Prestige Flowers - Anything but Prestige

piglet25

I can't understand these businesses. They can obviously attrect orders at premium prices so why can't they encourage customer loyalty by executing them to the best of their ability? I always get cross when I see how they protray themselves as florists, they are not, they are order gathers. They are the price people pay for not looking up a local shop and ordering directly, they rely on peoples trust and sometimes laziness and spend so much on advertising its unreal.
I am a trained florist and I know how easily fresh flowers can be transported nationwide as I have sent them numerous times without a single complaint, I also know how these companies treat customers who aren't happy because to them you aren't a customer - you are a number on a balance sheet and they couldn't care less whether they get repeat business from you or not. Real florists rely on word of mouth and repeat customers so they have a vested interest in ensuring that your flowers are created to the best standards. And in the event of a complaint, they are more likely to want to resolve it, not simply ignore you or tell you that its tough luck.
So, please use your local florist, we already have the supermarkets trying to do us out of business, don't let these order gatherers finish us all off!

PhylPho

How weird. . . I post on here about iFlorist (winner of The Queen's Award for Enterprise 2012) and its blatant mis-advertising of a 'free delivery' its own Customer Service tell me *isn't true*. . . and now here's another online 'floral firm' being criticised for lousy behaviour. Piglet 25 was as informative on my thead as here andhaving noted both comments I've resolved I'll (a) only use local florists in future for local needs and (b) InterFlora for long-distance needs, seeing as how that does seem to be one flower shop talking to another.

As to daffodil, the advice you've noted is correct: never threaten. . . just do. iFlorist is damaged goods as far as I'm concerned and not worth bothering with but if you're feeling furious then I'd recommend some light relief in the form of this link:

http://forums.theregister.co.uk/forum/2/2010/03/29/iflorist_reviews/

with particular reference to the 7th post down that page, from Trustpilot. (Have to say, I'd forgotten all about that story when I was about to buy from iFlorist. It remains one of the funniest The Register has ever published.)

Then you'd maybe like to add Trustpilot to your list of review sites -- after all, this is what iFlorist gushingly says about itself there in its company profile:

As the fastest growing florist network in the UK we are constantly striving for excellence. Proof of our 100% satisfaction guarantee is that we openly invite our customers to review the experiences they have had with iflorist. Our overwhelmingly positive reviews mean that iflorist is ranked number 1 in the UK for customer satisfaction in the online florists category. We are proud to announce that our parent company Colonial Gifts have won The Queen’s Award for Enterprise for outstanding achievement in International Trade.

Bizarrely, Trustpilot seems unable to consolidate iFlorist reviews so you might like to ask it why its recording of this outfit's performance is so confusing.

[Deleted User]

piglet25 wrote: »

I can't understand these businesses. They can obviously attrect orders at premium prices so why can't they encourage customer loyalty by executing them to the best of their ability? I always get cross when I see how they protray themselves as florists, they are not, they are order gathers. They are the price people pay for not looking up a local shop and ordering directly, they rely on peoples trust and sometimes laziness and spend so much on advertising its unreal.
I am a trained florist and I know how easily fresh flowers can be transported nationwide as I have sent them numerous times without a single complaint, I also know how these companies treat customers who aren't happy because to them you aren't a customer - you are a number on a balance sheet and they couldn't care less whether they get repeat business from you or not. Real florists rely on word of mouth and repeat customers so they have a vested interest in ensuring that your flowers are created to the best standards. And in the event of a complaint, they are more likely to want to resolve it, not simply ignore you or tell you that its tough luck.
So, please use your local florist, we already have the supermarkets trying to do us out of business, don't let these order gatherers finish us all off!

To be honest I will next time. I must admit I though these people took the order and then used a local florist anyway.

But it seems they've got a warehouse somewhere and they just bung some (crappy) flowers in a box.

They're still ignoring my emails btw.

PhylPho

Paul:

If Prestige Flowers is still ignoring your emails, then perhaps you'd like some background information about "having a warehouse somewhere" and "they just bung some crappy flowers in a box".

According to its website it has its own "team of florists:"

http://www.prestigeflowers.co.uk/100-satisfaction-guarentee

[FONT=&quot]At Prestige Flowers we deliver thousands of bouquets a year to every corner of the United Kingdom to delighted recipients and strive to give the best possible service and of course deliver the best & freshest bouquets expertly arranged by our team of florists. [/FONT]

and is based in Cheshire:

http://www.prestigeflowers.co.uk/about-us

We are an online flower delivery service based in Cheshire that pride ourselves on customer satisfaction. We are able to deliver flowers to every corner of the UK.

The specific Cheshire location is withheld. The principal link to that county appears here in the website domain ownership details:

http://website.informer.com/Andrea+Wade.html

where the domain holder's address is in Sandbach. The domain holder also owns the seemingly defunct:

http://www.moviecricket.com

whose sole advertiser is Prestige Flowers. But that only identifies the domain holder's location . Not the business's registered and / or trading address.

