Schrader’s Florist & Greenhouse

No one can ever accuse me of being cheap and anyone that knows me also knows that I will never put up with anyone’s crap!
I lost my brother this past Monday and as I have always done in the past, I relied on Scharders, living four hours away I used their website to find what I thought would be the perfect flowers for my brother, knowing that his favorite colors were blue and purple, I chose the pictured arrangement.
Instead of using the web to order them I picked up the phone and called to make sure they could fill this order, not only did I do this, but I upgraded the arrangement to the «deluxe» version so that it would be bigger and better. Now mind you the standard arrangement had nine white roses, with three white lilies and the rear of the arrangement was filled with purple iris and greens, my deluxe upgrade should have been bigger and better!
I spoke with Cindy, I heard her specifically ask if they had that certain vase and all of those flowers mentioned and they said yes to each and every question except for the white lilies, I asked if they had rebrum lilies (Stargazers) instead and she asked and they told her yes!
I have had enough heartache in the past year to last me a lifetime and I am bitter, but with this, strength develops and when I walked into the funeral home at 1:00 for the immediate families one hour viewing and did not see my flowers that I had ordered anywhere, I started reading the cards and I was fuming! The original flowers which I have described were to be 17 ½ inches wide by 19 ½ inches tall, it is still on their web site.
My tiny vase of flowers had no height, it was flat and just above the small vase, it was maybe eight inches high and four to five inches wide and held not one white rose, nor one Rebrum lily! Instead it was a very hidden display of three well cut off yellow roses, a few yellow lilies, white spider mums and a slash of purple iris, all cut extremely short! I could have done a much better job walking through my own gardens! Picture a cheap bouquet of flowers that you can buy at a grocery store and then stick them in a small vase!
I picked up the vase and drove to Schraders! I set it on the counter and said this is not what I ordered and they tried their hardest to blame Cindy who was not even there and I defended her to first the employee, then the owners wife and then the owner himself came out! Repeating again and again the conversation that I had with Cindy and hearing her ask those questions.
Listen to this… The owner asked me to follow him into the room where they kept all of the vases and I chose a nice big crackled glass vase, he then asked me to follow him into the cooler where they kept all of the flowers, they had not one white rose and only one Rebrum lily! I was pissed to say the least. They had two days to either get those flowers or to call me and say we are going to substitute a cheap $ 29.00 vase of dramatically cut off flowers of our choice, what would you like us to do?
Now mind you I had calmed down by this point and thought okay, they are trying to make things right! I said I want it tall and built up, I will take red roses, since that is all that you have and I chose three different purple flowers for them to add along with babies breath. I told him that they had my account number and I want it to look very nice and full! The owner insisted that I should return to the funeral home and he would have it delivered within 15 minutes…
While I am standing and talking with relatives and friends, my husband walks back in with the most hideous tall display of greens with maybe six long stemmed red roses spread out on them, all fanned out with empty spaces like you would not believe, no babies breath, not one white flower and a couple of purple flowers. It was a joke!
I have to tell you that so many folks asked where that came from and when I told them they shook their head and said why did you use them, you should have used so and so… Schrader’s has gone down hill with this generation running the old family business and I will never, ever use them again! Not only this, but I will report them to the BBB and whoever the flower Gods are!