Not sure when it arrived but it was at the funeral home today so my delivery girl took a quick pic with her cell phone. I can't imagine what the sender spent (will have to go check out PF site) but my FD's wife felt bad for them and found a vase.
ProFlowers delivery at funeral home
- Thread starter Rhonda
- Start date
Wow. I sure hope the person who ordered that gets to see what they got for their money.
anytimeflowers
Linda
When the occasion arises........ 
Hmm maybe I should blog this too (gosh, if I can remember how).......
http://www.millinocketfloral.com/blog/2010/10/opportunity-missed/
Hmm maybe I should blog this too (gosh, if I can remember how).......
http://www.millinocketfloral.com/blog/2010/10/opportunity-missed/
One of the funeral homes in another town just gives the proflower boxes to the family. Wonder what the family tells the sender?
Snapdragon Studio
Well-Known Member
How horribly sad! Someone was thoughtful enough to send flowers, and the grieving family received that.
Carrieann
New Member
This is a situation that really angers and saddens me at the same time. Someone wants to send flowers to services, they go online shopping. (chose proflowers, not the best choice, but...) They to the SYMPATHY page and select a beautiful, tasteful, elegant vase of white lilies. They, like a lot of people of today are in a hurry and don't read all the small print and add on options, they go about the purchase, feeling good about sending flowers to a grieving friend. The next day they attend the services and look around the room for the beautiful vase of white lilies they purchased for their dear friend to only find a few stems of lily pods stuck in a vase, tucked in the corner of the room. Or worse yet, they find a box!
Come on proflowers, it is one thing to send flowers in a box to someones home, but when it is obviously going to services this is when you send the order to the professionals each and every time NEVER in the box! This type of thing makes the industry as a whole just look bad!
I would rather deal with "in lieu of flowers"
Come on proflowers, it is one thing to send flowers in a box to someones home, but when it is obviously going to services this is when you send the order to the professionals each and every time NEVER in the box! This type of thing makes the industry as a whole just look bad!
I would rather deal with "in lieu of flowers"
I think it's awful but I disagree that it makes the whole industry look bad. If anything, it makes the real professional florist look good. If you have a bad Happy Meal is it the whole restaurant industry's fault?
Carrieann
New Member
You might have a point with that analogy. But I still don't think it looks good to the common person. I am always using the restaurant industry to compare our industry, but the one difference is I still have to eat, a customer does not have to purchase flowers ever again. You could say that I don't have to eat at a restaurant, which yes, is true, but in this day and age, who really is going to make that decision over a bad happy meal. Now a bad flower buying experience just might make someone decide not to ever purchase flowers again.
lori042499
Well-Known Member
- May 3, 2006
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Now if you go to proflowers and look that arrangemnet up, you have to choose to send with no vase, it defaults with a vase, so really is it the customer that is an idiot or proflowers..why would the customer go out of their way to choose no vase???
http://products.proflowers.com/lili...=3&trackingpgroup=sym&Ref=HomeNoRef&PageSplit=
They actually have to select the vase as their second option, but because it adds 6.99-12.99 on the price, this consumer chose not to send a vase, what are they thinking it will come in? This is yet another reason websites are ruining the shopping experience, there is noone to guide the consumer on real size, what is appropriate for sending, if you think about the average sympathy phone call, so many people are sending something for the first time...they have no idea that most people spend between 75-125 for a piece, to them 39.99 might be what they wanted to spend, but when they are guided that many of thier friends will spend much more, they would choose differently...many of them anyway...when left to their own decisions, they have no pro advise to go on and will make bad choices all based on their pocket book, then have buyers remorse when they are embarrassed by what they chose...
Now I have to agree that proflowers should not have a no vase option for a funeral home or a hospital, as a matter of fact they should just link directly to the florist sent items for these two options....and save embarrassment on all fronts...
http://products.proflowers.com/lili...=3&trackingpgroup=sym&Ref=HomeNoRef&PageSplit=
They actually have to select the vase as their second option, but because it adds 6.99-12.99 on the price, this consumer chose not to send a vase, what are they thinking it will come in? This is yet another reason websites are ruining the shopping experience, there is noone to guide the consumer on real size, what is appropriate for sending, if you think about the average sympathy phone call, so many people are sending something for the first time...they have no idea that most people spend between 75-125 for a piece, to them 39.99 might be what they wanted to spend, but when they are guided that many of thier friends will spend much more, they would choose differently...many of them anyway...when left to their own decisions, they have no pro advise to go on and will make bad choices all based on their pocket book, then have buyers remorse when they are embarrassed by what they chose...
