Flowers

Whole Blossoms Reviews? And other online flower sites?

Thinking of using Whole Blossoms, but can't seem to find a lot out there on them.  Their website seems to have a lot of rave reviews posted, but I don't want to take their word for it. 

Also, if any of you have used any other online flower wholesaler, I'd love to hear about your experience.  Do you feel it was actually cheaper?  Did your flowers arrive looking good?  Did you have to refrigerate them? 

So many questions?!?! 
Thanks for any help!

Re: Whole Blossoms Reviews? And other online flower sites?

  • DnsearleDnsearle member
    First Anniversary First Comment
    edited December 2011
    we're using sam's club, hydrangeas and calla lilies. FANTASTIC PRICES and awesome reviews.
  • edited December 2011
    I've been looking at www.bridesign.com too. They seem to have really good reviews on other sites as well! good luck!!
  • edited December 2011
    I am thinking about using them too. I found good reviews on projectwedding.com. I did a search on whole blossoms reviews.
  • edited December 2011
    I am planning to order from WholeBlossoms. My college bff ordered table centerpieces and other flowers for her wedding and they were fantastic to deal with. Since I was my friend's MOH, I coordinated receiving the flowers, setting up the centerpieces and taking some of the flowers to a florist. Everything turned out well and they even called me to confirm delivery was made and whether I had any questions. Their centerpieces come prearranged so it took literally a minute to set them up. So that's something I can do in a jiffy for my wedding, and save from ordering online :).
  • edited December 2011
    Hi!

    I'm having a wedding party at our home in a few weeks and was thinking about doing the same. Did you go with WholeBlossoms? How did it work for you?

    Any info would be greatly appreciated!
    Thanks!
    Laura
    moozcowster@gmail.com
  • edited December 2011

    I just had my wedding on 7/9/10 and I used Whole Blossoms for rose petals. I was super skeptical myself, but I ended up THRILLED with the decision. They arrived the Wednesday before my Friday wedding and I got a phone call immediately from Whole Blossoms with instructions about how to care for them.

    The quality of my petals was fantastic, but I can't comment on their stems. But my guess would be that their flowers are just as good.

    My only issue was that at the time I ordered, the price I paid got me 2,000 petals. A week or two before my wedding, they had 3,000 for the same price. I understand availability changes, but I called just to see if they would throw in the extra 1,000. The rep explained (in pretty difficult to understand English) that my order had already been sent to the source location and it wouldn't be possible. No biggie -- 2,000 ended up being more than enough!

    I hope this helps you and anyone else thinking about using Whole Blossoms. Feel free to PM me -- I'm a real person ;)

  • edited December 2011
    Please stay away from this company.  I ordered three products for my wedding.  The calla lilies arrived and were bright yellow instead of orange.  When I called to let them know of the mistake I was made to feel like a liar and sent pictures so the order could be returned.  I was then told that no other orange lilies were available but they could send another color.  I declined.  Then  the "garden roses" came and they were NOTHING like the picture.  They were small wilted and sad.  I called again and was so upset that I had NO flowers for my wedding.  My call was not returned until the next day.  Long story short I was promised a refund and a month later I have filed a report with the Better Business Bureau.
  • mccollum2mccollum2 member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    Ordering wedding flowers from Whole Blossoms was a huge mistake for us.

    On October 20 we received our order. Many of the flowers were crushed, rotten, slimy and wilted, photos available. (In spite of following their instructions, by the day of the wedding, less than 10% were usable.) Two days before the wedding Whole Blossoms had my money, no solutions and lots of excuses.  Much of the time we had planned and needed to spend on last minute preparation and activities for the wedding was spent dealing with this problem.

