Save Money On ProFlowers Roses, Re-Gift Last Week's Flowers Instead
Why pay for ProFlowers when you can get the same effect by dumpster diving for old arrangements that look just as good? Our reader Hakoken3 paid ProFlowers $92 so they'd deliver 18 roses to his girlfriend this morning on her birthday. He paid extra to ensure that the roses would be delivered by noon, and at 12:01 they showed up. Unfortunately, they were so wilted and near-death that they looked like hand-me-down flowers that some luckier person had thrown out.
I'm assuming there are millions of people using ProFlowers this weekend to send their mothers flowers. My girlfriends birthday is today and I decided to send 18 long stem roses (total came out to $92) to her office. I chose them because they are a preferred vendor at American Express and I saw something about the WSJ choosing them as well. I figured, "hey those reputable companies wouldn't tag their name to a shitty floral service."
So today, I'm tracking my order, waiting for a call from my girlfriend gushing over her beautiful bouquet of roses, but that's not how the story would turn out. First of all, I paid an extra $10 early delivery fee (between 8-12) on top of all of the other outrageous fees they charge because I wanted her to get them first thing in the morning. The flowers arrived at 12:01PM. One other problem, the roses are all near dead upon arrival (let's say DOA). I get a call from my girlfriend expecting her to tell me how wonderful I am, but instead I get a half hearted thank you and an explanation of how she received wilting roses. Now she's embarrassed because her co-workers saw her receive dead flowers and I'm furious/embarrassed because I should have ordered from a local florist.
I went online to check review for this place and apparently, they do this all the time (should have done my homework). I did call them and demand a refund, which I received, but that's a pretty shitty consolation to sending my girlfriend dead flowers. I would have rather spent $0 and not have dead roses sent to my girlfriend. I guarantee other people will have shitty experiences with them this weekend and they will need a forum to sound off. Thanks Proflowers for making me look like a huge douchebag on my girlfriends birthday.
We think Hakoken3 might have stumbled up on a great scheme to save yourself some money: order your next flowers from ProFlowers, then when they arrive in rotten condition, say, "I tried!" and get your money back. Then everybody is happy. Kind of...
(Photo: stark23x)
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I sent my Mom a plant through ProFlowers last year. The delivery man delivered it upside down, smashing it. That's not ProFlower's fault. I complained and they sent her a new one, but it was a completely different plant from the one I originally ordered. She was happy with it, so I gave up.
Well, I've had the same experience with 1-800-flowers. Ordered them up, paid a pretty penny, and they arrive a day late and all dead. They offer to send again so I say sure, I'll give you another shot. Yep, same thing, arrived wilted and dead. The best part is I got a refund and they automatically shipped another set of 2 dozen roses without me knowing. 6 dozen wilted roses shipped to a girlfriend for free. Kinda funny now that I look back on it.
I tried these services before i.e. 1800 flowers. They flowers are just not as good as getting them from a shop and picking the arrangement yourself. I'd rather spend the time picking out a quality product then ever pay 80 bucks for roses that were well on their way to pout pourri.
i've had great experiences w. proflowers
of course, they are delivered by fedex, so its only going to be as good as the guy on the truck
i live in new york so my local florist is really pricey $75 for a tulip arrangement pricey, i don't even want to ask about roses. otherwise i go to the flower stand and just pick them out myself for hand delivery.
i've found that you don't get outrageous fees when paying local florists like you do with proflowers or 1800 flowers (which come in a BOX). i found one close to my boyfriends mom and one close to my mom. i've used them both a few times now and it's usually $7 for delivery and the arrangements always come out looking beautiful for both locations. they have websites that i can order online from too. that's a plus for me because i don't like to call and talk to people.
My first and only order from Pro Flowers (dozen roses) arrived looking fairly good except their longevity was questionable. They looked like death warmed over after about three days.
I'm done with mail order florists. I choose to support my local business from now on.
To make lemonade out lemons, use the wilted rose petals as a topper for a soak in the tub. My wife does that when her roses are past their prime. Of course, she wants me to toss them on her, like a diva. And then there's the cleanup...
If you want nice flowers, use a local florist. We used Pro Flowers for the first and only time for a dear friend's funeral. With no exaggeration, what showed up was 1/2 of a rose bush that was extremely wilted and dry. The other 1/2 of the rose bush was still on the plant and had zero growth and was dead as a doornail.
What we were suppose to receive per Pro Flowers website was a nice miniature rose bush that would continue to bloom for weeks to come.
I could have dug up a plant from my yard in 100 degree temperatures and it would have looked better than what Pro Flowers sent.
I will say the company hands down offered and gave me an immediate refund. I guess they are used to quality control issues and just eat the bullet when they have to.
But I will never order from them again. At least you can make it up to your girlfriend. Funerals only happen once.
I hope she has a nice birthday anyway.
A local florist is always a great option, but sometimes you are sending flowers to somebody in another city. I got Valentine's flowers from a couple friends in other places; they were arranged and delivered by my local florist, but they had been ordered through TeleFlora. The flowers were lovely and fresh, well, at least until my cat ate them.
