Customer complaints re:Non Delivery on a W/O

[MANORVILLE]

What happens if :

Sent an order out on Dec 8th for a good friend and client.
Real important as he was in the doghouse and was going away for 5 weeks or so.
Order was to the recipient C/O so and So Hospital, Room 333.
Vip'd the heck out of the special instructions and sent it to a very, very, very large shop.

Customer comes in the other day to say the order was never received.
I of course had confirmation and time, but no signature.

Message the shop, explaining the situation, and asking if they could be more specific. Keep in mind, delivery made and time noted but no signature was offered to me.

Shop reponds that an employee, first and last name, signed for it at the front desk and confirmed the room number. Goes on to say that the hospital is responsible for the delivery at that point.

I message back with a thank you for the quick response.

Client returns and is now really upset and of course I, in true form, have to bite the bullet. Client says hospital delivery policy is for the driver to sign in, verify the room and make the delivery.

I send out another message to the shop explaining the new devopments and check the fine print regarding delivery policy.
The part about third party deliveries stand out in my mind.
I further explain that the client could potentially make a big deal out of it and ask if there is anything we can doto make it right.

Shop reponds that they must follow hospital policy and since I provided no distinction as to whether it was an employee or patient, no dept. or room #,
it was my fault. ( Keep in mind I sent the order and it was crystal clear ).
Then they say that maybe the hospital didn't try hard enough to give to the recipient because they, the staff, did not know where to go. They finish with,,,,as you know, it's quite a large hospital. " Sorry, not much help ! "

:hammer:
Now I'm gettin agitated as the minutes pass. Just what the heck is the true story on this delivery. Obviously, whomever is messaging me doesn't realize that they're digging a grave for themselves.

I call the hospital and verify delivery policy.
Driver delivers to all but ICU. DUH !

Message the shop and ask who I'm communicating with & if anyone ever, including today looked at the order.
Asked again ( Nicely )what could be done as Third Party deliveries are not acceptable and are the responsibility of the filling shop, not the sender ?


Bottom line is I don't think it ever got delivered and now ....Silence !

Thoughts and opinions ?

How is this my responsibility and why should I take a hit financially and to our reputation ?

Hmmmmmm

 

[lori042499]

Working in a large city and delivery to large hospitals I know a bit about this....IMHO it is the receiving shops responsibility to get those flowers to the room. If they choose to leave it in the flower room for the volunteers to bring it up, that is their choice and must make ammends if the flowers do not make it to their final destination. Some hospitals do have rules against flower deliveries being taken up by third party, but these hospitals usually also take responsibility for that arrangement to be paid for if it does not make it. Even that would be up to the delivering shop to deal with. I have dealt with all of these scenarios in the past and it was always up to us to give a credit or redeliver to the house and then deal with the hospital to get reimbursed.

I also believe if you sent through any of the wire services, they will side with you as your contract with the sending florist leaves responsibility of the delivery of those flower with them. Good luck on this one..

 

[Tracy D'Amico]

WS does not guarantee third party signatures. They'll refund your $$, and possibly pay COGS to the filling shop, if they holler loud enough.

It's their fault, but your responsibility to make your customer happy. Nothing they will do will appease him, as it sounds like they are saying too bad, so sad, and hiding behind what they see as hospital policy. It's going to be up to you to make it right to your customer.

Sucks sometimes. But that's why they called you instead of placing the order direct - so you could find a quality shop to fill their order. It is a service, and sometimes it doesn't all work out nicely.

Tomorrow will be better!

tracy

 

[lori042499]

WS does not guarantee third party signatures. They'll refund your $$, and possibly pay COGS to the filling shop, if they holler loud enough.

It's their fault, but your responsibility to make your customer happy. Nothing they will do will appease him, as it sounds like they are saying too bad, so sad, and hiding behind what they see as hospital policy. It's going to be up to you to make it right to your customer.

Sucks sometimes. But that's why they called you instead of placing the order direct - so you could find a quality shop to fill their order. It is a service, and sometimes it doesn't all work out nicely.

Tomorrow will be better!

tracy

This is very true, but I think he already knows this...:dunno:

 

[PhillyPhlorist]

Tough spot...

Hate to say this, but been here, done that...

Our delivery pool delivers to every hospital in the Philadelphia area. Some have the drivers take the orders directly to the rooms, some don't. Some even will not let the driver leave without verification that the patient is still in the room. Some will and insist on volunteers delivereing to the room. Signatures are not required. But, delivery TIME and WHERE package left IS. If you have the time, and where left, AND the name of who accepted, that is proof for me.

If the delivery shop did make the delivery, have them fax you their delivery log. And have them do in right away - not in an hour - right away, so to reduce chances of doctoring the log.

All in all, you may have to suck it up, send a replacement out to the recip on the sender's behalf, at no cost to them. It stinks. It's not right. The hospital might be at fault. But, do whatever it takes...you have to. If it were a local hospital, I'd be tracking them - to see if any other orders "disappear "...if you see a pattern, file a complaint with the hosp.

