Turtlegaby's Tropical Oasis

Posted on October 4, 2011, updated October 4, 2011 Where to start? Unfortunately, it was not until AFTER I decided to make a purchase that I actually read any feedback related to Turtlegaby's Topical Oasis. My mistake for sure. I ordered over 1,000 seeds from the site. There is not doubt that I received my order quickly. However, quick shipping does NOT make a good business. Good product, correct processing and good customer service would be a good start for this seller. I received only about 70% of the quantity of seeds that I purchased. When I brought this to the seller's attention, from the very first reply to the very last reply all I got was rude, sarcastic replies that questioned my integrity and honesty. This person has NO IDEA what good customer service is. Sure, I've read lots of posts since making this huge mistake and the large majority of them are positive. But take the time to read the negatives. They're all the same. Rudeness and will not admit making any mistakes whatsoever! If the seller replies it's alway in a sarcastic way that shifts blame and denies any responsibility. Almost like a child trying to get in the last word. If you read deeply enough into this seller's comments you'll see exactly what you need to see.....a person out for the almighty dollar regardless of how it comes. This seller is not interested in making things right, especially if the payment has been made. I'm sure this seller will continue on as always without my business but hopefully, through word of mouth, others will read these negative posts and buy their seeds elsewhere! It's what I recommend.

GOOD DELIVERY, NEED ADVICE FOR GERMINATION OF SEEDS OF APPLES. The company Turtlegabys-Tropical-Oasis showed its high efficiency and commitment to the consumer, since sending the seeds of apples was very effective and excellent speed. I am a 10th grade student who participated every year in my school science fair, and this year want to investigate how the seeds of apples can Germinie in our tropics with the creation and preparation of a cooling system with a comfortable temperature of 18 -24 C. Where it should be kept to a maximum of 34 C. I wish that you have some suggestions, which can contribute to the investigation of my work s who can help me in the research process. I am very pleased with the company Turtlegabys-Tropical-Oasis for their promptness in delivery of seeds, excellent service. Thank you very much. from PR

Posted on February 17, 2010, updated August 23, 2011 I promised Gaby I'd add a comment after my experience dealing with her business. it was back in late january 2010. I ordered 3 pkgs. of seed, all various passiflora. I must have emailed the poor woman 20 times, due to my lack of knowledge about first using paypal, the age of the seed, etc. She was patient and wrote me each and every time, answering all of my questions. The seed arrived 3 days after ordering, and that's including the weekend. (ordered on Friday) I planted the seed promptly. Passion seed is quite fussy, some taking over a year to germinate. Well, 10 days after planting (and in very cold weather for FL) the first seedling popped up it's head...p. caerulea. ANd today, the East Indian variety of passiflora foetida finally arrived! It took her only 21 days to show. Thank you again dear Gabby, I did not forget my promise, just waiting so I could also report on the seedlings :)

Ordered BLUE JACARANDA MIMOSIFOLIA flowering tree 10 seeds thru this company. Never received them, she said since my order was in may 14, 2011 and 2 months went by since then she was unable to do any tracking. I am not happy but I will apply my 'you live you learn' frase to this lesson. Thank you for having this page so we can at least tell someone about our experience with the vendors. MVazquez

i ask a simple question on germnating some seeds i had got from her,i was told read the instruction, i had already followed the instruction to the letter, i thought maybe, she might have a trick up her sleeve, or tell me to try something different, no read the instruction, very rude comment, as far as i can figue,gardening is about sharing info,with your fellow gardener.making a few dollars for your product is ok by me,heck i'm happy to share knowledge about stuff,don't get me wrong, i feel that treat people nice, i least atempt to try to help them.

Purchased from Turtlegaby large amount of Canna Florence Vaughan through the Marketplace.The rhizomes are beautiful and of good quality and arrived fast and well packed .Will not hesitate to do more bussiness with her in the future.Green thumbs up!

