Comments regarding MeyerLemonTree.com

Posted on December 29, 2011, updated July 19, 2012
Posted on August 22, 2011, updated August 24, 2011
Posted on August 17, 2011, updated August 22, 2011
Purchased a 4-5 ft Lime tree last summer. Struggled with it thru the winter, but with spring came a beautiful set of flowers. The tree was thriving and producing limes until early this afternoon when the USDA came and confiscated it. I've got the paperwork to prove it.

"On Jul 19, 2012 8:20 PM, MeyerLemonTree.com responded with:

Hi Jim,
Please forward your contact information to usacitrus@yahoo.com and I will personally take care of your issue. We have worked hard to establish a good working relationship with all of our customers. I apologize profusely if your order was not properly replaced. We actively work with the USDA to ensure we are consistently in compliance.
Thank you for your time. In all sincerity I hope to hear from you soon.
Diana, meyer lemon tree
"

This company operates under different websites. They show the plants are available. You place the order, they charge your credit card. After charging the credit card, they stay quiet. If you remember to follow-up, they come back with one of the following answers :

- Not in stock --> Why charge to credit card if not in stock ?
- We don't ship to your state -- Why charge to credit card if you don't ship to California ?

Now, it is your turn to follow-up on the refunds. My personal experience with this company has been very bad (this has happened 3rd time). They charged me for Orange tree on 18thMay,2012. Immediately after the charging, I asked status of the order and got back reply, we don't ship to California (I fail to understand why they charged if they don't ship to California).

"On Jun 4, 2012 2:58 PM, MeyerLemonTree.com responded with:

Hi sakapur,

We apologize for going out of stock on the particular Orange Tree you ordered. We are in the process of updating our website to show we will not be able to ship that item into California right now. Your money has been refunded.

We do have many other varieties available in California such as the Valencia, Washington Navel, Cara Cara, Blood Orange.

Take care and thank you for your patience.

Diana
LemonCitrusTree

"

Terrible customer service. It's amazing they're still in business.
After a week of no shipping confirmation I wrote them an email (per the request on the website), I never got an email back. The next week I called Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday. Each time I left voicemails explaining the problem and asked that they call me back. No phone call. The next Monday I called multiple times during their business hours (only 12-4pm) and no one answered. I then wrote another email informing them that ignoring a customer was unacceptable, especially after you've taken their money, and that I would be contacting the BBB and taking legal action next. That afternoon I got an email back. This is all it said:
Hi,

Your order is shipping tomorrow and you should expect its arrival by the end of this week.
Thanks and have a wonderful day.
 
Kind Regards,
Meyer Lemon Tree.com

That's it? No apology for ignoring someone for 3 weeks or explanation? I also got a phone call from them that afternoon. A woman left a message saying that they had some shipping issues where many orders were lost and that it would be shipped. Still no remorse for the terrible customer service.
I wish I could have gotten a refund and bought from another company instead. I would never recommend that anyone patronize this business .. ever.

"On Jun 4, 2012 3:05 PM, MeyerLemonTree.com responded with:

Hi Bunny,

I agree.... and I apologize for you not receiving a phone call back promptly. Our Customer Service goal is to have a 100% response rate within 24 hours and we meet that goal with 99%+ of our customers. It looks like we dropped the ball in your situation. No excuses we should have done better with your order.

I hope you are pleased with your tree and we do stand behind our Warranty if any issues arrive.

Diana,
MeyerLemontree.com

"

Gardengallie and Growyourfood are new DG ID's and have also just been created over on the GardenWeb forums as well, yesterday or today. They have both resurrected very old threads on the GardenWeb Citrus Forum in order to promote this company. Quite obviously this is the company trying to repair their much-damaged reputation based on the past illegal practices. Just read through the many, many, many negative comments on this forum about their illegal shipping of quarantined stock. Or, Google them on the Internet. Based on this new less than ethical attempt to promote themselves, it's merely another example of why you do not want to do business with this company. They and others like them, are responsible for putting our citrus states at risk for spreading HLB. Shame on you.

"On Feb 3, 2012 2:29 PM, MeyerLemonTree.com responded with:

In an effort to show a more positive light on our company I will address the issue that happened 2 years.

We have had no bad vendors since... due to what we learned and working with the USDA to make sure it does not happen again!

We have also asked our past customers if they could also give a good word on sites like these and will most likely see many new members to this site due to our requests.

The company is setup like an FTD of citrus and fruit trees. We have contracted with vendors (wholesalers and nurseries) in every citrus growing state we could find. By doing this we are able to ship to every state except AZ and parts of SC. See the USDA website saveourcitrus.org for more details.

