Was at an event today, and of course this lady tells me about her unfortunate experience with the "florist". She sent flowers to someone out of state and they never got delivered. Turns out she used one of the big re-sellers. Another lady chimes in as to "she ordered from the same company and what was delivered did not look like the picture". I have spent very long time explaining the role of the middle man and call centers vs local florist. They start listing everything terrible happening during the Valentines, including broken vases. I went at length again, stressing the importance of using real local florist. Just for the good measure, told them how I managed to brake the vase during one of the recent deliveries, and how it was handled( dropped of new vase within 15 minutes, and delivered brand new fresh arrangement the next day). Explained, that it is not just about flowers, but the excellent customer service. They sounded very impressed, because the only thing reseller offered them was a refund, and they both would have preferred my way. In the end, I received two very firm promises, that from now on they will use only real florists, and avoid resellers no matter how familiar or important their name sounds. Just for the good measure, I did give them my card 
