Comments regarding Top Tropicals LLC

I ordered a bamboo to add to my massive collection growing in my backyard.

It arrived INFESTED with bamboo spider mites. Yellow or dried up, stippled leaves and the other common symptoms of an infestation. Impossible to miss, yet they had the nerve to send me this plant.

I usually shop at TropicalBamboo.com but they were out of everything I wanted and the lower price at Top Tropicals lured me in. Proof positive that you get what you pay for.

They're ignoring my emails, by the way. So much for their "satsifaction" guarantee.

Tracking #778719753095

Be careful buying from Top Tropicals. Fedex tells me the shipment is considered lost and gave me a case number so I can get a refund but told me I have to give the case number to Top Tropicals and Top Tropicals has to make the claim with the number. Top Tropicals refuses to help me. She keeps telling me it will be delivered by the end of the day every day 3 days in a row and not to call Fedex. It's friday and still no package. Fedex told me I could pick it up this morning and I drove an hour up to have fedex say they can't find it. It amazes me that Top Tropicals has one simple job to do and just call and yet just refuse to help me get my money or my plant. She also keeps telling me to stop calling Fedex. Fedex has my box and won't deliver it. Who else do I call? Top Tropicals isn't even trying. At this point I paid $52.00 for the box, 3 days being told it will be here by the end of the day, and 2 hours driving to where Fedex told me my box would be for me to pick it up only to be sent away.

Kept delaying order for over 2 months, then never shipped and kept the $280 (about $120 of it being for shipping)
Details: ordered 3 plants as they showed 'In Stock' in early May 2019.
They emailed saying to look out for an email with shipping info after 10 days.
By the end of May when I asked where is my order, they emailed saying 'Due to our shipping service provider (FedEx/USPS) holiday closures we will postponing'.
After Memorial day passed, and it was now mid June 2019, emailed again and they again sent 'Due to our shipping service provider (FedEx/USPS) holiday closures we will postponing'.
After Independence week past I requested tracking on Monday after Independence weekend but got a reply saying 'Some items are currently back-ordered', listing all the plants in my order.
When I contacted Paypal for a refund, they said I should have disputed in the first 45 days after ordering that I didn't receive order; that now is too late.
So now I have to go in person into my bank to file a chargeback, since it was a debit card not a credit card I used to pay.
Never again, TopTropicals. Buyer beware!

The staff was rude. Not welcoming.

I ordered seeds of five plants from Top Tropicals. None of them sprouted even though two year old seeds of another company did sprout in the same seed starter setup.
They include a disclaimer on their website stating that their seeds are fresh and that any seeds that do not sprout are the customer's fault.
They are not a trustworthy company.

Bought three plants. Two guava and one Jaboticaba. The plants were in the sleeves that come in some nursery pots and about half the height of the pot, and the roots were greatly disturbed when they were removed from the pots. Seemed like the plant had been lifted from the pots by grabbing the stems, as the roots had ripped off. I was very disappointed. I have had plant shipped at least 20 times from other nurseries in great condition where I could just leave the plant in the original container for a few days then transplant it. This time I felt like I had a plant emergency. the guava leaves were not hardened off and they were withering and brown. I had to transplant it immediately to save my plants. It has been 1 week. I lost many leaves from one guava but the plants are recovering well from the poor handing and shipping conditions. Needless to say, I will never order from Top Tropicals again.

This company sends trees with more than 75% newly emerging leaves even before they harden. They also send half dead trees, overwatered, in plastic bags with no drains and roots mummified in saran wrap. If they don't have the plant in stock, bad luck. You will be charged but you will not get the plant. I have spent thousands of dollars on them because they are one of the two companies with online website with large variety of tropical plants. And like most northerners, I thought I didn't know how to deal with tropical plants or greenhouse was a problem. This year, after failing to revive mango trees for 3 years, I bought some trees in top tropicals but I arranged to get the same trees on the same day (same fedex trip) from Jene's tropicals and for comparison. To my surprise, Jene's trees came in full 7 gallon pots and are doing fine. Trees from Top Tropicals dropped all leaves and died. When contacted, they offered me new plants for discount.

