Nice Balloon's for 3 year old's Birthday!

BBJ (Big Bad John)

BBJ (Big Bad John)

Flower Dude
Oct 31, 2002
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Chesterville
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ON
On the 14th customer came in to have balloons delivered in Ottawa for her granddaughters birthday on the 15th. I had a minute at 2pm so I sent it to a florist that we know does a great job with balloon orders, but forgot to check the "do not forward" box.......Well it got forwarded to a florist at the other end of the city. A short while later I got an ask for $10 more, I sent back that that's all I had and if they couldn't do it for that price please reject it.....hoping that they would so I could resend it to my preferred florist in the morning when their merc would be back on line. Well they didn't reject instead they said okay we'll fill for the value given.
The order was as follows: 2 HB mylars and 5 latex balloons for little girl 35.95 card read happy 3rd birthday love grandma.
We charged our customer 26.00 for balloons, 9.95 delivery, 6.95 relay/service charge and 5.57 tax.....total 48.47 and this is what they got!!!!
The filling florist so far has refused to do anything about it!!
 

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So-- a great reason to educate your customer--that balloon bouquet would have been 17.00 in my shop--BUT--I do not deliver for under 35.00--plus delivery
Why buy a 26.00 balloon bouquet--and spend almost 50% more for delivery AND add a relay charge?!?!
If she knew that up front--she might have thought twice about her choice
We need to help a bit on the sending end so that the customer gets something reasonable for her $$$
 
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BBJ (Big Bad John) said:
The order was as follows: 2 HB mylars and 5 latex balloons for little girl 35.95 card read happy 3rd birthday love grandma.
We charged our customer 26.00 for balloons, 9.95 delivery, 6.95 relay/service charge and 5.57 tax.....total 48.47 and this is what they got!!!!
The filling florist so far has refused to do anything about it!!
Click to expand...

Help me out, because I'm a little fuzzy and jacked up on cold meds. I'm counting 2 mylars & 5 latex in that picture. Is the problem with the selection of the style of the balloons?
 
hmm $17.00 here too but playing the devil's advocate... they did send 2 mylars and 5 latex.......... which was what was requested. My ?? to sending florist would have been, you'll get more than 2 mylar and 5 latex for that price delivered, is that okay with your customer?? But then again, some shops send what is specifically requested with no upgrade even if $$ are left over. (was it windy?? - we do try to keep strings untangled while delivering but with a kiddo??)
Oh I did notice on closer inspection of the pics that they are plain mylar - not kosher...
 
Infinite said:
Help me out, because I'm a little fuzzy and jacked up on cold meds. I'm counting 2 mylars & 5 latex in that picture. Is the problem with the selection of the style of the balloons?
Click to expand...
Balloon count is fine, colours are not little girl colours and they are air filled on a stick the mylars are not HB and are not fully inflated, one actually had a scotch tape patch on it!

BobbiR said:
So-- a great reason to educate your customer--that balloon bouquet would have been 17.00 in my shop--BUT--I do not deliver for under 35.00--plus delivery
Why buy a 26.00 balloon bouquet--and spend almost 50% more for delivery AND add a relay charge?!?!
If she knew that up front--she might have thought twice about her choice
We need to help a bit on the sending end so that the customer gets something reasonable for her $$$
Click to expand...
I realize that some florists don't deliver for under 35.00 but I sent it to one that would and also gave them the option to reject.......on a side note I would hope your 17.00 bouquet would look better than thos on a stick!


Rhonda said:
hmm $17.00 here too but playing the devil's advocate... they did send 2 mylars and 5 latex.......... which was what was requested. My ?? to sending florist would have been, you'll get more than 2 mylar and 5 latex for that price delivered, is that okay with your customer?? But then again, some shops send what is specifically requested with no upgrade even if $$ are left over. (was it windy?? - we do try to keep strings untangled while delivering but with a kiddo??)
Oh I did notice on closer inspection of the pics that they are plain mylar - not kosher...
Click to expand...
Not windy....look close and they're on a stick!
 
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BBJ (Big Bad John) said:
Balloon count is fine, colours are not little girl colours and they are air filled on a stick the mylars are not HB and are not fully inflated, one actually had a scotch tape patch on it!
Click to expand...

You're right - that's pretty bush league.
 
OMG!!! That is terrible...

The colors are hideous...The balloons are airfilled, not helium and just omg...that also would have been 19.00 in my shop would have been tied to a weight and been helium filled with pinks and lavenders...that florist should be asshamed...asshat!
 
wow.. what a shocker. A patched balloon - that is just unbelievable. Anybody who is going to be that dodgy isn't going to be interested in dealing with the complaint.

Normally I wouldn't suggest this but...name & shame, I say.
 
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Oh good grief! I KNOW the feeling! I did the exact same thing this past V-day. Except it was for me. I sent my mom and my grandparents each $100+ orders. For my mom I requested loose mixed flowers and some candy. Of course I sent it to April's in Durango. They did a great job.
I sent the one for my Grandparents to the shop that I normally do, forgot to check the "do not forward" and it got sent to Broadway in Farmington NM. Good grief. For $100 I got white mini gerbs, a few roses, a bunch of alstroemeria and WIRED tulips....yes- seriously wired tulips. Oh and a pound of leather leaf and a pound of misty. sigh-
So years ago straight out of the Head designers mouth I was told that they take 27% off the top. sigh-
Well at least Grandma thought it was pretty- so I let it be. Grandpa is 91 and Grandma is almost 89- too much drama for old folks to have them pick it up and I just let it go.
I will be much more careful when I do wire outs.
 
