Send Flowers Around The World (1st in Flowers)

Member Name: arnoldhenryrufus

Product:	1st in Flowers
Date:	21/07/08 (468 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Beautiful flowers and gifts, around the world, good prices

Disadvantages: None

1st in flowers.com
I have been using this company now for a few years, as my mother in law (who will be referred to as mom from now on) lives in Canada and we live in the UK. Over the years I have sent her various bouquets, flower arrangements, plants, teddy bears and balloons; all these have been bought at an extremely good price, compared to prices I have paid here in the UK. I usually go for the middle price range with works out at just under £30.00 for a decent size arrangement.

~~ The Web Site ~~
The home page is very colourful and full of pictures of wonderful flower arrangements with links to different sections; you have links running down the left hand side which take you to different sections; for example flowers by occasion's i.e. birthdays, new baby etc. Delivery outside Canada (you can send them to around 150 different countries); shop by price; shop by product, where you can choose from baked goods, farm fresh flowers, gift baskets, plants, roses and smoked meats.

Across the top of the page you have other various links you can press to find out interesting information to help you choose your gift and feed your mind with more interesting facts.
'About Us' - just a short information page which tells us a bit about the company, where it has been an established family florists for 35 years and on the internet for the last 15yrs. They are part of the world's 2 largest floral delivery networks. They are linked to over 50,000 local florists world wide, which makes sure that your flowers are delivered fresh and on time, they also have bakeries on their list offering freshly baked products for sale.

'International Delivery' - using Interflora, Teleflora and International flower delivery they manage to cover 150 countries; (well one part of the site says 150 another part says 160) this link can take you to the country you are interested in to send your flowers to, I have only used it for Canada, so I am not able to comment on the others.
'Customer Service' - as you would expect this links you to information on how to contact their customer service department and it gives you possible questions and links to the answers for example :- Payment Methods, Making Changes or Cancelling your order etc.

I have had three experiences with their customer services and on every occasion they have been extremely polite and helpful.
Experience One: It was moms 90th birthday and I was hoping to get hold of a cut glass vase to be delivered with flowers, so I sent customer services this request via email, but sadly they could not offer a cut glass vase, but they did offer alternatives, which I chose and then I bought her another pressie and posted it air mail.

Experience Two: I ordered a happy face teapot filled with flowers to cheer mom up because she was down as she has not been in the best of health. I received an email before the order was delivered apologising that they were out of stock of the happy teapot and asking me if I would accept a close replacement and some extra flowers as an apology which we accepted. Mom was very pleased with her gift; I will have to try again another day with the happy teapot.
Experience Three: This was the most recent one actually just a few days ago; it all started when we spoke to mom late last week and she told us the bad news that she had a tumour on the valve that is attached to her kidney and she will have to go in this week to get it sorted. Well I know she has fought cancer 6 times, but this was a bit of a shock to us all and we can't just nip to Canada to give her a hug, so I thought we would send her some plants to love and care for (she prefers these as they last longer than flowers). We placed the order to be delivered on the 19th June and as Canada is around 8hrs behind our time we did not expect to hear from mom until the Friday night. By 1830hrs our time we had not received a phone call, so my hubby got on the phone to check mom was ok and still she did not mention the plants so we had to ask if she received them, she said no and she had been in all day.

So a little miffed I phoned customer services in Canada and asked them what had happened, a very nice and polite lady listened to me and asked me for my phone number so she could investigate and ring me back. Within an hour I had received an email apologising for the error and saying that they are looking into the situation, a few minutes after receiving the email I got a phone call saying that they have spoken to the florist who apologised for getting the dates mixed up and said they would deliver the order straight away and will add another plant to make up for the mistake. I was happy with the solution as mom would still get her flowers.
Within an hour of the call mom had her plant arrangement delivered with a potted Chrysanthemum, mom was over the moon and said the arrangement looked lovely as well. So everyone was pleased. I did one final thing; I emailed customer services with a big thank you as it is not very often that the general public show appreciation for the help that customer service agents give.

A big 10/10 for their help.

'Delivery and Shipping Information' - all the information you could ask for about the delivery information, so if you want to know what happens with your order then you should read this section.
'Corporate Services' - this is for companies that would like to set up an account for corporate gifts; many companies like to give a little thank you present to their customers at certain times of the year. They can look on here and download the corporate brochure explaining what is on offer for example easy ordering, company discounts, personal gifting consultant etc.