They keep offering me discount for "top customer" but fail to take action with tree deaths. Their strategy is to sell 2 plants instead of one. They cut the growing pots by 3/4 for trees to be shipped, while growing them. So, when you get a 7 gallon tree, it has 2.5 gallon soil. Trees like mangoes that do not like water are forced to sit in water and bake in plastic bags for days before they reach us. Shipping isn't cheap either.

I have lost several hundred dollars and 3 years. Only after I got trees from Plantogram and Jene's tropicals I realized that the problem is theirs, not mine because all other plants have adjusted well. So, I am posting my first post, sadly a negative one.

Posted on May 27, 2016, updated May 17, 2017
Beware! Do not use Top Tropicals. In the past I used Top Tropicals with great success, but last year I ordered some Daturas. As with previous orders the plants were large and expertly packed. However, somehow the plants were infested with some kind of bugs which ate most of the plant leaves. I immediately contacted the company and was shocked when they responded by questioning my honesty. I sent pictures of the plants which resulted in anther response that they never ship defective merchandise but would send me replacements, which arrived in fine shape.
So earlier this spring I submitted another order to them for other kinds of plants. I was dismayed to receive a notice that my order could not be filled. I wrote to the company several times asking for more a detailed explanation given that their Website showed all items in stock. I never received a detailed answer. The last answer I received simply said "the owner says your order can not be filled."
I advised Top Tropicals I intended to post a negative review on the forum and to also submit a report to the BBB. As before, Top Tropicals did not respond.
I can only surmise I was black-listed because I complained about the defective Datura order.
The BBB has advised me all their inquiries to the company have been ignored, so here is my input to all readers of Dave's Garden: Do not use use Top Tropicals, thet have little regard for customers. C Robinson

First 3 orders went smooth. They say they take long to ship because they have to wait till Mondays to ship to California so it will get here by Friday, but some Mondays they are busy. I'm completely cool with this as I'd rather wait to guarantee the health of the plant when it arrives.

On the 4th order they shipped a sapodilla, according to tracking number, on a Tuesday(said they'd ship on Monday, also said the same on listing)so it sat on a hot truck or warehouse in southern California all weekend and didn't get here til the following Monday. I told them immediately of the condition of the tree when it got here. They said to plant it and wait and see if it survived. Well it didn't so they offered 50% off on our next transaction. I know I could have pushed for a full refund with Ebay but since the first 3 transactions went well, I decided to let it go and just accept their offer.

Anyways on my next order a few months later, I requested the 50% off offer on one of the 2 trees. I sent screenshots of their offer and everything. They just completely ignored that part of the conversation, like I never mentioned it, they didn't address a single word to it. This happened several times. Since I needed the trees, and was committed to buy by Ebay, I just chalked it up as a learning experience.

Customer service can be determined, not always on how the company handles things when everything goes well, but on how they handle problems that arise. I have since decided to get all my trees at nursery 2 hours away.

They lied to me and ignored multiple attempts at communication regarding a problem. Their professionalism leaves a lot to be desired.

Ordered 16 seeds for 4 different Desert Rose varieties for 16 dollars. I had no germination in greenhouse conditions for a month and a half so far. Their policy states that they have no responsibility for seeds germinating and that their seeds are fresh. Internet information seems to agree with this following statement,
"It may seem obvious but firstly and most importantly successful germination rates depends highly on obtaining the freshest seeds possible."

Horrible quality Tres Bon and C'Est Bon Hibiscus. Literally twigs with a few dying leaves. They also did not include the seed I ordered in the package. We sent reports, emails, called and paid extra to have the seed sent. Disclaimer that seeds may not germinate. Kristi was VERY rude on the phone. We went in town and bought replacements for the same expense. The leaves all fell off the plants and we are hoping they live. Our response from Top Tropicals? Thank you for your feedback.
NEVER AGAIN
BUYER BEWARE!

