Q: The day before my wedding last September, the florist rang me to say he had some bad news.

The flowers I had ordered as centre pieces had been delivered from Holland in the wrong colour. They'd come in buttermilk instead of the deep orange ordered.

He said he'd tried to get orange flowers through other florists, but to no avail.

He told me not to worry and that he would give the matter his personal attention.

On my wedding day, my first port of call was to check out the floral arrangements, only to discover that they were not the buttermilk I'd been told but vibrant yellow.

The florist had then destroyed them by trying to spray them orange and they were in vases filled with orange water.

Well, it was disastrous.

I was horrified and asked my father-in-law to explain what had happened in his speech as I didn't want people to think we'd ordered the monstrosities in front of them.

It spoiled my day, as I felt I had to explain this catastrophe to every guest.

If only I'd known, I'd have arranged an alternative for the day.

When I returned from honeymoon, I rang the florist to discuss a few issues, the table flowers, the bridesmaids' flowers which wilted by the evening and the failure to deliver the gents' flowers the evening before.

The florist listened and promised to get back to me.

From September 24 until the end of November, I tried frequently to get hold of him, but every time I rang, I was told he wasn't available. Staff promised he'd return my calls, but he never did. Can you help?

A: As someone with two family weddings coming up this year, this comes as a warning.

I rang the shop and the owner got back to me very speedily.

I have to say, his approach was very much one of 'hands up' I'm guilty as charged.

I told him that in my opinion, he'd broken the contract, had failed to supply the goods and should therefore refund the costs.

According to him, the spray used to try to achieve the desired orange colour, is a professional spray that florists often use and obviously it tinted the water.

He claims the flowers, 200 gladioli were orange when they arrived closed, but did turn a buttercup shade as the day went on.

He apologised profusely about the button holes not having arrived, but said he'd left his mobile number, so he could be contacted at any time.

Just as well, as it turned out and he received a call on the wedding day to inform him about this.

According to him, the groom was in Belfast en route to his home near the venue in Ballymena and it didn't seem to be a real problem for him to collect the men's flowers at the time.

He was surprised to learn about the bridesmaids' flowers had wilted, saying they were the same as the bride's which remained fine.

He concluded that he does more than 100 weddings a year and so far has received only congratulatory letters, rather than complaints.

Even after he'd explained his version of events, which sounded reasonable, I still advised him to negotiate a reasonable settlement with you and I hope he has.

Dry cleaning turned jacket into a rag

Q: I left a suede jacket in to be cleaned. When I went to collect it three weeks later, I was asked to inspect it before paying the £34.50 fee.

I was horrified to see that the pockets were out of shape and the jacket looked shabby.

I refused to accept it and the assistant said she'd send it back to be cleaned again.

It took another three weeks to clean and when it was returned, its condition was no different.

I still refused to pay, as the suede jacket had looked like new when it was left in to be cleaned.

There was no suggestion when I left it in, that it would come back in this state, and no warnings other than about buttons, belts and zips.

A: The law says that when you pay for a service, dry cleaning for example, you are entitled to certain standards.

The service should be carried out with reasonable care and skill and done to a certain standard of workmanship.

As far as you're concerned, this didn't happen. As far as the dry cleaners are concerned, they contend it did!

The cleaners you chose are long-time specialists, which is no doubt why you went there and while I sympathise with your disappointment, there's nothing I can do to help.

Suede and leather are natural fabrics and as such are subject to change in texture, colour, thickness and density.

The dry cleaning process used by this company is in accordance with - and they claim - even exceeds the British Standard 6453 requirements.

A spokesperson for the company stated that you would have been asked to sign a document with all relevant information, before handing over the jacket for cleaning.

She says they have a copy of this.

I would not recommend getting an expert opinion on this occasion, as the cost of that, if they didn't find in your favour, may well exceed the value of the item.

Beware that the results of dry cleaning suede or leather can often be disappointing.

Customer slates house insurers

Q: Lately I've heard noises from our roof over the bathroom which could come from birds.

I got a builder in to inspect the roof to see what was wrong.

He said a number of slates had come loose, causing them to move and there were pigeons in the roof space.

He repaired the loose slates, but told me the roof needed replaced.

I contacted my insurance company and requested a claim form. They said they'd send a surveyor out.

The surveyor inspected the roof from ground level and I then received a letter, turning down the claim.

I wonder if you could be of any assistance to me. They took my money to insure the building and won't pay the claim.

A: In my experience and through that of readers, insurance companies will often do their best NOT to pay up.

However, under the circumstances here, I have to accept that the damage to your roof was due to what's called wear and tear.

Such damage is not covered under your buildings insurance policy, nor in most. I have returned all the literature you enclosed.

BT broadband problem sorted but call centre costs mounted

Q: My son has been a BT customer for seven years and has been online with them for the three years.

Unfortunately, for the past three weeks, his broadband connection hasn't been working.

He phoned BT and was given a number to ring for faults - which was a premier line number to a call centre in India and very expensive.

He phones this number every day, either from his mobile, or else by coming home and missing his lunch.

He usually has to hang on, sometimes for an hour!

It's all been to no avail and it's very frustrating and it's still not working.

As well as the mounting phone bill, he's still having to pay for broadband that isn't working.

In my desperation, I persuaded a BT engineer who was working close by to test the wiring in my son's house.

After testing the connection, he said it was fine and the fault was with BT.

My son is still having to phone India and nothing is being done for him.

Please can you sort this very expensive problem out for him.

A: A spokesperson for BT emailed me back to inform me that this problem has since been solved to the customer's satisfaction.

She didn't offer any further information and I'm wondering if they refunded the charges for the period the broadband wasn't available through no fault of your son's.