I've had nothing but good experiences with ProFlowers, aside from the price. I send my wife flowers through them probably 3 times a year without any trouble. One time, 3 of the 24 roses I sent died after a couple of days. I just contacted ProFlowers through their site and they sent another 24 roses for free.
It sucks that this guy, and apparently others, have had bad results. Maybe the do a lot of business, though. They're bound to have a few problems here and there.
THE WSJ recommends them? That is a RED FLAG. Anything run by Rupert Murdoch(like FoxNews) is a GOP business looking to screw customers anyway they can. All they want is that extra nickel and if printing fake recommendations (they have been paid to recommend) makes them the extra coins, so be it.
I've ordered flowers from ProFlowers a number of times, and have had nothing but good experiences. The flowers have always arrived pre-bloom and looked wonderful. Guess I've been lucky.
This is the ONLY website/800-number kind of flower company you'll EVER need: www.bbrooks.com 888-346-3356.
I'm a former employee and can't say enough good things about the quality. It's in another league all together.
I stopped buying from ProFlowers many years ago after 3 failed attempts to get flowers for my wife.
Attempt 1 - Never showed up.
Attempt 2 - Showed up full of spider mites (or some other obnoxious arachnid.
Attempt 3 - Showed up with all the blossoms cut off (I think the grower was upset by this time.)
I just took the refund and never looked back.
I've ordered flowers for my mother using them before, and no thanks. A neighbor a few roads away got them instead. Nevermind that the two addresses were in no way similar.
Thankfully the neighbor was nice enough to call the number on the side of the package so my mom could go pick up her own gift.
The only "flowers in a box" I've ever sent were Martha Stewart through 1-800-Flowers, and have gotten raves every time. I ordered an arrangement for a friend who had surgery, and she told me the roses opened so perfectly over the following week it was like they were directed by Martha herself.
Has anyone ever tried teleflora.com?
I just ordered some for my mom, their methodology uses a nearby florist to fill the order (not always exactly as pictured).
For any Canadians, use canadaflowers.ca. Unless you live somewhere remote, no issues with next day delivery, and they use local florists to fulfill orders. I've used them several times and they always turn out beautiful (if not always exact) and last a long time, since the reputation of the local florist depends on it. And most arrangements come in nice vases, not in a box.
Instead of flowers I send fruit arrangements. I use [www.ediblearrangements.com] and so far everyone has loved them and I've had no problems. Plus they are pretty and delicious.
In these cases Google is your friend. I've been using them to search for local florists by zip code/city name for a while, and generally you can just call them up and do everything over the phone if they don't have a web interface set up.
I haven't been dissapointed yet, I should say, the recipients have always been happy, and it usually ends up cheaper. You can even ask about promotions and stuff too.
@Sheila Cook: Oh man, the irony. Kind of insensitive, but dead flowers for a dead person's funeral. Sorry about your friend.
Ok, Proflowers.com may or may not put together decent arrangements, I haven't had consistent results from them at all, but the reason I refuse to use them is that when my wife used them, it offered her free shipping and when she went to the link, it tried to sign her up to a service, and when she didn't sign up, Proflowers.com did sign her up in exchange for a coupon for free shipping the next time.
I don't know if they are still doing that. But fool me once, die in the flames...
@Roclawzi: Oh, and by signed her up I mean they gave this freeshipping.com or whatever it was our CC information and there was a monthly 14.95 bill from them that was difficult to get a refund from.
I ordered Proflowers for my sister's birthday one time and the delivery man delivered it to the wrong person (her next-door neighbor) and the person accepted it. I had to call UPS and they said that the person at that address accepted it. If I remember correctly my sister knocked on the person's door and they said they didn't get any flowers (gee, really...) Thankfully proflowers sent new ones.
mmmm. i second the edible arrangements!!! I got my wife a bouquet of chocolate covered strawberries sent to work and she was the most excited girl ever!!!!
Always go local for flowers and produce!
Geeez. Why spend money on flowers? Just do what I do and hand-pick them from cemetery arrangements. They're free and you get a wide variety. ;)
@savdavid: Enough with the stupid "lets make every thread a political rant against the party I like least" crap, already. I'm no fan of the GOP, but I'm even less of a fan of stupidity.
I have always had fabulous luck with ProFlowers. I bought flowers (stargazer lilis, dont know if they are more hearty than roses) for mom every year for the past 5 from them. Always on time, great pricing and incredible flowers. Sorry to hear that there was a bad experience with them.
@senor macho solo: I had a good experience with them, too. I sent my sister tulips when she had a baby last month. I was surprised they were coming through UPS but apparently they were very nice when they arrived. But the only reason I used them was because I had a coupon and they were offering a good price in the middle of the week.
I got the same rotten treatment from ProFlowers. I ordered some potted yellow roses for my mother for mothers day (she loves yellow roses) and the damn things were wilted and near death. I'm demanding my money back.
