Comments regarding Wild Things Grow

I ordered two water lilies from Green Chapel Farms (somehow associated with Wild Things Grow) on November 2, 2020. Total cost over $50. They didn't arrive promptly, but I assumed that was due to some "we don't ship in the winter" policy. But I hadn't heard from them, so I tried calling. couldn't get through or leave a message. So, I sent an email nine days ago (Feb. 10, 2021), No response. I can't find a phone number that works for them. Their inability to communicate has me worried.

I ordered 4 Brugmansia plants on April 8. As of May 9, I have not received anything. I have sent several emails to the company and tried to call several times. No one answers the phone and the mailbox is full, and no email response. I have now filed a complaint with PayPal, since the company did take my credit card payment. I have also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau of North Carolina. These same complaints go back many years. Do not order from this company!

I first should have checked the reviews before placing an order. Placed an order 3 weeks ago. No contact from the seller regarding the order. Called three times ...message box is full...send three emails asking about the order ...no response. Will now have to file a complaint with Paypal regarding this order. HORRIBLE service from this company which is also know as Green Chapel Farms

Posted on December 15, 2014, updated January 13, 2016
Posted on November 25, 2014, updated December 15, 2014
This was my first purchase and I received a beautiful Brugmansia.. They were very kind to work with me on shipping arrangement's.. The weather had gotten bad and we had a death in the Family.. My package arrived on time and packed perfectly! I will defiantly be doing business with them in the future.. I am Extremely Pleased with my purchase..

I am sad to add another negative review to this seller: Wild Things Grow AKA Green Chapel Farms. Let me begin by stating that they have a lovely website, wonderful photos and some very unique Brugmansia plants which is what I ordered. I had read the reviews here but was still hoping for the best. I placed my order on August 22, 2015 online and paid with PayPal. Since no order confirmation was sent other than the PayPal receipt; I followed up the following day with an email which was MSGTagged. Apparently, it was never opened as I never received the tag (this is paid software and works differently than a basic read receipt). I had not received my plant September 7, 2015 and tried calling that morning. It went directly to voice mail and I left all of my contact information. I never received a call back or any communication from the seller. On September 8, 2015 I opened a case in the Resolution Center with PayPal and they gave them 7 days to respond. Nothing was posted in the way of response to PayPal. Today (September 19, 2015), I received notification that PayPal had found in my favor and I was refunded in full. I do not like to leave any kind of negative review but do feel that other potential buyers should be aware. SO disappointing!

I placed an order on May 23 and my credit card was billed at that time. I tried calling to check on the order but I was unable to get anyone on the phone. It says the voice mail is full and I could not leave a message. On June 1 I emailed requesting a tracking number or at least some communication regarding the order. I did not hear back. On June 4th I repeatedly called the number after sending another email with no response. I received a text saying "I am in a meeting" I texted back that I needed a response to my email. I have not received a return call nor email. As a small business owner I can understand the difficulties of running a small business but if you can't answer the phone at least let your customer leave a message or answer an email within a 24 hour period.

I called Wild Thing Grow March 20, 2015 and left a message that I was placing an order, and asked them to respond if they would be unable to ship a few Brugmansia within the next week or two.

After not receiving a call, I assumed they would be able to send my shipment the following week. I placed an order March 21, 2015 for $159.84 and paid by PayPal, thank goodness. The only acknowledgment I got was from PayPal. After not hearing from them after a week, I called again and got an answering machine. I left a message for them to contact me either by phone or email.

I started really getting worried by the end of March when I hadn't gotten an email. Then I started emailing them, very nicely requesting a shipping date. Still no response. April 5th I emailed Janet and told her to refund my entire purchase price if she did not intend to ship. I told her I would file a dispute if she didn't answer my email. She has not responded to this request.

I feel I have given them ample time to answer and so I headed on over to PayPal and have started a dispute. If I don't hear from them within a few days, I will file a claim.

This is not good business practices and if I had read the reviews here, I definitely would not have placed my order with these folks.

By the way, this is the first time in over a decade that I've ever written a negative report, but I think I've been quite fair in this matter.

I am fairly new to gardening, and this was my first attempt at ordering plants online. I really wish I had known about this forum--or thought to check the BBB ratings--before attempting to do business with this company.

On 5/16, I ordered four plants from Wild Things Grow. As with others here, there was absolutely no communication, not so much as an email acknowledging my order other than the Paypal receipt. On 5/21, I sent an email asking when the plants might be shipped. No response. I noticed that the website said that they were slow in responding to email, so I left phone messages on 5/23 & 6/2. No response. On 6/4, I received two healthy, good sized plants; however, there was no receipt and no indication when the other half of the order might ship. I left another phone message on 6/11 and sent another email on 6/18, with the same now-predictable lack of response.

I called again on 7/1 and for the first time, got an answer. She had trouble finding my order and I had to tell her what it was that I had not received. She said there had been a number of crop failures this spring (it would have been lovely if someone had mentioned this in May) but that one plant was ready to ship now and the other would be the following week. She assured me that both would be packed on the 6th and shipped on the 7th. I'm sure you can imagine my "surprise" as the week dragged on and I had yet again heard nothing and the plants had not shipped. I left another message on the 10th and called again on the 11th but by then I really didn't see the point in leaving any more messages.

