Every year, after the major flower-giving holidays, readers send us photos of what they ordered and what they actually received. It’s a dismaying scene, and what we really want is to never publish another of these features again. That’s why we’re sharing what we’ve learned about the flower business from readers and from florists in the 10 years that Consumerist has been around. [More]
local florists
Valentine’s Day Aftermath: Floral Disaster And Floral Delight
By 2.17.15
Valentine’s Day isn’t the biggest flower-sending holiday on the calendar. That would be Mothers’ Day. It remains an important flower-giving holiday, though, and one during which florists need to obtain massive quantities of red roses. Here’s one flower delivery that went terribly wrong, and one that turned out beautifully. [More]
How To Amaze Your Valentine Without Screwing Over Your Local Florist
By 2.9.15
Shopping online is simple: you see a picture of the thing that you want to buy, click on it, type in your credit card, and then that thing arrives on your doorstep or the doorstep of your gift recipient. This simplicity falls apart when it comes to ordering flowers online, which leads to plenty of disappointment. Here’s how to avoid that. [More]
Mom Gets Lots Of Carnations And Ferns, Not The Arrangement I Ordered
By 5.14.14
Don’t let the huge photo below fool you: the flowers that Jason sent to his mom for Mothers’ Day were much smaller than they were supposed to be. He paid extra for a huge arrangement, and what showed up wasn’t what he saw on the website. Is everything really smaller in real life than on catalog pages, or did the florist short Jason’s mom some blooms? [More]
This Basket Of Flowers Is Okay, But Not What I Ordered
By 4.22.14
Someone Cathy is close to is in the hospital with a shattered femur, which sounds extremely unpleasant. To cheer this person up, cathy sent some flowers through FTD. The flowers are pretty enough, but Cathy doesn’t think they’re what she ordered. [More]
This Year’s Mother’s Day Garden of Discontent Is Wonderfully Small
By 5.13.13
A few weeks ago, we asked our readers not to send us any Mother’s Day floral disasters. That’s because you weren’t going to have any floral disasters. Reader R. really did her best: she located a florist near her mom’s home, placed her order directly with them, and even discussed it with the shop. She was still disappointed with the end result––though her mom probably loved it, because that’s how moms are. [More]
Florists Hate FTD And Teleflora Even More Than Disappointed Girlfriends Do
By 2.15.13
As a customer, you see ads from the ancient florist wire services like FTD and Teleflora. Readers write in and complain to us about those specific brands, since that’s the website they visit and the brand name that’s familiar. When you order up some flowers, though, that’s not who brings them to your door. It’s locally-owned florists, small business owners, who actually arrange and deliver your gifts. They might receive orders from the wire services, but often earn no profit or even take a loss on putting it together. [More]
Make Sure That Local Florist You Found On Google Really Is Local
By 2.11.13
Let’s say that you want to order some flowers for your aunt in Omaha. You remember the frequent warnings on this site to go directly to a local florist, so that’s what you do. You type “florist omaha” into Google, scroll past the paid listings and the ones Google has plotted on a map, and choose a shop with a nice-looking website. Perfect! Only this “local” florist isn’t so local. You tried to make the right choice, but are hurting the very neighborhood flower shop you were trying to patronize when you typed those words in Google. [More]
