to dealing directly with the local, family-owned business that's been there nearly as long as I've been alive.

[onyourleft]

5. Having had...

...problems with our local florist on the last two orders, I've gone a different route. I needed to send flowers a couple of weeks ago and bypassed our local by searching for a florist in the area to which I needed to send the flowers and calling direct. Quite frankly, I've had lots of problems using locals for various jobs.

[reflection]

6. Makes sense.

Sounds as if your local folks aren't too good, although it is kind of shocking that the lack of service spans several industries. Without revealing too much information, can you give me an idea what size town and what area you live in? Very small town, perhaps?

[onyourleft]

7. I live in...

...the lake region of New Hampshire. Our population is around 1,400.

[NightWatcher]

8. +10000 Pro Flowers sucks

You can use your phone and find a number for the closest florist to your recipient. Do it. I used pro flowers and they majorly screwed up an order on a special date.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

9. Even the best florists may not give you their best

if they realize you are not a "repeat" customer. It's just human nature.

When I need a florist, if possible, I call someone in that particular town whom I know and ask them to recommend their florist. When I call the florist, I make a point of telling the person on the phone who recommended them. Furthermore, if I know that person will attend the funeral (if, for instance, I am sending flowers for that reason) I make a point of offhandedly telling them that my friend was going to take pictures of the flowers so I could see what I sent.

[reflection]

12. You know what's so cool about DU?

I brought up the subject, and I'm learning things about it now that I never considered. Good stuff.

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

14. haha

[MerryBlooms]

10. I always do a search for the local florists and order directly.

Something else you can do if you don't want to do flowers... ask who in their area has good take-out and have a dinner delivered. It was a great surprise and they loved it!

[TexasMommaWithAHat]

15. Good Idea!

[badtoworse]

11. "Just because flowers" are rated investment grade.

I've been using the same local florist to get them for my wife for more than 10 years. You're right - you get great service and fresh flowers by going local. I bought her flowers for Rosh Hashanah on Thursday and they still look good.