Prairie Flowers & Gifts

Review: On 1/25/2014 my fiancé and I had an initial consultation with [redacted] from Prairie Flowers. This meeting lasted approximately an hour and consisted of [redacted] asking several questions about what I'd like for my upcoming wedding. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted for the wedding, and every question she had, I was able to give her a specific answer. At the end, she had a pretty clear idea of what my expectations where, and what I was hoping for. I then informed her at this time that there was another vendor I was considering, but that I'd get back to her.

On 2/3 I called the store and confirmed that I would like to proceed and contract Prairie Flowers as my vendor for the wedding. I gave [redacted] a deposit over the phone and was told to stop in to sign the contract.

On 2/19 I stopped by the store and met with [redacted] to sign the contract. After a half hour meeting where we discussed increasing the order to include flowers for the reception (previously it was just ceremony flowers), she had me sign the contract. I noticed a line that reads "additional consultations are available by appointment for a $75 fee." [redacted] made a comment "normally I'd charge you the $75, but since I hadn’t' told you about it earlier, I won't." This was the first time I felt insulted. I thought it was very rude that she would bring this up and act like she was doing me a favor by not charging me, when this was the first time I had been made aware. I asked for a copy of the contract, and was given some excuse about the printer/copier being inadequate, so she told me she'd mail me a copy of the contract. This same day, [redacted] made a comment that resonated with me. Up to this point we were discussing orange flowers for the wedding. I was very descriptive in that I wanted a darker orange, not a light orange. [redacted]'s comment was "flowers are a naturally occurring material, so we will try to get as dark as we can, but there's no guarantee."

I waited a week and a half, but I never received anything. So I called the store and spoke with [redacted](?) who took a message, apologized, and informed me she'd have [redacted] email me the contract. Finally on 3/3 I received an email from [redacted] with the contract.

After thinking about [redacted]'s comment about the color orange, and not being able to accommodate accuracy, I stopped in on 4/13 to buy some roses and again spoke with [redacted](?) I asked her if it was too late to make changes to the contract, and switch everything that says "orange flower X" to a "yellow rose." Everything was staying the same, expect, that where it was previously an orange flower, it was to now be a yellow rose. A change I thought [redacted] would welcome, because it took the concern over the color away. My intention was to make it easier on her...I love yellow roses (in fact they were incorporated in the original order as well as orange) and I knew I'd be happy with yellow, no matter what. [redacted](?) told me she'd have [redacted] email or call me to follow up on the change.

I didn't hear anything for quite some time, so on 5/30, I again happened to be in the area and stopped in to buy some flowers. While there, I mentioned to [redacted](?) that I still haven't heard from [redacted], and asked her to give me a call. About an hour later I got a call from [redacted], and that's when it went down hill quickly. I asked if she had a chance to look at the order, and if she had any questions. [redacted] was immediately annoyed. She was sighing into the phone and made rude remarks. I told her I'd like to send her an email that clarified things better then the notes she had scribbled from our first meeting, volunteering to do it to help her. I said I wanted to make it easier for her, and her comment was "it's too late for that." I was taken back. But I tried again, and asked what I can do to help: I had already brought her pictures of what I wanted, I brought color swatches of the fabric; I volunteered to go and purchase any ribbon or beads or vases myself to help her; all of which she turned down. Finally, during the phone call, I asked her "did I do something wrong?" I said I felt like she was giving me attitude, and I didn't know why or what I did. She again signed heavily into the phone. I asked flat out "do you even want to do this? Should I find a different florist?" And she told me yes. She said "you probably should." At that point I started crying in the phone. She then proceeded to tell me that she has already invested too much time and effort into this, and that she didn't think I was going to be happy. She said, "I don't think there's anything I can do to make you happy." And she kept referring to the "numerous changes" I had made. I said "[redacted], the only change I made was to go from orange flowers to yellow roses, and I did that because I wanted to make sure I was going to be happy." After the comment she made about the color of orange, I knew I'd be disappointed if it wasn’t' what I was thinking, and so to take that risk away, I simplified it and went with yellow roses. I told her I didn't understand how she didn’t' think that was easier?

I waited a week, thinking she'd maybe give me a call to follow up, but never did. So on 6/9 I stopped in the store to cancel my contract. [redacted] was there, and was more then happy to cancel it. Until I asked for my deposit back. She again scoffed at me. She was verbally aggressive and made comments like " I have $4,000 orders with less notes then yours" and "I've invested way too much time already on this" and "I can't believe you wanted to control the color of ribbon" and "your expectations from the beginning were too much." She then cited the contract where it says "the deposit is non-refundable" and said "you can blast me all over the internet, I don't care."

