đ˛ miscellaneous
Am I Overreacting to Teleflora Pulling a Fast One on Me
The local florist I normally use closed and I needed flowers for Valentineâs Day. I was looking online and saw a Teleflora ad. I saw a nice arrangement and decided to order. The flowers were delivered yesterday and and my girlfriend sent me a picture of the flowers. She likes the flowers but I was upset due to the flowers do not look like what I ordered and I added on a card and as you can see a folded piece of paper was included. The vase is clearly not the same either. Am I over reacting to these discrepancies.
Never do Teleflora because they just take a massive percent off the top and call a local florist. If the florist is far away, they take a bunch of money and put it towards the delivery fee so the flowers you get suck and arenât what you paid for. Next time, try to find another local florist.
This is the correct answer! The local florist filling the order has to try to make it look as close to the photo as possible with whatever stock of flowers and vases they have, and very little money coming to them. If you pay Teleflora $80, expect to get about a $30 bouquet.
Exactly this. I used to work in a flower shop and it was impossible to make the bouquet in the teleflora photos.Â
The bouquet OP ordered looks like it has 6 roses, about 3 stems of spray roses, 3 stems of alstros, and about 6 carnations. That's just on one side and the shape looks like an all around, so double all those numbers.Â
In CAD, from my memory of what flowers cost a few years ago, this would be $60 for roses alone, $27 for spray roses, $21 for alstros, $30 for carnations. Plus about $15 for greens, $15 for the vase, and $33 for labor.Â
That's $200 total. The bouquet doesn't look like it's worth $200. And I bet it was advertised as $100 or less. Absolutely impossible for a florist to create the pictured image, especially when teleflora takes a good chunk.Â
OP, you're NOR, but it's not the florist's fault. Never use telefora.
Teleflora has fine print about using similar flowers for arrangements if stock falls short. I assume they do this to everyone. It's cheaper to sell roses when you can just sell red flowers that look like roses
Carnations are literally my favorite flower - smell good, cute and puffy, can be dyed green, are so cute and make good bouquets!
If I ordered roses and got carnations Id be pissed. And astos are just as cheap if not cheaper than carnations. They saved a pretty penny giving you cheap ass pretty red flowers.
Haha my wedding bouquet i made from green carnations, white carnations, peachy roses. Like 3-5 carnations per rose. T_T the roses were the most expensive part.
If you paid more than $20 for the bouquet and more than $20 for delivery I would say you are not overreacting.
Places like Teleflora call around to find the cheapest florist for these orders. I worked at a florist and we did not accept those orders because they'd cost the company money unless you substitute cheap flowers/vases.
You probably know this, but Lego makes sunflowers. My husband gave me some when we were dating, and then we bought a bunch of kits for people to do at our wedding this year for the same reason.
Thatâs a bit curious, carnations have traditionally been used at funerals here in Denmark. But I love them too, classic and beautiful flowers. And I do believe this tradition is disappearing.
I have an aunt who absolutely hates carnations. They remind her of her mothers funeral. If I ordered her an arrangement and it contained unexpected carnations, I'd be absolutely mortified.
I used to work for a florist. When you order from Teleflora, the order goes to the closest local florist signed up with Teleflora. The florist that fills the order may not have the specific flowers or accessories. The vases, teddy bears, etc. often have to be ordered by the florist from Teleflora. Where I worked, they didn't do that because why stock up on all the expensive accessories when you're not guaranteed the arrangements will even get ordered? On the rare occasion we did get a Teleflora order, we would just go to Walmart or the craft store and get something as similar as possible.
This, they put all the roses in the front into the picture, but you can see the carnations on the sides.
Seems like the first picture was designed for a single still. While the second picture was designed as an actual bouquet. It would be weird if all the roses were grouped together with different flowers behind them in real life.
I work at a florist, and this is exactly correct. All the Teleflora photos are one-sided, which makes for a great photo, but looks awkward in real life. So while we try to make use of the same flowers/style, our bouquets are usually all the way around. Also, Iâm pretty sure Teleflora photos are photoshopped, which is maddening.
