How to complain about a florist????

natty198

We ordered some flowers for my Grandads funeral, the lettering DAD and POP. The funeral took place at 1.30pm on a Friday afternoon and by 10.30am on the Sunday morning the flowers had all fallen off - dead! I spoke to a lady that works in the florist and she told me that the died because of the hot weather we had on those two days. I have since managed to get a meeting with the owner of the florist who told me there was nothing she can do and once the flowers left her shop, it is no longer her responsibility. I then showed her photo's I had taken and her reply was Rabbits! I am seriously NOT happy about this and want to take it further but am at a loss as to where to turn, can anyone help? I am particularly mad that a display made up to look like a car was bought from a different shop and these have lasted longer than a week! Any help would be much appreciated!

fluffnutter

Her response was 'Rabbits'? What? Rabbits had eaten the flowers?? One could reasonably expect a florist's display to last from Friday afternoon to Sunday morning. You might find some deterioration but it's not OK for every bloom to drop off! As far as I know, flowers aren't specifically excluded from the Sale of Goods Act (although 'reasonable time' would be very short) so you could try to argue that your rights have been breached.

If you feel you've done all you can regarding appealing to the manager, you could write a letter requesting a full refund and advising that, if this is not forthcoming in,, say, 14 days, you'll pursue it via the small claims court. Bear in mind, of course, you might not win.

I shouldn't imagine they were cheap - funeral/wedding etc. flowers never are. It's pretty upsetting to have rubbish flowers at such an important time.

One last thing... are you sure they were stored appropriately? Flowers do have to be somewhere cool.

vicshippers

Was it an independent florist or are they a franchise of a much larger operator?

If they are independent there's unfortunately very little you can do other than not go back and make sure other people hear of your experience.

natty198

No they were from an independent florist with just 2 shops! It is very upsetting, my Grandfather's grave looked like the flowers had been there 2 weeks or more and that no one had bothered going there to clean up! I got advice from a large chain of florists and they said that no matter the weather the letters should have been soaked in water prior to the flowers being attached and should be expected to last at least a week! I will write them a letter today and send it recorded delivery. Thanks for your help.

Hintza

If the weather was very hot I am not surprised that the flowes wilted and fel off. There really is not much you can do.

As fluffnutter suggests you can take them to the small claims court but would ully expect you to lose.

fluffnutter

Hintza wrote: »

If the weather was very hot I am not surprised that the flowes wilted and fel off. There really is not much you can do.

As fluffnutter suggests you can take them to the small claims court but would ully expect you to lose.

Depends where they were kept though. If in the funeral parlour, I would expect it to be pretty cool in there! :eek:

natty198

There is no way flowers should have died within 2 days. And it was only the flowers that came from that florist. Family friends used various different florists in the area (both chains and independent) and they are only just dying off now. Thanks for the advice guys, this is the first time I have ever used a forum and am really grateful for your help. I have sent them a letter today so fingers crossed.

LouisaRose_2

I agree the flowers should have lasted longer than that. Did you take photos of them the day of the funeral?

Rabbits however are a problem in lots of cemeteries and they really enjoy eating fresh cut flowers. The other tributes, were they made of the same 'double chrysanthamum'?

Hot weather is a problem however the flowers are more likely to be scorched than 'fallen off'.

Even if the florist was part of a relay, the relay is only part of it, and your contract will be with the shop, not just the big name attached to it unless you maybe ordered elsewhere in the country?

RuthnJasper

Natty198 - Firstly, I am sorry for your bereavement.

The florist's products should definitely have lasted longer than two days and their response sounds woefully inadequate to me; particularly insensitive as they are discussing funeral flowers with a recently-bereaved family.

If you don't get anywhere with the the florist you may like to consider reporting them to your local Trading Standards office - this webpage will tell you where your local office is if you put in the relevant Post Code: http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/advice/index.cfm.

Good luck. x