Jacob Maarse

09/29/2008 Posted by lc42

I beg to differ with all the bad reviews!! I have been purchasing flowers from Jacob Maarse for about 17-18 years, and I have had nothing but the best service, professionalism, courteous and caring staff!!! I think that if you want a beautiful arrangement that the person you are sending it to will never forget, than this is your florist, but if you want simple, die tomorrow flowers than go elsewhere. That is the bottom line. I have dealt with one designer, and one designer only, her name is Susy MacMillan, and if she is not in or is on vacation I will wait for her return. It's pricey but you get what you pay for!! This is the only florist I would recommend!!

Pros: A beautiful store, wish I had alot of money to spend there, and have fresh flowers all week

Cons: none to my knowledge

02/18/2008 Posted by sidein

February 11th, after a great round of golf, I hurriedly called with the intention of sending my hostesses something pretty to say thanks. Instead the young man who answered the phone took my order which came to $207.87; about twice what I intended to spend. Now some would say he was a heck of a salesman. I have been cursing him (and myself) for the last week. Our conversation as close as I can recall...Me, "I'd like to send two ladies nice thank you bouquets". Him, "We don't have anything like that". Me, "Oh you know, a little nosegay type of thingy". Him, "I don't know what you're talking about, all our orders are custom". Me, "You don't know what I mean?" Him, "Is this an FTD order?" Me, "nooooo". Him, "We have a minimum order of $85 this week". Me, "Ok, I'd like to place an order, what can you recommend?" And that's how I ended up spending over $200. I've left out the condescending attitude with which this was all delivered. An attitude which has no place in a service industry. BUT, here's the part that's really bugging me. Those bouquets were totally inappropriate for what I wanted to say. They must have been gigantic!! It was embarrassing, for me and my hostesses!

Pros: Custom arrangements of beautiful flowers

Cons: Condescending attitude.

06/10/2007 Posted by vmarg

I received an arrangement of flowers for my birthday from this florist. I can't comment on pricing since I don't know how much the person paid for it. But I can say that I received several flower arrangements on that day and this was the earliest delivery in the afternoon. The flower arrangement was done in a nice quality heavy glass vase. It was beautiful with pink roses, other pink and white flowers, and a lot of greens. I have received a lot of arrangements in my life, and I have seen many more, and I can tell you this was not just a bunch of flowers artfully arranged in a vase. This was definitely a designed arrangement with flowers and greens cut at different heights to achieve an effect. This was done by people who certainly know what they are doing. This is a real designer's flower shop. There are a lot of florists in LA who claim to be real designers but most of them are talentless glorified flower arrangers. But as far as artistry and uniqueness goes this was definitely the most artistic that I have seen. I imagine that the flowers must be a little expensive, what I can say to that is if you want a dozen roses with a few lilies thrown in there are many flower shops that are probably much cheaper. But if you want something that is truly artistic and arranged with more exotic flowers and interesting shapes you should go here. As with any florist the number one thing to do is tell them what you're looking to spend and they can tell you what they can do with that amount of money. It was also surprising that they did so well for flowers that were delivered because I usually find that flowers that are delivered are usually much lower in quality, smaller arrangements done with much less care because it's not like you would stand at the door and complain about flowers you got for your birthday. The person who pays is not the person who receives the final product and the flower shops know this.

Pros: Beautiful flowers, really artistic arrangements

Cons: probably more expensive than your average florist

02/28/2007 Posted by stylechildla

flowers were NOT delivered AT ALL on the day it was scheduled to be delivered. i called the next day, due to a bad feeling, to confirm whether they were delivered. they were not. in fact, there were no records of the order that I had placed. i had to re-orer the arrangement and have it delivered that day due to their unorganized system. to top it off, my credit card was charged TWICE even though I expressed my concern that there was a possibilty of this double charge happening. i just called the store to have this problem fixed and i was given no apology for their mistake. in addition, i was also told that she would have to "investigate" the problem since "everything is hand written." wonderful.

Pros: nothing.

Cons: awful customer service. poor delivery abilities. bad organization of business.

11/08/2006 Posted by gmazzola

Flowers were delivered too late. While it's understandable that a delivery-man can be late--as they often are--it's not understandable that the store takes so little responsibility over it. You need to remedy dissatisfied customers!

11/08/2006 Posted by audrey38

I had ordered flowers for my parents' 30th wedding anniversary, and chose this florist due to their close proximity to my house as well as the decent score here on Citysearch. What a mistake!! I explicitly requested that the flowers be delivered prior to 12 p.m. since my mom would not be home after that time. Not only did they not deliver until after 2:30 when no one was home, their customer service was TERRIBLE. I called numerous times while waiting for the flowers and was given the run-around by 3 different employees. The next day I called and spoke with a manager and she told me that it was an additional charge for time sensitive deliveries. There was no mention of this prior to the delivery nor in any of my numerous calls where they acknowledged the 12 p.m. delivery time. What a load of crock. In a customer oriented business, they have zero customer service. Not only were they rude, unwielding, and difficult, the flowers were a little above average but not nearly worth the trouble or money. If you're looking for flowers, I HIGHLY suggest you go elsewhere where you will have a pleasant experience for your special occasion.

Pros: I can't think of any pros for this florist that puts it above any other neighborhood florist

Cons: Poor customer service, zero accountability, flowers not delivered on time

08/27/2005 Posted by daisygirl25

I have only had the best of experiences with Jacob Maarse. They have an amazing variety of flowers, not just your boring red roses and mums. The only time that I've had a problem, they just sent a replacement the next day. I don't know another florist in the area that has the same caliber of design that they do.

Pros: great design, helpful service, quality flowers

07/22/2005 Posted by hard8hopping

My wife received what would have been a beautiful vase of flowers had it not been left in our front yard to die in sweltering heat and sun. No phone call. No note under the door. No thought or consideration. They did redeliver an inferior replacement bouquet but disregarded the instruction to deliver after a certain time - waking our son from his nap. Rather than simply apologizing for the delivery person's disregard of the written instructions, the manager first tried arguing that the current time was an hour later than it actually was and that they were on-time rather than early. Realizing their mistake, the response was less than apologetic. This is fairly consistent with the poor service I've received when visiting the Pasadena store. The last time I shopped here, the boxed long red roses I purchased died within 3 days.

Pros: selection

Cons: rude service, poor service, dead flowers

03/08/2005 Posted by netter1

Jacob Maarse is generally unmatched in the local area for quality in flower variety, freshness, design, and service. They did the flower arrangements and bouquets for my wedding in January and even with a limited budget they were able to create beautiful arrangements that exceeded our expectations. Since then, I've purchased ready-to-go bouquets for friends and family and everyone has been impressed by the quality of their work. Even during the holidays they had great flowers for reasonable prices. After Christmas they have a huge sale of all their Christmas items. I bought my Christmas cards for next year there. Check it out. You won't be disappointed in their work.

Pros: Great design

Cons: Limited parking

02/04/2005 Posted by bahman

Flowers died after one day and they would not change them or, just a simple we are sorry. Very argent and rude. Not customer friendly. I will never use them again.

Cons: old flowers, poor service, rude