Blooming Britain www.bloomingbritain.com - Prior August 2006

It may be obvious to you because you where an employee, but to the rest of us mere customers it's not. I can't believe that anybody would want to buy the domain name of the brand with the reputation that Blooming Britain has.

It works, Jimbob cos the domain name has been sold. Thought that was obvious.

I just typed www.bloomingbritain.com into my address bar and guess what happened?

Yep...... a brand new web site came up selling flowers!

How does that work if they are in receivership?

Jimbo

My heart bleeds for him, he still took my money and my daughters gift knowing he was in trouble. Dreadful man, if knowing he was going out of business then he should have not deducted the money from peoples accounts, AND HE WAS A SOCIAL WORKER!

As an ex member of the Blooming Britain staff I could no longer stand ideally by when I read the torrent of complaints. Now don't get me wrong, Blooming Britain and its owner did let customers down, but he certainly is no crook or fraudster. Nothing untoward is happening. The company has simply gone out of business. Why? Cos it grew too fast. This time last year they only had 5 staff, latterly they had over 39! They simply could not cope with the growth and the demand for the service.

Another thing that let Blooming Britain down was the staff. It was found for example that the florist department had embezzled over £80,000 of the company's money! No wonder they had cash flow problems! One of their ex managers was also up to no good, deliberately trying to sabotage the company, thieving and even coaching members of staff how to sue the owner for trips and falls that never occurred!

Blooming Britain was also being held to ransom by the software and IT guys. These guys were demanding commission on every order, or they would shut off the web site! From what I hear Blooming Britain had paid them over £100,000!

Believe me, the owner did mean well. He tried to trade out of the situation. He tried to get on top of all the customer complaints (courier let them down at Valentines Day and Mothers Day). He even tried to give every customer who complained a free hamper!

Blooming Britain also had IT problems where emails were not being downloaded for days due to a server fault. There were also telephone problems with the switchboard the Landlords forced them to use (the switchboard was unable to cope). Watchdog confirmed this when they done a review of Blooming Britain.

The owner called in a consultant who promptly recommended that he close the business and go bankrupt! I'm angry at that cos I lost my job and from what I hear it was very bad advice given from the consultant as the company could have continued to trade, pay us, pay suppliers, refund customers and pay himself!

The owner tried to enter into a protected trust but the suppliers did not agree so he is now bankrupt and he is going to loose his home. Was it his fault that things went bad? Yes. However, it was not orchestrated and it was not intentional, he is not a crook and he is not being investigated for fraud.

Although the owner gave us only 30 minutes notice that the business was closing I still felt sorry for him. As I mentioned, Blooming Britain had been plagued by bad members of staff.

How do customers get their money back?

You may want to contact the local trading standards office in Hamilton. They will confirm that there is no fraud and the business simply went into receivership. If you do think Blooming Britain are crooks or criminals you may want to contact the police but I assure you that there was/is nothing untoward going on.

Hope this helps and good luck getting your money back.

You have been working with staff that have embezzled from the company, tried to sue for accidents that didn't happen and you tell me that you don't like me implying that I FELT I was lied to lol. I never called anyone a liar never stated a fact - I said it was how I felt. Strange that all the people that could supposedly help me were always of sick and then only one person could do a refund!! Just doesn't ring true.

I hold nothing personal against any of the staff, lots of people work for money first and to provide a service after, this is understandable.

As for your comment on me not knowing the facts and listening to gossip in other places.

I have stated the facts that happened to me and have gone on your replies.

You said you were proud of the orders that you done and I said in my case you were proud of nothing as thats what I received.

I do not appreciate the implication that the staff lied to customers. There were problems towards the end yes, but none of the staff were ever asked to lie. It may interest you to know that there are a good many reviews out there from previous members of staff trying to "stir things" with genuine customers like yourself. I have never seen a company be so unlucky with staff they had recruited. For example, over £80,000 was imbezled by the head of the florist department. One of the old managers tried to coach staff into sueing the owner for trips and falls that never occured! Another member of staff tried to steal the company database and set up against them...and so on. The owner appointed managers in each of the three departments of Blooming Britain and then left them to it. He rarely came into work and instead chose to work from home. This did not work. However, it would have worked if the right members of staff were in place. The owner was far too trusting. The management let him down big time. He should have been monitoring things more closely. How can you say "your proud of sending out nothing" - the cheek of it. You dont know the facts. You have listened to gossip and heresay from review web sites.

