Complaint Review: Petals Decorative Accents / Petals.com - Ridgefield Connecticut

My mother has been waiting since last winter for any restitution from a mail order gone bad, in a story echoing that of many others I have read from orphaned customers. In mid January 2007 a paper check for $165.80 was sent for a wreath and some faux azaleas. When nothing came after a month, she called several times over the following weeks to inquire, and was usually given the "on backorder" excuse. This she took on faith at first, given that she was a happy returning customer, the product was consistently of good quality, and shipments were packed with great care to avoid damage. Well, even my trusting mother thought a whole quarter of a year was a bit much for "backorder" status.

She stepped up her phone call campaign in the summer and soon found herself roadblocked by a perpetually busy service line, no matter what part of the business day she dialed. She says she must have tried fifty times since the whole mess started. Once in a great while a real human would respond with apologies or vague references to a "restructuring", but no product or refund was on its way. In August I first learned of the problem when she requested that I reach this bunch online. (Her office gear stopped advancing at the electric typewriter, you see.) I saw an apparently active web site and twice emailed a complaint within two weeks. Each message was ignored.

Prior to my second email I did research which turned up dozens of customer complaints dating back to late 2006 which paralleled my Mom's story, particularly the part about being stymied by a lack of direct customer service. I tried both of their toll-free service numbers at strategic times and heard what others were mentioning, the recorded greetings and immediate disconnects. This is what I reported in that second email:

"I called your 6000 line today at 08:00 EST sharp, at the posted start of your business day, and again at 08:41. Your recorded greeting advised that I call "during normal business hours". Either you have late sleepers in the CS room or you are dodging calls in prelude to a bankruptcy. Your 3825 line uselessly only refers to the website before brushing off the caller."

This condition remained the same for most of September. I offered to find the Attorney General and/or consumer board for the appropriate state, but this was dicey since I had seen Petals associated with addresses in both Florida and Tennessee. I advised my Mom to keep pecking at them anyway; she might get lucky and crack their shell. She finally did in late September, and spoke to a human who told her to expect a refund in "two weeks". Well, careful readers of the many available public complaints have heard this "two weeks" promise before, and none of those were honored. I warned poor Mom not to get too excited, but it was at least encouraging that the main service number (ending in 6000) was staffed again.

To no one's shock, four whole weeks passed with no refund and no updates. Mother was too busy with family social events for quicker follow-on, but at my reminding managed to get another audience on 25 October with a live CSR. Mind you, this was through the 6000 line again. The 3825 line still dumps the caller after announcing the company URL -- yeah, big help there. It took several minutes of waiting in the hold queue, suggesting a minimal staff. This time the lady gave a more plausible lie, stating a refund would be issued "in a month". Note the lack of clarity in this, no number of business days or due date given. The CSR also did not provide a name, and I chided Mom for not asking.

Some of the other complaints have reported passing references by Petals reps to a "merger" or "reorganization" and the like, but no more detail which could help explain why so many customers are being mistreated. As it turns out, Petals has withered on its own vine for years. Should we get steamed enough we could just take a day trip from neighboring Little Rhody to the actual 'head of the head', so to speak: the firm in Connecticut which bought out the Petals assets several years ago. Petals itself was once a component of the long defunct "Interiors" conglomerate. If I read this right, Petals has been a cursed property from the start, at least from an ownership perspective.

Consequently, for this report I have provided the address of Southridge Capital Management, the equity firm which rescued Petals from bankruptcy in late 2003. Here is a relevant article quote:

"Prior to filing for Chapter 7, the marketer of artificial flowers and other home accessories had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May. At that time, Petals listed $32 million in assets and $40 million in debt."

Evidently 40 mil is a stiff bill to pay on sales of silk flowers, so here was the firm's solution as reported in August 2006:

"Petals Decorative Accents of Ridgefield has completed a reverse merger into a shell public company that it acquired last month, turning the privately held Petals into a publicly traded company overnight."

Hmmm, we can see how slick that deal has turned out ...... The share price maxed out at $1.20 last November and has held steady at a mere thirty cents most of this year. (ticker symbol PDEC) Also Petals has been recently slacking on overdue SEC filings. I'm thinking we should swing a bigger hammer to burst out our refunds before it's too late.

NSpectr3

Westerly, Rhode Island

U.S.A.