Almost a year ago, I received a sympathy bouquet from a dear friend in another province. She and her husband had ordered from a company called Bloomex. The long flower box, tied with coloured ribbon, had been left on my acreage doorstep, on a scorching afternoon, without an announcement by phone or doorbell. Inside the box, I found a beautiful collection of flowers wrapped in tissue paper and still cool to the touch. Thank goodness!
When my husband’s brother (R) and sister-in-law (S) were about to celebrate their fiftieth wedding anniversary, I decided to send flowers via Bloomex. I chose to order 50 alstroemeria blossoms, one tiny bloom representing each year of marriage. I have always loved long-lasting, humble flowers like alstroemerias, daisies, and carnations. I imagined the anniversary couple would receive many bouquets of more exotic flowers, and I would explain my thinking in my animated e-card.
Pictured is the bouquet I ordered.
I ordered the e-card and the flowers a few days ahead and arranged for delivery of both on their anniversary. I must admit, I felt quite accomplished. This was all so easy that I considered ordering flowers from Bloomex for myself.
The message on the animated e-card read:
Dear R and S,
You have much to celebrate today. We hope your flowers arrive on time. We chose to send fifty blooms of Maureen’s favourite flower. They are not romantic like roses, but rather they are reliable, long lasting, and quietly beautiful…like a good marriage.
Love, Maureen and Gord
My sister-in-law, having read the card, realized the lovely bouquet they received on their special day didn’t match my description, so she sent a photo with her thank-you email for the fifteen sunny, yellow tulips she received. I was aghast! My note made no sense now. I thanked her for the photo and told her I planned to contact Bloomex.
Pictured is the bouquet they received.
Had I been a savvy online shopper, I might have googled Bloomex and read the variety of reviews about the company. But, oh no, I received flowers via Bloomex, once, and that was good enough for me.
Bloomex provides an online chat service, and a man named Chip apologized and gave me an email address where I could send my order information. I sent a copy of my order, a photo of what was received, and I shared the little blessing I had written about the expected alstroemerias. A day later, I was thrilled to receive a new order confirmation. They were going to send the correct flowers. Well done, Bloomex!
A few days later…
Dear S,
I am assuming that you have not received more flowers and have not had a notice that such a delivery is pending. If I am right about this, I plan to inform Bloomex National that you have received nothing. They obviously cannot trust this florist to follow through. I may be done ordering online, and I am sorry I learned this lesson on your anniversary.
Keep having a great year and Happy Spring.
Hugs, Maureen
Mid-March…
Good Morning Maureen,
The story of this floral order and delivery warrants treatment on an episode of Seinfeld!
On to the most recent chapter and I might start by stating we are still on our ski trip. Last Thursday, March 7, we were awaiting the rest of the family to join us for the weekend when our phone rang. Expecting it to be our daughter, I answered, and it was a frantic delivery guy buzzing our apartment in Vancouver. The buzzer rings through to our cell, thus enabling us to allow entry to our building. I explained to him that I was not in Vancouver but at a ski resort. He was dumbfounded and didn’t have a plan of action. I suggested to him that he buzz our concierge to let him in. Alas, the concierge, was not in the office. At that point, another resident happened by and allowed him into the lobby. He gave me a play-by-play over the phone, but no amount of sharing could solve the problem of what to do with the flowers. Just then, the concierge appeared and talked to me on the delivery guy’s phone. There was no sense in having the concierge take the flowers to our apartment, as we would not be home until March 18, so we decided to have the flowers displayed in the lobby. The concierge took a photo of the flowers, and we will see it when we finally arrive home.
I might mention that the managers and the residents of our building enjoyed your flowers. We thank you from the bottom of our hearts for the wonderful, thoughtful gift. and we will have this incredible story about our 50th to share with posterity.
Love, S and R
Dear S,
You made my day!!!! I am laughing so hard that I can hardly see to type. You write a humorous story with true flare! Thank you!
To complete my file on this matter, please send me the photo. I assume there were fifty blossoms in the new arrangement. Never mind; I don’t want to know.
So ends the saga, and thank you for participating in my relatively stressful, time-consuming, anniversary blessing! LOL
Love, Maureen
Hi Maureen,
I am sorry for the delay in getting this photo to you. Now you can add a new chapter! The flowers lasted well in the foyer of our building, and then the daughter of our manager took them home to use in ‘staging’ her condo for sale.
You and I now have photographic evidence of the delivery. And if the young lady’s apartment sells while these now famous flowers are on display, we will have a perfect closing scene.
Thanks again for the thoughtfulness and the humour that it unintentionally produced.
Cheers, S
Dear R and S,
Thank you! Case closed.
Love, Maureen
The photo of the alstroemerias in the foyer of the building.
Worth Noting:
Communication:
I have…now…done a little research on Bloomex. They have been around since 2005, and the business is not a scam, in spite of the fact that there is a Facebook page that suggests otherwise. The weakness in the Bloomex company is communication. If they change a delivery, they should first check with the person who made the original order. Specific flowers are often chosen for a reason. For example, I am allergic to roses and some lilies. If my husband ordered carnations for me and roses arrived, I might think the worst.
Business Model:
I assumed Bloomex placed orders with local florists, but I have read that they buy directly from growers and have their own production facilities in major Canadian cities. They also sell and deliver a variety of gifts. From what I can gather, they donate and raise money with community partners, and their business continues to increase.
YOUR OPINION PLEASE:
Please leave a comment as to whether I should order from Bloomex again. Do you think I should send the link for this blog to Bloomex?
5 Responses
Oh such a great story Maureen. So funny. I would definitely sent the blog to Bloomex. I am not sure if I would order from them again but probably think they did try to make up for their mistake.Lol
Marion
Quite a story…one that many have experienced, but likely never follow up. Seems to me I saw a show like Marketplace do something on buying flowers online and what actually shows up.
I almost could have pictured that bouquet getting it’s photo taken in various places like the garden gnome going everywhere. Takes on a life of it’s own.
Always enjoy your stories….keep them coming. My life is so simple. ???
Another fun story. You tell it so well. But that convinces me to purchase locally. LOL
I think the issue of “substitution” goes far beyond Bloomex. In the 1960s and 1970s, when long-distance relatives ordered flowers through their local florist to miraculously reach my grandmother in Saskatoon via FTD, my parents often received a phone call from those relatives to check on what floral arrangement grandma had actually received. Over thirty years later, when I had reason to order flowers online to be delivered to our office so that a staff member could redeliver them personally, I learned that the arrangement that had been supplied was nothing like the one I had selected. Now I choose bouquets I can see and carry out of the store!
Flower Power!!!!!!