unreliable, frustrating, not worth it!
Written: Dec 14 '07
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I have been the recipient, or should I say the intended recipient of flowers from Proflowers on numerous occasions. Overall, shopping at Proflowers.com was not a pleasant experience, and we now shop elsewhere for our flower and delivery needs.
Products
Like most of its competitors, Proflowers.com offers a wide variety of floral bouquets and other gifts (i.e. chocolates, gift baskets, etc.). However, unlike many other flower delivery sites, Proflowers has a somewhat unique method of delivery. As the recipient of flowers from other flower delivery services, I typically received a bouquet of fresh flowers arranged in a vase filled with water and with a card attached. All I normally needed to do was sign for delivery and put my arrangement on a table for display. But with Proflowers, you typically get your flowers in a box, and each flower has its own individual vial of water attached to the stem. If you ordered a vase (which is an additional charge), the vase is also somewhere in the box.
So one time my husband ordered me 3 dozen roses from Proflowers.com, as they were doing a buy one get one free type of sale. It was a nice idea, but I ended up getting a box delivered to my doorstep, and it stayed there all day until I arrived home from work. I then had to take 36 roses, and individually cut each one and then arrange them all in the vase. Any other florist would have done this work for me! In addition, because I was not home all day long, and I believe the flowers were delivered that morning, the flowers had been lying flat in that box all day long which meant they were probably not getting much water through the individual vials.
When it was all said and done, I did have 36 roses to enjoy (quality of which will be discussed below). However, because of the method of delivery, my initial reaction was not, “Oh wow – someone sent me flowers!” it was more like, “What is this brown box doing on more doorstep?”. It is simply not as nice of a presentation.
Quality
Proflowers prides itself on its quality merchandise, and that is the reason behind their unique delivery system. One time, I did indeed have beautiful roses that lasted about 2 weeks. However, most of my orders resulted in wilted and even dead stems. I definitely think that the quality of the flowers at from Proflowers.com is sub-par. I also believe it has to do with their delivery system, because the flowers are not delivered arranged and therefore do not necessarily have the fresh water they need to thrive. This is especially true since I have never had to sign for my deliveries, so in many instances they have been left unarranged for almost 12 hours after delivery. With a regular floral delivery, had I not been at home, the florist would have delivered the arrangement to a neighbor to ensure safekeeping.
Shipping
Again, the shipping policy of Proflowers.com is not one of my favorite aspects of this site. However, what makes things even more frustrating is that on 3 occasions (out of about 7 total purchases), Proflowers has actually lost my flowers! On one occasion, my delivery never came on the chosen date of delivery. My husband called and was advised that the flowers were indeed delivered, but we had not received them. So supposedly Proflowers sent a second delivery, which we also did not receive. Finally, they sent a third package which did arrive quickly. Exactly 3 weeks later, an unexpected package with either the first or second batch of flowers also arrived – completely dead!
Although it is humorous now, the less than reliable shipping at Proflowers.com did cause a bit of marital stress for a few hours between my husband and I. My husband arranged to have flowers shipped to my job once, and I of course had no idea they were coming. At the end of the work day, my husband checked online and saw that the flowers were marked as delivered. He was upset with me because I never called to thank him for the flowers and thought I was being ungrateful. I, of course, was clueless and could not figure out why he was being short with me. Eventually, he mentioned the flowers and the next day I determined that the flowers were never delivered to my company at all.
Prices
The prices at Proflowers.com are comparable, if not more, than the prices at other flower delivery websites. I also find less substantial sales and very infrequent free shipping orders. It is frustrating because at some websites, the price for the flowers is the price you pay (due to free delivery). But at Proflowers, you get hit with a delivery fee of approximately $10 once you enter the checkout process. And if you need an order rushed, there are additional fees on top of this.
Customer Service
The only good thing about Proflowers.com is that customer service is normally very willing to issue a substantial refund if your flowers fail to arrive. We have gotten our 100% of our money back on every order that did not arrive on the scheduled delivery date. Plus, since most of the flowers did eventually arrive, we got to enjoy the ones that were not dead for free. However, it is very frustrating to deal with their service staff because they can never tell you why your delivery has gotten lost. One person tried to imply that the flowers were stolen from my doorstep. In 6 years at my residence, not one other package has ever been stolen, but people tried twice to steal my flowers? I have had deliveries of jewelry, concert tickets, high-end children’s items and many more interesting items remain on my porch for full days, but someone wants my $50 worth of roses…right!
Overall Impression
I will not shop at Proflowers.com again. Because we were always issued refunds when we had a problem, we gave the website multiple tries to come through for us. However, it is clear after our multiple experiences that this was more than an issue of bad luck and Proflowers.com did indeed have a poor product and poor delivery. For the price, I would recommend shopping elsewhere and saving yourself the frustration.
Recommended:
No
What product did you purchase or try to purchase? Roses
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Epinions.com ID:
aimeeb1224
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Reviews written: 147
Trusted by: 7 members
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