FTD Bites
So I ordered flowers for Bitchy Mom back in January through FTD. Go local, people. Damn, I wish I had.
They are refusing to take phone calls today. They won’t follow up on email requests about orders. They won’t talk to you at all if your flowers weren’t delivered. No, it shouldn’t have been due to weather since that part of state seems to have been spared. When I checked closings and delays, nothing was a problem for her area. (Unlike here where most florists admitted they wouldn’t be delivering much, if anything, today. They say tomorrow will be better, but since the mush that’s left from today will be a solid block of ice tomorrow with our temps in the teens and unplowed roads, should be fun to see how they do that. I imagine a lot of half dead flowers will be delivered on Friday.)
Anyway, FTD keeps “apologizing” with automated messages that they won’t be serving customers today. Not due to weather, but due to volume. There’s no option for holding forever, simply being disconnected. I’m stubborn, I would have held for at least 10 minutes. But no…
Even though I waited until after they stopped business delivery and I tried not to bug them this morning, FTD screwed me over and I can’t even get a response as to why. So much for priority for early ordering. So much for priority for using one of their partner promotions. I have learned my lesson and will be going to someone local who will, ideally, answer the f*cking phone.
UPDATE: After several more hours of trying to reach FTD without luck, I decided to go to American Express, the card on which the flowers were billed and the partner in the promotion back in January. They couldn’t believe all of the phone numbers into FTD were essentially shut down and disconnecting people. (I found several other horror stories on Technorati. Anyone know why flowers in Phoenix would be delayed? One person said they blamed it on weather when he got through earlier today. It appears to have been pretty nice there.) Anyway, now American Express is putting in an inquiry as to why services weren’t provided. The charges have been suspended until FTD gives an answer.
UPDATE II: In my search for more information on the delivery problems since I’m now getting traffic for other people looking for similar problems today, I found this post. Over half of the bouquet was missing. Part of what was delivered was already dead. What wasn’t dead was dry and pathetic looking. And all they said was that it was a mistake? Wow. That’s low. Now I’m feeling bad for sending the flowers to my mom. But at least she didn’t have to look at dead ones.
No obviously related posts.
Same experience- I ordered flowers for my wife on monday, to arrive today. According to their web site, DHL hasn’t even received the item for shipping yet. This was for a “guaranteed” delivery today.
Emails I sent were not responded to, and when I call their 800# I get told that they’re too busy for me and disconnect.
My wife will be home any minute and I can’t possibly begin to apologize enough.
Never, ever, ever again with FTD. They should be ashamed…
Phoenix is experiencing wind chills of 65. Possibly their deliverymen were worried about skin cancer and sun exposure. The florist I went to here in Tucson was of course busy, but had more roses in stock than I’ve seen in one place, so there are no local shortages.
I have been using 1800-flowers for several years now. I ordered online on Monday, the site was honest and wouldn’t let me schedule for delivery earlier than Thurs. They have always delivered on time. Even in Chicago area. Last year I had a friend visiting and he had forgotten to send something for his mom’s birthday. He ordered in the am and they delivered next day. I stopped using FTD when a high school friend that became a florist stopped being part of their network.
With service like this, those anti-trust accusations against FTD should be a thing of the past.
I had a similar experience. I won’t use FTD again.
The Nightmare Before Valentines Day…
How is FTD like a sewerhole in hell? Let me count the ways….
I never got a response to my customer service email beyond the automatic “we’re looking into the matter”. Called them and they refused to grant a refund since, after all, the flowers WERE delivered the day after Valentine’s Day. Wow, maybe they can explain to the person I sent them to why they should be happy getting flowers the day after vday?! Now they’re spamming me with 20+ delivery confirmation emails. I filed a BBB complaint and will be calling my CC company shortly.
As a “Real Florist” I myself and many of my counterparts across North America are truly sorry for the experience of many thousands of consumers, that suffered at the hands of FTD.
Know that many florists did as well. You can read more about the whole debacle at http://realflorists.flowerchat.com
I had enough of FTD this valentines day, and work was a little slow, so I took my anger out by starting this little web site: http://dontuseftd.com. My whole story is there and many others too!