'The saga continues': Auckland florist apologises but customers still waiting for Valentine's flowers

An Auckland florist accused of ruining Valentine's Day after failing to deliver flowers has apologised, but customers say they are still out of pocket ... and roses.

Tomuri & Co Flowers, in Botany Town centre, East Tamaki, said it had been "inundated" with queries from disgruntled customers who had not received their flowers.

According to many customers, the florist promised delivery by 5pm on Valentine's Day, later changing that to 6pm. With several of these being sent to business addresses, the delay meant people went home without their flowers, that may or may not have been delivered after hours.

Martin Pepper said his wife got quite the shock when her flowers didn't show up for the first time in 37 years of knowing her.

"We both work at the same place and everyone is looking at me going, 'where are the flowers, you always send flowers,' and of the group who normally receive flowers, she was the only one of the group who didn't receive them," he said.

The florist said the delivery failure was down to a "total lack of communication".

It had its busiest day on record yesterday, with about 2145 orders, 436 of which were ordered on Valentine's Day and 207 orders that were placed the day prior.

"We wanted to extend our sincere apologies to those customers who did not receive their flowers on Valentine's Day," the company said in a statement.

"While all our orders had been dispatched yesterday, the reality of our situation extends no blame toward our couriers but the total lack of communication by which we have demonstrated over the period of 48 hours."

This was partly due to high demand over Valentine's week, the statement said.

"We make no excuses other than we simply could not keep up with the level of demand for deliveries and we have since put new measures in place to mitigate production and courier issues in future."

Staff were working through a backlog of queries. Customers were asked to email service@tomuri.co.nz and quote their order number. Remedies would be worked out on a "case by case basis".

However, a number of customers were yet to receive any communication from the florist, despite numerous attempts to request a refund.

"Bloody useless," one said.

"My partner is at work and has been since 8.30am. Still no flowers arrived either."

Another said the ongoing lack of communication was disappointing.

"My partner still hasn't received his flowers, I have had no communication from Tomuri & Co and very disappointed. The saga continues."

The florist ran into similar problems in 2017, when they failed to deliver 800 roses on time because they weren't picked up by couriers, according to Māori Television.