It is though. Original bouquet is â red roses, red spray roses, red alstroemeria, red carnations, red miniature carnations, huckleberry, leatherleaf fern, and lemon leafâ
The way it is advertised in a civilized country the EU customer protection agencies would rip you a new one for that ad. There are only roses in the ad.
If you look at the picture it has roses, carnations and something else, they all just look weirdly color corrected to match. Plus it says âwe may substitute vase or flowers for whatâs freshâ. I think there were problems on both the vendor and the purchaser. Always best to get from a a local florist anyway, you can call and discuss what you want and theyâll meet your price point. Iâve done this plenty of times for people who live out of state, just look up florists online. Unfortunate if there is no florist in your area that can deliver though.
Ahhh. So the picture is slightly misleading. Iâd say it intentionally makes it look like a bouquet of only roses. Theyâre hoping dudes will be like OP and only see the picture and order without thinking twice.
1000000% and honestly, who really deep dives that deep into flower descriptions? The arrangement they got tho is insanely better than what ive been seeing on r/expectationsvsreality
This is why I donât buy flowers on Teleflora, 1-800-flowers, etc. I usually go to my grocery store that has beautiful flowers and they last a long time, plus they are cheap! If you have to order long distance, call a local (to the destination) florist directly.
Trader Joe's is working extra hard at putting all the locally owned florists out of business.
All the big retailers contract with growers and forbid them from growing for anyone else. It just drives the prices up for the little shops.
Grocery store bouquets are the best I've found, too. Cheap, long lasting. My only complaint is that sometimes the available color combinations are, uh, not to my taste.
Thatâs true, you canât always find exactly what you want, but I can usually find something nice or I have also bought a few different flower bunches and made my own bouquet. The place I usually go sells small bunches of one flower.
The grocery store we shopped at when I was a kid used to have a little florist desk and you could get arrangements made. They had other gifts as well like balloons and teddy bears to add on. My dad had a flower guy near his parents house though where he would get bouquets for his momâs birthday and Motherâs Day. We were close enough he probably could have went to the flower district himself but this guy was pretty cool with him and did all the work. My grandma was huge on flowers and had a crazy garden but she loved bouquets too and sees. Iâve always preferred grocery store ones as well since my husband used to order arrangements that never looked the same or seemed worth the cost. Or live plants but Iâm not great at keeping them alive.
Thatâs why you need to walk into a florist instead of using a horrible service that is literally the reason mom and pop stores are going out of business.
Yeah, in the photo, they've arranged things so that more than a dozen roses are facing the camera. The other kinds of flowers are barely visible.
The delivered bouquet has... five roses visible. Maybe there's 8 or 9 if a bunch of them are hidden on the side away from the camera. But that's a big chunk of the implied value of the product that they "substituted" out.
Also, we donât know which size bouquet he ordered, which can mean more or less of a particular kind of flower. Teleflora, 1-800-Flowers, all those aggregators usually show the largest / most expensive version of the bouquet in the online catalog. You can usually find that in the fine print. Something like âPictured: XXL bouquet.â But if you order the smallest size, it will have a different concentration of those named flowers, and often a different vase or container. OP is MOR.
The "Be Inspired..." photo looks a lot closer to what OP's GF got. The description matches too. Whoever set up the website for Teleflora put in the wrong photo. Maybe intentionally, maybe just some IT person who doesn't know a rose from a daisy.
Showing 99% roses in the image then using mostly cheaper flowers is false advertising my dude. The vase is wrong also?
Edit to add for the arguments on 'Best Photos' advertising. If McDonalds gave you a single quarter pounder with excessive extra lettuce instead of the double quarter pounder pictured and ordered, then you wouldn't be arguing that they were false advertising. Just because its flowers doesn't make this different. Roses are the burger here that have been blatantly left out
I came to post a screenshot of that as well! Not uncommon for that industry, too, as their supplies can vary due to a number of factors outside of their control.
