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Lori's Hearts & Flowers
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david mount
February 17, 2014
teddybear
February 16, 2014
Clay Williams
October 05, 2010, (Edited October 06, 2010)
Reviews [3]
English
rude as hell
I feel strongly compelled to share with you the details of a horrific case of poor customer service Jeff and I received from LORI’S HEARTS N FLOWERS in OSHAWA on Valentine’s Day. To say it was an unpleasant experience is truly an understatement. I was called a “F*CKING C*NT” by the owner of this business. Normally when you experience poor customer service there is someone higher up you can turn to in order to receive justice. However, when the store owner is the one delivering the poor customer service, where do I go? I’m turning to the public to help me share my experience; the truth deserves to be revealed. Please share this post so that future customers do not have to go through what we went through.
My fiancé, Jeff, had purchased a flower arrangement on Tuesday February 11. He requested that it be delivered to me at my workplace on Friday February 14 as a surprise for me. I was working a shift 4pm-8pm and he wanted to make me smile knowing I was a little bummed out about working on Valentine's Day. The employee assured him that the flowers would be delivered after 7pm but before 8pm when my shift ended. Little did we know that what was said to him verbally and what was written down were two completely different things.
When I came home from work without flowers, Jeff looked puzzled and asked "where are your flowers?" I was confused, as I had no idea about his planned flower surprise, but more importantly, I was confused as to why I didn't receive them. He called the flower shop to inquire about what might have happened with the flowers. Maybe there was some sort of mistake - after all, we are all human.
He spoke to a woman on the phone who quickly became defensive when he explained who he was, what he had ordered, what was supposed to be received, and asked what happened. She snapped back that "if you had wanted your flowers delivered, you would have paid double what you paid, it's Valentine's Day." He replied that he had spent $144 for flowers and delivery and that he was assured by the employee on Tuesday that the delivery would be no problem. The woman on the phone quickly changed her rebuttal to "we can't guarantee deliveries on time on Valentine's Day, it's like that everywhere. There's nothing we can do about it."
At this point it is clear that she realized that they had made a mistake and that the flower arrangement was supposed to be delivered but wasn't. You would think that the right thing to do would be to admit fault and apologize for their mistake. Instead, when Jeff said "why wasn't I told this on Tuesday when I ordered? I was told that between 7pm and 8pm my flowers would be delivered." (I will point out that during this phone conversation it was already 8:30pm and I called my workplace from my phone to see if any flowers arrived and there was still no flowers.) The woman said "you're making this up; we tell our customers that deliveries can't be guaranteed on time." He replied "but I wasn't told this at the time - the employee on Tuesday told me there would be no problem." She ended up snapping back something along the lines of "they are too busy to be dealing with this right now" and put him on hold for 5-10 minutes.
Tired of being on hold, he hung up and called back. The same woman answered the phone and when Jeff asked why he was being made to feel unimportant, the woman very rudely asked "WHAT DO YOU WANT US TO DO ABOUT IT?" The obvious answer here is that we were looking for a sincere apology and acknowledgement that they messed up. Instead, she kept insinuating that he was a liar and that he was being unreasonable. He explained that the surprise was now ruined and that frankly he didn't want to be giving his $144 for a service that he paid for and was promised and did not receive. The woman on the phone said "you'll get your full refund" and abruptly hung up the phone.
This is when I decided enough is enough. I called the store from my phone and introduced myself. The woman made a groaning sound and yelled away from the phone (I'm assuming to her colleagues) "it's them AGAIN!" I told her that I was very disappointed in not having the flowers delivered, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, I was unhappy with the way they were handling the situation. I told her that the bottom line is that we are customers who deserve an apology for what has happened, and that we are clearly unhappy with the way the situation is handled. She flatly repeated "I'm sorry you feel this way" over and over again into the phone loudly, overpowering my talking. Not the kind of "apology" you expect when you're expressing your discontent.
I told her that we definitely want the full refund, but I wanted her to recognize the principle of the whole ordeal is that the way they HANDLED our complaint was unprofessional and that clearly we were told something different than what the rules were. She very loudly asked "AGAIN, WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO ABOUT IT?” And I replied "what are you going to do for us to ensure that we walk away from this situation on a better note?" What she said next is appalling, yet sadly, still not the worst of what was about to come. She sarcastically said "you're just mad that you never got your flower surprise!" I literally had to pause for a moment to take in what she said. To mock me for being upset was extremely inconsiderate and unsympathetic given the nature of the business. It was an insensitive thing to say, when yes obviously I was upset. You would think that a florist who creates flower arrangements for special holidays, weddings, funerals, all events where emotions run high, would have a little more compassion.
