Complaints

• Initial Complaint

  10/08/2022

  Complaint Type:

  Product Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  I hired this company on December 22, 2021, along with their sister company ****** ****** *******, to do my decor and florals for my wedding on July 2, 2022. Not only were there issues on the day of my wedding, with services I paid for not being performed as well as poor quality of items I paid for, they have been impossible to get a hold of for reimbursement as previously agreed upon for changes to the invoice. On the day of my wedding, the set-up crew was to arrive at 1 pm sharp, however they didn't arrive at my venue until 3 pm, and they weren't finished setting up until 4 minutes before I walked down the aisle. They were difficult to reach on the day of my wedding to find out where they were, and when I called the main company phone number, I was told I would be called back to inform me of the set-up crew's ETA, but they never called back. Additionally, I paid $250 plus tax for a set-up and delivery fee, however not everything was set up. I found a box of the head table garland on the floor during dinner (I paid $240 plus tax for this item). My day-of coordinator also had to set up all the linens as the tables needed to be set up prior to the reception, and because the set-up crew was so late, we couldn't wait for them to set it up. In regards to the flowers, they were so dried out that they were falling onto the floor while sitting in the jars on the table. They looked horrible. As the decorators were trying to put the flowers on the arch, the flowers were falling off and falling apart. They claim it was extremely hot, but it was only 20 degrees that day. I have photos to prove it. I asked for a 50% reimbursement, but they will not respond to my emails or phone calls. They also owe me $900.36 for items I cancelled within our contract, but they have not sent this money to me and won't respond to my emails. In addition, I am asking for $1443.68 for poor quality and poor service. I spent a total of $4249.95 on flowers and decor from them.

  Business response

  13/09/2022

  We were hired by Mrs **** to provide decor rental and florals for her wedding on July 2nd, 2022. Unfortunately, we arrived later than we expected due to traffic that was within our control. We kept Mrs. **** informed of the delay throughout the way via telephone while our crew was on the road and on their way. However, as the plaintiff is confirming in her statement, everything was indeed set up prior to the beginning of her ceremony, we had sent a crew of 4 people instead of 2, thus fulfilling our contractual obligation to our client. She makes several inaccurate statements in terms of the quality of the products she received, lack of communication from our company as well as liable statements (ex: lying about our company not coming to take down all the rentals at the end of the reception) to public forums such as ******* **** and we would like to address them one by one: 
  
  
  - July 8th, 2022: First email from Mrs **** requesting a phone call to discuss issues
  - July 13th, 2022: we replied explaining our delay and apologizing profusely for the inconvenience. In that email we offered a compensation of $250 which is equal to the total set up fee she had paid which we believe is very reasonable.
  We also had agreed that, as per our contract, she was entitled to be reimbursed the items she wished to cancel 48 hours prior to the wedding; however given the new claims she was making, we kept communicating with her via phone call and emails to settle all this in one payment. 
  - July 15th, 2022: Mrs **** emails us a long statement claiming to not have received certain items and or service such as: 
  Alleged missing greenery garland for the head table: Our team brought the greenery garland, in the bin Mrs **** states was present, but one of the guests or coordinator (it wasn't made clear to our staff) took it and said to our crew that she will take care of it and proceed to place it behind the head table. Our crew wa unable to locate it afterwards 
  Alleged unanswered calls on the day of the wedding: several of our staff members answered Mrs ****'s and her entourage's phone calls however our team was stuck in traffic on its way to her and although we kept repeating they will be there shortly, there was nothing we could do about them moving faster aside from breaking the law.
  Alleged dried florals: beside the dried pampas (as it is their nature to be dried and it is what the client wanted), the flowers were in excellent condition and it is perfectly normal for florals to get dehydrated, all it requires is a spray of water if that is the case. Fallen petals while setting up floral arrangements on an arch is also standard as they are fragile and fresh products being secured on a high arch. If you could look closely at the pictures, you will see that the flowers are not indeed in the deplorable condition Mrs **** claims. In the photos, only 1 flower was dry, which could have been fixed by spraying water on it. Flowers are by essence fresh products thus susceptible to temperature changes and displacement but, in this particular case, they were never of "poor quality". Our sister company also owns 4 flower stores in Canada which is who we work together with for all our floral orders, and we never did, and never will provide dead flowers to anyone. This is definitely a huge false statement towards our company.
  
