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1800 Flowers – The Epitome of BAD Customer Service @1800flowershelp

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EDIT: I received this email overnight:

Dear Scott,
Thank you for reaching out to us.

Order Receipt

Order number: 187556616
Date of Order: 05/06/19 07:00
Recipient information: Tracie White
CC# – Last 4 Digits: ****

Invoice To: Scott White

Invoice From:
1-800-FLOWERS.COM Inc.
One Old Country Road
Suite 500
Carle Place, NY 11514
Website: www.1800flowers.com

Invoice Status: Invoice is Paid

Your Invoice:
Item & Description: Happy Gerbera Daisies
Price: $56.94
Initial Charge Total: $77.69
Refund To Credit Card: $77.69
Savings Pass for Future Order: $NA
Amounts in U.S. Dollars

Thanks for letting us help you deliver a smile. We look forward to helping you send another one real soon!

Sincerely,

Edward Brian Custodio
Sales and Service Specialist
1-800-FLOWERS.COM
custserv@1800flowers.com

So I have been using 1800Flowers for years to send flowers.  Primarily to Tracie.  I have never had a problem and felt like if I did they would take care of it pretty quickly.  Because of their 100% Smile Guarantee.

Or not.

Tracie received her flowers yesterday.  I send them to her school so she can enjoy them while she teaches and does teacher things.  She brings them home on Fridays. Beautiful.

Or not.

When she went back to school this morning this is what she found.  About 12 – 14 hours after delivery she has this on her desk.

Drooping, wilted, sad flowers. And yes, there is water in the vase.

So I start an email campaign with this company.

My email from a form on the website:

Subject: 18F Form Submission – Issue With My Order

Customer_Name: Scott White
Customer_Email: REDACTED
Order_Number: W00825244923719
Recipients_Name: Tracie White
What_is_the_Issue: Quality issue with my order
Where_is_my_order:
What_Quality_Issue: Other
Would_you_like_a_redelivery:
Comments: Flowers wilted within 24 hours. Photos available.

The first email I get had no signature, so I assume it was an automated reply.

Thank you for reaching out to us. We’re very sorry your order did not meet expectations. We’re fully committed to our 100% Smile Guarantee so if you would like to, we can do a replacement to you along with $20 savings pass which you can use on ypur next purchase at 1800flowers.

If you would like this to happen, kindly contact us so we can process this out for you.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and hope you’ll let us deliver another smile for you soon!

My reply to them was pretty straight forward.

Unfortunately, my wife will not be at her classroom for much of next week as she is going out of town for an event, and her last day of school is the 24th of May. A replacement would be less than ideal.

Their next reply was to offer me 50% off the price of wilted flowers and a $20 coupon to use the next time I order (because THAT is going to happen right?).

Dear Scott,

Thank you for reaching out to us. How about I will give you a 50% refund of what you paid for and on top of that is a $20 Savings Pass. Would that be fine with you?

Sincerely,

Jerilino Cordova
Sales and Service Specialist
1-800-FLOWERS.COM
custserv@1800flowers.com

They clearly didn’t read the part about re-delivery not being an acceptable option. My next reply was a little more pointed.

This is disappointing. She was able to enjoy them for about 2 hours after delivery. 50% is not ok. Look at the number of orders I’ve made over the years and this is the first time I have had an issue and you offer me 50%. If that’s the best you can do , do it but save the 20 off coupon because I will never order from you again.

Then this…

Dear Scott,

Thank you for reaching out to us. We’re very sorry your order did not meet expectations. We’re fully committed to our 100% Smile Guarantee, and have scheduled a redelivery and no additional cost to you.

I have also issued you a $20 Savings Pass, good towards your next purchase that will arrive via e-mail within one week.

Again, we apologize for any inconvenience this has caused and hope you’ll let us deliver another smile for you soon!

Sincerely,

Angelica Trayco
Sales and Service Specialist
1-800-FLOWERS.COM
custserv@1800flowers.com

What the ever loving…

You apparently don’t read email. A re-delivery is NOT AN OPTION as she will not be there. Forget it. I’m doing a chargeback on my card.

And finally…

Dear Scott,

Thank you for reaching out to us.

At 1-800-FLOWERS.COM we appreciate all comments, positive and negative, from all of our customers. The feedback you have provided will be carefully reviewed and considered.

