After hearing so much about the poor service of online florists, we decided to shop for ourselves to see what we'd get.
As Urban Florist is no longer in business, we picked two other virtual florists based in the Lower Mainland: Flowers Flowers (also known as 180066roses.com) and newcomer E-Florist-Inc.com.
Both have had complaints filed against them with the Better Business Bureau, although in numbers substantially lower than those tallied by Urban Florist, the subject of close to 500 complaints. So far, Flowers Flowers is the target of 107 complaints, with 13 resolved, and E-Florist Inc. has had just 16, all of which have been resolved.
We ordered two bouquets from each online florist -- one to be sent to Coquitlam and a second to Kitchener, Ont. This is what we got:
E-Florist-Inc.com
Our bouquets arrived on time at both locations.
Our "Everyday Counts" bouquet destined for Coquitlam cost $78.38 US. (Read the fine print carefully or you'll miss the currency.)
Our recipient, Janice Chau, 28, described them as "nice" but not worth the price considering some flowers appeared rather limp and the outer petals of the roses were ripped off leaving only small buds.
As for delivery of our other bouquet to Ontario, E-Florist Inc. had forwarded the order to a local florist for fulfillment.
With our recipient, Tony Huynh, being a busy phD student at the University of Waterloo, it took a couple days of phone tag, but eventually he received the flowers.
The bouquet, costing $67.48 US and described by E-Florist Inc. as "perfect yellow and lavender flowers," contained none of the flowers pictured online. (Fine print refers to a substitution policy.)
Flowers Flowers, also known as 180066roses.com:
Nothing arrived at either of our destinations.
On Oct. 9, four days after the delivery date, we called to inquire about our missing flowers. The phone number, however, was "not in service," so we sent an e-mail instead.
We got a call back from a woman who said there had been a "computer problem." We asked for a full refund, to which the woman agreed.
When reached by The Province, owner Sarbjeet Mandair explained that there had been missed orders due to technical problems with Bloomlink, a floral wire service his company recently joined.
Bloomlink is responsible for notifying Mandair's company when orders are received, but the wire service had been having problems processing orders, Mandair explained.
The Surrey businessman said similar communication problems with another floral wire service, FTD, last Valentine's Day cost him about $100,000 in compensation to customers who never got their orders filled.
Mandair says he is consulting his lawyers with a view to launching a lawsuit against FTD.
DON'T BECOME A VICTIM
Online fraud is common because when it comes to doing business, it's one of the easiest ways to gain consumers' trust.
"People see a very professional website and they have this feeling of trust that it's a good business," says Lynda Pasacreta, president of the Better Business Bureau of Mainland B.C.
To avoid becoming the victim of a scam, the BBB advises:
- Look for a physical company address rather than just a 1-800 number. Illegitimate companies often publish only their phone numbers to make it difficult to track them down.
- Check the company's record with the BBB.
- Do a quick Google search to see what other consumers say about the company. Websites like RipOffReport.com are good places to search as well.
- Pay with your credit card. If you don't receive the product or service as promised, call your credit card company and ask for a chargeback so the bill is returned to the company.
- Report questionable businesses to the BBB, police and Business Practices and Consumer Protection Authority.
