Urban Florist, UrbanFlorist.com, Artisan Florist, Artisanflorist.com ripoff, fraudulent billing, scam Vancouver British Columbia
Like one of the other posters on here, I had ordered an arrangement of tulips and roses to be delivered to my girlfriend's office on Valentine's Day. As you can probably guess, V-day came around and she didn't receive any roses. I figured ok, I'll give them a chance, maybe the order got delayed for a valid reason. A week later the roses still hadn't arrived, and my card had been charged the full $80 for them (I used a debit card which admittedly wasn't too smart of me).
I tried calling their customer service at 888-244-4531 multiple times, and each time I was just put on hold for 45 minutes to an hour before I gave up and hung up. After that I discovered that their website, www.urbanflorist.com, and a Live Chat feature that I could use to talk to their customer service agents. I logged onto it, and after waiting 20 minutes a person named "Joon" answered. I told him my problem and gave him my customer ID and invoice number, and he promised me that I would get a full refund, but that it would take 7-10 days to process it.
Well here it is, 3 weeks after talking to them and I still haven't gotten my refund (flowers were never delivered either). I tried calling them back, but now they don't even put you on hold anymore - it redirects you to some message saying "all of our mailboxes are full right now..." and disconnects automatically. Their LiveChat service seems to have been permanently taken down as well. I've emailed them multiple times every day for the past week and haven't gotten any replies.
I can only conclude that this whole company is a huge scam and the owners are fraud artists. It is absolutely impossible to get in touch with them now, by phone, email or using their former online chat service. I've resigned myself to the fact that I won't be seeing my $80 again, but hope that my experience will serve as sufficient warning for others to NEVER do business with this "company".
Mark
Somerville, Massachusetts
U.S.A.
5 Updates & Rebuttals
Alyson
Franklin,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
BBB didn't help
#6Consumer Suggestion
Thu, April 27, 2006
I'd like to update my previous response.
The promised refund didn't happen - however I did find evidence online that Alif Somani was paying his employees 'under the table' the email that mentioned this and mentioning the Canadian police was the only one that got a response (less than 24 hrs) and I did receive my refund within the week.
BBB did contact me to find out if this had been resolved - I replied "Yes, but no thanks to you"
Alyson
Franklin,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
BBB didn't help
#6Consumer Suggestion
Thu, April 27, 2006
I'd like to update my previous response.
The promised refund didn't happen - however I did find evidence online that Alif Somani was paying his employees 'under the table' the email that mentioned this and mentioning the Canadian police was the only one that got a response (less than 24 hrs) and I did receive my refund within the week.
BBB did contact me to find out if this had been resolved - I replied "Yes, but no thanks to you"
Alyson
Franklin,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
BBB didn't help
#6Consumer Suggestion
Thu, April 27, 2006
I'd like to update my previous response.
The promised refund didn't happen - however I did find evidence online that Alif Somani was paying his employees 'under the table' the email that mentioned this and mentioning the Canadian police was the only one that got a response (less than 24 hrs) and I did receive my refund within the week.
BBB did contact me to find out if this had been resolved - I replied "Yes, but no thanks to you"
Alyson
Franklin,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Contact BBB in Vancouver All I wanted was a refund of the overcharge on the shipping charge
#6Consumer Suggestion
Mon, March 21, 2005
I also had issues with this company. We ordered flowers to be delivered 'next day' and paid $24.99CDN the gift basket wasn't delivered until 8 days later. All I wanted was a refund of the overcharge on the shipping charge. I contacted the Better Business Bureau www.bbbvan.org It took them a couple of months but the did get me my refund and the folowing apology
March 7, 2005
Dear (name removed),
I apologize that you have had to waste so much of your time, in receiving your partial refund. We will more than gladly accord you your requested refund of $19.98US. Please allow 15 business days for your refund to be processed. Once you've received confirmation via your financial institution, please contact the BBB or myself directly, and confirm that your refund has been processed.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Julie Duquette
External Operations Manager
604.677.3206 (direct)
julie@urbanflorist.com
Alyson
Franklin,Massachusetts,
U.S.A.
Contact BBB in Vancouver All I wanted was a refund of the overcharge on the shipping charge
#6Consumer Suggestion
Mon, March 21, 2005
I also had issues with this company. We ordered flowers to be delivered 'next day' and paid $24.99CDN the gift basket wasn't delivered until 8 days later. All I wanted was a refund of the overcharge on the shipping charge. I contacted the Better Business Bureau www.bbbvan.org It took them a couple of months but the did get me my refund and the folowing apology
March 7, 2005
Dear (name removed),
I apologize that you have had to waste so much of your time, in receiving your partial refund. We will more than gladly accord you your requested refund of $19.98US. Please allow 15 business days for your refund to be processed. Once you've received confirmation via your financial institution, please contact the BBB or myself directly, and confirm that your refund has been processed.
Thank you for your patience and understanding.
Julie Duquette
External Operations Manager
604.677.3206 (direct)
julie@urbanflorist.com