Comments regarding Greenearth Publishing Inc. (bananaplants.net, greenhouse.net)

This guy over charges for shipping and has terrible communication skills. Just buy plants from any other place online or look for a local place. I'd never buy from this person again.

"On Mar 5, 2018 4:47 PM, Greenearth Publishing Inc. (bananaplants.net, greenhouse.net) responded with:

It says clearly i charge $14.95 for shipping on all orders. If you buy 10 plants i still only charge $14.95 This nice man wanted it cheaper after getting the plants. If you want to try us get a free plant if you mention this feedback with any 2 plants, thank again..

I ordered 16 plants from Green Earth Co. Banana Trees. I ordered 3 sweet goji berry, 3 blackberry, 3 kiwi issai, 3 raspberry, 1 chiquita banana, 1 ice cream banana, 1 musa williams banana, 1 seminole banana.

1 box was shipped with 13 plants stuffed inside and a paper that said 3 raspberry plants will ship in July.

Most of the plants that arrived were in poor shape. I planted all in containers except for the kiwi I planted in the ground. I have a huge pile of garden mix I bought last yr for my garden that I have been using.

The ice cream banana was in decent shape and is doing well in the garden mix. The other 3 banana plants were questionable especially the seminole which is still not doing so well.

One of the blackberry plants was in very poor shape and missing many leaves, second blackberry plant also in poor shape but nowhere as bad as the previous and the third was in decent shape.

All 3 goji plants very stressed but at least had all their leaves and finally look like they will be ok.

The kiwi plants one had black on its leaves and the other 2 stressed and wilted. The 2 wilted kiwi look like they will make it while the 3rd with the black on leaves just got blacker until now is dead.

I contacted Green Earth Co right away on 6/13/17 and said: "Some of the plants you sent did not look good and not doing to well." ted taylor same day response was: "sorry please send pic no worries i will replace."

I waited 2 days to see if any improvement before sending pictures but the 2 blackberry and seminole banana getting worse so I sent pictures of those with the email on 6/15/17 that said, "Hi dont know about this banana plant yet, and these 2 blackberry plants, questionable on the goji and kiwi but waiting to see"

(anyone want to see pictures or emails are welcome too)

Again same day response from ted taylor that said: "
pots do not let air and roots are rotting is that soil or potting mix ?change pots."

My same day response of 6/15/17 was: "What are you talking about? The dirt is a garden mix I bought two truckloads of last year and have a giant pile I use. The dirt drains good. When I received the plants they were not in the best shape. There was black on a couple banana plants on arrival. Blackberry plants 1 looked nice 2 not so nice, 1 missing many leaves. 1 kiwi had black on leaves. I am waiting to see how they go. Goji dont know on those yet either. The ice cream banana plant looks very nice and doing well in the container."

Instead of Ted Taylor taking care of replacing these plants like he said he would off the bat he responds with this on 6/16/17 "Hi, That is what i thought its full of bacteria and viruses and the ph is usually acid, it drains yes but as i say i the directions to use potting mix because its sterile and will dry out each day Roots will not grow hardly because of no air. look t the roots and you will see. send pics of all of them if you want too those will die if you keep doing the same thing, starting small tropical plants or any plant should be started with potting mix NOT garden soil especially, i will refund all that die but sorry no replacements i am about out. the plants were beautiful when i shipped them thanks, "

I went out and bought a soil test kit to test the soil on the worse blackberry plant, it was not acidic at all and then sent this response on 6/19/17 "I went and bought a soil test kit, here is a picture of the ph for the soil (not acidic at all) in the blackberry plant that was in poor shape when it arrived and now about dead, the goji plants look like will be ok, 1 kiwi is dead and the other 2 I think will be ok, the ice cream banana is doing well, the seminole banana not sure of yet will make it or not and the other 2 look like will be ok. I blackberry doing well and the other not sure of yet and as I said 1 dead. I was told when I first replied you would replace them, and now you wont? Still not receive raspberry plants, you can send all replacements with those. Thank you"

Ted's response "On Jun 19, 2017 7:03 PM, ted taylor wrote:
sir those test kits are not reliable and i told you that is bad soil ... all will die you will see i will send refund only thanks, sent refund of 66.00"

My response on 6/19/17 "I want items replaced​ and want the raspberry plants you are are supposed to send or send a call tag for everything and refund entirety"

Ted's response "On Jun 19, 2017 7:44 PM, ted taylor wrote:
sorry no more raspberry sold out a week ago. all ready sent a refund for 9 plants send pics if you want more please of dead or damaged plants for more refund.thanks, and i be glad too."