The paypal icon shows a "visa" image and I wanted to pay by visa, which seems to work for all other companies that use paypal. Instead of giving me a hand to complete the purchase, the person was unfriendly and argumentative and not at all helpful. I then wanted to cancel my order and got a snippy " I cannot cancel the transaction, just because you don't want to do paypal.. I will have to file an unpaid item process in order to recover my fees, sorry, but that is how it works on Ebay." Excuse me ...what did just hit me????? "Great" customer service :( I rather pay more and get a good service.

My Prunus armeniaca seeds arrived very quickly. They are a deeply dormant species, so I won't know the viability of the seeds for quite some time.

I placed on order for Castor Beans, Cannas and Protea on Monday afternoon. The seeds arrived on Thursday and were shipped in moisture proof packaging. I followed the sowing instructions from the web store and found them to be written very clearly, and easily understood. I could not believe how fast the orders arrived and how easy it was to purchase from this web store. I am new to home gardening and had many questions regarding soil mixtures, seed depths, and how to layout my garden. I sent numerous emails asking for advice, and to my surprise each one was answered promptly. Thank you for making my gardening experience fun and informational. I am extremely satisfied and I will use your web store for all of my seed purchases in the future.

I just purchased 10 Banana Canna rhizomes, they arrived within a week; are large with lots of roots. I have purchased from this vendor previously and have always been satisfied.

Posted on March 29, 2010, updated March 30, 2010 Posted on March 29, 2010, updated March 29, 2010 About 6 months ago, I ordered the bulk package of hibiscus (300 seeds for $20-ish). To begin with, the order was slow to ship as the seller didn't realize I had paid yet. Slightly unprofessional but not a big deal, I thought at the time. I wish I would have just canceled the order at that point and saved myself some drama. I got to work planting within minutes of the order's arrival - some of the seeds were soaked for a bit, some were scarified, and some I just sowed directly into my seedling mix and starter pots. At the same time, I had two other varieties of hibiscus from other companies that I planted as well. (I even made my own plant markers for everything and got a mister for watering without disturbing the seeds.) The seedpacks from other companies had great germination - probably higher than 90%, but lets be conservative. The Turtlegaby seeds did nothing. Not a single solitary seed came out of a package of 300 while almost every one of the seeds from other purchases grew and thrived. A few weeks later I wanted to get in touch but figured I'd give the seeds a month or so to sprout (places online list germination as long as 45-60 days). I think of the following months as "one catastrophe after another" - two deaths in the family, boyfriend's car broke down and we had to fix it, then my mom's car wanted a turn at being useless, someone in the extended family was Baker Acted, another almost drank themselves to death. Obviously, I had more important things to deal with that a disappointing seed order. However, when things calmed down a bit, I still very much intended to get in touch. When I did (almost 2 weeks ago) she made some comment in her letter about "Why you would wait 6 months to tell me that non of them have germinated for you, is beyond my understanding." That's just rude. People have lives and things come up. Besides that, (even though I tried to be diplomatic and suggest perhaps something had happened in shipping to reduce viability of the seeds) she just said that I probably tried too hard and she wasn't sure why none had come up for me. She had some that were several feet high and had tested germination so she knew the seeds were good. Ended the letter with "Sorry I can't be more help." Just all around very unprofessional and irritating experience with this person. She seems to have the attitude that nothing could possibly be a fault or flaw on her end - I just must have a "black thumb," I believe is the term. I didn't expect a refund or anything really, other than perhaps some basic consideration and maybe a smidge of caring about one of her customers. To be fair, she has an amazing selection and some things that are almost impossible to find somewhere else. If you absolutely can't find it anywhere else, order at your own risk and keep your fingers crossed, I guess. Personally, I didn't get the sense that she'd care one way or another if she had my repeat business but I'll never buy from her again.

Fast shipping and notification. I ordered some cannas and I am very pleased . There were a few extras and most of the tubers were huge and are already growing in a week. I would not hesitate to buy from them again.

I ordered seeds of PINK BIRD OF PARADISE CAESALPINIA PULCHERRIMA (Dwarf Royal Poinciana or Pride of Barbados) and Desert Rose (Adenium Obesum) and was thrilled to find them in my mailbox only 3 days later. Communication & packaging were both excellent. I will happily order from this vendor again. Thanks.

