GardenBanter.co.uk - View Single Post

18-07-2003, 10:16 AM

) wrote in message . com...
wrote in message ...
On Sun, 8 Jun 2003 23:26:24,
) wrote:

If you have a problem, see what they will do for you about it.

Oh, I tried.

If you are still not satistfied with reasonable efforts, then don't
buy from them again.

I'm not about to do so.

There's hits for poor plants for about every vendor that's done
this for more than a few years.

This episode went beyond 'poor plants'. Also, I find it unlikely that what
happened to these plants happened in the few days they were in transit
during mild weather.

Trades also are good and buying from your local aquarium society is
perhaps the best.

I've purchased fine plants from local shops. I buy online when the locals
don't have what that I'm looking for at the moment.

Cindy

Then you are in the right. I'd feel the same way.
I've been burnt and will not order from some places either.
Service really is the main issue that can take care of the customer's
issues even if they get a bag full of mush. I'd just send them a bag
replacement for free. The customer would feel wanted/loved:-) and they
would know you'd take care of them in the future. Plants are cheap,
paying customers are very important.
I'm not this person but that's what I'd do.

Regards,
Tom Barr

Its real easy to make generalizations Tom. You have sent ME plants 3
times, and twice half of them were dead on arrival. I've gotten plants
several times from Aquabid from hobbyists that were not in good shape.
I spent $50 for a bag of Riccia from a well known hobbyist from
Aquabid in hopes I could use it to grow a large enough supply to sell
it since the plant is near impossible to buy commercially, and it
arrived in very poor condition.

I send out 40 to 50 orders a week and I get 6 or so people a MONTH
complaining of the condition of the plants. Thats 6 out of 200. Out of
those six I often have one or two people who appear totally
unreasonable in how they want it resolved. Now perhaps I do need to
take this more seriously. My first response is to tell people what the
stated policy is on my WEB site. Then I
offer some way to resolve the situation. For some people this is not
good enough.

Should I make a greater effort to make sure these people are happy
regardless of the cost? Should I just write it off? What would you do?
I have been doing this since 1999 and it is always a constant battle
to deal with this issue to keep the loss of damaged plants at an
absolute minimum. Now I have many, many loyal customers that have
bought from me continously over the years. They know they will be well
taken care of. This is what has kept my business growing. Every
quarter my business has doubled. But I can not have first time
customers turned away from a bad experience and continue to grow,
regardless of the reason or how unjustified. I have always strongly
been a advocate of this hobby and gone to great lengths to provide
eduation. Thats what my whole WEB site is about. But I guess I am now
realizing that is not good enough.

So I will examin this very closely and try to determin a policy that
protects the customer and will make them feel like they can buy from
Aqua Botanic with trust and confidence so that even the most demanding
newbie will feel satisfied.

Robert