TLF Main St. Flowers
Complaint 189270 Details

OVERALL, THIS COMPANY HAS THE WORSE CUSTOMER SERVICE I’VE EVER EXPERIENCED AND IT FALSIFIES ITS IDENTITY TO CUSTOMERS AND THEN TAKES ADVANTAGE OF THEM. IN THE END, THE CUSTOMER DOESN'T GET WHAT HE/SHE PAID FOR.
I live in Maryland. First of all, this company falsely presented itself online as a local Annapolis MD Florist. This unknown to me at the time when at 4:30pm on Friday, November 23, 2012, two days before my anniversary, I looked online and found this "local" florist nearest the restaurant where I planned to celebrate my 17th Anniversary on November 25th. The website was confusing; therefore I contacted them by phone and placed my order thinking that this was a local florist, "Annapolis MD Flower Shop". I ordered the PREMIUM (the largest bouquet above the Standard and Deluxe) "Teleflora Love Forever Bouquet with Red Roses" flower arrangement (which I made a note of) and paid $107.20. I requested a receipt for the transaction and was told I'd get one via email and the rep took my email address. I inquired specifically if I was guaranteed to get all of the flowers listed on the website and was told yes. The representative did not mention anything about substitutes, warranties, or refunds in our conversation whatsoever and I was told the conversation was recorded. On the day of my Anniversary, November 25th at 7pm arriving at the restaurant, I was initially happy to see that flowers were placed at my table, but as I got closer I noticed that it looked nothing like what I ordered and I became very disappointed at the arrangement—it was small (smaller than the standard size depicted on the website) and contained far fewer of the flowers that were listed on the website.
I contacted the flower company and complained to a Maxine. She said that they are allowed to substitute flowers during certain seasons of unavailability, which she claimed that the order taker should have mentioned; if not, TLF would reimburse me for the error. In addition, I complained that I got a much smaller bouquet than what I paid for. She asked me if I had a picture of the bouquet and I said yes, then she gave me an email address to send the picture. I sent the email with pictures attached immediately. She said in order to confirm there was an error--that the rep did not mention substitutes and that I actually ordered the Premium Bouquet she would have to review the recorded order call and the pictures of the arrangement and get back to me. I said when? And she told me today. I TOLD HER THAT I WAS ABSOLUTELY CERTAIN THAT SUBSTITUTES WERE NOT MENTIONED AND THAT I HAD ORDERED THE PREMIUM, WHICH IS EVIDENT BY THE PRICE PAID AND THAT I DID NOT GET A RECEIPT TO FURTHER CONFIRM THAT. She again said that she would call me back soon. SHE NEVER CALLED ME BACK.
After 2 days, I followed up again and this time spoke to a Phil. I explained the flower situation and explained the failure of Maxine to return a call to me. He claimed that he reviewed my email (addressed to Maxine). He also said that he had to review the recorded call and that he would call me back. HE NEVER CALLED ME BACK.
I recovered the card from the flowers which had my written love note to my wife and it had a flower shop number on it. The number belonged to a local florist, an Annapolis Flower shop called Colonial Florist Inc. I contacted them and explained my situation. The owner expressed sympathy for my issue but explained that they were a third party shop and followed exactly the order sent them from TLF Main Street Beach City Florist in San Clemente, CA (TLF). She explained that her shop receives orders from TLF. She walked me through the details of TLF's order and it was very different than the order I placed with them via the phone. This is when I discovered that TLF uses order takers who pose as local florist order takers numbers on the web under various local names in order to make order takers believe they are dealing with a local flower shop, then they send the order (including their own specifications and instructions) to the local flower shop. The order TLF sent to the local flower shop first of all didn’t arrive until the late afternoon of the following day. TLF gave the local flower shop a working cost of $64 (reduced by the $11 delivery fee) and told them to use substitutes as deemed necessary. As a result, I received $43 less flowers than I should have received. The local flower shop indicated that since I didn’t place my order directly with them I had to submit my complaint to TLF.
Again, I contacted the ordering line for TLF and complained. This representative, Diane, took my information and promised to forward it to send an urgent notice to TLF authorities and that someone would be contacting me soon. AGAIN, NO ONE CONTACTED ME.
As a result, TLF Main Street Beach City Florist Company defrauded me in several ways. Their actions indicate that they have no plans to reimburse me.