Chester's Flower Shop and Greenhouses — Local services in City of Utica

I was going to be 3 hours away on my anniversary, so I wanted to order some flowers to let my wife know that I loved her and didn't forget. I ordered flowers from Chester's online the night before, and was assured that the flowers would be delivered on time. When I got home that evening, I saw the flowers still weren't there. I called the flower shop an hour before they closed, and was told that an attempt was made to deliver the flowers but no one was home. I verified my wife had been home all day, so I asked them why they didn't call her number and she would have met them outside. I was told that the driver DID call her, but couldn't contact her. Lie #1. If you call a cellphone, even if the person doesn't answer, the attempted call still shows. There was no record on my wife's phone. I again explained to the lady that it was my anniversary, so I needed the flowers. She told me that the driver had already gone home (an hour before they closed) so there was no way to deliver them. I tried to reason with her, but she said I could either get my money refunded or they would deliver them the first thing in the morning the day after my anniversary. Lie #2. The flowers weren't delivered, and the driver said he delivered them to someone there with my wife's name, which wasn't true. I was very livid at this point. I told the lady that I wanted my money back and they had ruined my anniversary. she said the flowers were very beautiful, which was putting salt on the wound. She then told me that she couldn't refund the money, the manager would have to, but she wasn't there. So I was told the manager would call us Monday. Lie #3, she never called. We waited until Wednesday, and then my wife called the manager (Cassandra). The manager was very apologetic and said if I ever ordered from there again, then she would take care of me. That will NEVER happen. We also told her that I had ordered from there last year, and they were delivered to the office in the next building. We weren't called then either. I can never get my anniversary day back, and they didn't give a damn that they had ruined the day. Instead of replacement flowers, we were instead given excuses, fed lies, and met with apathy. I will NEVER order from there again, and would urge others to check elsewhere. How they've stayed in business all of these years, while treating customers like this is beyond me. I was even asked if I had put my wife's phone number in the special instructions, to call if they had problems with delivery. I asked the lady why I would do that when the online form asked for the recipient's number anyway? She was trying to deflect the blame, and make it seem like it was my fault. If I had to rate this place on a scale from 1-10, I would...

Ordered an over $300 dollar arrangement on Feb 3rd to be delivered on Valentine’s Day. Order was never delivered due to inclement weather conditions and a van breaking down. I was never informed the delivery could not be made. No call, no email, no voicemail. Had I known I would have just picked the flowers up myself from the shop and still would have been happy, but was never even offered the option let alone afforded a phone call about it. I called repeatedly while they were open and either got sent to voicemail or put on hold for an unacceptable amount of time without talking to a person. Then they closed at 5 when I finally decided to leave a voicemail. I got a call back awhile after being told they couldn’t deliver them but would give me a free balloon or chocolate which in my opinion does not rectify this situation for the money spent. Receiving Valentine’s Day flowers after Valentine’s Day kind of takes the specialness out of it and I was forced to buy gas station flowers to make up for this. Up until now I would only ever buy flowers from Chester’s but this is just bad business and I will not be returning. Other flower businesses were working late last night to get deliveries out you could at least have left the shop open longer giving all the option to pick up their arrangements who didn’t get theirs delivered. This was a terrible experience.

Edit: Today came and went with no delivery or phone call until 20 minutes past closing after I was told they would be delivered today. Was told I could have came and picked them up at any time yesterday or today which is a slap in the face. Why would I do that when technically they should have been on a van unless told otherwise. Was also told they would be another day or two days late. If you can’t handle the volume of business stop advertising on Facebook to come down and get flowers and refuse sales. Was offered free chocolate or balloons again with a delivery fee refund of 12 dollars. Order cancelled. There are no excuses for how badly this ball was...

Sooo Disappointed!

I have ordered from Chester’s Flower Shop several times. Recently I ordered a specific Teleflora arrangement for my aunt’s birthday. I asked for a photo of the arrangement be sent prior to delivery. After not receiving a photo I contacted Chester’s and was advised that no photo was taken but they very quickly shared they were super busy. That was mentioned several times thru the course of the conversation. Following that call my aunt sent me a photo of the arrangement she received. I did not ask her to send it so was surprised to receive it. The photo did not resemble what I selected. I called Chester’s and the representative gave me a cell number and requested I send my photo]. She said she would call me back. After not getting a call back I called again and shared all the info with a new representative who said they would talk with their manager. The representative said “well what is it you want?” And my answer was “ ‘I think that is for Chester’s to determine. My concern is the absolute poor service in responding. I also said that if they were too busy (which I was told over and over) then they should have politely refused my business request.” Not having heard back at all tells me so many things on how they operate with customers. It is embarrassing that the arrangement delivered to my aunt was not what I purchased but the customer service at Chester’s did not live up to the expectations that a business should strive for.

I added the photo of what I ordered being the first photo and the second what...