consumer complaint and "heart shaped" design

Rhonda

Rhonda

Well-Known Member
Nov 1, 2002
5,925
2,788
113
124
Millinocket
www.millinocketflorist.com
State / Prov
Maine
One of the replies to a complaint forum was in regards to an order that included roses in the shape of a heart inside a design. The consumer complained because the filling shop shorted the rose # and the consumer couldn't understand the "lame excuse" that roses cost more at Valentine's Day and had to use less roses to fill the order. Now I know I can make a heart shape of roses inside a design of other flowers with probably 6 roses but would love to know what OG or WS showcased such a design. We talk about problems waiting to happen with pricing, flower varieties etc, but this problem could have been avoided totally by not showcasing such a design as it was. Would anyone of you feel comfortable sending such a stylized design (rose heart in center) out of town ?? for a holiday such as Valentine's Day? I wouldn't - especially without speaking directly with a filling florist. Again this is disaster waiting to happen (as well as bad PR for florists)
 
I saw one, I think it was on FTD.coN. Looked to be at least 12 roses... can't find it now, they must have taken it down after the holiday.
 
These days I'm not comfortable promising anything anywhere! That is typical of the WS though. Show something high labor for not enough money at the holidays and let us deal with the fall out. Did I say us? now that I'm wire free I don't have to deal with any of that!
 
  • Like
Reactions: CHR, Kristine, marie g bushnell and 1 other person
$44.95?? wow!
I did two designs heart shaped with a dozen roses but used a deco wire frame to hold the roses in place in a cylinder vase. Not sure if I have a good pic - and charged $60 for them (a special order for a good customer). I know this picture doesn't really show the heart shape good because it's too low a shot
 

Attachments

  • 100_1696.JPG
    100_1696.JPG
    59.9 KB · Views: 47
  • Like
Reactions: anytimeflowers
That teleflora heart has a description of 10 red velvety roses. I counted 9 and maybe 1 spray rose with about 6 blooms on it and of course they are all blown open to fill the space.
 
marie g bushnell said:
That teleflora heart has a description of 10 red velvety roses. I counted 9 and maybe 1 spray rose with about 6 blooms on it and of course they are all blown open to fill the space.
Click to expand...

10th rose is in very center surrounded by sprays - and yes all blown to fill the space.
 
We did several of those TF bouquets last year. The as shown was originally carnations, with the delux being roses. Unless you looked at the delux you didn't know it went from carnations to roses. Well we didn't look and of course got a complaint, which we fixed. This year I just took it off our site and never had an order for it.
 
Rhonda- I've only seen one complaint about a TF flower-shaped arrangement and that wasn't a 'shorting' situation, just an 'unarranged' complaint... can you direct me to the complaint so I can help the person if it was one of ours?

And yes, Suzanne (Seasonals) is right, we offer a heart-shaped arrangement with carns surrounded by babys breath as the basic or an upgrade to fill with roses. I've heard we keep that one (which is VERY far from my personal style, so I can't say I like it) because it gets a high volume of orders, so people respond to it and like it.

Hope that helps!
 
Sorry Nicole, can't remember where I saw it but it was a "complaint" thread here after VD - the threads about consumer complaints and sites they post their complaints on? (I'll look)

Found it here second one down (date 2/16 by Brad?)
 
I only had two orders for this TF design. Funny thing was, one of the customers, when he was ordering it, asked if it looked too much like a sympathy design. Of course, I said No (I really didn't think so). When one of my designers was making one, she said "Sorry, but this looks like a funeral piece". That cracked me up! So maybe, the customer was right!?!
 
Sorry Nicole......Joan is right.....That design is a disaster waiting to happen. First of all, to get the angle of roses displayed in the picture..you have to put the stems into the foam at a slant.......In a tall vase at that......the roses are severely limited in their water uptake.

I have done several heart designs over the years........The most successful and the best selling was the 9 inch mache heart form from Smithers.....with 12 roses, waxflower, galax, and two lovebirds in the form itself......i take and glue the form before soaking to a mirror base ..... take a 12 inch square mirror and use a glass cutter to shape the heart form.......put a grouping of low candles in the middle of the heart design.

Much more romantic in feeling......much more easier to execute......and much more easier to deliver.
 
  • Like
Reactions: anytimeflowers and CHR
I can't stand this arrangement, but believe it or not, we have gotten tons of orders for them this Valentine's Day as well as last. We've never received an order for the upgraded one, but the carnation one is popular in our area - I will never understand why. :)
 
There is no way I will put another florist through the agony of creating a complicated arrangement for Valentine's day. If I find
an order is too complicated and not enough money, I right away reject it so the florist has time to send it to someone else.
I also try and talk the customers out of ordering such an arrangement and explain why and most of the time they understand
and go with a more simpler suggestion.
 
ah so right & the person working for tf does not have a clue what we go through or for that matter they could care less! they get to sit in their office & dictate to us, like we are little peons (spelling?) telling us what we ought to be doing. I know i have a bad attitude about all of this. I need to make some changes, soon!
 
This arrangement is so not complicated, but it definately isn't something in your cooler ready to go at peak times, unless it might be something that you are planning on promoting....People do like them, but the price is a bit small for the design, where it does take more thought than a chop and drop and not all shops have staff on hand that has the ability to make this, I mean some designers take 25 min just to make a simple vase, this might throw them for a loop....
 
NicoleAtTF said:
Rhonda-
And yes, Suzanne (Seasonals) is right, we offer a heart-shaped arrangement with carns surrounded by babys breath as the basic or an upgrade to fill with roses. I've heard we keep that one (which is VERY far from my personal style, so I can't say I like it) because it gets a high volume of orders, so people respond to it and like it.
Click to expand...

Our designers HATED it initially because it's kinda hard to get the shape right. Once they mastered it, they had good results. Sells well enough that we had it as a standard (we made several and put them on the shelf) for VDay

Bill
 
  • Like
Reactions: anytimeflowers
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top Bottom
Back