Once again, thank you for your feedback. We look forward to serving you again in the near future.

Sincerely,

Joshua Dominic Blanco
Sales and Service Specialist
1-800-FLOWERS.COM
custserv@1800flowers.com

So here we are. I am starting a TwitterBitch and FaceBook slam campaign against these guys. Please share this far and wide.

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The Journey of $100 Dollars

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This is a story of $100.  But a little background first.

As most of you know, Tracie started her career as a Special Education Teacher.  She has a special love for kids on the spectrum.  Autism.  I worked  with a group called Project Lifesaver while I was a police officer, placing me in direct contact with kids and adults with special needs.  This in turn brought a love and understanding for kids on the spectrum.

I also have a close friend with a child on the spectrum and I have watched him vicariously,  grow up through my friends eyes.  I have watched this child, who was probably the most genius of any kid I have ever seen and funny.  Funny beyond words.  I fell in love with this child, having only met him once or twice, while he was still in the 3 – 4 year old range.  But I love him and his family so much.

-=-=-=-=-

In 2014 or 2015, several consumers purchased products from a company I worked for.

This of course helps to provide me with compensation for the services I provided that company.  In the form of my paycheck.

In about 2015 or so, an acquaintance fell on some rough times.  Divorce, custody of a child, household move to his home state but a state he had not been in for a while.  He needed a job, housing, transportation.  All the basic needs.  A fund was set up for his friends and family to help him out.  I did what I could.  I sent him $100.  Barely enough to buy groceries but something.

Fast forward to 2018.  Tracie has signed up to run a 10K race and a 1/2 marathon at Disney World in Orlando Florida.  She has decided to run FOR Autism Speaks, raising money for them in the process.

Please see:

https://www.facebook.com/donate/302200447126260/

EDIT:  This link was NOT placed here to encourage donations!  This link was placed here so that folks realized this is not a “new thing”.  It is simply a narrative on human nature.

Numerous friends have donated toward the fundraiser.  Some with kids on the Autism Spectrum.  It’s an awesome thing all the way around.

At the end of April, I was contacted by my acquaintance mentioned above.  He wanted to stop by the house and chat for a few moments.  He stopped by about 6:00PM or so.  We chatted about everything and anything.  Finally, he reaches into his pocket and pulls out a $100 bill and hands it to me.  I was completely confused.

He related the story above.  He was that acquaintance.  He related that I had given him $100 when he was down, and he was now in a place in his life where he could repay it.  I of course told him no, that was not why I helped and refused.  He insisted.  I accepted the money hesitantly.

Also at the end of April, I received the most gut wrenching message from my friend with her child on the spectrum.  I received a private message first, this is the public message she posted:

This morning Kyle took his own life. We are heartbroken and were totally caught off guard. Kyle left a suicide letter telling us that he no longer wanted to live in such a cruel world. Ronnie, Coltin, mom and me tried to protect him, but as he got older he saw what the REAL world was like. I love you forever my dear baby boy. I am completely broken!!

Kyle Mathew Early
JUNE 9, 1999 ~ APRIL 29, 2019

I was stunned. I didn’t know what to do.  And truthfully, there is nothing I can do.  Nothing to say.  I simply told her I loved her and her family and I was here.

Tracie told me that she would like to donate that $100 to Autism Speaks in the name of our friend Kyle M. Early.  And she will run in November and the Disney Wine and Dine 10K and Half Marathon in Kyle’s memory.  She will have Kyle’s name on her running shirt as well.

The best thing in the world that we can do for someone that is no longer here, is to promise them and their family, that we will never forget them.  And to Tammy, Ronnie, and Coltin, I promise you, WE promise you, we will never forget Kyle.

Have a website? Have a plan!

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I have worked in the web hosting industry for about 10 years now professionally. But I have used the products for over 20 years. I am by no means an expert. But I am good at what I do know and can normally fix most issues brought to me.

What I can’t fix is poor planning.

Let’s use this scenario. Your entire business model depends on your web presence. Your income, business revenue, everything comes through your website. Email. Orders for products or services. Sales leads. Everything. Why, would you go to the lowest bidder? Or, why would you not build some sort of redundancy into your web presence, even if manual?