If no suitable proof of delivery faxed over to you, report them to the WS. Cancel the order - send an ADJ if order already reported. Send replacement order to another shop.

Oh, and remember, the bigger the shop, not always the better!!!
I know SEVERAL big shops up and down the east coast, who I would not trust with my orders...

- H.

 

[Rhonda]

I know in the city an hour from us, all deliveries are left at the "guard" station. No delivery person is allowed to bring to rooms or offices. They are done by volunteers and must be at the station before 2:00. No more after that time. Our hospital sometimes we leave at the nurses station, sometimes they take them as we walk down the hallway, sometimes if they're real busy, they'll tell us the room number and we'll take it in. Small town as opposed to multi floor / unit hospitals.
I don't require signatures and have never (knocking on wood) had a problem since 1974. *just an occasional slip up where the order was filed not filled*

 

[MANORVILLE]

Sucking it up

Hate to say this, but been here, done that...

Our delivery pool delivers to every hospital in the Philadelphia area. Some have the drivers take the orders directly to the rooms, some don't. Some even will not let the driver leave without verification that the patient is still in the room. Some will and insist on volunteers delivereing to the room. Signatures are not required. But, delivery TIME and WHERE package left IS. If you have the time, and where left, AND the name of who accepted, that is proof for me.

If the delivery shop did make the delivery, have them fax you their delivery log. And have them do in right away - not in an hour - right away, so to reduce chances of doctoring the log.

All in all, you may have to suck it up, send a replacement out to the recip on the sender's behalf, at no cost to them. It stinks. It's not right. The hospital might be at fault. But, do whatever it takes...you have to. If it were a local hospital, I'd be tracking them - to see if any other orders "disappear "...if you see a pattern, file a complaint with the hosp.

If no suitable proof of delivery faxed over to you, report them to the WS. Cancel the order - send an ADJ if order already reported. Send replacement order to another shop.

Oh, and remember, the bigger the shop, not always the better!!!
I know SEVERAL big shops up and down the east coast, who I would not trust with my orders...

- H.

Good idea on requesting immediate proof, but too late in this case I think.

" When you or a family member recieve your beautiful arrangement would you please take a moment to give us a call to confirm delivery..........."
Drivers have the cards with them at all times for sticky situations where there could be a problem. Gotta CYA !

Been there done that too !

Already refunded his money, which I hate to do, and sent a spectacular upgraded version of the original order to the recipient, as she's much closer to our shop now.
If the messages received had made sense and were consistent I would have blown it off, but they were conflicting, unresearched and sub standard for a
supposed professional shop.
After my investigating proved that thay quoted hospital policy that doesn't exist, I was a bit agitated.
Awaiting a call back from the hospital as I'm trying to verify employment for the supposed staffer who signed. Preliminary inquiry did not produce the name that I was given, so ............

Normally I wouldn't waste my time any further but my gut hunch says I've got to follow through.
Kinda peeved at the fact that nothing was offered either.

Oh well, not the first time and not the last I'm sure.

One day I'll elaborate more on this .
And yes, made the calls already to file a complaint and when I felt that I was being patronized I faxed a letter to a higher authority.:headbang:

 

[Posey]

My day started off a little like yours but with a better out come.
I called a florist about a 150.00 Euro garden for Thursday fvisitation delivery, just to make sure they could do what my customer requested. Then I wired it over to them.
All the while feeling good about my choice in shops. Fast forward to Friday morning my client/friend and neighbor calls to tell me the flowers to the inlaws funeral was not delivered. My heart sank... we know how touching the inlaw thing can be. I called the florist and was told that it had been mis filed and not filled untill this morning when it was sent to funeral home. It missed the visitation night. Customer was very upset wanted to cancel order.The filling Florist was very professional said they would do whatever it takes. The filling Florist called Funeral home and found it was in chapel for family's private service and would be going on to church for Funeral. He gave my client 25%. She was so happy that it made it for the private service and did not cancel as it was never about the money anyway.
I will use this shop again and feel good about it. We are all human and just need to take resposability for making human mistakes. I have been doing this for 31 years and as hard as we try we make a mistake now and again.

 

[MANORVILLE]

Good post !
Surely none of us are perfect and mistakes are part of the big picture.
All anyone can ask or expect is that when something arises, it gets handled.
When it comes down to 2 shops, a sender and recipient, many forget to add the 5th variable, ( all those within earshot of an angry customer ).

Glad it went well for you !

 

[Kobe0007]

Coming from the 12th largest city (I think we are 12 currently), several hospitals will not let the drivers roam the hallways. Others will. For the ones who wont, the driver has to wait until the flower room director makes sure the patients are still there (or at least still there according to the computer system).

