Warning, FTD.com is not mile worthy.
 

Twice this year I made purchases on FTD.com and they failed to deliver my flowers. The first time was Valentine's Day, and the second was Mother's Day. Both times I made my purchases with FTD because of the added benefit of receiving airline miles (AA & DL). They failed to deliver both times and they almost managed to ruin both holidays for me.

At least on Valentine's Day when they didn't deliver, I was able to go to a local florist at 7:30 PM and pay top dollar for a dozen roses for my wife. However, I wasn't that lucky for Mother's Day, since I live in NYC and they flowers were being delivered in Florida.

I haven't tried 1-800 Flowers yet, but you can be rest assured that I will never make a purchase on FTD.com again. The attraction of the airline miles is not worth their lack of service, and the total disappointment and empty feeling you feel for not being able to deliver a message of love to your family members.

------------------

I've always gotten great service and wonderful flowers from FTD.com. It all depends on the local florist since that's all FTD is: a network of participating florists. The florists that happen to serve the zip codes that I've used have all been outstanding.

1800flowers.com, on the other hand, ships flowers out from a central location. I stopped ordering from them about a year ago when they sent my wife a dozen very tired-looking roses. My wife (also an AA Platinum) knew exactly why she got tired roses in the mail instead of fresh ones delivered at work: bonus miles. She busted my chops pretty good for that one. http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/eek.gif

Added bonus with FTD.com is that they can take a same-day order. It's too bad the locations you need have bad FTD florists. I tend to avoid Valentine's Day and Mother's Day for flower-ordering because I fear that places will skimp on quality or not show up at all...

I stopped ordering from both because the miles never posted & it was a hassle to get them posted. My time spent getting them to post wasn't worth the measly 500 miles. I just use a regular florist whenever I order flowers now.

------------------
Sharon

I think is depends on who the local florist is. I've used FTD twice, the second time everything went according to plan - miles posted after about 6 weeks.

The first time, the florist forgot to attach my message so the recipiant (elderly aunt turning 70) didn't know who had sent the flowers. After a call to FTD then sent out a second bunch the same day for free.

Good customer service but maybe a few bad local frachises.


-- Dambus

Would you fly on an airline if you were told that they had good customer service and bad airplanes? I think not.

FTD.com http://www.flyertalk.com/forum/thumbsdown.gif

Just sent out flowers to my Mom on Mother's Day using 1-800 Flowers. The flowers arrived on time and fresh. Now we´ll just have to see if/when the miles post

------------------
http://www.benjaminwagner.com
Great music!

We used FTD.COM twice to send flowers to my MIL in Brooklyn.

In both cases, the flowers were delivered from a florist on the other side of Brooklyn (about a 30 minute drive) and were sub-standard.

We questioned FTD why the flowers were coming from so far away, and they said that they give the business to florists on a rotating basis. I find that hard to believe. There are LOTS of florists in her area of Brooklyn and on both occassions they came from the same far away place.

I think there's more to it than what they told us. Perhaps the florists pay a placement fee to ftd.com to get more business via the internet.

We were able to get a refund for one of the deliveries.

Mary

Been using FTD.com for a few years and never had a problem getting the flowers delivered or the miles posting.

I have had great success using FTD and getting miles to UAL.

I've had nothing but success from ftd.com. The AA points actually post with several days of placing the order.

I have ordered twice from FTD and both times the flowers never arrived on time. In one instance they were two days late. It was even more difficult to get the miles credited. I have become smarter and purchase my flowers in a locally where I walk out with them after I pay!

Call me another unhappy FTD customer. Last year's Mother's Day order arrived the day after Mother's Day, even though it was oredered several days in advance. This year we used 1-800-Flowers (for the SPG points) and all three orders arrived on time, and fresh, in 3 different states. Now, lets see if those points post!

Robin

I've ordered flowers well over a dozen times from FTD.com and once from 1800Flowers. My one experience with 1800Flowers ended up with the recipient getting practically dead flowers.

All experiences with FTD.com have been exactly as promised. All flowers arrived on the proper day as promised and were always fresh (as far as I know).

I primarily send flowers to Albany, NY - Troy, NY - Wilmington, DE - and Bear, DE.

-Chris

I used FTD.com for the first time this past weekend for mothers day. Even though I placed the order on Thursday, they delivered them on time and - according to my mom - in the most beautiful shape she has ever seen roses in. She said they came from the best florist on Long Island and wanted to photo them.

I think it probably does depend on the florist they use. In this case I was very lucky. I will use them again.

I have used 1800 flowers in the past and have not gotten such glowing review from her. In one case, they delivered them a day late for her birthday, which I find unacceptable if the recipient is home and they accept the order.

I will definitely go with FTD - especially if they keep offering the 1200 united miles with the order.

My bad experience was with 1-800-Flowers. The flowers I ordered arrived on the wrong day, with a card that included an incomplete and misspelled message.

I've used FTD.com twice in the past three weeks (with delivery to two different states), and was very happy with their service. I was pleased to know that flowers can be delivered the same day, and conversations with the recipients afterwards indicated that the flowers were in great condition.

I think many of you are correct that it may be more about the local florist than anything else.

Edited to add that the AA miles from FTD.com posted within a couple of days. Love that!

[This message has been edited by Savannah (edited 05-13-2003).]