I RECENTLY PLACED AN ORDER FOR 7 PACKS OF "TOUCH ME NOT" BALSAMINA. EACH PACKAGE WAS TO COME WITH 100 SEEDS. THESE WERE EASTER GIFTS TO BE MAILED ACROSS THE UNITED STATES. INSTEAD OF RECEIVING 7 PACKAGES, THEY WERE ALL COMBINED INTO ONE PLASTIC BAGGY, WITH NO DIRECTIONS ON HOW TO PLANT OR CARE FOR THESE PLANTS. I CALLED TURTLE GABY'S TROPICAL OASIS AND SPOKE WITH THE OWNER WHO TOLD ME THAT WHEN SHE RECEIVES LARGE ORDERS OF THE SAME KIND OF SEEDS SHE PACKAGES THEM ALL TOGETHER AS SHE DID MINE, AND THAT I SHOULD PLACE THEM ON A PLATE AND SEPARATE THEM INTO 7 DIFFERENT SECTIONS!! THESE SEEDS ARE THE SIZE OF A PINHEAD!! THE OWNER ALSO TOLD ME THAT IN ORDER TO HAVE THEM PACKAGED SEPARATELY I WOULD HAVE HAD TO PLACE 7 DIFFERENT ORDERS AND PAY 7 DIFFERENT SHIPPING AND HANDLING CHARGES!! AS FOR THE DIRECTIONS SHE TOLD ME TO GO TO HER WEB PAGE TO FIND THEM. WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO NOW?? TELL THE PEOPLE I SEND THEM TO THAT THE DIRECTIONS ARE ON HER WEBSITE?? THESE ARE SENIOR CITIZENS WHO DON'T HAVE ACCESS TO THE WEB!! THIS HAS BEEN A GREAT INCONVENIENCE! I WILL BE SURE TO ADVISE EVERYONE IN MY GARDEN CLUB NOT TO SHOP WITH THIS COMPANY. THE CUSTOMER SERVICE HAS BEEN VERY POOR TO SAY THE LEAST!! BARBARA ORTIZ, DAMASCUS, MD

Unlike all other seed companies on the net that charge for each single package an additional shipping fee, my S&H is extemely low and a flatrate, no matter, if customers buy 1 or 200 packages. This benefits buyers who buy more than one package. If buyers place an order which exceeds the flatrate shipping cost, then I pay it out of my own pocket. In order to be able to offer those low flat rate shipping prices, I keep my costs down by packaging the same seeds, if purchased in multiple quantities, into one baggy and by providing detailed sowing instructions directly on my web page online, instead of sending printed matter, which would add additional weight to the shipment. How I handle this can be read directly on my web page in the FAQ page.
However, even if I had sent printed sowing instructions to Mrs. Ortiz, she would have had to copy them 6 times for her 7 relatives. How difficult would it have been to print them out from my web page? All my previous customers appreciate the extremely low shipping costs and most are repeat customers just because of that, which shows clearly that buyers prefer not to pay additional Shipping for each item purchased.

Turtlegaby's Tropical Oasis
Gabriele Palmer

Very Quick shipping. Packaged nicely with a Bonus. Highly recommended. Thanks - James

I placed an order Friday, and received the seeds on Monday! The seeds were in very good shape. The website had a selection of hard to find seeds including one I had been wanting for a few years, and with good prices. Instructions for sowing were provided.

Large selection. I got immediate delivery of well-packaged hard-to-find seeds, and immediate responses to emails asking about care. Outstanding buying experience.

I placed an order late Thursday and received the seeds the following Monday!! Very reasonable prices for rare seeds, and exceptional service. I'll update with germination results later on.

I have dealt with Turtlegaby's Tropical Oasis on several occasions. I have ALWAYS received very good qualitiy for the money. I got very good instructions on planting and growing the seeds, too. I would recommend this company to everyone. You cannot lose by buying from Turtlegaby;s Tropical Oasis!!!