If they showed a double quarter pounder and gave you a single quarter pounder with extra lettuce, that's not the same thing and 100% false advertisement
I still count a dozen roses - despite it not showing the full bouquet. what op got was 4 roses that I can count. Being generous an additional 4 not in the picture.
My wife sold her flower shop long ago, but I asked her how your flowers could have been delivered like that. She said there is a chance that after she sold the business, Teleflora started offering an additional cheaper service to compete with companies that sell flat packs with a vase, and you may have accidentally clicked on that option. It is also possible that the company that fulfilled the order was a scam that misrepresented itself as a local florist.
Again, my wife is reaching for an explanation here, because in her experience that should not have happened unless something went wrong somewhere in the process.
YOR - Used to be a floral designer and this arrangement used the same flowers in the teleflora picture. The FTD and Teleflora websites literally have a substitution policy. It is one of THE busiest days of the year for floral shops everywhere. Iâd also like to add, that when you order from these online floral sites, Iâm pretty sure they donât disclose that they take a % for finding a local florist, forget to add a delivery fee, the price of vases (and the pretty ones donât come cheap) + the price of flowers are outrageous imo. I recommend in the future, visiting or calling a local florist yourself, placing orders on special events like VDay, Mothers Day, dances, etc. in advance, the earlier the better.
That's why you only order from local florists. All of those big companies like that one, 1800flowers, etc. do this kind of thing. They don't care about the customer, just the money. I would ask for a refund and if they aren't willing, chalk it up to a lesson learned and don't order from them again.
And so the nearest place was 30km away and everybody had to shave off the cost/profit margin and op got fucked. But mostly an infrasturcture thing. So yes, if op had actually rung up a real nearby flower shop who could charge him at a distance, he would have had a a much much better service. Btw in this case he did quite well considering the risk factor.
Plus, the shipping process is brutal on flower arrangements.
I've worked for ups in the factory for over 10 years, we used to get these purple boxes (not sure what company) round Valentines day, mother's day and sweetest day.... Lemmy tell ya, a LOT of folks holidays were ruined by larger boxes smooshing em on belts, them falling to the sides of conveyors in trucks and getting accidentally stepped on, or angry employees taking their frustrations out on them.
As a florist Iâm BEGGING people to stop ordering from Teleflora, FTD, 1-800flowers, Bloomnation, etc. They are order gatherers. They do not make the arrangement I guarantee you the filling only received $90-$110 TOTAL. That includes delivery, labor, flowers, hardware. These companies rip off both the customer and the filling florists. Call florists directly to work directly with the designer on what you want.
Support local shops directly. Theyâre already struggling enough with grocery stores and gas stations selling flower bundles. Iâm so sorry thatâs the flowers that were sent out. Itâs not okay, but sadly when you donât work with a florist directly you get no guarantee on quality.
I second this. Iâm not in the floral industry but in my job we work with 1800Flowers and theyâre trash. Theyâre owned by a conglomerate that also owns Harry & David, Cherylâs Cookies, The Popcorn Factory, Personalization Mall, and more. The bigger the company, the lower the quality. Theyâre not contributing to local economies at all
Can we also encourage local shops to get functional websites though?Â
Iâm sorry, I donât want to call a place and talk to someone. But every time Iâve tried to order local online, even knowing the name of the shop, itâs been a big (fart noise).Â
And then I try to call, and it rings and ringsâŚ.rage. But mainly I want to order when I have time to order (which for me is 5am before my day starts).Â
I always try to tell people this on these posts. But the people agreeing they should do a chargeback are always up top. Drives me nuts cuz the shops try so hard with what theyâre given.
This happened to my ex once. He sent me flowers and he said they didnât look like the photos. He called the shop and they refunded him like 40% off I think. But you might have to go back and forth with them, he was very good at getting his way with people
You can definitely get some flowers cheaper especially on random days during the year but red roses for valentines day are going to be a premium where Iâm located.
Flowers are extremely expensive in the US. I live in Germany and have many elderly relatives in the US. I occasionally send flower for milestone birthdays, memorial receptions, etc. I get so frustrated paying like $85 for arrangements I could get for âŹ25-30 in Germany.
