Buyer Beware

16 years ago

Last January I ordered Holy Mouse Ears and Frosted Mouse Ears(and others) from HostasDirect,paid for them and got a confirmation from them.Now that it is time to ship they send me an e-mail that they are out of stock for the year. Needless to say I cannot find any place that has these in stock.Anybody ever deal with HostasDirect and are they as poorly run as I think they are(which does not matter because they will not get another order from me). P.O.,Phil

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Comments (8)

woodthrush
16 years ago
I ordered them from Qand Z nursery last Dec and they don't have them either. They say they are on backorder, but haven't gotten any answer on how long. So it's not just HostasDirect that can't fill orders. Must be a problem with the TC's.
Pam
razorback33
16 years ago
I also ordered them from Q & Z and was told they were OS.
They said that only a limited number were available this year and those were already sold. Not available again, until 2009.
None of my other preferred vendors have them either.
I suppose we wait and see what happens.
Rb
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woodthrush
16 years ago
Well how on earth did they think they could fill all the orders they were getting with OS?
jspece
16 years ago
Q&Z is the tissue culture lab that is producing these two plants. I doubt anyone would be getting OS from Q&Z. Also keep in mind that most any nursery (with the exception of maybe 1 or 2) that is selling these two plants this year is selling 1st year TCs.

The BME sports are going to be hot...it is no surprise Q&Z sold out quickly. My order has been in for months...I hope I was quick enough!
ctopher_mi
16 years ago
I'm sure Razorback means they were Out of Stock, not Originator Stock.

I'm also not sure you can really fault Tom for not being able to get these, as his orders were probably confirmed too and then the supplier just didn't come through with the material. It can happen, although I don't agree with nursery policies of billing up front if you don't actually have the plants. I'm not sure how these mail order companies get away with it, really. Visa/MasterCard processing agreements state that mail orders cannot be billed more than 30 days in advance, yet lots of mail order nurseries bill at the time of the order. Must be a loophole somewhere.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
16 years ago
when i used to order ...I NEVER GOT ALL THAT I ORDERED.. PERIOD ....

first.. there is crop failure.... and mini always fail to some degree ...

second ... and this is what took me the longest to understand ... you waited too long for delivery ... those peeps in z8, 7,6 ... got their orders weeks ago .. eating up the entire inventory ....

if you want to insure that you get certain plants.. you have to ask for their first shipping date.. and then figure out how to keep them alive in z5 until you can plant them outdoors fully leafed out ...

if they offered you a credit or a refund.. frankly... you have nothing to complain about ...

almost all vendors.. of any plant... will ask you to list substitutes... for just such reason ... of course.. the problem is.. you have some vested interest in the ones you did NOT get.. and dont really care about the substitutes ... been there.. many a time ...

no nursery is going to inventory all the orders that come in during winter... to keep track of exactly what has been ordered.. nor run out in winter with every order.. and mark the plants SOLD .. i wish it were so .. but it just isnt going to happen ....

i have many HAVE TO HAVE conifers.. that i have been ordering for 5 years straight ... its part of the game.. and part of the fun .. though hard to swallow at times ... lol .. and then i am usually let down when i get the thing... because it will never live up to the hype in my mind ... the same thing used to happen when i ordered hosta.. before TC became so readily available ...

all that said.. i have never worked with.. nor know this vendor ....

ken
razorback33
16 years ago
Sorry for the confusing acronym. It was intended to indicate Out of Stock.
I have been a customer of Q & Z since it's infancy and was rather shocked that there were so few of the BME sports available this year. Maybe some technical glitch, such as contamination?
Being a long time businessman, my cash flow is more important to me, than helping a supplier stay afloat.I have terminated relationships with all of those that demand payments up front, sometimes one year in advance, for listed stock items. To me, it is a sign of poor management and planning. If they need their customer's money for current operations, who can say if they will be around to deliver the goods?
MHO
Rb
greenguy
16 years ago
it could have been worse,

some place will sub plants out with 'equal value' without telling you.... now that would really *** me off

Buyer Beware

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woodthrush

razorback33

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