This is NYCWD. Poppy is not here today, so I am guest posting on her blog. Her absence is not because she was deeply hurt by the lack of appreciation she was shown while trying to demonstrate the bubbles from Saturday via video in yesterday’s post that was requested by you, her friends. No, that has nothing to do with it whatsoever.
/sarcasm
- Image by Chaddycakes via Flickr
I have had a long relationship with 1-800-FLOWERS. I’ve used them for years to send flowers and things to people out of state, and with the eventual collapse of the local florist industry for people in the city as well. I spend, on average (between birthdays, special occasions, and of course Valentine’s Day) around $1,000 a year. I also have some purchasing power in my job that gives them an additional $2,000-$4,000 worth of business.
I am used to their fuck ups. No, really. I expect them to be somewhat delayed during the big holidays of Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day. This is why I try to get things delivered a little early during these holidays. I even pay a little extra for it. This year’s service however has insured I will never use 1-800-FLOWERS again for anything!
On February 11 I ordered a dozen red roses to be delivered to Poppy‘s place of business. I put all the actual specifics into the order form for business deliveries and set the date for February 13. Sadly, Poppy did not receive her flowers by 5:00pm on February 13. A call to 1-800-FLOWERS customer service gave the regular explanation of high volume, traffic, busy day, blah, blah, blah. I accepted this. I just asked that the flowers be delivered before noon on Monday February 16.
I am a loving and considerate consumer.
Monday I got an e-mail confirmation at 11:54am that the flowers had been delivered. I called Poppy and asked how her flowers were. She was getting Subway (yum) and would let me know when she got back to the office.
She called me about 20 minutes later and guess what? No flowers. So I called 1-800-FLOWERS again. The customer service was apologetic and whatnot and tried calling the florist… but after 20 minutes of trying and getting voicemail it was determined they were out to lunch. They had the signer of the flowers on their system as being “Y“. Yes… the signer was the Letter Y. I expressed this was unacceptable. They agreed and sent a message to the actual florist. I told them I wanted resolution today… and they said they would call me back.
They never called me back. However, Sam the florist called Poppy at 4:45pm and laid a guilt trip on her for working a 9-5 job because he wanted to send the flowers out that day.
Sam upset the Poppy.
The Poppy called the Dawggy.
The Dawggy called Sam.
Sam is obviously a fucking moron. He tried putting the blame of the false confirmation elsewhere stating he was the “third party”. He did not understand that the confirmation he had 1-800-FLOWERS send was fraud, that he was responsible for this fuck up, or that he needed to resolve it without being a nasty fuck. He continued to insist he was just the “third party”. I then reminded him that he was the “third party” since fucking Friday, and therefore my “first party” will be coming to his “third party” place of business, that I got from a reverse phone look-up, for a “blanket party” if things were not rectified.
Sam understood this last portion of the conversation.
Poppy got her flowers yesterday.
1-800-FLOWERS lost at least $3,000 worth of business over this debacle simply because they failed to follow up with their promise to call me back and instead expected their Brooklyn fraudulent confirming delivery florist to do the right thing.
This is pretty unacceptable business. I mean, such a delay on an early order on THAT particular holiday ? Could wreck relationships. Where’s personal responsibility these days ?
I say go to Edible Arraignments instead. They kick some serious ass, sort of like you should do to previous “third party”
GRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR. Assholes!
Yet, it makes you all the more lovable! Good for Poppy!
Have you thought about submitting this story to consumerist.com ?
I’ve learned from this (a) not to use 1-800-FLOWERS and (b) never, ever, ever, ever to even think about inadvertently upsetting the Poppy.
Who calls up the RECIPIENT of a GIFT and berates them for… I don’t know, working? What a shithead.
Maybe in future you should try Calyx & Corolla: http://www.calyxflowers.com/Default.aspx. Gorgeous stuff, although I can’t vouch for their delivery. But I believe they ship direct.
Bad Flower people…. Plus know one likes a weasel.
epinions.com is another place I’ve used to lodge fiery balls of hate, er, I mean complaints.