I'm sick of worrying about this and I sincerely doubt I ever see these plants. Since they don't return phone calls or answer emails, I have no idea how one would even go about requesting a refund. I guess I'm going to have to take it up with my credit card company.

The irony is that I wouldn't have minded waiting if someone had bothered to tell me what was going on. It's a shame, because the plants I did get were nice and are thriving. I just wish they were worth twice what I paid for them, since they're apparently all I'm ever going to get.

I ordered one Angel trumpet and one datura from Wild Things Grow on May 9th. Weeks went by, nothing arrived, no communication. When I called, no one answered. Then I called the number one evening to get a grumpy woman on the other end scolding me for calling at 10 pm her time! She told me to call back, and I did. There was great difficulty "finding my order." Then, I was told that my order had not shipped because the datura was not ready to ship. So, I asked for a refund on that one, and was told the other would ship out right away. It did not. So I called back again on June 13th. Once again, she had difficulty "finding my order." I was told many things, but never given an explanation as to why my order was not shipped. She told me that she could not give me an explanation. She went on and on about "this is not a business, it is a non profit, we have volunteers who do all of the packing." (all 5 of them) I asked who is ultimately responsible for making sure that items that are paid for are shipped - she said she could not answer that, she took no responsibility. She refunded my money, yes. Ordering from this place is no different from making donation, it seems. The philosophy seems to be that if you order here, you will wait as long as it takes for them to have a plant, with absolutely no communication or updates on your order. This is simply unacceptable practice. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS VENDOR.

"On Jun 13, 2014 3:40 PM, Wild Things Grow responded with:

The Customer received two separate refunds when requested, on the spot. No delay.
Nurseries are not factories with inventory sitting on shelves.
You are either willing to wait for the plant you want or you're not.
"

I placed order with Joan on phone end of February. She assured me my two plants would be sent out that week.
After not seeing hide nor hair, nor email confirmation of my order, I called last week.
Joan informed me they had been trying to contact me, as they did not know which 2 plants I'd ordered. What???? I've never heard of such a thing, and highly suspect this was a ruse.
After telling her the plants names, I asked why I had not received an email. She insisted they had emailed me. Not true, even checked spam folder. She also balked about weather. Not true either. I watch wunderground's 10 day forecast, and she could have easily mailed me the plants between 2 southern states.
Now it's last night, and I called for the third time. Same deal, she didn't know which two plants I'd ordered. I also asked why I had not received an email. This time before I got off phone I insisted she email me, and that my plants go out
within 10 days. Later that evening, this woman had the gall to (finally) email me a note saying there is a no refund policy!
She hasn't even mailed the plants and shes talking about no refund!
I've had it with this company. I also filed against them at the BBB. If my plants arrive and are healthy, in good shape, I may change this to neutral. That's if they ever arrive. Her business practices are horribly lacking. I have never spoken with anyone as lazily minded as this person. Good luck if you order from her, it will definitely be a risk.

"On Mar 29, 2014 10:30 AM, Wild Things Grow responded with:

We have never, in the history of this company, told a customer that we have no refund or replacement policy.

No such correspondence was sent, nor was any such policy stated.

This customers order was delayed for a number of reasons, none of which were the fault of the customer. They have received their plants plus extra plants, in good condition.
"

I wanted a vine for a pot that one of my Plumerias is in and after much research and consideration, I decided on the Pink Frost Sweet Potatoe vine. I fell in love with the colors and thought it would be gorgeous under my Plumeria. I couldn't find anyone locally who sold them so I turned to the internet. There wasn't alot of sellers there either, so I ended up choosing Wild Things Grow. I am not a rich person so I really debated paying $15.00 (vine + shipping), but I did it. It arrived so fast and I felt like a kid on Christmas when I came home to find the package at my door. I swooped it up and opened the box carefully, making sure not to injure the new love of my life. My heart broke. Here was a withered 5" vine, laying on a half-filled cup of dried soil. It's roots weren't even covered. It had a plastic grocery bag wadded and shoved into the cup and then held in place with packing tape. I quickly rushed it to a pot, gave it soil, water and a prayer. It's been 5 days and it has shown no improvement. I will NEVER buy a plant or recommended Wild Things Grow. And good luck trying to get a response from them. They have my $15.00, so why listen to my complaint. If they respond to me, I'll post it. But I think I would have better luck bringing my dead vine back to life.

"On Jul 19, 2013 12:03 AM, Wild Things Grow responded with:

Green Chapel Farms has an excellent replacement policy, Toni.
We cover the top of the plant with plastic so the soil doesn't fall out during shipping. The plant container is secured in the box with tape so it doesn't bounce around. All the "Shoved" and "Wadded" is a bit dramatic, but understand your disappointment.
We ship all packages USPS priority mail, and we receive very few complaints about customers receiving dead plants, but occasionally a package will be delayed, and that spells sure death for the plant.
"

I ordered (and paid for) 3 Plumeria plants back on 7 September. Immediately received 1 and unable to receive the other two. It has been incredible difficult reaching anyone with this company (website email aren't responded to and now it seems their phone is disconnected). When I was able to reach someone they seems to think I was a nuisance asking for the product I paid good money for. Said the products are on back order. Extremely disappointed in Wild Things Grow. I don't think I'll ever get the plants, but they sure have my money for the past 2 months

"On Jul 19, 2013 12:06 AM, Wild Things Grow responded with:

Dear Friend
Did you receive your plants?"