My fight with 1-800-Flowers

(I'm writing this post with a scowl on my face. I tell you this to set the mood)

My fight with 1-800-Flowers began April 22nd. Hopefully it will be resolved May 22nd. 

Because I am such a nice and loving sister, I thought it would be a happy thought to send my sister surprise flowers to work on her first day back since having the baby. Something to make the day away from him a little easier and happier. 

I spent tens of minutes picking out the perfect flowers to send to her that would be both small enough as to be easily transportable when she took them home and had them on her desk, and so they would be delivered in a vase from a florist and not in a box where she would have to do work to enjoy them. I settled on a lovely arrangement called "French Countryside" 

They're adorable right?

The day after I order these flowers I got a call from their customer service telling me the florist who would be fulfilling the order did not carry the blue vase and asked if I would be okay with a replacement. I really like the blue vase but the flowers are the real gift so I agreed to a replacement vase. ONLY replacing the VASE. Even checking my order online the arrangement was titled "French Countryside" and on track to be delivered May 1st. 

Now comes May 1st and flowers are delivered. Thankfully they did make Heidi's day and my goal of making her smile and tear up a little at my lovely card was accomplished. Unfortunately the flowers are entirely wrong. 

Very pretty, but it's like the opposite of what I ordered

Now I know some of you more level headed people out there might be thinking I'm nuts for putting up such a stink and blogging about this. It didn't intend for things to spiral like they did. 

I sent an email via the customer service section on the 1-800-Flowers website letting them know of either the miscommunication or error somewhere down the line. I was expecting to get an apology and maybe a coupon for future purchase or something. They answered very promptly, within an hour or two, apologizing for the mix up, giving me a $20 coupon for 1-800-Flower or their sister companies, and promising a redelivery of the correct arrangement the next day. Awesome! When I heard this I was over the moon. Goes to show that if you speak up when an obvious error has been made that things will be made right. Or so I thought. 

The next day the flowers are not redelivered. Then the following Monday the flowers were not redelivered again. I gave them a day of grace knowing it was Mother's Day season and there are lots of flower orders. On Tuesday I emailed 1-800-Flowers again, saying that I appreciated their customer service efforts on behalf of the corporation but I didn't think the florist had the same commitment to customer service and the flowers had not been redelivered yet. They again emailed me back, promised a $20 coupon, and said the flowers would be delivered the following day. Well again the flowers didn't come. 

But I thought to myself, she got flowers, the sentiment was there, I made her first day back at work a little easier, I'll drop this because I'm getting sick of no results from 1-800-Flowers. Meanwhile, flowers I had ordered at the same time as I had ordered Heidi's were delivered successfully to my Mom without any issue. So ya know, one time thing. Right??????

Well I used one of the $20 coupons to send flowers to my old roommate, Sarah, who always says how she wants someone to send her flowers. I even had another of our friends figure out for me when Sarah was going to be in her office next (she travels a lot) so I could make sure she got them. I felt like a little flower fairy/secret agent! 

I had wanted these flowers to be a surprise so I waited and waited all day on Monday (5/12) for Sarah to text me all excitedly that I'm the best friend in the whole wide world and how surprised she was. That text never came but I received an email with a delivery confirmation from 1-800-Flowers. Hmmmm......suspicious

So I spilled the beans to Sarah to see if they had arrived or if she hated me but no flowers had come to her office. Suspiciouser. So we waited to see if maybe they were delivered after business hours and maybe they would be waiting for her at the office in the morning. Morning comes and there are no flowers happily waiting.

This time I call customer service because I work in customer service via email and I know that if you want something done the way you want it done and as quickly as possible, you call. Also please know that since I work in customer service I am very nice to all the service people I talk to; I live by the golden rule. I may be ranting here but I did not try to make their days any more miserable. (Except the last chick, I got mighty firm with her.) 

So I talk to some guy who apologizes, promises a $20 coupon, and a redelivery for the next day. I counter his offer by saying I'll waive the $20 coupon in exchange for redelivery that same day (5/12). I had called first thing in the morning so this shouldn't be a logistical problem for a service that offers same day delivery. He talk to people that can make decisions and lets me know they will redeliver that day and I will still received that damned $20 coupon. I have a theory that anytime you contact customer service they automatically send you the coupon. 

Day two of waiting for the flowers to arrive comes and goes. Once it is after business hours in the central time zone where the flowers should have already delivered I called customer service again. This time I got a wonderful person on the other end of the line who offered to have the flowers redelivered the following day, give me another freakin $20 coupon, and refund half my money. Finally something different! I told him a partial refund is fine with me as long as the flowers get there the next day, I am not going to pay for a product that never showed up but half off is a nice gesture. Since he was so helpful with this debacle I brought up the failed redeliveries of Heidi's flowers and got half off those as well. Fantastic, I am happy again and (fingers-crossed) the flowers will be delivered on Wednesday, 5/13. 

On Wednesday I do not even wait for the end of business day to call customer service again. They have an hour left in Sarah's work day to deliver the stupid flowers and I am going to find out where they are and when they'll be getting to her. 

So I call. And I talk to a woman who informs me there is still time for the flowers to be delivered and I should not be worried. Are. You. Kidding. Me. I have every right to be concerned that these flowers will not be delivered. In my previous calls with customer service they have put me on hold to try and contact the florist (without success, which is suspicious so either they're not really doing it or the florist is shady) so instead of losing my cool at "don't be worried" lady I sternly tell her I have had numerous failed redeliveries and can she please put me on hold and call the florist to give me an update on my order. She puts me on hold, probably turns to the person next to her and they talk about how demanding I am, then comes back to me and says she is just getting a busy signal but will try and call them again and then update me via email on the status of my order. I ask that she calls me instead and that I appreciate her trying them again.

I don't get a call or email from her and the flowers do not show. Three days, no flowers, no signs of progress towards making me happier than half my money back. Now I am livid and am pulling in the big guns. I contacted the Better Business Bureau.

I filed a complaint with the BBB of New York, where 1-800-Flowers is headquartered, on the evening of 5/14 stating that I had not received the product I had paid for and would like to have the product delivered. Next day I got an email from BBB saying they had filed my complaint with the company and they would keep me posted on any progress, and asking if I do resolve this issue with the company on my own to let them know. Coolio. I like to think I've made my high school consumer education teacher proud

Then this morning I get an email from the "Priority Unit" of 1-800-Flowers. They have received my complaint from the BBB, will refund the rest of my money, and want to deliver the flowers using a different florist at no cost to me. I will give the Priority Unit props, I can tell my complaint is being handled by an actual person and not just the usual $20 coupon and a redeliver speech. Since Sarah is out of the office on business for the beginning of next week the flowers are now scheduled to be delivered on 5/22, ten days after they should have originally been there. 

The interactions I have had with the Priority Unit have been great. Each time they ask me something they ask me kindly, literally. "Will you kindly confirm the delivery address", "Will you kindly confirm the delivery date",  "Would you be so kind as to reply with..." you can tell these are the people that deal with the crazies. 

Apparently if you want something other than the usual run around with 1-800-Flowers you need to go for the throat and get a consumer agency flexing muscle on your side. I just hope the flowers actually come, I do not have high hopes but I'll let you know. One thing is for certain, I will never be ordering flowers from 1-800-Flowers again.