NetFlorist review: Shockingly poor service. Valentine's day ruined!

What a corporate money-making scheme! I've been a NetFlorist Customer since 2017. I've used the service numerous times over the years as I work away from home. Half of the time, there is a small issue with items being switched out from what was originally ordered or something missing, but I've always let it slide because the main idea was there, and the wife was happy.

This time around takes the cake. On the 31st of January, I placed an order for Valentine's Day. I ordered a bouquet of flowers with all the upsell bells and whistles that NetFlorist usually peddle to their customers.

On Monday, 12 February the order already showed to be ready for delivery. Yesterday, on Valentine's Day, I was eagerly watching the tracker to see if she had received her gift yet. To my amazement the order was not picked up and out for delivery. At 13:45, I phoned the NetFlorist Customer Care/Support line to find out when the order would be delivered, as I could see what was about to come. The Customer Care/Support agent named Vuka, I believe, very dismissively told me that the order would be delivered before 17:00. I asked how she could know this as I had not even given her the order number to establish any details such as what had been ordered, where it was stored, who the driver is, if it had been picked up already or where it would be delivered to. Only then did she ask for the order number, and then after a long wait for the "system" to update, she again assured me that the order would be delivered before 17:00. By 15:30, I had tried to call the Customer Care/Support line again on three separate occasions to no avail. By 15:45, the order finally showed that it had been picked up by a driver, and I got some hope back that it would be delivered on time.

At 16:20, The wife phoned and said that a driver for NetFlorist had contacted her and told her that he was on his way to deliver to her. (What a nice way to ruin the surprise!). Just after this, he contacted her again and asked for a home address as he could only deliver at 18:00. She gave him the address and went home. She waited patiently for most of the early evening, and by 19:45, she had grown impatient after numerous promises of delivery and changed times. She could not continue with any of her other plans and told the driver that it was too late, and she had other plans with friends, so she would not be able to take delivery further on. The driver ignored this, and by 20:35, he messaged her, saying that he was by the gate. By this time, there was no one home.

This morning, 15 February, at 08:00, I phoned Customer Care/Service and waited to speak to a supervisor. I got through to a “more senior” person named Tsepho. I gave Tsepho an earfull and told him exactly what happened as specified above. In no unclear terms, I told him that the delivery was too late and should not be delivered as the occasion has passed and was already ruined; I also don't think the wife would want dilapidated flowers that have been sitting in a warehouse since Monday and spent a whole night in a delivery Van. He apologised profusely and asked me to give him ten minutes to follow up with his team. I did not hear back from him. At 9:15, the driver arrived at the wife's place of work to "deliver". She refused to accept the order for the same reasons I specified above.

Tsepho eventually got back to me. He corroborated my story with the “team” as if they first had to see if I was telling the truth. It's laughable that they still don't understand that they ruined the occasion and kept trying to convince me to have the items delivered (probably so they don't lose their sale). I'm taking a refund and will never return to their business. I've had better experiences dealing with SARS!

All I can add is that this was and still is a horrible experience. NetFlorist only care about taking your money and don't care about their customers. I will not use this service again and would rather start supporting smaller local shops directly.