(would you tell?) Valentine - Some assembly required

[faithlessone]

When you say "some assembly required" I take it you mean a bouquet where you add the plant food to the water, put it in the vase (your own or one with the flowers) then open the plastic wrap round the flowers and arrange them?  Because that's what I would expect from a delivery web site, I think it's the only way to transport flowers so that they have a decent shelf life, so to speak.  Once they're put in water they're much harder to transport.  Were you expecting a bouquet already arranged, delivered in a water filled vase?  I don't think I've ever had flowers delivered like that.  So I don't think what you got was unreasonable, or a rip off.  I would be concerned about them being dumped on your doorsteps though, especially in the snow.

That's what I was wondering.

I got some flowers from my BFF a couple of weeks ago (she always sends me flowers on my birthday ). They came in a box, wrapped in cellophane, with a moisture pack and a little packet of plant food. That's how all the flowers I've ever received 'delivery' have come.

I also agree that my issue in your case, OP, would be with the delivery people (whether that was the florist, or some other company). Presumably it was obvious that there were flowers in the package, so dumping it on a doorstep, particularly in snowy conditions, would be unacceptable to me. Also, if it was "flung haphazardly", as you said, was there any damage to the vase? They're fragile things, so if it was unharmed, surely that shows that it was well-packaged by the company.

To be honest, Knitterly (and I really don't mean this to sound harsh), but in future, I think you should encourage your DH to buy flowers at a local florist and bring them home himself / get someone to bring them to you. In my experience, what you got is how delivery flowers work.

[Knitterly]

When you say "some assembly required" I take it you mean a bouquet where you add the plant food to the water, put it in the vase (your own or one with the flowers) then open the plastic wrap round the flowers and arrange them?  Because that's what I would expect from a delivery web site, I think it's the only way to transport flowers so that they have a decent shelf life, so to speak.  Once they're put in water they're much harder to transport.  Were you expecting a bouquet already arranged, delivered in a water filled vase?  I don't think I've ever had flowers delivered like that.  So I don't think what you got was unreasonable, or a rip off.  I would be concerned about them being dumped on your doorsteps though, especially in the snow.

That's what I was wondering.

I got some flowers from my BFF a couple of weeks ago (she always sends me flowers on my birthday ). They came in a box, wrapped in cellophane, with a moisture pack and a little packet of plant food. That's how all the flowers I've ever received 'delivery' have come.

I also agree that my issue in your case, OP, would be with the delivery people (whether that was the florist, or some other company). Presumably it was obvious that there were flowers in the package, so dumping it on a doorstep, particularly in snowy conditions, would be unacceptable to me. Also, if it was "flung haphazardly", as you said, was there any damage to the vase? They're fragile things, so if it was unharmed, surely that shows that it was well-packaged by the company.

To be honest, Knitterly (and I really don't mean this to sound harsh), but in future, I think you should encourage your DH to buy flowers at a local florist and bring them home himself / get someone to bring them to you. In my experience, what you got is how delivery flowers work.

Normally he does go with a local florist.  But normally they are delivered.

This isn't the first time flowers have been delivered to the house.  We got quite a few bouquets from various delivery services.  They all came in a big delivery van, a delivery person got out of the van with the flowers, rang the bell, and handed me the arrangement.  Usually the vase is secured in a box with tissue paper all around it, and the flowers are already in the vase with water.  Something with holes for the flowers (usually a piece of cardboard) is placed on top of the vase to prevent water from spilling.

What usually happens (or what I thought usually happens based on previous experience) is that the order goes to an affiliated local florist who arranges the bouquet and delivers it.  Online flowers are so much more expensive than buying directly from the florist because the website and florist split the fee.

Anyway, it doesn't matter.

[faithlessone]

Oh, okay. Maybe it's a regional thing. I'm a Brit, and you don't get that sort of service unless you pay for the fancy-fancy flowers.

Sorry for the misunderstanding!

[redcat]

Yeah, I'm a Brit too, so I suppose it's a regional thing.

