Comments regarding eFlowerGarden

I have placed orders from eFlowerGarden before it changed to it's current "Coop" format, and was generally satisfied. This is the first time I have tried to place an order through their "Coop." I am not pleased. The system is cumbersome and not customer friendly. One must cut and paste items into a comment section as well as type additional information for each item. I had registered, logged in and spent almost 2 hours putting together an order from what is really not that extensive of a selection. The prices, while good, are not exceptional. One can find better "deals" if one shops around. I only finished the order because once I started, I felt that too much effort had been made to quit. In the end, when I submitted my order, I received an "error." In the blink of an eye, all my effort was lost to cyberspace. No way would I put forth energy again for what I think is so little potential reward. My problem is with their online system and not with their quality of product or service, so I will give them a neutral rather than a negative. For those willing to put forth such effort merely to place an order, go for it! I will not.

"On Jul 16, 2010 10:36 AM, eFlowerGarden responded with:

When we went "live" with the present Co-op, we were not aware of any problems. Then when the first emails came in making us aware of a "problem when submitting the order" I needed to contact the IT person who was flying at that time from New York to Atlanta. In the meantime, I also got an email from above customer advising us of the frustration they had to go through and understandebly so. I answered the email that we were looking into it what might cause the trouble and asked her to please give us time to find the problem and correct it. In the meantime we got this "neutral" remark on our report card, which is fine, but we felt it needed an explanation.

The problem was (we were unaware of this) that there was a 10 minute timing out in the code. We have changed that in the meantime to 60 minutes. So far it is working fine.

As far as cut and paste, this is merely a suggestion for people who do not want to type in the items to purchase.

We value the opinion of the members and will try to do our best to make changes if needed, specially when there is a flaw in a system, but we also expect the same courtesy back to allow us time to correct it. And while we try to do our best for all members, it is very well possible that we can not please all of the people all of the time.

Happy Gardening.

Bert"

Customer service is not one of this company's strong points. I emailed them six days ago about problems with my order & they do not reply.

I ordered several items that were supposed to be delivered for planting at the proper time for my zone 5 garden. Last week they send me my order SIX WEEKS EARLY with the Cannas, Begonias, Caladiums - all very cold sensitive types of plants. It was noted on my invoice to NOT ship until planting time & also that I do not own a greenhouse. (All other companies ship to us late May, when the chance of frost is almost past). It was 28 degrees here last night. These items would surely die if they were planted now.

They also sent me a tiny hosta that only had two leaves, and both of them were broken where they join the roots. I can not get a reply to my email for replacement on this plant .... I put it in the ground as there is no way to hold over a bare-rooted plant ---- I seriously doubt that this is going to live.

I ordered back in January to be assured that I would get the plants I ordered, and when they shipped my order, I was not sent the Pretoria Cannas I had wanted so badly - they were the main reason I had placed the order in the first place. They said on the invoice that they their stock was full of bugs, so they were not shipping them anymore .....

They dropped the ball all the way around on my order, and they do not reply to your emails when you have problems with your order or receive stock that was damaged in shipping. I've very dissapointed that I have to come here on a public forum because they will not reply to customer concerns.