This makes us unique in the sense that we can ship everywhere citrus is allowed to be shipped.

As you can read below we acknowledged one of our vendors was shut down. Luckily we talked with the USDA and resolved that we would replace any confiscated tree at no cost. The USDA agent typically informs our past customer to CONTACT US to get a replacement tree. Believe me when I say if we where not following the rules the USDA would shut us down. We apologize to those affected and we will replace your tree.

When this surprise happened 2 years ago we asked the USDA to verify the vendors we use and were told everyone on our list was approved. Companies like Four Winds, Monrovia, etc.

So be assured if you order for Texas you will get a tree USDA approved and grown in Texas.

If you order in California, You will get a CA grown tree like Monrovia (who also supplies Sam's and Costco across the country).

If you order in Florida, you will receive a FL grown tree.

If you order in Louisiana, you will receive a LA grown tree.

If you order in Beaufort, Charleston or Colleton Counties of South Carolina you will receive a tree from CA, TX or LA. The other SC counties are not able to import citrus from any state right now.

Arizona: The entire state is under quarantine for sweet orange scab. A portion of Yuma County is under quarantine for Asian citrus psyllid.

For regulatory information regarding the movement of fresh citrus fruit, citrus nursery stock or other citrus parts (cut foliage, seeds, wood, etc.), contact the USDA State Plant Health Director’s office at (602) 431-3200.
It's is so bad here that counties in AZ can not ship to other counties in the same state.

In summary, certain citrus growers can ship OUTSIDE their state and others can not. An example would be Texas. Texas approved growers are currently allowed to ship to the rest of the country other than AZ, CA, FL, LA, parts of SC.

This is a very competitive business and companies actively try to badmouth one another. So just take the negative posts for what they are and also believe that if any company was violating the laws that the government would step in.

That said, please consider us in your purchase and we welcome our customers to verify there tree is USDA approved or your money back.

Meyerlemontree.com"

They are illegally shipping citrus to quarantined states.

See reviews or GW for more references.

//forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/citrus/msg011126212453.html?22777

"On Feb 3, 2012 2:28 PM, MeyerLemonTree.com responded with:

In an effort to show a more positive light on our company I will address the issue that happened 2 years.

We have had no bad vendors since... due to what we learned and working with the USDA to make sure it does not happen again!

We have also asked our past customers if they could also give a good word on sites like these and will most likely see many new members to this site due to our requests.

The company is setup like an FTD of citrus and fruit trees. We have contracted with vendors (wholesalers and nurseries) in every citrus growing state we could find. By doing this we are able to ship to every state except AZ and parts of SC. See the USDA website saveourcitrus.org for more details.

This makes us unique in the sense that we can ship everywhere citrus is allowed to be shipped.

As you can read below we acknowledged one of our vendors was shut down. Luckily we talked with the USDA and resolved that we would replace any confiscated tree at no cost. The USDA agent typically informs our past customer to CONTACT US to get a replacement tree. Believe me when I say if we where not following the rules the USDA would shut us down. We apologize to those affected and we will replace your tree.

When this surprise happened 2 years ago we asked the USDA to verify the vendors we use and were told everyone on our list was approved. Companies like Four Winds, Monrovia, etc.

So be assured if you order for Texas you will get a tree USDA approved and grown in Texas.

If you order in California, You will get a CA grown tree like Monrovia (who also supplies Sam's and Costco across the country).

If you order in Florida, you will receive a FL grown tree.

If you order in Louisiana, you will receive a LA grown tree.

If you order in Beaufort, Charleston or Colleton Counties of South Carolina you will receive a tree from CA, TX or LA. The other SC counties are not able to import citrus from any state right now.

Arizona: The entire state is under quarantine for sweet orange scab. A portion of Yuma County is under quarantine for Asian citrus psyllid.

For regulatory information regarding the movement of fresh citrus fruit, citrus nursery stock or other citrus parts (cut foliage, seeds, wood, etc.), contact the USDA State Plant Health Director’s office at (602) 431-3200.
It's is so bad here that counties in AZ can not ship to other counties in the same state.

In summary, certain citrus growers can ship OUTSIDE their state and others can not. An example would be Texas. Texas approved growers are currently allowed to ship to the rest of the country other than AZ, CA, FL, LA, parts of SC.

This is a very competitive business and companies actively try to badmouth one another. So just take the negative posts for what they are and also believe that if any company was violating the laws that the government would step in.

That said, please consider us in your purchase and we welcome our customers to verify there tree is USDA approved or your money back.