     

    Because it took until Friday afternoon to find replacements for the damaged flowers we received from Whole Blossoms, we spent the night before the wedding, AFTER the rehearsal dinner arranging flowers—and I mean all night! We tried to salvage part of the flowers but at 3 am the bride sat on the floor exhausted and in tears. We didn’t have enough good flowers from the original order to even make her bouquet as planned. I (the mother) never made it to bed that night. The worst part was that I was so exhausted from literally no sleep that I missed out on the fun I had expected to have at my daughter’s wedding!

     

    At 6 am before the wedding, I was emailing photographs of dead flowers to Whole Blossoms. I was told their policy was that all claims had to be submitted before the event if I had any chance of getting a refund. (I had started sending photos within an hour of receiving the flowers on Wednesday. Only after multiple phone calls and demanding to speak to the owner, Kenneth, I got $74 of my money back on Friday.) After 14 emails and half as many phone calls, a credit of the remaining balance of $378 appeared on my credit card 10 days after the wedding. Whole Blossoms did offer to take the entire shipment back and if they were returned in “perfect condition,” they would consider refunding part or all of my payment. They were very noncommittal and on the original call threatened to readjust the price to the much higher current market price before they computed the refund.  First, they weren’t in perfect condition to begin with. I couldn’t repackage them to protect them on a return shipment.  I would have had to take them somewhere to ship them back. Plus, THEY HAD MY MONEY!  I went this way because I didn’t have a lot to spend on the wedding. In the end, I had to dig into my budget and pay cash for replacement flowers.

     

    I am not new to handling flowers. I am an event manager and make flower arrangements occasionally as part of my job and this is not my first daughter to get married. Against my better judgment we ordered flowers online.  My advice, if you want to arrange your own flowers, find a local florist that will sell you “wholesale packs.”  There is little difference in price. You are dealing with a person face-to-face that can make sure the product is usable and provide customer service if there is a problem.

     

    I really regret how this situation ruined my daughter’s wedding day for me.  I was so tired I fell asleep at the dinner table during the reception. 

  • edited December 2011

    Just got back from honeymooning and used wholeblossoms after my florist suggested using them for some hard to get flowers. Great experience overall. One thing i did do was check with the BBB since a few folks mentioned it. When you look at the number of complaints they had, they only have 2 and their rating is A. I also looked at some of the other online flower wholesalers, and they had many more, like a dozen or two. So I felt good about ordering from whole blossoms.

    I ended up using them to supply all my wedding flowers since my florist couldn't guarantee getting what I needed (i needed la hybrid lilies, hybrid delphiniums, anemones, and a dozen other types of flowers some of which were out of season). I spoke to Lina who was a huge help on contacting their farms to see if they could supply some flowers they didnt normally sell. After some back and forth calls, I finally got my flowers confirmed and order made. A couple days before my wedding, my flowers arrived except for 1 box which was delayed a day due to fedex. Lina called me to confirm everything arrived fine and gave some final tips on caring for them. The next day, I had a florist help me with making my bridal bouquet and everything turned out perfect. Having an extra hand really helped which I recommend, as well as the flowers from wholeblossoms.

  • edited December 2011
    Ordering flowers form WholeBlossoms was a huge mistake. Please, everyone, use Fiftyflowers.com instead!

    So here is my story, thus far. I placed my order for ranunculus and peony garden flowers nearly four months before my wedding (April 30th). I used their guide and ordered the flowers the number of days before the wedding that was recommended on their website. I got the tracking numbers from FedEx on Tuesday evening (wedding is saturday). It wasn't until Wednesday that I went to the FedEx site and tracked the flowers. It was then that I discovered that my roses were not going to be delivered until Friday, with less than 24 hours before the ceremony (the recommended time on their website is 2-3 days before).

    I called WholeBlossoms to find out why they flowers were getting delayed, and thats when the run-around started. The first person I talked to said that it was because of a snowstorm in Memphis. A quick google search showed that there were thunderstorms, but no snow storms in Memphis. This woman offered me excuse after excuse, but she did not once offer me any options. She finally said that she would call the farm in south america (I am pretty sure just to get off the phone with me), and called me back an hour later with the same story she had given me before. I repeatedly asked to talk to her supervisor. She told me I was rude and said that I was unwilling to listen to any the options she was providing to me. When I asked her what these options were, she immediately transfered me to her supervisor, Lina.

