Comments regarding Aloha Tropicals

I'm so disappointed that I cannot recommend Aloha Tropicals. They took a long time to ship, don't respond consistently to inquiries, shipped very poorly packed plants that arrived severely damaged and haven't replaced the plants they said they would.

In my case, I bought two plants that were advertised to be quite large. It took two inquiries and a month to ship (they didn't respond to my first request for a status.)) They were packaged really poorly with no support and both plants were snapped off a few inches from the base. Neither plant was secured to the box at all. They were packed loosely with some wadded up paper.

I reported the damage to Aloha Tropicals, immediately, and sent pictures. The seller (Andrew) said he would replace them, but to send one back. I asked if I could keep it and would pay him for it and asked how much it was worth in it's current shape, waited a week and asked again and have never heard from him, again. It's now been an additional month - two months from my original order.

I'm trying to rehab two badly broken and beat up plants. I don't know if either will survive, but I paid too much for such damaged plants and Andrew hasn't responded to emails since my last one in March.

Seems pretty suspicious after years of not getting a review, Aloha Tropicals posts a review of themselves, which I'm pretty sure is NOT allowed, blasting people who give honest negative review and then all these positive review start showing up. Maybe people working for the company?

My own experience has been similar to many negative reviews below. I've learned to be very wary of companies that post a large selection of plant rare plant material and don't give any indication of size. Expect small plants and poor substitutions.

"On Feb 1, 2019 1:56 PM, Aloha Tropicals responded with:

I guess you have not ordered from us for many many years. Just because our inventory is large does not mean we don't have or grow it. I have taken over from my Dad,whom has retired."

Posted on April 9, 2014, updated June 3, 2015
Ordered a blue ice calathea, among other things, and was sent some sort of mucna vine (no species given) instead. Not really a good substitute and no substitutions were authorized anyway. Currently trying to get replacement or refund but no response yet. I will resort to contesting the charge with credit card company if necessary.

I ordered 6 plants on February 23 2015 and when they arrived (5 of 6 arrived actually) they were in terrible shape. They were stuffed into a small box and each 4 inch pot was wrapped with packers tape hold in wet newspaper. Leaves had major damage and two of the anthuriums died within the first two weeks. The leaves looked like they had been hit with a weed-eater. When I went to repot the two other anthuriums I found one had no root system at all... Zero. Like it had been pulled from a larger plant then stuck in the dirt. I doubt if this plant will survive much longer. Too bad the company doesn't seem to care about what they sell because I was eagerly awaiting I'm beautiful new plants. I will not use this company again.

We ordered $500 worth of assorted plants and received 22 plants in 4 inch pots, some broken. We contacted Andy and he emailed us stating "that is what is senT OUT to everyone< and with no complaints".

Andy said that he would be willing to replace the damaged plants, but that we would need to obtain a phytosanitary certificate to return plants from Hawaii to California. We feel that we were overcharged and that we were misled by the photos on the website into thinking that we were purchasing quality specimens rather than the seedlings that we received.

We opened a dispute claim with our credit card company.

Ordered series of baby ginger plants last year. They grew well..but none of them was what I wanted.

Andy is a worldwide known for his shady business now.

DO NOT BUY FROM ALOHATROPICAL.

Posted on August 2, 2010, updated June 14, 2013
Posted on April 24, 2009, updated August 2, 2010
I have read about a lot of bad experiences with Aloha Tropicals from forums online. And for years, I stayed away from this company. Then all of a sudden, I wanted this one plant really badly. Turns out they were the only online mail order that had a white Calotropis gigantea available which I just had to have (you would understand if you are crazy about plants). I emailed them if they had it in stock and I promptly received an email about that, although another email I sent after I made the order was not answered yet. I received my plant in under two weeks and it was very well packaged. The bad thing is how expensive they are for what you get. The plant I got was not a picture of health, but it looked okay and I believe it is going to survive. However, if this was a type of plant that was more finicky, then one might have some problems there. I ended up spending roughly $35 including shipping for a plant in a 4in pot. I will give an update if this turns out to be the wrong color, then I would really be mad. :D

I ordered the impatiens Hians but was sent another plant. I tried several emails and 2 phone calls to them without a response. I am convinced these people are dishonest and unconcerned about negative reviews, but I will continue to warn others that this company should be investigated by the law, and STAY AWAY FROM THEM. Its about a 50/50 chance that you will be cheated out of your money.

I will never ever use this company again ! They should be closed down . They owe me money and never got my order right . Beware of this company .

Posted on August 13, 2011, updated August 13, 2011
I bought michelia/magnolia coco for $50.90 incl shipping.
This plant is rare and only few vendors has it.