Obviously ted you dont have raspberry plants because you marked on my receipt you would send them in July

I responded on 6/19/17 with "Send a call tag for all the plants and refund everything,"

Again ted taylor response " Why not all are damaged, send pics of damage plants for refund , that is what i and paypal will accept as proof, thanks, "

I have never done business with someone as immature and childish as this before. If my dirt is no good why did the ice cream banana plant thrive and do well right away? Why are other plants looking better than when I received them? The garden mix I have is very good and i get very nice vegetables from plants grown in it.

Instead of replacing the plants as first stated the man has a hissy fit because I am using my soil instead of his? What a baby. I will not do business with this baby again. I would recommend anyone that is considering to do business with this baby to think twice. Ted is not a man of his word. Ted does not want to accept when he is wrong.

"On Mar 5, 2018 4:51 PM, Greenearth Publishing Inc. (bananaplants.net, greenhouse.net) responded with:

Tried to help and Gave refund but he wa still crazy mad...I think he was sick or feeling bad, sorry...this is only half the emails. I tried to help but he said i was always wrong, I love being called a Baby, being 64 years old thanks buddy.
If you want to try us, :) get a free plant if you mention this feedback with any order of 2 plants, thank again.. "

Posted on June 3, 2016, updated June 8, 2016
I emailed Ted for some simple guidance before I placed an order. He was unbelievably rude and said things like "i do not have tie to read long emails" and "sorry i can not help you because i will not read old emails good day." I was going to place an order with him, but now there is no chance I will. Others should realize how he is to deal with as well.

"On Jun 4, 2016 6:12 PM, Greenearth Publishing Inc. (bananaplants.net, greenhouse.net) responded with:

What this guy left out is i answered his emails 4 times some werfe 15 lines long and that he wanted to hide plants in a suitcase to take to Europe. After telling him it was illegal and it was called smuggling he still persisted that i read his long emails over because i would not tell him the best plants to smuggle. On the 4 email i told him i was too busy. to help him anymore, i never gave him useful smuggling info. FOR everyone info, You can not take plants with soil or leaves to other countries because of disease from them. It is a felony, He would not listen. If you would like to see his emails or see how i deal with legal request, mention this email and get a extra plant free. thanks ted @greenhouse.net

I, too, had the same problem as others. My order status for weeks was 'will ship in 2-3 days'. While all that time my plants were sitting in the PO, and because of a mistake there I wasn't notified. Future customers--don't believe your 'order status'.

"On Sep 9, 2014 2:07 PM, Greenearth Publishing Inc. (bananaplants.net, greenhouse.net) responded with:

I was so busy i never got time for updating the server. How about a free plant Josephine5? Anyone else buy 4 banana plants get one FREE if you read this. thanks!"

I ordered one banana tree in June. I did not receive it and contacted the seller 3 months later. My invoice stated that it would ship in 2-3 days the whole 3 month period. I sent a follow up email and I got an email in all caps that said my tree shipped in June. Then another that said sorry for the delay, they were busy with a sale. My invoice now says "shipped",but no tree. It is now the end of September! I am contacting PayPal for a refund and trying to figure out how to leave negative feedback on a few sites so this won't happen to others.

"On Sep 9, 2014 2:02 PM, Greenearth Publishing Inc. (bananaplants.net, greenhouse.net) responded with:

Hello hbtraveler,
Just saw your feedback sorry for your disappointment and would like to send a free plant and ask if you ever received a refund. sorry i checked and I didn't get your emails. i'm at ted@greenhouse.net p.s. anyone reading this gets a free plant with purchase of 2. "

Posted on September 1, 2010, updated September 16, 2010
On July 6, I ordered 4 different banana plants from Greenearth Publishing. At the time, they were having a special and had a note on their website stating that, due to the special, they were running behind on the shipping by a few days. So I was pleasantly surprised when my order arrived within a week.