Posted on June 24, 2015, updated June 25, 2015
Order 2 plants from TopTropicals.com. I am in Florida and they arrived overnight but the plants were wilted and waterlogged. The larger 3g plant was the worst, it arrived severely wilted and the root ball was waterlogged in a thick muck based soil. I planted into a small pot with quality soil and watered it in once. Now 5 plus weeks later the plant is still barely alive, leaves welted and falling off. It looks like a picture of death -- TopTropicals.com .

TopTropicals.com -- When the plants arrived they were not in a growing state. They were already exhibiting signs of root rot and shipping stress in less than 24 hours shipping time. Other Florida nurseries have shipped to me this year in 2015 and provided very healthy and growing plants. Shame on TopTropicals.com

Shipping costs too expensive; did not complete order

Posted on September 5, 2010, updated February 25, 2015
BUYER BEWARE - TOPTROPICALS OF PUNTA GORDA!!!
Ordered one plant received a similar but different latin named plant. Plant ordered very expensive, substituted plant inexpensive.
Wrong plant confirmed by tissue sample from U of Florida.
Multiple emails go unanswered.
I believe they knew they were offering a rare plant, substituting a common plant and hoping no one would know the difference.

i ordered two seed packets from this company. the order came with a disclaimer stating that their seeds are not guaranteed to sprout. in fact, not a single seed from either packet did. i purchased the same two seed packets from another company, Tradewinds, and did the same thing (heat mat, light, good humidity). both types of seeds sprouted. one good thing i can say about Top Tropicals though, is that their website is informative...

F RATING -- BBB West Florida. Google it for yourself.

I received DISEASED PLANTS from this company which I returned.

IF YOU PLANT DISEASED PLANTS from a sloppy nursery you risk SPREADING THESE DISEASES to other plants--yours and your neighbors.

Ordered over $800 of tropical fruit trees last year and had many issues from the start. First, the avocados arrived in rough shape and died within a few days to a week. They had many of the items back ordered and once they arrived they were smaller than advertised and purchased. Fast forward a few months and the 2 of the mangoes were diseased. I had to cut back the entire tree to the root and let it grow again. They had a fungus on them. The avocados have/had a separate fungus. The palms were covered in scale. I could go on and on about how poorly cared for these trees were. Both cacaos have died as well. We have a greenhouse and the plants we received from FGT and Fourwinds around the same time are in great condition. I would stay far away from these growers. They do not grow their items from seed and are merely a reseller on some items. They are disorganized and understaffed. I know this because we called/emailed them so many times. To their credit they did send out new avocados that died but it was simply another vendor's tree. Over half of the trees ordered from them either died or have been cut back to their roots to save them. What a waste of money and life of the plants. If you do take the risk and order from them, inspect every specimen extremely thoroughly, including the roots as I would personally guarantee that you have a 50% chance of buying a problem.

Not a Good Idea to Order from this company. None of the seeds came up that I ordered. Customer service, Lynn, says that seeds are not guaranteed.

I purchased a Dwarf Ylang-Ylang and it arrived looking NOTHING like their "actual plant" photo linked to the product on their online store.
I was a 12" tall 1/4" diameter trunk with 6 - 8 leaves all less than 1/2" long. Half of them where brown/black. I was optimistic that I could follow the instructions and bring it back to life.
I misunderstood some of the instruction and the plant died from over-watering 4 weeks after purchase.
So, I take responsibility for that. They offered to replace at half the list price (not half the sale price which I originally paid)...and with full shipping. I would pay $43 for the replacement of a plant for which I originally paid $53.
I'm sure if they sent me the plant that they show on their sites as "actual plant" it would have survived my initial misunderstanding of the instructions.

I was aware of the negative reviews for this company before I placed my recent order. I had ordered from them several years ago and had received dead plants which were never replaced and had pretty much taken a loss on that purchase.

However, for my current order, they had a type of bauhinia I was looking for and could not find anywhere else so I held my breath and ordered it from them. The entire purchase was expensive.

