FTD.com - VENT!!! OT

[KT27]

My DH deployed to the sandbox this week for a year. It has been a terrible terrible week for me. My mom knows how upset I was and decided to send me flowers. My favorite flowers are lavendar roses. Thats the flower I used at my wedding and they always cheer me up. However they arrived today in a box via FED EX priority overnight.

Problem #1 -They arrived at 1:45pm. I thought priority overnight ensured delivery by 10:30 am the next day??

Problem #2 - There was no card, no from message no nothing in the box, on the box or stuck to the box, I called Mom and said I though dh had sent them, but it wasn't him, she did. She stated she filled out a gift card.

Problem #3- The roses were wilted, brown & were pink looking to me. They didn't have any waterthingys on the end of the stems, just wrapped in tissue and thats it. No wonder they are dead, I live in Tx its 100 degrees!

So I call FTD to complain & am on hold waiting for a customer service rep for 21 minutes. I finally get a nice lady who said they are from Mom and would I like her to read the card? So she does, so fast that I can't understand her and ask her to repeat. She gets a bit annoyed. Then I tell her that they were dead. She said put them in water & give it an hour or so. They are brown no just wilted, lack of water & intense heat caused this. They smell rotten or like they were decomposing. She said that they would send out a replacement bouquet of roses tommorow but that they couldn't resend the card????!!!!!


This is what Mom bought:

This is what I got:

So needless to say I'm not happy, just another downer for the week. i feel bad because Mom tried to do something nice. If they arrive dead again tomm I want her to get her $$$ back.

Thanks for letting me vent!

~Katie

 

[imsayin]

I'd have your mom call and talk to a manager. She should definitely get a refund or replacement.

 

[Nicolepa]

I second having your mom call. IMO they should send a replacement and give her at least 50% refund.

I had a problem with them several years ago. A friend tried to commit suicide so I sent some flowers to the hospital from the church (she was the pastors wife). Well I didn't know you couldn't send flowers to the psyc ward because they won't acknowledge who is in there. So I told them to send them to her house. BTW they waited a couple of days (maybe a week as she was about to be released) to tell me they couldn't deliver them. Well by now she knows we were sending them, but they never arrived. She said thanks anyway.

Well, about 6 weeks later they showed up! I was furious. I mean she was making great progress by then and then she gets reminded of the situation. Get what I mean?

So I call and they tell me they will refund 50% of my money but only if they go and pick them up. Now I was really upset. So dh called and didn't get very far. He got mad and told them that she had died and the flowers upset the family. (Not a very nice lie I know, and very out of character for him.) But anyway we ended up getting a full refund and a nice coupon for our next order. Dh used that coupon to get flowers for me and we've never used them since.

 

[snowy76]

Maybe your mom can have a local florist near you affiliated with FTD do the order. My best friend's parents own a flower shop and HATE dealing with these FTD/1800 Flowers type orders -- the big companies skim a ton of money off the top and the florist gets very little! Often it's better for everyone to deal locally. They can be delivered just as fast, sometimes faster, and they'll be in much better shape. The downside is that sometimes the local florist doesn't have the exact stock of the FTD advertised bouquet, but they won't be wilting in a FedEx truck!

Hope the rest of the week goes a little better!

 

[lost*in*cyberspace]

I sent both my mom and mother-in-law the same arrangement through marthasflowers.com for Mother's Day. I have had great success with them in the past. They ship FedEx from contracted growers. The arrangements were sent to different parts of the country and both arrived wilted and brown and did not revive after being in water overnight. I complained and got a refund for both, as well as an offer to ship another arrangement (I declined).

 

[Mom-to-2-Princesses]

He got mad and told them that she had died and the flowers upset the family. (Not a very nice lie I know, and very out of character for him.) But anyway we ended up getting a full refund and a nice coupon for our next order. Dh used that coupon to get flowers for me and we've never used them since.

 

[Jetstorm]

If it helps in the future, I just heard about a new company (at least in my area) on the radio this week, it's Absolutely Fresh Flowers.com and they say they overnight guaranteed fresh flowers from their farm with no middle man involved. Ther was a phone number but I was driving and didn't get it.

