It’s not a major flower-giving holiday here at The Consumerist without an installment of the Garden of Discontent. Laura (not me, a different one) sent along this disappointing diptych of the lush bouquet that she ordered for her mom from FTD.com and the meager handful of plant matter that was actually delivered, a day late.

Monday, May 7th I placed an order through FTD for a particular bouquet my mother wanted, the “Spring Garden deluxe bouquet.” I upgraded to deluxe from the regular version, which was about $20 more than the regular one. They were scheduled to deliver Friday, so my mother waited patiently at home on Friday for flowers that never came. FTD told me when I called around 5pm that the flowers can show as late as 9pm, especially on a holiday. So I decided to keep calm for a few hours.

At 9pm, my mother let me know that no flowers had come to the door. I called FTD back and they informed me that the florist was closed for the day and I would just have to call back in the morning. When I called again in the morning, the woman with her heavy accent assured me that flowers “will be delivered today (Saturday).” When I asked her why they basically ignored my mother on the day of delivery, they said nothing other than “I can assure you flowers are coming today” and repeated the “Can I help you with anything else” line, so that call ended.

My mother called me at 6pm and let me know that the flowers had arrived. She said “The delivery man told me that the order was misplaced and that he couldn’t find the house.” I could understand that if my mother lived out in the middle of nowhere, but she lives in a busy, well-known subdivision. Also, nobody ever called either phone number to let us know there was a problem. My mother told me that one of the roses was wilted and dying upon arrival. I had her take the attached photo.

FTD told me that they could do nothing, that they were sorry for my inconvenience and they could not issue me a credit, refund or any such thing. I told her that I hoped they enjoyed my chargeback.

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