After a coworker’s mother passed away, J’s officemates chipped in to buy a very large, very pretty flower arrangement for the viewing. It cost around $200. While delivery and overhead are substantial in the flower industry, they didn’t expect to find that this pitiful thing had been sent in place of the massive arrangement they ordered.

J wrote to Consumerist:

A coworker’s mother passed away, and several coworkers chipped in to buy a fairly substantial flower arrangement for the viewing (to the tune of $200). The flowers as promised–white and cream roses with seeded eucalyptus, and there are 48 roses in the photo; the arrangement is also specified to be about 25″ wide.

What was delivered (attached): a dozen white roses with some fern and a baby-blue ribbon.

Of course, we thought that this must be someone else’s contribution and theirs must not have arrived–and talking to a Teleflora rep said they would make sure that a replacement arrangement would arrive for the service the next day. However, the next day they found out that that was in fact their promised arrangement and no substitute would be made.

So I guess $200 will buy you a dozen roses, but no sympathy. Now they’re trying to at least get their money back.

“This is a non-story, Consumerist,” I can hear you saying at home. “It’s their fault. They just ordered the cheapest, scaled-down version of the arrangement, and didn’t realize it.” Nope: the Bountiful Rose Basket comes in only one size. Did the local florist who put this together for Teleflora just assume that the sender wasn’t attending the funeral and would never see the flowers anyway?

This is a pretty good case for a chargeback. When you get the money back, donate it to a charity that was meaningful to the deceased.

Want more consumer news? Visit our parent organization, Consumer Reports, for the latest on scams, recalls, and other consumer issues.