Petflytrap.com

Carnivorous

3826 Mossy Oaks Road E
Spring, Texas 77389 (United States)
281-433-3290

Reviews:

positives
neutrals
negatives

Displaying the 20 most recent reviews

RatingContent
Negative
On Dec 11, 2022, Pinguicula (24 reviews) from Sitka, AK (Zone 7a)

Placed an order for a rather expensive Utricularia beaugleholei for $159.99, along with some other plants. The order arrived and all the other plants were great, but when I unpacked the Utricularia there was nothing. Bare growing medium, no sign of it. I checked the packing materials, the box, everything. I emailed them and the owner responded and said perhaps it had died down and would pop up eventually. So to watch the pot and let him know. Well I waited 9 months, nothing. I responded to his email and said it had never materialized, he never replied. So I'm just out $159.00 for a plant that apparently never made it in the box. I've been growing Utrics and CP's in general for decades so I know what I was looking for. It's not a case of just not realizing it was a Utricularia. I even sent a photo of the pot and packing. I'd been buying plants from PFT for years, but after that I go elsewhere.

Positive
On Jul 5, 2020, Qgirl13 (1 reviews) from Dayton,
United States

I have been a customer of Petflytrap since July 2018, when I first discovered Carnivorous plants. I have both visited the Nursery in person and ordered mail delivery of plants online. Both experiences have always been stellar. I can’t say enough wonderful things about the owners, Mike and Stephanie Howlett. I’ve ordered Sarracenia, Nepenthes, Dionaea, Cephalotus, Pinguicula, Drosera, and Heliamphora. I own approximately 50 unique plants from Petflytrap, purchased over a 2 year period. All of them have settled in and grown exceptionally well for me. I haven’t lost a single plant I’ve purchased from Petflytrap. Each plant has been shipped potted and meticulously packaged, as to minimize shipping disturbances. Plants always arrive fresh and in fantastic condition! They ship on Mondays and Wednesdays typically, and my plants get to me within 1-3 days of shipping. They also send a purchase confirmation when the order is placed, and a shipping confirmation with tracking, when plants ship. They have been very accommodating to special requests, and when I message or email them, I always get a response within a few hours. They are very willing to help out their customers with most reasonable requests, and are highly responsive with information and plant help/guidance once they are in my care. Additionally, their website is chock full of growing guides and information on Carnivorous plants, and Mike and Stephanie are both fountains of knowledge! Just call or email! I currently have about 100 Carnivorous plants in my collection. I’ve purchased about 60% of those plants, the other 40% were trades or freebies. While I have terrific plants from other nurseries and sellers, Petflytrap is my go-to nursery, as they tick all the boxes! Healthy plants, friendly people, excellent customer relations, helpful and informative, quick responses, well priced, and always creating a great customer experience. But don’t just take my word for it. See for yourself! Most of my Petflytrap plants are featured on my Insta! Instagram.com/theoriginalmarquesa


Company representative comment on July 6, 2020:
On Jul 6, 2020 11:27 AM, Petflytrap.com responded with:

Thank you VERY much for your wonderful review! We are pleased that you are happy with your PetFlyTrap babies. Please let us know if we can help you further...we pride ourselves on being an educational resource for all levels of carnivorous plant enthusiasts!

Positive
On Jan 28, 2015, JesseLee (1 reviews) from Jasper, IN

I ordered a flytrap and a butterwort they both arrived in perfect shape. I had an incident when I put the flytrap in its new container I ripped pretty much all the roots off I sent them an email and they responded right away with instructions to follow. My plant is now alive and well and growing new traps. I could not be happier with there prompt and caring service. Thanks. Jesse Siebe

Negative
On Jan 30, 2014, Thagirion (5 reviews) from Tampa, FL

Posted on January 26, 2014, updated January 30, 2014 I have ordered twice with this person and had two bad experiences. My story is similar to the ones below. Bad customer service, slow shipping, sick plants and atrocious communication. Though my orders were from 1-2 years ago people need to know that this is a bad company. I think too many people are keeping quiet about their bad experiences. I ordered two nepenthes back in 2011 and the guy took forever to ship despite them being regular inventory plants after I asked to replace one with another because I realized I could not care for it because it was not right for my climate. Here are the full details with emails and unprofessional excuses he made. //thagirion.livejournal.com/542530.html Stupidly I decided to give him a second chance the second year because I really wanted another nepenthes no one else had. I have learned that no matter how much I want a plant to never deal with this guy again. It's not worth it. Here is the break down of those emails and how it's always someone else's fault but not his. //thagirion.livejournal.com/611591.html I got the idea to file the complaint with BBB from the person below me. I find it interesting that she had negative then changed it to I think neutral. Makes me wonder if she was forced to change her response somehow because what she went through also is no excuse and worthy of a negative review. He finally sent me my plants after the BBB complaint. I found it fascinating how fast he suddenly was though I didn't want the plants anymore and was so stingy to want to keep my $39. This thread shows the types of sick plants that you get in the mail and you can see how many others have been burned by this company //www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php/130433-Am-I-crazy Here are the plants I received //www.terraforums.com/forums/showthread.php/130339-Sick-plants They died no matter what and you see that the other experienced growers said it was not good and had also had bad service from this place. This place should not be in business and care better for its products and for its customers. I recommend to all to stay away and look somewhere else. My story is not the only horror story out there. Let me state that I am an experience grower of nepenthes and have botanical garden quality specimens of difficult species such as N. bicalcarata, N. albomarginata and many others. I did all that could be done but these poor things were too far gone to be saved.