Prestige Flowers and its sister outfit Prestige Hampers are both owned by Prestige Gifting Ltd:

http://prestigegifting.co.uk

which is mentioned in Prestige Flowers' contact details thus:

[FONT=&quot]Please contact us with any enquiries you may have, if you simply wish to track your order please click here[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Customer Service:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [EMAIL="enquiries@prestigeflowers.co.uk"]enquiries@prestigeflowers.co.uk[/EMAIL] [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Call:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] 0843 289 4775 Mon to Fri (10am - 5pm)[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Technical Support:[/FONT][FONT=&quot] [EMAIL="technical@prestigeflowers.co.uk"]technical@prestigeflowers.co.uk[/EMAIL][/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]Sales: [/FONT][FONT=&quot]enquiries@prestigeflowers.co.uk [/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
Prestige Gifting Ltd
The Town Hall
Saint George's Street
Hebden Bridge
West Yorkshire
HX7 7BY

Company registration: 5778485
VAT Registration: 124115363[/FONT]

This information is at variance with:

http://www.cdrex.com/prestige-gifting-limited-3119302.html

which says that the registered office is actually at the same address as the domain holder, i.e, Sandbach. Not Hebden Bridge. But changes of registered address are not uncommon and update failures by so-called 'company watch' websites, not unusual.

At any event, Prestige Gifting was formerly known as:

[FONT=&quot]http://www.creditgate.com/companysearch/miskell+consulting+limited.aspx[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
Miskell Consulting was incorporated on April 12, 2006, with a registered office in Bramhall, Cheshire. It registered a change of address from Bramhall, Cheshire to that Sandbach, Cheshire address on June 25, 2007.

On August 11, 2010, Miskell Consulting changed its name to Prestige Gifting Limited. On March 29 this year, Prestige Gifting Ltd registered an address change from Sandbach to the Lancashire Digital Technology Centre, Bancroft Road, Burnley, Lancashire.
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]http://azcompanies.co.uk/prestige-gifting-limited-kY31.uk-company.html[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]
http://www.192.com/atoz/business/burnley-bb10/florists/prestige-flowers/487262d2dd9637d2271ba8dfab6f95b7cda8e18a/bizbuzz/

A couple of months ago, on October 22, Prestige Gifting Ltd filed another change of registered address, and if the Prestige Flowers website is to be believed, is now at Hebden Bridge Town Hall.

The directors of Prestige Gifting Ltd are easily located on the record and you should have no trouble finding them.

Prestige Flowers seems to enjoy an anything but fragrant reputation as far as some of its customers are concerned:
[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]http://prestige-flowers.!!!!edconsumer.com/prestige-flowers-20120318305763.html[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]where you'll see mention made of James Miskell, Managing Director, LDTC Bancroft Road, Burnley, Lancs B38 2TB (which, despite the enthusiasm of that poster on that reviewe site, seems somewhat daft: James Miskell is not the MD of Lancashire Digital Technology Centre, but more likely, MD of Prestige Gifting Ltd.)

That same review site hypes up Prestige Flowers' contact number, but seems not to be aware of the fact that 0843 289 4775 is not a locational number but a Premium Rate number that could be anywhere in the UK. However, at least one poster there says she / he rang that number and was able to make direct contact with the business.

Prestige Flowers has its own cosy Facebook page so you could always post there -- the 'team of florists' seems remarkably chatty, given the thousands of orders one might've thought them to be handling right now, and so would surely be able to confirm if they're working out of an industrial park in Lancashire, an old Town Hall in Yorkshire, a suburban address in Cheshire or a, er, warehouse. . . Somewhere.

Have fun and good luck.



[/FONT]

JasonLVC

OP - Can you not do a chargeback on your debit/credit card?

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/your-rights-when-paying-by-credit-card/chargeback-on-credit-and-debit-cards/
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[Deleted User]

JasonLVC wrote: »

OP - Can you not do a chargeback on your debit/credit card?

http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/sale-of-goods/your-rights-when-paying-by-credit-card/chargeback-on-credit-and-debit-cards/
-

Hmm. The thing is they did arrive - eventually.

I've tried this before and to be honest, Santander weren't the slightest bit interested. They just ask the merchant for proof of delivery and refuse to get involved.

poppet2909

Prestige Luxury Hampers - Anything but Prestige either
At 16:30 on Christmas Eve my prestigeflowers.co.uk Luxury hamper finally arrived = 4 days late?
It looked marvellous untill we opened it and found smashed glass jars and pickle and marmalade all over the other contents and ripped coffee bags so that all stuck to everything too, a complete smelly sticky mess! revolting!! also there was no message in Hamper so just as well I knew I was expecting this from my Australian family or I really would have thought 'Santa' was real! No one answers your emails or the phone ...I have just got my family in australia a refund finally today!! its Jan 15th!! ....Avoid like this company like the plague!

LeanneR

Horrified at this company. Absolute crooks! £35 with £5 extra being paid for 'Mother's Day delivery' even though they've sent them via Royal Mail. Not amused, just wish I'd looked into them more.

[Deleted User]

Yep. Prestigeflowers is, in fact, a con as people here are finding out.

Once they've got your money they don't care.

LeanneR

Looks like I'll have to be going down this route:

http://www.scotcourts.gov.uk/taking-action/small-claims