Comments regarding Plant Delights Nursery

Last year I placed approximately a $300.00 order with Plant Delights; all arrived in good shape with the exception of one that arrived dead. Having read “How to be a Good Customer”, I was a little leery as to how they would respond to my email requesting replacement or refund. While there was not an immediate response, I finally received a pleasant reply with an apology that also noted I would receive a refund. Great! Nice plants and good customer service.

Unfortunately, this year’s experience was quite the opposite. Due to time constraints, I did not get my order in. However, my children found the Plant Delights Catalogue and picked out a plant for my birthday. Rather than pay the minimum $16 dollar shipping charge on a $32 plant, I asked my neighbor to place it with her order, agreeing to split the shipping cost.

My neighbor placed the order in early spring and received email confirmation. However, when the order had not arrived by the end of May, she called Plant Delights and was given a number of excuses for things that had gone wrong and informed her that her order had been lost. She was eventually told that her plant was no longer available, but mine was. It took some time before any plant arrived and when it did it was not the plant that I had ordered. While my neighbor kept the plant (a common one that we both have), I was still waiting for my 1 plant. When I finally told her to call and cancel it, she was informed that it had been shipped. I DID NOT RECEIVE MY PLANT UNTIL THE END OF JUNE.

My neighbor was willing to pay half the shipping, but I didn’t feel she should since she did not receive her plant. I called Plant Delights to ask if they would refund half the shipping, since they had made more than one error including losing the order. Bob (or as he later identified himself, Robert), said he would call me back the next day. He called me back 2 days later and told me they would not cut the shipping in half. I mentioned once more, that this had been their error; he seemed confused and told me he would check into it again and talk to his administrators and call me back. I never heard from him again.

Eight dollars seems a small price to pay to keep business and a customer's good will. Personally, I don’t care how many unusual plants they carry. If that’s how they handle customers, even if they come up with a ‘Great Expectations’ that matures in one season and sings and tap dances to boot, I‘ll never buy from them again.

I purchased from this company twice. Both times I purchased different sedum. The first time I spent 9.00 for a stick that was 5 inches long. And two other sedum that were all dumped. I had to dig in the soil to find the plants. I e-mailed the company and basically asked why they would send me a dead stick and two piles of dirt for over fifty dollars.....NO REPLY. Later on in the season I came upon their company again. I decided to give them one more try thinking maybe it was PO fault. HAH! This time I did receive one really nice planted sedum (lucky me)but the other two I had to find in the dirt again. One sedum had a little stem, no roots, and a few broken leaves. The whole thing was maybe an inch tall. Guess who is out nine dollars for that one? You would find better plants in the fifty cent reduced section at a certain hardware store!

I have placed orders with Plant Delights over the past several years and have, in general been a satisfied customer. Plant failings in the past have been attributed to trying to grow plants that do not thrive in Seattle's cool maritime climate...it was user error, so to speak. I have always enjoyed the catalog, winced at the cost of shipping, and forgave my excesses when I noted the health and quality of the plants. Recent experience has left a nasty taste in my mouth. First, the size of the plants shipped has diminished over the years. This year I received a hibiscus that was little more than a stick the size of a fat toothpick sticking out of the soil! $12.00 plus $3.25 for shipping!! Second, the box I received was packed to half full and three of my costly little plants, including the aforementioned hibiscus, were dumped out into the box. I opened up a box that cost me over $30 in shipping and handling to find my expensive plants in a trashed state. Third, when I called to complain about the state of affairs, I was told that there "were a number of new people working in the shipping department and the box wasn't properly packaged." Regarding the plants, I was told to nurse them along and see how they do. This, of course means that I need to repot them in larger pots and nurse them along and hope they make it through. In my opinion, this is not acceptable. I'll willingly pay money for plants I covet, but send me quality, well packed and viable plants. I know how to be a good customer. Does Plant Delights know how to be a good mail order nursery?

I ordered from Plant Delights a year ago last fall and I was VERY dissapointed. Out of almost 400 dollars of plants I lost almost half. Almost a quarter were dead upon arival. From there it went downhill and several more died before the onset of winter. After that a few more never emerged from winter dormancy. I didn't contact them about my loss because I was discouraged by there return policy. The wording doesn't sound very understanding or friendly. They have such a great catalog with hard to find plants but I don't think I would order again unless I absolutely couldn't live without it...and then I think I would order in the spring instead.

Last spring I ordered several plants from this company, one of which was Heuchera 'Amber Waves'. I planted it in an area of my garden that has several other Heucheras in it, all of which were growing -- and continued to grow -- well. By mid July the Amber Waves had entirely disappeared, so I emailed the company, asking if -- since the plant had not lasted two months, and since the site, water and soil requirements were obviously not at fault -- they would replace it. Their answer was that they do not take responsibility for plants once they've left their facility, since they have no control over their care after that. This is understandable, but I think that an exception could have been made under the specific circumstances, since the conditions under which it was grown were favorable to Heucheras, and therefore it was a good guess that the plant itself was at fault. They were adamant, however, and I received no replacement. This is the first and only time in my years of gardening that I have ever been refused a replacement, in the rare cases where something did not grow. Therefore, in spite of the fact that Plant Delights has unusual and interesting plants, I'll not be ordering from them again.