[WillyNilly]

As a NYer I've had both.  A local florist does like Knitterly is used to.  They have their own van and a driver delivers the flowers already in a water filled vase.  Some of the online major retailers (like FTD) out source to local florists, so its not unusual to get this type of service both with calling a local florist directly or using a major online retailer.

But some online floral retailers (like ProFlowers) send the flowers themselves, and they use UPS (or perhaps FedEx or DHL, etc) and deliver the flowers sans water, all boxed up as Knitterly got.

Neither way is right or wrong or more or less usual AFAIK in the US.  Just different.

[Yvaine]

As a NYer I've had both.  A local florist does like Knitterly is used to.  They have their own van and a driver delivers the flowers already in a water filled vase.  Some of the online major retailers (like FTD) out source to local florists, so its not unusual to get this type of service both with calling a local florist directly or using a major online retailer.

But some online floral retailers (like ProFlowers) send the flowers themselves, and they use UPS (or perhaps FedEx or DHL, etc) and deliver the flowers sans water, all boxed up as Knitterly got.

Neither way is right or wrong or more or less usual AFAIK in the US.  Just different.

I'm in the Midwest and I have seen both as well, or a hybrid version where it comes in a box with the flowers all wrapped up but put in a vase, and you have to take it out of the vase and remove the wrapping and then put it back in the vase with water and the plant food. I think the whole reason it's in the vase in the first place is that it takes up less space that way; the recipient still has assembling to do when it arrives.

[Knitterly]

My biggest concern was with a) the means of delivery (ie, tossed on the doorstep in the snow without the doorbell being rung) and b) the quality of the package.

The self-assembly was just odd and unexpected, since I've never had a self-assembled arrangement before.  But I see now that it's fairly common.  The bottom line is, this just wasn't worth the pricetag of $100.  It was worth roughly what he paid for it, which was $30. 

The flowers have brown spots (although they are extremely fragrant) and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've gotten higher quality teddy bears from the dollar store.

If he'd bought an arrangement from our local florist for $100, he would have gotten a much, much bigger, better, brighter deal.  I was extremely relieved when he told me that he had gotten a group-buy deal.  I'm glad I brought it up to him.

[Eeep!]

I think there are definitely varying degrees of "assembly required".  The kind where the arrangement is essentially made, you just have to plop in water is one thing.  However, once my mom's friend - who lives in Hawaii - sent us a "bouquet" of tropical flowers.  Now, I know they were coming from Hawaii (I am in California) and I'm sure there were plenty of reasons why they came the way they did but they came more like an actual florist would likely receive them - grouped by type rather than arranged in any sort of way.  I can arrange a decent vase of normal flowers but these were huge tropical flowers - birds of paradise and all kind of other faintly alien looking flowers. I had zero idea how to arrange them.  My mom and I ended up having a really good laugh over what my final results were. It was...um...less than beautiful.    Of course, we never said anything to her friend except to ooh and ahh over how amazing the flowers were - which they totally were!

[WhiteTigerCub]

I got the same sort of box with flowers and bear from proflowers on Friday. There was supposed to be a card to tell me who it came from. It didn't. I kept asking my new boyfriend if he got them and he kept telling me he didn't. :/  Turns out it was from someone else entirely and I didn't find out until yesterday when he asked me if I had got them. I failed to mention that they were in pretty poor shape. They really did not last as long as I think they should have.

I had to gush to new boyfriend how much I love chocolate covered strawberries (that he got for me) much better than flowers any old day.  Sure wish proflowers had included that card, it would have saved me a ton of smooching up later.

[mandycorn]

I bet the deal on the group-buy thing is the only reason why he went with that option instead of going with a local florist, if that's what he usually does.

I think you can reasonably complain to the delivery company, especially if they were packaged in a way that the delivery company would have known the contents were fragile. The flinging and lack of notification would be a problem for the vast majority of deliveries I receive, so that definitely deserves a complaint.

I don't know if it would be worth complaining to the flower company about the quality of the flowers and bear. They probably got slammed big time between Valentines Day business and increased business from the group deal, so they may not be receptive or even care, depending upon what kind of customer service they usually provide.