  Claim of a reimbursement of $2344.04 for services non rendered: All decor, florals and services purchased by Mrs **** were indeed provided and a $250 reimbursement for the delay was offered as an apology for the stress our delayed arrival may have caused her which she refused. 
  July 25th, 2022: Mrs **** posted an untrue review on ******* **** which cost us clients. Beside the grievances she voiced in this present claim, she also alleged that we never came to take down all the decor at the end of the reception. We replied to her allegations on the website and contacted the venue which confirmed via email that we indeed came at the agreed upon time and that everything was orderly. 
  
  
  We have made many attempts, via emails and phone calls, to reason with Mrs **** and find a peaceful resolution to the issue, meanwhile the plaintiff has been going to several social media platforms to slanter our reputation out of spite. For example: July 26th, she commented on our post about another wedding we provided our services for that day "so this is why you were late 2 hours to my wedding" in an attempt to tarnish our reputation once again. This was one day after her ******* **** review. 
  
  
  We would like to point out that we have been in the industry for over 25 years and that we are proud to have consistent high review ratings on many internet platforms (****** included). We have never had a bad review in this extent as we have always provided excellent service to our customers and addressed any potential issue in a professional and diligent manner. We have tried to apologize for the delay due to unforeseen traffic issues (while still completing before the ceremony started), and find a resolution but Mrs **** has consistently refused any reasonable solution and demanded reimbursement for items and services received. This summer season has been extremely busy given the Covid restrictions the past two years and we have done our utmost to fulfill our obligations and accommodate our clients, as a matter of fact, we can provide many emails from clients attesting to that level of service. We would gladly provide you with the following should you require them:
  
  - Email from the venue attesting of our coming on time
  - Emails between Mrs **** and ourselves 
  - Screenshots of untrue statements Mrs **** has been posting on internet 
  
  Overall, we are deeply saddened that Mrs **** didn't feel she had received our full customer service and for that we are sincerely sorry. We feel we have been more than flexible with her, providing further discounts and free items prior to her wedding day as well. We wholeheartedly tried to make amends for the stress we had caused with our delayed arrival but to no avail.We genuinely feel that Mrs **** is not being truthful in her statement and we are at your disposal should you wish for any more details regarding this matter. 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

  Customer response

  23/09/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:

  Firstly, I want to reject their excuse for being 2 hours late to my wedding due to traffic. The wedding they were setting up before mine was downtown (as shown in an instagram post they made on the morning of July 2), which even in heavy traffic, doesn't account for a 2 hour delay. This was poor planning on their part to do a wedding in the morning when I had confirmed with them several times that we needed the flowers at the venue at 1 pm to take photos. In addition, they claim to have kept me "informed of the delay throughout the way via telephone while our crew was on the road and on their way." This is a complete lie. I have phone records to prove that the initial call was from my day-of coordinator's phone at 1:48 pm to the phone number of Imane (who's number I was given as the contact person for setting up my wedding), however Imane didn't answer. Then, at 1:50 pm I called the main company phone number, to which Eliza answered and apologized for their tardiness, told me they were almost here, and said she would call the delivery team right away and call me back with an ETA. I did not receive a call back. At 2:33 pm I called the main phone number again, and Eliza answered again, apologizing and saying they were minutes away. She again told me she would call me back with their exact location, but she didn't. I was anxiously awaiting their arrival, my own wedding party was rushing around trying to set up as much as they could before the ceremony started. I even have video to show they were still setting up as my guests were sitting down awaiting my entrance. How unbelievably disappointing and unprofessional. My other vendors were shocked by the disorganization of this company. They didn't even know where a lot of their items were (I assume they delivered some things the day before my wedding, as they were missing a box and frantically looking for it while I was in a room awaiting my grand entrance).  
  

