AIBU To Feel Ripped off by a florist?

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My partner had arranged to collect my Valentine’s Day flowers on Saturday morning, which he’d ordered and paid £80 for earlier that week for collection.

However, when he went to collect them, he couldn’t believe what he was presented with. He complained at the time that he didn’t believe the bouquet was worth anywhere near what he’d paid for, others in the store collecting flowers agreed with him but the florists dealing with the collection just gave him a snooty response and carried on serving other customers. He called me to explain, but I had assumed he’d been dramatic, however, when he presented me with them, I was equally shocked, I can’t have thought these would be more than £40 from a good florist or maybe £25 from M&S.

Looking to get some other opinions, would you be happy with these flowers for £80? Personally, I think he should have been offered a partial refund if he wasn’t happy, or that they could have added a little to the bouquet to fill it out a tad. But equally very happy to be told this is what flowers cost and we should adjust our expectations accordingly

YABU - this is good value for money
YANBU - they have had his pants down

They are not worth 20-40 as some have said

they are virtually dead and worth maybe £4

The husband had already complained in the shop and got a snooty response!

Sadly many independent florists rip you off.

I know, but he or the OP were going to go back because he had accepted whatever he'd been told when he collected the first bouquet, but this thread confirmed for the OP that she should complain.

A lot of this thread feels like florist bashing tbh. Small high street businesses cannot compete with supermarkets in terms of buying power and cost control. Supermarkets cannot produce some of the bouquets and arrangements a florist can.

I'd post pictures on social media with a honest story and tag them in.

As a professional florist, I would like to add some context to the discussion around this bouquet.

There appear to be twelve premium grade white roses in this arrangement. It is also worth noting that this is not a standard Valentine’s Day design. White roses are usually requested specifically, which means this was almost certainly a custom order rather than a routine shop bouquet.

On Valentine’s Day, wholesale costs rise sharply and retail prices typically range from £4 to £10 per rose depending on quality and stem length. Independent florists also operate with very tight margins at peak periods due to intense market competition and increased supply costs.

12 roses anywhere on Valentines day are £75+ in my area, red or not.

Taking into account the stem count, the quality of the roses, the bespoke nature of the order and the seasonal pricing, a retail value around £80 is entirely reasonable.

Comparisons with supermarket pricing are misleading. Supermarkets often sell flowers as promotional loss leaders, which is not a model independent florists can replicate. Small local businesses rely on fair pricing to remain viable and to continue offering skilled design work and fresh product.

Constructive discussion is always welcome, but it is important that pricing is judged with a clear understanding of the industry realities rather than assumptions based on supermarket promotions.

Florist here too and you are way off - look at the poor quality of the flowers for a start - I definitely see more alive flowers in supermarkets - these are an utter mess

i definitely wouldn’t buy anything from you - amateur to say the least

Are you looking at the same flowers as the rest of us? The only place these roses should have gone to is the dustbin, and a full refund given. There is no justification for this apology of a bouquet!

Florist bashing? In this case thoroughly deserved!

Tell me you haven't RTWT without telling me you haven't RTWT.

Florist here- these look like they could have just arrived from the wholesaler that day. Hard to flesh- I’d like to see a pic of one of the stems. I’d not charge £80 for them looking like that though.

It would be criminal to charge anything for them- they’ve wilted!

As a florist, i agree that these flowers are very poor in quality, but I should have also added that comparing a florist to supermarket prices is never going to be comparable.
Supermarkets buy flowers directly from growers in enormous quantities, at extremely low bulk prices. They also buy flowers that are lower grade than florists.
A normal flower studio or shop will never be able to compare and would never be able to buy stock at the same price.
Its like comparing a beautiful bespoke handmade birthday cake from a local baker, to a supermarket Colin caterpillar cake.Both lovely... but very different!
Supermarkets have a place in the market, as paying £80 for flowers isnt for everyone and that's fine.

But bashing a florist for charging this isnt fair. If they charged you equivalent to the supermarkets, they wouldn't be able to keep the doors open. With those prices they have to cover wages, tax, rent, insurance, flower costs, tools, accountancy costs, electric, water, advertising and even down to tiny things like the flower boxes, tissue paper, card, ribbon & twine that are used to make your bouquet.
I can assure you I do not know a single rich florist! For a matter of fact many I know work 2nd jobs, because floristry pay is so low.

People are “bashing the florist for charging this” because the flowers were abysmally awful.
Surely that’s been made clear by now?
They were practically dead.

I can assure you I do not know a single rich florist! For a matter of fact many I know work 2nd jobs, because floristry pay is so low.

It's not the OP's responsibility to provide an income for someone who chose to start their own business. OP isnt a charity.

I run a business and I expect if I give crap service/products then people wont come back and they wont want to pay. Thats business 101. If this florist is charging a large amount for dead, ugly flowers then of course people arent going to be happy and they shouldnt have to pay for such a poor, substandard product. If the florist wants the business to survive then they should sell better quality products. It really is that simple.

A lot of people on this thread either selectively read only a few posts and/or have poor reading comprehension.

Interesting that the OP never got the white roses taken back. I do wonder if her partner had them in the car, out of water, overnight or something?

Why didn't he refuse to pay for them & go elsewhere? He's been shafted big time.

We still don’t know the outcome!
Will those in the 1% say why they voted as they did, as I cannot understand it!