To call the florist and ask for a fresh bunch of flowers

[Member869894]

Ok, more of a WWYD than a AIBU. A friend of mine sent me flowers this morning by ordering online. I've been given a bunch roses, hyacinths and carnations and a few other bits all of which look just on the cusp of being on their last legs. They probably wouldn't sell tomorrow and certainly not the day after . Would you call the florist to complain ? I feel they have ripped him off and disappointed me. That said I dont want to disappoint and let him know that his lovely gesture has fallen flat

They're beautiful! I'd have been really happy with those. Which flowers do you feel could have been in better condition?

True. I posted without seeing the photo. Must have skipped that accidentally. If they were awful my comment would be the same. But I kind of agree that they look ok. Could probably buy a bunch like that for £5 in Aldi!! lol. Delivered flowers are pricey. But they do look ok unless there’s something missing. My mum’s I mentioned were definitely not fine.

Leave them a bad review if they don't sort it out. Warn others

@CRD67 read the thread FFS

if you’ve gone to the trouble of sending a present, would you not want it to be right? If you’d ordered a picture that had a broken frame, or food that had gone off, or clothing that was not the size you ordered, why wouldn’t you want the recipient to complain?

they didn’t come back to you and say the flowers weren’t right - they sorted it themselves, presumably trying to be discreet and not make you feel bad. Or did you expect them to be so grateful they’d received a rubbish present they should just suck it up?

I would. I had this happen to me (both as a giver and receiver). Otherwise they are ripping customers off

@Bagsundermyeyestoday did you see the pics of the flowers that the OP posted? 😓

You’ve overreacted here. They’re fine.

Oh dear.... They are absolutely fine!! Now the florist is out of pocket.

Many of the flowers are fully open so I understand where you are coming from Op. The flower combination is poor too. They look reminiscent of a cheap bunch from Tesco which I sometimes buy for the table so I bet not what your sender envisaged or paid for.
We don’t have to be grateful for mediocracy, or substandard, and the speed of the florist’s response sounds like they knew it wasn’t really their usual standard.

@funnelfan by the snipey nature of your reply I can only assume you have done similar. I think in a condolence situation with flowers that only last a few days in any case it's the thought that counts. Having lost someone close to me I just can't imagine being bothered enough about the quality of some flowers to complain.

Ok I'll bite - as a florist of some 35 years in the industry... there is a huge misconception around what constitutes 'open' flowers. If a flower has a full open face ( like the stock and the Daisy santini chrysanthemum in the photo) - that is how they come to market. If they were bought at an earlier stage of inflorescence they simply wouldn't continue flowering in the vase and would die in bud.
Some roses ( like the smaller headed ones you tend to see in supermarkets) look 'in bud' but in fact will never open further than that. Larger headed varieties like the ones in the Avalanche family come to market with a fairly open head but continue to bloom spectacularly.
The tulips in the picture look fresh and tight. I can see asters in bud. I can see lisianthus buds, I can see narcissus in its earliest stage of flowering ( one open bud per stem). The foliage is pistachio and is relatively cheap - it's used as a filler because foliage is another misconception - it takes just as much space, water and energy to grow as flowers do and stems of it cost just as much as flowers.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with the freshness of the flowers as far as I can see. When I have to deal with complaints about quality ( which is vanishingly rare because I know what I'm doing) I also usually quickly agree to a replacement bouquet for one of two reasons:
Customer satisfaction is paramount and one unhappy customer tells ten others ( or starts a MN thread about it). Very occasionally flowers don't last as long as expected and we are always happy to replace in those circumstances.
Or
You can just tell that the person is a serial complainer and it's quicker to get them off the phone and send an apology bunch before you get a shitty Google review.

I’ve been the sender in that situation and was upset they went to the trouble of fixing something that was initiated by me. They explained it as they understood and appreciated my gesture and knew that I wanted them to have a lovely bunch of flowers, not something that had been kicking round the back of the couriers van for a couple of days.

Maybe for the recipient in your case it gave them something to focus on other than their grief? Not everyone reacts to bereavement in the same way.

The sender obviously doesn’t need to know how would they? If bunch revives beautifully that’s fine accept replacement assume florist won’t want original back and send a great review.

How did you know? Did the florist inform you? I’m surprised. It should be a conversation between recipient and florist. A discreet replacement. It’s not as if there’s outstanding business between sender and florist.

@LadyOfTheCanyon

Agree with your post

Tip: pop an aspirin dispersible 75mg in with a bunch of flowers to spring them back to life.

Don't ask me how it works because I don't know, I just know it does!

I fully agree too that if the flowers were withered and on their last legs, I’d complain. I too would complain in your mum’s situation. But the OP’s flowers are indeed beautiful and fresh - pity OP can’t see that.

They look absolutely fine. No idea what you thought you had to complain about.

@LadyOfTheCanyon - what an informative post, thank you. (I thought the bouquet was very nice too, but I’m a sucker for lisianthus)

I was listening to your namesake album yesterday.

No, the recipient (my mum) told me. They had turned up late (so missed the event they were supposed to mark) and arrived in poor condition. It was a courier problem so the complaint was really about them not the flowers as they left the florist.

She loves flowers from a very well known national store, trouble is the courier they use in her part of the country is a well known one that has lots of complaints. She wanted me to know so if the store continues to use that courier she didn’t want me wasting my money on sending her flowers that didn’t bring her any pleasure.

@GandhiDeclaredWarOnYou

Thank you! Floristry really is an industry that's on the brink in the UK largely due to Supermarkets cornering the market with economies of scale that independent shops just don't have the buying power to match. Most Supermarkets make bugger all on their flowers as their mark up is so low -even when they own their own flower farms in Africa- but it's a loss leader that gets people in. Their wastage is off the scale. If they make 10% profit across the year on their flowers they consider it a win.

So when people tell me that my flowers are overpriced because they cost half that in Lidl - it's Lidl that has the unrealistic pricing, not me. But the drip drip of what people expect to spend becomes insidious and before long everyone tacitly agrees that Florists are overpriced scammers.

Also the rise of self taught YouTube enthusiasts and people running a shonky business out of their garage has run down the industry further.

Although I will wholeheartedly agree that Interflora, Serenata etc are a waste of money. The margins for the florists who are members are so so small, Interflora take a phenomenal whack out of the price of the bouquet. Their photographs are photoshopped - it's absolutely impossible to make the bouquet look like the picture. And Interflora have a customer satisfaction guarantee meaning if you complain, the florist takes the hit and has to replace the flowers at cost to themselves and also foots the bill for the refund that Interflora gives the company. It's an awful awful company and is so frustrating that people continue to give them money. I do understand that for more distant or rural addresses it might be the only available option but it towns and cities there will ALWAYS be a local florist who you can talk to.

PLEASE PLEASE where you can, call a florist local to the recipient to make up your flowers. Ask them the breakdown of their bouquet - how much they are charging for wrapping and construction of the item itself. It should be a fairly nominal fee in the grand scheme of things.

@LadyOfTheCanyon - we have an excellent local small chain (three shops) that we’ve used for years. I used to love taking the children in the pushchair to watch them unloading the flowers from Holland from the huge truck. They are superb quality and know their business very well.

I’ve had really lovely flowers from Arena as well - for mail order they’ve been great.

That's good to hear! I used to love going on the Dutch trucks - now we just order online, and they are delivered overnight ( at a huge cost - thank you Brexit!)

I voted YABU. Flowers looked fine to me. I feel bad for the florist now! Plus I like foliage so I can’t see anything wrong with the flowers myself.