Sunday, May 11, 2014

1-800-Flowers fails: No Mother's Day flowers for mom--UPDATED

My virtual Mother's Day flowers
Well, I'd like to say how much my mother enjoyed the roses I shipped to her from 1-800-Flowers.com, but alas, they haven't arrived yet. I figured they'd be there on time when on Friday I received an email from ShopperApproved at 1:19pm ,while I was driving to Rockford, with the subject line, "1800flowers.com Delivery Confirmation - Response Requested."

Note the middle bit: "No, I haven't received my order yet. If you haven't received your order yet, wait 24-48 hours then contact 1800flowers.com."

Well, 48 hours later and after an uncomfortable conversation with my mother, I called 1-800-Flowers, and a customer care rep told me that because of the plethora of flower orders, they weren't able to deliver my mother's bouquet on the day I told them to do so.

However, exactly one hour after I received the ShopperApproved email, I received one from 1-800-Flowers, guaranteeing Saturday delivery.

Based on the cryptic middle line of the first email, and the rapid deployment force response to my Twitter and Facebook complaints from the 1-800 Flowers social media team, I think they knew this epic fail was coming. But they still took my money on Wednesday. And I heard several 1-800-Flowers ads on the radio on the way to Rockford and back.

Now I have a $20 coupon--that was their "I'm sorry" response--for a service I don't plan on using again.

Here's that first email.

1800flowers.com delivery confirmation - Response Requested
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Hi John Ruberry,

We're following up on the order that you placed with 1800flowers.com on May 7, 2014..

Please choose one of the following options below...

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Yes, I received my order.

Please confirm that you've received your order by clicking on the link below.

http://www.shopperapproved.com/(rest redacted)
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
No, I haven't received my order yet.

If you haven't received your order yet, wait 24-48 hours then contact 1800flowers.com
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I canceled my order.

If you canceled your order then you can disregard this email and there is nothing
else that you need to do at this time.
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Your response above will provide 1800flowers.com with valuable feedback regarding your order, so that they can better assist you and other customers.

Sincerely,

Shopper Approved
on behalf of 1800flowers.com

---------------------------------------------------------------------------
This order confirmation email has been sent at your request.
1800flowers.com has partnered with Shopper Approved in order
to gather feedback and ratings from existing customers to
gain valuable customer insight and improve their processes.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Note: If you delete this email, you will lose the ability to confirm receipt of your order and provide any feedback.

UPDATE May 12: I just received a Facebook message and let's just say that a more equitable solution has been offered by 1-800-Flowers.

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