HOW MANY CALLS, E-MAILS, THREATS DID IT TAKE TO GET THIS DELIVERED?
So, last Sunday morning – Super Bowl Sunday – I jumped online and hit slickdeals.net and read about a great way to score cheap Valentine's Day candy and flowers. It seems Walgreen's had $9.99 heart-shaped boxes of Harry London chocolates on sale for $4.98. On the box was a $20 coupon for 1800flowers.com, where I have an account since I order all of my flowers from there.
Plus, I already had a $20 "Fresh Flowers" program credit. So, for $4.98, I could pretty much secure both flowers and candy for my funny valentine (Mary).
Going to 1800flowers.com, I picked out a bouquet that was normally about $70, on sale. Plus, I got free shipping by choosing Friday delivery (perfect, as Mary was off Friday). After my coupons, including tax, I paid about $24.
Fast forward to Friday: On my way home that night, I called my wife and asked if anything had been delivered. No, she said. So I called 1800flowers.com but was told that because of "heavy volume" my call could not be answered. When I got home, I hit the online site and used the online chat system to talk with a "live person" who assured me that the flowers would be "redelivered" Saturday. Neither the robot I spoke with nor the Web site gave me a clue about the coming apocalypse.
Saturday morning, I got up and hit slickdeals.net again only to find a link to this story:
1-800-Flowers.com canceling deliveries, breaking hearts
The story states:
This year, the company put peel-off stickers on Harry London chocolate boxes, with discounts of up to $20 on a 1-800-Flowers order. It was a savvy offer for customers who were already at CVS or Walgreens to buy chocolate and might be pondering which flower company to use for Valentine's Day. A coupon might tip the scales.
Company vice president Joe Pititto says, "Unfortunately, some people were going to a CVS or another store, peeling all the stickers off boxes – not buying them – and then using the codes online." Worse, some people were going online and selling those codes to other people."
So, 1800flowers.com decided to cancel many orders, including, apparently, mine. Some people got e-mails stating this. Others, like me, found out when the orders did not show up.
Although I had done that online chat Friday night, I called 1800flowers and got a rep and we went through this mess. I made her look up my account to give her an idea of what would be lost if the flowers did not arrive. To settle me down, she said the company would not only make sure the flowers were delivered but half of my $24 fee would be refunded and I would be issued a new $20 coupon...
I expressed my dismay that the online chat and the company's own Web site was less-than-forthcoming about the problem and she promised the flowers would arrive to my satisfaction. Just to be safe: I emphasized that bad things would happen to 1800flowers if the flowers were not delivered Saturday in a follow-up e-mail after the phone call.
All day Saturday, I waited. Mary went to work. I ran errands. She came home and we hit Greek Fest and Los Gallos (around the world in 20 miles). We got home at about 8 p.m. to discover: No flowers.
I went nuts. I got a 1800flowers rep on the phone. She was in the Philippines. As I told her, I have nothing against the Philippines, but I had ordered American flowers delivered by an American company to my American wife who lives at an American address and I was not about to deal with a whole other nation and our various difficulties comprehending each other's accents...
She tried to shift the blame to the American company that should have delivered the flowers by now. I went nuts again: This poor local company only got a last-minute order because stupid 1800flowers had canceled the original order the previous week without telling me!!! She did give me the name of the local company and while I was on hold waiting for her to figure out how to get flowers from Manila to Boardman, I called the local company.
Turns out, they were every bit as sick of 1800flowers as I was. And while they were out delivering and making up for 1800flowers mistakes, their driver got in an accident (we have had more than two feet of snow in the past week). But, she assured me the flowers would be delivered. And we shared some more jokes about 1800flowers.
At about 9 p.m., the flowers arrived. I marked the event by joining the Facebook boycott of 1800flowers.com. And forever more I will use the local florist.
1800flowers.com has lost this long-time customer and I am embarrassed to have ever given them business. To cancel a Valentine's Day order without so much as an e-mail and to consistently deceive people as to the reason why is just unforgivable. I am sorry you were not smart enough to make the coupons nonstackable, but if you make a bad deal, you live with it. You don't take out your stupidity on your most loyal customers or blame the poor local florist who is trying to deal with your mess.
But it is not just about me. Thousands of people got caught up in this mess and had their Valentine's Day marred.
I ask you, too, to avoid 1800flowers and 1800flowers.com. For more details on this scam, go to: BOYCOTT 1800flowers is on Facebook
More later,
Mark
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