Bouqs.com Review – Pass On Them

History: I’ve been buying my wife flowers fairly often since we began seeing each other eight years ago. While deployed they were a means of letting her know I was thinking of her. They’ve been a means to apologize and for a random surprise to put a smile on her face. So we had an anniversary for when we met eight years ago and flowers seemed like the thing. 

I’d been using the same services for years and thought I’d try the new company. Surely they’ll be quality with their tag lines, be more current, cutting edge with quality customer service and were supposed to send ‘farm fresh cut’ flowers, according to the articles. That was my thinking since they would definitely want to differentiate themselves from the guys who’ve been around for decades.

The website is okay without a lot of bells and whistles. Everything was straightforward and the only add-on really available was a vase, which is fine because I never go for the up-sells anyway. When it came to putting in a delivery address, you can tell they have more development to do. The address doesn’t allow enough lines to include business names and a persons name and a possible suite/office number. Not a big deal, but I was a bit concerned they might be slow getting to her in her office building. 

Yes, I prefer to send flowers to her office because it makes her feel that much more special and brightens up her work day.

I received an email with a Fedex confirmation number and they would arrive two days later. Other floral services have done the same, so I had no concern there.  

They arrived on time around noon and by 1:30pm the wife had received them. For the quality of the product, see the pictures. 

Of course, I reached out to the web portal and used their customer service interface. It was clunky and apparently didn’t upload the pictures I attached. The opening I had on the complaint was ‘Old Wilted Flowers’. The first reply said something to the effect that you shouldn’t be alarmed because you’ve received buds and please send pictures. And my first thought was, this was an automated response and no one was there because they didn’t read my description. I wrote back to the email address and said as much, but reattached the pictures. 

They then replied with a link to a youtube video explaining that the loose petals were ‘guard petals’ and not a flaw. I could accept that, if it weren’t for the clear fact that most of the stems are bent over like they are a week old. 

Now, I’ve always believed that the measure of a company comes out of what they do when things don’t go right. Let’s face it, in spite of best intentions, things don’t always go perfectly. And frankly, things clearly weren’t right. 

The last reply (as of this writing) that I received, they said sorry, we’ve done all we can, have a nice day. 

On their web site they use the phrase ‘happiness guarantee’. It isn’t a guarantee at all. Just a commitment that their customer service will communicate if you contact them withing three days of the flowers arrival. I got hold of them in three hours of the flowers arrival. 

And they’ve offered nothing in the way of making amends. 

My review in summary: Failed product. Failed customer service. I’m never using them again. 

IF something changes after this writing (9 February 2017 10 am CT), I will update this post. 

**** February 10th Update: I sent one more parting shot with the last picture. I received a reply from a fourth person, that did finally acknowledge the problem and credited my bouqs account. Not a refund. So to get value out of it I would have to try again.

If I were grading this, it would be dominated by Fs and Ds.