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. :)

Ordered a Lambert Cherry tree on 5/4/23. Delivery was delayed several weeks. Upon inquiry, customer service informed me that delivery was delayed because they were waiting on trees to become more established prior to shipment. Tree finally arrived on 6/6/23 in very poor condition. Leaves were completely wilted on arrival. It was potted in very course, poorly moisture retentive media. Cursory exploration of roots revealed poor development. Customer service was contacted again reporting the poor condition of the tree on arrival. I was advised to water the tree by immersing the pot in a bucket water. This resulted in limited improvement of the wilted leaves, but severe wilting recurred within 24 hours. Contacted customer service again and was advised to continue daily immersion watering. When I expressed concern about the longterm viability of the tree, customer service advised it was guaranteed for a year. Thus began many weeks of intensive care involving daily watering with limited improvement. I maintained contact with customer service throughout this period. Eventually, I repotted the tree into a more moisture retentive media. During repotting, it was clear how little healthy root mass the tree actually had. Repotting helped significantly, but it was mid to late July before the tree was healthy enough and able to maintain reasonable enough leaf turgor between waterings that it could be planted in the orchard. Ongoing extra care and watering throughout the growing season produced no visible new growth. Due to its poor condition on arrival and inability to sufficiently establish itself over the summer, the tree died over the winter. I planted a dozen other fruit trees which were healthy on arrival (from other sources) last spring in the same orchard and all are thriving. Upon contacting Nature Hills this spring to report the loss, despite well-documented issues from the start, they are now refusing to reimburse my purchase. They will only offer a 50% credit towards purchase of a new tree and I would have to pay for shipping. Even worse, they don't even have Lambert cherries in stock this season. I've already replaced the Lambert cherry from another nursery and it was half the cost I paid Nature Hills last spring anyway. I have never purchased trees from any other professional organization that didn't replace or refund my purchase immediately upon notification when there was a problem on delivery. Heed this warning and buy elsewhere! Deceitful customer service and warranty policies.

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

In the case of the ransomware if you have your backup drive or device connected to the computer then the backup gets infected also. That has been the case for many. I suggest that you disconnect from the computer or network your backup device when not actively doing a backup. It is not just porn sites these days that was true years ago, the hackers and malware writers have progressed much beyond that. It's never a good idea to think it can never happen to me. Zero day exploits happen all the time on all kinds of places and before our protection software has been able to add definitions to the program to protect us. It happens every day to people who do have knowledge and protection. Spend some time on the help sites and you quickly realize that it can and does happen to anyone. Including Apple products. And also but rarely some versions of Linux.