South Pacific Florist
Rhoboth Beach,#2REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, January 19, 2012
This letter is sent to you regarding a complaint issued against my business regarding service issues by Columbia Wedding. Columbia Wedding arrived at my shop on May 9, 2008 on Mother's Day weekend, the busiest of holidays for a flower shop. In addition to our many orders we were also in the process of doing a wedding that weekend. We did take the time to explain to her that we were very busy that day and gave her some information about our services, including basic pricing and an organizational sheet to help her get started with her wedding flower planning. This information was also sent to her via email. We also explained that September is a very busy time of year here at the beach for weddings and that our standard procedure to hold a date for a wedding was to make a $500 deposit. A follow up consultation is provided at a mutually agreeable date. You just don't walk into a busy flower shop on Mother's Day weekend and sit down for a wedding consultation. Columbia Wedding seemed impressed enough with what she saw to make her deposit and we agreed to schedule a consultation for a later date.
Columbia Wedding being from out of town was not able to meet with me until July as she was not often at the beach. I agreed to meet with her on July 12 at 5:00 PM after our shop had closed for the day and after completing one of our biggest weddings of the season. Understandably I was tired and not overly anxious to speak to her about wedding flowers after just completing a wedding. I explained this to her with apologies and met with her for well over an hour for which I received no compensation. Our initial consultations are provided free of charge. She was extremely ill prepared for the wedding consultation and was absolutely clueless as to what she wanted or needed even though I had sent her an organizationsl sheet to help get started. Columbia Wedding had a rather large wedding party and I did explain to her that providing a bouquet for each attendant was a substantial expense. She also had our "starting" price sheet - 10 bouquets for 10 attendants at $85 minimium is $850. We have determined this to be an average cost for our bouquets based on the cost of flowers and preparation time. After considerable wrangling - the proverbial nickle and diming - I can up with a simple bouquet for $25 each. You can't even get anything that inexpensive in a grocery store flower shop. A written proposal was sent to her after a considerable amount of preparation time on my account. To quote her email reply to the proposal - she "loved, loved everything" - until she saw the prices. Columbia Wedding is the type of person who wants it all until she has to pay for it. For someone on a budget she has rented out a very expensive house for the ceremony, hired the services of a wedding planner and one of the most expensive caterers at the beach. I really have no problem with were a bride wants to spend her money and was most accomodating in cutting the flower proposal. I agreed to provide flowers for her to arrange instead of the elaborate centerpieces proposed. I also asked if I had permission to apply the balance due to her credit card for the remainder of the revised proposal.
Columbia Wedding's mother returned my inquiry about the balance of the bill. She found it unbelievanle that she would have to pay the balance prior to the ceremony even though it was clearly stated in our policies. She questioned what would happen if she didn't like what we provided at which time I stated that we stand by our product and would make good on any problems. It was at that time that I decided to terminate my obligation to provide Columbia Wedding's wedding flowers. Her mother's rudeness to me on the telephone and her complete lack of confidence in our ability to provide a good product were enough for me. I am a three time recipient of the Best of Delaware award for florist and can provide many commendations from satisfied customers. You can check out our many glowing reviews on weddingwire.com. Yes, the business also has the right to select their customers and I elected not to work with Columbia Wedding and her mother who would never be satisfied no matter how hard you tried to please them. A full refund was issued to Columbia Wedding's card. Thank you for listening to the business owner's side of the story.