As for misfiling, I think we have all done that from time to time. The other day I had a reverse mis-filing case. A customer called to confirm their delivery went out. I remembered seeing the paperwork, but I could not find any record of it going out. After about 10 minutes of searching and leaving them on hold, I had exhausted all that I could think of at the time. I told her it didnt go out for some reason and apologized and she was mad and wanted to talk to the owner (who wasnt there at the time). She kept on saying that obviously we are not a very reputable florist and that mistakes happen to other people but mistakes do NOT happen to her. After I tried to help her for several minutes and practically being cussed out, it was apparent that she was not going to let me make it right and the owner (my uncle) would have to call her. After I got off the phone I continued my search. Where do you think the order was? It was a Monday order done on Saturday. The designers for whatever reason, filed all the other Monday orders properly, but decided to throw that order into Saturdays files. I called the lady back and she was thrilled (but of course wanted to verify with the funeral home). She said that after she got off the phone she was waiting for us to call back and tell her that because she knew it had to be a mistake. She is a physic or something...

 

[TOTO]

YUP! 3rd party SIGNATURES are NG!

As others pointed out, delivering your product to a third party (middleman) does not constitute fulfillment of your FIRST PARTY RECIPIENT specific performance contract, even with a signature.

Accordingly, that filling florist will have to bite the bullet via your CAN due to your customer's complaint of NON-DELIVERY.

However, and as is my policy, I would have to speak to the recipient in order to confirm the NON-DELIVERY! Trust but VERIFY!

Most of our local hospitals have a vendor book and log in all deliveries to their patients. It records the date, time, name of the company, and the name of the patient and room the delivery is going to.

In most cases, and after being logged in, our delivery person goes to that patient's room and makes the delivery. For the other few cases, and due to their security policy, their volunteers take those gifts to the patient's rooms themselves.

We require signatures for every delivery that we make in order to protect our shop's integrity. It's not that we would ever hold a third party responsible, even if it was the fault of a funeral director whose help misplaced our flowers, but only to show our customers that, WE DID OUR JOB!

Had one NON-DELIVERY complaint about 10 years ago and after 7 months had passed after delivery had been made.

Our customer called us to say that, her husband was out playing golf with her friend's husband, and during the course of the game, happened to ask the other guy how his wife liked the dishgarden they sent her.

The other guy told him that, he didn't remember her getting it, but he would check with his wife. Then, the wife called our customer and told her that, SHE NEVER GOT IT!

Then, she called me to complain about the NON-DELIVERY!

As in all cases, and when someone calls us about an order inquiry, WE DO NOT PUT THEM ON HOLD! Rather, we explain to them that, we will research their inquiry and get back to them as soon as possible, once we have all the facts.

Our delivery route forms are kept for one year and in order by the month.

Wasn't that long before I had the month and day, and VOILA, their was the recipient's signature with the time of delivery.

I called my customer back and explained to her that, we did have the persons signature, and she sounded as if, she didn't believe me.

And so, I told her that, I would personally make a visit to the lady's home and ask her to verify it herself.

Next, I called the recipient, made an appointment to stop by in order that she could look at the signature we had on our route sheet and verify it.

When I showed her our route sheet, she then said, YES, that is my sginature and NOW I REMEMBER getting the disgarden from so and so.

GREAT, I said! Would you be so kind as to call my customer and inform her of the fact that, YOU DID GET HER GIFT!

She did and our customer called us back with HER APOLOGY!

Lately, we've been using the cell phone camera a great deal more now!

I have one little twit of a funeral director in Dobbs Ferry who refuses to sign for all floral deliveries. Each and everytime we go there, it's the same old story. We present out route board for the signature, and DA HELP tells us that, THEY DO NOT SIGN FOR FLORAL DELIVERIES.

Last time, I made the delivery myself. When DA HELP came out to retrieve the flowers, I immediately took a picture of the funeral basket while explaining to him that, WE NO LONGER REQUIRE YOUR SIGNATURES since my cellphone camera has the picture, and as we all know, A PICTURE IS WORTH A THOUSAND WORDS! He just stood there and for once, had to keep his BIG FAT MOUTH SHUT since there was NOTHING HE COULD SAY! Gotcha! "]

As that commercial for HEBREW HOT DOGS always say: WE (FLORISTS) HAVE TO ANSWER TO A HIGHER AUTHORITY, even when it's for CHUMP CHANGE!

 

[Queen of Weddings]

This is a tough one

I for one will not let my drivers go to the patients rooms, for it has had problems in the past with other rumor mills ,,,and I prefer that they take it to the volunteer station one hospital we have to pay them to take to room, so we do that, also because one of my drivers many years ago went to a patients room and brought us all back a case of the Chicken Pox, and was told to go directly to her room,,,Oh well, sorry this happened..

 

[bloomz]

Unless they are still in surgery - we take all hospital deliveries to the room and to the patient.

The volunteers aren't crazy about this, but it's better service in our opinion.