I feel your pain. We had a similarly bad experience with Hallmark.com on Valentine's Day, when the online system didn't post that they had changed the order deadline for Feb. 14 delivery and the customer service line wasn't open. The flowers were for someone in a nursing home, who also was celebrating a birthday. We were able to get the delivery made only after my brother connected with an exec at Hallmark.com; the flowers were beautiful, I gather, and we weren't charged but I haven't ordered from them again.

Now, for the good news: there are some very good online florists. Try Flowerbud next time; founder Mark Hayes answers his own email and the flowers are beautiful. My mother likes ProFlowers.

I've used proflowers.com for years and have had a satisfactory experience every time. They are delivered directly from the grower and have often lived brilliantly for more than two weeks. (I am not associated with them in any way.)

For next Mother's Day, if you go the Internet route again, try Flowerbud.com - an ex-girlfriend turned me on to them, and I am always amazed at how great the flowers look.


And, in the spirit of transparency, I have had no dealings with the site beyond being a customer, and I used to work at a florist shop when I was a kid.

Ahhh...yes...bad indeed. Imagine, however, if you ordered flowers and they actually arrived, but not anything like what you thought you ordered. This was my experience two weeks ago with 1.800.FLOWERS.com. I found a beautiful arrangement online, but what showed up at the recipients office was this small, ugly, embarrassing arrangement of flowers not even displayed in the online picture. I wonder what is worse? To not receive at all, or to receive and have that kind of embarrasment. Anyway, to their credit, I called (quick answer, not a busy weekend though) and received a full refund, a sincere apology and in the mail a few days later was a voucher worth $11 off my next purchase. I considered using FTD next time, but given your experience, maybe it's worth a trip to the local florist instead...I've always had luck with them.

Hope your wife is understanding!

Thank you for the info! I live in NYC too and even when I send flowers out of town, I always call a local florist in the place I am sending flowers to. Somehow I assumed FTD would delivery crappy flower arrangements, but the fact that they didn't deliever at all is unacceptable. It's too bad that if you want to use the internet to send flowers in town or out of town, you can't rely on a company that is supossed to be an expert at it. On another note, a little hint that I learned a few years ago, if you're sending flowers out of town...fedex a personal note to the florist you are using and when you're flowers are delivered (fingers crossed!) the note goes along with it. It's always impressive. (Bravo on sending your wife flowers on mother's day as well.)

Hey Alan... too bad that you decided to give a shot to online flowers on mother's day. It's a shame that those guys at FTD wouldn't keep up with their customers on such a special day as this one, it's no excuse that it was a busy day, if you're going to run a business that people will depend on you need to keep your promise to customers or simply stop doing business. I'm sure this wouldn't happen if it was Amazon doing flowers.

Alan, Proflowers.com has always come through. I've used them for both personal and business occasions. The quality is so good, that I get phone calls as a response! I also have no affiliation with the site.

Sorry to hear about your experience. I hope you'll keep us informed of how (or if) FTD makes it right. This is the unreported backside of the SEM coin - order fulfillment issues in the midst of "successful" positioning.

Note that FTD was gloating on Monday morning (via Webtrends) about their online presence during Mother's Day.

Similar experience. I had ordered a week in advance roses for my wife for Valentine's Day through FTD.com. As soon as I got home I got an unbeliveable embarassement: cheap carnations instead of roses. I called FTD.com to complain and their absolutely refused to acknowledge the difference, accepting as a necessary practice and not even offering an apology much less a coupon for the next purchase. Ever since, I'm boycotting FTD.com. Although 1-800-flowers.com can be flaky and unresponsive with the order status and deliveries just as well, they haven't screwed up yet.

You can work with local florists through their Web sites. I always order flowers through a local florist, Bachman's; their Website (www.bachmans.com) gives the same selection as the big boys but offers a personalized touch.

Thank God I am not the only one to have problems. I ordered my Mother - Mother's Day Flowers - in advance - I spent my own Mother's Day worry about hers - because they were never delivered by FTD - (and it was suppose to be the day before Mother's Day)- I spent the day calling like yourself - with the same message. I was promised a deliver the next day with an apology - then a full refund and an apology.

I just checked my credit card - still no apology (3 weeks later) and they never credited my credit card back.

I will never use FTD again!!!!!!!!!!!.

lesson learned......NEVER , EVER, order flowers from an 800 or on-line order gatherer.

Order directly from a real florist in the town where you want the delivery to be made. Most have their own toll free number which you can find on any search engine...just type in florist & the name of the town you want. CAUTION! you will still have to wade through all the above mentioned order scalpers to find a REAL FLORIST.