    Lina. Lina. Lina. I would like to include your last name, but you refused to give it to me. Lina probably isn't even your real name. But that doesn't matter. What does matter is that a whole new set of excuses came from her. She said the delay was probably due to "customs." She then said that the confirmation email (received 4 months prior) said that FedEx could deliver a day late or early. I pointed out that this is not a helpful disclaimer when you have already placed your order. She also showed me where this is buried in the terms and conditions. I asked under what circumstances they offer refunds, and she refused to answer the questions.

    Here are some of my favorites Lina lines, which she denied saying about 5 minutes after she said them:

    "The peony roses will bloom and look good within 6 hours"
    5 minutes later: "I never said they would bloom, i said they would perk up"

    "Most items are still stuck in customs the day before they are supposed to be delivered.It is normal for there to be delay on there orders."  Lina @1:50pm

    Me: Is there a formal complaint process i could go through so that I have someone else review these tapes?
    Lina: "I dont know, why dont you figure it out." Lina @2:00pm

    It sounds like they get complaints ALL the time, and it is why they are so unwilling to work with people when there is a problem. You would is also worth noting that they are not approved by the Better Business Bureau. 

    If you do order from them, pick a delivery date at least one day before you actually want them, but there is most certainly going to be a delay.

    But please please please, order through FiftyFlowers.com. We have used them before and never had any problems. 

    Okay, off right now to buy some backup flowers...Who knows how they will look after 5+days in transit from south america. 
  • edited December 2011
    It's funny because everywhere you look, you're bound to see good or bad reviews on any vendor. On one of the reviews, someone actually said to order from wholeblossoms and not Fifty flowers. Ha! I actually ordered from Wholeblossoms for my wedding last month and spent close to about $5K so if anything I can tell you how my order went. I'll say this. I did research with all the other wedding flower vendors (fifty, growers, afd, bridesign, costco and a few others) just like the person above mentioned. Of all of these flower companies, wholeblosossoms had an A rating from the BBB. And the top 2 flower companies had C ratings! If you don't believe me, google it. Even the really large floral companies like 1800 flowers and proflowers have tons of negative feedback, so for a flower company to have a high BBB rating and relatively few negative feedback is actually remarkable. Their weddingwire rating is one of the highest, too, among the online flower companies.

    My flower order went very well overall. I had about 25 boxes worth of flowers for my wedding delivered to my florist. My florist did say everything was perfect. The flowers were beautiful like I had expected. Wholeblossoms told me when I placed my order to call them if I had any questions when I received my boxes so I know they would be there if I needed them. I would recommend that before placing an order for your wedding flowers, do research. Take a look at their bbb rating and other ratings, reviews and what the trend is for that industry. Honestly, I don't think you will find any company anywhere that is perfect at anything (airlines, express delivery service, auto mechanics, etc).
  • edited December 2011
    We ordered 400 ranunculus from wholeblossoms.com for my daughter's wedding. I was a little nervous as I had read that ranunculus can be a little tricky, that they are a thirsty flower so it is hard to ship them, etc. We were thrilled that they all came in great condition! As recommended, we ordered them to be delivered on Wednesday -- we were doing our bouquets and corsages on Friday afternoon for a Saturday wedding. The flowers arrived with tight buds, but looking very healthy. I instantly trimmed the stems and put them in buckets of water. Each day, more and more of them opened up into a beautiful bloom. We combined orange and red ones with some green button pom mums for the decorative bouquets (in jars with lime slices around the outside). We used some clumps of white ones in the bridal bouquets (along with an assortment of other white and green flowers). And we used them to make corsages, which turned out just beautiful! They all held out very well through the wedding day, and we still have many of the bouquets still looking great several days after the wedding! We were very pleased with the flowers and service. I would definitely use them again.
  • kellymcsorleykellymcsorley member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    I purchased dasies for my sisters bridal shower. They arrived a few days early and were frozen. I gave them a day to thaw out and brought them to the shower, but they were wilting and dead by this point. Since the shower was an hour away from my house I took pictures of the dead flowers and threw them out. I contacted whole blossoms after and they would not provide a refund unless i sent them back the dead flowers. I explained that they were thrown out but i had pictures to prove they were dead, but they did not care. I had to purchase more flowers the day of the shower and i had receipts to prove that too. DO NOT buy anything from them, they treat their customers terrible and do not stand by their product!
  • a2dapaa2dapa member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011

