What a rip!

Mom's birthday is not far off, so I figured I'd send flowers. In fact, because I'm fairly smart and I know she'll be visiting a friend on her birthday weekend, I figured I'd have them delivered the week prior so she could enjoy them for a while before heading out.

Off to ProFlowers I go. Choose an arrangement, add it to the cart, get the total, and check out. Easy, right?

No.

It's more like:
* choose arrangement
* enter card information
* enter address
* have address corrected
* THEN get the total.

Now, I really want to know the total before I start the "enter your information process," but that seems to not be an option. Phooey.

So, I go through all the rigimarole and find this:
* Flowers: $25
* Monday delivery fee: $13
* Service fee: $3
* Some other fee: $10
* Taxes: $(I don't remember)
* Total $51+.

Thanks to fees and such, the cost doubled. Now, certainly I understand that delivery isn't free, and I'm okay with that. But what's this $13 "Monday delivery fee," in addition to the "service fee?" My intern pointed out very succinctly: "We don't get paid more on Mondays." (A smart kid, he is.)

FTD... ProFlowers... phooey on the lot of 'em!

FedEx Ground delivers ProFlowers--at least in California. On Mondays only the ground guys are delivering packages. (The home delivery guys are off on Mondays.) The ground drivers mostly focus on delivering to businesses. So the Monday delivery fee is a penalty you're paying for making a ground driver deliver to a residence.

Did it once, arrived late and incorrect flowers.

Never again.

Next time, found local florist number, called, ordered and they got it right and delivered on time.

Sometimes, old school is best.

My boss' father died and I tried to send flowers on-line to the church where the funeral would be held. I entered everything and received an e-mail confirmation. MF'ers never even made the arrangement and just credited me back the money. I'm like the only employee asshole in the department who didn't send flowers.

I should've just called 1-800-FLOWERS or looked up a local florist

If you have Amazon Prime, go there and search "Fresh Flowers".
I've done this several times now, no extra fees, fast delivery, and the quality is excellent.

Be sure to select an item sold by Amazon, and not Proflowers or another seller.

A few years ago I used one of the services (FTD?) for my mother on Mother's Day and they completely hosed the order. Talking to those folks did no good so I tracked down the local shop that was supposed to build and deliver the arrangement. They apologized and said they received the order on their end very late. In other words FTD dragged their ass processing it. She promised she would put together something a notch up from what I ordered and deliver it the next day. My mother received it and said it was one of the nicest arrangement she had seen.

From that point forward I won't use a flower service. I search for a florist local to where it needs to go and order directly from them. Haven't had a problem since.

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Did it once, ….Never again.

Next time, found local florist number, called, ordered and they got it right and delivered on time.

Sometimes, old school is best.

This times a billion. Tried 3 times with proflowers and the like. All three times delivery window missed. One time flowers DOA, one time flowers died in two days, last and final straw delivered late before left on vacation, arrived back to dead flowers.

Support a mom and pop shop, you'll pay $10 more, but it's worth it. All of the $19.99 deals are really $40+ (or more) deals anyways once you factor all the fees in.

I just look up a local florist, see if they have a web page with examples of what they send, and order that directly from them. Florists have told me if I use 1-800-Flowers, they take a cut of the amount paid. If you call direct, you're more likely to get what you request.

quote:

Originally posted by bryan11:
look up a local florist

Wow. SUCH a better plan!

Walk in, make my request, offer the address, get the charge, pay it, walk out smiling.

Thanks, SF, and thank you to my local florist!

And thank you, Orguss, for the FedEx explanation.

I agree with the local flower shop. I have been ordering for my mom in Carlsbad from the same place. They even call me a few days before my mom's birthday and mothers day as a reminder.

Great service

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Did it once, arrived late and incorrect flowers.

Never again.

Next time, found local florist number, called, ordered and they got it right and delivered on time.


Sometimes, old school is best.

+1, had a similar experience with ProFlowers, went with local shop, and much better result.

the old lady downstairs got 1-800-flowers on her birthday ,
the delivery guy told her flat out that the vase got broken and when she opened them , they were more than half dead.

Always call the local florist in the town where the flowers are to be delivered. Three females in the family, so lots of flowers get sent.

1-800 flowers is terrible. On one occasion they delivered them two days late for a birthday. Still wanted to charge full price. The flowers were also in poor condition.

quote:

Originally posted by ZSMICHAEL:
local florist

I think I'm going to add this simple note to the bulletin board over the desk.

Local florist: simple, effective, and less expensive.