Bloomex cancellation fee ripoff Ottawa internet

I am so sorry I did not search for complaints against Bloomex before I placed an order with them last night. I called their 888 number to order a Christmas arrangement for a relative in another province. Their website stated that, upon ordering, I would be give three choices for delivery options ranging from $9.99 to $13.99.

When I placed the order by phone, their operator did not specify the three options for delivery. Rather, he asked when I wanted it delivered. I replied that anytime next week would be fine. When he said they would be delivered Christmas Eve before noon, he did not inform me that this was the most expensive option.

Then their confirmation email came, showing the spelling of my relatives' names incorrectly, in spite of the fact that I spelled them out carefully and used "M as in Mary" to clarify that the name was not spelled with N. The confirmation email was also my first knowledge of the most expensive delivery fee. At this point, I decided that if they couldn't spell names right and did not give me a choice of delivery options, I would just cancel everything before they went any further with the order.

I tried to use their online contact link, which asked me for my account information. As I had ordered by phone, I had no account information. So, I called their phone number again, and spoke to another operator, giving her my information and explaining to her that I wanted to cancel the order for the above reasons. She was very helpful, going online herself to contact the necessary department to cancel my order, and apologizing for my trouble. Another email followed to confirm the cancellation, at which point I was informed of the $25 cancellation fee for cancellations later than 1 hour after ordering.

I phoned again to express my concern with being charged $25 to cancel a $40 arrangement, and spoke to another operator. This operator registered my complaint and said that someone would call me. An investigator from Bloomex did call within approximately an hour, and advised me in polite terms that I was out of luck, that after my 1-hour cancellation window had passed the owner would not budge on charging the fee. I checked the order confirmation email for the time stamp - it showed 23:49. I contacted Bloomex online and asked for the exact time the order was placed by telephone - they replied 23:54. When I asked how the confirmation email could be sent PRIOR to the time my telephone order was taken, I was advised that "there can be some differences in computer clocks".

I am so unhappy with this company that I will never again order through Bloomex, and will tell everyone I know about their rediculously expensive cancellation fees. I could understand charging a fee if they had produced an arrangement, or had order supplies for it. But to charge $25 to cancel an order placed less than 24 hours before is absolutely abuse of their customer.

Heather
Regina, Saskatchewan
Canada