A Fail But Not A Ruin

Perhaps you heard of the huge problem with 1-800 Flowers and Mother's Day. The company screwed up Valentine's Day flower deliveries, too, so they aren't doing real well in the flower delivery department. Carole sent flowers via Pro Flowers and I was thrilled, initially, with what I got. These were the flowers on Mother's Day.

Cut tulips can wither quickly, but these seemed to fade much faster than if I'd gone into the yard and cut some. The iris never opened, never. They turned yellow. That's it.

But the biggest disappointment was when I opened the box of chocolates that comes with a flower order.

The chocolates were not exposed to any heat at my house. The box sat on the table, out of sunlight. This could have happened in transit, in which case it's a UPS/FedEx delivery problem and possibly explains why the flowers faded so quickly. Temperatures hot enough to melt chocolate will ruin flowers.

The other problem could be the warehousing of these boxes of chocolates. There could be no quality control for checking to see if chocolates are perfect to be shipped. The small box is shrink wrapped and tucked into the bottom of the large flower box.

Carole said this is the second time this company has failed to deliver what was promised to me. (I honestly don't remember the other time.) They gave Carole a substantial amount of money back and a coupon for money off the next order. "I guess I can't order from them again," she said. I told her to tell them that, calmly, and email them the photos.

One thing that struck me about some of the comments I read regarding this 1-800 Flowers fiasco was how many people said "Mother's Day was ruined". I'm not sure if that's hyperbole in all cases, but it seems wrong to me. I don't get the attitude that feels an arbitrary day is "ruined" because you didn't get a very transitory expression of gratitude. That's holding your kids' feelings hostage to something over which they have no control. I would never say my Mother's Day was "ruined" because a flower company failed to uphold their end of the exchanging of goods for money. There are ways Mother's Day could be ruined but they have nothing to do with whether my iris bloom.

Carole hasn't said what compensation she was offered for this problem. I hope they make it right by her. The one good thing is the vase is cool.

Beverage:  English Breakfast Tea

Deb