Comments regarding Angel Gardens Inc.

Posted on June 1, 2011, updated June 1, 2011
Ordered 4 roses, although it took a few days of emailing back and forth to determine substitutes for roses not available (either by correct size or specific rose).

She was reluctant to send a refund as I suggested, so we finally decided on which roses to send according to the amount I had paid her ($110.00).

I recieved 4 roses as follows:

1 large Marie Pavie (healthy and growing in my garden).

1 large Cornelia
alive and planted in my garden. several nice blooms have
emerged even though it hasn't increased much in size.

1 Jean La Joie miniature climbing rose.
fairly tall single stem, completely leafless when it arrived.
planted it in the garden and keeping my fingers crossed.

1 Cinderella Fairy Tale Rose
A mere 4-inch tall, totally leafless stem planted in a LARGE pot as
to appear as, and sold to me as a large size rose. It is
starting to leaf out but hasn't gotten any taller. I'm hoping
it will eventually get big enough in the pot this summer to
plant in my garden this fall to over-winter in my zone 5-6 garden.

Paid her $110. Shipping was $43.00. Did I get $67.00
worth of roses in this deal ????

She seemed to be under alot of stress due to her open house that weekend, and said she would probably sell most of her roses at the open house prior to shipping my roses.

Appears I got a couple "left-over" twigs, even though I paid full price for good size roses.

She sounds decent on the phone, but too bad she didn't make it a positive buying experience for me. Should I say I was cheated ???

Since she didn't want to refund my $110 payment, I'm just glad I got two good roses out of the deal. As least I got something.

"On Jun 3, 2011 2:05 AM, Angel Gardens Inc. responded with:

I feel compelled to answer the negative slanderous charges leveled against me by this former customer. I have always prided myself on excellent customer service and this thing just threw me for a loop. After 16 years as the owner of a successful garden shop and another 7 years growing and selling roses, I have Never had anyone ever attack me like this before. The old saying "You can't please everyone all the time" comes to mind.

I would like to address the charges one at a time.

I am guilty of having longer than a week pass by before responding to the order as I was preparing for my 3rd Annual Rose Lover's Gathering and I was overwhelmed at the time. Anyone ever find themselves in that situation where you can heardly come up for air? So when I did respond with a request for any substitutions for a couple of the roses (I had 3 out of 4 by the way), I received an impatient and abrupt email asking for a refund of the full amount.

Because the customer was obviously pissed off that I had taken too long to ship or respond to the order, I attempted to appease her with kindness and apologies and promises to ship as soon as was possible (which I did). She did not have a problem with any of it after that as communication was what she needed and we were having that.

I only mentioned my Event sales of the roses as I wanted her to go ahead with her choices instead of waiting until after the event so she could be sure to get the varieties she wanted. I was thinking I was doing her a favor to send the small Cinderella Fairy Tale as she had really wanted it and I did finally find a small one which had recently been stepped up into a gallon pot. She was charged only for the quart size by the way, not the gallon, so no cheating there. I would normally have never sent such a small rose but I knew she really wanted that variety and I was trying to please her.

The Jeanne la Joie which was a decent size left here in good condition in a gallon pot and was healthy when it left. It went a long way from Florida to Massachusetts and sometimes roses will suffer some stress in the heat over such a long distance. I am sure he will survive and thrive.

I did send 2 large 3 gallon sized roses which she seemed happy about.
She had actually originally ordered a quart of Marie Pavie which I did not have, but I had a nice big 3 gallon so she was happy to take that instead. I probably pulled the rootballs from the pots to save her money in shipping and this is where her comment about getting "alot of soil and pots" must have come from.

I would also like to comment that my roses are organically grown on their own roots which is a slower process than budded roses and chemically maintained roses. It is slower and healthier in the long run. The customer's impatience with my response to her order is continued with her impatience with my roses, demanding them to grow FAST or something is obviously wrong. This is a myth. They grow slow and sure, much more disease resistant, naturally not becoming monsters.

All of this transaction went smoothly and I even received a very nice email from her a few days later which I would like to quote
here: "Hi Pam, Thrilled with the roses I received today. Got them all potted."

So you can imagine how I felt when I was informed by Dave's Garden that I had a negative review. It was very hurtful to me not only to see my efforts at bending over backwards go so totally unappreciated, but to see that someone who was unhappy did not have the decency to call or email me privately to discuss their feelings about an order and instead felt the need to spew insults and slander at me (after only speaking to me for a few minutes over the phone and a couple of emails as if she really knew me well enough to ruin a 22 year (Good reputation) on line to the World at large.

I will be the first to admit that I am not perfect (Is anyone?) but I try my best to do my best. I consider myself very honest and sincere. I publicly apologize if anything I said or did offended this person in any way. I would have done the same had she contacted me of her now horrible experience (This happened a month ago). Instead she said she was "Thrilled". How was I supposed to know? She assumed things without getting the facts first.

It's funny, she knew nothing of my efforts at starting a new local club for Old Garden Rose lovers, all the time and energy we have put into planting and maintaining a Memorial Rose Garden at our local Hospice, all the donations of roses I have sent all over the country to rose societies,raffle roses donated at meetings, articles written, all the free knowledge I have tried my best to spread the Good News about roses to novices and fellow rose lovers. Most of all, she knew nothing of my heart and soul and my deep Love for God , my wonderful family, Roses, and all people who love roses. She knew nothing.

"