From the consumer perspective, I always let the vendors know if there is a
problem, but my expectations of the resolution vary. If a plant was
misrepresented, and is much smaller than what I expected, I usually ask for
a replacement, or another as compensation. If, on the other hand, I see
that the culture was very poor, I just request a refund, as I'd rather not
have more problems headed my way.

From the vendor end, I'd LIKE to hear of problems, so I can fix them. As I
don't typically stock large numbers of plants, sending a replacement is not
always an option. Usually, I apologize and simply refund the money, adding
that I hope they are successful in raising the disappointing plant to their
level of satisfaction. Like Kenni, this has only happened a couple of times
in 10+ years of business, and fortunately, I haven't run across too many
scammers trying to take advantage of that. (If I get a surge of them now
after saying this, I will refuse them all, so don't get any ideas.)

Keep in mind that some things are perception-based. If I have 50 plants and
see that 20 or so are in bud, I consider them, as a whole, to be flowering
size. Once that plant gets to you (assuming you were a late orderer and got
one not in-bud), YOU may not think it's large enough to bloom, and for your
culture it might not be. In that situation, I might let the tone of the
claim request influence my decision on response... (It's remarkable how
"Are you SURE it's flowering size?" elicits a different response than "You
lying *******!")

It is important to provide as accurate a description as possible in the
list. In this situation, I'd state clearly that 40% of the plants are
in-bud or spike, are in X" pots and are approximately "this size." If you
then complain about the size, I will point out that the plant clearly
matches the description, and ask for a return in order to issue a credit,
and if the condition of the return is not as it was when I sent it, I may
refuse to issue the full refund.

I go to great pains to wrap plants for shipment, but I remember a situation
in which a guy decided - once the plants arrived - that they weren't right
for his conditions. No problem, return them for a refund. They were
dropped in the box - unwrapped - and a bunch of newspaper smashed down on
top of them. They arrived unpotted, untagged and broken. Refund? I don't
think so...

I once had a guy email me that he was very disappointed with the plants he
got from me, as they were totally infested with insects. I explained how
surprised I was, as I had not seen any infestation in my greenhouse in a
very long time. When I looked up his order, it turns out to have happened
in late summer, some 8 months prior, and I suggested that a lot could have
happened in that time frame unrelated to the original, as-shipped condition.
I never heard back.

--

Ray Barkalow - First Rays Orchids - www.firstrays.com
Plants, Supplies, Artwork, Books and Lots of Free Info!


"Kenni Judd" wrote in message
...
Hi, Dave: In my effort to be brief, I neglected to mention that we will
replace rather than refund -- if we believe the complaint to be in good
faith [note Rob's post]. Otherwise, we'd rather have our plants back,
issue
the refund and be done with it.

It's only happened to us 4-5 times in several thousand shipments over the
last seven years. A couple of times, it was good repeat customers; we
took
them at their word and replaced the plants, waiving the return of those
deemed unsatisfactory. A couple of times, it was people obviously "trying
out" plants, at our expense for shipping both ways [we used to include
shipping costs in our prices until the post office made that unfeasible].
E.g., one lady complained about a box of vandaceous; when we got it back,
one plant had one brown leaf-tip -- and then she wanted Catts in
replacement
... So, generally, we won't waive the return of the "unsatisfactory"
plants
for a first-time buyer. [Note Rob's post again] But we pay the return
postage to get the plants back, which is more than I think most nurseries
do.

The notice issue hasn't seemed to be a problem for us. I tell people when
their orders are going to ship, and so far the USPS has been good about
confirming it when I generate the labels. The only delivery problems I
can
recall a (1) the postal worker got stuck in a snow drift; she used
her
cellphone to call the customer to rescue her plants; (2) one gentleman
relied on his neighbor to get his plants, the neighbor left them broiling
in
the metal mailbox for 2 days (we took the plants back, he eventually
re-bought them G); (3) one lady claimed, after I had a delivery
confirmation receipt, that the USPS had stolen her plants (I offered to
replace them at half-price, to "share the loss," didn't hear back from
her).
--
Kenni Judd
Juno Beach Orchids
http://www.jborchids.com


"Dave Fouchey" wrote in message
...
On Fri, 13 May 2005 17:04:19 -0400, "Kenni Judd"
wrote:

I would like to hear the concensus of those who post here concerning
this
topic. I'm not asking anyone to "name names" but I would like to know:

If you place an order, receive it, and are not happy with it, for
whatever
reason, what do you want the grower to do?

Our own policy is to apologize [whether or not we think we did anything
wrong G], and ask that the unsatisfactory plants be returned,
whereupon
we
will issue a full refund including the return postage. Fortunately for
us,
it's a rare occurence, but I'm still curious.

What say all of you? What more would you expect, if anything?
Well so far it has not happened to me with Orchids. (Thanks to you who
know who you are!)

I would like the chance to have the vendor make the order good first
before going for a refund. Just my Humble Opinion. Everyone has a bad
day or has an unforeseen accident happen to their shipment, and it
seems to me that letting the Vendor have the option of making the
order good or refunding the order would be a reasonable attitude and
policy to have.

But then I do own rose colored glasses..
Dave