I bought it from Thai ebay seller and it didn't make it and saw it when I travel to Hong Kong and Indonesia so I know what the leaves looks like.

Before I ordered I feel hesitant too since the last time I read on forum , mali chat jasmine that aloha tropicals has isn't mali chat and they always send you a regular jasmine sambac.
Based on that posting, I already not sure to order for michelia coco but since I don't want to throw out money by buying it from Thailand then I take a chance.

It arrived 2 days ago and I didn't think it looks like michelia coco I know.

The leaves is exactly the same like magnolia egg which is softer and bigger while the real magnolia/ michelia coco leaves are pointer, thinner, narrower and stiffer.
Also the michelia coco leaves color is very dark green, darker than egg magnolia.

This will be my last purchase from aloha and I will try to ask for my credit card for my refund if they refuse to replace it to real magnolia coco.

So I don't recommend aloha tropicals for a place to buy rare plants especially they send different plants from the one that you ordered.

What a disaster. I ordered 12 hedychiums advertised as being heavily fragrant. The small rhizomes came in satisfactory condition, but when they bloomed, over half were not hedychiums but were the shampoo ginger instead. To make matters worse, the gingers I ordered and paid for were nearly double in price from what these shampoo gingers cost......I lost a lot of money here. I cannot tell by looking at a rhizome what the variety is. I expect the owner of a company to be honest enough to send the correct plants. Apparently this owner sends the least expensive thing he has regardless of what you order, then pockets the excess amount. Look elsewhere.....there are too many honest nursery folks out there to have to put up with people like this.

*WARNING* Last year I ordered several plants from this company, most didn't make it poor packaging unrooted plants ect. I ordered a Mucuna Bennettii "Red Jade Vine" VERY EXPENSIVE at $29.95 + S&H and a Strongylon Macrobotrys "Blue jade vine" also VERY EXPENSIVE at $27.95 + S&H. The Red Jade vine was recieved dead, a mear twig stuck in an expensive plastic pot. I tried as I could to revive the poor leafless twig to no avail. The Blue jade vine came in the same condition a small leafless twig with a name tag, now 9 months later I have finally revived it enough to find "IT IS NOT" a Blue jade vine I paid $27.95 for but rather a "Thungbergia Mysorensis" which in there catalog sells for $16.95!!!
This year I explained to them again about the problems I had with my last order and mentioned to them there poor rating on "Daves garden watch dog" expecting better than I had received from my last order, wouldn't you know it seem they think I enjoy collecting there plastic pots!!! Yet another dead "RED JADE VINE TWIG" no leaves just a twig after all efforts were exhausted and I announced official time of death I exhumed the buried portion to examine why...NO ROOTS!!!
Just a lifeless, leafless twig of unknown origin stuck in the dirt.
If you purchase from these people this is what you get...what they want you to have, but not exactly what you paid for...EVER!!!

i placed an order for a rangoon creeper in feb09 and received an email late mar09 saying my order has been delayed due to slow growth.it's now mid JUNE 09 and i'm still waiting.an email update would be niceor something.

shipping time is ok.
But the trees are so tiny. They might not survive. For same or less price, you can order much better/bigger trees from eBay.

I have ordered twice from alohatropicals, I ordered and paid for 2 items. I received 1 in 3weeks and the other item that is paid for(shipping included) and it has been almost 3 months and no word on what I had originally order It's always not availible. My concern is how can they sell you something that they don't have. I mean the item was $26.00 it may not be much to them but,it is to me. I gaved them a second chance and ordered 1 more item from them 3 weeks it's been I finally sent a matter a fact email and was told we forgot to ship it. If I get the 2 items I paid for no more chances for these guys Thanks for allowing me to sound off Bobby

I order a couple hundred worth of tropical fruit trees from this company. The plants were very small (6" to 8") and came from seeding. The sizes of the plants are not mentioned on the website but they do put pictures of a much healthier plants on the shopping pages. ALL die after one season. I will not buy from this company again.

In september last year I got from Aloha Tropicals a Heliconia regalis @ $ 65.95, a H. xantovillosa @ $135.95, a H.chartacea and a H. pogonatha. The last two are doing o.k., but the H. regalis and the H. xantovillosa where small rizomes, badly cut, one with a broken plantlet. Even after I bathed them with captan, they rotted right away.
These where not cheap plants, and I have a lot of experience growing Heliconias. I send them pictures of them both rigth after I got them, and they e-mail me back saying that they will be o.k... Then never heard from them again.
I spend a lot of money in plants, but I will never buy again from this company.

