Poor service, pathetic attitude by owner!

On Monday, 10 August 2020 I placed an order for 24 Scarlet Red Roses for R990 via NetFlorist's website for delivery to recipient in Estcourt, KZN. NetFlorist uses a florist named The Pink Butterfly in the Estcourt area and had therefore sent the request to the florist. The next day, Tuesday, 11 August 2020, the recipient received 24 Orange Roses by the florist instead of the red roses as ordered. Once I found out that the roses were not as ordered, I immediately contacted NetFlorist and they apologized for this mishap and confirmed that they will contact the florist to find out what happened. I was later informed by NetFlorist that the owner Mr Leslie Ramroop who received the order did not notify NetFlorist prior to the delivery that he did not have stock of the red roses due to it being a Tuesday after the long weekend however he made the arrangement and sent it according to what he felt he should do. Leslie made no attempts to contact NetFlorist to inform them of this even after the delivery was completed.

I called Leslie at The Pink Butterfly directly on Thursday 13 August 2020 to enquire what occurred with my order. His version of the story was that Scarlet roses only come in Orange and that that was the order he received from NetFlorist. I mentioned to Leslie that there is a R170 difference between what I ordered and what he sent. I reminded Leslie that 2 years ago, I ordered and paid for flowers to the value of R350 from his florist which were never delivered to recipient and that he did not want to refund the money back to me then as he had made me feel guilty that he will be at a loss. Upon making me feel sorry for his work, I agreed for him to keep the money.

Coming back to this current matter, Leslie mentioned that he doesn't see why this is an issue because the recipient did not complain or was unhappy. He further stated and I quote: “I will make an arrangement for her out of the goodness of my heart and because I am a nice person for the same value of R350 but I will be at a loss from this order” – R350 which I paid him 2 years ago but will only arrange this on condition that he collects the incorrect order. I argued that I cannot ask the recipient for the flowers back as 1: it is poor show and unprofessional on his part as he is the one who messed up to ask for something back and, 2: It is not right to ask for the flowers back after giving it to someone. I made it clear that the only person making a loss here is me because I paid R990 for this order to go to the recipient and this is not what she received and by him wanting to fix it for R350 which he took from me before for nothing as no order was concluded, is he actually the one at a loss?

I then asked him if he will refund the R350 which he had not refunded before because by him keeping the money was wrong and that I should have never allowed him to keep it. He then became arrogant and rude and argued with me that the R350 which I paid for non-delivery was HIS money and not mine and that he will not refund that to me. He raised his voice "I AM NOT INTERESTED IN YOUR MONEY OR HOW MUCH YOU SPENT. I DON'T CARE ABOUT THAT and I don’t care because that money went to NetFlorist, not to me. As long as the recipient is happy". I advised him that the recipient would not complain as she was unaware of what type of flowers was ordered. The recipient was under the impression I ordered 24 orange roses.

As this conversation got heated, I mentioned that for someone who is in the wrong, I do not like his attitude and he averred the same towards me. When I mentioned that I will go to social media about his attitude, his response was a threat that he can take me to court about this. On what legal grounds, only he knows!