I specifically refuse to buy arrangements in that are just tulips. I'm not paying $75 for something I know I can buy here for âŹ6-10.
Idk if they're priced higher because they're seen as a luxury "special occasion" item. Or if people buy them only for special occasions because they're so expensive. Bit of a chicken/egg question.
Yes but itâs obvious they made it like that on purpose to save money. If you need to charge more for roses, raise the price. Theyâre just scamming. If I buy a dozen roses I want roses. If I wanted lilies, 4 roses and one random ass flower I would order that. They didnât run out of roses at the flower shop. They just knew they could get away with scamming people
Having worked in a florist before it depends when this was ordered. If it was within 24 hours of delivery it is entirely possible they ran out of flowers. For valentines your flowers usually need to be pre ordered from the supplier at least a week in advance although some can order at last minute but not generally the day before
I think the thought is if you want roses then order roses. Anytime you order a bouquet of course they are going to fill with cheaper flowers. Not excusing it just saying you have to expect it at this point.
So op didnât actually really put much effort into it, saw an ad, went straight to purchase, read nothing about the actual product he chose to buy on a whim, and is now upset? Bro couldnât even google florist near me if his singular local one was closed? Itâs Friday 13th rn bro had time.
NOR but these online florists ALWAYS pull shit like this. I try to order flowers every once in a while for my friend across the country whose husband SUCKS and never gets her any. But looking through the selection and the prices itâs just not worth it because I know theyâre gonna end up looking like that. I finally got her some fake flowers on Amazon that look nice that I tell her to put out a few times a year.
If you want to get her nice flowers Google flower shops in her area and speak to them directly!
These websites are middlemen scammers, they take the order promising a certain arrangement and skim money off the top. Then they call around to local shops until someone takes the order. It usually leaves shops in an unfortunate position where they may genuinely not have the flowers or case, or would take a loss if they made it with the same exact flowers.
The arrangements our designers make when it was a designers choice always blew me away compared to if we accidentally got stuck with a telafloral order. We were just directed not to even answer the phone for them.
Just a tip for next year, most florists that are willing to use teleflora and companies like that, (because all teleflora is doing is wiring the order to a florist that delivers to your area), are not florists that are going to give you full arrangements.
Of what money you pay teleflora, about 40 percent of that money never gets to the florist. So they are filling it to value, after the wire service fees are all taken out. Plus teleflora intentionally puts in that clause about "as similar as possible" to coax flower shops into using them, as it can be "close enough". The paper card is because the wire order comes over the computer printer, with your message printed and the shops are just to cut that part off and fold it. Teleflora (and the like) really is the worst. Call around. If this shop delivered to you, maybe try ordering from them directly next year. You will get more bang for your buck. đš
NOR because it is insanely different, but y'all have GOT to stop expecting what's in the picture on those fast floral delivery services. you order from them and a local florist takes the order and has to make best with what they have on hand, so it's likely not going to be right. and around VALENTINE'S DAY their stock can be way out of wack.
I'm a funeral director for a company that uses teleflora regularly and I can confidently say this is common for them. They advertise something and assume the florist that picks it up will replicate it but they can't always. It's Valentine's Day, they're using their roses for customers who ordered flowers from them directly. I can't say this enough, do not use teleflora.
if you cross post this to r/florists they can help explain the follies of using a wire service vs a brick and mortor florist- unfortunately these services take your money and only send a portion sometimes a fraction to the actual florist who filled the order - regardless the amount of substitutes of blooms here is major and i would definitely complain, but as a florist myself understand that teleflora middle manned your purchase so it wonât be an immediate rectification because you have to complain to them, they have to bring it to the filing florist and then go from there, i know you said your usual shop closed but its time to find a new one that you can order from directly next time
My wife used to own her own flower shop. She said there were several things wrong, but the vase was not one of them. It is not good, but it is acceptable to replace it with another one as long as it is the same color and a similar shape.
