Just like so many, I had the unfortunate experience of placing an order with Bloomex before reading the numerous complaints about their delivery service, products and customer services on message boards. And like so many, I paid for it literally and figuratively.
Here's my experience with Bloomex. I'll warn you now that it's lengthy, but I believe that it's still worth a read since it may save you time and money in the future.
I decided to order Valentine's Day flowers for my girlfriend. I ordered them 6 days before Valentine's Day and paid the extra delivery charge to have them delivered in the morning (9am-12pm) so that I could surprise my girlfriend while she was working.
Well 1 o'clock rolled around and she received nothing. So I tracked the shipment of the flowers on-line and discovered that they were delivered on the 13th, which is absolutely useless and pretty much sucks the meaning out of flowers for Valentine's Day. This is in addition to ruining my attempts to give my girlfriend a nice surprise. Just to clarify, she did eventually get the flowers once I called her and had asked her to check with the office if there were flowers there waiting for her from the 13th.
In response to this error, I tried calling and emailing Bloomex several times to find out what had happened and why, and to discuss compensation for the entire delivery charge. Since Bloomex cares nothing for its customers after receiving their money (this is my opinion based on what I experienced with Bloomex), I heard no response. This, in my view, is a gutless act on their part. So as a last resort I decided to use that "on-line chat with a representative" service that Bloomex offers. If your not disgusted with the actions of this company at this point then keep reading because this is where the stench intensifies.
I told the online representative what my problem was. She told me that she would refund me the difference between the premium delivery charge and the regular delivery charge. My response was that I felt entitled to the full reimbursement of the delivery charge. The representative then countered with the excuse that because Valentine's Day is busy, my order was sent early and she told me I can't receive the full delivery refund. So basically Bloomex will take your money even though they seemingly can't accurately handle large volumes of deliveries (This is what I call incompetence and is again my opinion). She also added that the delivery and return policy of Bloomex (as of February 8 on their website) states that it does not guarantee delivery of orders on the date specified by the customer (this is in my opinion another great attribute of this company). I replied that this is incorrect in relation to my specific problem and that their policy does not address my problem. So I asked her to show me where the policy states this. At this point she proceeds to use capitalized font, I guess to indicate to me that she was upset. She tells me that she has read the policy thousands of times (I read it numerous times too) and asked me to tell her where in the policy it says that Bloomex guarantees delivery on the customer's specified date? [well here is a guarantee that I found on the bloomex website (http://bloomex.ca/index.php? Option=com_frontpage&Itemid=1): "Since we do 87% of all orders at company owned facilities, we employ the same standards for flower freshness, design, packaging and delivery. The quality and accuracy are quaranteed no matter where your order is going to Hull, Quebec or Hamilton, Ontario."] So basically her position is that because Bloomex does not state in writing that it guarantees delivery on the specified date - that I am suppose to assume that they don't guarantee delivery on the specified date under every possible situation imaginable. This position is vague because inffered policy (policy not writen) is, in my opinion, open to customer intrepretation under reasonable circumstances. I began to try and explain my position on this issue and before I could finish she told me this (my complaint) was pointless and then ended the conversation. Since I couldnt finish my explanation, I will state it now.
The delivery and return policy of Bloomex (as I understood it, you should read it for yourself as well) states that it does not gurantee delivery (early or regular delivery) on the date specified under the following conditions. 1) "Acts of God" such as bad weather. 2) Incorrect mailing address of recipient. 3) Recipient is not present. 4) Company that recipient works for won't accept the order. 5) If you order less than 24 hours prior to the delivery date. 6) Order substitution or information change to the account not made within 24 hours of delivery date. 7) If you live outside of any of their production facilities. And that's it.
Well none of this applies to my problem. I adhered to all of their stipulations. No where did the Bloomex policy state that on busy days of the year (and if you satisfied the criteria above), that it does not gurantee orders to be delivered on the date specified by the customer. What's even more hilarious is that I see the phrase, "shipments will be delivered by 5pm or noon (depending on which delivery you choose) on the specified date", several times in their policy. So I naturally assumed that they would deliver the flowers I ordered on the date I specified and paid for. I thought this was a reasonable assumption, I guess not in retrospect.
Now recall that I believed their policy to be vague because I had to make inferences about their policy, at least in my situation and I think in other customer's situations too. Well in regards to this, here is an excerpt about consumer rights from the Ministry of Small Business and Consumer Services of Ontario (http://www.gov. On.ca/mgs/en/ConsProt/STEL02_045905.html): " Contracts must be prominent, clear and comprehensible
Vague language is discouraged in contracts. All required information must be clear, prominent and easy to understand. If there is a dispute over unclear language, the law requires that it be interpreted in favour of the consumer".in my opinion, policies are essentially contracts and I am thus entitled to recoup my delivery charge in full based on their error.
To Customers Reading This:
I know this was long and for that I apologize again. I also would like to apologize for using the phrase, "in my opinion", so excessively. I just want to make it clear that I am not slandering bloomex, I am only stating my views about them based on my experience with their service. I also only wanted to offer future potential patrons of Bloomex a fair vantage point about this company through my experience. And I wanted a chance to explain myself since I did not get this opportunity from Bloomex. Hopefully I wrote clearly enough.
To Bloomex:
Thank you for all your time and care concerning my customer service needs (this is where you should read between the lines by the way). And congratulations on, in my opinion, violating my rights.
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