On January 30th, 2014, Thagirion added the following: And there is the quick response I expected. Gotta love it. If this guy quit worrying about negative reviews and worried more about customer service and plant care perhaps there would be none or very little. Yes the experience is from two years ago but the fact it happened twice in 2011 and then in 2012 (early 2012 mind you so it hasn't been exactly two years on that one yet) means it still needed to be addressed. As it stands the negative and the neutral reviews (which may as well be negative because people clearly were not pleased enough to write a good review) far out weigh the good ones. I love how he contradicts himself saying he does not approve of posting personal information yet that's what he goes on to do here. No sympathy. See the links for more examples of "huge" excuses. How convenient they happened on two separate orders. The issue that matters is not addressed. Bad communication. Bad service. That he sold sick plants. And as shown in the photos and in the forum links and all the negative comments here including the one that changed his stock is atrocious. So he has more plants than anyone else? I wouldn't be proud of that if my collection was all dead and dying plants. Let's assume he has more than anyone. The quality from other nurseries it far superior. I can recommend excellent places where I have spent hundreds of dollars. This guy? He could have made great with my money but no. Instead he lost a good paying customer and is losing others. I am not the only negative review here and from what I have seen the story is always the same. I will not be the last. I stand by this. This company has an F rating on Better Business Bureau //www.bbb.org/houston/business-reviews/plants-retail/petflytrap-in-spring-tx-90004534 People can see for themselves and make up their own minds.
Company representative comment on January 27, 2014:
On Jan 27, 2014 10:46 PM, petflytrap.com (aka Exotic Gardens, formerly Predator-Plants.com) responded with:

While I don't agree with posting personal information to justify problems, it seems there is little else to do here, as the issue occurred years ago. At the time of these orders, the owner of the company (me) was going through a VERY messy divorce, and both of my parents died within five weeks of each other. Couple all of that with holding down a full time job and the more typical issues that we all deal with. It was a very difficult time, and our customer service suffered at the time because of it. As the owner of the company, I will take the heat for that, no matter what the reason (which I would think most people would understand). However, I think it very unfair to post a review for an order that was placed years ago, and hope that anyone reading this will take the time to look at the customer comments section of our home page, where we occasionally post some of the POSITIVE comments we regularly receive. These are people who are not keeping quiet about their GOOD experiences with PetFlyTrap.com.

I will also mention that as a government employee, I realize that for every person who voices a negative comment, there are usually dozens of people who have positive comments, but don't take the time to voice them. I think it's unfortunate that someone would feel the need to post a negative review based on a two-year old complaint. We have almost 10,000 plants in stock, more diversity of carnivorous plants than any other online nursery in the country, and ship out hundreds if not thousands of plants monthly. We would not be in business if we didn't ship healthy plants that do well for our customers.

Negative
On Sep 20, 2013, Silenicus (3 reviews) from Little Rock, AR

My first experience with this company was not good. There was a delay in sending the plants due to a backlog. No problem there, but I got the shipping notice on the Thursday before Labor Day. That meant that the plants would be in the box at least until Tuesday. I did not get the plants on Tuesday. They arrived at our local sort facility which sent them to another city. The package was sent to a third city, back to the second city, out for delivery and finally back to our city. They were delivered on Thursday. When I got the plants, they looked terrible. The leaves were shriveled and most were turning brown. I immediately notified the seller. I sent a total of three e-mails and left a phone message. The Drosera is dead. I think the Nepenthes is too, but I keep hoping that something will reemerge. Now obviously the seller is not entirely to blame for the condition of the plants. Though sending them over a long weekend was not a good start. What has me upset is that I have received no response from any of my attempts to contact the seller. I will not deal with this vendor again.