As others have said, the real number of each flower is in the description, but the photo shows most of the flower heads facing the front. A florist has to arrange them all the way around, so the photo is a bit misleading. They were also not cut well for length, which ruined the balance of the arrangement.
Always call the florist directly. The flower services take a large cut of the profits, which means you will get a much nicer arrangement if you call the shop yourself. Also keep in mind that when you Google flower shops in your area, even if you see what looks like a local phone number, it may be a national company that bought local numbers. They just take the order, take a large cut, and then pass it on to a local florist.
Yes, but the original image shows a dozen roses, which costs much more than 3? in the other. It's hard to tell. If he paid for a dozen roses, he should have received a dozen roses.
Original pic shows every stem in the arrangement, its a front facing marketing pic (Or was before they changed to photoshop for these things, but the concept underneath is the same). OPs pic only captures half the flowers since it was taken from the side, not the top.
Not to say I disagree with the point you're making, but I bet if we had a top photo from OP we'd be seeing more stems and getting more info.
As someone who had to do floral arrangements at the end of the day at a garden center when the florist went home I can say without a doubt that if a colleague made that arrangement when the picture above is what was promised we would have remade it for them at a discount or given them a refund.
There are several different ways to do arrangements, including front facing (which is the picture that was advertised) and a full 360 (which is what op received. A 360 view is going to result in you having to spread out the flowers more thinly which is why I suspect they cut them far shorter than the original spray, resulting in a much smaller arrangement than was promised.
If a florist is incapable of following the front facing directions and giving it the advertised height then they probably shouldn't be working for the company. You aren't just paying for the flowers when you order a vase you're paying for the arrangement, which this florist failed to deliver.
You're right, in which case that's false advertising. The number of roses pictured there are only enough for a front facing arrangement. You cannot do a 360 arrangement with that few of flowers and have it look like the original picture. I changed my mind. It's on the company for putting up a picture that's impossible to make in an all around arrangement with the number of roses quoted, not the florist. Either way OP has a right to be pissed for getting scammed as a layperson wouldn't know that.
I count around 15ish roses in the advertised photo and 6 roses in the pic on the right. Still though, for $105 (based on the websiteâs prices rn), he got majorly ripped off.
But many florists do a design in multiple sizes - same flowers but amount varies. They of course put the largest/best in the photo. Is there a chance OP bought this design but in a different size?
(Spoken as someone who used to be a florist lol)
Live goods are never identical, but there are clear differences. Though hard to see, there are small lilies and carnations in the example, but it's mostly roses. I'd be mostly pissed that the image for the add looks to have somewhere around twice as many flowers as what was delivered.
Always call your local florist directly! Teleflora and 1800 and all them are just order gatherers who take like half the money and then the flower shop actually making it doesn't have that full budget to use on the flowersâ¤ď¸- a florist
I've worked in the floral industry before. Teleflora is a middle man agency. They take your order, pocket a chunk of it, then lay a local flower shop to make and deliver it with what's left. You will almost always not receive exactly what you ordered, and they will put a fine print that says as much so you cant sue them
Depends on when you ordered it really. Did you order it well in advanced or last minute when they maybe had to make substitutions?
You should actually be happy that you didnât end up being one of those guys that just complain boring roses. The perfect no thought gift. Unless roses are her absolute favourite flower in the entire world.
They are the worst along with 1800flowers. You should always go to a local place. If youâre not from the area just google local florists. I would also request a refund, I have before and they will give it or redo the flowers. Just sad for which flower shop actually filled it. Good luck in the future!
For some insight, my mom used to do these, but she stopped because hereâs what happens:
Teleflower company will pull a list of local florists to do their arrangements when someone calls in an order. So if you live in X, theyâll look up florists near X and basically just be a middleman between you and the florist.
Problem is, the teleflower company uses their own pictures, and thatâs what you order from. They donât actually have any of that stock. So you ordered a bouquet of roses in a tall red vase, but that vase was only really used for the photo shoot, and if the florist doesnât have the right flowers the only options are to decline or try to make it work with what they have.