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That display of balloons is terrible. I agree with Todd, I would name and shame as they are not prepared to fix their crap. What a shame for the little girl getting that pile of crap for her birthday.
 
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Woops, some jumpin the gun here.

if you zoom (or go full screen on the pic) in you can clearly see that they are a printed birthday for a young child. There's a Pooh bear with a candle beside it. Both Mylars are printed. There are no tape patches. There are reflections at the bottom of mylar on right.
The latex are fully inflated and the mylars were too one still is. Please note that they are in a window against glass that has ice on the top of it and there are snow banks outside. Helium being a gas will shrink a little when cold. I think that is what happened the one mylar closest to the glass.


Also there is no stick the straight stick looking thing to the right is curling ribbon long enough for another balloon to have been on. Because why would you have 2 green and one each of the others? I suspect that the florist delivered 6 latex and 2 printed mylar as instructed filled to value.

Note also that there is a heavy duty yellow zip tie in the middle. at first I thought the ends (like a rats nest) in the middle was where latex had been cut off.

My conclusion is that the recepient was not happy with the latex color choices although they appear to match the mylar design colors.

A cautionary note here...why think the worst of the other florist? Have you never had a customer that lied or just didn't want to pay after it was delivered.

Use your screens zoom tool to 150% it is clear. Sorry folks.
 
roysecityfloristand gifts said:
A cautionary note here...why think the worst of the other florist? Have you never had a customer that lied or just didn't want to pay after it was delivered.

Use your screens zoom tool to 150% it is clear. Sorry folks.
Click to expand...

Well OK...BUT - would you really be able to see if the balloon had been patched in one-sided photo? Then again that is just a little too odd to be believable.
 
As a florist who loves balloons......I have to speak up here. First of all.......Clear scotch tape IS the proper way to patch a small tear or pinhole on a mylar.....as long as the air is out of the balloon, fully deflated, and the area to be patched is free of any creases, folds, or wrinkles.

Secondly, when done correctly, air-filled latex displayed on the appropriate cups and sticks look great and actually stay inflated far longer than helium....( even properly treated latex balloons with hi-float usually do not stay inflated as long as air-filled latex ).

Looking at the picture......Is that balloon presentation something that I would have created for that order? No.

It may be that this particular filling shop needs some education in how to present and handle balloon orders in future.
 
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roysecityfloristand gifts said:
Woops, some jumpin the gun here.

if you zoom (or go full screen on the pic) in you can clearly see that they are a printed birthday for a young child. There's a Pooh bear with a candle beside it. Both Mylars are printed. There are no tape patches. There are reflections at the bottom of mylar on right.
The latex are fully inflated and the mylars were too one still is. Please note that they are in a window against glass that has ice on the top of it and there are snow banks outside. Helium being a gas will shrink a little when cold. I think that is what happened the one mylar closest to the glass.


Also there is no stick the straight stick looking thing to the right is curling ribbon long enough for another balloon to have been on. Because why would you have 2 green and one each of the others? I suspect that the florist delivered 6 latex and 2 printed mylar as instructed filled to value.

Note also that there is a heavy duty yellow zip tie in the middle. at first I thought the ends (like a rats nest) in the middle was where latex had been cut off.

My conclusion is that the recepient was not happy with the latex color choices although they appear to match the mylar design colors.

A cautionary note here...why think the worst of the other florist? Have you never had a customer that lied or just didn't want to pay after it was delivered.

Use your screens zoom tool to 150% it is clear. Sorry folks.
Click to expand...

The balloons were on a stick, the florist even said so, the yellow thing in the middle is a cardette with the curly end behind one of the balloons all knotted together on a stick that you can see behind the latex balloons. Also the mylars were not fully inflated when they arrived and the one with the scotch tape patch was totally deflated the next morning!
 
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Ok, did anyone use their zoom to see that the mylars are in fact printed happy birthday for a child, as that seemed to be a bone of contention?

Also, cold air does instantly cause mylars to look underinflated. The latex have a little too much of the pear shape indicating a little over inflation, so why would they intentionally under inflate the mylar. "If the glove don't fit...you must acquit"...LOL

I have to wonder when this picture was actually taken also. I in my experience don't think it was taken right after delivery. We do a big business in Balloon Bouquets.

John, you did a good thing by refunding based on what you saw at the time. I'm just saying the evidence now clearly shows the filling florist did send what was requested. (two printed Happy Birthday for a child and 5 latex)

Also, if these were delivered on VDay then the delivering florist really did a good thing, because I would probably have had to reject the order, just as your trusted filling florist you sent it to did when they forwarded the order. They also felt that they could not deliver or perhaps it would not be profitable for them on such a busy day to deliver this item.

I'm curious who said the mylar balloon was patched? That is not evident in the picture. I just don't believe a florist would do that as it would be an instant problem and none of us go looking for problems.

Just my thoughts of over 30 years. Sometimes we have to look beyond what the customer is saying.

Let's be a kinder gentler industry, especially when it comes to talking about each other.

JMHO
 
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