Poor quality bouquet

inneed

I recently ordered an extra large bouquet for £42 for my daughter. When they arrived they were nothing like the picture on the website. A small bunch of cheap flowers with a lot of gypsophila,and already going over. I emailed the company, and was offered a replacement or 50% refund. They said they had sent the £32 bouquet by mistake. I wouldn't have paid £10 for them. I tried to be reasonable and said I understood they had incurred costs, but that wasn't my fault, and that I would accept £30, but was then told they would have to escalate it higher, and asked me to bear with them. I have seen since that this company has had many complaints, and have done the same to lots of people. Where do I stand, and what should I do?

Alderbank

How did you pay, and what outcome do you think would be fair?

inneed

I paid online by credit card. As I said I would be willing to accept £30, but to be honest, I wouldn't have bought them in a supermarket. Horrid colours (not the pastels shown and ordered), and 2 days after delivery some have been thrown out

DullGreyGuy

inneed said:

I recently ordered an extra large bouquet for £42 for my daughter. When they arrived they were nothing like the picture on the website. A small bunch of cheap flowers with a lot of gypsophila,and already going over. I emailed the company, and was offered a replacement or 50% refund. They said they had sent the £32 bouquet by mistake. I wouldn't have paid £10 for them. I tried to be reasonable and said I understood they had incurred costs, but that wasn't my fault, and that I would accept £30, but was then told they would have to escalate it higher, and asked me to bear with them. I have seen since that this company has had many complaints, and have done the same to lots of people. Where do I stand, and what should I do?

Presumably you ordered from a website? Do you have a link to the product and a photo of what you received?

To be blunt, based on my interpretation of what "extra large" is then at £42 I would expect it to be full of cheap flowers. Our local florists do small (10 stems), medium (20 stems) and large (30 stems). So to extrapolate up an extra large would be 40 stems. Given you have P&P to cover you are therefore spending less than £1 per stem; even your maligned gypsophila is 80p-£1.75 per stem wholesale.

Most florists say photos are illustrative and they will do subs if the particular flowers in the photo arent available on the day. If you look at a wholesaler they have 96 versions of gypsophila of which 80 are not currently available so clearly a lot of subbing is going to be going on, though if the average person knows Xlence, Zinzi and Starburst as varieties of gypsophila and if they can tell the difference is another matter. 

What the line is between subs and a totally different bouquet is hard to define. 

Grumpy_chap

inneed said:

I recently ordered an extra large bouquet for £42 for my daughter. When they arrived they were nothing like the picture on the website. A small bunch of cheap flowers with a lot of gypsophila,and already going over. I emailed the company, and was offered a replacement or 50% refund. They said they had sent the £32 bouquet by mistake. I wouldn't have paid £10 for them. I tried to be reasonable and said I understood they had incurred costs, but that wasn't my fault, and that I would accept £30, but was then told they would have to escalate it higher, and asked me to bear with them. I have seen since that this company has had many complaints, and have done the same to lots of people. Where do I stand, and what should I do?

The florist made a mistake and the 50% refund (£21) brings the price paid down to £21 yet the £32 bouquet was actually provided.  For the difference sought, another £9, it is probably not worth the hassle to be persistent.
The £32 bouquet might have only been £10 in the supermarket, but the local florist has had to do the delivery as well and provided a service that the supermarket will not.

I also think, when flowers are sent, the flowers received can be good or bad and it is not that important as it is the thought that counts.  Presumably you only know the flowers received do not look like the flowers ordered because your daughter sent a pic and note "thanks for the lovely flowers" so the thought was well received.

Hopefully, you did not taint your daughter's experience of receiving the flowers by raising the quality concern with her.

Of course, if your daughter sent a pic and note saying how bad the flowers were and how stingy you'd been, then the matter with the florist is altogether different.  I'd like to think there are no daughters who would send that note regardless of how bad the flowers were.

sheramber

Where were the flowers being delivered from?

I prefer to contact a local florist and arrange for a delivery. That way the flowers are fresh and not boxed and being carted miles by a courier. 

born_again

inneed said:

I paid online by credit card. As I said I would be willing to accept £30, but to be honest, I wouldn't have bought them in a supermarket. Horrid colours (not the pastels shown and ordered), and 2 days after delivery some have been thrown out

Bet there is a "Illustration only" cover all on the page. 

TBH, they have offered a refund of more then the difference between the 2 items.
If you went via CC all you would be entitled to is the £10 difference. Anything else is subjective & not covered.

Then do not use them again.

