Have you ever received free plants because the nursery sent wrong item

tlbean2004

8 years ago

I placed an order with an mail order company for a 3 gallon camellia and they shipped the wrong variety. Since it was their mistake they told me to keep the "wrong" plant in addition to also sending me the correct item.

These plants are $45 bucks a piece.

Now i have one that i dont know what to do with! LOL

Has this ever happened to you?

Featured Answer

lisanti07028

8 years ago

Yes, and other things as well. In terms of postage and man hours, it often costs them MORE to get the item returned at their cost than the item cost them to begin with, so they say keep it. Enjoy the camellias!

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Comments (8)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
the selling price.. is not their cost ...

but apparently customer relations is more important than profit ... which is a good thing ... karma will pay them back ....

happens quite often ... in my experience ...

but one thing for sure.. i would have named them.. and given them props for the service provided ... why not???

ken
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Toronado3800 Zone 6 St Louis
8 years ago
I received some tree with thorns once by mistake and had a similar thing happen. It died fortunately / unfortunately.
edlincoln
8 years ago
Yes. I got a redbud as an apology because a nursery forgot my order and sent it months late in the Winter instead of Fall. My parents got a free astabile by mistake.
I suspect most of the costs of a nursery are "overhead" costs not attributable to a single item. Land, labor, transaction costs and the cost of potting and shipping a large plant are probably a big fraction of the cost.
ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5
8 years ago
what i was trying to say about cost...

if they propagated 10000 of them .... well.. sending off one for goodwill doesnt cost them all that much .. beyond postage ...

if that makes any sense ...

ken
Embothrium
8 years ago
Unhappy customers tend to talk. And now there is the internet, with Yelp etc. - really it is amazing that any vendors will still tell anyone to in effect, bugger off. Of course, some people are nuts, on both sides of the counter.
rusty_blackhaw
8 years ago
"really it is amazing that any vendors will still tell anyone to in effect, bugger off."

Check out a certain popular garden mail-order review site and you will see quite a few "businessmen" happily talking back to (and insulting) online reviewers.
Dar Sunset Zone 18
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
I got a free one, but I had to email the nursery that is was not what they described in their catalog. They were very kind and sent a replacement at no cost. It wasn't totally their fault though because I found out later this plant is often mislabled in the nursery trade. It is Magnolia crassipes, which is suppose to have dark purple/red flowers. I believe the misidentification stems down from the Strybring Aboretum, so many people are growing an imposter that looks like M. laevifolia as M. crassipes.

But at other times, there are other mail order nurseries that just gave me the run around. They say they will give me a coupon or discount on my next order. When I email them about it later, they never respond back. For those sources, I just don't order from them again.

Embothrium, that may be true. Some nurseries are serious about customer satisfaction and take their reviews seriously. BUT there are plenty of nurseries that get bad reviews consistently and still manage to maintain customers. They seem to make duping customers into an art form. They may get bad reviews and I know people will still order from a certain place just because the plants they have are difficult to find else where.

Have you ever received free plants because the nursery sent wrong item

lisanti07028

Comments (8)

ken_adrian Adrian MI cold Z5

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