1-800-Flowers - Great when you don't know a local florist.
Written: Dec 09 '02
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A good friend of mine (from out of state) called me last week and told me that she had been sick and was going to have to go for surgery the following week. Well, I knew she had been sick for a while, but didn't know she had been put in the hospital for eight days, over Thanksgiving weekend no less. I felt bad for her and wanted to cheer her up. Being in the hospital is no fun, period, without it being over a holiday. I knew that MyPoints.com was affiliated with a couple of flower sites, so I skipped over to see what I could find. As it turned out, 1-800-FLOWERS.com was the only site I could get to completely load. The others were having issues, so I gave up on them. Since I was new to this ordering flowers online stuff, I didn't know of a good site, and I wanted to get them ordered and delivered ASAP.
The site, while a little busy, is fairly easy to navigate and is broken up into types of gifts in the navigation bar across the top (such as Home, Flowers, Plants, Gourmet, Sweet Shoppe, Unique Gifts, and Specialty Boutiques) and then they have categories on the right side as well, such as Gift Centers, In Season, Everyday Celebrations, Sentiments, and Price. Those main categories on the right are also broken up into subcategories, such as birthdays and get wells, under them. The pages were friendly to the eye, color wise, and not overly cluttered. The pages loaded very quickly (we have a cable modem) and I didn't encounter any errors or lost pages.
Knowing her love for ladybugs, I went to the search feature at the top-right of the page and typed in ladybug. I had no idea what, if anything, would come up. As luck would have it, they found two items. One was an adorable (yet very costly) ladybug child's tent and the other was a 16" brown bear in a ladybug costume that also came with some ladybug shaped chocolates. I clicked thru and saw that you could enlarge the picture to get a better view, but when I went to click on it the picture jumped out at me! All you have to do is mouse-over the "Enlarge Image" button and the picture zooms out at you. Knowing she would love him I wanted to add him to cart. Well, this brought up another choice. They would gift box him in a white and purple box with 1-800-FLOWERS.com signature purple tulip on it for an additional $4.99. I chose to skip this since I wasn't sure what all else I was going to get. I selected the no box option, put in the state and zip of the recipient and the date I wanted it delivered, the clicked add to cart.
Since I wasn't sure of a flower arrangement, I clicked the "Flowers" button, and on that page clicked the "Get Well" button under the Sentiments category. They had four pages to choose from. I knew she liked carnations and I had a list of her favorite colors, one of which was purple. I saw several purple arrangements in various prices, but on page four, I finally found the one I wanted. "Plum Crazy".
"Plum Crazy" was an inexpensive arrangement (as far as their prices went) and had a bunch of lovely flowers, including purple daisy poms and carnations. They came in a purple vase as well. I scrolled down and selected the city and state they were going to and clicked on the calendar for a delivery date. The calendar popped up in a Java window and I was able to see what days they could be delivered on and the approximate ship dates. Since I had already done the same for the bear, and knew it couldn't be delivered until the 5th (ordered on the 3rd), I selected the 5th for the flowers as well, although I could have picked the 4th for the same charge. Once this was selected I hit add to cart. When I did, it popped up an option to add a Mylar Balloon for $4.99 as well, letting me pick what I wanted it to say, but noting that colors and wording might vary. I clicked to add a balloon. I was then ready to check out, so I clicked Checkout Now at the bottom of my shopping cart page.
Since I hadn't shopped thru 1-800-FLOWERS.com before, I couldn't use their Express Checkout option for registered users, so I had to scroll down a little and give the information of who the items were going to. There is also a space at the bottom for card message. If you don't know what you want to say, they offer a list of things that can be inserted for you, based on the occasion for the gift. I picked my own, but this was a nice touch. I then clicked on next step.
Now is the billing information, which is all of my info. They also ask how you heard of them and if you have any gift certificates or promotional codes, which I didn't. After you enter this information it takes you to the next page, where you look your order over to make sure it is correct and to enter your credit card information. They accept Visa, MasterCard, American Express, Discover, Diner's Club and Carte Blanche. This will complete your checkout.
I went to check my email when I had finished since I hadn't been there in a while. There was already a order confirmation saying that my items would be delivered on the 5th. They had the orders separated, though, since they were shipping from two different places, but when I totaled them, they totaled the same thing I had printed out at checkout.
The following day when I checked my email I had another confirmation. It was stating that my bear had shipped and gave me the Federal Express website and the tracking information. It had been shipped next day. No word on the flowers, though. I had no clue where they were coming from or who was delivering them. I was hoping they were actually going to show up. If not, I was going to raise major...heck.
The next day I once again received an email confirmation saying that the teddy bear had been received and signed for. Still no word on the flowers. Hmmmmmmm. To be safe I called the friend they were going to. I got ahold of her husband. He said that yes, she did get the flowers the same day, as well as the balloon. He said that they were beautiful and that she really appreciated them. She had also received her bear and that she loved it.
My only gripe? Shipping about killed me. Shipping was.....a lot more than I had thought it would be. There was a $16.57 "service charge" on the flowers, which is in the same place as the shipping charges on the bear. I about gagged, but since I didn't know of a local florist, and was frankly to lazy to call directory assistance or hunt online for one in her small town, I bit the bullet and took them. I wanted them sent quickly and I didn't want to take a lot of time to do it.
While the shipping/service charges are rather high, I am for the most part very pleased with my first order experience with 1-800-FLOWERS.com. They have very quick shipping options and also I like how they keep you updated on your order status, as far as non-floral items. I do wish there was some way they would let you know when flowers are received.
Will I shop thru them again if I am ever in need of emergency flower services, you bet. Something to keep in mind, as well, is if you do reward programs that 1-800-FLOWERS.com is affiliated with MyPoints.com and you get 2 points per dollar spend, not counting shipping charges. My points are already pending my account. Also, if you do UPromise.com to save for your child's college (or to cash out for yourself, whichever the case), they are also affiliated with 1-800-FLOWERS.com, which I didn't realize until I saw the pending credit on my account for using my registered credit card thru them.
Please, keep in mind I have no seen nor will I see these flowers, but they must have been very nice for her husband to tell me how beautiful they were. I still have no idea what florist they came from, either. The flowers are delivered by a florist local to whomever you're sending them to NOT 1-800-FLOWERS.com directly.
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
LisaDo
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Member: Lisa D
Location: Back home in Indiana!
Reviews written: 552
Trusted by: 274 members
About Me:
Proud SAHM, Navy wife and member of SHLEPS!
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