Those flowers were supposed to be a surprise. Calling me AT ALL for any reason other than “we need help finding your office” is such bad form.
And the conversation ver batim…
Sam: I have a flower delivery for you. How long are you there for?
Me: 15 minutes.
Sam: you can’t be there longer? We really want to deliver them today.
Me: sweetie, I was here all day today, and all day Friday.
Sam: but it’s not our fault you’re not there longer
Me: I don’t live in Manhattan and I’m sure as hell not staying at work just so you can deliver me flowers that you were supposed to deliver FRIDAY without me knowing. You are starting to aggravate me. You will be speaking with my boyfriend who I know ordered me the flowers because he had to tell me so Friday night after you didn’t deliver them. What is your number?
Sam: (he gives number) where do you live?
Me: I am hanging up now, you will be hearing from my boyfriend.
Creature- It was really really really bad business… and it could definitely ruin relationships. I’m still healing from the burns on my neck from the piercing stare…
Dutchess of Kickball- I’ve seen their stuff before… and yeah, it’s definitely got to be a better option to at least try.
Sybil- Grrrrrrr is right!!! Assholes sums it up nicely too!!! Your just nailing the issue on the head.
Shiny- I try to stay away from the ist-a-verse… corporate mongers and all that… but yeah… 1-800-FLOWERS sucks balls.
Finn- That to me was the bigger problem. They called her instead of me. Newsflash… I am the one paying. That should count for something.
Maman- Totally bad flower people and really shitty weasels. I’m just glad that Poppy is as understanding as she is.
Whall- I’ll have to check that out. I’m all for fiery balls of hate.
Poppy- :pinkpuffyheart:
I forgot to tell the story about when I sent flowers to my wife at work for her anniversary a few years back:
We live and work in the DC area — and this was right after September 11 as well as the ensuing panic about mail by contaminated by anthrax. I had a confederate in my wife’s office who was there to tell me when the flowers arrived — so I could make sure that the surprise remained a surprise.
However, the flowers didn’t seem to come. Not that this would have been related to a peak holiday — our anniversary is in October! But since she was working at a high-profile building in the DC area, all deliveries and packages were being screened thoroughly.
My flowers eventually got to her. But only after sitting on the loading dock for a while. And, apparently, after being sniffed by a dog.
I don’t send her anything sniffable at work anymore…
The shit weasels. I much prefer edible arrangements.
I’m glad Poppy got her love though. We love the Poppy.
Unbelievable. I hope that with the economic downturn will lead to better customer service in the long run.
You two are just the cutest couple…
I’ve heard bad things about 1-800-Flowers before. My soon-to-be ex always would say, “Vote with your dollar!”
What bubbles?
What bubbles? meaning, I need to check in more.
Ah yes, 1-800-FLOWERS, the people who sent my boss a potted plant the size of a yogurt cup for her mother’s funeral. I got my money back on that one after shaming them with words and pictures of the event.
It seems as long as it took for Poppy to get her ‘surprise’ flowers you could have grown some instead.
What fucktards.
My parents used to own a couple of flower shops when I was a kid, and I worked at them as a teenager. Your best bet is to find a local florist; scope one out when you are out and about sometime, take down their number, and give them a shot. I think if you deal with a florist directly, you will have fewer problems.
For out of the area deliveries, I just look up florists with the same zip code as where they are going and call one directly. You can usually tell if you have picked a dud just by talking to them. I have had a lot of success with that method. Also, if you find a good local florist, you can always go through them for out of area stuff too, just realize that when you are dealing with anyone other than the florist that actually delivers the flowers, there are service charges incorporated for relaying the order that decrease the size of what you are sending, or make it cost more.
Yeah, that kind of blows. Can’t live on an earlier good reputation.
My boss was having a really shitty day so I paid extra for same day delivery, on a Friday, and the same thing happened. She got them on Monday. I was so flipping mad I contested the charge on my credit card-after contacting 1-800-Flowers to give them a chance to make it right. All I wanted was my same-day delivery charge reverse-which is totally reasonable. Sorry the same thing happened to you.