Bad Fairy of FTD Photoshop Strikes!!!

[anytimeflowers]

So earlier in the week, a man brings in an image that he wants made. He didn't know where the image came from, nor did he know how much it should be. I made sure to point out that the roses shown are miniature roses, that's why there are so many of them in such a small design. So, we made a guess at $40, he took his picture and left.

I ordered the yellow sprays and burg minis special for this order. He picked it up last night, said it was great, I even asked him if it looked like the picture and he said yes.

Here is a picture of the one I did for him. I am not re-touching or even lightening it.


His wife marches in this morning while I was waiting on somebody else and announces she is not satisfied at all with what she got. She wants standard roses. She whipped out a different page, this one from the FTD page as shown below. It's way too small, she was planning on having it on her dining room table and hovered her hand in the air about a foot above the design. I finished with the other customer in complete embarassment and then got down to her education.

Here is a screen shot of the page, or you can go to the web site here.


Remember, I was going from memory because I had no idea where the image came from, I REALLY should have known.

Anyway, it took at least a half hour of educating, AND POINTING OUT that although MY version was 10" tall, the description says 7" which we looked at on the measuring tape.

She chose something she liked very much out of my cooler at the same price, and which is featured on MY website.

Whew, that photo-shop fairy is a bad fairy.

 

[OB1]

And, for what it is worth, by my calculation, you were generous with the first arrangement.
Great job in helping to make her satisfied!!
And a curse on her for returning her thoughtful husband's gift in the first place.
Honestly...
JP

 

[CHR]

That deserves a blog post! We all fight the spray roses perception issues - daily.

 

[lori042499]

I think you did a fabulous job, your arrangement would look just like the picture in 5 days just before it starts to wilt and die.....I love when they call and say whta they saw was so much bigger and blah blah, then when you mesure it in front of them low and behold yours in bigger than what the pictures dimentions are....people I will say this until the day I die, the web is ruining the industry....there is too much room for bad photoshopping, deceptivity and interpretation....

 

[BOSS]

Anyway, it took at least a half hour of educating, AND POINTING OUT that although MY version was 10" tall, the description says 7" which we looked at on the measuring tape.

Careful there...from what I'm led to believe, CONsumers do not want to be educated.....

 

[Mikey the Flower Guy]

you KNOW....I "might" have "marched" her right back OUT again.......that kind of ignorant stunt has NO business being dealt with, until little miss ignorant hissyfit cools off!

 

[Kristine]

I had that same thing with some FDS autumn grandeur, when you looked at the picture it LOOKS all around, then when you count the stems they are all on one side.

PLus the description says seeded euc and hypericum berries which are no where to be found in the picture, just some salal and luec.

after some education and a realistic price adjustment we did it as a hand tied bridal bouquet. It did turn our beautiful. will post the pic monday as the wedding is today.

 

[lori042499]

I had that same thing with some FDS autumn grandeur, when you looked at the picture it LOOKS all around, then when you count the stems they are all on one side.

PLus the description says seeded euc and hypericum berries which are no where to be found in the picture, just some salal and luec.


after some education and a realistic price adjustment we did it as a hand tied bridal bouquet. It did turn our beautiful. will post the pic monday as the wedding is today.

Nice maybe FTD should be alerted of their faux pas on the discrepancy on the hypericum and sedded euch, because there really is none to be found...now I wonder what consumers think when we have to up the price, do they believe us when we tell them that the arrangemenst at these companies are intentionally made one sided and we have to add to the back to make it look good in real life, or do they just think we are gougeing them for more money....

 

[Sarah Jane]

Careful there...from what I'm led to believe, CONsumers do not want to be educated.....

My consumers love being educated. They are hungry for information on everything. I must have a bunch of weird customers. Organic buying outliers or something...

 

[Tuberose]

PLus the description says seeded euc and hypericum berries which are no where to be found in the picture, just some salal and luec.

We have similar issues with the Teleflora designs and recipes, all the time in fact, do you make it to the picture or to the recipe? If I know it was ordered off TF.com, I will try to get closer to what the picture has in it since that's what the customer ordered.

 

[theRKF]

Maybe I missed it ... that's entirely possible ... but where does the Photoshop come into play?

It's one thing if the design doesn't match the description, but have they actually altered the image?

 

[Rhonda]

Always tell them - Second Choice?? As close as possible.... nuff said......

 

[lori042499]

Maybe I missed it ... that's entirely possible ... but where does the Photoshop come into play?

It's one thing if the design doesn't match the description, but have they actually altered the image?

I would belive that they did Ryan...It is simply an impossibility by the nature of most flowers to have each and every flower 100% opened on every stem especially with things like lilies, spray roses, mini carns etc....These companies are notorious for "filling in" with extra singular bloom pictures to make an arrangement fuller than it can be in real life...The angles the flower heads are at isn't natural and cannot be reproduced and have the flower take up water, so again the flower is repositioned to suit the picture wether it be designed not really in water or digital blooms added in over originals to get a better face first angle...at any rate, the arrangement never will look like the picture because it is a virtual impossibility from a design and natural standpoint!

 

[BOSS]

at any rate, the arrangement never will look like the picture because it is a virtual impossibility from a design and natural standpoint!

What... you don't want to buy 3 bunches of Asiatics to get 3 perfectly open stems?

 

[lori042499]

What... you don't want to buy 3 bunches of Asiatics to get 3 perfectly open stems?

It isn't that at all, I'll buy what I have to to make an arrangement, but to use asiatics with three fully open buds I would get a complaint because in my opinion that flower is ready for the compost in about 6 hours...That bottom bloom is almost dead at that point, and spray roses, they don't last that long to begin with, if you uses them all open like they show they are dead in hours or at least falling apart...
now I do use some flowers in their open stage, just because most people do want something that is a bit further along as to wow them at the moment received...there is nothing worse than getting a whole vase of premature flowers, they always look a tad sad, irises are one, alstro another, lilies is the third, these all look very sad in an arrangement when sent out too premature...they last but are sad for many days, and depending on how they are taken care of, my biggest concern is bacteria is allowed to build up over the next 3-4 days killing the flowers before they even open...very very sad..