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Disappointing florist - Steve (1st Oct 2016 - 10:42:09) Morning Liphook. I used the services of the florist in the square this morning and I wish I hadn't. The lady I dealt with was quite unhelpful from the start, the flowers were late so they missed my wife and well, I just wish I'd gone somewhere else. Can anyone recommend a local florist for next time? Thanks.

Re: Disappointing florist - Dave (1st Oct 2016 - 13:21:54) Hi steve Did you give Kate a chance to put things right before posting on here? They are very helpful normally must be a one off! Go and see them, I am sure Kate would like the feedback to her face!

Re: Disappointing florist - Ian Hay (1st Oct 2016 - 14:34:56) I think it's a little unfair to post this seeing as we don't know the facts from the other side in this dispute. To air a one-sided greivance in this fashion can damage a business's reputation - unless that was your intention by making public?

Re: Disappointing florist - Marian (1st Oct 2016 - 15:16:52) I am really very surprised that a complaint could be made against the florist. They are always helpful and friendly - I've received flowers from them and they have always been lovely. I also don't think it right that a business can be criticised on this site - any complaints should be taken up directly with the business concerned.

Re: Disappointing florist - Ian (1st Oct 2016 - 18:26:19) Far too many small minded twerps get empowered by sites such as this and trip advisor. Far easier to have a moan on line, screw hardworking business up, without having to make eye to eye contact. Sign of the times but I suspect the original poster is a spineless weasel (I don't really but this shows how easy it is to make a hurtful and potentially unsubstantiated accusation!)

Re: Disappointing florist - CRAIG (1st Oct 2016 - 19:08:13) wonder what steve does for living... i agree with all the others.... this is a great business and why not complain to the owner rather than on here ... dont be like steve

Re: Disappointing florist - Lips (2nd Oct 2016 - 09:18:32) I agree with the comments above, a sad sign of the times. But we can all wise-up in the face of such technological "blessings" and apply our own critical judgement. Take such comments with great caution, and be mindful not to grant them value they're yet to substantiate... In short, apply scepticism to public online reviews.

Re: Disappointing florist - Lou (2nd Oct 2016 - 11:40:31) As I am the recipient of the flowers in question (very nice flowers they were too) and the owner of a small business, I thought I'd add my opinion to the rather unpleasant comments on here. Even though I know it is a complete waste of time... Firstly, why do you all assume OP didn't feed back in person to the florist? Perhaps that's not something you tend to do but I know that is not the case in this instance. We both feel that if you are unhappy with a service you have to let people know in order to give them chance to put it right. We would never keep quite and then slate someone online, that's unhelpful and unfair. Without going into details, they promised him the flowers would be delivered at a certain time (I.e before I went to work) and paid a £4 delivery charge for them to come a few hundred meters down the road...they were late, I had left, the surprise for our first anniversary was ruined and the response from them was "well do you want them or not?" We try our hardest to support local companies and avoid using faceless internet businesses or sainsburys but in this case he may as well have done. Mistakes happen if course, it is the way they are dealt with that matters - hence why he was asking if anyone knows of another local florist to try next time. Finally - TA, Facebook, sites like these... It's the modern way, most businesses have to use them, myself included. I'm afraid you can't reap the rewards of having positive things shouted about you (like we have both done, many times for some great local establishments) without having to deal with not so great comments when things go wrong. They had and still have the chance to put it right. From the responses I saw and I may be wrong, I didn't see many people writing about their own great experiences, rather they just like the person who runs the shop. That's fine I'm glad people support their friends but that is very different to actually using and paying for the services they offer. I'm sure this will not go down well - after all folks on here don't like it when some has a different opinion to theirs. It's a nice day out there - go and enjoy it.

Re: Disappointing florist - Ian (2nd Oct 2016 - 11:46:56) No doubt original poster is setting up own florist and wants to run the competition down!

Re: Disappointing florist - D (2nd Oct 2016 - 11:59:29) It would appear that Steve & Lou deserve each other as neither have a good word to say about anyone. Would they have been so quick to comment on here if they had been satisfied with the service they received? I doubt it. I and my family have used the shop over many years both directly and via Interflora without a single problem. Keep up the good work.

