FTD Floral Deceptive, unresponsive, poor customer service, failure to refund. ftd.com Nationwide

Valentine's Day Rip-off!

I placed an order for Valentine's Day flowers for my wife on 02/12/14 - I was going to be out of town that weekend so I could not pick up something personally. I saw a promotion for FTD.com and considered them to be a well established, respected name that would be trustworthy. Geez, I was wrong!

My first hint should have been the deceptive pricing. The flowers are listed online with a price. What they don't mention, till checkout, is the $16.99 "service charge" tacked on to the order. Any local florist I have ever used has not charged such an outrageous delivery charge, so it appeared to be purely a bit of good old fashioned price gouging. The honest thing would be to disclose the charge in the product discription. But time was short and I ordered anyway and considered it the price of waiting to late.

I also placed an order for my teenage son for his girlfriend. The total of both orders was $102.98, and charged to my debit card.

They couldn't deliver on the 14th, not unexpected, but indicated that it would be delivered the 15th. OK, I can understand this, as long as I knew in advance.

Late in the afternoon of the 15th, I get a call from a FTD rep saying it could not be delivered the 15th. When I replied that it was a little late to be letting me know this, the rep was a bit rude. She informed me that I could cancel or reschedule. I told her I would have to get back with her for another delivery date. End of conversation.

I receive and email the 16th saying that the order had been cancelled, and this information:

"Please be advised that although FTD.COM has processed your refund immediately, some banking institutions may take up to 5 business days to post to your account.

Please contact one of our Customer Service Representatives for assistance in selecting another product and replacing your order"

Well, no refund. I called my credit union, and there is no pending refund to be posted. They also told me if it had been entered it would show up - and it would not take 3-5 days to post. They said refund on debit cards are credited immediately (as we have all seen if you have retruned any item to most stores). So they lied to me.

So I called their "customer service" - a term I use loosely. Three times. Ther first two times I was disconnected or hung up on. The third time, after demanding to talk with a supervisor, I was place on hold - where I remained for over 45 minutes before I gave up. In all three calls, I have yet to speak with anyone with a decent command of English. Understanding and comprehension were definitely lacking.

Along wth the calls, I also sent emails. Four in fact. The only reply I have had from any of the emails was an auto-response - promising I would receive a reply in 24 hours. Another lie.

Deceptive pricing, unresponsive customer service, lack of English speaking reps, and misrepresentation of refund policies. I will not be using this company and and advise any that do so that they do so at risk.