If you want certain flowers etc to be delivered to daughter, then go to a florist & order via them. So they can deliver what you want. 

inneed

Grumpy_chap said:

inneed said:

I recently ordered an extra large bouquet for £42 for my daughter. When they arrived they were nothing like the picture on the website. A small bunch of cheap flowers with a lot of gypsophila,and already going over. I emailed the company, and was offered a replacement or 50% refund. They said they had sent the £32 bouquet by mistake. I wouldn't have paid £10 for them. I tried to be reasonable and said I understood they had incurred costs, but that wasn't my fault, and that I would accept £30, but was then told they would have to escalate it higher, and asked me to bear with them. I have seen since that this company has had many complaints, and have done the same to lots of people. Where do I stand, and what should I do?

The florist made a mistake and the 50% refund (£21) brings the price paid down to £21 yet the £32 bouquet was actually provided.  For the difference sought, another £9, it is probably not worth the hassle to be persistent.
The £32 bouquet might have only been £10 in the supermarket, but the local florist has had to do the delivery as well and provided a service that the supermarket will not.

I also think, when flowers are sent, the flowers received can be good or bad and it is not that important as it is the thought that counts.  Presumably you only know the flowers received do not look like the flowers ordered because your daughter sent a pic and note "thanks for the lovely flowers" so the thought was well received.

Hopefully, you did not taint your daughter's experience of receiving the flowers by raising the quality concern with her.

Of course, if your daughter sent a pic and note saying how bad the flowers were and how stingy you'd been, then the matter with the florist is altogether different.  I'd like to think there are no daughters who would send that note regardless of how bad the flowers were.

I asked my daughter what the flowers were like, after a text thanking me, without her saying anything about them. The picture she sent was with the caption it's the thought that counts, as she new I would never order anything like that! As I said 2 days later she was throwing some out.
The florist said they had sent the £32 by mistake, but what was received had no resemblance whatsoever to the photo. If it had been the case I would have accepted it. I wish I had read the Trustpilot reviews first, as it seems this is what they do. They seem to make this 'mistake' on a regular basis. It's not about £9, it's the fact that these people seem to think it's OK to do this

sheramber

So  many people research companies nd read reviews after they have ordered and are dissatisfied with the purchase.

born_again

inneed said:

Grumpy_chap said:

inneed said:

I recently ordered an extra large bouquet for £42 for my daughter. When they arrived they were nothing like the picture on the website. A small bunch of cheap flowers with a lot of gypsophila,and already going over. I emailed the company, and was offered a replacement or 50% refund. They said they had sent the £32 bouquet by mistake. I wouldn't have paid £10 for them. I tried to be reasonable and said I understood they had incurred costs, but that wasn't my fault, and that I would accept £30, but was then told they would have to escalate it higher, and asked me to bear with them. I have seen since that this company has had many complaints, and have done the same to lots of people. Where do I stand, and what should I do?

The florist made a mistake and the 50% refund (£21) brings the price paid down to £21 yet the £32 bouquet was actually provided.  For the difference sought, another £9, it is probably not worth the hassle to be persistent.
The £32 bouquet might have only been £10 in the supermarket, but the local florist has had to do the delivery as well and provided a service that the supermarket will not.

I also think, when flowers are sent, the flowers received can be good or bad and it is not that important as it is the thought that counts.  Presumably you only know the flowers received do not look like the flowers ordered because your daughter sent a pic and note "thanks for the lovely flowers" so the thought was well received.

Hopefully, you did not taint your daughter's experience of receiving the flowers by raising the quality concern with her.

Of course, if your daughter sent a pic and note saying how bad the flowers were and how stingy you'd been, then the matter with the florist is altogether different.  I'd like to think there are no daughters who would send that note regardless of how bad the flowers were.

I asked my daughter what the flowers were like, after a text thanking me, without her saying anything about them. The picture she sent was with the caption it's the thought that counts, as she new I would never order anything like that! As I said 2 days later she was throwing some out.
The florist said they had sent the £32 by mistake, but what was received had no resemblance whatsoever to the photo. If it had been the case I would have accepted it. I wish I had read the Trustpilot reviews first, as it seems this is what they do. They seem to make this 'mistake' on a regular basis. It's not about £9, it's the fact that these people seem to think it's OK to do this

Who is this company?
I'ts OK to name them.

cmthephoenix

I asked my daughter what the flowers were like, after a text thanking me, without her saying anything about them. The picture she sent was with the caption it's the thought that counts, as she new I would never order anything like that! As I said 2 days later she was throwing some out.
The florist said they had sent the £32 by mistake, but what was received had no resemblance whatsoever to the photo. If it had been the case I would have accepted it. I wish I had read the Trustpilot reviews first, as it seems this is what they do. They seem to make this 'mistake' on a regular basis. It's not about £9, it's the fact that these people seem to think it's OK to do this

Could you post pictures here of what was advertised and what you received? (also a picture of what they claimed they sent)
Also post your own review on trustpilot with what was advertised and what was received, it may 'encourage' the company to rethink,
If you didn't receive what you paid for and they've acknowledged it then I would have thought 'for illustrative purposes only' doesn't count and normally consumer protection should kick in, although you will probably have to fight for it.