Neutral
On Mar 23, 2013, ayahuasca (3 reviews) from Beverly Hills, CA

I have only placed one order with petflytrap.com. I ordered a Cephalotus. My position on that order is "eh...". Since that order, I have bought several other cephs and can say that the one I got from PFT was undoubtedly the weakest and slowest growing. I also caught myself wondering if it arrived with some kind of infection. Its color was always a little off and growth never really impressive. That is purely speculation- the point I am trying to make it that the plant seemed significantly weaker than my others. I can't really say I was unhappy with my order. It did take longer to ship out than most places, not a huge deal. Their selection is great- they are often the only vendor which carries certain species of plants. Unfortunately, for what I got, their price was disappointing. Their prices are really high for other plants as well and I can not stand the sensational phrasing they use on their site ("SUPER RARE", "NEVER OFFERED", etc...) , feels like shopping for plants on ebay. I still consider them a potential resource when looking for plants but they are lower on my list of considerations.

Negative
On May 30, 2012, newtonsthirdlaw (2 reviews) from Arlington, TX

I haven't received my plants yet but...I ordered 3 nepanthes from a company called Houston Herp. supply because I thought it was more " local". I did not know my order was through petflytrap.com until I got a paypal notification in my email. This is unethical in my opinion. I rechecked and this name does not appear anywhere when you are checking out through paypal. I would have ordered from someone else if I had known. Has anyone else had this issue? The plants better be in good condition. I feel mislead and am angry about it.

Neutral
On Apr 10, 2012, trospero (20 reviews) from Corvallis, OR

Posted on December 20, 2011, updated April 10, 2012 Posted on August 19, 2011, updated December 20, 2011 I am a new customer of petflytrap.com, having made my first purchase with them in July 2011. I have bought from them twice at the time of writing this review and have another order planned. Having read some customer's bad experiences I have to wonder if this is the same nursery I bought from! When emailed with questions, the owner of the nursery responded personally, and very quickly, to answer my questions. He was thorough in his reply and very helpful. Mike went out of his way to make sure I was able to get specific plants I was looking for, which impressed me greatly. My orders were acknowledged quickly and shipped sooner than expected. Five stars for customer service. The plants I bought (all were Nepenthes) were larger than expected and spectacularly healthy plants. I feel that I received excellent value for the $$. Plants were packed with great care and arrived without any damage or indication of stress. Petflytrap ships by USPS Priority Mail, which takes only 2 days to get to me after leaving their nursery. I will definitely be buying more plants from these guys, and I recommend them without hesitation. Definitely one of the best experiences I have had when buying carnivorous plants by mail order. No, I am not in any way associated with this nursery, I am a genuine first-time customer of theirs and my comments are honest and truthful. What can I say? I am pleased with what I got!


On December 20th, 2011, trospero changed the rating from positive to neutral and added the following: Update: I made a couple more purchases from petflytrap.com since my first review and I have to say not all of my purchases have been as satisfactory. One of the more expensive plants I bought recently was a rather sad specimen, looking as though it had grown well at one time, but had put on several new leaves that indicated it was not liking its growing conditions. (small, malformed leaves, no pitcher formation) I expected a better looking plant for nearly a hundred bucks. Petflytrap charges a premium price compared to several other shops offering similar product, so the product should reflect this higher price, IMO. I'm not suggesting that petflytrap doesn't have some good plants, but my recent experience tells me that I cannot necessarily expect to be shipped top notch specimens in ideal condition. This has made me think twice about buying from this merchant, I'm sorry to say. Customer service has been excellent, I have not changed my mind about that.
On April 10th, 2012, trospero added the following: The Nepenthes I bought from this company have been without a doubt the slowest plants to settle in to my collection. Some were in good condition when I received them, others we're really iffy. Two specimens are just now starting to make healthy new growth: one is six months from the time I got it, and the other is eight months in my care. I don't know what this company does to their plants but Nepenthes purchased from ALL other nurseries have settled in and resumed growth much sooner than these plants have. (FYI I have a highland/intermediate greenhouse dedicated to Nepenthes, so my growing conditions are engineered specifically for this genus) I think part of the problem is that the plants are planted in long fiber Sphagnum only, which has been packed FAR too tightly in the pot. The hanging baskets they ship plants in also appear unsuitable in that there is insufficient drainage from the bottom: repotting might be advisable, and additional drainage holes should be drilled in the bottom of the hanging baskets! If you are going to buy from petflytrap, I suggest you purchase only plants recently added to the catalog (ASK!); it seems that new inventory is likely to be in much better shape than plants that have been in the nursery for a long time.