When I received the tree, the leaves were dead and dry and the tree looked pretty much uncared for. I followed the instructions and planted it in a pot. This was 2 or 3 weeks ago and there is still no sign of life on the poor tree. I am hoping it will make it but will not be surprised if it dies (or is already dead).
I didn't bother to contact the company since I had gotten no help from them for my previous order, years ago.
This company has some real problems.

I ordered 6 bougainvilleas from Top Tropicals in August 2012. The web site described the plants as "large" and "3 gallon" size. The plants were small and spindly. The trunk diameter was less than 1 inch on each of them. The manager forwarded my complaint to the owner. The email I received included the following:

"On Sun, Aug 12, 2012 at 5:52 PM, Top Tropicals LLC wrote: Send him picture of plants in pot along with tape measure. Or simply ignore him."

The manager wrote, "they are all 3 gallon plants."

I bought a camera just to take photos of those plants. Three of them still bear the "TopTropicals" labels.

Ordered a handful of tropical fruit trees which were shipped promptly. However, they arrived in terrible condition and not what we had ordered.. As with experiences from other members, trees arrived with wilted stems and dried up leaves... But the worst concern was we did not receive what we had ordered.

Wary of the negative reviews from other members, we e-mailed the nursery before ordering to find out whether the trees were grafted or not and the approximate sizes. What we received were seedling trees instead of grafted trees and trees that were less than half the size we were told. When we contacted customer service to let them know of the error, no apology or explanation was made for the error. We had no choice but to return the trees and request for a full refund. Customer service had surprisingly agreed and even offered to give us a discount if we wished to re-order the trees that we initially wanted. It took nearly a month for the entire process and after returning the trees, we only received a partial refund and they refused to honor the discount for us to re-order the trees we had initially wanted. Very disappointed. We would recommend purchasing from another nursery even if the item is difficult to find elsewhere.

Ordered 2 sausage trees. Were shipped promptly and I picked them up promptly at the post office. One was received dead and leaves crisp. The other was in okay shape except that it was totally root bound. Did some root pruning before putting it into a container so far it is okay, but would expect better quality merchandise.

I ordered an one gallon Jasmine maid of Orleans from them. When it arrived, the leaves are all yellowish, many of have brown spots. I took photos and emailed them for advice (didn't even mention whose responsibility is). No response from them.
Never buy from them again.

I ordered from Top Tropicals back in March of 2011; why am I just posting a review? Let me explain. Top Tropicals delivered a cashew tree to my house I was aware that they are difficult plants to maintain but when you recieve a dead cashew tree from the onset, the chances of the plant living is nearly impossible. I emailed and called the nursery the following day and explained my delimma and as I expected the owner quoted the disclaimer clearly seen on his page without noting that they "guarantee" to ship healthy plants. At the prices and the cost of shipping charged Top Tropicals could afford to be more courteous and customer driven. I will not be ordering or patronizing anymore of their products to say the least. Thanks for the lesson TopTropicals I now know what the worst in mail orders look like.

I ordered some Joy perfume tree seeds from this company. They charged about $5 for shipping for an envelope that contained about 6 tiny seeds with a 42c stamp.The seeds were sown according to tropical seed planting instructions for a humid climate. None sprouted which makes me think they were not fresh seeds. Whenever I've called the company to enquire about different plants, the Russian couple that run Top Tropicals are arrogant and abrasive. Also their plants are overpriced and many can be found in Home Depot at less than half the price. I would only consider buying here if I couldnt find the plant anywhere else but otherwise avoid.

I placed an order for a pineapple plant to be sent to a friend in CA. I made the mistake of not reading the disclaimer that they don't ship pineapples to CA.

My complaint comes from their next action that they chose to cancel the order AND charge me a 6% cancellation fee for an order that was never filled. They informed me of the charge via email 7 days after the order was placed and not filled.

I recognized my error of ordering a plant they could not ship to CA and requested that instead of cancelling the order and charging a 6% fee, they ship it my address in FL.

They have yet to respond (over a week ago) to that request even after a follow up email was sent. I contacted AMEX and disputed the 6% fee and AMEX removed the charge.

