CREATIONS FROM THE HEART

They are definitely crooks and have been doing this (and apparently getting away with it) for years! My son usually sends the finest, most expensive flowers on Mother's Day. This experience has made me wonder about our standing with our out-of-state daughter-in-law & son. When I looked on-line, all reviews were the worst possible, one reviewer saying, "If you really hate someone, choose this florist." They not only cheat you out of your money, but hurt relationships.

My sister ordered a plant for me from them for a Christmas present and had it delivered. While we were out of town for the weekend, they left it on the doorstep on a day that it was snowing and/or freezing temperature in Houston. Our daughter brought the plant in the house while we were gone. When we got back home on Sunday, the leaves on the poinsetta were drooping badly. I called the company to ask them to deliver another plant. They refused to do so, and gave me every excuse in the book: (1) I didn't know whether the plant was delivered on Friday or Saturday, (2) they didn't know how the plant had been handled after they delivered it, (3) poinsettas are winter plants and should be able to withstand freezing weather. They offered to exchange the plant if I brought it by. On Monday, I drove to the address on their card included with the plant. There was construction on the street and they were temporarily in another location (farther away). By that time, it was after their closing time. I called the next day to explain to the owner that my job was around 40 minutes from their temporary location and that I could not get there during their business hours. He said that it was their policy only to exchange the plant, and I would have to bring it by if I wanted a new poinsetta. My sister was quite upset also, since she said the poinsetta was expensive. (It was a single poinsetta in what appears to be an inexpensive basket, with a few evergreen pieces.)

I called the florist the Monday after the Saturday funeral and asked to speak to the manager. I was told that he was on the phone and asked if I could call back. I asked if I could receive a callback instead, and left my number. When I was not called back, I called again. This time I was asked what I was calling about by the person I spoke with the first time. I told her I was calling to speak to the manager about an unsatisfactory order, and she started to ask me more questions. I said I preferred to talk to the manager, was he in fact not there? She then got very upset and said that I was calling her a liar, and she, unbelievably, hung up on me. I called back immediately and said that I wanted the manager to call me, and I asked his name. She said that I could ask him that myself when I talked to him. She then hung up on me again! I called back a third time later, and the young woman did retrieve a man who said he was the manager. I asked his name, and I explained that my husband and I had been very disappointed with the flowers and that they were not what had been ordered. I said that I understood that there were delivery and FTD fees, but that there were not $65 dollars worth of flowers in the arrangement that was sent. He asked my number and said that someone would be calling me back with an accommodation. I told him, too, that the young woman had hung up on me, and that that was unacceptable. He did not make a lot of comment. When I did not hear from him by late afternoon, I called him back again. This time he was much less accommodating, I guess having spoken to his boss, and he explained that they followed the "recipe" for the number of my order. I said that the order did not reflect the image I had selected, so that was not really true. He stood by his explanation. I said that the arrangement I had selected had at least a half dozen roses, he said he would look at the image. He then went to look at the image, came back, and said they had had to make substitutions because they didn't have that color rose. I said I understood the idea of substitution, but not with flowers of a much lesser value, or with many fewer flowers. Finally, I just said, is this going to be your response then? He repeated what he had said, and I said that I thought they thought we would not go to the funeral and see the flowers, and that's why they sent those awful flowers. His response was "okay." I agree with the gentlemen who filed a report earlier, except that I extend it to a more general case, these people should not be in business at all!

Repeated calls to florist were ignored and the manager never called us back. My wife called 6 times over 2 days and I tried twice with same result. Clerk would take message but no one would call back. Clearly this florist is not interested in fixing the problem. We then called FTD and they said they would have order redelivered on following Sat. Nothing came and when we called FTD, they put us on hold and called this florist. When they came back on the line, they said this florist refused to work with them either and FTD would refund our money. This florist should not be in business in Houston!