indiboi.com

I was so excited to be able to get five more David Austin roses this year. I waited for the sale, just like last year, and then ordered a collection of five roses. The price of the collection was $40, which was still a tiny bit more than I, the beginner rose gardener, was willing to pay — considering I can buy (albeit most likely diseased) roses from Walmart for $5 each, not that $8 a piece is bad, but… I just received a coupon for $10 off an order of $25 or more. This dropped the price down to $6 each, I was all for that.

I received my shipping notifiation and noticed it had only three roses listed. I didn’t worry, sometimes things are shipped separately. I received the roses, planted them, etc, and finally I was concerned enough today, nine days later, to call and ask about the missing two roses– the ones I wanted most, quite ironic really.

I was told they were sold out of those — even though they were not at the time of order. I was then told the price of the collection would therefore have been reduced to below $25 invalidating my coupon. It would have been below $25 by merely $1.03. Regardless, even without using the coupon I was stiffed, because I still paid $30. Okay, I realized I am getting all worked up over what amounts to just a few dollars, but it is the principle of the matter.

I called again, just now after writing those three paragraphs, and decided to see if I could at least get my $5 back, as a matter of principle; I’d have been paying $10 each for roses that they were selling for only $8 at full price.

The first lady I spoke with had the attitude of basically ‘the coupon was our money, we gave it to you, we can take it back.’ Anyone with a gram of sense would have bought something else to get that $10 off if they were short by a mere dollar. Fact of the matter was that I paid for five roses, only received three, and was being told ‘tough luck’ by the customer service rep. I didn’t realize at the time that I was still over paying, even if you didn’t consider the coupon.

The second lady I spoke with was considerably nicer and understood my plight. I told her I was a bit upset as a matter of principle, even though it’s only a few dollars. She countered with “Well, a few dollars is a few dollars,” and then said something to the effect of how those few dollars add up. She also said that she works hard for her money and is sure that I do too. According to her it didn’t matter that when the roses were reserved that I didn’t qualify for the coupon, because it was then reduced too low. I used the coupon when it was valid, even if by the time my order was shipped it would have not been valid. The ten dollar coupon was then not part of the equation, it was my money, they weren’t going to take it back.

While I would have been disappointed, but at least no longer upset about being ’screwed over’ if she had credited me back the $5 difference in the collection cost, she did something so much better. She calculated that I was owed $15.85, the combined cost of the two roses that were missing from the collection, because I paid the $39.95 (prior to the coupon) on basis that I’d be receiving all five, at $7.99 each plant.

With that ~$16 being sent back to my card as a credit, my faith in the company is now restored, I can now also buy a rose to fill the huge hold I’d already dug for one of the two that I didn’t receive. Quite frankly, I would not have ever ordered from them again because of this situation, if it wouldn’t have been fixed in some way.