Complaint Review: 1800 FLOWERS.com - Nationwide

1800 Flowers Rip Off

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Posted on 06/18/2008

I have worked for 1800 FLOWERS.com as a Seasonal Home Agent Worker since January. I am a seasonal employee so I work for the Holidays when they need me. I recently quit my position there. I looked online to see if there were any consumer complaints about 1800 FLOWERS, and I was shocked at the number of complaints customers have. I will say this much, that these complaints are very accurate and correct. When I worked for them, in one shift I had over 99 calls and ALL but 3 were complaints. The complaints ranged from customers who received the wrong order, or they received brown or even dead flowers/plants, to not ever receiving the order at all and still getting billed. 1800 FLOWERS is a rip off! You can go to your local florist and pay half of what you would compared to 1800 FLOWERS. They charge you outrageous prices for a small order, then charge you $13.99 for delivery/shipping. Example one dozen red roses for $49.99 + $13.99 delivery/shipping. Go to your local florist and you may pay $25.00 for a Dozen Red Roses, and maybe $4.00 for the gas you used to drive there. Not only are they a rip off to consumers, but they are a rip off to employees as well. I worked for them in February 2008 for Valentine's Day, and in May 2008 for Mother's Day which are known as "Gold Rush". Both times I had to make phone call after phone call and e-mails after a-mails to the Payroll department in regards to inaccurate pay. February they shorted me over $130.00 in pay, and in May they shorted me about $90.00. If I did not notice it, they would have never paid me. To add insult to injury, when I worked for them in Feb, they paid the Seasonal Workers $14 an hour, but in May they dropped our pay to $8 and hour, and stated in an e-mail that they would give us a Bonus check to make up for the pay decrease. Pay special attention to the End of Season Bonus ! This is what the e-mail read:

Hello Seasonal Associate,

Thank you for your interest to continue to work as a Seasonal Home Agent for 1-800-FLOWERS.COM. We want to share with you some important changes to our requirements for the Mother's Day Season. It is important to note that both schedule requirements and compensation has changed. Please take a few moments to read the below information very carefully and determine if you would like to join us for the Mother's Day Season.

Length of Service

This is a TEMPORARY / SEASONAL assignment through the Mother's Day Season with a tentative end date of May 16.

Scheduling Requirements

Schedules will have varied start and end times based on projected workload and the Mother's Day scheduling requirements are for a full time availability of no less than 11 hours per day and scheduled 28-55 hours during that availability.

Rate of Pay & End-of-Season Bonus

The new compensation rate effective immediately is $8 per hour for training and production. If you stay through the entire season you will be paid a bonus of up to $400. If you voluntarily resign or are involuntarily terminated prior to the end of the season you will not be eligible for the bonus and you must work your scheduled shifts during GOLD RUSH.

Agent is scheduled and works between 0-40 hours total (2 wks) = Not Eligible for Bonus

Agent is scheduled and works between 41-81 hours total (2 wks) = $400 Bonus Eligibility

Well I worked the entire two weeks of the Mother's Day Gold Rush, and I did not get terminated nor did I quit. So naturally I assumed that I would be receiving a bonus check. Oh how foolish was I! I patiently waited for the check to come in the mail. Well needless to say, I never received it. So I phoned the person in regards to the missing check. I left a message on their voice mail. Well yesterday I got a phone call form the person who handles the bonus checks. She proceeded to inform me that I did not qualify for the bonus because a few times I clocked in late, and on one day I missed work. Now fyi, I clocked in late because I continued to have problems with their Avaya system, not my fault, but their's! As far as the day I did not work, my internet and phone service was have complications, and I had to wait for a service Tech to come out and fix the problem. Well they do not work o Sundays, so the earliest they could get out to fix it was on Monday evening. So I missed Sunday's shift and a few hours on Monday because of this. I am having my Internet/phone service provider mail me a copy of proof showing that I had service interruptions due to faulty equipment, as well as proof that I had to wait for a tech to come out and repair the equipment. She said that there is no way to verify that I was having problems with my phone and internet service, so because of this, I did not qualify for the bonus check. I am trying to see if I can fight this and get was it owed to me.

Kristi

Winter Park, Florida

U.S.A.