Although it’s two days after Valentine’s Day, take a look at FTD’s Facebook and Twitter and you’ll still find a lot of customer complaints and empty FTD apologies.
The acronym FTD is gaining all sorts of new meanings, such as Failure to Deliver or as my boss appropriately said, Florally Transmitted Disease. And just like an STD is never a good thing, neither is an FTD.
It’s one thing to not receive a flower order on Valentine’s Day for anyone. It’s heartbreaking for the recipient and humiliating for the sender. And judging from all of the visible complaints and the several news articles on 1-800-Flowers failures, this was an unnecessary situation experienced by many this Valentine’s Day. Including myself.
Which is fine, it happens. I figured I’d receive the flowers at work on Wednesday. Better late than never. Right?
Wrong! After apologizing profusely and buying me a vase of roses, my fiancé received a lovely little email from FTD at 2:30 in the morning on February 15 saying that his order for Heather Grant was unable to be filled due to lack of florists in the area.
Oh, wow. That’s terrible. That sucks. WAIT A MINUTE. Who the HECK is Heather Grant? (My name is Katie, in case you didn’t know.) The florist? Doubt it. Some other broad? YUP! That’s what I thought!
Well, gee thanks, FTD, I’d rather have a stroke than a bouquet of roses any day! Duh, wouldn’t you? Oh, and my fiancé also thanks you for all of the curse words I screamed at him upon receipt of the email. I mean, come on, who doesn’t love curses over kisses?
After a minor freakout and realizing that FTD messed up and that I didn’t need to end the engagement, my fiancé spent about five hours on hold/arguing/on hold/screaming at them. And what did they do?
I bet you guessed it right because they did nothing. NOTHING! No flowers, no future discount, no nothing. Not even a refund yet. Just a “Sorry, must have been a technical glitch.” Oh yeah, no big deal.
He finally got in touch with “Angel the Supervisor” who said call the 800 number anytime and ask for her. Because she might need to tell me Heather Grant was not receiving flowers from my fiancé just in case I went crazier. And in case he needed to tell her that WE WANT A REFUND. If you have a few or five hours to spare, call FTD and ask for Angel the Supervisor. Let me know how that goes.
And that’s my story. Although this post is a bit out of the realm of normal Six Different Ways content, I had to rant about share my experience. Just by telling this to friends and family, my fiancé and I have heard so many terrible experiences with FTD and similar sites that I’d love to hear yours as well.
So, please share: Have you ever received florally transmitted diseases rather than a beautiful bundle of flowers?!
Fiancé
