Complaint Review: Avas Flowers - Internet

I ordered flowers for my mother’s memorial service on April 23^rd, 2013 from AvasFlowers.com.  The service was on May 4^th, at 2pm.  I paid an extra 9.95 to make sure they were delivered by 1pm in time for her service.  I received a confirmation email from them and they took my money.  On May 4^th, we were getting ready for the memorial and around 1pm we still had not received the flowers.  I called around 1:15pm to ask where the flowers were and that my mom’s memorial service was going to start in 45 minutes.  They told me that they would contact the delivery driver and call me back or send me an email.  I received an email from them at 1:24 pm stating the flowers were delivered.  They had not been and we were standing in the church.  My daughter called back and sat on hold for 30 minutes waiting to talk to someone.  They said they would call them back.  They did not.  I held the start of the service so that I could try to track down the floral delivery.  I called again and spoke to someone who promised me a call back, I told them the service was starting and I had no flowers.  He promised he would call right back.  No call back.  We went ahead with the service and never received the flower delivery.  I called back after the service to find out what happened.  The lady on the phone informed me that they had been delivered.  I said no they had not, I was sitting in the church and there were no flowers.  She said, “Your account says they were delivered.”  I stated again, I am sitting in the church and there are no flowers.  She then told me that she was an answering service and there was no one from Avas to speak to and perhaps call back at 9am on Monday. 

I called back Monday morning and was told that I could not get a refund, only a store credit.  I asked to speak to a supervisor.  They put me in touch with “Rich Navarro” who stated that they have a confirmation from the florist that the order was delivered on the 4^th at 10:30am and left at the door of the church with the other arrangements (there was no other arrangements sent, this was the only one).   He told me that he couldn’t even speak to me about a refund unless he spoke to someone at the church.  I called my pastor and asked him to give Avas a call.  He told them that when he left the church at 11:00 am, he didn’t notice any flower arrangements there.  Rich never called me back.  I did get a call back this morning after people who were there blasted their facebook page with comments about how they were treating me.  I asked the woman what florist they went through and she told me that they went through Alice Octavia Flowers in Auburn, Washington.  She stated they could only issue me a store credit for the $107.00 that I paid for my mom’s arrangement, that because there was a delivery made and they had confirmation of it that I could not get a monetary refund.  I started to cry and reluctantly agreed to it.  I then called Alice Octavia flowers myself and asked them what happened.  She stated that someone had called her about that this morning and no one had sent her my order.  She said she wanted to double check and make sure but she would call me back.  She did call me back and told me that she checked all her receipts and had nothing for me.  I called back AvasFlowers and talked to them.  I told them that I had been given a name of a florist and when I called them they had no record of an order for me.  The gentleman on the other line stated that wasn’t the florist they went through (of course not!).  When I asked who they did go through they told me that they couldn’t give out that information and when I ask why they told me it was policy.  He was going to transfer me to a supervisor but there was no supervisor available at that time.  He said he was going to refer it to the managers and have someone call me back (by this time it’s like promise #5 for a call back).  I told him that I didn’t want a store credit but I wanted my money back. 

I am tired and sad.  I just want my money back and be able to grieve for my mother’s loss in peace.  I looked on the internet and they have hundreds and hundreds of bad reviews about this place.  I don’t want them to take anyone else’s money, especially in someone’s time of loss.  I wish I would have known.