We must love flowers in the UK - we spend £2 billion a year on them. For Valentine's Day, Mother's Day or even just a birthday - a surprise bouquet is the perfect way to show you're thinking of someone.
But Watchdog has received complaints about an online florist called Bloomin Delightful that's failing to deliver flowers on time or even at all.
"I still love you"
Emma Bradley ordered her Mother's Day flowers from Bloomin Delightful. She got her Mum, Kate, a bunch of her favourite freesias. They were particularly important this year because Emma and Kate had fallen out and they were a peace offering: "It was really important because they were to say "I really care about you" and even though we've fallen out, "I'm still thinking of you on Mother's Day" and "I still love you" Emma explained.
The flowers didn't arrive on time and it looked like Emma hadn't bothered with Mother's Day at all. Kate was gutted.
The bouquet finally turned up two days after Mothers Day - they were delivered by the postman. They didn't come in any water so weren't in great shape and they didn't last long: "They came on Tuesday and by Wednesday tea time they were in the compost." Emma told us.
The flowers were supposed to be an apology but Kate and Emma were so unhappy with them they just made matters worse.
Watchdog tests the service
Researchers ordered four bunches from Bloomin Delightful, just after lunch, the Thursday before Easter. Bloomin Delightful promises that 98 per cent of flowers arrive the day after ordering so we expected ours would arrive by Saturday.
None of the flowers arrived on Easter Saturday or even on the next Tuesday so the next day, our researchers started calling to find out why.
We kept ringing but no one at Bloomin Delightful answered the phone. When we emailed we did get a reply saying the flowers were on the way.
The flowers did all finally arrive that day. They were delivered by Royal Mail without any water and were four days late.
Bloomin Delightful's response
"I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the inconvenience caused among yourselves and among our customers. Also during the Mother's day season due to the high demand of orders we did put a notice on our website on all the descriptions of the flowers that orders placed after 6am on the 20 March would not be delivered until Tuesday, however any orders that were received late we did offer either a replacement/reimbursement. As of now we will start taking drastic measures to improve our services for our customers:
1.**We will begin recruiting more administrative staff to take on mixed roles that will benefit the company and our customers and therefore make answering phonelines and emails a much quicker process.
2.**We will then be operating on a seven day basis.
3.**Refunds will be dealt with more efficiently.
4.**We will also be improving our website and amending any errors.
5.**Finally we'll look into looking after our flowers better and providing a much quicker delivery service.
Once again Bloomin Delightful apologises for the disappointment and our lack of service to our customers. Please pass our apologies."
Flower delivery that's bloomin' awful
But Watchdog has received complaints about an online florist called Bloomin Delightful that's failing to deliver flowers on time or even at all.
"I still love you"
Emma Bradley ordered her Mother's Day flowers from Bloomin Delightful. She got her Mum, Kate, a bunch of her favourite freesias. They were particularly important this year because Emma and Kate had fallen out and they were a peace offering: "It was really important because they were to say "I really care about you" and even though we've fallen out, "I'm still thinking of you on Mother's Day" and "I still love you" Emma explained.
The flowers didn't arrive on time and it looked like Emma hadn't bothered with Mother's Day at all. Kate was gutted.
The bouquet finally turned up two days after Mothers Day - they were delivered by the postman. They didn't come in any water so weren't in great shape and they didn't last long: "They came on Tuesday and by Wednesday tea time they were in the compost." Emma told us.
The flowers were supposed to be an apology but Kate and Emma were so unhappy with them they just made matters worse.
Watchdog tests the service
Researchers ordered four bunches from Bloomin Delightful, just after lunch, the Thursday before Easter. Bloomin Delightful promises that 98 per cent of flowers arrive the day after ordering so we expected ours would arrive by Saturday.
None of the flowers arrived on Easter Saturday or even on the next Tuesday so the next day, our researchers started calling to find out why.
We kept ringing but no one at Bloomin Delightful answered the phone. When we emailed we did get a reply saying the flowers were on the way.
The flowers did all finally arrive that day. They were delivered by Royal Mail without any water and were four days late.
Bloomin Delightful's response
"I would like to take this opportunity to apologise for the inconvenience caused among yourselves and among our customers. Also during the Mother's day season due to the high demand of orders we did put a notice on our website on all the descriptions of the flowers that orders placed after 6am on the 20 March would not be delivered until Tuesday, however any orders that were received late we did offer either a replacement/reimbursement. As of now we will start taking drastic measures to improve our services for our customers:
1.**We will begin recruiting more administrative staff to take on mixed roles that will benefit the company and our customers and therefore make answering phonelines and emails a much quicker process.
2.**We will then be operating on a seven day basis.
3.**Refunds will be dealt with more efficiently.
4.**We will also be improving our website and amending any errors.
5.**Finally we'll look into looking after our flowers better and providing a much quicker delivery service.
Once again Bloomin Delightful apologises for the disappointment and our lack of service to our customers. Please pass our apologies."
Flower delivery that's bloomin' awful