Earlier today, we highlighted the feat of globalization that brings millions of red roses to our doorsteps on one specific date. Unfortunately, mid-February this year is a time of bitterly cold temperatures in much of the country. Cool temperatures preserve cut flowers, but cold temperatures can destroy cut flowers and kill live plants. That’s why this Valentine’s Day hasn’t been so great for the national flower-delivery brands.

While we can’t tap their phones to find out what customers who call them up have to say, customers of wire service florists generally have had good luck using Twitter to get customer support. Let’s see how that’s working out for them.

While it’s tempting to compare website catalog photos with the actual flowers that arrive, that’s not quite fair: because photos are staged with all flowers facing the camera, it’s impossible for a three-dimensional arrangement to measure up.

1-800-Flowers apparently had some trouble getting hold of red roses this year.

When they got roses, they didn’t always arrive in good condition.

Live plants are a lovely gift…unless they aren’t so live.

https://twitter.com/bulldogev/status/566976559417151489

No flowers to show off here:

@1800flowers your customer service is worse than your flower delivery service. http://t.co/mpKhwxeADp—
Jayson (@DashThree) February 16, 2015

It wasn’t all bad…assuming that these lilies actually open, this arrangement is pretty close to what was ordered.

1-800-Flowers has an especially active Twitter presence, though. Let’s see what’s going on at the other national flower wire services. FTD, for example, encourages people to post pictures with the hashtag #myFTDflowers.

What I order on right what my wife received…. Really poor quality very dissatisfied @ftdflowers #ftdfail http://t.co/tdOpisb2p2—
mikel uknowdarest (@mikeluvsL1fe) February 16, 2015

Sure, they specify that this arrangement arrives as buds, but I kind of doubt these buds are going to open.

https://twitter.com/GrantF330/status/567450153901383680

https://twitter.com/anita_oh/status/567389815055089664

https://twitter.com/nannyneedswine/status/567369004386619393

https://twitter.com/TrishaB6/status/567436353537708032

Proflowers ships their bouquets to the recipient, but the other national brands route orders to local florists who may not even make any money on the deal.

If you’re a regular Consumerist reader, you should have followed our guide to finding a high-quality local florist, and you most likely didn’t have any floral disasters. Maybe your partner doesn’t read Consumerist, or you missed that article, or some other mixup or disaster happened: if you experienced a floral disaster, send it to us for our annual Valentine’s Day Garden of Discontent roundup. Send your pictures to tips@consumerist.com and put “FLOWER FAIL” in the subject line to get our attention.

(Thanks to Mashable for bringing this to our attention.)

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