I feel so conflicted reading this thread. I've been yelled at by a plant vendor... I misread an email about plant availability and my subsequent response was perceived as pushy/insistent/entitled, when really I just completely misunderstood. I tried to immediately follow up and correct it, but my correction wasn't seen. I'm very conflict averse so after I got that super hostile response I was so shocked/hurt/mad I never went back, even though I'd been a loyal customer for years. So, I think we're entitled to our feelings and sometimes just need to walk away. I'm sorry you had to go through that. That said, I think that, when you are collecting rare plants, the situation (for good or evil) is that the vendors have self-selected into the industry due to their love of the plants, not because of their love of business and customer service. And people in small businesses tend to wear a lot of hats and not all are in their strong suits. Sometimes you have a plant vendor who is a super professional organized sweetheart, but usually one of those variables is missing. Generally you have to shoot for "has good plants" + "is honest" and that is a hard enough bar to cross as it is. Your post freaked me out, because at the time I read it (yesterday) I had a VB order sitting behind me unopened, that was shipped during snowy weather and had had to sit in my work office for a week after it arrived, due to an unforeseen event in my travel schedule. I have taken hits of >$200 losses, as has anyone who collects plants (somewhat) seriously. And it is absolutely horrible horrible horrible. I don't think vendors should accept responsibility for transit death. Although a plant replaced here and there can be a good customer relations policy, it's a slippery slope to promise a replacement for every loss unless you are a mega nursery. I definitely think they should remove the "guaranteed" language from their website. "Express shipping in winter is highly recommended and usually successful" ... or "We only ship via express mail in winter" would be more appropriate, and it's language like that that most Hoya vendors use. Can I ask if you are trying to save those Episcias in the picture above? I don't consider myself an expert on Episcias, but it seems like if you put them somewhere humid and warm, like a terrarium, you've got some good stems on them still and they might surprise you and bounce back. My VB order did come through okay this time. I've ordered probably hundreds of plants from VB over the years and some have arrived DOA. I never asked for a credit or replacement because it was such a small percentage that I didn't hold them accountable. The 100% DOA orders I've had have been Hoya orders (from other vendors) and of course part of me was like, "They must have done something wrong/different... why didn't it work this time?!" But then after a few days the rational part of my brain kicked in and I realized that they processed the order like every other order and I just drew the horribly unlucky straw. I try to think of it like how sometimes you go out for drinks with friends and spend a lot of time/money/energy and have 0.0000% fun. I've definitely wasted more money on failed social events than failed plant events. That probably says something about my personality limitations. @xmahini I applaud your attitude. I do think the first few orders you make with specialist vendors can be very rattling, because your expectations are almost always wrong, not quite being an insider yet. But obviously you did the right thing, taking that risk, since your husband ended up very happy. I have to say it's so sweet listening to you praise him for his hobby and skill. He's a lucky man. :)

the reason why a 'clean' feedback record is achieved is because this jerk strings you out until beyond 90 days and you can no longer leave feedback. he has an endless string of his likely prostitute "girlfriends" answer his cell phone when you call to check on your order. sooooo, by the time he is done stringing you out 90+ days on ebay (can't leave feedback) and at the point of time where i lost THOUSANDS OF DOLLARS with this Harry Slime Man, paypal would not allow you to file any claims outside of 90 days. this is a con artist, the kin of an allegedly reputable LARGE appliance dealing chain in the St. Louis area. somehow Harry learned the ropes of the business and then got hooked up with damaged garbage that fell off the back of a truck and has pretty stock photos on ebay and what you get, IF you get anything is pure trash. we got TEN loads out of our dishwasher. he totally ripped us off on THREE pieces that we ordered and never received whatsoever the wonderful lengthy comments from "ashley" is the same blow up doll nobody who harry hands his cell phone to when the heat gets on and she (there's more than one of her) pretends to care, write down your information and "harry will get back to you". in this day and age of alleged consumer protection, i don't understand how this guy is still in business, if he is at all. the better business bureau was COMPLETELY WORTHLESS when i contacted them and i guess it goes to how much his rich family will bribe the BBB to keep his record clean. normally when you have numerous if not 1 out of 2 people this guy deals with complaining about being gypped for hundreds / thousands, the BBB rating would suffer. But the BBB is as bad as Harry Slime Man himself- just a bunch of slick talking bums. I have a feeling that the Slyman furniture dealerships do not want black sheep Harry in their outfit so they feed him the garbage by product from their business and then he goes off and rooks people on ebay for it. I never got any settlement on any of this. Harry pursued the sale and then dried up and blew away when our crap was never sent. what was eventually sent was different stuff and only ONE out of SIX appliances ever worked beyond a month. multiple ones were dead out of the box and more than one piece just was never sent at all. Like I said- by the time he strings you along for four months there's NO RECOURSE for you- so BE WARNED. if you don't get your items within a couple weeks time, file a chargeback and move on. I have no idea how this guy ever made it with a rotten reputation even through the year 2015 with the same MO, attentive customer service and then hookers answering his phone every once in a while and you just get shafted mercillessly after he strings you out past 90 days He may be OUT of business or processing payments OFF paypal (WARNING SIGN) now that paypal's chageback period is 180 days.

