DA
Deirdre A

1 reviews | Active since Nov 2012

24 Oct 2024, 17:25

Rude employee and Poor service from Flora Niche

Today (Thursday 24 October), I placed an order at around 08:30am, for a Sympathy arrangement for close friends of mine in Kimberley, Northern Cape (their mother passed away and we are childhood friends and I'm unable to attend). I called FLORA NICHE (they work with other florists in Kimberley) and placed my order online. I chose a specific flower arrangement with mostly white flowers, that is suitable for a funeral. They called me to ask if they could add some pink flowers into the arrangement and I agreed - I also selected the delivery date for Friday 25th October (tomorrow). On their website they state that if certain flowers are not in season they replace with other flowers but they try to make the arrangement as close to the picture/bouquet that you selected on their website, which I understand. Just after 10am, my friend sent me a message to say thank you for the flowers and sent me a picture. It was not even close to the arrangement I has selected and was absolutely below standard, like they just slapped it together, there was very little flowers (no white flowers) and they filled the arrangement with cheap ribbon and greenery - not at all suitable for a funeral - I was flabbergasted when I saw the horrible flowers they delivered to my friends. I called them and sent them a picture of the flowers and they said they will replace the flowers. Unfortunately, I don't remember the name of the employee I dealt with but it was an emotional situation for me because I lost someone that I was close to, I'm feeling the pain of my friends that lost a mother and I wanted to send them a decent wreath. I expressed my dissatisfaction and at some point during the conversation I used the word "damn" and then this employee went off at me. She was extremely rude and said that I must not swear at her (one would have sworn I used the F-word or something else). She was screaming at me, being very unprofessional and should not at all be working with customers. Someone else by the name of Karina (supposedly a manager from Customer Care) called me back to apologize and to confirm that they will ensure that a new arrangement would be delivered tomorrow, for which I thanked her. I mentioned to her my encounter with the rude employee and asked if the employee will be addressed but she starting talking over me and told me that we just need to move forward. She remained polite, offered her condolences and we ended the call. The rude employee placed Flora Niche in a very bad light and I'm sure the owner would not be happy with how she dealt with a customer that was grieving and the embarrassment of the horrible flowers that was sent to my friends (Karina even said verbatim "you cant put that wreath on a coffin of a loved one"). I wanted the owner to know about this incident - her name if Annike McClarty and Flora Niche is her family business that has been around since 1983, with their head office in Claremont, Cape Town. That employee needs to go on customer service training (this was not an order for a birthday or a jolly occassion but for a grieving family) and she has put Flora Niche and the owner of this long running business to shame with how she was screaming at me. Disgusting behaviour! Shame on you!

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