Flowers and More In A Jiffy
1-800-Flowers
I love anything that saves me time. I am also the absolute worst at remembering people's birthdays, anniversaries or other important events. So when I found 1-800-Flowers, I figured I had found the golden goose.
The good:
It's so darn easy that it's hard to screw up. Type in the link and you will open a web site with very good graphics that have more than adequate representation of the products. You browse through the site by type of product (plants, flowers, gifts, sweets, etc.,) or look for products that are for special occasions, from the mundane (Birthday, Anniversary, Get Well Soon, etc.,) to occasions or themes you might not have thought of (Business Gifts, I'm Sorry, Just Because, etc.,).
Another nice feature is the ability to search for products by price range, so if you are on a budget, you can try to stay as close to it as possible (keep in mind that there will be a shipping and handling charged tacked on to the order!) Price ranges you can search through start at "less than $25" (and there are a lot of choices!) all the way up to $150+.
There are so many fresh flowers, plants, gifts, candies and sweets, etc., that you can browse for hours looking for a perfect gift, or make a quick search with your requirements to help make a quick decision.
I've found pricing is very competitive with other online and in-person florists. At one time, I spent a lot of time doing some comparison shopping for a gift, and went to several other online florists. My findings were that 1800flowers.com was very close, if not less expensive than other online vendors; they are slightly more than going to your local florist, but you have the convenience of being able to order a bouquet for your mom's birthday while you are listening to a conference call. (Can you tell I've done this before?!) Delivery prices are also competitive with other florists.
It's the toss of a die on whether you prefer seeing what you are getting or not. In the past, I would call my local florist, tell them I wanted to spend $35 on a spring bouquet (plus delivery), and just hope like mad that the bouquet was something nice. Most of the time it was. With 1800flowers.com, you see pictures of what you want, but you are limited to what they have available. You can't just specify a price and leave the rest up to the florist.
The site is set up with a shopping cart; you click on "buy now" as you go through the site to view details about the product and check on delivery dates that are available. In the detail screen, you have the option to add it to your shopping cart and check out immediately or continue shopping. When you are ready to check out, you can delete items from your cart should you have found something you like better. I would recommend putting anything you are even remotely interested in into your cart when you see it. It's a little cumbersome to try to remember what it is you saw 10 minutes ago and where it was located.it's a lot easier to just delete what you don't want later.
When you check out, you will have to fill out some users information that is saved for future use (so you don't have to go through it again), including picking out a user ID and password. The shopping cart is secure and I've never had a problem with using my credit card there.
One neat feature about 1-800-Flowers is the ability to save addresses of those you send flowers/gifts to often (i.e., Mom, Grandma, secretary, etc.,). I know some people have issues with saving this stuff online (ohmygod they might steal my mom's identity), but I have never found this to be a problem, and it sure saves time in looking up addresses, especially when I am at work. Besides, all that information is public knowledge in the phone book, anyway. I do have one slight problem with the address book and sending multiple orders out, but I'll go into that later.
In the shopping cart process, you can add personalized messages to an insert card that will be included in the order. Remember to send your love to mom in a little card, so she knows who the flowers are from!
Keep in mind that if you are ordering anything besides bouquets, fresh flowers, or very common plants, you might have a significant (up to a week) lead time in getting something to your recipient. For example, last summer I ordered a very cute pine tree in a baby block planter for a friend who had just had a baby. When ordering, the form was very up-front in showing the targeted delivery date (which was a week from the day I ordered), so I didn't feel this was a problem. Just be aware of the limitations if you are looking for something that you want to be delivered same or next day.
The bad:
I make it a habit to check with recipients if I haven't heard from them within 24 hours of when the flowers were sent. I would recommend you do the same. Be discreet — don't call your mom and say "Hey, did you get the flowers I sent you?", you'll just make her feel bad for not calling. Instead, be sneaky: "Hi Mom, how ya doin'? Blah Blah Blah." if Mom doesn't mention the flowers in the next couple of minutes (most moms will gush all over you), then you can be more direct in asking if she's received any flowers/plants/etc., from you lately.
The reason for this step in the flower-ordering process is simple: I did run into a problem with delivery. Granted, it was only one time, but it really ticked me off. I had made multiple orders for Mother's Day last year, and one order, of course for my grandmother, didn't ever show up. I emailed the company three times and kept getting a "thanks for your email, we're busy and we'll get back to you as soon as possible" auto-reply for nearly a week. Once I got a real person, they actually called me, talked to me, and not only sent a bigger, better bouquet than I'd ordered, but also credited my credit card for ½ of the price and sent me a coupon for $25 off my next order. I was impressed with the company's attention once I got it, but I really just wanted to have the flowers to my grandmother on Mother's Day, not a week later. Luckily, she understood.
The only other problem I have ever run into is in ordering/sending to multiple addresses. Again, last Mother's Day (do we see a problem here???), I ordered bouquets for my grandmother and mother-in-law, and a green plant for my mom. It was difficult to have one charge to my credit card and send to three different addresses. I spent way too much time trying to figure this out, and finally just completed three separate orders for each address. A work-around, and I didn't find this at all convenient, but I would still use the service.
Overall, I have used 1-800-Flowers several times over the last year and have been very satisfied with their service. The glitches were few and may have even been worked out since I last had problems. Bottom line, it's convenient and easy, especially for you procrastinators : )