Re: Disappointing florist - IGS (2nd Oct 2016 - 12:27:52) We may well be living in the Internet age but does that justify posts of this kind which are open to abuse with many being posted just to cause mischief or hurt. If the original poster did have a cause to complain then they should have just spoken to the owner. If enough customers were receiving unsatisfactory service then business would drop and the owner would either have to fix the issues or ultimately close. However one has to question the motive of on line complainers, I suspect they are the same people that in the past wanted offenders branded or in the stocks for public humiliation! What is the motive of the OP? Do they want a general boycott of the florist? If so, are they do vindictive that they want the business to fail so we have yet another empty shop in the village. I was recently in a pub and overheard a complainer say to the owners "if you do not give us a complementary bottle of bubbly we will put a bad review on the Internet" !!!!. Blackmail for the masses eh? The Internet (and especially forums such as this and Liphook Rants) has given voice to those that have an over inflated view of their own opinions or are just malicious and spiteful!

Re: Disappointing florist - sam (2nd Oct 2016 - 17:31:09) Totally shocked to hear this. I think this post is unfair to be honest. I used this florist for my wedding and found their service outstanding. The flowers were beautiful and a very reasonable price too. Sick of seeing posts like this trying to 'name & shame', ridiculous!!!

Re: Disappointing florist - SteveA (2nd Oct 2016 - 18:23:52) Quote from IGS: "The Internet (and especially forums such as this and Liphook Rants) has given voice to those that have an over inflated view of their own opinions or are just malicious and spiteful!" I'm guessing that you're not including yourself in this observation! To Steve and Lou, I hope despite the disappointment with the surprise not quite working as planned you both had a very happy wedding anniversary.

Re: Disappointing florist - Paul Robinson (2nd Oct 2016 - 18:37:46) Dear Steve . . . and Lou. I suppose that as this was your first anniversary, and congratulations by the way, you could be forgiven for leaving the purchase of flowers to the last moment. Florists are not like McDonalds. They buy their stock to order so that they are at the peak of freshness when they are delivered. Take it from one who has remembered (just) every one of his forty six anniversaries, it is not something that can be left to chance on the morning of the actual date. Petrol station flowers can be spotted immediately and treated with disdain. For the best results pick up the signals and act at least a week before the event otherwise you may not be celebrating your second anniversary. Paul Robinson

Re: Disappointing florist - IGS (2nd Oct 2016 - 19:33:09) Steve A, as I have never criticised or given an opinion/review of any business on the Internet I wasn't including myself. Occasionally guilty of being a smartarse though as I sometimes make contributions similar to yours

Re: Disappointing florist - Sarah (2nd Oct 2016 - 19:46:55) Why do you think he forgot? He didn't order them last minute, he ordered for a certain time. Why were none of you supporting the chemist when they took a beating on this site recently? Also, the complaint wasn't about flowers but the service. If they did indeed say"do you want them or not" they deserve bad publicity.

Re: Disappointing florist - Liphookian (2nd Oct 2016 - 20:37:10) If you receive bad service, and the proprietor doesn't settle the issue for you satisfactorily, then why not make others aware? I think that's fair enough. If the Florist wanted to defend their side of the story that's their choice. If they do read this I bet they'll make sure their next delivery is on time. What's worse is people jumping on the bandwagon and slating these people for mentioning their experience, when they have ZERO involvement in the dispute. Any decent human being can look at a situation like and make an informed decision without being spiteful. I'm grateful for feedback like this. It certainly wouldn't put me off using the Liphook florist, but I'd be sure to spell out my expectations beforehand! tl;dr - Feedback is good, it's what makes good businesses great.

Re: Disappointing florist - Natalie (2nd Oct 2016 - 20:54:40) Steve & Lou, ignore the haters. You have every right to post your experience on here. I also don't think you came across as malicious. I think it's definitely a case of the owner being popular in Liphook. They could have and should have, done more, than just ask you if you still wanted them. That's not good service. I've seen complaints about other companies on here. People are always doing it and why shouldn't they? If the service was good, people wouldn't need to. Simple.

Re: Disappointing florist - Claire (2nd Oct 2016 - 23:32:06) I had my wedding flowers provided by the florist this week and they were amazing!! She totally "got" the feel I was wanting. The customer service was fab, nothing was too much trouble. Sorry you weren't happy but I was thrilled!

Re: Disappointing florist - Natalie (4th Oct 2016 - 16:19:24) Bet you wouldn't have been happy if they were late Claire! Just saying.

