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False Fake Or Unfair Florist Reviews

Q: What if a review is just plain wrong, claiming we used plastic flowers or something impossible?

Respond calmly with facts and invite the customer to continue offline. If you have proof (e.g., a pre-delivery photo), reference it without arguing. For example: "We're sorry your experience wasn't as expected. The photo we took before delivery shows an all-fresh arrangement, but we'd love to discuss this with you directly."

Q: How do you handle customers who seem to be trying to scam you for free flowers?

Photograph every arrangement before it leaves the shop and keep timestamped records. If a suspicious complaint arises, refer to the photo and offer a professional resolution; the evidence usually deters scams.

Q: What about reviews where the flowers were fine, but didn't match a customer's 'vision'?

Set expectations before purchase with clear product descriptions, a visible substitution policy, and size dimensions. Public reply example: "We're sorry the arrangement wasn't quite what you envisioned. We always use the freshest seasonal flowers as stated in our policy, but would be happy to discuss this further."

Q: What's the best response to a customer threatening to 'ruin us' with bad reviews?

Do not engage with the threat. Post a calm, professional response: thank them, apologise for their experience, and offer to resolve it offline. You're speaking to future customers, not the bully.

15/08/2025

Siobhan Thomson

Hi, my name is Siobhan and I am the co-founder of Lily's Florist.

Attracting a horror 1-star review saying your flowers were dead on arrival, when the customer never bothered to pick up the phone, send you an SMS, or send an email first? Yeah, that stings, and has the potential to cause your flower shop a bit of stress and reputational damage. After 17 years operating Lily's Florist, then my own florist and gift shop before that, and dealing with over 100's partner florists across Australia, I've seen this scenario play out more times than I can count. It's frustrating beyond belief at times, it feels unfair and unjust even, and honestly, your first instinct might be to bite back with something along the lines of "Why didn't you just call us?"

That review, unfortunately, isn't just about you and that one unhappy customer anymore. It's now a public conversation that every potential customer is watching. How you handle it can either tank your reputation or actually boost it. Wild, right?

The First 24 Hours: Don't Touch That Keyboard Yet

Take a Breather (Seriously)

I learned this one the hard way back in our Kingscliff shop days. That immediate urge to defend yourself, to explain what really happened, to point out they never gave you a chance to fix it? Natural, but dangerous. My best advice is to give yourself at least two hours before you even think about typing a response, but more on that below. Go make yourself a coffee, take a walk down the street if you're lucky enough to be near the beach, whatever it takes to let that initial anger subside and take the sting out of the way you feel.

A defensive response written in the heat of the moment does way more damage than the original review ever could. I've watched florists absolutely torch their own reputations by getting into public arguments with reviewers. Not pretty I have to say.

Do Your Detective Work

Before you do anything public, you need to know if this person is even a real customer. Pull up your POS system, check your delivery logs, look through your online orders. Find that order if it exists. Once you've confirmed they're legit, gather everything:

Order date and time
What they ordered versus what was delivered
Delivery details and any special instructions
Weather conditions that day (36-degree heat in Brisbane can wreck havens on flowers in transit)
Any photos you took before delivery

This investigation isn't about building a case to prove them wrong publicly. It's about understanding what might have gone wrong so you can genuinely address it.

Quick Check: Is This Review Even Allowed?

Look, most negative reviews are going to stay put, but occasionally you'll get one that actually violates platform policies. Google and Yelp have specific rules about what can and can't be posted. Clear violations include profanity, hate speech, reviews from competitors, or completely irrelevant content.

But here's the reality check: a customer claiming flowers were dead? That's their experience, even if you have photos showing otherwise. Platforms won't remove these. They see it as a factual dispute, and they don't play referee in those situations.

Crafting Your Public Response: This Is Your Stage

The Response That Turns Heads (In a Good Way)

Your public reply needs to hit several marks, and it's not really for the angry reviewer. It's for everyone else reading. Here's the framework that works:

Respond within 24-48 hours. Any longer and you look like you don't care. Any quicker and you might still be too emotional.
Make it personal. Use their name. It shows you're not copying and pasting some generic response.
Thank them first. I know, I know. Thanking someone who just trashed your business feels wrong. But starting with "Thank you for taking the time to share your feedback" immediately sets a professional tone that makes you look like the reasonable one.
Apologise for their experience. Not for what you did or didn't do, but for how they feel. There's a difference. "We're so sorry to hear your experience didn't match your expectations" works perfectly.
Take it offline. This is crucial. Never, ever try to resolve the specifics in public view. Provide a direct email and phone number, and invite them to reach out privately.
Sign it personally. End with your actual name and title. It shows a real person is taking responsibility.

Handling the "But They Never Called Us" Issue

This is the tricky bit. You want other customers to know you would have fixed it if given the chance, but you can't sound accusatory. Here's how to thread that needle:

Instead of: "Why didn't you call us? We would have fixed it!"

