Ashley K.

I ordered with Blueorchid Creations for my wedding on December 2018 through Etsy. I was told to pay the full cost of my order upfront at that time (no other options were offered) and an agreement was sent to me confirming final approval photos of my product in July 2019 with shipping of the final products in August 2019. Four problems arose with this order:
1) The order was severely delayed.
- Despite regular messages to request information on my order, final photos were not sent until September 2019, 2 months late. My order was not delivered until Sept 30th, 2019, one month late. No clear explanation was given for this delay and while they were always quick to respond to messages, I only got updates on my order when I messaged them first on a weekly, sometimes daily basis.
2) The flowers are shipped on their side in regular shipping boxes.
- This means the bouquets all came flattened on one side and one of the boxes holding all the bridesmaid bouquets literally got crushed since there was no fragile label or special box used. Blueorchid creations doesn't claim to ship them upright, but I felt buyers would like to know this as it would have certainly affected my purchasing choices had I known I would be responsible for reforming and fixing my products after shipping.
3) The garland I ordered was changed without my approval.
- Blueorchid creations sent a photo of the garland to approve prior to shipping - which I loved. However prior to shipping they added multiple huge hydrangea arrangements to it. This was upsetting as it meant I received a product not as I had ordered and was now faced with fixing it myself or returning it and hoping no more delays occurred so it could be returned to me in time for the wedding.
4) I was made to pay for a product upfront that was not shipped for over 6 months.
- By requiring full payment in December 2018, this meant that when I received damaged and wrong products on a delayed timeline in September 2019 I was unable to open a case on Etsy (only available for 100 days post payment) and unable to leave a review on Etsy to warn other buyers (only available for 100 days post payment). This is a huge gap in Etsy's buyer protection policies and Blueorchid creations has benefitted from it as there was no way for me to review them or open a case against them.

I booked a rental property in Wildwood, NJ with Flipkey approximately 6-8 weeks ago. I paid the initial deposit June 11 and the rest of the bill on June 29, well before the final due date in July. I was told to check in at 2pm, July 27,2017 and checkout would be 11am July 30,2017. I contacted the property manager about accessing the key to get into the rental property as recommended, the morning of July, 27. I did not receive a response until 2pm, the check in time, saying she could not get a hold of the man with the key to the rental property. I told her we would arrive at 3pm and to keep us updated. I was then told at 3pm, via text message as she was refusing to answer my phone calls, that the rental property was double booked and we would not have a place to stay and the booking was therefore cancelled. I called Flipkey to request a new property and report the problem at 3pm July 27,2017. I was told that no other properties were available in the area. I was told they would refund the rental funds once the property manager responded confirming the cancellation but she continually failed to answer my calls or Flipkey's calls until late that evening. I was also told we would have to find a hotel or other accommodations on our own and would not be reimbursed for the new accommodations.

In short:
- I paid for a rental property and was promised accommodations for 6 people for 4 days and when I arrived (after driving 5 hours) it was denied to me last minute
- I was told I would not be given a refund until the property manager responded to Flipkey which took half of a day delaying my reimbursement
- I would not be compensated for the last minute accommodations I had to make (which ended up having to be a hotel over an hour away)
- I had to spend an entire day of my vacation making phone calls and desperately searching for housing and driving another hour to a new location at which point all the food we had brought had spoiled.

I booked with Flipkey and was a responsible customer and in return my vacation was ruined and I was left to find a solution on my own with no compensation or face being homeless until I could get home. By failing to find me lodging or offering to compensate me for the last minute accommodations Flipkey and rental property managers are benefitting by double booking customers therefore ensuring they can always make money even if people cancel and then allowing paying customers to have ruined vacations.