My guess is the florist who did this was short on roses or had all but run out, so they tried to give you similar shapes and colors. Which usually is fine for more general bouquets, but roses, especially on Valentineâs Day, are pretty specific. So youâre NOR, that u fortunately just how these companies work
Iâd be on the phone already asking for a replacement or refund! #1- The astronova and carnations are cheaper flowers, and those are the primary flowers used. #2- that arrangement does NOT look professionally done. Looks like a newbie, kid, or the janitor did it.
Not over reaction. At all.
You obviously arent going to get what's pictured when you order something like this off the internet unless its fake flowers. Especially close to valentines day. Even without having seen other posters screenshot of the sites disclaimer that there may be substitutions due to limited supplies, its something you should have been able to guess. You didnt check everything before you bought them. Thats on you,.not them. Next time get the flowers yourself instead of ordering them online.
Family owns a flower shop - grew up in it. Teleflora & other wire services allow for subs based on reasonable price spikes (think roses on Valentines Day) & due to lack of availability of flowers; however, while the advertised arrangement is superior aesthetically, the bones of the arrangement your gf received appear to be the same. For shops on Valentines, red roses specifically are the main commodity. I count 6 red roses in the Teleflora ad. I can easily identify 5 in the flowers your gf received & I think a 6th is hiding just in the back left. Thatâs all Teleflora & the shop that processed your order care about. Everything else is filler & highly interchangeable as far as the shop/Teleflora are concerned. Before someone attempts to correct me, yes, there are some stems of mini roses in the Teleflora arrangement, but those arenât ârosesâ in the sense that a shop couldnât fill an order for a dozen roses with 12 stems of those mini roses - theyâre only serving as the filler in this arrangement. Thereâs also a whole separate discussion that could be had on the cost breakdown of the arrangement vs what Telefloraâs allotment to the shop is. Ultimately, those 6 roses are the linchpin between Teleflora & the shop that fulfilled your order. Not saying itâs right or wrong - just trying to give some insight/contextâŚ
What you got is, at best, a third of the value of the bouquet in the picture on the left. It's absolutely dishonest, but they probably covered their asses with small print.Â
I was a florist for many years and I think I have some relevant information that can help here.
TLDR: Wire services are trash. Always call an actual shop.
Teleflora is a wire service, not an actual flower shop. They take orders and distribute them to affiliated shops in the area to fill.
During major floral holidays, running out of flowers is extremely common. Flowers are a very perishable product and many shops do not want to risk being stuck with a ton of leftover product after the holiday because that is just lost money. They would rather sell out. If someone orders directly from the flower shop, the employees there can make suggestions for substitutions or alternatives if what you are looking for is already sold out. With a wire service, they will take the order and send it to a shop regardless of whether that shop has the flowers remaining in stock.
While technically flower shops can reject orders from wire services if they don't have the product, they are often "punished" for that in the long run. Many wire services have a limit to how many orders you can reject before they start restricting what they send to you and, unfortunately, the widespread use of wire services has made it nearly impossible for flower shops to remain profitable and in business without working with them.
There is almost always fine print in these orders that allows for substitutions. Unfortunately, wire services aren't typically very upfront with customers about that. I used to often get orders sent to us from wire services with the "or closest available" caveat included. OR I would send a message to the wire service to tell them that I did not have the product and they would instruct me to fill it as similar as possible. The flower shop cannot contact you directly to ask your opinions on this because you ordered through a third party so they do not have your information.
PLEASE stop supporting wire services like Teleflora and take the extra five minutes to find a local shop. You are going to get a better quality product. Wire services take a cut of the profits when they take your order so you actually end up getting better value for your money if you cut out the middle man entirely. Flower shops are almost always small mom and pop businesses that are nearly always on the brink of bankruptcy because the profit margins are so small. Wire services are like a cancer to the floral industry and, as you can see from your experience here, hurt both the flower shop that fills your order and you as the customer.
NOR - not what you paid for and they're less expensive than what you paid for. Contact customer service and demand a refund. You have the pictures to prove what you received, and the transaction receipt as well, I'm sure.