My pleasure turned to disappointment when I opened the package and saw the first plant was bent in several places. There was no damage to the outer packaging and the plant was wedged in tightly, so it appears this damage occurred due to the way it was packed. The other 3 plants were fine. I wrote to Ted to tell him the lady finger banana I ordered was damaged and sent attached a picture of the plant. He sent a reply saying he'd reimburse me for this plant. After waiting several days and not seeing the credit show up, I emailed again. Once again, Ted replied and sent what he said was a 'receipt' and said he just took care of the refund. Again, I waited and checked with my bank - no such refund was ever received.

I'm very disappointed by my experience. It's a shame this company does not have better business ethics. I am happy with the other 3 plants but the lady finger banana died within days and has not come back as Ted said it would. I had hoped to find a good place to do business but it's not worth having to worry if I'm just throwing away my money.

On June 21st, I ordered 5 different banana plants from Greenearth Publishing. At the time, they were having a special and I received and email stating that due to the special, they were running behind on the shipping. As I wasn’t in any hurry that was fine. I received my order around July 20th or 21st.

I was disappointment when I opened the package and saw smaller plants than expected with the smallest one looking dead. It was the ICE CREAM (Blue Java) variety. I also received 2 of one kind and was missing one which I had ordered (I assumed it was an honest mistake that would be taken care of but it wasn’t). The others looked OK so I planted them all per the enclosed directions. I called Ted to tell him about the missing plant and dead looking plant but he didn’t return my phone call. After a month went by all the plants look great except for the ICE CREAM (Blue Java) plant which never grew back. Therefore I called Ted again and this time followed it up with an email knowing he hadn’t returned 2 previous phone calls.

My email not only addressed the missing & dead plant but I asked some other questions regards to other veriaties and planting questions. He did respond by email in a timely fashion but with a very unpleasant attitude. He never answered any of my questions.

Here is a cut & paste of his entire response; [deleted due to assertion of copyright on contents of email.]

I responded back trying to clarify a few item but only received another evasive email with a statement “no refund”. I never asked for a refund, I just want the correct product paid for supplied and a replacement for the dead one. I am disappointed with my experience. It's a shame this company does not treat the customer any better than this.

A couple of weeks ago (May 19th), I ordered a Dwarf Puerto Rican Plantain and a Dwarf Orinoco from Ted at GreenEarth. The shipping status of my order stated "Will ship in 4-7 days". I checked back in, expecting the order status to change to "shipped" at some point, but 9 days after I ordered, it still showed "Will ship in 4-7 days".

I wrote to them, asking if the order has been shipped - and if not, when will it ship.

The response I got was brief, saying only "allow 3 or more days for priority mail..." from Ted... but it said nothing about whether it's been shipped or not.

So, I write again and say:

"Hello and thanks for responding.

I do not understand your answer. My question is for the status of the order, meaning has it been sent out yet? Or are you saying it will be sent out in 3 or more days? It is very confusing. I'm sorry."

His response surprised me:

"it means just what it says... i am busy wait and see"

I wrote back and let him know his rude response was not appreciated. All he could've said was a simple "Yes, your order was shipped already. Give it a few days to arrive."

I ended up receiving the plants that same evening. While they looked in great shape, the customer service experience was enough for me to refuse to give them any of my money ever again.

I ordered 3 Banana Plants in April. Their web site stated they wouldnt be shipped until May. I went to the local nursery and they had some beautiful Basjoo plants that had huge corms and were very healthy. I bought several and contacted Ted about canceling my order. I paid a little bit more at the nursery but figured it would be worth it since the plants from Greenearth Publishing wouldnt be shipped for several weeks.

So I sent the email requesting cancellation of my order and the reply I received was: YES I WILL LATER TODAY. THANKS, TED

Last week I received a box from Greenearth Publishing that contained 3 sickly Basjoo. I've been babying them and it looks like 3 of them will make it. The root systems were in bad shape and they looked like tiny water suckers. On the other hand, the 4 I bought from the nursery are now triple the size of the ones received from Ted.

I have 16 banana plants growing here and I would never send out plants that frail.

