I recently went with my mother to pick out funeral arrangements for a deceased relative from the Shelby Twp location. The store personnel were very helpful and we ended up purchasing a casket spray as well as a large urn - both flower arrangements were over $200.00 each. We were assured that the local Thrifty Florist nearest to the funeral home would take care of the delivery, and that another location in Warren would be responsible for creating the actual arrangements. At the time of ordering our arrangements, we requested that a few flowers be substituted for what was featured in their books (in one instance a type of flower, and in the second, just the color was changed of one type of flower), and we were assured this would be no problem.
Two days later, at the funeral home, we discovered that one specific type of flower used profusely in both arrangements - light purple mums - were drooping and appeared to be dying, and that neither of our floral request changes were honored. This was on the one and only day that our family had our loved one at this funeral home.
The back of the cards on each arrangement had the Thrifty Flower logo, and the request that a call be made immediately should there be any problems...with NO NUMBER given for that purpose. As most people know, there is only a single hour time frame for the family to personally grieve before the room is opened to the public. Instead of being able to focus on the life of my deceased relative and mourn properly, I went on a wild goose chase trying to find a responsible party to correct the flowers, since both arrangements were in close/direct proximity to the casket and each mourner present would be aware of dying flowers in a bouquet next to them.
I initially called the Shelby Twp location, who were very quick to redirect me to call the Thrifty Florist in the same city as the funeral home was located - but given no number for that location. The second call I placed was to the shop I was told to call. They tried to tell me that because the arrangement was made in the Warren location, I needed to call them. At this point, I became not only extremely frustrated, but also very angry. Flowers are ordered for most major occasions, and in this instance, for a funeral. If anyone should have been understanding and helpful about what we were encountering with the condition of floral arrangements and their use of substandard flowers, it should have been them. For myself, I was done wasting my time, that should have been made as brief on a phone as possible, and told this second store that they could call me once they ironed out the problems with the Warren location.
Eventually I received a call, and a trip was made to replace the flowers early enough so that the mourners gathered there were few in number (before the end of the work day), and an apology given. The next day the arrangements were taken home and disassembled; upon being pulled out of the foam, it was apparent that the flowers were old, since there was at least a 1/4" of brown stem in the majority of the flowers used. There was never any attempt by the company/store owners to apologize for the hoops they placed before their customer's satisfaction, and after all was said and done, I was left with a feeling of disappointment and resolve that I will never purchase something major from them again. read more
