Anyone else notice thier logo looks like the mushroom cloud of an atomic bomb?Â
In case you haven’t noticed, I love a good deal. I clip coupons. I take advantage of every opportunity to save money. As someone I used to work with once said, “Don’t fork over coinage without the proper negotiations.” Hey, it’s my money. 
Anyway, I wanted to get some flowers for Christina for Valentine’s day. Lo and behold, quite the deal on Amazon! I bought one dozen pink and one dozen white roses from Falcon Farms.
 
The cost should have been …
1 Dozen Pink Roses: $19.99 + $9.99 Shipping = $29.98
1 Dozen White Roses: $19.99 + $9.99 Shipping = $29.98
Subtotal = $59.96
Tax = $3.90
TOTAL = $63.86
But, due to what looks like a price mistake, I only paid $12.79. That’s a savings of about 80%! Check out the screenshot below.
Will I get this order? Or will it be cancelled?
Update 02/06/08 11:45am … Just got the following e-mail from Amazon …
Dear XXXXXXXX@XXXXXXX.XXX,
We’re writing to confirm your purchase of the following items from Falcon Farms, Inc.:
1 of 1 Doz. Pink Roses 2039 (available to ship by 08-February-2008)
1 of 1 Doz. White Roses 2038 (available to ship by 08-February-2008)Amazon Payments has charged your credit card (XXXXXXXXXX) for this purchase, and the funds have been credited to Falcon Farms, Inc. You have chosen to ship your order via Standard shipping. The delivery estimate for this method to your address is 2 to 6 business days after shipping. The actual delivery time for the item(s) in your order will depend on the shipping policies of Falcon Farms, Inc. and when the item(s) are available to ship.
Here are the order details.
—————————————————
Date: 06-February-2008
Amazon Order #: ###-#######-#######
1 of 1 Doz. Pink Roses 2039, $19.99
1 of 1 Doz. White Roses 2038, $19.99
Feb 14th Delivery $-39.96
Shipping & Handling: $11.99
Tax: $0.80
Total: $12.79
Buyer: XXXXXXXX@XXXXXXX.XXX
Paid via Amazon Payments Using: XXXXXXXXXX (exp. ####/##)
Your Shipping Address:
####Â XXÂ XXXXX XXX
XXXX XX XXXXX, XX #####-####
Shipping Method: Standard
—————————————————
Thanks for shopping at Amazon.com.
So, they have my money. Will I get my flowers?
Update 02/08/08 11:30pm … Falcon Farms apparently canceled my order and refunded my money, but shorted me 2¢. I don’t think so! I fired off this e-mail to them just now:
I was charged $12.79. But, only refunded $12.77. What makes you think you can keep 2¢ ($0.02)? You can refund that too, please. Thanks.Â
And, I left them this feedback:
0 of 5 Stars: Canceled my order without explanation. Did not ship order. Didn’t even refund full amount. Falcon Farms = Bad.
To which they responded (my comments in red):
As explained to all customer [customers] affected by this Technical Glitch, witch [sic] created a promotion which did not exist, resulting in sending the order for the cost of shipping. Emails were sent to all customers explaining the situation [On which planet? I didn't get any e-mail.]. All monies were refunded immediately [If by immediately you mean over 48 hours later.].
Hey Falcon Farms - here’s an idea …Â Grammar lessons.
About 5 minutes after complaining about my 2¢, they refunded it. Ha! Their seller rating on Amazon is getting trashed right now by all the people who are mad.
Update 02/09/08 11:00am … Wow. Falcon Farm’s seller rating on Amazon has went from about 95% to 31% in just under 24 hours. People are mad! I have been reading the feedback in their seller rating and the forums over on SlickDeals. Here’s a recap of their shenanigans…
Wed., 02/06 … A great deal on Falcon Farm’s roses (sold on Amazon) is posted to the forums on SlickDeals. Hundreds of people place an order. Later that day, they get e-mails saying their orders were confirmed and their credit cards were charged.
Thu., 02/07 … Nothing.
Fri, 02/08 … Falcon Farms sends out thousands of e-mails reporting that all the orders are void because of a price mistake. Here’s the text of the e-mail. As you can see, Falcon Farms has a severe grammar problem.
Due to a Technical problem we experience during the time you placed your order, created a promotion, which in fact did not exist.
We do apologize for this inconvenience and hope you will understand all orders have been cancelled and refunds have been issued.
Again, Our Sincere Apology
Some customers (not me, I didn’t receive even one) received almost 1,000 e-mails because Falcon Farms put every one’s e-mail address in the TO: and CC: lines of the e-mail, not in the BCC: line. So, people went ‘Reply All’ happy. When someone complained about that, Falcon Farms responded:
Please understand that nothing was done intentionally as well as upset customers as yourself, it was Truly a Technical problem that again cases issues with refunds and sending out tons of e mails.
This isn’t an excuse and we accept full responsibility and hope you would understand.
We have verified that a full refund was transmitted for you via Amazon Seller Central
Again Our Sincere Apology.
I wonder were these people are from. Anyway, then they proceed to either refund partial amounts to the customers who had their orders canceled or refund the full amount in little, tiny pieces (like, say 1¢ at a time). I guess they’ll blame that on ‘Truly a Technical problem’ as well.
In the time it’s taken to write this update, their seller rating has now dropped down to 30% positive. I wonder if Amazon will give them the boot after this fiasco. They’re obviously not fit to run a business. To have a legitimate price mistake is one thing. To handle like they did is quite another.
I ought to send them the same e-mail a couple thousand times and sign it:
Sincerely Yours,
Truly A. Technical-Problem
Update 06/17/08 … Comments disabled on this post due to excessive spam.