It's too bad their customer service isn't as good as their plants (which are top-notch!). I placed an order and was surprised when it showed up in two very large boxes. After hauling them to the garden and opening both, I found that one box was my order -- the other contained someone else's order (including their credit card info -- yikes!). I called PDN and notified them of the error. They asked me to repackage everything and take it back to my office for a UPS pickup. I did, but UPS didn't come. I called PDN a couple more times and for one reason or another, no pickup. To make a long story short, I was hauling this box back and forth between my office and our firm's reception area for nearly two weeks (before it was finally picked up by UPS). Of course, the box was getting lighter and lighter each day as the plants became more dessicated. I even called PDN to see if I could buy some of the dying plants at a discount, but was told that it was against PDN policy to discount the price of their plants. (As if baby-sitting a heavy box of their plants for two weeks was part of my policy!) I've never had to jump through so many hoops to right a nursery's error. And they offered nothing except an explanation of their policies.

I enjoy their catalog and love their plants, but maybe they should replace the section on "How to be a good customer' with a commitment to good customer service.

I was very disappointed. 3 of the 4 plants I ordered were bare-rooted and rolled up in newspaper and had lost pigmentation from being deprived of light. All the lower foliage was dead. I called Customer Service and was told to give them some time to recover and to call back in a month. I have had to pamper them since planting, have had to cut off all the old foliage and finally they have started to grow back from the roots. I've never received plants by mail order that were packed in this fashion or arrived in such poor condition or took so long to show signs of thriving.Two of the 4 are still not looking good.

This is not a supplier of everything. They do have out-of-the-ordinary plants for us 'must-have' gardeners. The fun begins when their catalogue arrives in the winter.

"

Dear golddog,

For the record, all of our plants are grown in "cold frame" greenhouses, we do not have "cold storage" facilities. As a mail order nursery specializing in unusual perennials, our plants are not kept in a hothouse environment to force blooming or cold storage to keep plants in an indefinite period of dormancy. Our plant material is grown with exposure to natural light and weather conditions. During the winter months, all hardy tropicals are kept in greenhouses that are climate-controlled by furnaces. This would include our canna crop.

If you have experienced plant death due to shipping/packing problems, please let us know so we can assist you appropriately. We also have professional horticulture staff that are here to assist you in discovering any cultural problems that may be affecting the health of your plants.

Regards,

Dianne Austin
Customer Service Manager"

The plants I have received from this company have been fine except for one that promptly died after I got it. I e-mailed the company and after my e-mail bounced around to about 3 different people, I was finally offered a credit on my account. That's fine except you have to place a $30 order to use the credit! I couldn't find enough plants to place an order this year and asked if I could just get a refund instead. No go. In fact, I never received a response after sending 2 different e-mails. I think the company has a great plant selection but on the negative side, they are overpriced and their customer support is very bad.

Unless this nursery has a plant variety that that you just can't live without, I do not recommend them. I have been purchasing plants as a business owner for nearly six years and in my opinion and experience the 4" containers I purchase locally have considerably more plant material and size than what I received from Plant Delights. My complaint and their rather terse reply speaks for itself.

Subject: RE: Order #38052
Date: Sat, 1 Apr 2000 19:06:46 -0500
From: plantdel1@mindspring.com
To: (w009198@airmail.net)

Frank,
Sorry we couldm't meet your expectations this time. Let's not do business anymore.
David Lee Customer Service/Shipping Manager
Plant Delights Nursery, Inc.

-----Original Message-----
From: Frank Hillman [mailto:w009198@airmail.net]
Sent: Friday, March 31, 2000 9:30 PM
To: Tony Avent
Subject: Order #38052

I received my order today and have mixed opinions about the contents. The Crinums and Hippeastrellia were as I had expected. In fact one Crinum was indeed larger than expected. However the remainder of the order (Echinacea, sedum and Stokesia laevis) was disappointing. Prior to placing my order, I e-mailed you twice and specifically asked if the quart containers were full or simply a 4" potted up and sold as aquart. Both of your responses were vague and didn't not specifically answer my questions. I should have taken this as fair warning however I gave way to curiosity and ordered some plants that would be in quart containers. Not only did they not fill the containers, the quantity of plant material was less than what I consider acceptable for a 4". One Sedum/quart, 4 Echinacea with barely the second set of true leaves opened, one Stokesesia--give me a break.You advised me to purchase locally. I surely should have taken your advice. Caveat Preemptor

-- Frank R. Hillman