I will never purchase from there again.

first off my order of pepper plants were supposed to ship on 325. when i checked the order status on the website, it said the order had been shipped. The tracking number was blank so i was not able to track the order. a week later i sent an email to see where my order was since it was supposed to ship priority mail. i received no response. 2 days later i received my plants. the newspaper used to pack my plants in was dated 3/28. i was not able to make out the acutal ship date on the box. i recieved 2 plants that were put in plastic bags with some dirt and wrapped in news paper. one of the plants was just a dried up stick. no leaves, just a stick. the other just had a couple of crunchy leaves. i sent an email to explain the quality of my order and this is the response i recieved.... "To: "Don Margetson" YOU ARE A IDIOT IF YOU THINK I SHIP PLANTS LIKE THAT.. DID YOU READ MY FEED BACK? LETS TRY TO USE OUR HEAD A MINUTE, DUH.. CHECK THE POSTMARK, YOU WILL SE THEY WILL HAVEE BEEN LEFT IN THE BOX FOR A WEEKS.. TOO LOOK LIKE THAT.. IF YOU JUST GOT THEM.THATS NOT OUR FAULT...... ITS ALWAYS MY FAULT HUGH, WELL TAKE IT UP WITH YTOUR CARD COMPANY I SHIPED NICE HEALTHY PLANTS ITS BEEN TOO LONG TO GET A REFUND.. CALL THEM I WILL TALK WITH THEM NOT YOU ."

great customer service. i plan on taking his advice and taking it up with my credit card company. hopefully if you make a purchase from him you may have better luck

I ordered 2 plants from this company and never received them. Ever. Ted kept saying, "oh yeah, I sent them out, I'll resend them if you want". I requested package tracking, which he refused, and finally, when I just asked for my money back, he wouldn't do that either. As far as I can tell, he might be running a business with no product... just sucking up money via paypal.

I bought four bananas from this business, and two of them keeled over and died within a day of being planted. Two of them survived and are doing fine. What no one told me until I found out later is that these are tissue-cultured tiny plants that have been in the cushy environment of a greenhouse and that they aren't ready for ground planting until after they have been acclimated. They are also very thin, fragile starts.

When I wrote to Ted about the two that keeled over, he said that they might come back and that my soil wasn't good for bananas. Well, I have about a dozen bananas already planted in that soil, and there is nothing wrong with it. Furthermore, the root system died on the two, and there is no way for the two to come back. When I asked about replacements for the two, I never heard back from him again.

I won't buy from this business again and really wish I had checked Garden Watchdog before I bought.

Ted is very rude! Will not order from him again! Customer service and communication is lacking.

I emailed Ted checking on the status of my order since there was a link on my email to check the current status, several days had past and current status of my order was blank / empty on the website. Anyways, Ted replied to my email and said it was shipped out 2 days after i placed my order. On the website, it stated it would be processed and shipped within one day. Long story short, Ted told me to order from somewhere else next time.

I ordered a banana plant from Ted. It took over 4 weeks to get it. When I finally got the plant it was half dead. Ted told me to water it, and it will come back. It did not. When I asked about a return I was curtly told it was within 4 days of recieving the plant. I reminded him of the first email, and I got another curt reply that I was not to blame him if the plant did not make it. I feel that this company lacks in customer support and concerns. Buyers be ware.

I placed an order on 5/1/09 with a check. I emailed Ted on 5/12/09 for the order status since the price had gone up. The reply was curt "Yes, I have it and we are behind on the order". I emailed Ted on 5/26/09 and asked if the Co. would honor the order or not (since the price has gone up again). Ted's reply was (1) rude, (2) he can either ship it out that week or tear off the order if I email him again with the negative comment like the one he received, (3) and stated the web site posted that they are 2 wks behind on order. I checked the web site right after his reply and it is still states that order will be shipped within 24 hours. What is wrong in this picture? I emailed Ted and requested to tear off the order because I do not care much for a company like that. I personally felt Ted was relief from saving a few dollars by agreeing to tear off my order from his reply. I wished that I could be positive about Greenearth attitude and culture like all others but this experience with Greenearth really left bad taste.

My order was not complete and when I emailed Ted about a refund, he did not even know it (invoice # provided) despite his (?) hand-written note on the invoice; I mailed him a copy as proof. Normally, I wouldn't give a company a negative for this, except that Ted's emails are very curt, unapologetic & rude. He needs someone else to handle customer relations. The plants look healthy and I hope they prove so. However, I won't order from Ted again, since there are so many other suppliers who probably have better correspondence manners.

I was horrified when my baby banana came very damaged (due to the post office not the nursery).

I got an very quick reply to my e-mail and an extremely generous offer of a replacement and (not or) a refund. Great customer service and a banana hardy in zone 5, what more could a gardener ask for?!

I highly recommend this company !!!