What's On Your Mind? Just Flowers, T-Mobile, Pampers

The florist business appears to have moved to the Internet, with consumers now conditioned to place their orders with an online provider. But the process can be vulnerable to mistakes and incomplete information, as Tina, of Carmichael, Calif., said she discovered when she placed an order through Just Flowers.

“I ordered flowers via the Internet and it quoted me a price to send to therecipient,” Tina told ConsumerAffairs.com. “I had to enter the address and zipcode. Just Flowers called the day it was supposed to be delivered stating the area is rural and only one florist would handle.”

Because only one florist serviced the area, the price turned out to be higher than the price Tina was quoted. Tina points out that when she added the city and zipcode, the system should have recognized the under-served area and quoted her the correct price.

A little warning would be nice

Anna, of College Station, Tex., is a grad student who went to Europe for three weeks to do research. Like many U.S. travelers, when she returned home she found she had a huge T-Mobile bill.

“Yes, consumers are responsible for understanding their service plans,” Anna said. “However, T-mobile should much, much better inform customers of the insane charges that could be incurred overseas. If you are overseas, one cannot even check the daily charges incurred! T-mobile as a responsible customer service company should not bother offering international services to customers when such a thing does not exist!”

True international service, Anna maintains, is one that has a reasonable price.

Stubborn rash

You might remember last year when parents, up in arms over severe diaper rash, took to Facebook and other sites blaming Proctor and Gamble's Pampers Dry Max, a new disposable diaper designed to keep babies drier. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) investigated and said it found no reason to recall the diapers. But some parents are not convinced.

“We just had our baby boy in May 2011,” Kristen, of Verona, N.J., told ConsumerAffairs.com. “We started using Pampers Dry Max and Swaddlers and since day one he has had a horrible diaper rash. Diaper rash isn't even the word from the rash that he had. Red sore blisters, it was horrible. We first thought it was his formula, so we changed that, but it didn't go away. Then we thought it was the wipes, we changed that, but it still didn't go away. We went to the pediatrician and he gave us prescription diaper rash medicine and still the rash was not getting better. Finally we decided to change the diapers and within 24 hours the rash began getting better.”

ConsumerAffairs.com is not the only media outlet still getting these reports from consumers. Channel 2 in Baltimore recently obtained CPSC documents under the Freedom of Information Act, but reports entire pages were redacted. The station reports key documents were withheld from the investigation.