Horrible. Business. Practices.
Last Sunday, for Easter, we ordered flowers to present at the altar. Seeing as the holiday signifies resurrection, we asked that the florist make an arrangement with lilies; however, to our horror, they had made an arrangement with chrysanthemums. For those of you who don't know, in Korean culture, chrysanthemums, especially white ones, signify death and are used at funerals. We raised our concern and dissatisfaction, and the floral designer had the audacity to say that we were the ones who didn't have an eye for appreciating floral designs. Furthermore, she called us outdated for having such notions about flowers.
However, seeing as this establishment is run by Korean individuals, we assumed that they would also adhere to certain traditions. The fact that the designer accused us of being ignorant shows how disrespectful they are. Furthermore, as a service-based business, shouldn't the customer's desires be followed? If we said that the chrysanthemums were offensive, then the proper actions to have followed should have been an apology--not an accusation of ignorance and pure immaturity from the designer's part. In the end, they adjusted the arrangement, and we left with tears after paying full amount even though it wasn't our requested arrangements due to the time constraint.
Never mind all that--the story gets better, as the owner comes all the way to our church, and demands to see us about the floral arrangement. At first, she grovels and apologizes and it really seems sincere, but right before she leaves, she utters, "Please remove your review from Google." She also offered us a refund, but at that point, the floral arrangement had already done its damage. Therefore, I nodded my acquiescence, but only because the owner wouldn't leave us alone. Furthermore, it wouldn't be right on my part if I had removed the review. I presented only what had actually happened--others looking to do business with this establishment should know about their practices. Unbeknownst to us, the owner had also taken a picture of the floral arrangement AFTER the adjustment, for the sole purpose of backing up her "righteousness."
The story continues to get worse (or better), as the owner now starts to harass me through calls and texts. It got so bad, I had to turn off my phone because she was relentless. I've attached a screenshot of the texts and # of calls she's made to show how ridiculous this woman is. As a brief translation, she says how the review is bringing her business down, how she's a small business owner who's trying to raise her kids, how we are Christians and shouldn't do this. The list goes on--the fact holds, she didn't offer a sincere apology and did nothing to rectify the mistake that she had made, and her employee furthered the damage by turning the issue on our behalf. I also found it very off-putting that she brought in her personal issues--that really isn't my problem, is it? There's a reason why this business has only 5-star reviews, and it's probably attributed to the fact that they go on a witch hunt any time someone bad mouths their company.
We finally demanded another apology and a refund, but the owner insulted me instead. It was only when I presented them with a vocal recording of my voice saying "LILIES" that they FINALLY owned up to their mistakes. After all, you can't be so high and mighty when there's actual concrete proof. I think all of this only highlights the malpractice of this business and the general ethic the owner and employees hold. Never. Ever. Will I do business with them again. While running a business, one can't always expect to have stellar reviews, and the fact that this business could not handle the truth of their mistakes in an honest review, is baffling and shows the owner has a lot of growing up to do.
*edit: phone number from screenshots were removed for privacy
In response to the business owner's response: NJ is a one party consent state. http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/new-jersey/new-jersey-recording-law read more