Call 4 Action Rates Online Flower Vendors

POSTED: 3:42 pm EST February 8, 2007

UPDATED: 6:16 pm EST February 12, 2008

The following is a transcript of a report by Call 4 Action reporter Aaron Saykin that first aired on Feb. 8, 2007, on WTAE Channel 4 Action News at 5 p.m. It reaired on Feb. 12, 2008.

Valentine's Day should be a time for romance, but for some of us, it could quickly turn into a day of embarrassment.

Plenty of men and women now use the Internet to order flowers for a loved one, but a Call 4 Action investigation reveals that the arrangement that ends up arriving could leave your face more red than the roses.

What you see on a computer screen when you click "Buy" isn't always what ends up on your significant other's doorstep, so how would you feel if a bouquet of dead flowers arrived?

It could be enough to wilt the most romantic of moods.

This year, consumers are expected to buy 190 million roses, not to mention all of the other breathtaking blossoms. But more and more of us are bypassing the local flower shop and heading straight for the Internet.

"You're taking the chance," said local flower shop owner Cathy Mowry. "You don't know how it's going to arrive at the other end."

Mowry's family has owned their Swissvale flower shop for 100 years. These days, she said she's fighting to compete with bigger online vendors, many that offer better prices, but are the flowers better?

Call 4 Action decided to put five of the most popular online petal peddlers to the test:

Call 4 Action went to the Web sites and checked out the pictures and the prices and then had the companies ship the flowers to Connie Stewart, a WTAE Channel 4 Action News producer.

The next day, as promised, all of the arrangements arrived, but not much else went according to plan.

The long-stem roses from OrganicBouquet.com were the most expensive ones ordered.

They were also Stewart's favorite.

"This is probably the nicest-looking right now," said Stewart. "I wonder how long they'll last, because they opened so quickly."

The site offered the flowers as an assorted rainbow arrangement, but the flowers that came were a mix of yellow and orange.

The next order was from FlowersAllOver.com. The display on their Web site was blooming and full, which is not exactly how they arrived

"The daisies are a little brown, and the carnations are still even after a day," said Stewart. "The carnations still aren't popping."

So where exactly do the flowers come from?

Call 4 Action learned that they do not come from a local florist. In fact, all of the flowers ordered for Stewart were shipped by UPS, Federal Express and DHI in boxes from the companies' distribution centers, which are scattered all over the country.

All of the arrangements were intricately packaged to protect the delicate flowers, but the boxes came from Mississippi, Connecticut, Florida, Tennessee and California.

One box that came had flowers in it that weren’t protected enough though.

"It was clearly frozen," said Stewart. "It came late in the day. It had obviously been in the truck for several hours, and, um, parts of it are just dropping. Bad. The roses, the necks are just broken on them."

Hallmark's sweet wishes flower bouquet was supposed to look beautiful, but it arrived a mangled mess with dead flowers.

The next arrangement, "a dozen assorted valentine's roses" from ProFlowers.com, should have looked full and brilliant.

Stewart said the flowers she received were similar, although some of the roses had already begun to wilt and the next day, began to die.

Finally, the bouquet of red roses and Peruvian lilies from 1-800-Flowers.com was the closest example of what the Web site showed.

Overall, Stewart said she was most weren’t too bad.

"I was kind of disappointed with some of them, but in all, they weren't too bad," said Stewart.

Hallmark promised to send Stewart a replacement bouquet, but told her it would take four days to receive, which is hardly good news for someone who gets a bad bunch on Valentine's Day.

If you want to make sure the flowers you order online are fresh from a local florist, you can go through FTD, which guarantees the flowers will last a full week.

Check out the ratings at www.ConsumerReports.org.

Related Links:
More County News

Get RSS | E-Mail Alerts