Charging cancelling fee's for responding to an email is a horrible business practice that I wanted others to be aware of.

I called, he didn't seem very nice at all. Then I read these and I wanted to say thanks to everyone... I was going to order a bunch of things that I really didn't know about and really wanted to buy them from someone helpful,that is obviously not this man. I wont buy anything from this company. Sorry to all of you who had bad experiences with him, and thanks for warning me. Jamie

I just ordered from Top Tropicals, well-knowing what a bad reputation they have. But they had two plants that were unavailable anywhere else. They were overpriced but I ordered them anyway. I received them yesterday afternoon. These were supposed to be 3-gallon plants and they'd shaved off two-thirds of the root balls and wrapped them in plastic, I suppose to save money on shipping (which I would have gladly paid for intact plants). Moreover the plants were under-watered. Because of the water-stress and the root stress, the plants are logically, now wilting. Frankly, I doubt they'll survive even when planted and well-watered. Garden Watchdog is oh-so-reliable and I should have listened to the advice here! Top Tropicals is a rip-off and I don't recommend buying from them under ANY circumstances! I can see why they're an LLC outfit! They would have lots of liabilities otherwise! This place is a disaster!

For the most part their plants are good sized even if a little over priced compared to other vendors.

However, if you have a problem with an order. In my case having a dead cashew tree among other items that were ok, customer service IS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. They ignore phone calls and emails to resolve the issue. as always, BUYER BEWARE.

I ordered a rare vine that had been uprooted and was told when I got it not to water it. When it arrived it was rather slushy and crawling with centipeds, I could not possibly put this in my green house knowing I would infect my entire greenhouse with that massive amount of bugs. I e-mailed a few times and he said it was normal for all those bugs, needless to say the vine died due to root rot on a disturbed rootball all the leaves were in the bottom of the box when it arrived. As for his attitude if you have ever been to a plant show and seen him he is by nature cocky and arrogant intentionally. He means to be and makes no bones about it, he even posts a sign pertaining to his rules at the plant show.
After reading his obnoxous list of rules that basicly says "if you don't have money in your hand thrusting at me don't talk to me, because I am not interested" so I didn't bother asking him while he was hiding behind his obnoxous sign if he had a specific tree, I found it some where else in the show...and that person was happy to answer my questions about the tree I purchased. There are other vendors with far better demeanors. If he has it so does someone else search for it.

I emailed them after seeing my order hadn't been shipped in 10 days. The owner emailed me stating they have to give priority to mailing out their live plants (mine were several packets of seeds and magazines). When I told him how inconsiderate his answer was, he canceled my order without warning.

Apparently from the gardening forums I visit, I am not the first person to experience this. He (Mike) must be overworked and think that a customer should wait on him, instead of vice versa.

But I'm glad he canceled my order, I've found other nurseries that have much more quality rare plants and they're a lot cheaper! like Pine Island nursery, ediblelandscaping.com. So that is my silver lining to this horrible experience!

Beware when ordering from this company. I ordered two plants (trees). Both came without the trees in the pots they were grown in. Instead the root balls were wrapped in plastic bags. The plants were clearly in distress. Their instructions are put the plant in a pot the same size as the root ball, water, keep at 75 degrees and out of the sun until the plant show new growth before planting. In other words nurse the plants back to health since we disturbed the root ball before planting. I don't know why they can't leave the plant in $3 dollar pot it was grown in. They certainly charge enough.

I ordered two plants. One was a Jackfruit the other a Carrie Mango. After sending several emails, no response however they did send me an email on their mailing list of exotics. The Jackfruit seedling and Carrie Mango both came in a single order box. The Jackfruit was fine, no issues. But the Carrie Mango seems to have been infested with caterpillars inside the shrinkwrap and on or in the rootball. I emailed them to inform them and ask how to handle these very thing inch long green caterpillars as there are many. TopTropicals other then their phone maze never returned my emails. It seems they are setup strictly to do business over the net and even then they did not respond. Sad cause I would have purchased other exotics I could legally get here from them if they had just responded. Needless to say Green Arrow nursery sold me a mixture called 7 and I used the soil mixture with water to try and kill the infestation of bugs.

