Chalk up some brownie points! (Next Flowers)

Member Name: madmum71

Product:	Next Flowers
Date:	24/10/07 (168 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Lovely pesented fresh flowers

Disadvantages: Delivery charge

As I have been laid up recently after an operation on my foot I have had to rely on close friends and family to help with certain jobs, essentially picking my boys up from school. The other half has had to still go to work (couldn't put up with him around me all day!) So I have been extremely lucky to have a lot of help, because I wanted to thank them and still can't get to the shops I decided to turn to my trusted Next to send them sincere thanks for all their help, I have used them in the past as I am usually skint and do have an account with them so that makes things easier for me.

THE WEBSITE LAYOUT
The flowers and gifts section is quite easy to find on the Next website, there are 5 categories these are:

New arrivals.. These are their newest arrangements normally different with the seasons. Or a special time of the year including Christmas, valentines day or Easter.
Bouquets/arrangements.. This is the whole range and shows you lovely pictures of the arrangements you can click on the smaller picture to enlarge. This also gives you the details of which flowers they include and if they come with a vase or in a bag or the usual cellophane. All the arrangements have names and their prices are prominently displayed.
Prices range from £22- £50.

Plants… For something a bit different and longer lasting you could chose a plant, these include Orchids, roses, bay trees, azaleas and many plant basket arrangements.
Prices range from £22- £52
Sympathy… There isn't a large range of these but they are very tasteful.
Prices range from £22-£30

Flowers by post… These are delivered by royal mail and are a cheaper option as they do not have a delivery charge but then you can't chose a delivery date they do say that delivery is usually within 2 days. I must admit the arrangements don't look as nice and obviously are smaller; I have never used this option so I can't comment on the service but I thought I would add this for information.
All arrangements are £18
Wine.. Instead of the usual flowers you could have something different and send wine or champagne instead, there is quite a large range including single bottles, cases or with a glass.
Prices range from £20-£110

ORDERING
This is very simple (which is good for me!) you just choose which option you are going for click on your chosen option and you will be taken to the extras page, you can also add extra things to your order including champagne, perfume, teddy, chocs or a balloon the prices range from £2.50 for a balloon to £25 for a bottle of champagne. I have in the past added a balloon and also a teddy and they were nice & decent quality and the person who received them really liked them.

You then continue on with your order, you get to choose a card there a few to choose from but not a large selection, type your message and put in the recipients name and postcode. The message is typed exactly as you type in, so be careful to check it.
After all that you then are asked to sign in by using your customer number and then onto delivery dates. To get next day delivery you need to order before 5pm you can either have the next possible date or pick the date you want if it is for a special occasion. You can either pay by using your next account if you have one or credit card. Just a small warning delivery isn't free you will get charged £3.75 on top of your order.
You are then asked to check all the details are correct and verify the address and then send, you are then sent an email verifying your order and you keep this in case of any problems.

DELIVERY
I chose 2 bouquets for around £25 each they contained roses, pink lilies, germini, Anastasia, pink wax flowers and green china grass. I arranged for them to be delivered in 2 days time, fast forward 2 days and I had 2 lovely phone calls (sorry about the 2's!) thanking me very much for the flowers and telling me how lovely they were. They were delivered on the correct day packaged in a green box with no damage at all to any of the flowers and they were wrapped very nicely. They were nicely presented with care instructions and a sachet of that flower preserving stuff that you put into the water.

Both the bouquets lasted well and are still going even though it has been 10 days, I must admit the roses are not looking that good but on the plus side they did open in both the bouquets but the rest of the flowers are still looking good, the lilies opened and smelt gorgeous and all the other flowers still look quite fresh.
PAST ORDERS

As I have said I have used this company for flower delivery on quite a few occasions especially for my mum in law who lives in Scotland and she has never been disappointed with her delivery, and believe me she would tell me if they weren't nice!
The only time I have ever had a problem was about 5 years ago I had some flowers ordered for my mum for her birthday and they were to be delivered on her actual birthday but the day came and went without any flowers. The next day I called the customer support number to be informed that they had been delivered, when I questioned this they investigated and found put that they had been delivered to the wrong address! So they sent out another larger bouquet, which she received the next day, and to my surprise they sent me a lovely arrangement with chocolates as an apology!

As I have said you can order on line from the next website or you can also order by phone, the number is on their website.
If ordering at busy times of the year like mothers day, Easter or Christmas you need to get in early if you want them to arrive on the day or in the case of Christmas close to the day.

Deliveries are made Monday - Saturday between 8.30am - 5.30pm (except Bank Holidays). Delivery times cannot be guaranteed.
WOULD I BUY FROM THEM AGAIN?

Yes I am very happy using this company, I have used others in the past and I can say these are the best I have used. The quality of the flowers always seem to be good and not past their sell by date like some, they always look fresh and well packaged. I do feel that they are more expensive than some companies but then all flower delivery prices are inflated considering how many flowers you get. My only gripe is the delivery charge I do feel that they should drop this charge, as I would buy a larger arrangement if I didn't have to pay out an extra £4 for delivery. So all in all I am happy to recommend this service and I have chalked up a lot of brownie points by using them.

Property of madmum71 & lisa8871

Summary: A good flower delivery service