Lasting Impressions Florist & Gifts

Three wks prior to my daughter's wedding, I went in & placed a special order of flowers for her bouquet & reception. I emphasized the importance of having it available on the date that I needed, as this was for a destination wedding. I paid in full at the time of the order. The AM of pick-up, I called to ensure that they had arrived & ready for pick-up later that day. I was assured that all were in & ready . When I arrived that afternoon, a staff member walked out, dropped a large bucket of several different flowers on the floor & said I could "pick any of these out of the bucket". I asked where my order was, as these were NOT what I had ordered. I was told that somehow my flowers had been used in another arrangement. There were 4 flowers left that had been part of my order, but that was not enough & they were clearly the worst of the bunch, as the best looking flowers had been used. I was furious. I told them I was leaving at 4:30 am the next morning & I had a bride WITH NO BOUQUET, & no flowers for the reception. I asked if they had any relationships with other florists that they could call to see if they had something similar. It seemed the LEAST they could do would be to assist in finding a solution to their terrible mistake. I was told "no, we don't work with any other florists". They suggested I just buy silk flowers. That infuriated me even more. For the next 3-1/2 hrs, I drove all over going from place to place before they closed to find SOMETHING that would work, but very little was available at that late point in the day, & none would have the exact flowers I had special ordered. By this time, I had received a call from the manager, Terri, giving me a completely different story. She stated that she must have ordered the wrong ones. My receipt CLEARLY lists the flowers I had ordered. So now I have been told two different stories about my order, & at that point all I cared about was that I had a daughter getting married the next day with NO BOUQUET. The mngr offered to do another order & get the flowers in by 8:30 am the next day, however I reminded her that we were leaving at 4:30 am - NOT A SOLUTION. Then she said all she could do was give me a refund, which I accepted - NOT A SOLUTION. In my final moments with Terri on the phone, I expressed how angry I was that I had been put in this situation & how this had created a crisis for me & that this was not how I was supposed to be spending the day before leaving - I had many other things to do in preparation for our trip & the wedding. She said "yes, this hasn't made for a good day for me either". NOT WHAT I NEEDED TO HEAR - I DID NOT CARE ABOUT HOW HER DAY WAS GOING. I told her that there was no comparison with the situation she had put me in as being the mother of the bride with NO BRIDAL BOUQUET for her daughter. All in all, I ended up going to a total of 8 other florists, both here in VA, & also going place to place once we arrived in the wedding destination. Again, spending time that was not supposed to be allotted to finding flowers, but rather doing wedding preparations. This business did not care to provide any meaningful support in assisting me with the problem that THEY created. On the special day that every bride dreams of & after all the planning, this business destroyed all of that. There is NO EXCUSE for how this happened or how it played out once they KNEW they had made a terrible error. I always support small businesses, but I will never recommend this business.