On 6/7/09 I ordered Epin and Cirkon plant growth regulators. I had previously purchased those products from TopTropicals with satisfaction. These normally come as liquids inside vials inside hermetically sealed plastic envelopes. This time, I received the merchandise with all of the envelopes cut open. Judging from the odor, I suspected that the vial contents were replaced with water. I emailed TopTropicals and they said that the cut the envelopes open to check for leaking vials and that I could return for a refund if I didn't like it. I successfully did so at the loss of postage cost.

Since the Epin envelope has a clear window so that the inside can be seen without opening the envelope, I have no doubt that TopTropicals explanation was a lie.

We just received our first order today from Top Tropicals. It was disapointing to open the packaging only to discover the cactus we had looked forward to receiving (lophocereus schottii monstrosus) was nearly cut in half! Upon reading several of the reviews on this site, we took the immediate action of emailing and sent photos to Mike to report our findings. We will update the experience once a conclusion is reached with Top Tropicals, stay tuned!

My recent mail order (March 2009) for the Chinese Perfume Plant did not arrive & I emailed TopTropicals after about 4 business days (6 calendar days) about my concern and for their awareness,... with no response. On the 6th business day (8 calendar days after) of no plant, and no response, I reiterated my concern and crafted my email to provide me with a more likelihood of a response and some options to resolve the situation (e.g. resend via a 'traceable' method of mailing, full refund, or a suggestion/other options from them). I followed up with a phone call a few hours later and the gentleman apologized several times (reluctantly & with a slow under tone as if I was bothering him) and repeated that he has emailed me & refunded the full amount (without any elaboration). I was also concerned that they end their responsibility of the order at the time they drop it off to mail it but hoped for the best. I would have rated them, probably, a "neutral" because they did refund the money though the Customer Service interaction is not so up-to-par, as other reviewers have mentioned... but I provided a negative rating because the gentleman on the phone appeared to be attempting to get off the phone with me as quickly as possible by repeating to blurt the words, "I apologize that you did not get the order..." in an under tone as if he did not care a bit about my potential as a continued customer, sort of like I was bothering him & he wanted me to disappear because he refunded the money. Even though, I began to realize his intention and disregard to help me further, I stopped him to ask... "But I would really like to order this plant; Could you resend it via UPS or something?" He sort of snickered at that & repeated the apology & that he refunded the money, which was not relevant to my question. (I have to say that in my email, asking for a refund was not my top request as I have been searching for this plant from my old country for a while now.) He explained how he thought Priority USPS mail was better than UPS in cold weather, and I explained that I received a plumeria from a nursery close to him in 2 calendar days, and ordered days after his order was placed. So he attempted to cut my words off again to say with a firmer, more definitive tone, "I refunded the money, ok? ...Bye, bye." I was shocked by this behaviour as well as the attitude, and dismissal. In my disappointment (in many ways), I told myself that this is only a plant. Perhaps, I could search online for somewhere else as he refused my business. At the least, I receivd a refund. I am thankful now that I refrained and waited to test the reliability & quality of this company before putting in an additional order for a Sugar Apple Tree that I've always wanted. If you still decide to go with TopTropicals, buyer beware...

Customer service is not a priority! I too was told not to shop with them if I was unhappy. Unhappy? I've ordered plants by mail before, and even plants shipped from CA have arrived healthy! (and still to this day...)From them I get dead/ dying plants.
I have taken my business elsewhere, thank you!
I have been a satisfied customer of three other mail order nurseries since.
Thanks for the good advice!!!!

HAD A MIX UP IN ORDER, "STUFF HAPPENS"-- EMAILED MIKE AND CALLED MS. KIM ALBERTO---"PROBLEM' WAS QUICKLY SOLVED--CORDIALLY AND MORE THAN SATISFACTORILY--
RP