Re: Disappointing florist - Susan (4th Oct 2016 - 17:42:42) Having read all the posts I too have sympathy with Lou and Steve. There are many Threads being put on Liphook Talkback all the time and many of them are critical on various topics. Yet this one seems to have engendered some rather unpleasant posts and many of the comments are based on assumptions. Marian, IGS and Craig in their posts assume that Steve and Lou did not take up their complaint with the florist directly which they clearly did. Paul Robinson assumed that the order for the flowers was given at the last minute. All Steve said was that he had used the services of the florist in The Square that morning for the delivery. He did not say when he had placed the order. It must have been some time before the delivery day as he wanted the flowers delivered BEFORE his wife left for work and paid an extra £4 delivery charge. As to some of the other posts they were quite nasty and one example was Ian's on 2 October and I quote "No doubt the original poster is setting up his own florist and wants to run the competition down!" Charming and based on what? I could go on, but the unpleasantness is there for all to read. I have also used this florist, not recently it is true, and had very good service from them, but I do not blame anyone for publicising bad service. Sometimes it is the only way to achieve positive change. No firm and no- one is perfect but if service is poor, the recipient has a right to make this public as well as complaining directly. When all is said and done all Steve said in his original post was that the lady in the florist was unhelpful and asked for any other recommendations. He didn't deserve all the vitriol that followed!

Re: Disappointing florist - Ian (4th Oct 2016 - 18:03:44) Susan, you miss the point. I don't for one minuet think that the OP is a rival florist, but as evidenced by your reaction to my cynical post, ANYONE can put ANYTHING on forums likes this that cannot be substantiated or proven. Either genuine or malicious, there are no checks or safeguards, which is why mudslinging at businesses and individuals, be it justified or not, is not really fair on forums such as this.

Re: Disappointing florist - Lucy (4th Oct 2016 - 20:00:17) I too have used the florist recently and although the flowers were lovely, the lady serving was less than polite. considering the cost of the flowers I do think that my experience of the grumpy attitude was the same, in fact I think she used the same sort of terminology, similar to " take it of leave it!"

Re: Disappointing florist - Claire (4th Oct 2016 - 20:02:40) Sorry Natalie , didn't realise I wasn't allowed my own opinion ...indeed, I was 'just saying,

Re: Disappointing florist - Natalie (4th Oct 2016 - 22:19:15) Claire, of course you are entitled to your own opinion. I just felt you had missed the point of the actual complaint. The quality of the flowers were never in question. They were by all accounts lovely. The problem was they were late. Now if that had happened to you. I don't think you would have been happy either. That's the only point I was trying to make.

Re: Disappointing florist - susan (5th Oct 2016 - 10:25:58) No Ian you are missing the point. I didn't think for one moment you meant it hence my question to you "based on what" and the fact that you didn't mean it does make your post a very nasty one. As more posts appear it is very obvious that the unpleasant posts come from those who feel it is their right to judge Steve and Lou for daring the post on this site. What a joke!!

Re: Disappointing florist - Ian (5th Oct 2016 - 10:44:12) Susan, how do we know Steve and Lou's post is genuine, there is no burden of proof needed! How do we know you are not connected to them or are in fact one of them. If a newspaper makes allegations them unless supported by facts the can be held liable. On talkback ANYONE can sling mud with no proof needed, what has happened to innocent until proven guilty. On social media there just appears to be no accountability.

Re: Disappointing florist - susan (5th Oct 2016 - 12:25:25) Yes Ian - anyone can sling mud on Liphook Talkback including you. Liphook Talkback is what it is - if you don't like it don't post on it or better still don't read it. Why should Steve and Lou's post be anything but genuine. If you are implying that any poster on this site when he/she critcises anyone or anything has a hidden agenda then please apply your misguided logic to all posts and don't just cherry pick this one just because it suits you. If you look at this Thread you will see that there has been another critical post about the service at the florist. Are you saying that poster also has a hidden agenda?

Re: Disappointing florist - Lucy (5th Oct 2016 - 12:57:28) Unless people tape record conversations with business owners/ shop assistants, there is no way you will get the proof or "evidence" you require. Even in a criminal court case, if witness come forward to support an allegation, it is usually believed on the balance of probability. how do we know then that you are not connected in some way to the florist ? Friend or family member? Why is it ok to slate Sainsbury's or the Royal anchor? It is not acceptable to infer that people are being malicious just by reporting bad service, if it encourages people to think about how they are coming across to customers all the better!

