Look everyone, don’t be fooled or scammed. This is a real life customer, and this happens hundreds of times a day to hundreds of real people. Why pay more and get less?

The real deal is the company in question charged Laura $39.99 to include delivery and a free vase. They did not care to take into account, nor was it their problem, that the delivering shop charges for delivery and for the vase. This is the number one con by on-line order gathering companies. They offer a free container, along with free delivery on an item they will not be delivering or completing. It’s a cost they feel most florists can work into the floral design and that the consumer will never fell the difference. Well, when you only have a $40.00 total and $15 is deducted out for delivery and container costs, that doesn’t leave much for flowers. $15 can be a tone in the flower world.

I will soon be posting an article on “Where does the money really go” to explain exactly what Laura experienced. It will offer a price break down to share with you where all the profit goes. One thing that is important to understand is that the 30% that Laura speaks about, is close to the total amount that the LOCAL florist gives up to Teleflora, FTD, and 800-Flowers in order to complete these orders. It is held out of their monthly check through order fees, monthly fees, order percentages, ect… The bottom line is we as a local florist would rather give YOU, our customer, more product for a lower cost, as a thank you for shopping local. If the companies in question would simply just give the florist the fees they collect and charge correctly for the designs pictured, then consumer would rarly be disappointed. Most of the designs they picture are one sided and unrealistic in the real design world.

Keep posted, for the new article coming in June. Laura, thank you so much for sharing.

Russ

I am not one to buy flowers online or for any occasion really, but this year I wanted to make my mom feel a little extra special on Mothers Day and thought flowers would be just the thing. I searched online and after checking out the big online retailers I was sold on a gorgeous bouquet of flowers from Teleflora. What made it better was the fact that I would save $10 dollars and get a free vase. I was very excited and couldn’t wait for my mom to receive the bouquet. The flowers arrived and my mom was very excited and thanked me for the flowers and thought it was very thought full. The flowers were arranged by Griffins so I knew they would be wonderful. A few days later it was Mothers Day, I went to my mom’s house to celebrate and spend time with her. When I arrived at the house I knew I would see the gorgeous flower arrangement that I had ordered from Teleflora. Much to my surprise the flowers were there but they were nothing as to what I purchased! The flowers were in a beautiful arrangement but it didn’t have half the flowers that were suppose to be in it and the colors were of a baby pink and yellows (more like a baby shower bouquet) the flowers I had ordered were bright fuchsia, pinks, and oranges. I was very disappointed when I saw the flowers and my mom thought I had ordered her a nice $20 dollar bouquet, when I had really spent $52 dollars with shipping charges included. I was so upset the very next day I sent a complaint to Teleflora with pictures of what I ordered and what had actually arrived. I had felt I was scammed and was not happy. After no response I received a survey from Teleflora in regards to the flowers sent to my mom and I was more then happy to fill it out and give negative results all around. When I still didn’t receive a response I called Griffins to see if they had my order still on file and to see if possibly Teleflora had sent the wrong order. Russ was very helpful and he opened my eyes to a world of flowers that I didn’t even know about, we spent 20 minutes on the phone. He told me how before my order is even sent out to the local florist Teleflora automatically took 30% off and that was what Teleflora made off of me and Griffins would get the rest of the money to work with. Remember my free vase that was included… well not so much Griffins had to take $5 dollars off to cover that, and then they had to take the shipping charges from what was left. Once all the deductions were taken Griffins finally gets to take there cut for there profit (which was 4 dollars). That left Griffins with a whole $20 to work with. What my mom had received was a very nice 20 dollar looking bouquet but it was not what I had ordered. Finally after two weeks of calls and complaints I did receive my money back from Teleflora and left with disappointment.

Thanks to Russ at Griffins I will always buy my flowers locally and never go through an online company again. I thank Russ for all he did for me and I wish I could have given him the 30% profit instead of Teleflora.

My family are customers of Griffins and Russ did my wedding flowers which were absolutely wonderful. I gave Russ no ideas for my wedding except that I wanted it to be all kinds of pinks and very spring like. The flowers met my expectations and more. I will continue to do business with Russ for all my occasions.