Stargazers Designs

This is a bizarre and almost unbelievable story about the imagination and total lack of professionalism of the employee and owner of Stargazers floral design. On Sept. 9, 2013, flowers were delivered to our rural home by an employee of Stargazers Floral Design in Leicester, N.C., outside of Asheville. Two days later, on Sept. 11, two Buncombe County Sheriff trucks and 4 Buncombe County sheriff deputies arrived at our house. They asked to search the 5-acre property and the inside of our house and barn, which I gave them permission to do. When asked why they were there, they stated that the delivery person from Stargazers had reported seeing "WILD ANIMALS, IN CAGES, ON OUR LAND". At that time my husband and I didn't have a dog or cat much less wild animals in cages. It was totally unbelievable and bizarre. It didn't take the sheriffs long to realize that this was a false report, and after checking everything out they apologized, thanked me for my cooperation left. After recovering from the shock of this I expected to hear something from Stargazers. Instead I heard nothing. Three days later I stopped in their shop and asked the owner if she could give me some explanation of this or, in fact, if she had anything at all to say. She did not. Nothing. Both she and the female employee who had delivered the flowers stood there looking at me, mute. I asked again if they had anything to say. The employee muttered a reluctant apology and said she thought she'd seen wild animals in cages. The owner of Stargazers remained silent throughout. I was so stunned by this craziness that I finally turned around and left. There was never a phone call or a note from Stargazers. There was absolutely no reason or explanation for this intrusive and embarrassing occurrence. We had never used this florist before and I'd never seen or spoken with either of the people involved in this insanity. Still, that this would happen at all and, afterwards, not having it addressed in any way by the management speaks clearly as to the lack of class, much less professionalism, of the owner of this business. My husband and I have had conversations with the vice-president of FTD, with whom this order originated. We have told them that if they have any doubts about our story they can verify it by calling the Buncombe County Sheriff's Office, Asheville, N.C. They tell us that they are monitoring their business. Our money was, of course, returned by FTD but that is the least of our concerns. There should be some accountability for this kind of business behavior.