Problem, problem, ruined birthday present, problem... (bloomingbritain.com)

Member Name: sirg0508

Product:	bloomingbritain.com
Date:	18/11/06 (779 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Nice site?

Disadvantages: Many! Non/late delivery, no reply to e-mails, no hand written card...

My mum’s birthday came and yet again my dad didn’t have anything for her so on the Sunday night I scanned the net for a reasonably priced flower delivery site that would deliver the next day. The majority of sites would ask that orders be placed before a certain time that day so as I had placed my order around 6pm on Sunday night it was well within the ‘before 2pm’ limit for the Monday to be delivered that day. The site I used was called BloomingBritain.com although I’d never heard of them and saw no reviews on Dooyoo, they were one of the better sites for prices in comparison to what should be received. E.g. one site offered 1 red rose in a fancy vase for £21.99 whereas BloomingBritain.com got it by having a fuller bunch of pink flowers for only £17.99.

The site looks quite professional and it is easy navigate with several categories for different occasions or to search for flowers by price which I initially tried as dad didn’t want to spend over £15… He gave me his credit card so he had no choice really. There are good quality photos although not all of the bunches are taken from the same angle and on closer inspection you can choose the bunch size and the photos are normally larger than the standard. I also searched for flowers by the different categories and one that was named ‘Birthday Flowers’ but the prices did vary so I stuck to the price bracket of £10 - £25 but hoped to find something around £15.

I found the ideal bunch called ‘Pink Perfection’ at £17.99 so not to waste any time, I quickly ordered them. You don’t need an account to order and as you head to the checkout, you are asked to choose the date you want the flowers to be delivered so I wanted mine for the 13th. I then entered the address of where it was going to, my dads billing details and a message to put on the card. Delivery is always £4.95 which seems a bit steep. I was then redirected to pay for the order which can be done by debit/credit card or by PayPal.

I received the confirmation e-mail which gives the 4 digit order code, link to the website and details of the purchase. KEEP IT! The link directs you to login if an account is created but useless if you don’t have one. Still handy for quick access to the site though.

So the next day arrived… and went. No flowers. Was a bit annoyed since I had said they were to be delivered on the 13th. So that night I sent them an e-mail through the site and by the next morning didn’t have a reply. Waited all day on the 14th and STILL no flowers arrived. So again that night I sent an e-mail and on the morning of the 15th still had no reply. I spent the 15th ringing their customer service number just before 9am and checking the internet for reviews as I was sure someone must have used the site. There were none on Dooyoo but on another site I found 126 reviews and was not too happy to see that out of all those, the overall score for the site was Recommend: No, Overall opinion was less than 4/10. At that point was getting angrier so kept phoning customer service which kept redirecting me to voicemail until someone answered. I gave details of the order and was told they’d phone me back in 30 minutes. I looked more closely at the site and was getting more and more confused. It was like they had lifted parts from another site and put it on theirs as the site not only mentioned Blooming Britain but also Scarlet Flowers and another site. Time passed and never got call back so phoned again and they said they were still checking (I really was not impressed and had also read that people never heard back) but about 15 minutes later I did get a call… this time from Scarlet Flowers Ltd. who claim they bought the BloomingBritain.com site because they had gone into liquidation (no idea when that was) and had processed the order themselves. They apologised and eventually they asked if I wanted to be refunded or another bunch set so she knew I wasn’t happy and opted for another bunch to be sent.

As this was still before 10am (and the website claims to have orders before 2pm will be dispatched same day), I expected this bunch to arrive that day (15th). Flowers did arrive and again yet more disappointment. There was space on the website to add a message and usually this will be added on a hand written card but of course, this company didn’t bother. They had printed it out on a sticky label and hacked away at it to cut it out… it looked a total mess on a very small rectangle. The flowers however weren’t as bad as expected although a little dry so it wasn’t until they had been in water for a bit that they began to perk up. Another surprise came when on the 17th another bunch of flowers arrived so it seems the first lot were from the first order and the second lot from the complaint… but surprise surprise, again neither of them had arrived ‘same day’. This time, to my amazement, they had actually put in a proper card with the handwritten message that should have been on the first bunch… how kind… just 4 days too late!

Ordering can be done through the website or over the phone (0800 number) but with the added bonus of a free box of chocolates with phone orders. As I ordered through the site mum didn’t receive them with either bunch. I’d advise making sure someone is in if the flowers ever do arrive because they don’t have any water so won’t last long if they are not left with someone.

So, shall I be recommending BloomingBritain.com? Erm… nope! I’m still waiting for replies to the 3 e-mails I sent them from 13th-15th – neither replies from the contact through the site or by e-mail with the Hotmail address given on the order process e-mail. I’m just glad it was a 0800 number they have on their site the number of times I called trying to talk to someone. I wouldn’t even use this site to send flowers to my worst enemy and that is obviously saying something. Even worse when it’s for a family member! My mum may have ended up with two bunches (and they are identical which isn’t bad) but there was just far too much hassle to be worth the expense! Unfortunately when I was on the phone, the woman reeled off a load of other sites that are all connected to the same company… I’d be wary of buying any flowers online now thanks to them!

Summary: An online florist that can end up ruining your shopping experience!