Meyerlemontree.com
"

Do NOT DO BUSINESS with this company! They are scam artist selling trees out of a shell company in GA, but they really reside in Florida.

I to was visited by the USDA who physically confiscated my plant (While I had my in-laws visiting) Imagine my embarrassment! The inspector was very nice, but determined to take the plant. After producing multiple legal documents, I was left no other choice but to allow him to take it. I asked him if I should call the company to try and get my money back or another tree and he told me to watch out because if he had to come back I could get a heafty fine.

After reading the previous posts and a quick look up on the USDA website, I decided not to attempt get another tree because of the huge fines and possible civil lawsuits.

Don't make the mistake of buying from this company!

"On Jun 4, 2012 3:28 PM, MeyerLemonTree.com responded with:

Hi Grace,

I am sorry for the issue you had with the USDA. We have changed our vendor from Georgia and we NO longer have ANY USDA issues. As noted above, the few customers who had any issues were shipped new trees or were completely refunded. We have shipped well over 5,000+ trees since that issue and we have received glowing reviews of the quality of our trees.

We have a 4.8 star rating out of 5 on Amazon and its our goal for all of our customers to be happy with their purchase

Diana,
MeyerLemonTree.com"

I purchased the largest, most expensive meyer lemon tree from meyerlemontree.com in 2009. It was confiscated by USDA from my home. It was a very traumatic and scary experience. I had no idea what was going on and was extremely upset since it was growing very nicely. I contacted meyerlemontree.com and wanted a refund. They convinced me to let them send me another tree instead of the refund promising that these trees are not diseased and will not be confiscated. They said they only do replacements and do not have a refund policy. What company does not have a refund policy? WELL a few weeks ago, my second tree was confiscated!! This time it was when I was hosting a family party. How embarrassing!!!!

I will never purchase anything from meyerlemontree.com again! I do not recommend this company since obviously they are illegally sending diseased trees to unknowing consumers! I don’t want to even contact them again regarding this issue. All I want is my lemon tree back.

I was looking on other sites to purchase a new one. I came across lemoncitrustree.com. Sketchy thing is that their contact phone number is the same as meyerlemontree.com. A lot of the pages on the 2 sites are the same. I just don’t understand that it says USDA approved – then why were my trees confiscated a few weeks ago!? They have very cheap prices for the lemon trees right now. Lowest being $5.99. BUT! The shipping cost is $26! I’ve seen other sites ship this same tree for half the price. Obviously, they are spiking up their shipping cost to make up for their cheap prices. It seems like a SCAM to me and I will not be buying anything from either of these sites.

Does anyone know of a reputable website?

I ordered a few small citrus trees from this website. Although the sight is very cheap and sketchy looking, I ignored my gut feeling anyway and ordered.
To make a long story short i received my trees and although one of the trees were snapped in half I still re-potted them and they grew accordingly.. Well they had little white spots on them but I didn't think anything of it..
All seemed well until a USDA investigator showed up at my doorstep to confiscate my trees!! I asked him what the issues were and he informed me that there was a investigation going on and that they received my information via meyerlemontree.com files that had been seized. apparently they were or are shipping diseased trees illegally.
Thank goodness I didn't put them near my other citrus trees.
None the less I DO NOT appreciate the way they do business. It is not honest and it turns my stomach to think there are companies doing this.

"On Jun 4, 2012 3:50 PM, MeyerLemonTree.com responded with:

Hi CitrusLover100,

I am truly sorry for the situation you encountered. We worked hand in hand with the USDA to correct the situation and all of our customers were issued replacements or they were refunded their money.

We have shipped thousands of trees since and with glowing reviews. Our trees are top-notch and we stand behind the product we deliver to our customers.

Thank you for your understanding ... it is our goal for 100% of our customers to be satisfied with their tree!"

DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY!! I was just contacted today by the US Department of Agriculture - they have to SEIZE my tree!!! The Improved Meyer Lemon tree was purchased online in 2008, the USDA said the tree was illegally sold by this company from GA to avoid a FL quarantine! I can not believe the company has put my family in such danger! AVOID! Pay a little extra and do business with another company!!

I ordered a tree as a gift for my brother in July from this company. Tonight, the Department of Agriculture showed up and seized the tree. They said it was sold illegally and is diseased. The Dept of Ag had seized the company's records and is now working at seizing the trees sold. DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!

"On Feb 1, 2011 12:32 PM, MeyerLemonTree.com responded with:

Hello Sir,
We were completely unaware of your situation. I do understand your frustrations. Please give us your contact information so we can address the issue at hand and replace your tree. You can email us at lemontreemeyer@yahoo.com or call 229-299-5555. "