I told her "you know, word of mouth travels fast, I will make sure everyone I know is aware that you have given us HORRIBLE customer service and we will discourage others to not do business with you." Then what was said next was shocking. She snapped back "you get your full refund, f@!%!*g c@!t!" and hung up the phone. Jeff looked at me and said "did she really just call you that!?" At this point, I just wanted to make sure he got his full refund back and find out how I can contact the store manager. (I didn’t know at this point that I was talking to the store manager.)
When we walked into the flower shop, we said we are here to get the full refund back. I asked who I was speaking with on the phone. It turns out I was speaking to LORI on the phone - the OWNER OF THE BUSINESS. I said, " you called me a f-ing c-nt, do you think I didn't hear that? It's disrespectful to me as a customer AND as a human being." She was standing more towards the back of the counter area and shrugged her shoulders avoiding eye contact. The other staff members did the majority of the talking, all of which was accompanied by aggressive body language and still NO APOLOGY. One employee even said "I'm sure she would like to call you it again." And they all laughed. I asked Lori to come over and I read the blurb on her website that clearly says to help ensure on-time delivery on major holidays (and it listed the holidays - Valentine's Day included), the order and request must be made 1 day prior. She turned her back and said "if you read onto other parts of the website it states that there are certain delivery times." I told her "the point is, he was told that between 7pm and 8pm that my flowers would be delivered to me without a problem. Why would he be told it was possible if it isn't?" My questions were not answered, in fact, they avoided them altogether. Still with no sincere apology.
The thing is, it's now February 15, and I looked further into the website and found another blurb that stated their extended hours for special holidays (Valentine’s Day included) was from 8am-8pm. At 8:30PM I still hadn't received my flowers, but there it says the extended delivery hours only go to 8PM. Jeff told them my shift ended at 8pm, so why wasn’t note taken that it would be important for the flowers to be delivered BEFORE my shift ended? Lori went from saying that we didn't pay for delivery, to realizing that yes we did pay for delivery, to we can't guarantee your flowers arrive on time, to saying there's only certain times deliveries are made. Very conflictive, showing that there was an OBVIOUS mistake made.
Their inconsistencies, their failure to apologize and sympathize, show that they are running an unprofessional business. The fact that Lori, the store owner, began name-calling an unhappy customer proves how shaky she was in her disposition. We walked away with our full refund, but there was no admittance of their mistake. She wasn't there when the employee completed Jeff's transaction and assured him that the delivery would be no problem. Yet she was determined that we were lying and unreasonable for wanting an apology.
I can accept that Valentine’s Day is a busy day. I can accept that it is difficult to meet every person’s delivery requests. I can accept that a mistake was made. I can accept that every one is human and we are imperfect beings. What I cannot accept is a business owner REFUSING to apologize, REFUSING to believe that her employee told their customer that the delivery would be honoured during the time requested and instead calling the customer a LIAR, being mocked and insulted using degrading language, and being made to feel invaluable as a customer.
To whoever is reading this, please do yourself a favour and avoid doing business with Lori. There are plenty of other flower shops who would NEVER resort to name-calling or disrespecting their customers. Choose someone with better business ethics and a higher degree of professionalism. I am hoping that by using social media, I am able to reach out to the public so they are made aware of what we went through so that they won't have to go through a similar situation.
Rude rude rude
I just read an article of how they treated a customer very rude ignorant
Rude staff, Terrible quality.
We were recently married and chose Lori's to provide us with a few of the boutineers and the throw away bouquet. They got the colours wrong, used baby's breath after they were told not to, and the throw away bouqet was only fit to throw in the garbage. Everything was falling apart, and looked terrible compared to the flowers we got from Van Belle for the bride's maids, etc.
When my new wife contacted Lori's the week after the wedding to ask what happened the staff was very rude and eventually hung up on us.
I would highly recommend that anyone planning an event look elsewhere as this company clearly lacks the skill or passion required to be involved with this line of work..
Other Reviews from the web
English
December 14, 2009
I just placed an order for a friend in the hospital in Ontario. They have beautiful arrangements on their website which shows the price you pay without hidden fees, plus only a $7.00 delivery charge!
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