 

[CowboyCO]

My DH deployed to the sandbox this week for a year. It has been a terrible terrible week for me. My mom knows how upset I was and decided to send me flowers. My favorite flowers are lavendar roses. Thats the flower I used at my wedding and they always cheer me up. However they arrived today in a box via FED EX priority overnight.

Problem #1 -They arrived at 1:45pm. I thought priority overnight ensured delivery by 10:30 am the next day??

Problem #2 - There was no card, no from message no nothing in the box, on the box or stuck to the box, I called Mom and said I though dh had sent them, but it wasn't him, she did. She stated she filled out a gift card.

Problem #3- The roses were wilted, brown & were pink looking to me. They didn't have any waterthingys on the end of the stems, just wrapped in tissue and thats it. No wonder they are dead, I live in Tx its 100 degrees!

So I call FTD to complain & am on hold waiting for a customer service rep for 21 minutes. I finally get a nice lady who said they are from Mom and would I like her to read the card? So she does, so fast that I can't understand her and ask her to repeat. She gets a bit annoyed. Then I tell her that they were dead. She said put them in water & give it an hour or so. They are brown no just wilted, lack of water & intense heat caused this. They smell rotten or like they were decomposing. She said that they would send out a replacement bouquet of roses tommorow but that they couldn't resend the card????!!!!!


This is what Mom bought:

This is what I got:

So needless to say I'm not happy, just another downer for the week. i feel bad because Mom tried to do something nice. If they arrive dead again tomm I want her to get her $$$ back.

Thanks for letting me vent!

~Katie

Katie--

I was the owner of a florist shop and was raised in my mother's florist shop. Looking at your pictures, it dpes not appear that they are heat damaged. The discolored petals are from when the rose was in it's initial bud. They are called "guard petals" or "Bumper petals" in the industry. Most florists will remove those during processing.

Also, be aware that the variety of rose in your wedding bouquet looks like a Lavonda. The ones sent to you by your mother are a different variety. There are literally dozens of Lavender rose colors on the market. The Lavonda ia very short-lived, aromatic, full-blooming rose. The ones you received are a "tea rose" which is bred for long vase life and will not be as aromatic and will not likely be a full-bloomer.

To insure their vase life in your home, recut each stem at an angle using a sharp knife. Cut each stem underwater and then immediately place each rose in prepared water in the vase as you cut them.

If any roses tip their heads over in the first 24 hours, they can be revived by running 4 inches of lukewarm water in a bathtub, straighten the head out and recut the stem underwater and then keep the entire rose underwater for 15-30 minutes until it revives.

ood luck -- Sorry you had a bad experience! The card thing happens, but they should have sent you the card or made up a new one after calling the sender to get the contents of the message.

Thanks for your husband's service!

 

[TBGOES2DISNEY]

My DH has sent me flowers from them before when he's been away on business. They usually look beautiful the first day and then you are lucky if they make it an entire week! It's also very possible that you could have thrown the card away. Their cards are very tiny - I can't recall if they have an envelope - and the type print is extremely small!

 

[bethann1970]

At least you got some flowers! My husband ordered roses, balloons and a teddy bear for me through FTD.com for Valentines day, and they never came. When we called, they said maybe they were delayed and to see if they came the next day. Nothing. After being on hold for and hour, they finally gave us a refund. Never again will I order through them!

 

[faindrops27]

Katie- I just wanted to send you a I know, it must be a very emotional, and hard time for you right now. I cannot even begin to think of what you are going through. I will keep you, and your hubby in my prayers.

 

[we3disneygo]

 

[LisaNJ25]

Katie--

I was the owner of a florist shop and was raised in my mother's florist shop. Looking at your pictures, it dpes not appear that they are heat damaged. The discolored petals are from when the rose was in it's initial bud. They are called "guard petals" or "Bumper petals" in the industry. Most florists will remove those during processing.

I was goig to say this also. It looks like the florist forgot to remove them. I am a flower vendor and once and awhile i get them in with the guard petals on them.

 

[debbi801]

We had this with them last valentine's day when my DH sent me flowers. He sent me tulips (my favorite) and almost all of them were dead and the vase was broken. After he complained enough, they refunded his money. We won't use them again.

I'm sorry your "cheer up" bouquet was messed up and I hope they get it resolved for you.

I'll keep you and your DH in my thoughts. I hope you both have as easy a time of it as possible.

