•  The Today Show put five online services and two local New York City florists to the test in its segment "Is What You See What You Get - When You Order Flowers Online," which aired Feb. 12. 

Vera Gibbons, CNBC reporter, first compared 1-800-Flowers.com, Teleflora, FTD, Proflowers.comand FromYouFlowers.comto its pictures online. She says 1-800-Flowers and Teleflora fared well with "what you see is what you got." While the FTD bouquet had more filler than in the picture, Gibbons explains that the consumer can expect some variation depending on the florist fulfilling the order.

As for Proflowers, the fact that the flowers arrive in a box takes away "some wow factor," Gibbons acknowledges, adding that Proflowers.com overall is a "reputable" floral provider. The arrangement by Fromyourflorist.com had shorter stemmed roses than the others and was missing a box of chocolates.

"The quality of your flowers is really only going to be as good as the florist fulfilling that particular order," Gibbons reiterates.

Gibbons also went to two local NYC florists, FreshFlowers.com and Zezé to compare to the online order takers and was pleased with both orders.

The lesson learned, Gibbons concludes, is that even though ordering online is convenient and can be done up to the last minute, it's good to have a relationship with a local florist. "It's not a guessing game, you know what you're getting into," she says. "The overall experience might be better and in many cases you do get more bang for your buck."

•  Another recent test order story we heard about: "Sending Flowers: Do You Get Your Money's Worth?," which ran on WFMY News in North Carolina.

The report was the result of collaboration with four other television stations in Grand Rapids, Mich.; Washington, D.C.; Cleveland; and Knoxville, Tenn. They each used what they described as a "well-known order taker like 1-800-Flowers, FTD, Teleflora and Proflowers.com" and sent each other a total of 20 arrangements costing at least $50 a piece.

Though a few passed the test, many of the arrangements, according to the reporters, didn't come close to matching and seemed significantly smaller than what was ordered, and one station complained of "wilted" flowers.

After calling in a professional florist to analyze the arrangements, the reporters came to the following conclusion: "So this is what happens if you use an order taker instead of a local florist," WFMY says. "First you'll have to take out several of the major flowers for their delivery fees. Then, you'll need to take out more flowers for their service fees. And if you want it delivered in the morning, you might as well take out a few more flowers. What you're left with is a shell of the bouquet."

 --Kori Kamradt
kkamradt@safnow.org