Positive
On Feb 21, 2012, justynsmommy (1 reviews) from Parkland, WA

Posted on February 18, 2012, updated February 21, 2012 Well, so far I ordered ONE plant from this company and it took EIGHT days to ship out. I contacted the company via email 2 days in a row and by phone I left 3 messages 3 days in a row. I had to contact the BBB to even get them to ship out what I had paid for! the BBB had to contact them to light a fire under their a**! I would be perfectly okay with it taking 8 days, but don't advertised several times on your website that it ONLY takes 2-3 days to ship out. I have a 4 year old that I told it would be here in a week. In my opinion, it is not very professional for a company to advertise one thing, and do another. I STILL have yet to receive my item and have a feeling that if i am already having problems, the plant most likely won't be up to par either. Ill keep everyone posted on the status of the plant. I have to say if it is in good condition and everything else is good, then I will be more than happy to say so. Putting this out there so other families don't get screwed also! I honestly don't think I would have ever gotten my item had i not contacted the BBB. I happen to think it is NOT a coincidence that they not return my calls or emails (which i might say were very very kind, i was not angry until day 7) and then less than 24 hours after i contact them, and i receive a response from the BBB that they have sent the company petflytrap.com 2 responses that they just so happen to suddenly mail out my product today.


On February 21st, 2012, justynsmommy changed the rating from negative to positive and added the following: As far as the plant goes, it arrived today in EXCELLENT condition! looked like very much care was put into having the package wrapped perfectly, even came with a handwarmer to keep the plant warm. i can tell petflytrap.com cares a lot about the plants themselves. here is a link to a picture i took less than 2 minutes after it arrived. //i96.photobucket.com/albums/l163/jussin3/Resize_P02-21-12_13-09110000E51.jpg

Positive
On Aug 23, 2011, thefury (1 reviews) from Brooklyn, NY

I have to say - I've placed multiple orders with these guys and have had a fantastic experience every time. Incredibly consistent. Having ordered carnivorous plants from a number of online retailers, including supposedly more reputable organizations, I can confidently say that this place has won my continued business with their extensive selection and great customer service. On one particular order, this vendor was awaiting on arrival of a shipment of plants from an international distributor, and my order was delayed past its lead time because of issues with said distributor. Mike responded to my status inquiries promptly and with great attention to detail. Communication about the status of the shipment was excellent. This company also makes good use of Facebook to push updates out to their customers. If you haven't already, you should check out their fan page. I don't mean to disparage the other reviews on this site, but Petflytrap.com's actions documented on this review page seem entirely reasonable... the wilted fly trap is simply a low-growing cultivar (many dozens of VFT cultivars grow in this manner), and offering to accept a return of the plant for a full refund seems like a very generous offer, considering the risks involved with repackaging and shipping the plant. Another plant that died two weeks after receipt likely expired under the recipient's care. Offering a discount on a future order seems like a bargain to me. Now, the quality of the plants. The Nepenthes I've bought from these guys are bigger and have more live pitchers than similarly priced specimens from other websites I've done business with. The rosetted sundews I've purchased here come with more plants per pot than other websites. The packaging and time-to-shipment are also top-notch. I'm usually not one to write reviews of a business unless they've really screwed me. But I felt like I needed to jump in on this discussion considering the great experience I've had with petflytrap.com and the extent to which I disagree with other reviews posted here.

Negative
On Aug 17, 2011, matti28 (1 reviews) from St Peters, MO

I wish I would have seen the reviews for this company before I gave them my money. I ordered a flytrap for my kids, they were sooo excited and kept waiting for it everyday. I received it in a timely manner,however, it was wilted and didn't last long. I read the paper enclosed stating the hot weather may affect it and also what to do if you have a complaint. I sent an email the very next day with the picture they requested on their insert!! It has now been 9 days, three emails, two voicemails and I have yet to hear ONE word back. I will be reporting this company to BBB you can believe. I haven't ever been treated like this from a company and I am just astounded that they would not even return my calls or emails. What terrible business practices this company has. I would not suggest this company to anyone at anytime and I hope they are happy they got our money and sent us a flytrap that is now dead already. That isn't really what I was going for with my kids.


Company representative comment on August 20, 2011:
On Aug 20, 2011 3:29 PM, petflytrap.com (aka Exotic Gardens, formerly Predator-Plants.com) responded with:

We have sent Ms. Mattingly two e-mails at this point; however, it appears that the first e-mail was not received. We have placed the picture Ms. Mattingly sent us here: http://www.petflytrap.com/catalog/Mattinglyflytrap.jpg for reference.