 

[ToriLammy]

Katie--

I was the owner of a florist shop and was raised in my mother's florist shop. Looking at your pictures, it dpes not appear that they are heat damaged. The discolored petals are from when the rose was in it's initial bud. They are called "guard petals" or "Bumper petals" in the industry. Most florists will remove those during processing.

To insure their vase life in your home, recut each stem at an angle using a sharp knife. Cut each stem underwater and then immediately place each rose in prepared water in the vase as you cut them.

If any roses tip their heads over in the first 24 hours, they can be revived by running 4 inches of lukewarm water in a bathtub, straighten the head out and recut the stem underwater and then keep the entire rose underwater for 15-30 minutes until it revives.

Now that is some interesting and helpful information. Thanks.

 

[chrissyt27]

The same thing happened to me a few weeks ago. I got flowers for my anniversary from FTD and they were horrible looking, brown and wilted. They had come DHL and had sat in a truck overnight and didn’t show up till 2 p.m. with no water and no moisture what so ever. I was so upset that I called. In the past he has used FTD and they always arrive so beautiful. So they send me more the 2nd day. Same thing, only worse actually, so I called again. I never had a wait time and the people were very helpful. The 3rd day they send them from a local florist, not the same order, but they were beautiful. I did keep the first two, and after 1 week they seemed to perk up, but the whole point of getting flowers is the surprise of getting them. Everyone in my office couldn’t believe how sad they looked. I never complain about anything, but I knew how much he spent on them after I checked the website to see what they were supposed to look like.
Sorry for your bad luck:> I told him to not get me flowers but if he did he should get stuff I can plant or get them from a local place.

Hope your husband stays safe, Hopefully he will be home before you know it.

 

[Nisa]

I had the very same problem in March from them. I ordered one thing but something totally different and very ugly was delivered. I emailed, called, ranted and raved at everyone I could and never did get any relief from them. I have not ordered from FTD since and never will again. I hope your experience is much better than mine!!! Good luck!

 

[Chicago526]

I used www.proflowers.com for Mother's Day for my mom and MIL and had great success with both orders. A little cheaper than FTD and they FedEx them over night fresh from the grower. The only "catch" is that the person getting the flowers has to arrange them in a vase, they don't come pre-assembled. Both my mom and MIL said that they lasted longer than traditional flowers from FTD and were beautiful.

 

[floridafam]

I would have complained, too.

The thing that gets me is there is no filler stuff in the picture of the product and then they send the flowers with a bunch of baby's breath or whatever that is. It ticks me off when florists do that. IMO, your Mom did not get what she paid for and I would want at least a partial refund.

I'm sorry you are going through a deployment.

 

[disneybound31]

Maybe your mom can have a local florist near you affiliated with FTD do the order. My best friend's parents own a flower shop and HATE dealing with these FTD/1800 Flowers type orders -- the big companies skim a ton of money off the top and the florist gets very little! Often it's better for everyone to deal locally. They can be delivered just as fast, sometimes faster, and they'll be in much better shape. The downside is that sometimes the local florist doesn't have the exact stock of the FTD advertised bouquet, but they won't be wilting in a FedEx truck!

Hope the rest of the week goes a little better!

I can vouch for EVERYTHING this poster has said! My family has owned our flower shop for 60 years and I am now running the business alongside my parents- and we cringe each time we get an order from 1800Flowers or any other of this type order. It is totally true that these companies take a BIG chunk of whatever you have paid and then give us the remainder to "try" to recreate what you have actually ordered. It is close to impossible to give the original customer the flowers they want because FTD/1800Flowers, etc take so much or what is paid. $10-20 at least. So whenever you need to send flowers out of town or to an unfamiliar place-- if you look up the Teleflora website (or FTD) and search for a florist in that town you can usually find a 800 number and call them directly to order. Most shops have 800 #'s (we do) and then you can know exactly WHAT you are getting and WHEN it will get there. It might seem more convienent to order flowers on-line... but you will always save money and hassle by dealing locally.

And let me add, most importantly, that we are very humbled and appreciative that your husband (and your family) are serving and protecting our country. Our family knows about service as well, along with the great loss that can come with it. My brother was killed in the line of duty almost 2 years ago but it is the way he lived that keeps us going. His honor and his courage. And so today we pray for your DH's safety; and strength and peace for those of you who support him.