  Secondly, with regards to the "inaccurate statements in terms of the quality of the products she received," as the photos show, the quality of the flowers I was given was subpar; they were dried out, more than just "one flower" like they claim. Please refer back to the photos I have attached to my initial complaint. I understand that some flowers can fall off the florals while being attached to the arch, however the flowers in the bouquets for myself and my bridesmaids were not in a condition that should be sold for $150 and $75 plus tax per piece. The petals you see on the floor are from the bouquets, which no one from my party had even touched at this point. They were falling apart just sitting in the jars on the table. The business states "it is perfectly normal for florals to get dehydrated, all it requires is a spray of water if that is the case," but how is this my job to do before I walk down the aisle? Why wasn't this done prior to being delivered to me? Is it customary and professional to deliver items that require this maintenance, even before they are used or touched? 
  

  Finally, I have been told multiple times, including in email, by the company that they would reimburse me for the items that I cancelled prior to the 48 hours before the wedding (which adheres to the contract), however I have yet to be given anything at more than 2 months since my wedding. They claim to "have made many attempts, via emails and phone calls, to reason with Mrs **** and find a peaceful resolution to the issue," however the email I sent on July 15, where I was requesting more than $250 reimbursement as well as the $900.36 for items that I cancelled, was never responded to. I also notified them in this email that I would be posting reviews on ******* **** and social media if I received no response, and after 10 days, I posted those reviews detailing everything I have included thus far. I will happily provide this email exchange if needed. I also received no phone calls from the company, as they claim, thought i made multiple calls to them to discuss the matters, only 1 of which was answered.
  

  Their claim that they "have consistent high review ratings on many internet platforms" and that they "can provide many emails from clients attesting to that level of service" is simply irrelevant to me, as I did not receive this level of service. And instead of admitting to it and offering proper restitution, they simply continue to make excuses, lie and a 6 % refund for all of the stress they caused me on one of the most important days of my life, as well as stress I am continuing to have from all of this. 
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ****

  Business response

  04/10/2022

  As per the photos of the floral, Yes we do see that there is 1-2 flowers that are dry. The rest were perfectly fine and as what we told ******, it would have been fixed by simply spraying water to the flower.  That day was hot so it is not a surprise that 1-2 flowers became dry and a few pedals to fall off, which is completely normal for fresh florals and in the floral industry. It doesn't mean that all the flowers we provided were dead. As per the photo she attached of the bouquet, it is clearly obvious the flowers are not dead. I attach here pictures of dead flowers so you can compare and see what dead flowers look like. When flowers are dead, the neck is completely weak so the head of the flower will droop as the stem is weak and dead. The entire flower will also be dried out, hard and flaky. Also, ****** also showed pictures of 1-2 flowers being dry, whereas we provided her much more florals. If they were all "dead" we are sure that she would have taken pictures of those "dead" florals" as well. The photo in ****** just shows that the fresh rose is just dry due to the heat.

  Customer response

  11/10/2022

  
  Complaint: ********
  
  I am rejecting this response because:
  
        Once again, you admit the flowers were dried out (whether it was 1, 2 or several in each of the bouquets as I and my party will attest to), and once again you assume the responsibility to rehydrate the flowers is on the customer. This is very poor business; items purchased should be in excellent usable condition when they are delivered to customers. The photo you sent of dried out flowers is simply ridiculous and you can't compare the it to the pictures I took of the flowers that your company delivered to me. I am not requesting reimbursement for all of the flowers; I am asking for 50% reimbursement for the bridal bouquet and 3 bridesmaid bouquets. The weather was not very hot, it was 20 degrees celsius in Richmond at the hottest point of the day on July 2, 2022. The flowers I was given were prepared too far in advance, or sitting in a car for the day before they were delivered to me. As for the flowers on the tables, I should not have been charged for those as when I tried to cancel them (which I am allowed to do up to 48 hours before the event as per our contract), I was told I couldn't. How can you continue to argue in good conscience when all you need to do is admit you could've done better business, provide a reasonable reimbursement, refund me for the items I cancelled as per our contract, and then we can all move on?
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ****** ****

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