    "Very Unhappy - Terrible Service - BUYER BEWARE!"

    I ordered 100 stems of Ranunculus Flowers as one of the focal flowers in our bouquets & arrangements. Their website stated they would be "slightly smaller" since it was out of season so I thought - ok, no problem. They arrived a day early and half of them were the size of a peanut with the buds shut tight and the other half about the size of a grape or cherry. They were 10 times smaller than I expected. I contacted WholeBlossoms and they instructed me to add some sugar to the water and wrap the heads in newspaper to expedite their blooming process. I did that and to this day, almost a week later, 28 stems are still are not opened.

    I contacted them again on Monday with pictures and they stated that they don't guarantee that all flowers will open and that some people prefer closed ranunculus, and that I should have contacted them before the event. Really???!!!! Who wants closed ranunculus the size of a peanut. These were obviously picked before they were suppose to and WholeBlossoms does not care - they are now just making excuses so they can keep their money. I paid $148 for 100 stems. Had I known they were going to be miniature duds, I would have purchased garden roses for the same price which would have made the impact I was looking for.

    Very disappointed. They don't care. They are the middleman between the farmers and us and have no idea what the farms are shipping - it's hit or miss. Please beware as I'd hate for anyone else to go through this as well. Our hydrangeas from Sams Club were beautiful and they always have great service - I'd recommend them instead.

  • alisondorralisondorr member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    DO NOT UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES TRUST OR USE WHOLE BLOSSOMS, THAT IS OF COURSE IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO BE SENT A GARBAGE PRODUCT AND STILL BE EXPECTED TO PAY FOR IT!!  THE ONLY WAY TO BE ABLE TO RECEIVED A PORTION OF A REFUND IS BY YOU BEING EXPECTED TO SHELL OUT FOR OVERNIGHT SHIPPING. IN MY CASE I WAS NOT ABLE TO GET TO A FACILITY IN TIME DUE TO MY WORK SCHEDULE TO SHIP THE FLOWERS OVERNIGHT SO I WAS TOLD I WAS S.O.L. AND ESSENTIALLY WHOLE BLOSSOMS STOLE MY MONEY. CUSTOMER SERVICE COULD HAVE CARED LESS AND I WAS INFORMED THAT THEY BELIEVED THE PRODUCT THAT WAS DELIVERED TO ME WAS ACCEPTABLE.  I ORDERED WHAT WAS SAID TO BE NATURALLY DYED FLOWERS (SPRAYED ON DYE THAT WAS ALL OVER THE PACKAGE AND COMING OFF THE FLOWERS UPON DELIVERY). THE PHOTO ON THEIR WEBSITE DEPICTING THEIR PRODUCT WAS A BEAUTIFULLY EVENLY, CONSTANTLY COLORED FLOWER, WHAT I ACTUALLY RECEIVED WAS A SCHLOCK JOB GARBAGE MESS OF A HALF SPRAYED SPECKLED FLOWER THAT I WAS INFORMED BY WHOLE BLOSSOM AND THEIR FARM WAS ACCEPTABLE. I WILL NEVER UTILIZE THIS COMPANY AGAIN AND WILL DO EVERYTHING I CAN TO WARN OTHERS TO STAY AS FAR AWAY FROM WHOLE BLOSSOMS AS POSSIBLE, UNLESS YOU HAVE MONEY TO JUST THROW AWAY!!!! THESE PEOPLE ARE CRIMINAL!!!!
  • JamieClouserJamieClouser member
    First Comment
    edited December 2011
    What a headache this whole experience was. We ordered 200 alstroemeria (100 salmon and 100 bicolored). They arrived from the farm in Columbia in horrible shape. We knew they would arrive flattened and perk up after being put in water, but it that wasn't the case. They were dead, yellow leaves and bent and chewed up looking. After spending a lot of time disputing this and sending in pictures, they admitted that the salmon colored flowers were unusable and refunded that portion of the order. They claimed the bicolored were supposed to look like that and that would perk up in a day or two. They only way to get them replaced would be to overnight them back to Columbia (on my own dime) and hope the replacements came in time for the wedding. We had no time for that. So we took their advice and put them in water, with a little sugar, cut the stems, ect. Some of the blooms perked up a little bit, but most ended up in the garbage and the ones we did keep had to be stripped completely of their leaves. The worst part is that their claims team refused to admit and quality problems on their end. They kept telling us "they always look like that at first." Not true. My Mom buys this flower on a weekly basis and knows exactly how they are supposed to look. Moral of the story, is don't chance it. If I could go back I would pay a florist the extra money for my own sanity. This is the last thing you want to be dealing with days before your wedding.
  • I had read great reviews on this company yet I unfortunately did not have a good experience whatsoever. Whole Blossom caused me more stress than I can express, seeing as I had to find a local florist THE DAY BEFORE my wedding due to the incorrect flowers I received! Additionally, I had made small changes to my order a month before the wedding, and they could not get the details straight-wrong quantity, colors, etc. I spent much time calling them and e-mailing them to make sure the order was right.