In the “Budget” web hosting industry, there are generally 3 types of hosting offered. Shared Hosting, Virtual Private Servers, Dedicated Servers. People in the industry know we can get more granular than that but those are the basic levels.

For people that don’t know, I will break down the levels of hosting real quick.

Shared – You share the server (computer) with other accounts. Each account can have 1 to unlimited domains on it with accompanying websites. Let’s use 10 as an easy number to use mathematically. And these numbers do not represent any particular policy for any particular company.   Shared server number EC01 has 100 accounts on it. Each account has 10 websites. That’s 1000 websites all being presented to the world. Potentially at the same time.

If any one of those sites is compromised (hacked) and is doing “stuff” that requires a lot of the server’s processing resources, CPU, memory, hard drive space… it absolutely WILL affect the other 999 websites. It will slow them down, stop the flow of email or even cause them to not be available. This type of hosting is what made websites affordable for nearly everyone in the world. I personally have a shared account that costs $12.00 per year.

Think of shared hosting as living in an apartment building.

Virtual Private Server (VPS) – VPS hosting is similar but a little more segregated. Your account is assigned a specific amount of resources. CPU processors, memory, hard drive space. No one else can encroach on those resources. However, it is still one server, one machine, one computer, sliced up into private sections. Far fewer accounts typically and far less likely to be affected by other users on the machine. Not totally immune from cross effects but far less likely. The web server this article was originally published on was a VPS.

Think of VPS hosting as living in a townhouse or row house.

Dedicated Server – Just exactly what the name implies. You have the machine all to yourself. No aspect of it is shared with anyone else. Unless you get a sketchy provider that is actually provisioning large VPSs and selling them as dedicated.

Think of dedicated hosting as living in a single family home.

The one thing that all 3 of those platforms have in common is that they are ONE SERVER. One machine. One computer. One point of failure. Just like your laptop, desktop or even your phone/tablet, they are a single machine. If you drop your phone in the lake and it dies, you are generally out of a phone. If you pour coffee on your laptop you are generally out of a laptop. This is no different.

Why would you put your absolute life blood in the hands of a third party without a back up plan? It’s YOUR revenue stream. Your income. And when it fails, you blame the web hosting provider. When in fact, the failure is yours.

BACK UP YOUR WEBSITE! BACK UP YOUR EMAILS! Have a contingency plan in case of a catastrophic failure of your ONE server. I personally back up my sites daily OFF SERVER and have a duplicate server standing by to bring my sites back up with in minutes in case of a failure. I do this and I DON’T depend on my servers for my revenue stream. Total cost? $30 a month. How much is your income worth?

I can fix servers. I can not fix poor planning.

Why I carry a gun…

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Why Carry a Gun?

My old Grandpa said to me, ‘Son, there comes a time in every man’s life when he stops bustin’ knuckles and starts bustin’ caps and usually it’s when he becomes too old to take a whoopin’.’

I don’t carry a gun to kill people; I carry a gun to keep from being killed.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m evil; I carry a gun because I have lived long enough to see the evil in the World.

I don’t carry a gun because I hate the government; I carry a gun because I understand the limitations of government.

I don’t carry a gun because I’m angry; I carry a gun so that I don’t have to spend the rest of my life hating myself for failing to be prepared.

I don’t carry a gun because I want to shoot someone; I carry a gun because I want to die at a ripe old age in my bed and not on a sidewalk somewhere tomorrow afternoon.

I don’t carry a gun to make me feel like a man; I carry a gun because men know how to take care of themselves and the ones they love.

I don’t carry a gun because I feel inadequate; I carry a gun because unarmed and facing three armed thugs, I am inadequate.

I don’t carry a gun because I love it; I carry a gun because I love life and the people who make it meaningful to me.

Police protection is an oxymoron: Free citizens must protect themselves because police do not protect you from crime; they investigate the crime after it happens and then call someone in to clean up the mess.

Personally, I carry a gun because I’m too young to die and too old to take a whoopin’!

Starting Over

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Ok. We’re starting over with this website. It will be less contentious and more just Tracie and I and our adventures. There will of course be some opinion and such and my weather updates will be posted regularlary.

For a number of reasons, social media of all kinds is becoming more and more associated with employers and others so I am going to clean up my act a little bit.