CHOICE Editorial Director Marg Rafferty with Bloomex flowers
"This year we're giving online florist Bloomex a Shonky Award for dodgy deliveries, dead flowers and accepting orders they can't fulfil," says CHOICE Editorial Director, Marg Rafferty.
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Canadian-owned Bloomex calls itself 'Australia's official florist', offering same day delivery across the country.
"CHOICE has heard scathing reviews from Bloomex customers who received wilting, crushed bouquets or worse still, no delivery at all," says Rafferty.
A CHOICE mystery shop found that of 21 Bloomex bouquets ordered to regional addresses across Australia:
- Eight couldn't be delivered as sold, despite claims the company ships nationally.
- Almost half of the 13 orders that were delivered turned up late.
- Eight of the 13 deliveries made contained flowers that were wilting or decomposing.
"That's pretty poor service, especially for a company whose motto is 'Fresh, Fast and Fair'," says Rafferty.
In CHOICE's mystery shop, if an order was unable to be fulfilled, Bloomex did not offer a refund, instead trying to fob us off with a range of other options. In all eight cases, CHOICE had to send multiple emails to get our money back.
"These results confirm what we heard from unhappy Bloomex customers. Time and again we heard from disappointed people whose orders for flowers to mark a special occasion were delivered in terrible condition, arrived late or didn't arrive at all."
"Bloomex deserves the withering reviews they have received from their customers, and they also deserve their place in the 2022 Shonky Awards."
The 2022 CHOICE Shonkys are:
Qantas - for being the Spirit of Disappointment
VetPay - for a finance product targeting distressed pet owners
Steggles Chicken Nuggets Boosted with Veggies - for hiding veggies so well that we could barely find them
Bloomex - for flowers that don't deliver
Zega Digital cookware - for an expensive "self-cooking" smart pot that doesn't properly cook
Media contact: 0430 172 669, media@choice.com.au
CHOICE CEO Alan Kirkland, CHOICE Editorial Director Margaret Rafferty and CHOICE experts are available for interview. Other media releases, photos, video and graphics are available for media use here:
https://sites.google.com/choice.com.au/shonkys2022