Now, I understand that the contract says that about the deposit, but just as much as I choose to sign it and enter this agreement, so did she. And if she thought from the beginning my expectations were too much for her to attain, then she should have made me aware, and I could have chosen a different vendor. She choose to ask me all the questions and write down my answers. She choose to enter into this agreement, knowing what I wanted. The contract also says "additions will be accommodated at any time" but yet she seems inconvenienced both times I actually talked to her. (Keep in mind, prior to the 5/30 phone call, I had only made contact with Prairie Flowers 5 times, and two of those times were with [redacted]. So I'm not really sure what [redacted] supposedly spent so much time and effort on...and the flowers haven't even been ordered yet!)

Above and beyond all this, I flat out asked [redacted] if I should find a new vendor, and she told me yes. When I walked in there to cancel the contract, I told her I didn’t' want to, but that she told me to. She then went to print a copy to sign the cancelation. At her directive (and apparently to her satisfaction) I sought out a new florist and cancelled the contract. She asked who the new florist was, and I told her I didn't feel comfortable telling her and she laughed and rolled her eyes.

Finally when I was walking out, she said she was sorry and that there were definitely things she could have handled better. I told her, "well if you want to make this better, please give the deposit back." She refused so I informed her that I'd be writing to the Revdex.com. Again, she knew full well what I wanted going into the contract, and as a vendor in this profession and in the customer service field, if she cannot deliver or has reservations, she should NOT have entered into that agreement either.

I feel [redacted] was no longer interested in working with me, and made the experience miserable. She did nothing to restore my confidence in her abilties. I feel like if she had already succomb to the fact that I wasn't going to be happy, then she wasn't going invest that much effort into doing a good job. Her profession is one of trust and confidence. Both of which she stripped away from me with her behavior. So I felt like I had no choice but to follow her direction and find a new florist.Desired Settlement: I would like the $100 deposit returned. I hired a new florist and cancelled the contract at [redacted]'s direction. She made it very obvious that she did not want to work with me, regardless of the several times I volunteered various ways that I could help accomodate my requests. I have contracted the same flowers from anew florist, and she has no issues or concerns about exceeding my expectations.

I went to Prairie Flowers because my sister hired them for her wedding, and they were beautiful. Its unfortunate that I didn't have the same experience. I'm not asking for anthing more then what I deserve: the $100 deposit back--for a contract Prairie Flowers should have never entered into, and for following [redacted]'s recommendation to cancel and find a new florist.

Business

Response:

We here at Prairie Flowers & Gifts try very hard to accommodate, meet and exceed the needs and vision of every wedding that comes in. At Prairie Flowers & Gifts, we do hundreds of weddings every year. There are times when the need for exactness with shade and color leads to feelings of frustration. It is a concern when we work with a bride and she has these needs, feels frustration and continually completely changes what she wants. We provided our initial free consultation with [redacted] and her fiance. When [redacted] called to express her desire to book with us, she indicated that she would need to sit down again because she had changes to her wedding. She changed some of the elements of the corsage she would be wearing as well as changing her attendants from wearing a corsage, to each one carrying a different flower, she then discussed ideas on reception pieces. This resulted in another one hour long consultation with many of the changes noted on the consultation form. It was at that time that I brought to [redacted]'s attention the part of our contract that indicates that the initial consultation was free and it's no problem to call with questions and minor changes, but if we had to reconduct the entire consultation, then there is a $75 fee for that. I told her that I would waive that fee, but wanted her to be aware of it for the future.

I feel it is part of my job to help my clients understand the limits of what can be done with natural products. Matching a natural product to a fabric swatch is not always possible. A good example of this is when [redacted] requested that she examine my ivory ribbon to attain an exact match to the ivory of her dress. I explained that ribbon manufacturers do not create the multitude of shades of white and ivory that for example a wedding dress designer has access to. I assured her that I would use several different ribbons to create her bridal corsage and that all would be in the ivory tones. I also indicated that if she could accept that, that I wouldn't need her to provide ribbon. At the conclusion of the consultation where she signed the contract, she asked me for a copy, I told her that my printer takes an excessive amount of time to copy, but I could email it to her. I did email it later that day to the email address she gave me. When she called later, I told her that it had been emailed, when we confirmed the email address, she realized she had given me one that she no longer uses ([redacted]). I then emailed the document to the new email ([redacted]).

[redacted] came in again one more time to change what her attendants would be carrying. The message I received from my staff was that I was to call [redacted] if I had any questions. Since she changed to a single yellow rose for each attendant, it seemed very cut and dried, I did not have any questions. She also changed what she had planned for the reception tables at that time. She did not change this for my benefit but for her own, because she was not comfortable with the uncertainty of the shade of orange.