I received my bulbs a week ago today, and they are excellent, they have the eyes already blooming from the bulbs. I also ordered plants, and they arrived the next day in a seperate order, since I was not expecting that order, and did not get the package until Sunday, I was worried, but planted them Sunday. Today I can see they are all going to do just fine. I really did get great plants, and bulbs, I will order from them again. Barbra

I'm from the pro end - landscape maintenance. To echo what LG said - I'm a one woman show and work out of my house/van with no loans on equipment, vehicles and no payrolling of staff which makes this recession easier to cope with. I also deal with materials on a cash and carry basis and this is how I have my accounts setup with vendors rather then pay later. I drive around in an old green conversion van - I took all the seats out and put load shocks on it a few years ago to accomodate all the equipment and ammendments I tote around (after my pickup truck was totalled by an uninsured driver who did a hit and run). It is mechanically sound with no rust so it looks respectable when I pull up to a client's house. It was cheaper then purchasing an actual cargo van or another pickup truck. Sometimes when I'm driving around I can't help but wonder what the bank note is on some of these large landscape maintenance trucks - just the diesel to run them must be huge. And then because the cab is big you have to justify the cost by filling it up with about 4 - 5 guys. When you have a lot of overhead you have to have the larger jobs or lots of little jobs to survive right now! My business went up about 10 percent last year - but my bread and butter has always been maintenance and garden installations are gravy. We've also always lived very frugally (I can be found quite a bit over on GW's money saving forum - :)) I also try to stay diversified as much as possible - I will do anything from taking care of gravesites to garden coaching, plans for DIYers like gardengal, holiday decorating, winter pruning, general yard maintenance and some hardscaping with natural stone. I have some longterm clients that have been loyal, I get referrels through word of mouth, Angie's List and always keeping a stack of business cards ready to hand to people at trade shows, on jobsites, in conversation. I don't have a website yet - but I'm working on it right now as another marketing tool. I also try to get a feel for what everyone else is charging and be in the middle - it gives me more room to negotiate without cutting my own throat. My biggest competition has been the immigrant mow and go guys - they'll try and undercut me so I try to stay around their price point or just above and stress quality, horticultural knowledge, the English language, and great customer service and reliability. Also when conducting sales calls I carry around a huge portfolio filled with mouth watering progression photos of gardens I've installed, renovated and/or maintained throughout the years. If I can get in the door that's usually what seals the deal - a picture's worth a thousand words which is important because I don't unfortunately do lawns or plow snow which are my two greatest weaknesses compared to the competition.

And my apologies for referring to your Yardman as an "MTD". ( I have so much *hit on my desk with all kinds of notes and names, I guess I looked at something with MTD written down and lapsed into a coma. I apologize and a check for $100.00 is in the mail.

+1. If the builder or dealer was still around they may be willing to help, but otherwise you don't have much recourse. If the windows are still in good condition otherwise, a local glass shop should be able to help, but it would indeed be out of pocket. If a company acquired the assets of that manufacturer but not the liabilities (happens often), you could try to beat them up about it even though they technically aren't responsible. I know of one company that reversed course and started honoring old warranties due to the public pressure, but that is definitely the exception, not the rule.