Re: Disappointing florist - Lucy (5th Oct 2016 - 14:39:39) Ian, having read your post about newspapers, it is not true that they have to have hard evidence or facts before they publish. I have been on the sharp end of this and I had no comeback because the paper assumes that ordinary people will not sue them. It is only people like elton John who can spend hundreds of thousands in court taking newspapers to task for what they print. It has been reported too today that the "fake sheikh " who reported the " facts" has now had a prison sentence imposed for his untruthful efforts in journalism!

Re: Disappointing florist - tony (5th Oct 2016 - 15:19:01) I think the main difference between criticising a big company like Sainsburys versus a small local firm is that the small company is an individual's livelihood. So that doesn't mean it can't be done (as public feedback like on Ebay or Checkatrade etc can be very useful) but I think you need to stop a bit longer, think about the effect on the trader and consider if the moan isn't going to have a disproportionally big effect versus thing that went wrong, not easy to do in the heat of the moment. But also as a trader and consumer, I know it's 99% about how they handle a customer's complaint that makes the difference (usually), most people just want a friendly response (which by the OP's account wasn't received or more importantly not perceived to have been given), in most cases that's enough, at worse they might have a point (and things will go wrong), then just offer them something, anything, as a gesture of goodwill and try to get rid of them, ermm, I mean placate them! There's one shop (I won't mention) in town that on my first visit couldn't manage that for me and lost all of my business to another in Haslemere, much much more than the original thing I went in to buy! Other than that I've always found the shopkeepers here pretty friendly.

Re: Disappointing florist - Ian (5th Oct 2016 - 15:19:38) Susan, you again miss the point! How do we know the other complaints are not the original poster using a different name? How do you know I am not the owner being referred to, how do you know that the posts singing the praises of the owner are it the owner or friends or relatives? You just don't know and there lies the problem of critic businesses or individuals on sites like this. Talkback is great for local communities to interact on many worthwhile topics but mudslinging with no accountability is not one of its best features

Re: Disappointing florist - dave (5th Oct 2016 - 15:43:15) Ian, It seems to me that you are the one mudslinging. All Steve wanted was a recommendation for a local florist which seems perfectly reasonable to me.

Re: Disappointing florist - Ian (5th Oct 2016 - 16:13:11) " Morning Liphook. I used the services of the florist in the square this morning and I wish I hadn't. The lady I dealt with was quite unhelpful from the start, the flowers were late so they missed my wife and well, I just wish I'd gone somewhere else. Can anyone recommend a local florist for next time? Thanks" Hardly just asking for a recommendation Dave!

Re: Disappointing florist - dave (5th Oct 2016 - 16:24:56) Ian, "Can anyone recommend a local florist for next time?" is just that. Get a life.

Re: Disappointing florist - Susan (5th Oct 2016 - 16:30:38) Ian I agree with Dave - you are the one who is doing the mudslinging and in answer to your statement "how do we know the other complaints are not the original poster using a different name?" we don't and neither do you so why the pointless speculation? If you condemn Liphook Talkback, then presumably you condemn any feedback site such as TripAdvisor or Ebay to name but two. In answer to Tony, I take the point about criticising a big company like Sainsburys versus a small firm but in this case I don't think that Steve's original post was out of order as he only stated his experience and asked for any other recommendations for a florist.

Re: Disappointing florist - Ian (5th Oct 2016 - 17:59:58) Dave, what exactly do you mean by get a life, seems a rather childish statement but will inspired me to move on from this post now as you seem to have reduced it to infantile abuse. Interesting discussion though with lots of points a view.

Re: Disappointing florist - Andy (5th Oct 2016 - 18:42:49) Another post getting out of hand. Let's just move on!!!

Re: Disappointing florist - Kevin (5th Oct 2016 - 21:27:20) From my experience absolutely fabulous, just done an arrangement for the church and the tables at the Deers Hut for our wedding reception. Faultless and fantastic, did just what we wanted, delivered and set up well in advance. Thanks Kate and the crew Kevin

Re: Disappointing florist - Beth (7th Oct 2016 - 12:15:37) I'd just like to thank Katy, Helen and the team for producing the most beautiful funeral tribute for our family this week. I for one am delighted we trusted this important job with Findlays and wouldn't hesitate to recommend them. Thank you ladies you do Liphook proud xx

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