Bottom Of The Barrel

f'in FTD

So like many men, I bought flowers for my wife and had them sent to her office for the big VDay. Unfortunately for me they did not arrive and I was left with nothing while my loving wife gave me some nice soap for my new bathroom, massage oil for - well massages, and wine bottle neck sleeves to catch the drips. All very thoughtful gifts and what did I have last night - NOTHING! Thanks FTD.

So I checked into the situation yesterday afternoon and I got this email from their service department:

From:custserv@ftd.com
To:edl
Subject:Re: FTD.COM Delivery Request
Date:Wednesday, February 14, 2007 2:51:41 PM

Thank you for contacting us regarding your recent order. We are always happy to hear from our customers and enjoy assisting you.

We are so sorry to hear that there are questions surrounding the delivery of your order. We will contact the florist immediately regarding the details of the delivery. Our goal is to respond to you within 24 hours.

Thank you for shopping with FTD.COM.

Sincerely,
FTD.COM Customer Service
Order Number: FNMxxxxxxx
http://custserv.ftd.com/

I checked back with them today since DHL still shows my package in Wilmington, OH and I got this reply [note their reply was almost 24 hours from the one above]:

From:custserv@ftd.com
To:edl
Subject:Re: FTD.COM Delivery Request
Thursday, February 15, 2007 2:22:38 PM

Thank you for your inquiry regarding your recent order. We are always happy to hear from our customers and enjoy assisting you.

We are actively working toward an answer for you and will contact you upon completion. Our goal is to respond to your email within 48 hours.

Thank you for shopping with FTD.COM.

Sincerely,

FTD.COM Customer Service
Order Number: FNMxxxxxxx
http://custserv.ftd.com/
Shop: http://www.ftd.com/

I particularly like that this service representative added the shop link because I am so happy with the service so far. Now I thought I should call them and really give them a piece of my mind and here is what you get when you call 800-SHOP-FTD and select #3 for customer service:

You've reached the FTD customer service hotline. For quality assurance, this call maybe monitored. Please have your order number available to assist us in handling your call. Please hold while we connect your call.

RING.

Thank you for calling FTD.com. Due to the holiday rush we are experiencing extraordinarily high call volume and are temporally unable to take your call.

Please be advised, that if your call is regarding a delivery confirmation we regret that we are unable to confirm deliveries scheduled for today's date.

We apologize for any inconvenience and ask that you try your call again later.

CLICK.

Now there's a new level of customer service. Take the customers money, don't deliver as you planned and now make it impossible for them to reach you. Sounds like one of those internet scams you read about in the paper and say, that's would never happen to me.

The thing I really find odd about this is, was it really unexpected? I mean first off it's Valentines Day. One of the 3 biggest flower giving holiday's of the year. Second, the storm that hit the northeast on the big day slide across the entire country so it was a pretty well known meteorological phenomenon. So what was it that FTD and it's "approximately 20,000 North American retail florists" were not ready for? Plus Valentines Day does occur in the winter ever year, has it not ever snowed before?

Well the end of the story is they will probably get back to me after my half-dead flowers finally arrive on Friday just in time for the big, big holiday known as "2 days after Valentines Day". A heart felt thanks for nothing to f'in FTD.

Labels: Customer Service, Flowers, FTD, Shopping

posted by TheWino @ 3:32 PM