Roses are red…

[Edited 25th July 1028pm - my refund has been credited back into my account. No complaints about their speedy response, that's for sure!]

Okay. So I procrastinated in sending a card out and thus I chose to order flowers online to send it to mom for her birthday. The typical cina in me thought the most “value for money” would be the potted rose plant. It looked really cute, okay? Let me show you what I mean.

I chose the pink one because it looked sweeter than the yellow.

When I got the email this morning confirming that my order has been delivered, I called mom to ask if she liked what she saw. I was even confident I’d get a happy, excited, gushy response. Instead, she went, “Oh…uhmm…next time don’t waste this kind of money okay.”

“Oh. Why? You don’t like it?”

Then she went on to say that it’s the thought that counts and I asked her how did it look like. She told me that when she got the box, there was soil all over in the box. She thinks the box was not stored upright during delivery. There’s the other issue about the plant being botak of its leaves and flowers. Basically what she described was a half dead (if not dead and dried!) plant. I was shocked and I felt really bad that she received such a lousy gift. I know it wasn’t my fault in the delivery of it (unless if it’s someone wanting to carry out a really sick joke) but I felt so embarrassed that she got what she got – how would you feel when you receive half dead flowers from a loved one? Exactly! I was expecting this lush looking plant (refer to screen shot at the top)!

I went online to check out their guarantee and searched for reviews of their services – you guessed it, it has happened to other people before. Honestly, how do they make the money? From people who do not complain? Mom said she will get Emily’s help to snap a photo of the plant and send it to me. I thought I may need that before I lodge a complaint. I only thought of making the complaint after reading their guarantee – GUARANTEE okay?

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QUOTE:

[We guarantee that all our flowers, plants and preserved items will last at least 7 days or your money back. If for any reason you are not satisfied with the freshness of your flowers, please call or email us and we will gladly replace the bouquet or refund your money. Potted plants have an extended guarantee of 14 days.]

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FOURTEEN DAYS! If they meant from the time they were harvested from the fields, that should leave us about 10 days minus delivery, etc. – because they say they ship fresh from growers.

Since they say I could call or email, I decided to email:

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QUOTE:

[I made an order for a potted pink rose on 7/21/10 to be delivered on 7/23/10. When I received the confirmation email that my order has been delivered, I called my mother to ask if she liked it. I was disappointed and shocked to hear that the plant was missing its leaves and only a few buds remained. The box was also apparently not stored in a upright position during delivery because the soil was all over in the box when she opened it.

Your website's guarantees items would last at least 7 days - and potted plants have an extended guarantee of 14 days!

I am not sure if I'd like a replacement if the replacement is anything like what my mother received today. If you are able to send a replacement pot that fits your advertisement (or at least, a viable plant and not a half dead one), I'd be glad to have it sent to my mother, else I'd rather receive a refund.

Please advise, thank you.]

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I felt really stink to complain but hey, if it was not EXACTLY the same, I understand – but we’re talking about viability of a plant. This gift is suppose to “last for years”.

The reply was quite prompt – offering replacement or refund or store vouchers. I checked with mom and she said she didn’t want to go through another lot of sad looking plant (in the reply email, no mention of guaranteeing the state of the plant) arriving at the office. I asked for the refund and got another email not too long after informing me that it will take 5-7 days to fully process it.

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QUOTE:

[Please accept our sincere apologies for the way the rose plant was delivered]

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Apologies accepted but I am not too sure if I’d want to use their services in the future again. You can’t blame me for being spooked the first time. Here’s also hoping that there would be no problems with the refund because I read a feedback saying “it’s been FOUR MONTHS and I’m still waiting for my refund!”

At the end of it, let me show you how the plant looked like. This was taken as a screen shot when I was on Skype with mom:

P/S: I think I didn’t fit a “blockquote” option into my theme so it’s not coming up properly. Time to change theme soon!

Tagged as: mom