While it could be a health problem or some unavoidable circumstance, it could also be intentional. Contact his town's law enforcement. Generally, police departments seem to have followed up on claims of non-delivery of goods with bum ebay sellers and other scammers. When confronted with a knock at the door by a uniformed officer, that usually is enough to shake up a reluctant seller and gets a quick resolution to the difficulty. Gather your documentation and contact them. -Ed

Patty, that's just nuts! How could one be expected to even assess the condition of the bag (i.e., is it damaged?) without opening the shipping box? I hate to say this, but I think I'd be tempted to damage the freakin' bag myself. Just out of spite. >;-D On a positive note: Last fall I placed an order for something for my brother, it was going to be his Christmas gift. (OK, so it was a pair of "collector's action figurines" from the movie, The Big Lebowski. Not that my brother plays with dolls, but he's a huge fan of that movie.) Anyway, I received an email a few days after I placed my order, advising that the products were on backorder. I waited and waited, and finally received another email, telling me that the products would not ship until February 2008. Uh, no good. I needed them before December 25th. I emailed the company, and they kindly agreed to just cancel my order. In January of this year, I received an unexpected parcel, and lo and behold - it's the Lebowski figurines. $50 worth of Lebowski figurines, to be exact - and I know I had canceled. I immediately contacted the company's customer support department, informed them that there had been a mistake and asked them how they wanted me to handle returning the items (they'd already refunded my credit card for the $50 plus shipping on my original order), and they told me: "So sorry for the confusion. Please just accept the figurines with our compliments and we hope you'll shop with us again." I was completely blown away! Now, I'm not sure when I'll have a need for more "toys" like this, but if I ever do, I'll definitely shop with those guys again. I couldn't believe that they didn't want to inconvenience me so much that they'd just give me $50 in merchandise, but that's exactly what they did. Pretty cool, eh?

Well, definitely post images when they come. Enjoy!

If the nursery describes "healthy or disease-free plants" I'd request a new one because that looks like downy mildew on the main cane. Also, if the rose was packaged in a strong box by the nursery it shouldn't arrive bent in half. If it was a flimsy box it may be the nursery's fault? I'm a little ticked at a particular nursery too because they sent me a rose with similar cane discoloration and two of the three canes were dried up and dead. I sent a picture with description in asking how to proceed and I've received no response (2 weeks). I hope you have better luck!