I'm usually a very patient person. You kind of have to be in order to be an elementary school… in a foreign country.
Anyway, I guess I should kind of get to the point.
DO NOT USE FROM YOU FLOWERS!
A little over two months ago, I ordered flowers online for my mother to receive on Mother's Day. A few weeks went by and I realized that the money had not been taken from my account, nor had I gotten a confirmation e-mail. I decided to test the customer service.
This is the e-mail I sent:
Hello.
I placed an order a few weeks back to be delivered on Mother's Day, but the money has not been taken from my account, nor have I gotten a confirmation e-mail.
I would just like to confirm that the order has actually been placed, if possible. Is there a way to do that? Please let me know.
I quickly received a reply from a Lindsey S.
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your recent e-mail. Unfortunately, we are unable to locate the transaction you are inquiring about with the information provided. Please contact us by phone to speak directly with a representative so we can obtain the information to look up the transaction.
We are available for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 800-838-8853 and please accept our most sincere apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
I replied again.
I would like to thank you for your quick reply. However, I am unable to speak on the phone. The reason that I am e-mailing and that I ordered online is because I am not living in the states.
I am working in Japan and I ordered the flowers for my mother, who is still living in the states.
Is it possible to solve this over e-mail?
I sent the flowers to
(ADDRESS HERE)
Does this information help?
I quickly got a reply from a different person named Anna D.
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your recent e-mail. Unfortunately, we are unable to locate the transaction you are inquiring about with the information provided. Please contact us by phone to speak directly with a representative so we can obtain the information to look up the transaction.
We are available for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 800-838-8853 and please accept our most sincere apologies for any inconvenience this may cause.
I compared the two e-mails. Yeah, they're the same. A little frustrated, I replied again:
Again, I cannot speak on the phone.
Is there no way to fix this by e-mail? And are all e-mails automated?
This time, Anna D. replied again:
Dear [Miss A],
Thank you for your recent e-mails. We apologize for any inconvenience you have experienced while trying to use our service. We have tried to look up your order using the recipient's last name and your last name, your e-mail address and we were unable to locate your order. We can try once more if you can tell us your phone number that you provided us with. We are available for you 24 hours a day, seven days a week at 800-838-8853.
Thank you!
At that point, I knew they didn't get my order, so I decided to just reorder, getting a different bouquet this time. I scrolled through the selections and picked a pink bouquet with big letters underneath writing “Guaranteed delivery Mother's Day!”
I put in my order, and this time, I got a confirmation e-mail and the money was taken from my account. $53, because of the ridiculous $15 delivery charge.
A week or so passed, and I got another e-mail from the company:
Dear [Miss A]
Thank you for your recent order. Unfortunately, we were unable to locate a florist able to complete your delivery on Mother's Day. Due to local florist availability, we have scheduled your delivery for that Saturday in order to complete the delivery without missing the occasion.
Thanks again, and we apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused.
First, I was mad that the “guaranteed Mother's Day delivery” was not lived up to. Then, I was mad because the company didn't even ask me if I was okay with the change before scheduling the change.
I messaged my older sister, telling her about it. “That's probably better, though,” she said. “We are taking her to the aquarium on Mother's Day, so she won't be home. She will be home on Saturday, though.”
That helped me calm down a bit. Okay, I thought. If it works out better this way, then it's fine, I guess.
However, here it is, already 7 PM on Saturday night, and my mother still has not received her flowers. I had to ruin the surprise to explain the situation to her and apologize.
My older sister has been helping me to figure it out and help me decide what to do. I had used her number as a contact number, and they called her earlier today. She was busy (having a two-year-old can do that), so she couldn't answer. They had left a message with a call back number, so she did call back. The number was nothing but ads, though.
She searched the site for a number and found one, only to be put on hold and never answered again. She put in a delivery inquiry request for me so that we could figure out what time the flowers were getting delivered.
This is the e-mail I got:
Dear Valued Customer,
Thank you for your inquiry on the delivery status of your order. Although we are unable to guarantee specific delivery times, business deliveries are made between 8:00 AM and 5:00 PM, and residential deliveries are typically made by 6:00 PM. However, these timeframes may be extended due to holiday volume to ensure that each delivery is made on the intended date.
Once the delivery has been completed, our local vendor will send us a confirmation of delivery and this information will automatically forwarded to the e-mail address provided on your order.
Feel free to contact customer service via e-mail at wecare@fromyouflowers.com with any further questions or concerns. We are available 24 hours a day and re committed to ensuring complete satisfaction. Thank you!
At this point, even my older sister was getting mad. She wrote an e-mail, too.
“Hi, there! I am writing about order number **********. My sister had ordered flowers for my mother for Mother's Day and left my contact information since she is residing in Japan. Your company had called me and left a message about the order, and I called the number left on the voicemail, which was just ads. I had to look your number up and I'm currently waiting on hold to speak with someone. I have found that my mom hasn't yet received the order, which is understandable, I could imagine that there is an abundant amount of deliveries to be made for Mother's Day, but if there is a problem with the order, can you please just send it through e-mail? I've been on hold for eleven minutes now. Thank you.”
And now, it is already 7:30 PM where my mother is, but still no flowers have arrived. There has also been no communication from the company.
I am preparing to go to the local Starbucks (I have no WiFi at my new apartment yet) so that I can send a barrage of e-mails demanding my money back. My mother has a habit of sleeping early, so I feel like it's safe to say that the flowers will not be getting to her today. The company also said themselves that there is no florist that can complete the delivery on Mother's Day. My mother is a working woman, so she won't be home to get them on a weekday.
So please, dear reader. Save yourself time and money. Do NOT order from From You Flowers.
But if you won't take it from me, why not read some of these comments from other unsatisfied customers.