Such a pity that their attitude doesn't smell as sweet as their flowers, in fact it rather stinks! Their poor customer service on two separate occasions and from 2 different employees confirmed it was more than just a one-off, there is definitely something not right there.
All wanted to do was order a nice bunch of flowers to brighten up my girlfriends last week at work. Maybe, it was because I 'only' ordered a £90 bunch that i'm too small a customer for them to give the proper attention to. They have a lot of big customers on their website so this made sense from their perspective, though if you can't commit to a consumer business don't bother selling products on your website, stick to events or corporate which make 'being nice' more worth your while. Anyway, i was certainly made to feel pretty worthless to them and a bit stupid for asking for help.
The first interaction was to ask about purchasing a product, you would think at this stage that they would want my business and at least play along with the whole 'being nice' thing. Firstly, i sent an inquiry on their message facility on the website, i asked "I don't suppose you have a picture of the difference between a Large size and Luxury size?". This was because they didn't have the pictures of the size for the flowers i wanted online, and as i don't often pay £90 for something i hadn't seen yet, i wanted to at least ask. The reply i got: "Hi Alex, Not really, Sorry. Regards, Aneta", this was a bit of red light, it was at best a bit unhelpful and at worst patronising, did she mean 'Not really' as in she didn't want to, or 'she can't just make one up' or 'it's not possible'? Either way, i thought i'd give them a call to clarify, after all, not everyone is Earnest Hemingway when communicating over email. Unfortunately, the call was no better, there was no name given when she answered, i had to ask for Aneta, it turns out that was her, i should've guessed! The general attitude was disdainful and hurried but i thought maybe 'snobby eccentric' is their brand, so i went with it. It was when i was told we are a 'very busy florist' in response to one of my questions about the delivery times that i'd had enough of being talked down to. There was also no explanation why i couldn't see a photo of the luxury size, the reasoning i was given was that 'large was big enough', thanks for your expert advice, i'm pretty sure all the customers buying luxury size would be glad to hear that one. Anyway, i'm really not too picky, and i thought maybe she's having a bad day so i said thanks and as per her instructions (to get rid of me), I ordered online. I didn't receive any confirmation email of my order except the Paypal receipt, so i was keeping my fingers crossed they had received my order ok.
4 days later, which was a Monday, (24th Nov, 2015) the day of the delivery, i called them again. My flowers hadn't yet been delivered and it was getting quite late in the day, around 2:40pm, this was still within their time frame as they had over 2 hours to go until 5pm, but considering the lack of confirmation email and the poor impression of their competence from my previous interaction i was concerned enough to bother calling to check everything was ok. The delivery address was a mere 5 minute walk away in Farringdon, a delivery driver would have been there much quicker. In fact, one of the reasons i used Wildaboutflowers in Clerkenwell was that it was close to the delivery address so i hoped it might have had a higher chance of a morning delivery, sadly not. Also, as the delivery address was an office address not a residential one, there were many people coming and going from the building so i was a little bit cautious that they could've been left on the wrong floor or with the wrong person. I knew they hadn't arrived yet because i would've got a happy message from my girlfriend as soon as it had been delivered. Anyway, i called them to ask about the delivery, this time i spoke to a younger sounding girl (no name given on answering, another red light in their overall lack of service). She repeated a few times: 'it's gone out', now maybe i'm the ignorant one, but i don't know what 'it's gone out' means! There was no explanation if that meant it's on it's way or lost forever. I was expected to know a term that they use exclusively for their business. Though she was very clear that if it's 'gone out' then i need to get off the phone. I was really made to feel like i was wasting her time, bear in mind this called only lasted 2mins and 44 seconds, i wasn't exactly getting my money's worth for my £90.
Whilst on the phone i got the message from my girlfriend that my flowers had arrived and i happily informed the girl, to which she replied; 'can i go now?'. This parting statement was my final ever contact with wildaboutflowers.com (not exactly the best way to make a positive lasting impression) downbeat, I said; 'if you've got something better to do?', clearly she did... she hung-up. read more