MSE News: Last minute Serenata Flowers cancellations see lovers let down

A question about : MSE News: Last minute Serenata Flowers cancellations see lovers let down

This is the discussion thread for the following MSE News Story:

Some loved-up couples have been left frustrated after Serenata cancelled a number of Valentine's Day orders last night ...

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Last minute Serenata Flowers cancellations see lovers let down

Best answers:

• Oh no!! That must have been devastating, especially after how much extra they make you pay for flowers just for one day.
• Hope those affected gave understanding partners. I've never had a problem with Arena flowers nice website and huge range.
• I always order from m&s , they are cheap reliable and very good quality
• Just throwing something out here:
  I ordered flowers for my wife (via Serenata) and thankfully they were delivered as promised, (and although I haven't seen them yet, she said that they were really lovely) which saved me a night in the Dog House
  However, when I received an email with tracking details on, I noticed that the courier responsible for actually delivering the flowers was Home Delivery Network (hdnl). Now, following a succession of missed deliveries, mess ups and lack of anything approaching "customer service" from hdnl, I now have a policy of never knowingly ordering anything for which they wil be responsible for fulfilling the delivery (in this case, I didn't notice until it was too late to cancel and find an alternative supplier).
  So I wonder, is the problem entirely down to Serenata over committing on orders, or is there also a certain element of them being badly let down by their delivery "partner"?
• Hdnl issue is that they do the whole shop direct contracts, k&co , littlewoods etc so they have big loads
• I posted a warning in the 'Praise, Vents, Warnings' forum about a serious Privacy Issue with Serenata, it goes from bad to worse it seems.
• I've ordered flowers a few times from Serenata and been happy every time. My order was cancelled late on Monday but I was up and was able to order a discounted bouquet from their same day range which arrived in great condition. I confess that i did get the address wrong and I'm not sure it would have arrived anyway. Girlfriend was very happy with the flowers she recieved.
  As a Uni student, several friends ordered flowres from other websites and many expereinced late or non deliveries.
  I spotted that post about the privacy issue and tried to replicate the problem before placing my order but was unable to. Maybe the problem was fixed?
  Overall, I've gotta say I've got nothing but praise for Serenta so far. Prices seem competitive and other than the late cancellation which was annoying at the time, they've rectified the situation.
  Jon
• my partnet didnt get her flowers delivered to work until 8.30pm, luckily a security onsite signed for them. she wont get them until she is in this morning
  bad service
• I received a delivery of flowers from this company yesterday, I signed for them and commented to the driver that my OH must be creeping as he forgot valentines day and I did'nt get a card
  Anyway on opening the box and reading the enclosed card I realised that the message did not make sense, I then looked at the address and realised the name was not mine.
  I rang Serenata and due to confidentiality they could not really help me, I gave the consignment number and told them that the name was not mine. The girl on the phone was really hesitant what to do and seemed very flustered. She went to speak to her manager and said to keep the flowers with their compliments and she would email the sender to say he had entered the wrong address but at no time would he be given my address, I then reminded her that he already had my address and she said "oh yeah".
  I knocked on all the neighbours houses when I noticed they had come home to ask if the name was familiar as I felt awful if some poor bloke was in the doghouse for missing valentines when he had actually spent quite a bit judging by the parcel. Still no success, so I eventually took the flowers from their box late last night and put them in a vase but was still nervous that some burly bloke would come knocking on the door for his flowers back .
  When I saw the article on MSE about the !!!!-ups I felt a little less guilty. I do think, however that their computer system has somehow messed up addresses and they are making excuses about the senders entering the wrong address - just my opinion though
  xx
• Cancellation may have been better! My red roses arrived Tuesday morning - not sure when as they were just dropped by the front door (not even a ring of the door bell!) in a damaged and damp box with the green stick meant to hold them in place sticking out of one end. They had little packing around them and were thrown about inside the box - and clearly by the delivery company. This is not the first time that delivery couriers have just dropped stuff by the front door - and later been found to state to the Company in question that we were not in and they left it in the front porch - when we were in all day and don't even have a front porch. This is starting to put us off on-line purchase to be honest.....
• rang her lunchtime to make sure they had arrived. No grateful thanks so guessed they hadnt. She rang me at 4pm to tell me that they had arrived. No actually to tell me she was on the way home. what no thanks for flowers still. As she left office a man arrived with a soggy box and the seemingly trademark green stick . She rang me to thank me at the same time describing what she had received. soggy open box, green stick and some ropey flowers and no label to indicate who they were from. She loves me and understood that this debacle was not my fault
  Photos available.
  Oh and the green stick. Thankfully it did not poke anybodys eye out or cause any damage to members of her staff
• my flowers arrived with the centre piece dead and a whole in the teddy bear with stuffing coming out!! I rang up and they said they will resend today free of charge - I am sceptical but will wait and see.
• They wouldn't even deliver to my address! I found that out after completing the order, entering my address and delivery address. I did what I always do with new companies (to me) & insert a small typo in my name. Handy if the junk-mail or marketing-calls start coming in afterwards.
  After I emailed to complain & suggest they post (on their home page) a list of post-codes they won't deliver to, I received a poor email in response, citing limited catchment areas.
  Needless to say, I won't be using them at any time in the future, regardless of location.