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

These are beautiful, the one in the green vase is exactly what I would have wanted. I’ll be sending him this way for our anniversary. Thank you!

I pressed the wrong button by mistake and now I can't change it. ( I know you used to be able to change it but don't seem to be able to now.) To the OP - YANBU

Whaaat? People spend £80 on flowers that die in a week.. madness

He was fleeced. I got supermarket roses which were better presented than that and not half dead!

@pouletvous Why not?

You're welcome 😊. Bunches are a lovely company to deal with, decent offers throughout the year & excellent customer service. And the flowers are gorgeous!

They look half dead ! That is terrible. Feel sorry for your partner, would he go back and ask for a partial refund?

well my friend is a florist and ive recently done a short floristry course where we have learnt about pricing.

I know its Valentine's Day but YANBU at all. thats a disgrace. my florist friend bought me my subscription flowers round today which are three times the size and absolutely beautiful bouquet for £25.

id take a picture but I dont have my phone sorry. you'd be shocked at the contrast.

I had2 very beautiful bunches from Waitrose for £23 - still looking as fresh Asa Daisy -

My husband got me a lovely bunch for £22 from the m&s petrol garage (he left the price on).You deserve a full refund for those they are awful and dead.

It might be useful to return the flowers to the shop, since the issue is both the quantity and quality of the bouquet. I imagine they'd want to see the condition of the flowers (and not want any other customers to see what their flowers look like after a couple of days).
I hope you get a refund from them. If not, I'd try a chargeback with the card issuer.

As a former florist I agree with others that the main issue is the condition of the flowers. You'd also expect bigger flower heads direct from a florist and the arrangement is poor. Not all the flower heads are visible for starters. Check he didn't leave them somewhere for hours out of water though before complaining.

Occasionally something goes wrong amongst the hundreds of bouquets put together for Valentine's Day. In the shop we would never have let him take those - we'd have re-made it with fresh flowers. We always gave our delivery drivers a couple of spare bouquets in case of disasters too.

well you get these for £52 at Bloom and Wild

a huge huge bouquet which are amazing - I love this company

He complained in the shop and they weren’t interested?

Put in a complaint in writing and include photos. If they won't refund at least £50 then do a charge back through the bank if he paid on card.

They past their best so look like they should be clearance so £10 or less. Yanbu. He needs to complain

I'd suggest he spoke to the wrong person and needs to speak with the manager or owner.

I would definitely say they weren't worth £80, even allowing for price increases due to valentines day.
For that price I would expect the flowers to look much fresher, and for there to be more of them.

A family member bought cream roses at sainsburys a month ago. Some of them were still going a few days ago!

I have attached pictures of a bouquet from m&s. Not sure on the original price, but they were at our local petrol station that has a simply food. I went in for petrol about 9pm. I was given these for free as I left - the date meant they would have needed to be thrown out. Acfew others in store at the same time were offered some as they left too.

Despite not being to sell them the next day due to the date, they look in better condition than the ones your husband was given.

I think you should go in together. Your husband purchased them so he should go, but they have fobbed him off once already. May not be so easy if there are two of you.

As a pp said, I've had better in the discount section of Co op down the road. I mean that literally. I got some cut price roses there the other week, paid about £3 and they were amazing once I got them into water.

Yours don't look half as good as the ones I describe. I'd say they look like they're worth about £5.

Unfortunately they look nothing like that in real life!
I’ve used them a couple of times previously and never again

YANBU - I can't believe a reputable florist would let this out of the shop,never mind charge £80 for the pleasure! You tell em OP

They look wilted and green bits around petals are down so they’re past their best. Definitely complain or leave a scathing review. YANBU

I'd avoid buying flowers around Valentine's Day!

Sorry OP and DH, they’re rubbish! The flowers don’t look in great condition, the size of the bouquet doesn’t match the price and the general wrapping and arrangement of them is shoddy.

In terms of complaining, what did your DH ask for? I use a couple of local florists and in one of them you pick from a menu of options so you can see in advance what you’re getting so it’s easy to see when the arrangement doesn’t meet expectation.

If he walked in and said I want white roses and didn’t agree any further specifics (such as any accompanying flowers, any specific number of roses) then it might be more difficult to argue your position because I suppose the florist could say they have met the brief your DH gave - even if Stevie Wonder could see that it’s way off the mark!

I’ve had this a couple of times with a florist near me where I found I had to be very specific - which is annoying when a lot of the time I want to pay for their creative expertise on how to put things together based off a general idea!

Snap! Asda were doing small bunches of roses for a fiver nicer than the ones they’ve charged him for.