I am very disappointed, having read all of the negative comments about this company. If I had checked this website before, I may have made a different decision...
I had ordered three plants from Aloha Tropicals, sometime last year. I received them all in the time frame given, and all three plants were well packaged and in great health. The Gardenia I had ordered bloomed two days after it's arrival here in Connecticut!!!!!
Two of the plants continue to thrive. I accidentally broke the main stem of the Gardenia I had ordered, and I will definitely reorder this variety when the weather permits. I will have faith!

Ordered 1 heliconia rhizome. Dwarf rostata. Paid over 28 bucks with shipping included. I got a very small , very badly cut rhizome. So badly cut that it rotted in 2 weeks. I've grown heliconas for 10 years now,and this by far was the worest rhizome i have ever recived. For as much money as they charge for their plants, i would think you would get a nice fat rhizome with at least 1 root growing out of it. geessshh!

I ordered 5 heliconia's rhizomes from the company. The rhizomes were VERY small (I paid an average of $25 per rhizome) and two of them looked rotten (the packing was too wet) and unhealthy . After 3 weeks those two have not break to the surface. I am an experienced heliconist who lives in a tropical island so I am confident that I planted them correctly. I gave the company a second chance (two years ago I had a similar experience with them), but not any more.

I ordered Jasmine (Duke of Tuscany) on the first week of May. They sent me a confirmation of my order thru email. Then they sent me another email with the invoice but the invoice is supposedly for somebody else. However, the credit card number was indicated in the invoice. I emailed them back and copy furnished the person who really owns the invoice. I had to email them again since I have not received my order. I received my order last week of May but I was so frustrated of the plant they sent me. It is about 4 inches tall and the leaves are not healthy. I am trying to do my best to bring it back so that it may survive. My experience with them was very frustrating and I won't do business with them again.

I purchased a Siam Rose Ginger for $32 plus shipping which promptly died a few days after I received it.

Just over one year ago I spent several hundred dollars at this store. Most of my orders were placed online and all but one order were sent to me by mail (I picked up the other one in person). All plants arrived in great condition and I was satisfied at the time. However, once the plants started to bloom, I realized that several were not even plants that I ordered (even though I was told that all those I ordered were in stock and when each plant arrived they were labeled according to what I purchased).

I ordered a canna 'cupid' and was sent a canna 'ellen gallow.'
I ordered and paid for 2 costus spiralis @ $10.95 each and was sent 2 Costus Spicatus(Indianhead) which were priced @ $8.95 each.
I ordered and paid for a Costus 'Peruvian Pineapple' @ $27.95 and received a Costus Laevis priced @ $8.95.

I'm still waiting to see what heliconias will look like compared to the ones I ordered and paid for.

I was never made aware that substitutions were made and was never refunded the difference(s) in price.

I feel completely ripped off by this company. When substitutions must be made, the company should not mislabel the plants or charge $27.95 for a $8.95 plant, etc.

Very frustrating experience.

any company that does not respond to reapeated emails, telephone calls, and answering machine messages over a four month period is not worth dealing with. after having received only half of my order, which was mediocre at best, and being charged for the shipping and cost for both, i attempted to contact them in order to at the very least recieve a delivery estimate, or discuss possible refunds. however, all of my attempts (at least 5 emails, 10 calls, and 5 voice message over a 4 month period) at contacting them proved futile. even if they do recitify this situation, i would warn anyone about even thinking of doing business with such an unprofessional and negligent company. caveat emptor.

Last year I bought several tropical plants from few online nurseries and the only negative experience I had was with Aloha tropicals(in my home town)! First, They did not allow me to pick up my plants although I was less than an hour away. Then after I paid for the plants, they did not arrive for over a month. Only after my repeated inquiries via email and phone(which were never answered) finally one of my plants arrived with a receipt telling me they did not have the second one(supposed to be in stock). No adjustment was made to the shipping cost(one instead of two) and I the amount I paid for shipping was more than double the amount actually cost them for shipping(as per the shipping label). The plant was unhealthy and did not survive for long(all seven of my other plants survived, despite being shipped from Hawaii, Florida etc.). I would NOT recommend anyone buying from them.

I recently placed my first order with Aloha Tropicals. I ordered five plants. One was a live plant with five leaves and looked pretty healthy. One was a rhizome (actually, two rhizomes). The other three were brown sticks with minimal roots).

Of the five, only the live plant made it so far (the rhizomes MIGHT still appear I suppose, though they've been planted for more than eight weeks without breaking the surface of the soil).