You'll likely receive a refund without even having to return bc the item is perishable.
Youre overreacting. You received the same flowers pictured just not in the same configuration. If you wanted something nicer you should buy from a local florist, not a third party.
NOR iâd ask them for a refund and send the picture if you can, different vase and type of flowers plus they look wilted.
but as a girl its the thought that counts these discrepancies didnât ruin anything on her end, they are still pretty and i know she genuinely enjoyed/appreciated these!
Usually when you order from online sites like this, they send the order to a local florist who recreates the arrangement the best they can. If you order the lesser expensive option, it usually looks different from the big expensive arrangement sites showcase to get your attention. You should expect the flowers included in the arrangement to match the written description, but the vase and other embellishments might be slightly different.
This happened to my mom. Her best friend sent her flowers for her birthday (which were a big bouquet of roses and lilies) and what showed up were carnations. I sent a photo to her friend and they were upset and called Teleflora and they resent flowers only for the same thing to show up again.
My mom's best friend paid like 200$ for the bouquet, and didn't get her money's worth either time. Nor did we get the vase that was supposed to come with it.
NOR I donât trust Teleflora after ordering a small arrangement for a funeral. The representative over the phone said it would cost $144 for a random arrangement . I said I would call her back. Ten minutes later she leaves me a voicemail and says itâs actually $98 dollars⌠Ok. Was she trying shake me down for more money?! đ
NOR, but this sort of thing has been my experience with Teleflora. The fine print allows them to substitute, and what they deliver is never what is in the picture.
Also if you look at the top to the right of where is says description it says sizes, there are usually 3 to choose from ans the picture is often the middle to large size which will contain more or less of certain flowers like roses depending on picked size. It's possible the size picked was not the size purchased.
same thing happened to me when I got flowers from 1800 flowers. They were sooo small compared to the pic and used a bunch of filler flowers nothing like the pic, came late and browning already. Call customer service and complain that they look nothing like the pic and itâs not even the same flowers, donât settle for a new bouquet just ask for a full refund because itâs clearly wrongful advertising on their end
Let me answer this from a florist standpoint (not me specifically but my best friend who has explained this to me numerous times).
The tele-floral businesses send your order to a local florist along with a payment that is significantly less than what you've actually paid (you're paying to use the tele-florist service).
What they don't do is: (1) ensure the florist has enough flowers requested (in this case, roses) to cover the bouquet, (2) actually pay market price for the flowers, (3) ensure the florist has a vase.
The florist receiving your order will do their absolute best to get you something as close to possible to what you ordered, but in some cases, they just don't have the stock or can't give you exactly what you asked for without going significantly in the hole, money-wise.
Long story short, NOR. Teleflorist businesses kill local florists and provide lower quality products due to these practices. Best case (and you said you tried) is to go to your local florist. They will work with you to get something extremely nice in your price frame and can ensure you get exactly what you're asking for.
Websites like that are middlemen/scams that skim a bunch of money off the top for themselves then call around to local florists. Youâll get way better service and bang for your buck calling a florist directly or ordering off a floristâs website.
Going against what pretty much everyone else is saying, YOR because I went to the website for this. While the picture on the website is a little misleading because it does look to be mostly roses, it is much easier to see in the actual website picture that you are ordering the mix of flowers you received. It even says in the description âTeleflora's All My Rouge Bouquet includes red roses, red spray roses, red alstroemeria, red carnations, red miniature carnations, huckleberry, leatherleaf fern, and lemon leaf arranged in Teleflora's Boldly Beautiful Vase.â Screenshot from their actual website of what you ordered. My guess is, and maybe Iâm wrong, that you were ordering last minute because you forgot and you werenât doing your due diligence before placing a hasty order.
The original photo definitely puts the roses as the primary flower, but you can see the alstromeria in the top middle and carnations at the sides. The delivered flowers seem to have a different proportion, but the mix seems about the same.
