Complaint Review: Urban florist

I ordered a bouquet for my friend's birthday on March 17th, around 9am PST. I placed my order the same day as her birthday.

Peaches and Cream Bouquet No upgrade (UF2236-N)
Requested Delivery: Mar 17, 2006

Urbanflorist.com claims same day delivery in Richmond area on orders placed before noon on their website and I stated the requested delivery date as March 17th within my order.

Upon checkout I was not notified of any conflict in the chosen date or their shipment policy for the bouquet I chose. The email confirmation to place the order also included my chosen delivery date - with no indication that it was not 'eligible' for their same-day delivery.

The next day I emailed the company because my friend had not received the flowers on the 17th.

On March 21st I received the only customer service communication that the company attempted to make. Within this email it simply stated that my bouquet was not eligible for the service I had requested.

If a purchase is not able to match the customers request the company must contact the customer to inform them of this before the customer pays for it. I was not contacted about this and even though they couldnt ship my flower order on the same day, they managed to bill me on the same day I placed the order.

I emailed the company on the 18th, the 20th, the 21st, and the 23rd. I only got the one reply. Within that reply was a display of tracking information that does not list the carrier of the delivery, has no outside link to a carrier service, and most importantly the recipient of my bouquet never received notice of any "attempted delivery" that was listed in the tracking information.

I believe this tracking information to be fake/falsified. I requested the delivery company's contact information and received no response. I asked about their refund policy (three times) and recieved no response. Tomorrow will be a week to the day that I placed the order, and the flowers have yet to arrive and are in all liklihood - dead.

More curiousities:
1.) I was billed for my order from Eagle Pt. Oregon even though the business address is listed in Richmond, BC.
2.) My friend lives about a 15 minute drive from the florist's land address as listed on their website and never received my order.
3.) Urbanflorist.com's phone number does not work - I get a prerecorded message saying "outside of your calling area". There is only the non-accessible phone number (1-888 number) listed on the web site...they charge in US dollars but people in the US can't call them it seems.

Thankfully my credit card company protects me against fraudulent businesses like Urbanflorist.com. It was the first time I ever had to dispute a charge, but they took care of everything quickly and smoothly.

Even though I got my money refunded, my friend never did get her birthday present. The surprise and thoughtfulness of a flower bouquet on her birthday really is priceless.

Urbanflorist.com is more than a rip off to your wallet. Bouquets and flowers are sent for special reasons and urbanflorist.com robs you and the recipient of the pleasure of giving and receiving a gift - which can never be repaid.

One more note: Google Florist Richmond, BC (like I did to locate a same-day flower delivery service) and the BBB reports about urbanflorist do not appear. But if you Google urban florist, and there are complaints against the business posted everywhere.

Marissa
Morgantown, West Virginia
U.S.A.

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