The cultivar of Venus Flytrap that was purchased is called 'Big Jaws'. One of the characteristics of this clone is that it produces lots of leaves that spread out at or near the ground and form a rosette of leaves and traps. It is quite a spectacular plant when full-grown, and can produce traps almost two inches long. The plant in the picture is producing traps that are close to an inch long already, and the new leaves coming up in the center of the plant show that the plant is in good health. The leaves are laying flat out from the growth point because this is typical for this cultivar, not because of any health issue.

We have offered Ms. Mattingly a full refund if the plant is returned to us in the same condition in which it was received.

Neutral
On Aug 13, 2011, bernwink (1 reviews) from Wilmington, NC

Posted on August 13, 2011, updated August 13, 2011 I bought 2 small nepeles. They were much smaller than expected. It took several weeks to get my order. One plant is still alive. The other died a couple days after received. Their return/refund policy is very strict so I am SOL. I really would just like a replacement plant for the one that died because i really like these plants and can't get them here.


On August 13th, 2011, bernwink added the following: Nepenthes not nepeles

Negative
On Aug 6, 2011, borderpc (1 reviews) from Boise City, ID

Posted on August 6, 2011, updated August 6, 2011 Posted on August 5, 2011, updated August 6, 2011 Very upset with this company. I could have gone to Walmart but I thought I would order from the little guys. Well the little guy screwed me. I ordered on the 12th of July. Did not get my plant for TWO (2) Weeks. The plant arrived way smaller than shown in the pictures.... ABOUT THE SIZE OF A PENNY. The plant was almost dead. I tried to bring it back but it died. The owner stated the following: Mr. Morgan – We have researched your shipment through the USPS.com tracking system, with the following results: Label/Receipt number: 9405 5036 9930 0164 0441 78 Detailed Results: //trkcnfrm1.smi.usps.com/PTSInternetWeb/images/spacer.gif //trkcnfrm1.smi.usps.com/PTSInternetWeb/images/spacer.gif Bullet Delivered, July 21, 2011, 1:21 pm, BOISE, ID 83706 Bullet Out for Delivery, July 21, 2011, 9:48 am, BOISE, ID 83708 Bullet Sorting Complete, July 21, 2011, 9:38 am, BOISE, ID 83708 Bullet Arrival at Unit, July 21, 2011, 5:15 am, BOISE, ID 83708 Bullet Processed through Sort Facility, July 20, 2011, 10:53 pm, BOISE, ID 83708 Bullet Processed through Sort Facility, July 19, 2011, 7:14 pm, HOUSTON, TX 77201 Bullet Shipment Accepted, July 18, 2011, 9:50 pm, HUMBLE, TX 77338 Bullet Electronic Shipping Info Received, July 18, 2011 While we try to allow time for our customers to notify us of any problems that may have occurred during shipment, both the Shipment Confirmation e-mail and the packing slip that was included with your shipment stated that we needed to be notified of any issues immediately upon receipt of your order. Since your order was delivered on July 21, this means it was almost two weeks between when your order was received and when you notified us. Unfortunately, after this amount of time, we can no longer honor our guarantee of live delivery. We still value you as a customer though, and would like to offer you a one-time Promotional Code that you can use to receive $7.00 off of your next order from PetFlyTrap.com. Please use the one-time Promotional Code of JerMorCred (case sensitive) to receive this credit on your next order. Regards, Mike Howlett


