Comments regarding T's Flowers & Things

Posted on March 15, 2015, updated March 19, 2015

I purchased over $100.00 of irises from Teresa Daly from T's Flowers and Things last spring, paid immediately with paypal and after having just moved and some grumbling from the seller about accepting paypal we worked out my address change which entailed Teresa Daly having to refund my payment and me reissuing payment.

When it came time to ship she sent notice it was on its way and should arrive within 2-3 days priority mail, which would have been Wednesday, Thursday latest by Saturday it still had not arrived and I emailed her. She said she knew where it was and would get it to me. However, she didn't tell me that she had sent the package to my old(wrong) address and that it was sitting at the post office almost a week before it was sent back to her.

She sent me a lengthy email stating she just didn't have time for this, she was just too busy and basically couldn't be bothered. She wanted to refund my payment and be done with it. Not once did she apologize for her screw up or say she would fulfill her obligation and send me fresh rhizomes, many of which her catalog stated where in stock.

I insisted she send my my order and she eventually did, the ones that had been sitting in an unventilated box(every rhizome order I received has had holes poked in the box)for almost 3 weeks. I planted them, having gardened for decades, owned my own retail garden shop and have experience growing irises and assumed they would be okay after taking a few planting precautions.

This spring all but 5 had died and those are questionable.

I wrote her, again, she basically says tough luck, and that she had offered to refund and her refund policy does not cover it.

When I pointed out that it was her error to begin with by sending the order to the wrong address, well, she still has not responded and that was 2 weeks ago.

I have been selling online for 15 years, owned my own brick and mortar shops and have never experienced such irresponsible, unprofessional behavior as I have from Teresa Daly from T's Flowers and Things.

"On Mar 15, 2015 1:49 PM, T's Flowers & Things responded with:

Yes, first of all, I did ship the order to the wrong address, going from Indiana to Washington. And though I didn't save those email communications, if I did not apologize for that, I'm very sorry. However, this was a legitimate mistake in that this person who knows very much about PayPal and how it works, and had been selling online for 15 years, failed to update their PayPal address to their new address (which I consider to have been the beginning of the problem.) Before I realized that the addresses did not match, I had already printed the packing list information and shipping label with the *old* address, which was the address on the first PayPal payment. At that point, I emailed this person and advised that I was going to have to ship to the address on the PayPal payment; - - where if you do not ship to the address on the PayPal payment, the person can say they never received the shipment (even if they did at some prior address), then PayPal will automatically refund that person the money if you didn't ship to the address on the payment. The paper work and label got set aside after the original PayPal payment had been refunded and a new PayPal payment came through with the correct address. Then at shipping time, trying to get all my Iris orders dug, washed and shipped, including hers, I failed to change the address on the packing list and shipping label to the correct address, picking up the old paper work.

And yes, I was very very busy. Once I had shipped to the incorrect address, that the Iris rhizomes had sat in the box for that time, and until being returned to me, yes, I did NOT want to ship them again. An indication was made (just recently) by this person that I should have dug new and fresh rhizomes ... well I didn't have many of those still available on the order. And yes, once I realized this, I VERY much wanted to issue a full refund because the Iris weren't in the same fresh condition as they had been, and this person could have re-ordered the next year had they chose.

And even though I advised this person that some of the Iris had been damaged in return shipping, she still INSISTED that I re-ship, instead of refund. And at this point she knew that they had been in the box for several days, that a few had broken foliage (I even emailed photos), and she still insisted that I re-ship, and no indication was made at that time that I should dig new and fresh rhizomes (which I didn't have).

Did we have a rough enough winter, with standing water, freezing water, enough to kill rhizomes? I do think the winter could be part of the problem based on the location the rhizomes were planted. However, I have Iris rhizomes which were left laying on the top of the ground, some still laying in my greenhouse ... and they are alive. Perhaps the rhizomes were killed by winter, or perhaps this person just wanted to post a negative here, because of the way I handled the transaction, which was not satisfactory to her.

For all of you reading here, please keep in mind, YES, I do have a work load. But I try my best to offer the best I have at reasonable prices, sufficient communication, and timely shipping.

Teresa Daly
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I've ordered seed from Teresa in the past. Her prices are phenomenal, shipping is prompt and germination results are high. I hope to order seed from her again and look forward to ordering bulbs and plants from her too.

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I am very upset about this negative because this customer never made an attempt to let me know of the dissatisfaction of the plants, or that the seeds didn't come true. My policy clearly states that if you are unsatisfied with your plants when you receive them, return them for a full refund including shipping. I like to know if seeds don't come true, especially if they are commercial seeds. Most of the seed that I harvest is open pollinated, so I indicate on the web pages to expect some variation or that plants may not grow true to parent, such as aquilegias and buddleias."

I also had my order canceled for no apparent reason(at least none was give). I recieved my money back but was disappointed, as I was counting on the flowers I had ordered. I submitted my order early so it was not like their was insufficient time to process and plan ahead. I would like to order again as the prices are great.

Ordered seeds and plants early this year. Seed order short one packet which was promptly shipped when I made it known. But being promised plants to be shipped in may and then receiving no plants is something else. I've now lost a years growth. My money was refunded after I emailed and asked why my plants hadn't arrived. But I received no email saying my plants would not be available prior to my asking where they were. I won't order again from this company.