My siblings and I just had roses delivered to my mom today for Mother's day from 1800flowers.com. My sister really wanted to get her the multi-colored roses arangement, and they were running a special 'Buy one dozen, get one free and a free vase' so I figured why not? We scheduled delivery for today and the total was $44.98 ($15 of which was shipping).
They arrived less than 24 hours later, which quite frankly impressed me. What did not impress was the UPS guy leaving them outside the garage door without ringing the doorbell. I hate our lazy-ass UPS guy. Most of the roses looked fine, besides a few needing some petals removed. And getting them out of the box and arranged was annoying. But as we were doing that, my mom and I realized that they sent us not only the original dozen + the free dozen, but a third dozen and second vase on top of that. As long as no extra charges show up, I'm going to consider this a win!
I'm sorry to hear about the OP's experience but out of curiosity, what more would the OP have ProFlowers do that they didn't already do? They refunded your money, so yeah you got dead flowers but they didn't cost you anything. Perhaps other florists might have refunded the purchase AND resent them?
Surely both the OP's girlfriend and her coworkers realized that the wilted flowers were not the OP's fault, and its the thought that counts... I doubt it actually made him look like a douchebag in her eyes or anyone elses.
It just seems that wilted flowers are an unavoidable risk in a mail-order flower business and that faced with this unfortunate reality that ProFlowers did the right thing in this instance by refunding the OP's money.
Wow I'm sad to hear this. I've order from ProFlowers for years (we get a discount through work) for all sorts of occasions and they've always delivered great flowers in the north west. Sometimes really amazing flowers after they blossom. I have noticed that recently they've started including a lot more moisture in the packages and double wrapped the flowers so maybe they're learning.
Go with FTD...you'll never have a problem.
@PinkBox: That's either the delivery person's fault, or the buyer's fault for entering the wrong information. Seems in no way, shape, or form at all the fault of the flower company...
This is why I don't use online flower purchasing anymore and go to my local flower shop. It helps the local economy too. Give a budget and basic flowers and colors and they'll use their FTD network. It hasn't failed yet. On the other and, Proflowers was the last straw for me when my mother's flowers arrive DOA.
@theczardictates: This.
Not everything is a big political conspiracy. Not everything is political. Sometimes a company just sucks.
And for the record, while I'm no fan of the GOP, I have to respect any man who goes on TV (even if it's only his voice) and announces, "I'm Rupert Murdoch, the billionaire tyrant!"
@wildhare: When my (now) husband was in England, waiting for his fiance visa to be processed, he sent me flowers using TeleFlora for birthdays, anniversaries, etc. he missed by being 3000 miles away. They always came from a local florist and were beautiful. I cannot recommend them enough.
@wildhare: Teleflora is reliable, but you have to be more concerned about the florist that is actually going to fill the order. Teleflora is basically a wire service; they don't arrange or send the flowers themselves.
I just placed an order through bloomex.ca and before hitting "confirm", called my father to ensure my mom would be home to receive her flowers. He told me to cancel the order and call a local florist so he could just pick the flowers up himself. When I attempted to go back to change the order, the website instead "confirmed" my order and charged my credit card. When I tried to call or use the online help, guess what? Nothing. Just a pre-recorded message saying NO changes can be done before Mother's Day. So much for customer service.
I've ordered from Pro-flowers several times before and they've always been great. Although they recently delivered the Gardenia plant for my mother-in-law with no buds, their Customer service was very quick in responding to my complaint email and offered to reship a new plant right away. So even though I was disappointed with the first delivery, I'm impressed with their level of customer service.
I've been ordering from Proflowers since 1999, about 2 or 3 arrangements every year. I've only had excellent service and perfect pre-bloom flowers every time.
They tend to last much longer than the "money-back guaranteed" 7 days as well.
One of the "gotchas" with their next day service is that the flowers do not come from local growers (as with their 2-day flowers.) Instead they are similar to the Teleflora service where an order is called in to a local florist for delivery.
My experience in dealing with florists in the city where the flowers are to be delivered has been disappointing. Either they wilt after a few days or the quality of the arrangement is poor.
Last time we visited my husband's mother in California, I made it a point to check out the local florists. I got tired of dealing with the national florists. I even visited one florist in person!
Next time we send flowers to my mother-in-law, I'll call them directly.
@wildhare: We used Teleflora this Christmas and both recipients were happy (but maybe they were just being polite? You never can tell when you're 3500 miles way).
Anyway, watch out for mark-up. If you use the Teleflora site, you'll get a completely different price than local florists with Teleflora affiliate sites. I *think* it's all fulfilled the same, but flowers on the affiliate site fluctuated in price by +/- 10-20%.
@miss_roxxan: I always find a florist in the recipient's city, usually by just searching the net and finding one that's NOT affiliated with those nationwide companies that send out those blah-looking or cutesy arrangements but that's a little more artsy. Set your price, give them a little description of what you want and don't want, and you're done. Usually everything can be done online.
What do you expect when you mail-order flowers? I ordered my mother flowers for mother's day from a local florist. They hand delivered them on time, are arranged well, and are fresh.