On August 6th, 2011, borderpc added the following: This is how I get treated by these guys!! This is not what I wanted. I want what I ordered. This is insane. I have to pay to have the crappy plant reshipped??? Here we go... This is a picture of the plant the day I got it. There are 3 penny sized plants. 2 are dead.. The last hanging on for dear life. //i33.photobucket.com/albums/d65/borderpc/3.jpg This is the plants now: //i33.photobucket.com/albums/d65/borderpc/deadplant.jpg Finally a picture to show you how small the plants really are: //i33.photobucket.com/albums/d65/borderpc/deadstill.jpg Then after I sent him an email saying that I want this situation corrected he sends me this nasty email... Not a good businessman. In short he tells me I have to pay to ship the plant again. I am done doing future business with them. I just want a refund now. My first email sent AUG 3rd. I tried calling sooner but no one answers the phones there. EMAIL #1 my plant was half dead on arrival and did not survive the shock PETFLY RESPONSE:While we try to allow time for our customers to notify us of any problems that may have occurred during shipment, both the Shipment Confirmation e-mail and the packing slip that was included with your shipment stated that we needed to be notified of any issues immediately upon receipt of your order. Since your order was delivered on July 21, this means it was almost two weeks between when your order was received and when you notified us. Unfortunately, after this amount of time, we can no longer honor our guarantee of live delivery.We still value you as a customer though, and would like to offer you a one-time Promotional Code that you can use to receive $7.00 off of your next order from PetFlyTrap.com. Please use the one-time Promotional Code of JerMorCred (case sensitive) to receive this credit on your next order. MY SECOND EMAIL: I will give you until I get back from my vacation to remedy this or I will dispute the charge with my Credit Card. The plant that I have looks nothing like what I ordered. Your pictures show a full grown mature plant. I received a half dead plant barely bigger than my thumb. I am asking that you be reasonable with me. At this point I want a refund. If you agree to this we can be done. PETFLY REPONSE: I’m at a loss here. I offered you a store credit for the cost of the plant, even though you didn’t notify us until almost two weeks after the plant was received. Why did you not contact us for two weeks? You ask us to be reasonable, but the first thing you did when you received our offer was to post a negative report on Dave’s Garden; how is that considered reasonable? We have literally scores of these plants growing, and literally thousands of carnivorouis plants. And they’re doing just fine. The plant that was shipped to you was perfectly fine when it left. Other customers have received their ‘Frasier Island’ sundews in good condition. You have been offered a store credit for the cost of the plant, even though you did not notify us immediately upon receipt of your order, as was stated on the packing slip in the shipment.I think we have been more than reasonable on our part. I know for a fact that the pots of Drosera spatulata ‘Frasier Island’ come with multiple plants in the pot; so even if one or more plants happened to die in transit (which rarely if ever happens), this would still leave multiple plants in the pot.You mention “The plant that I have” in your e-mail below; I thought you said it was dead when you received it… that “it did not survive the shock.” Which is it? We will be posting a rebuttal on Dave’s Garden, and will dispute any chargeback you file. I don’t understand why you feel that threatening tactics are supposed to force a well-known company into giving you a free plant AND paying for the shipping, but at this point, I see your actions simply as a way to try and force us into giving you something for nothing. Are you just trying to dishonor our business or what? How was the offer of a store credit for the cost of the plant not reasonable? You still have not answered the primary question here: if the plant truly was received in such poor condition, then why did you wait two weeks to notify us of the issue? Regards, Mike Howlett PetFlyTrap.com www.petflytrap.com orders@petflytrap.com Become a fan of PetFlyTrap on FaceBook!
On August 6th, 2011, borderpc added the following: Here is a picture of what they claim you will get next to what you actually get.. These pictures on petflytraps website alone are misleading!! //i33.photobucket.com/albums/d65/borderpc/hahaha.jpg
Company representative comment on August 5, 2011:
On Aug 5, 2011 11:03 PM, petflytrap.com (aka Exotic Gardens, formerly Predator-Plants.com) responded with:

We ship out literally hundreds of orders monthly, and take great care to ensure that the plants are healthy when shipped, packaged well for shipment, include basic care instructions upon arrival, and tell our customers where to get more detailed care information (from our PetFlytrap.com web site for free). In addition, the packing slip clearly states that we require notification of any problems immediately upon receipt of the order to honor our live delivery guarantee; many factors can affect the health of a plant once it is in the care of someone who may or may not know how to care for these wonderful little plants. Mr. Morgan did not do so for 13 days after the plant was received. Why?

The plant in question is a carnivorous sundew plant Drosera spatulata 'Frasier Island'. The pots we ship out contain multiple plants (typically 15 to 20 plants) in a clump about 1.5 inches in diameter. Each plant is fairly small, but this is typical for this cultivar of plant. If the pot Mr. Morgan received is now down to a single plant, then perhaps this 'penny-sized' estimate is correct; however, this is certainly not what we shipped to him.

Mr. Morgan notified us for the first time 13 days after he had received his plant; yet we still offered him a store credit for the full cost of the plant. Mr. Morgan's response to this offer was to post this negative comment here on Dave's Garden. He has since replied and asked us to be reasonable; our stance is that we have done so, and more.

His last e-mail also makes mention of "The plant that I have..." Yet his first e-mail to us (very belligerent at the least, and which just happens to not have been included here) stated that the plant arrived almost dead and had since died. The e-mails contradict each other; which is it?

It is extremely unfortunate to carry this matter to this extent, and quite frankly, this has me very upset; but as a business owner who ships hundreds of orders monthly and takes great pride in offering the most diverse online selection of quality carnivorous plants in the U.S., I cannot understand how our offer was anything less than reasonable, given the extended time between receipt of the order and notification of the plant's supposed demise...or not. I'm not sure what has caused Mr. Morgan to become so upset so long after he received his order; but we feel we have done our part to try and resolve the matter amicably.