Now I have to agree that proflowers should not have a no vase option for a funeral home or a hospital, as a matter of fact they should just link directly to the florist sent items for these two options....and save embarrassment on all fronts...
BOSS
FlowerChat Administrator
Sad thing is, that this shows that the ProFlunkie game is all about money. When they know the occasion based on delivery location and card message, they should at the VERY LEAST direct a CONsumer to designed, not boxed flowers and explain the gig...they never will...
Personally, I think this is one area SAF should be alerting unsuspecting, grieving family's about. But alas, they never will... they do not have the stomach for controversy. Nor the clout to do anything about it.
Personally, I think this is one area SAF should be alerting unsuspecting, grieving family's about. But alas, they never will... they do not have the stomach for controversy. Nor the clout to do anything about it.
I get what you're saying, but you must admit, if a local competitor sent an ugly funeral arrangement and it was next to your beautiful one, wouldn't that be a great ad for your shop?
Mikey the Flower Guy
It's a GREAT DAY to live, and love!
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my vote is for there being MORE stupid consumers, than ever before....(or at least they are MORE "visible" now)
I would think Pro flowers would get the hint (marketing dept) to discontinue their funeral flower site. So embarassing!
lori042499
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They actually have a tab for florist delivered items...it is very prominent in the selection or catagories..It would not be impossible for them to automatically link to florist delivered sympathy section for the sympathy catagory....There would be no garauntee that someone would not send something from another catagory, but at least they would try...I get people trying to send inappropriate crap from my website to funerals all the time, I call them and ask some questions about what made them choose the birthday present bouquet for a sympathy, then advise them that it may upset the family because for them this may very well not be the very happy birthday they had wished to spend with the deceased family member, usually they make a better decision when put in those terms, people in general sometimes have some weird ideas and thought processes and until pointed out in a different way, they have no idea that that thought process even existed...I am sure many of us have recieved gifts that made us think, what in the world was aunt Nancy thinking when she bought me this, same is true with flowers...
We recently had a wire delivery for a sympathy to the home, had trouble getting it to them, so called the number given, it was the customers, not the recipient. She was surprised I was trying to hand deliver it, she couldn't understand I was a florist and was trying to deliver an arrangement in a vase and not a box being dropped off. She normally orders thru Proflowers and gets them boxed, I asked her how much her order was, $60 total and we only received $40 total. Spent 20 mins on the phone trying to explain how it all works, she thought you had to go to the flower shop in person to order flowers. I'm hoping I won her over, but not sure if she thinks she's getting a better deal thru Proflowers, she seemed a little dense to me.
How could anyone be that stupid to think you have to go to a flower shop to order flowers? I'm thinking that maybe a customer you don't want anyway.
David
Well-Known Member
So the flowers upset the florist on this board. Not sure if the recipient would be as upset. The flowers look fresh although they are tight. If the recipient takes them home they will last well and as they open they will be reminded of the senders gesture. Does everyone on this board always have perfectly open white lilies. I bet not. Plenty of our images show open flowers when we send tight.
I was making a condolence call and a box of flowers came in from pro flowers. It was the same tight lilies. I watched one of the younger kids open the box and happily place in water. No one made a negative comment. Do I like the fact that pro flowers got the sale. No I don't. I do point out the difference between shipped in a box and hand arranged. We can make fun of there business model but it surly is working.
I was making a condolence call and a box of flowers came in from pro flowers. It was the same tight lilies. I watched one of the younger kids open the box and happily place in water. No one made a negative comment. Do I like the fact that pro flowers got the sale. No I don't. I do point out the difference between shipped in a box and hand arranged. We can make fun of there business model but it surly is working.
We've had issues if we sent an arrangement and the flowers were tight, the sender sees the photo the recipient sent and complains that the vase was skimpy and they didn't get their money's worth, or the flowers looked dead, such as alstro. They tend to not look very attractive when not open, maybe they expect it to look different when it comes arranged rather than "fresh from the grower?"