In my case and many others you are proud of sending out nothing then.

I have spoken to many employess at the company and was led a merry dance by them and personally feel I was being lied to and getting told the same thing over and over again, everyone that could help me was always of sick.

I can understand that employee's have a duty to the management and basically have to do as told to a certain extent. ...but this went on too long.

If the company could not handle the work coming in then surely there should have been a cut off point, why still take the money knowing that the orders could not be processed.

I do not put the blame of this to one man, I have not said that someone is a crook.

It's unfair that a company can do this to so many people and still be allowed to take more orders knowing they cannot fulfill them.

At the end of the day it was not receiving the gift I had ordered that was more upsetting than not getting a refund and when I have read about people sending flowers or gifts to those who are ill or in mourning that is even sadder.

I wish you more success in your present job.

Blooming Britain was a good place to work right up until the last month.

Despite many of the reviews that are being posted the owner is not a crook and not a criminal. He has gone bankrupt as a result of Blooming Britain and is likely to loose his home.

He tried to keep things together but the damn thing grew too fast in a very short space of time.

Why did I work for the company? Well, we did deliver successfully over 250,000 gifts. We did it efficiently and ethically and we received positive coverage by the press. Things went bad when the company tried to do too much. On Mothers Day alone we received over 8000 orders when we are used to dealing with only a few hundred. The owners fault? Yes. Incompetent? Yes. Crook and criminal definately no!

We as staff were proud of what we sent out and nobody should imply otherwise.

As an ex member of the Blooming Britain staff I could no longer stand ideally by when I read the torrent of complaints. Now don't get me wrong, Blooming Britain and its owner did let customers down, but he certainly is no crook or fraudster. Nothing untoward is happening. The company has simply gone out of business. Why? Cos it grew too fast. This time last year they only had 5 staff, latterly they had over 39! They simply could not cope with the growth and the demand for the service.

Another thing that let Blooming Britain down was the staff. It was found for example that the florist department had embezzled over £80,000 of the company's money! No wonder they had cash flow problems! One of their ex managers was also up to no good, deliberately trying to sabotage the company, thieving and even coaching members of staff how to sue the owner for trips and falls that never occurred!

Blooming Britain was also being held to ransom by the software and IT guys. These guys were demanding commission on every order, or they would shut off the web site! From what I hear Blooming Britain had paid them over £100,000!

Believe me, the owner did mean well. He tried to trade out of the situation. He tried to get on top of all the customer complaints (courier let them down at Valentines Day and Mothers Day). He even tried to give every customer who complained a free hamper!

Blooming Britain also had IT problems where emails were not being downloaded for days due to a server fault. There were also telephone problems with the switchboard the Landlords forced them to use (the switchboard was unable to cope). Watchdog confirmed this when they done a review of Blooming Britain.

The owner called in a consultant who promptly recommended that he close the business and go bankrupt! I'm angry at that cos I lost my job and from what I hear it was very bad advice given from the consultant as the company could have continued to trade, pay us, pay suppliers, refund customers and pay himself!

The owner tried to enter into a protected trust but the suppliers did not agree so he is now bankrupt and he is going to loose his home. Was it his fault that things went bad? Yes. However, it was not orchestrated and it was not intentional, he is not a crook and he is not being investigated for fraud.

Although the owner gave us only 30 minutes notice that the business was closing I still felt sorry for him. As I mentioned, Blooming Britain had been plagued by bad members of staff.

How do customers get their money back?

You may want to contact the local trading standards office in Hamilton. They will confirm that there is no fraud and the business simply went into receivership. If you do think Blooming Britain are crooks or criminals you may want to contact the police but I assure you that there was/is nothing untoward going on.

Hope this helps and good luck getting your money back.

blooming britain have gone bankrupt. contact your trading standards for advice.