FlowersUSSR has been on the international flowers delivery market for 14 years, primarily serving countries of the former Soviet Union (Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Moldova, Armenia, Latvia, etc.). We take pride in providing fresh flowers, high quality arrangements and reliable flower delivery service. Throughout these many years we developed partnership with hundreds of local florists in Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, USA, Canada and other countries. Our close partnership with the reliable and honest local flower shops allows us to ensure the freshness of flowers used for our arrangements and great quality of florists’ work.
Fresh flowers, high quality professional arrangement of flowers, on-time delivery… It might seem that a customer would have no reason to be unsatisfied with their order. Except for when the bouquet delivered does not look exactly the same as the bouquet in the picture a customer chose from the catalog. It does not happen too often, but occasionally there is a customer who faces that.
When you order flowers online, they all look colorful, lush, fresh and so perfect. When you choose a bouquet, you naturally expect that a recipient will receive exactly the same bouquet as you saw in the picture.
But what happens if within a few days after the delivery you skype with your beloved one and see that the flower arrangement actually delivered looks not exactly the same as the one in the picture you chose?
It might upset you. And it would naturally leave you unsatisfied. In this blog post we decided to look at the reasons behind such discrepancy and what you can do to avoid such situation.
So why does it happen so that the delivered arrangement sometimes looks different from the picture in the catalog?
First of all, we should acknowledge that pictures in the catalog provide the sample pieces of flower arrangements for a florist and and a customer to draw upon. However, reproduce exactly the same flower arrangement in reality might be difficult due to several reasons:
- The local shop might not have the same color of flowers used in the bouquet in the picture. If we have an opportunity to get in touch with a customer (depending on the time difference or urgency of the order), we always inform and ask for approval to substitute with another color.
- The local shop might not have the particular flowers. For example, dianthus, freesias, waxflowers are not regularly in stock in Russian or Ukrainian flower shops.
In the case when a certain type of flowers are not available, the substitution is made to the closest alternative possible. - The prices on flowers differ from city to city and even from florist to florist. We make all the efforts to provide the best price without sacrificing the quality of flowers and florist’s work. Our catalog reflects the average price for the country, however, prices for flowers, let’s say in Murmansk, is significantly different from the prices in Moscow or in St.Petersburg. Also, the delivery cost differs from city to city. All these factors contribute to the fact that for the same amount of money the bouquet in one city might be smaller or bigger than in another and than in the picture.
- Accessories are different in each country, city and even flower shop. Forestry has its own trends for how to wrap bouquets, what materials to use and how to arrange flowers. For example, in the USA it is quite common to deliver flowers in a glass vase. In Russia, it is common to wrap bouquets with a stylish wrapping paper or hand-tie the flowers with a ribbon. Most of the time vases are either not available at all, or the flower shops has only expensive beautiful ceramic or crystal vases.
Although in the picture in the catalog most of the bouquets are in the vases, vase itself are not included in the price of the bouquet. So unless you add a vase to your order, the bouquet will be delivered without a vase but beautifully wrapped or hand-tied.
It also should be noticed that even when the same flowers and the same colors are available, the flower arrangement can still differ from the picture. Flower arranging is the art and as with every piece of art, it is unique. Imagine five painters sitting on the bank of the river and painting the same scebery. The scenery is the same, but each painter will get a picture a little different from the other four. The same with the flowers arranging. We work with only professional florists in Russia and other countries of former Soviet Union (yes, that means they actually go to school to become a florist), and each professional florist might bring something different to the same bouquet.
For example, let’s take this popular bouquet of red roses, lilies and pittosporum.
We receive regular orders for this bouquet throughout Russia and Ukraine. However, sometimes the pink lilies are not available, and the florist substitutes for the white lilies, as seen on the pictures, which although does make the bouquet look different but not necessarily worse than the original one. You can also notice the variation in the amount of flowers put in the bouquet as well as the style of arranging the flowers together and wrapping them.
So what can you do to insure that your beloved ones on the other end of the world get the same flower arrangement you choose for them from the catalog?
- Consider ordering a bouquet of roses.Unless you envision a particular cultivar of roses or some particular shade of the color, you can rest assured that the sender will receive the bouquet you ordered.
- Opt to flowers of standard colors. This will allow to increase the chances that the local florist will have those colors in their shop.
- Contact us in advance with the picture of the arrangement and the name of the city you want to send it to. This way we can check with our local florists and let you know whether we have those flowers and colors or not.
- Give us the second choice. In case if the first choice arrangement is not available, we have an alternative. You can email us or call us.
By the way, did you know that we always ask our florists in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova and Belarus to take a picture of the bouquet they assemble and about to deliver? This way we can see what was delivered and if you choose so, we can send you the picture of the bouquet as well.
We strive to work only with those florists who provide the freshest flowers and professional quality of work.
Whether sending floral arrangements, bouquets, gift baskets or plants for birthdays, anniversary, sympathy or just because, we will do the best to ensure that your thoughtful gift brings a smile to your special person in Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Belarus and other countries of former USSR. And that you are satisfied with the quality of our work.