What is at the core of every edible fruit  consumer review embodies a basket full of policies, foreshadowing  the potential for customer discontent.  As for ordering a fresh fruit  bouquet, consumers circumnavigate frustration, disgruntlement and aggravation by reading through the lines of the terms of service.

Ordering an edible fruit basket call for few customer savvy tactics

Despite the anticipated uptick in Valentines’ Day sales, this year commanded  a slew of customer complaints.  According to National Retailers Federation, sales projections for Valentine’s Day  2012 predicted $17.6 billion in sales.

Among gift retailers, florists and fruit bouquet companies, Valentine’s Day is generally the next peak shopping time, following Christmas.  Just as consumers have to shop early online to avoid gift and delivery mishaps, online shoppers  might consider instituting specific protections to avoid disenchantment when ordering edible fruit bouquets during peak periods.

Amid Valentine’s 2012, more than a dozen customer reviews at Yelp.com and PissedConsumer.com  suggested that the fruit bouquet company, Edible Arrangements, serving the greater Boston area stranded  consumers with unfulfilled Valentine’s Day edible fruit baskets. While the company offers delivery, consumers might peruse the fruit bouquet company’s  FAQ page, where the terms of delivery are ambiguously defined as follows:

Edible Arrangements says: For orders shipping by UPS, you can typically order until at least3pmlocal (store) time on the day before the scheduled delivery date – and even later in some areas. Same day delivery is not available for orders shipped by UPS.

The inference of the aforementioned policy suggests that Edible Arrangements uses  the third party provider, UPS to accommodate  fruit bouquet deliveries. The maxim for this  fruit bouquet company entails these smart tactics:

1)      During special occasions such as Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and other peak holidays, consumers should opt for an in store-pickup. This saves not only on the fruit bouquet delivery cost ($12+), but any unforeseen glitches in delivery.  Moreover, Edible Arrangements even advises it customers to administer orders for peak days of observation in advance.

2)      When possible, consumers can beat the rush by opting for an earlier delivery date.

A review of Cherry Moon Farms company information, it is evident that the fruit bouquet company a subsidiary of the San Diego-based firm,  Provide Commerce—a family of ecommerce gifts sites. In other words, the fruit bouquet company relies on affiliated florists and gift shops to fulfill orders. On Mother’s Day and Valentine’s Day, some consumers run the risk of sending edible bouquets that are not always the freshest.

Maxim: Go directly to the source. Opt for a local florist or purveyor to fulfill fruit bouquet delivery over an e-commerce site. Remember to ask important questions: about the freshness of the edible fruit basket; whether the fruit bouquet delivery is guaranteed and if  the company outsources its deliveries.