That said, NEVER order from second party floral sites; they are shit. Google the local florists and call to place your order. Youâll get way better service and a better product bc thereâs no middle man skimming off the top. (My mom owned a floral shop when I was growing up).
For everyone saying to use a local florist, itâs not so easy. I ordered this bouquet to send to a sick coworker in another state, from âFlowers by Noraâ, supposedly local to Davenport, FL. $90 dollars.
as someone who has been a florist for a few years now, here is what happened and how to avoid it:
teleflora took a large cut of what you paid for, then sent it to the florist, who then took another chunk for delivery, so you got really cheap flowers. another portion of your budget went to the colored vase, which is more expensive than clear ones.
always, ALWAYS, call or order from the florist directly. florists know what they are doing, and know what will look best. they can recommend what will get you the most bang for your buck and what is the freshest. they can also personalize it more.
additionally, when you order online, you're almost never guaranteed to get an arrangement that looks exactly like the photo showed because the photos are typically made by an outside company. if you don't want to call, look for florist's choice and add preferences in the notes, or look for pictures where it looks like they took the photo, not a dif company
Reach out to the company with a photo and say you expected roses. Ask them for a refund and tell them you will send the flowers backs
When they decline a refund, you can file a charge back. Or they refund you. It is required you ask to send the product back before you file a charge back though.
Thatâs what you get for ordering through a theirs party wire service and not a florist shop directly. They take 30% or more of what you pay and pocket it for facilitating the sale and wiring the order to the shop. Teleflora/FTD are the scourge of the floral industry.
I ordered from them last year. Never again. Paid extra for a note I wrote for my girlfriend, and they printed something on there that was not written by me
Teleflora uses various florists around the world matched to your delivery post code.
So they send out a picture of the order and the florists try and recreate with what they have on stock.
Thereâs a clause which says âmay differ from pictureâ when you order. Teleflora takes no responsibility for the quality of the florist outside of getting enough complaints to remove them from their service.
Shitty thing to happen but itâs your own fault for not reading the T&Cs so YOR
MOR - but mostly because maybe you don't know how teleflora works. So when you order from these teleflora places, there isn't some kind of factory that these come from. They are orders that are sent to local florist who may or may not have the flowers you picked. They will try to make them as close to what you ordered but chances it looks the same are low.
So what these companies do is they take the order and take their cut and then they give a local florist the order with the remaining money. You get what you pay for, and what you are paying for is a third party service. Next time, call a florist directly to get your full moneyâs worth.
BTW- the florist who filled the order has nothing to do with this. They didnât get your order. They got the order from a company who took it upon themselves to order on your behalf. They are NOT in partnership.
NOR I worked for a local flower shop for years and we HATE these stupid companies NEVER order from them!!!! They forward their orders to local flower shops that fill the orders and telefora takes a huge chunk of the money you pay and the local flower shop gets a smaller percentage to make the flowers so they end up looking crappy. And the flower shop doesnât care as much to make the flowers look right because they hate those companies (and the company doesnât check that the local shop has what is needed for the arrangement, including the correct vase)
Bouqs if you have to order online, or a local florist if you can. Bouqs has delivered precisely what I have ordered the several times I have used them. This year it was a bouquet of Peony Roses, all in with delivery and whatever was ~$150. They were delivered on time, securely packed in a box, and in excellent condition.
Local florists are almost always going to be your best bet. They can help you find the best quality flowers for your money and make other helpful suggestions.
I just received a Bouqs arrangement and all of the greenery is shriveled and dead. UrbanStems has never let me down, and the vases are WAY better quality than the one I just received.
MOR. All those big flower companies are notoriously horrible, and the bouquets never look like the pictures. So this is kind of like ordering from SHEIN or temu and being surprised when the product is bad. Itâs frustrating, but theyâve done much worse, at least you got one that looks nice.
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u/arugulafanclub Feb 14 '26
Never do Teleflora because they just take a massive percent off the top and call a local florist. If the florist is far away, they take a bunch of money and put it towards the delivery fee so the flowers you get suck and arenât what you paid for. Next time, try to find another local florist.