On Aug 5, 2011 11:03 PM, petflytrap.com (aka Exotic Gardens, formerly Predator-Plants.com) added:

We ship out literally hundreds of orders monthly, and take great care to ensure that the plants are healthy when shipped, packaged well for shipment, include basic care instructions upon arrival, and tell our customers where to get more detailed care information (from our PetFlytrap.com web site for free). In addition, the packing slip clearly states that we require notification of any problems immediately upon receipt of the order to honor our live delivery guarantee; many factors can affect the health of a plant once it is in the care of someone who may or may not know how to care for these wonderful little plants. Mr. Morgan did not do so for 13 days after the plant was received. Why?

The plant in question is a carnivorous sundew plant Drosera spatulata 'Frasier Island'. The pots we ship out contain multiple plants (typically 15 to 20 plants) in a clump about 1.5 inches in diameter. Each plant is fairly small, but this is typical for this cultivar of plant. If the pot Mr. Morgan received is now down to a single plant, then perhaps this 'penny-sized' estimate is correct; however, this is certainly not what we shipped to him.

Mr. Morgan notified us for the first time 13 days after he had received his plant; yet we still offered him a store credit for the full cost of the plant. Mr. Morgan's response to this offer was to post this negative comment here on Dave's Garden. He has since replied and asked us to be reasonable; our stance is that we have done so, and more.

His last e-mail also makes mention of "The plant that I have..." Yet his first e-mail to us (very belligerent at the least, and which just happens to not have been included here) stated that the plant arrived almost dead and had since died. The e-mails contradict each other; which is it?

It is extremely unfortunate to carry this matter to this extent, and quite frankly, this has me very upset; but as a business owner who ships hundreds of orders monthly and takes great pride in offering the most diverse online selection of quality carnivorous plants in the U.S., I cannot understand how our offer was anything less than reasonable, given the extended time between receipt of the order and notification of the plant's supposed demise...or not. I'm not sure what has caused Mr. Morgan to become so upset so long after he received his order; but we feel we have done our part to try and resolve the matter amicably.

Negative
On Jul 1, 2010, myexperience (1 reviews) from Canyon Lake, TX

I ordered three "red dragon" venus flytraps from them. They arrived in a timely manner, but were tiny almost useless specimens. I have purchased much better flytraps from a picked through display at walmart. I think it will take these plants at least a year to grow large enough to catch a housefly, if they survive that long. More likely, i will lose interest in them, and leave them to dry up in the texas sun. I sent them an email explaining my dissatisfaction, but, haven't heard anything back. I couldn't be more dissapointed in the product. If you're looking for venus flytraps, you'll have better luck at walmart.

Positive
On Dec 9, 2009, TamerLee (4 reviews) from Moreno Valley, CA

Posted on December 09, 2009, updated December 09, 2009 Just got my order in today from this website. I placed the order on November 27th (Black Friday), and the package was shipped on December 7th. Package arrived 2 days later (December 9th). I am sure the reason it took so long was because they were bogged down with so many orders over the holiday weekend. Temps were in the mid 20's during shipping so I was a little afraid that some of the plants might of gotten damaged. A few of the leaves did get a little burned, and will probably die, but I am happy with the condition they arrived in over-all. Packaging was good and all plants had a plastic cup (or two) over them. All Nepenthes were grown in pure LFS. The Sarracenia had a mix of peat and something else that didn't look like bark, vermiculite, or perlite. There was also small 10-hour heat pack in the box that probably helped prevent some cold weather damage. I ordered the following: Nepenthes Truncata Arrive in great condition. At first I thought it was a flytrap as the leaves were very strange to me. It didn't look like a Nepenthes at all when compared to all of the other Nepenthes I have. The leaves are very short and wide almost like a flytrap. They are also noticeably thicker. One leaf had some red colorization on it that was similar to all the leaves on my Nepenthes Rafflesiana. The plant had 8 stout leaves and no pitchers. One leaf was half-dead from the cold. Leaf span is about 4 inches and the plant is 4 inches tall as well. Nepenthes Veitchii 'pink' - Medium This thing is huge with a leaf span of 14 inches. The stock was about 4 inches tall not including a newly devolving 5-inch tall leaf that was sticking straight up and had not dropped horizontal yet. When I first looked at it, it appeared to be covered in mealy bugs. Upon further inspection, they were just very tiny fuzzy bits of shredded paper that was used in the packaging. The leaves were dark green and had excellent healthy coloring which meant it was receiving plenty of sunlight. It had 3 full-sized 2-3 inch pitchers, two of which half dead on top from getting too cold during shipping. I clipped them off as they would of both died anyways within a week. There was also a small newly developing pitcher on the leaf that was sticking straight up. Since the plant was so large, and grown in pure LFS, it was awful loose in the medium so I propped it up by setting the bottom of one of it's leaves against another pot. There were 9 total leaves, 2 of which were cut off 2 inches from the plant. No leaves were damaged from the cold. Nepenthes Bicalcarata Leaf span is 3 inches on it's longer leaves. Arrived with 2 developed pitchers and one developing pitcher. 3 of 6 of the leaves were damaged from the cold, including the two leaves that had developed pitchers, which half the leaf was grayish black. Another smaller leaf had two grayish black spots. I assume these leaves will eventually die. All that matters to me is that it lives, which it will most likely do. Sarracenia 'Tarnok' - Medium Plant arrived at an impressive 14 inches (tallest pitcher). There are 5 tall pitchers, one of which was still in excellent condition and was just starting to go dormant. I had expected to only receive the rhizome, but was quite shocked to see that none of the pitchers had been clipped back. I thought that since it was already December, the plant would of been completely dormant. This is the first Sarracenia I have ever had, so hopefully I can get it to grow outside well. I have it standing in 3 inches of distilled water and out in the full sun. Hope to see some really nice pitchers in the spring/summer. Conclusion- It's good to see yet another CP vendor that knows how to properly ship Nepenthes. Beware of another certain one that doesn't use protective plastic cups over the plant to protect the pitchers/leaves/roots from getting severed (see my other reviews). The cold weather damage on the leaves, while unfortunate, wasn't as bad as I was expecting. Lowland Nepenthes certainly do not enjoy temps in the mid-20's. If I am ever in need of more CP's in the future, petflytrap.com will definitely be on my list when I am searching for particular species, among two other vendors.


