I chose to go with fake florals for my wedding for a number of reasons, and I'm glad I made this decision. First of all, faux flowers don't die - amazing! Second, they look real (if done right), especially in pictures - perfect! Third, they're around the same price as real flowers (if not less), which may I remind you - will die. And finally - You can resell them and/or reuse them for house décor when all is said and done. I absolutely encourage any bride to strongly consider fake flowers for their nuptials.
There are so many different companies and small businesses out there, particularly on Etsy, that are gifted at creating beautiful fake floral arrangements for weddings. With that said - I absolutely would *not* recommend The Faux Bouquets for this important task. I reached out to them first because they seem to have really beautiful bouquets on their website and Etsy page and have great reviews... Full disclosure: I did not get to the point of ordering my flowers from them due to the horrible customer service and communication from this company.
They very well may create beautiful bouquets. But I am personally very surprised at the number of positive reviews for this company based on my experience. As a communications professional myself, I refuse to support and give my business to an entity that doesn't value customer service and prompt, responsive, personal communication as part of their company values system.
Long story short, here are my gripes with the company:
1) Really, genuinely bad customer service. I felt as though each time I received a response from them, it was reviewed by a different person who didn't read our previous correspondence. It was very impersonal, and bottom line: I didn't feel listened to at all. I had to constantly repeat myself in my written communication with them, and felt like they copy-pasted boilerplate responses to my messages without actually reading what I was saying.
2) Slow response time. This company takes *at least* 2+ business days (often more) to respond to any email. While that may not seem like a lot of time at first -- when you have what you *think* are simple follow-up questions, a few days of slow responses can turn into weeks and even months. This is valuable time and energy lost for brides dealing with the stresses of wedding planning and herding cats with other vendors. For me, I went back-and-forth with this company for over a month (and I didn't even place an order!).
3) The hidden costs/fees for basic services makes you feel ripped off. They charge a 20+ percent fee (of your *entire order*) for things that are generally included for free in any standard Etsy transaction.
4) This company should simply be a custom-order only company. That seems to be what they push every customer towards, and they shouldn't advertise anything different because it wastes time for everyone.
Bottom line: there are soooo many local designers and small businesses on Etsy that would kill for your business. I found an amazing woman who responded to my messages within minutes *every time* (not days, like The Faux Bouquets), and she completely understood what I wanted. I sent her a picture of what I was looking for (one picture, not three!) and she was able to make the most beautiful bouquets from that. What would have cost me $500 with The Faux Bouquets only cost me
Here are my final thoughts for the seller, and this is genuine advice:
-This company should simply include their "upgrade" as part of their normal sales operations and simply raise their prices to reflect that. The hidden fee feels really non-transparent.
-They also should probably only offer custom orders. Don't pretend that you can provide a similar bouquet to what's pictured online, when you make the actual process so difficult in reality. Let's be real - rarely do brides only want only a bridal bouquet without matching/coordinating bridesmaid bouquets. Either change your business model to reflect that you only do custom orders, or actually offer matching sets for every bouquet -- to save time and energy for consumers like me.
-Improve your customer service. Respond within 24 hours. Don't have all of your staff take three weeks off in the summer during prime wedding planning season. Put an actual human name and phone number to every customer response, so follow-up is seamless and personal. Actually read the previous email correspondence before replying, so you don't repeat yourself and frustrate customers who are already stressed with wedding planning.
-For disgruntled customers like me, have the company owner follow up personally to address customer concerns. I felt as though my requests/concerns weren't acknowledged at all - if you can't accommodate it, that's fine - just be real about it. When someone is about to spend $500 on your services, they expect you to do your best to accommodate reasonable situations, and/or apologize when you can't. We are all humans. This didn't feel human. read more