[owlsteazombies]

So I ordered flowers for my mother and grandmother to decorate their homes for the holidays, like you do. And everything went great! At first..

My grandmother recieved her order and called to thank me and we chatted, it was nice. But then my mother didn't recieve her arrangement at the expected time, so I called FTD.

As I was calling FTD, my phone decided that now was the time to flip out and die. Because apparently, it wasn't the droid I was looking for. I immediately called back because the young lady I was talking to was calling local florists to find one still open to deliver her arrangement by that night so they could be seen by her friends at their before-xmas party to prove I'm not a bad daughter!

Instead, I got asked the same question over and over again instead of connecting me to the young lady I was speaking to, was asked for my credit card information to place a new order, and was yelled at and told I was spelling my own last name wrong (what?!). In the meantime, two exact same arrangements arrived at my mothers house because another florist had been contacted.

So then this pops up on Ms. You Can't Spell Your Own Name's screen and she starts demanding for a credit card to pay for the second arrangement that would not have been delivered had she just directed my call to where I asked it to go and not argued with me about my name, address and recipient info (all which no one else had a problem with.)

Is it just me, or has customer service in general just gone down the tubes? I just wanted to send some dang flowers!

[zoritsa]

I think customer service in general has gone down.Did you call a local florist who then contacted a florist in the recipients area...or one of those 1-800 places? I only do business with local shops.They sometimes know a good florist to call in the town the flowers are being delivered.

I hate to say it...because they may be good companies,but when I worked for a floral shop,we would refuse to take orders from the 1-800 places.My boss didn't like the service from them,but he also felt that they would put him out of business someday ~shrug~...so I can't speak for those types of companies.

[mandalinn82]

I think customer service in general has gone down.Did you call a local florist who then contacted a florist in the recipients area...or one of those 1-800 places? I only do business with local shops.They sometimes know a good florist to call in the town the flowers are being delivered.

This times a million. Call the local florist, they will wire it out, you will get your local florist talking directly to the delivery florist, and you'll have your local florist able to call the delivery florist if there are any problems.

[Quiet Ballerina]

Customer service is definitely going down the tubes. I had to call cable recently about a question on my bill, and the guy acted like I was the biggest idiot in the world and gave me so much attitude. Awful.

Sorry you had so much trouble.

[zzBBzz]

After being burned, I decided:
I would only order flowers from a local to recipient florist (yelp helps with reviews) AND I would avoid long distance flower orders UNLESS I would be there to check them out.

If awful and you've seen them, you can expect a no hassle refund.

I suppose one could also chat up the florist and TELL them you will be there ---day and are looking forward to seeing them

[shcirerf]

I used to own a flower shop and I would never use an online service to send flowers.

I would go to a local shop and place the order through them. Then if there is a problem, you can go back to your local shop and have them rectify the problem.

No issues with credit cards or payments or spelling or whatever. You are putting you customer service in the hands of a local, and they are more likely to be more concerned about customer service than some "person" sitting at a desk or at home answering your call, while having a snack or wondering what they're kids are doing while they're supposed to be working.

[jules1216]

I have sent flowers via pro flowers and been very happy with them. I have also done local and been happy with some but others have disappointed...ask around.

My birthday is in december, hubs ordered locally. Found a local option that posted arrangements. He picked one and ordered. They told him that since it was the Christmas season all the prices listed were wrong and he would be charged more. Then he was told that flowers would be substituted. I ended up witha very expensive vase of 95% carnations. He was not happy and called back to them and there was nothing they would do to fix it.

There is a local grocery food store chain that he buys from now. He picks a few bouquests and I have several vases.

[EmmaD]

Sorry about the stress of your situation! I hate Hate HATE dealing with stuff like that.

I had a similar experience recently - My credit card was running a special if I used some online florist service, so I went online and picked out a beautiful arrangement for my grandmother and printed out the confirmation. I ordered them a day early just to give them that buffer. Then when I spoke with my grandmother, she never mentioned the flowers (usually she raves, takes photos etc) and it turns out she never got them.
GRRRR
So I called the service and they tried to get me to agree to try again to send the flowers at some discount and I said no way, you already missed the woman's birthDAY! Eventually got the full refund.

I usually only use the florist local to where I am sending, but I was trying to get the special deal my credit card was offering . I like the idea others suggested about placing the order locally to ME - I hadn't thought of that!

[owlsteazombies]

It was an offer with USAA, so I figured I'd go ahead and try it since it was such a good deal.

Never again. I usually only go to local florists (Oberer's is my favorite around here).

I'm still trying to figure out how I'm supposed to spell my last name. Apparently I'm just -that- dumb