I have to provide back story to provide proper context, bear with me. My grandmother passed away this past Saturday night and nailing down arrangements took time. I was not able to make the 3000 mile trip with my mother to be there in person to help with plans and preparations, when she and my uncle had so much on their plate - she was in a nursing home (so her stuff had to be removed fairly immediate) and took a turn for the worse fairly suddenly; cremaims availability wasn't certain, etc. I provide this background because in trying to help my mother from across the country at the end of a long day of he running around, packing, etc., I was scanning possible floral arrangements and texting them to her because she didn't have access to the internet. We spent several hours and selected arrangements from two "national" vendors, one was 1800Flowers. We ordered a beautiful heart shaped standing arrangement in pink; the website, with the zip code applied, guaranteed delivery by noon the next day - the before the funeral (which had just been finally confirmed) to ensure timely delivery. The next morning, they called to tell my mom that they would need to substitute something else, then said they would fedex what we ordered to the church, instead of local florist delivery and she would just have to attach it to the easel. I received email confirmation it was being prepared for delivery. Then, hours later, I received an email confirming a substitution was sent "extremely similar to what was chosen", which ended up being a vase of white orchids of 66% less cost than what had been paid. Now the funeral was scheduled for the next morning, shops were closed. My mom had no time to search for replacement flowers before the service the next morning in person, so I called Capitena's that morning. Had I been in Ashtabula, they said they had some nice arrangements in the refrigerator. When I explained the situation, the man I spoke with said, unfortunately his driver was headed in the exact opposite direction and would be unlikely to return by the time service started, in just about an hour, let alone be able to get to Conneaut in time. He said that, because he could not guarantee that he could meet time constraints even to get to the inurnment, he could not take my order. Then, he provided me with the name and telephone number of a competitor that was close to the church and might be able to help - and because of their proximity they did. CAPITENA's demonstrated the "SERVICE" so many in the "service" industry have forgotten, let alone compassion at a difficult time. Many of the arrangements, as seen on Capitena's website, were perfectly suited to what we were looking for and reasonably priced cmpared to competitors. The care and time I received in that call with Capitena's, which provided a solution, even though through a competitor, was so appreciated in a difficult time from 3000 miles away. Had there been more time, we would have absolutely ordered from Capitena's - which received a good recommendation from a relative that is familiar with Capitena's and lives locally, but sadly not until after our disasterous experience with 1800Flowers. Thank you, Capitena's for your compassion and understanding, on top of the lovely arrangements we saw on your website ... you did not make any money from us, but were ethical and helpful, while 1800Flowers took a substantial amount of money, conveyed mixed messages and failed - a lesson learned ... BUY LOCAL! Thank you, again! read more
