Unhappy with flowers received on Mother’s Day? Your rights explained

This Mother’s Day, if your flowers are delivered in poor condition, damaged or don’t match the description given online, fear not, you should be able to get a full or partial refund.

In a new Which? survey of over 2,000 members of the public, one in five (22%) of those who had received flowers in the last year said they had encountered a problem with one or more of their orders.

The most common problems experienced were issues around quality and delivery, such as flowers lasting fewer than five days (12%), arriving in poor condition (8%), flowers not arriving on time (7%), being left on the doorstep (3%) or not arriving at all (2%).

More than half (53%) of people who had received damaged or late flowers said they hadn’t informed the person who bought them. In order to claim a refund for delayed or damaged flowers, the person who bought them needs to contact the retailer.

Whether you’ve bought or received flowers this Mother’s Day, if they aren’t up to scratch, know your rights as you should be able to get a refund through the retailer.

Your rights under the Consumer Rights Act:

  1. Poor quality – when ordering flowers with a retailer you enter a contract so, if the flowers are of poor quality, this is a breach of contract and are entitled to a refund
  2. Late delivery – if you’re given an estimated delivery and the flowers arrive late, you don’t have an automatic right for refund. However, if you have been promised or paid extra for delivery on a particular date or by a particular time, and the flowers weren’t delivered in accordance, this is a breach of contract and are entitled to reject the flowers and get a refund
  3. Not the right flowers – all goods must be as described so you can reject the flowers and request a refund if the flowers aren’t what you ordered
  4. Not enough flowers – if you paid for a specific amount of flowers, such as roses, and some are missing, you’re entitled to reject the flowers or a partial refund if you don’t want to return them

How to claim: It’s important that you take photographs of any faulty flowers received and ensure that you inform the buyer of are any issues as soon as possible as they will need to claim the refund from the retailer.

Alex Neill, Which? spokesperson said:

“Many mums will receive a bouquet this Mothering Sunday but if they are late, damaged or don’t live up to expectations, you shouldn’t just accept it to save a loved one from disappointment.

​”They could be entitled to a partial or full refund under the Consumers Rights Act, so we’d advise you to get in touch with the buyer as soon as possible.”​

Notes to Editors

  1. Populus, on behalf of which?, surveyed 2,090 UK adults online between 12th – 14th February 2016: 480 UK adults had bought flowers online, 43 experienced a problem and contacted the retailer. 264 UK adults had received flowers that were delivered and of these 46 said they had experienced problems. Data was weighted to be demographically representative of the UK population. Populus is a member of the British Polling Council and abides by its rules.
  2. For more information on your consumers rights > http://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/regulation/consumer-rights-act

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