To complain about floral tribute

[60sbird]

I ordered a floral tribute for my partners brother’s funeral, the tribute ordered was in the style of pic 1 but in red with brother in white letters and a black ribbon surround, we had to pay extra £30 for red flowers, we explained that he was a Man united supporter hence wanting those colours. What we got is in pic 2, this cost £155, and to me looks comical, I emailed florist to be told she had to use those flowers as she wouldn’t be able to fit brother on of she used anything else, the website said a max of 8 letters, brother is 7 letters, I ordered over the phone so she could’ve told me it wasn’t possible to fit brother on in white flowers but she said she could do it, sadly we didn’t see them until the funeral so couldn’t change anything

I think it looks lovely, but I understand that it isn’t what you ordered and she shouldn’t have made changes without checking with you first. I think you should complain.

The angle of the photo makes it look like the R is falling of the end? The spacing on the T is also terrible. If this is how it looks in real life I would complain.

The informal font would not be a problem to me although they should have discussed that with you as it doesn't look anything like the product you purchased and there was no need to change the font to something less formal, but if it isn't centered and looks tacky I would not be happy.

I’m so sorry for your loss.

I actually prefer it to the other one, I think it looks like it would cost more than the first one?

I think the problem is if you have a lot of letters you need to have clear spaces or it gets hard to read and look jumbled. So by using narrower flowers she could make it clear what you wanted it to say.

I'm sorry for your loss OP.

I would say something . It's not good at all .

@helpfulperson

To me it looks fine, just a little more informal than the other picture. It may not be what you had pictured but I would just let it go.

But she paid (£155!) expecting it to look like the photo that they use as an example of what the flower arrangement will look like. She didn’t pay for ‘informal’. If they can’t make the product look like the photo then they shouldn’t be using the photo to promote the product!

It's not what you ordered but the word brother is not centered with the r hanging off the end is really poor. Sorry for your loss.

Another one that thinks the finished item is better than the original.

I was a florist for 10 years. From the scale of that photo, I wouldn't have been able to get the word 'brother' made up into that base in white letters and be happy with it. But I wouldn't have taken the order, I would have explained this to you.
As a pp has said, the example is in chrysanth which is much smaller flower than a carnation which is what they have had to use to get the base colour you requested and it would have been quite hard to then place a name in white and get the precision needed.
On a longer base it would have been possible.

I never took any chances with funeral tributes, if I wasn't confident I could provide what the customer wanted I talked through alternatives for a compromise.

Yes you should complain. It's not what you ordered, and even if they couldn't get the flowers you requested (sometimes things just weren't available at wholesale or quality was poor) they should have informed you of that at the time.

It's not what you ordered. It's red and grey! It's informal and all wrong.

It's a bit Adams family but I don't mind it too much !!

@lovingllamaa

I think it looks lovely, but I understand that it isn’t what you ordered and she shouldn’t have made changes without checking with you first. I think you should complain.

I agree, it’s much nicer than the blue example. But if you’re not happy, OP, go ahead and complain.

I would be going for a full refund full stop! The product isn't what you ordered and paid for, and you weren't consulted about the changes they made, which is totally unacceptable. Flowers for a funeral are the last act that you do for your loved one, (unless you're an Executer) and it's incredibly important that they are what you wanted, if they couldn't provide this, they should not have accepted your order.

Don't like it at all and it's not what you ordered so I would complain about it.
They should have explained when you ordered it that they weren't going to be able to do it in the white flowers.

It looks bloody awful to me OP. Hugs.

The red one looks better than the original. I prefer the writing style.

As a pp has said, the example is in chrysanth which is much smaller flower than a carnation which is what they have had to use to get the base colour you requested and it would have been quite hard to then place a name in white and get the precision needed.

It sounds like a communication issue, not really a fault as PPs have explained the issue clearly here.

I’m really sorry for your loss. Like others, I think it’s a nice arrangement, but when you’re grieving it’s very hard if something feel wrong and small things can be blown up and it’s hard to keep perspective - we take our feelings of unfairness and anger out where we can.

The best thing to do perhaps would be a follow-up email expressing politely as possible that you don’t feel you were communicated with well enough when ordering and the result was you felt very disappointed on the day, and having spent £155 that feels upsetting. And hope they’re then minded to give you a refund. M

Try not to dwell on it, though.

It's not what your ordered But it's lovely granted brother could be more in the middle .
To me it's more handmade and personal .

Generally funeral flowers I think of box square display tightly packed carnations and bubble type letter don't like them .

Email them

I don't understand? Looks fine to me?

For £155? I've got a bridge to sell you if you want to PM.

It looks amateurish, not at all what I would have expected for that cost.

Sorry for your loss OP. You're not wrong here.

It’s awful, but then I find floral tributes spelling names and stuff like that very tacky anyway. I’m not sure why you ordered it online as surely there was a local florist who could have done it cheaper and better?

It's awful and I'd find it upsetting.

I am so sorry for your loss and your partners loss.

But I cannot see what is wrong with it. It looks beautiful.

PI am sure you are doing this but please try and focus on supporting your partner at this time. If he is really upset about the flowers then of course complain. But if not I would leave it. They look totally fine to me.

The first one doesn't look all that perfect either. It looks similar to me but photos can be deceiving and you have seen it in real life so if you say it looks comical then you are in a better position to think that over us. To be fair to the florist they did have to work with different flowers to accommodate your colour change but if you aren't happy then you are perfectly entitled to complain. If it were me I'd leave it and make a personal note to never use that florist again and I know funeral tributes to loved ones aren't the time to think about money but I would think twice before spending £155 on flowers again.

The red and white looks okay to me. What’s wrong is the spacing of the letters. The R is hanging of the end, despite there being room on the right near the B. The florist said she could do up to eight letters, so your word was within her scope.

Have you paid already?

why is it shaped like a dog bone?
and is the lettering made out of pussy willow?

I have never seen a florest use pussy willow.

Any tribute with words tends to look super tacky. I don’t think either looks worse or better than the other.