TESCO FLOWERS - Be warned!

daveybuk

Ok, this won't save you money in itself but it might prevent you from wasting it.

Last week, I spent £45 to order some Valentines Day Cala Lillies for my partner from Tesco Direct Flowers - her favourite kind. Only Monday deliveries were available unfortunately.

I knew she wouldn't be at home all weekend so had to go for that. However, the bouquet was delivered 48 hours early on Saturday, supposedly signed for by her (even though she was 60 miles away - with me). Consequently, by the time she got them, most of the bouquet - which to be honest was pitiful anyway for the price - was dead.

This, according to Tesco Customer Service, is all my fault as it is stated "clearly" (i.e. in the small print) that Monday deliveries may arrive early. They pointed out that it also says this (in miniscule writing) on the bottom of their web page. A location that - on my browser - you don't even see without scrolling down and, as all the links to the flowers are at the top, I suspect I'm not the only one to miss that.

The upshot. No refund, not even partial. No apology. And some dead flowers for my girlfriend - Happy Valentine's Day huh?

So - if you do need flowers for a Monday, be aware that there'd better be someone in all weekend. If this info loses Tesco even just £45 in flower orders, I'll feel a bit better. To coin a phrase, "Thanks a Bunch!".

jaymac_2

I would try contacting them again, you might get a more amenable person on the phone. Complain about the quality of the flowers...don't Tesco claim they'll stay fresh for at least seven days?

pesky2

Get in touch with your credit card company, goods not fit for purpose intended

daveybuk

jaymac wrote: »

I would try contacting them again, you might get a more amenable person on the phone. Complain about the quality of the flowers...don't Tesco claim they'll stay fresh for at least seven days?

Funnily enough, my girlfriend's tried that tonight. The fact that she was fed up about it seems to have made a difference. She spoke to a man who was a lot more sympathetic. They say, although so far I've had no confirmation, that they will refund the money.

They do have the 'freshness guarantee' - something I also pointed out to them. I think it's the fact that the flowers were left outside for 2 days that didn't do them much good! It is in the T&Cs about Monday deliveries, but I really don't see why something like that isn't clearly flagged up at the point of ordering.

Still, if the money comes back that's good. Won't be using them again though.

boglin

Last Mother's Day I too had a poor experience with Tesco Flowers. I ordered a flowering plant in a glass pot - an orchid with a name that I can't spell!!!

It too was delivered early but luckily my MIL was at home - however, the box had been handled roughly and most of the blooms knocked off the stems. Not wishing to upset me, she rang Tesco herself, who said that they would send her another plant.

I only found out because the Tesco system sent me an email telling me of my 'cancelled order' - on phoning them they explained that this simply meant that this enabled them to generate a new order. However, the next delivery available was after Mother's Day. I told them that was not good enough so they also refunded me for the first plant. I then phoned a florist local to my MIL who delivered her a (beautiful) bouquet the same day.

The following week not one but TWO more plants arrived from Tesco at my MIL's house. After some time the first plant bloomed again, so she was more than happy with the wonderful floral display!

I suppose that what I am trying to say is -

(a) To redeem your current situation, keep phoning Tesco until you get a satisfactory resolution.

(b) Next time, do an online search for local florists and phone them up to discuss what they have in stock that is good, then order and pay on the phone - I have got really good, personal service by doing that since the Tesco fiasco.

lovemystudentloan

yeah, i've had some bad experiences with Tesco flowers. I got mil lillies,she loves them, paid a bomb for a few bunches. they didn't open though, she had them 2 weeks and they just rotted and died in the vase without ever blooming. I sent my own Mum flowers through dotcom, they were wrecked by the time they got to her, only know because mutual friend let on, and their tesco 'finest' bag I got with my shopping in, black hessian, big, broke in my hallway putting coke all over my carpet and eggs all over my wall. handles were cheap weak plastic tubes. took it back to tesco cs, asked stroppy young girl if she could please forward my complaint to head office so they wrote back to me. reply said you got cost of bag refunded so don't know what you're complaining about. yeah, cos I really enjoyed spending one of my few days off scrubbing my hall carpet cos their bag burst :mad:

rant over