Any florists on? Want to know if IABU or not?

[Bettyhatesavocados]

Sorry...this is longish but I want to give the whole story. I got my mum some flowers from a florist nearby to be delivered to her on her birthday.

I was charged £4.50 for delivery because the order was taken instore (not online which is apparently free to anywhere in the city but you don't know this till you are at the store!). The florist's is about a mile away.
The person who took the order asked what I would like to happen should no one be in. I said that someone would be in...and someone was when the florist's driver 'supposedly' knocked... There were three dogs in the house at the time, two of whom will bark if they hear the slightest rattle of the gate, letterbox on the wall etc.

At about 2pm I called to see where the flowers were and was told they had been delivered next door! When I asked when they said an hour ago (which I said could not be accurate as two people and three dogs were in the home at that time and a delivery would not have been missed then...also, I had been glancing from the kitchen to the door to keep an eye out.
Anyhow, I called the florist after retrieving the flowers and said that I had been unhappy with the delivery as I had said my mum would be home and I really wanted her to have the surprise of opening the door to them! I said I was pleased with the flowers, however...

Now, I don't order flowers a lot. My mum thought they looked beautiful in their box and she decided as they were so nicely arranged she would leave them in the bag of water in the box for a few days... (NO Care Instructions or flower food were included with the bouquet). Three days later and the flowers were starting to look ropey, to say the least. my mum went to transfer them to vases. The water was odd colour and stank, and many of the stems were slimy and dark green.

My mum ended up throwing a good 50% of the flowers away and transferred what was salvageable to a vase. Three days later they are dying with rose petals falling off (despite my mum putting flower food in herself to try to perk them up!)
Mum's birthday was last Saturday and today the flowers need to be binned. She wants to take photos and complain the the florist.. Is she being unreasonable?

If the flowers are not meant to stay in the water bag/ display box for 2 or 3 days should the florist say so on a care card or something? Should you just 'know' how to care for flowers that come in a water bag and display bag? If you are a florist, what would you do?

I am disappointed as, for me, the flowers were not cheap and in the past I've bought my mum nice supermarket ones that have lasted three weeks with flower food (provided) and frequent changes of water...

Anyhow, all opinions are welcome even if you think IABU...

Thanks!
Ps. I have added a partial photo of the bouquet as it is advertised on the shop's website (had to crop to get out the florist's name and address). There is no care advice section on the site. I can't show the flowers as they are now as I don't yet have a photo but they are awful. Post edited by MNHQ to remove the photo for the OP

What actually is the point of a florist arranging flowers if the receiver has to then redo them?

I’m not a flower person, but isn’t it common knowledge/common sense to take them straight out of the packaging, cut a bit off all the stems and put them in a vase with fresh water?

Every time I’ve given flowers as a present/taken them to a friend, that’s the first thing they always do, and I do the same on the rare occasions I have flowers in the house

I would have assumed it to be pretty standard so as not to need spelling out in ‘care instructions’

@SW1amp

I’m not a flower person, but isn’t it common knowledge/common sense to take them straight out of the packaging, cut a bit off all the stems and put them in a vase with fresh water?

Every time I’ve given flowers as a present/taken them to a friend, that’s the first thing they always do, and I do the same on the rare occasions I have flowers in the house

I would have assumed it to be pretty standard so as not to need spelling out in ‘care instructions’

This. It’s common sense surely 🤷🏻‍♀️

Putting flowers in fresh water when you receive them shouldn’t need instructions just as oranges and bananas don’t come with instructions that you need to peel them before eating.

How anyone could think that leaving a bouquet in a small plastic bag of water for days is good for the flowers is beyond me. The air can’t even get to the water.

I think everyone would know to trim stems and put flowers in fresh water as soon as possible.

On my birthday last year I received numerous (6) florist flowers in the water bag and box, and had to keep 3 of them in the water bag and box because I ran out of vases. All 6 bouquets lasted well over a week, and the ones in the vases didn't last significantly longer than the ones in the boxes. So I'm surprised about people's experience of short lived florist flowers.

I also agree that instructions should come with them. Lots of people rarely receive flowers so wouldn't necessarily know what to do with them.

As for the delivering to the house next door, I'm not sure why they would deliver to your neighbour unless they hadn't received an answer from knocking on your door. Maybe the dogs had heard a door rattle somewhere else in the house, made a huge amount of noise and subsequently drowned out the sound of the delivery.

I am a florist. The very first response is quite wrong, you absolutely can leave a hand tie bouquet in it's bubble.

You should've had instructions to say you top up with fresh by pouring water gently through the centre of the bouquet.

Depends on the flower choice as to life expectancy, but I wouldn't send out flowers without proper conditioning and I'd expect 5 days even for soft stems, longer for roses and lilies.

Pretty obvious you take flowers out of packing and put in fresh water, then top up or change water daily.

