This year, for Valentine's, I ordered flowers for my girlfriend and my mom. For my girlfriend, I went with Teleflora, and for my mom, I went 1-800-Flowers. And, surprise surprise (or "not surprise not surprise" to anyone who has used either), neither one worked.
This is a little on me. It's like I researched all the nicest, most reliable flower places on the internet, and decided not to use ANY of them.
Let's start with 1-800-Flowers. Once I found out that my Mom never received her flowers, I called for a refund. Their response was, "we delivered them." Bold opening argument. Like there was a slight chance I'd be like "you know, my Mom said she didn't receive them, but you're right. She's probably lying. And why wouldn't I trust you over my Mom, telephone flower lady I've known for almost 3 minutes? You're the one with all the credibility, right?"
Me: "Really? Who do you think you delivered them to?"
Phone lady: "Let's see who signed for them...here it is: Marcus."
Here's the thing -- my Mom? Totally NOT named Marcus. In fact, I don't know anyone named Marcus, so if one was now living with my Mom and signing for deliveries, it would be quite a shock.
I also like how companies decided to quit caring at all about following through with orders as long as someone signs for it. Like, "why wouldn't we trust that person? They OWNED A PEN!"
Also, who is this psychopath named Marcus in Elmhurst Illinois who is signing for flowers addressed to "Dear Mom" on Valentine's Day and just keeping them? I'd love to meet him before he becomes a full on serial killer, though it's probably too late.
For my girlfriend, I went with Teleflora. I tried to contact them late in the day on Valentine's to no avail (understandably, they had hundreds if not thousands of people calling them for the same reason -- just check their Twitter feed from 2/15. It's a pretty amazing apology-fest), so I bypassed calling and went with an email, which was never returned.
I eventually called and got a hold of someone on 2/17. I said the flowers were never delivered and that I'd like a refund.
Teleflora Lady: So you want to cancel your order?
Me: Yeah, I think so. I mean, it was for Valentine's Day, I guess I sort of started losing hope around February 15th, you know?
Also, I didn't cancel the order -- Teleflora canceled the flower delivery by, you know...never delivering flowers. I just canceled giving them a bunch of money for no reason.
Lessons learned: use local florists, and never trust a man named Marcus.