just to help you realize how many of these fake Antivirus programs are around look at this blog which keeps tabs of them as they hit, and see how real they look. Please if any of you see these pop up on your computer do not click on anything!! instead do a control+alt+delete to get your task manager open and end task on your browser whether it be IE or firefox or what ever or just hit the shut down on the pc and restart it. If you did fall prey and gave them a credit card, immediately contact the credit bureaus and put a fraud alert on your card and notify the card company also, usually best to kill that card, that is after all what they are really after. the way these things work even hitting the x to close it will actually trigger the install of it. The scan they show that says you are infected is totally fake it is not real, it is not of your pc at all, everyone sees the same picture and that is what it really is, a picture. they are a bear to clean. If you find you need help please head over to the Computer help forum here, I am there daily helping and can lead to other sites to help you get cleaned up. Come see us (lots of good helpful folks there)before you spend money taking it somewhere we may well be able to get it straightened out. Here is that blog. Here is a link that might be useful: blog

Thank you for letting me vent and for the tips and your experiences. Cynic you made me laugh. LOL So I call my brother today so he could give me a ride to the computer shop. I've just about had it with all this stuff then he says "you don't need an Ethernet Port" Blah, blah, blah. Not again! LOL He says he has dial up and he just uses his phone line. He said he wasn't going to take me just so I could waste my money. Geez Louise, I can't take anymore. LOL So I made some more calls - they are really getting to know mw in old India now - the guy said he could see it was about my 10th call. I told him if any of you could give me a straight answer or the correct thing to do I wouldn't have to keep calling. LOL I told him I wanted to cancel the "tech" that was coming to my house on Friday since I won't be home. He said he had no record of any tech arranged to come to my house. Not again! I told him he had better give me a number of who I can call because I won't be home. After asking me to wait on hold for 2 minitues (they all say 2 minitues) I get a Canadian number. I called them and finally got a cheerful person and they cancelled the tech. I called the Bell Shop again and asked if I really need the Ethernet Port (to confirm this for my brother) and he said yes. I asked if I should use another type of modem since I have a desk top and don't really have the need for wireless. He said no. I unhook the CPU and call my brother to pick me up. He still doesn't believe me but he said "its your money" I take the computer into the shop which was extremely busy and when I finally got to talk to the compuer repair tech he told me yes I did need the Ethernet Port but he said even though I will have DSL not to download anything - just use the computer for research. He also told me not to install Bell's security system because it will just shut down my computer. Great. He said to download the free AVG. He then didn't think I had a wireless card in the computer. Me, I know nothing about computers so it was kind of hard to comprehend all the things he was telling me not to do or what could happen. I am glad I didn't sign a monthly contract with Bell. Who knows how long this computer will last. I won't do anything on it like banking or shopping. I am worried about someone outside getting access to my computer just because I am wireless. Now that I can't install Bell's security I am kind of worried about that. I don't want someone sitting outside of my house watching child pornography or something like that. I know one year at the Election Office we turned on one of the laptops and hooked into someone elses system. We found out who they were and told them the next day to fix their security. Good thing it was us and not someone else. I think after I talk to the computer repair guy and see what he says I might call Bell again (wawa I don't want to) and see if I can just take back the wireless modem and get a hard wired one. I found out today I do have a USB port whatever that is. LOL Isn't that where I would download pictures from my camera? I wish I had bought the new computer like I was going to before my friend gave me hers. I was so excited - now not so much. Still I am grateful she was kind enought to think of me. I still have my Webtv thank goodness. LOL I just might forget about going online and use the computer for typing and playing Scrabble. LOL Better than nothing and I won't have to worry about viruses and trojan horses, etc. LOL I hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving. Rhonda, I am going to call the Executive Office of Bell and complain. I do want something for all the aggravation and their incompetence. They can at least give me 3 months free for wasting my "precious time" like good old Dave from India said he didn't want to do. Anne