Al's Florist & Gifts — Local services in Hollywood

If I could give no stars I would. The customer service by Mike was terrible. My mother in law’s tio passed away on Christmas, he lived in Florida, where the funeral was held. We live in Vegas and were not able to make it. So to help out since I work at a Flower shop in Vegas I thought I could try to get a beautiful arrangement sent out from a florist in Hollywood, FL. I contacted them with a photo that she liked, mind you since I work for a florist I understand that a $150 arrangement online can be done smaller and more full for a cheaper price using flowers like hydrangea, daisies, and roses. I sent the picture to Mike, it took him a while to receive it be that I had to contact him back. I then spoke with Madison, she was nice and helpful and even texted me a photo of there “special printed banners”. I placed the order “ $100.52 -as shown in photo sent to email- cheaper flowers - white hydrangea, white daisies, and white roses- very full- whites and greens in white vessel with banner -From Sofia ... (white banner with gold letters “. I then made sure to confirm with Madison that a photo would be sent prior to delivery. I called to change the delivery time and spoke with Madison again. She said it would be no problem to get it done the day of. Hours later I called and texted Madison to confirm that I would receive a picture. She let me know that the arrangement had already been taken. As annoying as it is I had to tell my Grieving mother in law that she won’t be able to see the arrangement unless someone at the funeral takes a picture and sends it to her. We received a photo from her sister, who explained that the right side was falling off of the arrangement. I reviewed the photo and at first sight it was, for lack of better words, ugly. And not what I ordered. I initially thought that it was a photo of a large arrangement with blue ribbon added to it. I showed my manager and he agreed that it was not attractive but the photo showed my arrangement as well as the one behind it. But he also noticed that the arrangement was not symmetrical and the right side is very low compared to the left. I contacted the florist and immediately asked for a manager. I spoke with Mike again, I let him know how the customer, my mother in law felt and how I thought the arrangement had some blue in it. As well as the fact that the right side was falling off. Mike then explained, very rudely I might add, that he “had been doing his work for 40 year’s, he made the arrangement his self, there is no way that anything was falling off, because he’s so good that you could turn one of his funeral arrangements upside down and nothing would fall out”. I only wanted 20% for the inconvenience of not receiving a photo from them and for it not being what I ordered. There was no hydrangea or roses at all. And the bow was so droopy and ugly. The shape was bad and the right side was falling off. But they decided that the customers claims were invalid. So again I had to disappoint my mother in law and tell her that not only did she not get what she asked for but the flower shop said that her claims were invalid all together. Think of it this way if any customer called into a shop after making a clear order for something and the shop told them that they had been in business for 40 years and there is no way that there claim is valid that customer would be very upset. But from a business standing if I got a complaint of any kind, be that we have been in business so long I will do anything to make my customer happy and feel like their time and energy to give me business was worth while. If you came to me as a human and I did you a disservice I want to make it right....

The sales attendant wasn't too helpful. They could benefit from sales training. It was my first time there I walked in didn't know where to look initially there was a delay in offering assistance for what I was looking for so I defaulted to the left display since the right side seemed to be Halloween and autum items. I ended up selecting from the display which I thought was limited. I had no idea they had digital items on the screen until after I already selected the flower and payed. During check out I asked if they had anything fresher since that's when I noticed one of the main flower pieces looked like they were starting to curl and it had scaring she said that its not that it's fresh its just delicate but she offered no solution to it. I felt dismissed about and felt like they could have replaced that main flower piece since since there's a whole flower operation in the back. But I accepted what she said because I thought well maybe she knows what she's talking about working there but in retrospect maybe that desk person is not experienced as a florist. When I got home I noticed that some of the other flower pieces were browining up and curling at the edges also so I it actually wasn't a fresh bouquet. I felt disasfied with my experience since I specifically selected that store since it seemed more high end from the outside compared to other florists before hitting Taft street I went there because I expected better quality but that wasn't my experience. The flowers purchase were for someone obviously special so it didn’t feel good to have presented them with something that I know wasn't the best and has a shorter shelf life. I feel like it could all have been avoided if they would have really heard the concern initally and addressed it instead of...

I want to clarify that this is not a five-star review, but I’m also not willing to compromise their overall rating on Google because maybe I’m missing something.

I called this morning after seeing flowers on sale for $37 with free delivery advertised on their website. I spoke with a woman on the phone, provided all my information, and was upsold to the large bouquet for about $55—which I was happy to pay. I also gave her the message I wanted included. When she asked if I wanted a ribbon, I mentioned that I wanted to keep my out-the-door price around $65-$70 after taxes and fees, and I left the details up to her. After confirming my mom’s address, my email, and everything else—about 20 minutes on the phone—she gave me the final total: nearly $100.

I asked where the extra $30 came from, and she told me it was a fee for "handling your flowers with excellent care." To be clear, I would have been happy to pay $100 for flowers delivered to my mom today, but springing a $30 service fee when advertising free delivery feels misleading. I run a business myself, and I can’t imagine charging a client $30 for a dog walk, then later adding a $9 "leash fee" after the fact. When I questioned it, she said this is the industry standard.

What bothers me most is that I was upfront about my budget early on in the conversation, yet this fee was never mentioned until the very end. I’m confident it was purposely withheld, which makes this feel deceptive rather than just an oversight. I’m open to hearing what I might be missing, but this experience left...