On December 9th, 2009, TamerLee added the following: Correction, the Sarracenia media is indeed peat and perlite.

Negative
On Jul 10, 2006, superls92 (1 reviews) from King George, VA

I ordered my plants about a month ago, they were delivered to TX. and I'm in virginia. I have sent numerous e-mails and there response is slow and always the same thing "I thought this was taken care of I'll look into it" and then a few days later nothing happens. Also there phone numbers posted on there website do not work so there is no other way to contact them. This is a terrible place to deal with and would not reccomend them to anyone.


Company representative comment on August 13, 2006:
The last comment by SUPERLS92 should be put into proper context. petflytrap.com was in transition moveing offices from Austin to Houston during the time the customer ordered. Our sales representative left the company at the same time and we were locked out of the [e-mail:sales@petflytrap.com] account.

The package was shipped to the customer, however USPS returned the package as undeliverable. The customer attempted contacting us during the phone switchover. Once we got the package back we contacted the customer about the address.

For those of you who know about USPS returned mail.. it does not go DIRECTLY back to the sender.. hence there was further delay on the customers side. Since we could not get our 1800 number released from the Austin carrier, we had to get a new contact number.

I apologized multiple times that the customer managed to be right at the center of mulitple transition items, and then a poor attempt by USPS to deliver. We had hundreds of other customers during that time that had no problems.

So, if you want to view SUPERLS92's feedback as negative, please be assured that our move and transition are taken care of and the events that occurred are highly unlikely to happen again.

Thanks,
[e-mail:sales@petflytrap.com]

Positive
On May 7, 2005, Equilibrium (32 reviews)

Nice quality plants and I received mine in record time. In addition to their CPs, they also offer other merchandise and I have been picking up SuperThrive from them as well as their all natural coir blocks sold as GrowCoir. If you have an issue or concern, call them on the phone and you'll find they are well staffed with people who actually grow CPs and are able to answer any questions you may have regarding the plants they sell as well as plants they don't sell. Great customer support available here.

Neutral
On Sep 23, 2004, akwildfyre (3 reviews) from Anchorage, AK

I agree that they have very high quality plants, sometimes it takes a while to receive them, but it's always worth the wait. I personaly wouldn't reccomend their forums to anyone though.

Positive
On Mar 15, 2003, GreenDragonVFT (3 reviews)

I have ordered from Exotic Gardens several times. Each time I have ordered several species of Sarracenia, Nepenthes, and various forms of Dionaea muscipula. The quality of the plants is very high. The packaging is one of the best I have seen for shipment of plants. The plants come potted to reduce shipping stress. Exotic Gardens plant quality is one of the best in the industry if not the best. The company also has a wonderful user forum that allows users to exchange information about plants and to receive help when needed.

Positive
On Sep 10, 2002, jkom51 (5 reviews) from Oakland, CA (Zone 9b)

3-1/2 acres in the city of Richmond, CA provides the largest urban nursery in Alameda Cty (No. Cal). They have regular classes and a professional landscaping service. Excellent selection of plants for dry, sunny Mediterranean-style gardens.

» Read the rest of the reviews
BACK TO TOP