One month after placing the order, I e-mailed Aloha Tropicals and described the lack of progress I was having. They responded by saying the warantee period was only 10 days and that time had already passed. I e-mailed back asking what sort of progress I should have noticed from brown sticks in 10 days and whether they truly believed 10 days was sufficient for the types of plants I ordered. I got no response.

I spent $116.91 to get a $25 plant. I won't let that happen again. I only wish I'd seen this website before to see that even those who rated their experience as positive had to contact the company to resolve problems.

Thank you for your website - now that I've found it, I'll use it to locate another source for the many tropicals I have yet to purchase!

I have ordered from Aloha Tropicals twice and each experience had some disappointments. The first time I ordered 4 plants of which one was a Heliconia that cost $16.95. For that price I received a 3 inch potted rhizome that was in decline and never recovered. Two of the other plants (Strophanthus gratus and Cananga odorata) were also received in poor condition and died just a few days later. As many others have already stated, this nursery has plants that are difficult to obtain elsewhere, so I placed a second order in the spring of 2004. One of the plants ordered was a Heliconia griggsiana "Full Moon", which arrived as a large rhizome. I was excited to see such a large rhizome (even though I paid $37.95 for it), but noted that the two new growths didn't look healthy. One growth already looked totally black and the other was starting to look brown. I decided to plant the rhizome and see what happened. Nothing happened! The rhizome went into decline and I emailed Aloha Tropicals explaining the situation, that I ordered twice from them and that I have a botanical background. I can tell you from experience that I have received Heliconia rhizomes from many different sources and they have all done well. Aloha Tropicals didn't need to strip all the growth off the rhizomes (potentially for agricultural inspection purposes) to send them to me, because I only live about 30 miles away from them and in the same county. I never received a response to my email.

I do have a few plants that are still alive that I ordered from Aloha Tropicals. However, I don't feel that this company has good quality control on what they ship out. All the plants that I have received from them have either died or have had major set backs that took months for them to recover. Many other plant mail order companies I have done business with have provided me with large well-grown plants that take adjusting to a new environment well. Because Aloha Tropicals doesn't seem to have good mail order business practices and can't even respond to an email, I think they deserve a negative comment. I would never order from them again!

I ordered 6 tropical fruit trees from this company two years ago. I was only sent 5, although they billed me for all 6. They were out of stock on the 6th, and my repeated attempts at a refund went unanswered.

Also, I was told that all of the plants are self-fruitful and can be grown in containers. I have found information on one of the plants, an Ice Cream Bean tree that says no known cultivars are self fruitful...and I have doubts that such a large tree can be grown in a container for long.

Also, the trees suffered cold damage during shipping (their shipping policy stated they would wait till weather was forecast to be warm, but they did not).

On the positive side: All of the trees I received were of decent size and health. The sapote lost all of its leaves because of the cold damage, but they grew back. They all remain very healthy.

I ordered two red jade vines for thirty dollars each. What I expected were two healthy plants, well rooted. What I received were two twigs, no more than three inches long, one of which was just about dead on arrival. To their credit, they replaced the dead plant, however, it was with another twig, with a total of two sad leaves. The second plant was very poorly rooted in its pot.

For the price I paid, I would have hoped for better. I would not order anything from Aloha Tropicals again.

Vancouver, July 19.2004. 19 days ago I placed a small order, confirmation and order number (#1544545_17964) was sent to me the same vary day. I waited patiently up to July 17, and then I checked my visa statement ( no charges from Aloha Tropicals), so I sent them an e-mail, asking what's going on. Presently is 5 pm. July 19 and I haven't received any answer. I tried to rich them by phone, but there is only answering machine. Of course I left a message, but again no respond. Today about noon I send three (3) e-mails to Aloha Tropicals. No respond at all. I checked again with my bank, no transacion from Aloha on my visa. Finally I sent them an e-mail with cancelation of my order ,asking for confirmation. Again no respond.
It looks like this company completely ignores some castomers, particularly those placing small orders. I could have my plant at home already, if I pick another company. 20 minutes ago I placed new order (different company) and my plant is on its way.
I strongly advice to stay as far as possible from Aloha Tropicals, to avoid disappointment. If you don't want to lose your time and energy for nothing, please go and FIND ANOTHER COMPANY .

Very long time from ordering until shipment. They do have a nice selection but one of the two gingers I ordered was already dead (tiny to begin with) upon arrival. The second plant was a decent size.

A few years ago I ordered a white Canna from Aloha Tropicals...when the canna bloomed it turned out to be peach...I emailed them 3-4 times to report the mix up but no one would ever reply to my email....this canna cost 12.95 for one. I will not order from them again and do not recommed them to others.