    Long story short, I received the wrong colored everything: the 12 bridesmaid bouquets, the 20 boutonnieres, and the 6-8 wrist corsages (dark purple instead of hot pink), AND our 50 large, white calla lilies were drooped over and would't stand straight (tipped our vases over). This was 2 days before our wedding and WholeBlossoms refused there was an issue (after I sent them multiple pictures). However, they said they'd reimburse us if all the flowers were expedited overnight ...which was a huge hassle! They wouldn't give us a price amount or cover the shipping charges which we found out 2 weeks later was $368!! Three months later, I am still trying to get this money back which they said is not their responsibility. I have e-mailed them multiple times and have tried calling but nobody calls back! 

    This may be the worst customer service I have ever received. I am still waiting for a manager to call me back which has been promised multiple times. I am extremely disappointed and frustrated with this company and would highly recommend using a local florist. I would NEVER use this business again.
  • Has anyone used Whole Blossom recently? A current review would be extra helpful since the reviews are so mixed!

    Any feedback you ladies or gentlemen can give would be much appreciated!! :)
  • I see no one replied so I hope I can help!

    What a fiasco is the sum of what I have to say. When I received my shipment 16 centerpiece bouquets for my wedding, it was apparent that the flowers were not shipped by a "cold truck" as I was told they would be. Furthermore, the box was half crushed and open when I received it.  Only 8 of them were able to be used because the other half were dead and wilted! To add to that, the bouquets I was able to use were missing flowers. The bouquets were much smaller than what I was told they would be. To be boot, they left out the American Flag decorations that were supposed to be included with that particular bouquet! I immediately called WholeBlossoms to inform them of the problem. Of course, no one answered so I had to leave a message. I did not receive a response the next day, so I called and left another message. Again, no response. I tried a third time and again, no answer, no call back to my message.

    For the quality and size of these bouquets and the headache they caused, I would have been better off going to the grocery store and buying bouquets. The ones there were fuller, fresher, and MUCH cheaper.

    I would NEVER recommend this company to ANYONE due to the negligence I experienced. Don't waste your time. 
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