[Yvaine]

I bet the deal on the group-buy thing is the only reason why he went with that option instead of going with a local florist, if that's what he usually does.

I think you can reasonably complain to the delivery company, especially if they were packaged in a way that the delivery company would have known the contents were fragile. The flinging and lack of notification would be a problem for the vast majority of deliveries I receive, so that definitely deserves a complaint.

I don't know if it would be worth complaining to the flower company about the quality of the flowers and bear. They probably got slammed big time between Valentines Day business and increased business from the group deal, so they may not be receptive or even care, depending upon what kind of customer service they usually provide.

I also wonder if the group deal is part of why they were slapdash about it. I've heard of businesses offering those and ending up being slammed beyond their capacity, and while it's not an excuse per se, it may be an explanation.

[threepenny]

I had a great experience with proplants/proflowers.com.  Arrived on time, looked great, etc.

The self-assemble is, of course, a given.  Cannot ship plants or flowers with water; I can't imagine being upset over having to put water in a vase in which to transfer expensive flowers.  I agree that half-wilted flowers warrant complaint, though.

My only complaint was that I found something I liked more and when I called to change the order - it had already processed merely five hours after I send in the order (joking - I was VERY impressed - I still loved what I had ordered).  I will never fault a company for getting to things right away.  I was worried about my shipment after reading these posts, but they delivered it on time and in perfect shape.

[JenJay]

I actually prefer to get the flowers like that. I learned while working in a floral department that they're sort of "hibernating" (for lack of a better word) while being shipped and then get "re-activated" when they are removed from refrigeration, cut, and placed in water. You'll get more life out of them if you've processed them yourself as opposed to buying them in a shop (unless, of course, you manage to get a shop arrangement that just came in that morning). Also, florists will remove the guard petals from roses but if they're shipped directly those will still be in place. They take the brunt of abuse while the flowers travel and might be torn, bruised, etc. so you just remove the first layer of petals off the buds as you arrange them in the vase. The flowers will look a lot prettier without them! 

[Belle]

My biggest concern was with a) the means of delivery (ie, tossed on the doorstep in the snow without the doorbell being rung) and b) the quality of the package.

The self-assembly was just odd and unexpected, since I've never had a self-assembled arrangement before.  But I see now that it's fairly common.  The bottom line is, this just wasn't worth the pricetag of $100.  It was worth roughly what he paid for it, which was $30. 

The flowers have brown spots (although they are extremely fragrant) and I'm not exaggerating when I say that I've gotten higher quality teddy bears from the dollar store.

If he'd bought an arrangement from our local florist for $100, he would have gotten a much, much bigger, better, brighter deal.  I was extremely relieved when he told me that he had gotten a group-buy deal.  I'm glad I brought it up to him.

I'm glad you worked it out.

In general, I think whether or not to tell somebody about a not-so-good flower delivery depends on your relationship with the person.

New boyfriend who sent you flowers simply because you're having a bad day? No way would I say anything if the flowers were bad, because I wouldn't want to diminish a very sweet gesture.

Close friend who you've known for years? I would probably say something. I once sent flowers to a friend in Minnesota in January. They delivered the flowers during the day, while she was out, and rather than hold on to them or leave a note the deliveryperson left the flowers on her front porch. Did I mention this was Minnesota in January? She called them her "flowercicles,' because they were completely frozen like popsicles by the time she found them! I'm glad she told me, because I called the company and they deliverd another bouquet to her by the next day.

[kethria]

Every time I get flowers they are shipped in that manner, even the roses I got for my wedding bouquets. They usually look rough to begin with, but the secret is trimming the stems underwater... they perk right up! I remember when the roses for my bouquets came (and that was in and of itself a catastrophe because we didn't order roses, but some freak storm destroyed the shipment of flowers we had ordered so they called us 3 days before the wedding to tell  me that my flowers were gone and could they send roses instead...) anyhow they arrived and looked terrible, but we followed the instructions and they turned out great!