800FLOWERS.com Roses for Valentine's Day

I ordered 18 roses for my wife for Valentines day on February 10, 2006 from 800Flowers.com based upon a banner advertisement on AOL which stated that the price was $28.99 (see attached copy of actual ad). When I clicked on the banner to order I could not find a listing for the special So I called them direct on the phone. When they answered I was told that no such price existed despite it being clearly posted on AOL. I asked to be connected to a supervisor and was refused and was instead sent to customer relations. When I got through to customer relations they also denied that their was such an ad price. It was only when I threatened to file a false advertising complaint with the FTC that their customer relations unit finally accepted the order.

However, despite ordering them on February 10, the flowers did not arrive until very late in the evening of February 14, 2006 at almost 8PM and they were blemished and never did open. When I called three times to their customer service number inquiring about the flowers 800FLOWERS automated phone system hung up on me. When I made several Email complaints I was basically blown off with the 800FLOWERS staff completely ignoring virtually all of my complaint and denying the late delivery. This was their total response to all of my complaints.

"Hello Bruce,

Thank you for your inquiry.

We have reviewed our records and have confirmed that your order to Joyce was delivered at 3:59 PM on 02/14/2006. Your order was left at the front door as no one was home. Your order was delivered by UPS and the tracking number is 1Z1VW1411300850195.

If you have any other questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact us at the address listed below. Or you can contact us at our customer satisfaction number, 1-800-468-1141.

Sincerely,

Holly W.

Customer Service Specialist

Email User"

This above response is an outright lie and the customer service number still hung up on me. It should be noted that both my wife and I were home all day on February 14 and the flowers did not arrive until almost 8"00 PM and were damaged by being blemished and the flowers never opened up as well. Their advertising states "Satisfaction Guaranteed". Well, as can be seen by the above account, I am sure not satisfied with their company's business ethics, speed of delivery, customer relations or quality of product. They lied about the posted price, they failed to deliver at a reasonable time despite four days notice of the order, the quality of the flowers was terrible, their customer service was non-existent and they refused to honor their "Satisfaction Guaranteed" policy posted on their own website.

If I was another potential customer for buying flowers via the internet I sure would not deal with this firm as there are several other firms I have dealt with in the past such as ProFlowers who sincerely care about their customer satisfaction. It is pretty obvious this firm does not! Let the buyer beware when dealing with this firm!