Classy Flowers Review

Review of online flower delivery from Classy Flowers

My first impression of the website is quite poor, giving it marks 2.5/5. It appears to have similar pictures of ‘sub-standard’ quality as other online florists (perhaps the website operated under more than one name?). I would therefore disagree with its claim that their website provides the customers with 'amazing photography of floral displays'.

Anyway, there appears to be a couple of confusion with their website. Firstly, when I tried to shop by clicking onto ‘roses’ (because they do not appear to advertise Mother's Day flowers separately), the search result came up as ‘there are no products to list in this category’. Yet, in their ‘luxury flowers’ section, they are advertising scarlet red roses at £49.99 and there are even more roses within the ‘anniversary flowers’ section. Secondly, when I clicked the 'customer service' tab on the top of the page, it brings me to what looked like an entirely different website altogether, called 'Blooming Biritain online shop'. Quite odd!

In the absence of a specific Mother's Day selection, an alternative is to pick from their wide range of Easter flowers, with an impressive 27 different options to choose from. Most were priced at a very reasonable £16.99 whilst a dozen roses (choose from red, white or yellow) only costs £24.99.

You have many add-on options eg. bear (£7.99), chocolates (£2.25 or £4.99), balloons (£7.99) or vase (£8.99). There is also the opportunity to ‘up-grade’ on your choice of bouquet from standard to elegant to deluxe (additional charges vary).

There are no personalisation options on the website for your message, it is limited to typing the text. I never received the message card with the flowers so cannot comment on the quality of it.

I ordered its ‘Birthday 12 red roses’ at £18.99 on 22 Jan 08, paying £4.95 delivery charge (please note that price has since been up-dated to £24.99).

The confirmation email arrived from a Hotmail email address. While I am not particularly snobbish about free email, I do not feel it gives a professional impression for a business, especially as it only costs a few pounds a year to run your own domain name email service.

The delivery came on 23 Jan 08 via Parceline at 2.45pm, however in a battered condition. Unlike many of the other packaging that we experienced, there was no 'inner' packing, so anything placed on top of the box would easily crush it.

The bouquet contained 12 red roses and 2 stems of gypsophila. Perhaps due to the way it was packed, the roses were nearly flat and many flower petals fell off as I opened the wrapping.

I was severely disappointed with this purchase. The ‘wow’ factor is definitely missing and took away the ‘romantic’ feeling one was expecting to receive. The roses were not kept in water or moisture container . It was simply wrapped in clear cellophane with a single tie, not even a gift bow. The message card was missing although there was a packet of flower food (not specific to roses).

It gave me the impression that the bouquet was very amateurish (like something bought from a corner shop). The consignment note said the sender was from a florist a few miles away from us. Perhaps this is the result of a relay florist service where the company does not have any control and thus cannot implement a routine in place to help secure quality control prior to despatch?

However, as the website does not supply a contact address, I have no idea if this is the assumed relay florist service or whether it is the actual company. Moral of our experience? Order at your own risk.

 

	Website & Ordering	Delivery	Mum's Impression & WOW factor	Overall
	The best we found. Excellent photographs	Great attention to detail	Classy and beautifully arranged	Definitely an impressive experience
	Quick and easy to use	Arrived on time and safely. Well packaged.	Great presentation	The best choice for roses.
	Wide choice, easy to use and great photos	Couldn't be bettered	Great looking flowers, just as promised	Sending flowers online as it should be
	Great website, photography and description	Well packaged, good printed gift card and delivered on time	Great bouquet with good mix of blooms all working well together	As charming as your favourite ice cream sundae!
	Fast, easy to use. Minor problem with typing gift message	Great packing, delivered on time	Beautiful roses, excellent condition	Brilliant blooms and fantastic value
	Unusual colours and interesting range.	Arrived safely, and the tissue paper was a great touch	Excellent impact	Overall a very positive transaction
	Worked well, but did not inspire	Missed delivery date, but kept me updated	Fresh, contemporary bouquet	The flowers were the best part of the transaction
	Adequate, but did not excel	Good same day service	Ordinary, plain, uninspiring	Only let down where it really counts - with the flowers
	More descriptions would be appreciated	Well protected and delivered on time	Not the 'ultimate' which was described	Average service and flowers
	Limited photographs and descriptions	Packaging could be improved and flowers delivered with no water or moisture container	Leaves much to be desired	A bad experience all round