Online florist marketing

I just placed an order for some flowers online and a bunch of things bothered my about the experience:

The very first thing they asked me for was the recipient’s zip code. So why did they wait until the checkout screen to tell me the following information?

• There’s a $15 “delivery fee,” even though I don’t even think they offered a local pickup option.
• Sunday delivery is not available in that area.

After checkout, they had a link to some survey thing through a third party. It promised me something like $100 for my thoughts. Of course on the next page this $100 turned out to be credit toward magazine subscriptions, I’d have to pay a “processing fee,” and the survey looked like an SAT exam. Want to know what I would like for a survey? A single (large or expandable) text box on the checkout page that asks, “How was your experience?”

And then in my confirmation email, I saw this text:

*** NOTICE: This order qualifies for a
FREE SHIPPING REBATE: > Click to claim

“Free shipping rebate” was actually in red, but WordPress’s visual editor is crapping out as usual. Hey, I’m in the middle of complaining. 🙂

I knew what that link was going to be thanks to previous experiences with the merchant, but this was especially scummy. It was listed right below the order total, and made no indication that it was an ad. So what was it? Some paid membership service where you get rebates on shipping charges. And their signup was labeled with “One-Time Offer!” in huge text. Their only service is a one-time offer? How long does it last? The life of the business? The offer probably referred to the free trial, but still, that’s like a grocery store offering free shopping bags (with purchase) as a “one-time offer.”