I used fiftyflowers.com for my June 26 wedding. Although my experience with every other vendor was extremely positive, fiftyflowers.com stood out for its horrible customer service and disappointing product.
I ordered 72 of what fiftyflowers.com called "Blush Garden Roses." I also ordered standard roses. However, garden roses were supposed to be the center of my floral arrangements.
Two days before the flowers were to arrive, I got a call from fiftyflowers.com telling me that they were replacing two of my flower orders (I ordered 1 variety of garden roses, 3 varieties of standard roses) were being replaced. They proposed ORANGE and WHITE standard roses in place of what I had ordered (blush, cream, and pale peach). I told them this was totally unacceptable — my wedding colors were absolutely not orange and white. After a full day of battling customer service on the phone when I should have been relaxing and preparing for my big day, they FINALLY obliged my request that they either provide a 100% refund (so I could RUN to a local florist and get a replacement with the money) or give me roses in the colors I requested. Replacements of similar colors were found, and we were on for June 26.
Then the flowers arrived. They all looked identical. There was NO difference between any. But 72 of the roses were supposed to be the significantly more expensive "garden roses." I paid a large premium to have these large, lush, peony-like flowers. Too bad I never saw them. Customer service repeatedly assured me that the garden roses would become evident by their opening. I waited the suggested time and called back the day before my wedding. They still promised garden roses were delivered. Finally, after my rehearsal dinner, the flowers still had not opened. I called one more time, but at this point was helpless – it was 11pm the night before my wedding day. FORTUNATELY my brilliant mother saw an episode of Martha Stewart where she froze peonies mid-bloom and later placed them in room-temperature water to open. My mother (who is an experienced gardener) secretly did this after seeing the horrible fiftyflowers.com roses (she didn’t tell me because she was still hoping for the best and didn’t want to alarm me). Well, they opened, and opened beautifully. And THAT is what I carried with me on my wedding day, and put the supposed “garden roses” with the rest of their identical standard roses in my bridesmaid bouquets. Had my mom not done this, I would have been not only swindled out of my money but also carrying a bridesmaid bouquet as a bride.
And then it actually gets worse. Fiftyflowers.com left a voicemail on my parent’s machine the day after my wedding, returning my call. It said they needed photos before they would proceed. So instead of just getting ready to go on my honeymoon I was gathering all the photos we took of the flowers (we took a lot to document our “getting ready” for the wedding). I spent the day after my wedding emailing these to fiftyflowers.com. Then, on my HONEYMOON they begin arguing with me that even though the flowers in the photos looked just like standard roses, I must have somehow missed seeing the 72 garden roses because they were certain in their documentation that the correct order arrived. Ha. Yes, the customer service rep said the photos I sent were all of standard roses (they admitted it!) and that I somehow didn’t know what a garden rose looked like and didn’t take photos of the ones that arrived. Nope, those were photos of what they CALLED “garden roses.” And they couldn’t tell the difference themselves between those and standard roses.
Well, not only did I have proof, witnesses, and my repeated calls, I am not an idiot. I saw the pictures on their website. I know that a garden rose should not be identical to a standard rose. And even if the roses they sent me were garden roses in some sort of technical scientific way, the LOOKED exactly like standard roses and therefore would be the lowest-quality garden roses I have ever seen. Their customer service was more concerned with being right than helping me. I never even got an apology acknowledging their mistake. A $100 premium to buy “garden” roses over the regular cost of “standard” roses is absolutely meaningless. I spent the first three days of my honeymoon exchanging emails with a bickering customer service rep. Then I decided to let it go and enjoy myself. That was a fabulous decision, unlike choosing fiftyflowers.com to provide my wedding flowers. If you care about getting what you actually ordered, and, more importantly, being treated like a person, avoid them at all costs.
In closing, here’s text from our final exchange: “I am afraid is not possible you received standard roses from them and we cannot process any compensation for this matter.”
Helpful.
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