'Flower Meanings' - this is a good page to read as you can choose your flower to match your message for example if you can't make it get there to be with someone you care about, then you can choose a striped carnation which means 'sorry I can't be with you'. I found this very interesting to read, but I will still buy what looks pretty and is available.
'Flower Care' - another great section which gives you a list of flower links, when you click on the link you get a picture of the selected flower and every thing you need to know about it from its' various names, colours, vase life and then an even more detailed section on how care for your arrangement or boxed flower.

When mom phones me up now to say thank you and she describes the flowers I can look the ones I don't know up and it will give me a better image in my minds eye.
'Plant Care' - this is very similar to the flower care with a list and links to how to care for your plant. There is also a list of common problems that you may experience with a green plant and offers helpful tips by describing the possible causes; for example if the leaves start drooping, then this could be caused by over watering, or the light being too low, possible air pollution, chilling or root decay.

'Flower Articles and Information' - another list of trivia for your perusal, like the origin of St Patrick's Day, Mothers Day, Mardi Gras etc. There is also useful sections about Tips on drying flowers and floral decorating ideas; definitely worth taking a look as you are bound to find something that would interest you, well if you like flowers that is.
I took a look at Mothers Day as it appears to fall at different times in different countries, for example here in the UK it has derived from the Christians who honoured Mary the mother of Jesus, this celebration is always held on the fourth Sunday of Lent, it was later changed so that all mothers were honoured and it became Mothering Sunday.

In the USA tradition goes back to the late 19th Century when a lady called Anna Jarvis attempted to start 'mother's friendship days' to help with the healing process after the civil war. She went on to campaign for an official holiday for all mothers both living and deceased to be recognised. This was finally achieved in 1914 when it was passed that the 2nd Sunday in May was a Mothers Day.
Mom now gets two mothers days a year, the British one where we send her a card and flowers and the Canadian one in May which she celebrates with her Canadian family my husbands step sisters.

'Birth month flower' - this is a list of the 12 months and their corresponding flower with a link to more information about that flower.
I was born in December so my flower is the Poinsettia which is also called Christmas stars due to the shape of the petals on the flowers. If I click on the link I get to read about the history of this pretty flower which originated in Mexico. I found this interesting reading about it and improved my general knowledge (well its taken me nearly 40 yrs to improve it a little).

'Address Book' - If you have just one or a list of people you wish to send flowers to then this is the place they are all stored, it is great not to find my paper address book to find the info.
'My Account' - on here you can change your email address, your payment details, automatic login etc,

'Placing your order' - this really could not be any easier you simply click on the order button under the picture of what you wish to buy and they the screen gives you options (like size and how much it costs) you click on what you want and it takes you to an easy to fill in order form, where you give them the delivery address along with phone number, put your message on the card, fill in your own address for the billing and finally pay for your order. You do get a currency converter so you know what you are spending in your own currency and you also get the opportunity to add a teddy bear (one of 3 sizes) and a balloon at an extra cost of course.
I think the having the currency converter there as you are working on your order is a great idea, it gives you an easy way to check that you are staying within your budget. I think every international internet site should offer this when you are spending on them.

I also get an email once a month offering me a $5.00 discount, so I often just click on this and use the saving which is virtually covers the $6.95 delivery costs. Don't forget to make sure your delivery date is correct when you place your order, they do give you the chance to go over your order one more time to make sure you are happy with it before you press the submit button, once that is done the order has gone through and they send you a confirmation email within seconds along with your order number.
~~ Delivery ~~

Mom informs me that her local florist rings her on the morning of the delivery to make sure she will be at home to receive the delivery. There was one occasion when mom had to go out and the local florist arranged for them to be delivered in the afternoon, when mom would be at home. This is a good service and I feel it should be adopted here in the UK.
~~ Pop up ~~

I had to give this a mention, because as I was writing this review in my break at work today, I looked at the site without logging in and when I left the site, I got this cute little pop up which was a little questionnaire asking me why I was leaving and what I thought of the site, it also offered me a $5.00 discount with my first order if I wished to use it. A little cheeky of them I may add, but a good way of getting some feedback and maybe an order.
~~ Conclusion ~~

I have found everything about this company has been professional and very customer friendly. Any minor hiccups have always been sorted efficiently and quickly without causing me any further distress. I really appreciate the effort that customer services put into rectifying the recent error on my order. I cannot praise them enough for the way the site is managed and how they look after their customers.
I feel there prices are very good, and there delivery charge is low, believe me I have paid more than double that to get a violet plant delivered to mom via another company. I can only speak from my own experience of using this company via the UK with delivery going to Canada, but from that experience I would most definitely recommend them.

Thank you for reading
Lyn x (Arnoldhenryrufus)

Summary: Excellent customer service