Forest Ave Florist

Review: I experienced great distress w/florist as there were several issues with customer serv.,refund policy,& rendered servs.I met w/[redacted] 2xe to discuss bridal/bridesmaids bouquets.She informed me (via email) she needed payment for services ahead of time to reserve flowers & hire add'l help for day of wedding to fulfill another order she had.I paid cash at nearly 5pm on 7/** (Fri) & cancelled via email on 7/**/13 (Sun evening).I emailed again on Tues, didnt hear back so I called & was told I needed to speak to owner as they don't accept cancellations via email.I spoke with owner and [redacted] the following day for nearly 1hr re: cancellation. Owner said they already hired a person,and paid...a month in advance, included my flowers in another order, and couldnt modify.I decided on 2 or 3 flowers for 1 bouquet which meant they couldnt have placed a complete order.They didnt offer to show order or payment for hired help.She showed me poster behind counter about email cancellation I never saw in two, 1hr visits.Neither email,receipt, nor in-person conversation said policy.I declined store credit.He offered a more expensive flower to bouquet but his girlfriend/employee ([redacted]) quickly interrupted using a very nasty tone to assure him she wouldnt do that because she didnt want to lower price from an original quote she gave for same flower.He informed me they were in current lawsuit with a bride due to sending incorrect flowers.Owner said [redacted] didn't want to settle for cost of flowers and admit error, & they have several thousand dollars in lawyer fees.It was apparent this was issue of poor service, however, they had my money.Owner stepped outside & my husband & I stayed to pick new bridal bouquet.I told [redacted] I didn't want services at all, that she had a nasty demeanor, & I didn't feel she was giving me what I wanted.She responded, loudly, "I didn't shove bouquet down your throat or force you to pay.You aren't a serious bride & never cared about flowers." Owner stepped in, [redacted] accused me of "attacking heDesired Settlement: although I didn't raise voice or curse. Owner said still no refund.I picked a new bouquet, [redacted] re-iterated all details (flowers, pick up time, number of bouquets, telephone). Day of wedding, a friend picked it up (wedding site was 1hr away). 3 bouquets arrived.I made a bouquet using foreign flowers I ordered (didnt wilt for 1wk,no AC). Bridal bouquet wilted (kept in AC as indicated by [redacted]) by 10pm & I couldn't preserve it). Didnt even receive a courtesy call.I would like a full refund.

Business

Response:

We understand and acknowledge the customers concern. We firmly believe in the satisfaction of our customers, therefore, we have a big flyer placed in customer view stating: 1. We do not issue refunds 2. No cancellations via emails 3. Changes cannot be made if the flowers are in route. [redacted], the store manager, met has met with [redacted] several times total hrs spent 4+ hrs going through 2 wedding books of 250 pgs. There was a lot of time spent on our behalf to make sure the customer understood what she was getting and ensuring customer satisfaction. Even after all the meetings [redacted] was still not committing to a payment. [redacted] reached out several times to [redacted] via telephone and email and after 4 calls was finally able to set an appointment for payment. Since the payment was received arrangements were made with staff and flowers were ordered. A few days later we got a call asking if we recieved an email canceling the order, at that point we told the customer to come to resolve the issue. We had a meeting for 1.5 hrs with the customer explaining to them that we do not issue refunds and provided them with alternative options: 1. a store credit of $300 or 2. Make the bridal bqt and issue $150 store credit which can be used anytime during the year. The customer refused both options and told us to move forward and make the flowers. Prior to pick up I advised the customers that the flowers need to be hydrated and kept in the AC because it was a really, hot& humid summer day (08/**/13). They said they will be taking the flowers Upstate (1.5 hrs away) in no water but in AC. As per store policy we cannot guarantee flowers once they leave the store because we are not sure how the customer takes care of them. But from the complaint we see that that the flowers did last for the ceremony. We did provide the customer with two alternative options to resolve the issue which she refused. We cannot however, issue a refund as the flow ers were made and ready as promised.

Consumer

Response:

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I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID# [redacted], and have determined that my complaint has NOT been resolved because:

They never provided the 3rd bridesmaids bouquet. I paid for three bridesmaids bouquet and a bride bouquet. I accept that they do not wish to refund me the rest of the money because they provided flowers, but they did not render the services completely as a bouquet was missing. Just so this is clear, [redacted] NY is 45 minutes away, not 1.5 hours away; [redacted] is on the same island as [redacted], it is not upstate NY.

In order for the Revdex.com to appropriately process your response, you MUST answer the question above

Sincerely,

Business

Response:

Once again we acknowledge the customers concern, however, initially it wasn't clear in [redacted] complaint that there was a missing bouquet. We are happy to address this now as the customer claims otherwise. [redacted] wedding took place on August **,2013; we are just a little puzzled as to why we are only notified of a missing bouquet almost 2 months after? As I have stated before we take our customer service very seriously and I only wish we had known sooner to try to resolve this issue swiftly and efficiently. [redacted] will be issued a store credit of $50 (value of the bouquet) which may be used any time time for the year expiring 11/**/2014.