Flowers to be delivered..?

[Thumper]

Ok so i am about to send a Bouquet of flowers to a friend for her birthday (she lives in Thurso) worth £30 and thought that i would go on the org recommendations and go direct to Amandas florist in Wick - all was fine until they told me that they were going to charge me £5.50 delivery......thought this was a bit steep - any one else?
Will just order from Next online again as the flowers i got delivered from there last time were lovely.

To be honest no its not steep,I used a Thurso florist recently as I was in Thurso and in a rush and I was charged £6.50 delivery to castletown so thats only 5 miles! £5.50 from Wick to Thurso is excellent IMO as it would easily take that in petrol to deliver anyway! Places like Next can afford to charge cheaper rates as they are a national company who use the post etc to deliver,and having a florist van arrive at your door is such a lovely suprise-plus then the neighbours know you are getting flowers delivered lol x

[edayhouse]

Thanks for taking the time to reply - ok i understand what you are saying about petrol etc however surely you must be delivering to more than one address in Thurso in a day - i would think it would be a fair few therefore do you not think that £5.50 is rather a steep cost to add onto the cost of the flowers? If you had said something like £3 delivery then ok but an additional £5.50 would have taken the price well over what i would be willing to spend.
Once again thanks for your reply

[Bernie]

Just looking on here for recs for flowers to go to my mums and come on this post.
I am down near Aberdeen and the local florists all charge delivery of between £3 and £7, £3 if it is delivery within a mile or so and if you need to send out of town you wont get less than £7, if they do do it cheaper it comes out of the size of bouquet.
I have sent flowers by M&S and Next before but find that while the photo looks good I get a much larger bunch of nicer flowers by getting them from a proper florist
I actually think £5-50 delivery is cheap for a round trip of nearly 40 miles.
I wouldnt think there is any gaurantee that the florist would have another order that day, and even if they have at £5-50 that would just cover a gallon of fuel, not the drivers wage, the cost of the vehicle, wear and tear etc. I get an allowance of 29p per mile (some companies and IR give 40p)for covering the use of my private vehicle when I have to use it in work time (and I am getting my hourly work rate as well) so if I delivered your flowers from my work it would cost 40 miles x 29p =£11.60 and one hrs work time at £6-00 per hour total £17-60, so even if the florist has 3 deliveries in the same area they still wouldnt be covering van/driver/fuel costs.
xx

[dragonfly]

Thanks for taking the time to reply - ok i understand what you are saying about petrol etc however surely you must be delivering to more than one address in Thurso in a day - i would think it would be a fair few therefore do you not think that £5.50 is rather a steep cost to add onto the cost of the flowers? If you had said something like £3 delivery then ok but an additional £5.50 would have taken the price well over what i would be willing to spend.
Once again thanks for your reply

sorry but I think £5.50 is very reasonable for delivery charge - putting it in perspective its the cost of a pack of smokes, cheaper than a good bottle of wine. You could have gone through to Wick yourself, collected them from Amanda's shop and delivered them in person?

As said by others, the bouquets of flowers you get locally are far better value than those from faceless companies

[edayhouse]

would not want to collect myself from Amandas florist in Wick cause that would just defeat the purpose of sending flowers!!
Have opted out for a online company that i have used before and have found there flowers really nice - just thought that i would stay local but perhaps not.

[bagpuss]

online can work well- but lacks the personal touch- a friend sent me a plant from M&S- which when it arrived was lovely- but the delivery was held up and it took over 1o days to arrive.

I think what Amanda and her supporters are telling you is that this involves the personal touch- which is sometimes what is needed.

if you're counting the pennies- as grudging a small delivery charge implies- why not get the flowers from a supermarket - do a bit of floral art with them yourself and deliver them in person? If its just to Thurso you could even take the bus

[Dadie]

What about using buds and blooms?
As its in Thurso the delivery charges may be less.
Or whats the other one called in the precinct?

[joe]

Hi you could have gone to the flower shop in Wick and Jane or any of her excellent staff would have arranged for flowers to be sent from her shop in Thurso always delighted with anything I have had from The Flower Shop.

[Thumper]

ANY flowershop will charge delivery! IMO its unfair to suggest other shops on this thread when the poster was complaining about delivery charges from Amanadas,the others people have suggested will also charge delivery!Some will charge a LOT more than £5.50 too! At the end of the day everyone knows when you send flowers there WILL be a delivery charge,had you simply said that you wanted to spend £30 including the delivery charge then there would be no need to complain,I feel sorry for Amanda having to take stick about this! Oh and my pal sent me flowers from amandas-twice and both lasted well over 2 weeks and looked amazing,much longer than other flowers I have recieved locally x

[upolian]

Would definately recommend amandas flower shop in wick

[edayhouse]

Everyone is entitled to there own opinions. I think if anything then this thread has been more of a boost than a get at Amandas Florist....99% have said that the flowers, service etc is excellent so well done to her and yes maybe sometime i might take a trip through to Wick and go in and buy some flowers but i still stick by what i say in that i think thet £5.50 is really expensive for delivery.

I spoke to my friend in Aberdeen last night who sends flowers reguarly and she agrees that £5.50 is expensive however the company she uses might just hide the cost of delivery in the cost of the flowers who knows....

[windness]

I think £5.50 is quite fair on the condition that you get to choose which day you want them delivered and whether you want morning or afternoon delivery.

[telfordstar]

Everyone is entitled to there own opinions. I think if anything then this thread has been more of a boost than a get at Amandas Florist....99% have said that the flowers, service etc is excellent so well done to her and yes maybe sometime i might take a trip through to Wick and go in and buy some flowers but i still stick by what i say in that i think thet £5.50 is really expensive for delivery.

I spoke to my friend in Aberdeen last night who sends flowers reguarly and she agrees that £5.50 is expensive however the company she uses might just hide the cost of delivery in the cost of the flowers who knows....

I could see your point if it was a local delivery and they were charging £5.50 for delivery but from Wick to Thurso! Me personally id of said ok then great but make the bunch of flowers to £25 that way you wouldnt go over what you wanted to spend, common sense really.

If that isnt acceptable then go elsewhere perhaps a thurso florist!

Online flowers maybe cheaper but alot dont last a bang.

[madmax]

I have placed an order with amandas for some specific flowers that need to be ordered in, excellent help and advice, they care about what they put out unlike Interflora etc who just pass the order onto whatever florist is closest to the delivery address.
I personally dont mind paying the delivery charge, I'm in Thurso so the charge is very reasonable coming all the way from Wick.
Its no different from Indian or Chinese delivery charges, I'm sure folk dont mind paying them when they've had a few and cant drive down to collect it!!
Most other companies include the delivery charges within the prices and then claim to be doing Free delivery.......
Anyway.... I dont mind paying delivery in return for excellent customer service.
Nothing is for free in the world today.

Anyway.....If you're buying flowers etc for a loved one does it really matter what it costs? The look on their face when they receive them is worth it