Tips for buying Mother’s Day flowers: Skip the national chains and go local

Planning to buy flowers for Mother’s Day on May 12? As many a mom has said, “you better shop around.”

Be sure you pick a good seller — and don’t overpay.

There are a lot of mediocre petal peddlers, and, according to ratings nonprofit Delaware Valley Consumers’ Checkbook gets from area consumers, many florists disappoint with delayed deliveries, wilted flowers, and arrangements that differ wildly from what’s shown online.

Because floral customers often place orders for a product that’s delivered sight unseen, it’s no surprise that problems occur. Florists must interpret customers’ tastes and build a work of art fitting those needs. The best floral shops make this happen with fresh products, prompt delivery, and low prices.

It pays to shop around. For one dozen long-stemmed red roses, Checkbook’s undercover price shoppers found prices among local florist shops ranging from $15 to $72; for stargazer lilies, prices ranged from $2.50 to $10 per stem.

Through special arrangement, Inquirer readers can access Checkbook’s ratings of local florists for quality and price free of charge until June 5 via: Checkbook.org/Inquirer/Flowers.

If you want an arrangement delivered, seek exotic flowers, or need advice, your best bet is a retail florist. But if you need a typical bouquet, want to arrange the flowers yourself, or would like to save money, you have other options.

Supermarkets, warehouse clubs, and other mass merchandizers count on foot traffic, selling flowers to shoppers who stop in to buy a few things, but leave with a cartful of other stuff. What you’ll get ranges from basic to full service.

Supermarkets and big-box stores offer one big plus: price. Checkbook’s shoppers found that supermarket prices averaged about 60% lower than those at traditional florists.

Many street sellers get their flowers from the same wholesalers that supply florist shops, but some vendors peddle several-day-old blooms. Be especially careful about buying at the end of the day. Even if those lilies were fresh in the morning, chances are they’ve been sitting in the sun for hours and won’t last long. In addition to speed and convenience, street vendors have another advantage: Checkbook’s undercover shoppers found their prices averaged about 10% lower than those at supermarkets and about 70% lower than at florists.

Good retail florists can help with any flower-oriented need, plus delivery. Business models and styles range from third-party services that act as an intermediary between customers and florists to custom shops creating original designs arranged with unusual or exotic flowers in artistic vases.

Many florists evaluated by Checkbook received high ratings from their surveyed customers, but the ratings for some shops prove that a rose is not always a rose: Consumers often lodged complaints about late or missing deliveries; wrong items; poor-quality products; lousy attitudes; and arrangements with fewer (or lower-quality) flowers than ordered.

To send flowers to someone outside the area, you have a few choices: ordering directly through a florist in that city, asking a local florist to coordinate things, or turning to a national floral network.

Checkbook’s take: Work directly with a retail florist — either located here or where the recipient lives — rather than relying on a national outfit. The best florists keep track of their experiences with florists elsewhere and will follow up to make sure your blooms are delivered.

Another good option: Find a good florist in the distant city. By cutting the local store from the transaction, you avoid service charges and other fees. You’ll also communicate directly with the florist who will create the arrangement.

Since using a national service or an order-taking company means customers have little control over the final product, there are many unhappy flower buyers out there. A very common situation: An order-taking service charges a customer too little for an arrangement and sends the order to a participating florist, which rejects it. The service then sends the order to a different florist, and again, after several hours, the job is rejected. Sometimes this continues for days, even weeks. Just as bad, a florist chooses to fill the underpriced order but skimps on flowers. This often happens when an underpriced order is accepted by a disreputable florist willing to take a little money to get rid of old flowers.

No matter whom you hire to arrange your arrangements, pay by credit card. If a florist leaves you unhappy and is unwilling to make things right, you can contest the charge with your credit card company and get back your money.

Delaware Valley Consumers’ Checkbook magazine and Checkbook.org is a nonprofit organization with a mission to help consumers get the best service and lowest prices. We are supported by consumers and take no money from the service providers we evaluate.