Monday, May 14, 2007

Happy Belated Mother's Day to all

I finally have some time to write a blog to contribute. Before I start, I would like to take the time to thank our dedicated staff for the excellent work they did this Mother's Day.
I have decided to discuss the Mother's Day rush. In the post-Mother's Day rush, we find ourselves receiving calls from people who for one reason or another did not like the flowers they had received or that they flowers had "died". I have no problems with these calls and tried to resolve each of them. We always want the customer to be happy. That is the way our business works. The problem I have with the tone of these calls is that we are left with the impression that people think we intentionally do this to people. Flowers are a very personal and perishable product prone many problems as many living things are. People often say to us " how can you do this to me, I have been a customer for years" as if we do this with some sort of premeditation. Why would we carry on a practice which could jeopardize our reputation?
Another point is our decision to stop accepting orders. People call, get angry, plead, question why without waiting for an answer. Customers question why we are turning away business. A decision to stop taking orders is something we analyze carefully and scrutinize seriously. It reflects the respect for the orders previously placed and our wish to produce a quality product, not a money grab. The plain truth is that flowers are a perishable product which cannot be produced en masse, stored away and then brought out when it becomes busy. I would love to service everyone, but the time restraint do place limits on what can be produced and availability of qualified personnel to produce it. It is the fact that we do respect the person who is trying to place an order that we handle the situation in this manner.
Thank you all for your continued business and trust in us.
Respectfully,
Murray