Try: "We have a satisfaction guarantee and wish we'd had the opportunity to resolve this for you directly with a replacement."

See the difference? The second version informs everyone reading about your guarantee while expressing genuine regret that you couldn't help. It's marketing disguised as customer service.

Taking It Private: Where the Real Work Happens

Be the One Who Reaches Out

Once you've posted your public response, don't sit around waiting for them to call. If you can identify them from your records, pick up the phone or send an email immediately. Most angry reviewers don't expect this level of service, and it can completely change the dynamic.

I've seen situations where a furious customer becomes a loyal advocate just because the owner personally called them. It's powerful stuff.

What to Say When You Connect

Keep it simple and solution focused:

"Hi [Name], this is [Your Name] from [Shop Name]. I saw your review and wanted to personally apologise again for your disappointing experience. I'd really like to make this right for you. Would you prefer a replacement arrangement or a full refund?"

Notice how you're not debating what happened? You're moving straight to resolution. Save everyone the headache.

The Review Update Request

Only after you've completely resolved their issue should you gently ask about updating the review. And I mean gently:

"We're so glad we could resolve this for you. If you feel we've now provided the service you expected, we'd be incredibly grateful if you'd consider updating your review. It makes a huge difference to a small local business like ours."

Never make the resolution contingent on them changing the review. That's both unethical and likely to backfire spectacularly.

Know Your Legal Ground: Australian Consumer Law

What You're Actually Required to Do

Under Australian Consumer Law, flowers that are genuinely dead on arrival represent what's called a "major failure." That means the customer gets to choose between a refund or replacement. You don't get to insist on one over the other.

Now, many florists have policies requiring customers to report issues within 24-48 hours with photos. These policies are good business practice, but here's the kicker: they don't override ACL rights. If the flowers really were dead, the customer's entitled to a remedy even if they didn't follow your reporting procedure perfectly.

Your Store Policies vs. The Law

Your satisfaction guarantee and reporting requirements are still valuable. They help manage customer expectations and filter out dubious claims. But when push comes to shove, ACL wins. The smart move? Honour the spirit of consumer law regardless. It builds tremendous goodwill and keeps you out of disputes with Fair Trading.

Building Your Reputation Fortress

The Photo Evidence System

Start photographing every single arrangement before it goes out for delivery. Email it to the customer with a message like "Your beautiful arrangement is on its way! Here's how it looked leaving our shop."

This does three things:

Sets clear expectations about what they're getting
Creates timestamped evidence of quality
Actually delights customers who love seeing what they've sent

We've been doing this at Lily's Florist through our partner network for years, and it's prevented countless disputes.

Make Your Policies Crystal Clear

Put your satisfaction guarantee front and centre on your website. Be specific about your process: "Not completely satisfied? Contact us within 48 hours with a photo and we'll make it right."

Include detailed product descriptions mentioning substitution policies and seasonal availability. Include care instructions with every delivery. The more transparent you are upfront, the fewer nasty surprises later.

Build Your Review Army

The best defence against one bad review? Fifty good ones surrounding it. Set up an automated system to request reviews from customers a few days after delivery. Train your staff to ask happy walk-in customers to share their experience online.

A single 1-star review in a sea of 5-star reviews looks like an outlier. A single 1-star review when you only have three reviews total? That's a disaster.

The Reality Check

After running Lily's Florist since 2009 and growing from one brave florist partner in Murwillumbah to over 800 across Australia, I can tell you this: negative reviews are part of the game. We've won Feefo Service Awards with over 21,000 reviews, and guess what? Not all of them are glowing. Some are ordinary, some are brutal, most are brilliant.

The difference between florists who thrive and those who struggle isn't avoiding negative reviews. It's handling them with such grace and professionalism that potential customers read the exchange and think, "Wow, I want to buy from them."

Remember sitting at our dinner table in Kingscliff, making business decisions while our daughter Asha crawled around the floor? We learned early that every customer interaction, especially the difficult ones, shapes your business reputation. Those early lessons from dealing with 40+ phone calls a day in our tiny shop, back when Yellow Pages was still a thing, taught us that how you respond to problems matters more than never having problems at all.

Moving Forward

A 1-star review from someone who never contacted you first isn't ideal, but it's not the end of the world either. Follow these steps:

Cool down before responding
Investigate thoroughly but privately
Respond publicly with grace and professionalism
Reach out privately to resolve
Build systems to prevent future issues
Generate enough positive reviews to dilute the negative ones

Most importantly, remember that everyone reading that review and your response is a potential customer. They're not just evaluating whether your flowers are good. They're evaluating whether you're the kind of business they want to deal with when something goes wrong.

Because something always goes wrong eventually. It's how you handle it that determines whether you're still in business 17 years later, with 800 partners and customers who trust you with their most important moments.