I should say, the point of a hand tie is the way it's constructed, as opposed to a flat bouquet (like beauty contestants used to get in the 70's.

The hand tie is constructed in a circular way (the stems should've already been conditioned so all foliage below the water line is removed and the stems cut on the diagonal.

The packaging should be part of the overall effect (we are trained how to construct that too) so you get a "wow" without the need to self-arrange.

The arrangement should last a good week (you top up the water as I wrote above).

Frankly, I would complain and I think you should expect a replacement.

Delivery issue aside, I don't know any independent florist sending flowers with instructions or feed sachets or even cleaning all the lower stems of all the leaves which start to rot in water - you'd do that yourself when rearranging.
The prepackaged water is only meant to keep them going until you are ready to put in a vase so on the same day.
In general, they don't last as long as supermarket bought flowers or flowers from those standard postal flower suppliers.
There is a subscription flower service I never tried and they might be better in terms of longevity whilst maintaining a more personalised service.
But independent florists are super expensive for what they offer - because they can.
Their arrangements can be stunning but in practical terms it's water down the drain.
I look at their service as a treat for convenience and for making an impression.

Is it not more likely whoever delivered the flowers heard the yappy dogs and decided to deliver next door due to previous bad experience of delivering to dogs? That being a case, I think I'd forgive the next-door delivery. Other people's dogs can be incredibly scary.

I think it's normal to rearrange flowers (and I'm not a flower person), but I didn't see your picture. I would, however, say I think it's normal to send flower food with a normal gift of cut flowers, and if the florist didn't include one, I probably wouldn't use them again.

I'm not sure I'd complain/expect any money back (might change my mind with a cropped photo!) but I wouldn't use that florist again.

Also vote for Bloom & Wild. Someone sent me flowers recently - I'm an idiot with flowers - and still managed to arrange them nicely and have them last for ages. Plenty of helpful instructions included in the box.

They're not cheap, but the service is good!

I repeat, a hand-tie is designed to stay packaged.

I would expect expensive flowers to last longer then a week.
The stems on mine go slimy when they’ve been left in the vase for weeks!

Never had a great experience with any flowers from a florist. Supermarket/garage forecourt have always lasted the longest.

Apologies on behalf of my profession @Mantlemoose and others. I went to college for 3 years to train not to send out a defective product, however I am often very disappointed when delivering funeral flowers to see designs with flowers past their peak. In my opinion funeral flowers should be as beautiful as those ordered for a wedding.

I don't understand why you don't believe that they tried the door? Obviously they delivered as they came that way to give to neighbour as noone answered.

If the arrangement was what's known as a 'hand-tied arrangement', these are usually arranged and tied with some sort of binding, and meant to be left that way. Part of the appeal of this arrangement is that it has been arranged by a professional. They usually come in a water bag, and definitely should come with instructions as to how to care for them. I've had hand-tied arrangements that I've left in the bag and simply topped up the bag with more water as needed. Eventually, to get the most from the flowers, I would remove from the bag, untie the arrangement, re-cut the stems and put in a vase. Also, bear in mind that different flowers will have different shelf lives. Bottom line though, yes, you should've received care instructions.

Having received several B&W I have to say I marvelled at how a box of what looked like dead product was revived by the conditioning and plant food.

Also snip the very ends of stems off before rearranging, you can add a crushed aspirin if you don’t have flower food. I’m not a professional florist but have been to a few lectures and have arranged flowers for events, church, weddings many times.

It sounds to me like the flowers just were not fresh enough to start with. I would complain to the florist, stating the facts of how they were looked after and how quickly they went slimy and droopy. Good luck!

I love B&W. It's amazing how they 'come alive' again, and they also last ages. Their customer service is really good too - I ordered some for my gran and B&W noticed that they had suddenly become untrackable on courier website so sent another bouquet to make sure she got it on time. They also refunded me £40 for a bouquet because some other people had complained their bouquets weren't up to standard, even though the one we got was fine!

Yanbu - I buy flowers frequently and this is disgraceful service. Definitely complain.

TSSDNCOP Thanks for your advice which - as you are a professional florist - is really helpful. Yes, the bouquet was hand-tied (with green string) and it's really helpful to know those can stay as arranged by the florist. They were in a water bubble which contained a fair quantity of water...maybe just under a pint) and then a box. I'm not sure mum could have added more water since the bubble was tied quit tightly with string. She had to force small scissors under the string to cut and release the flowers from the bubble. The water smelt rancid. I'm actually wondering if the bouquet sat in the shop for a day or two maybe...
Anyhow, no instructions and no food with the bouquet so maybe worth calling them. Thanks for such constructive advice.

Thanks to you too roaringmouse

Asleanna It's more that I believe the driver basically lied about delivery time. He said delivered 'over an hour ago' when we would have seen or heard had it been then.