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I ordered 24 Robin Hood Roses #5252 June of 2005. They finally arrived in August 2005 and we planted them immediately. This spring 2006 We only had 4 that were growning so we sent for replacements. They replaced 21 of them that we received on June 17,2006 and we also planted them immediately . There was mold and black on some of them but there was still some green so we still planted them. Now we still have only a total of 6 plants that are doing anything and they are not all the same plants. They are double pink and a red color. The package ID is 100472923 I have put many hours into these shipments and am VERY DISGUSTED. So I am still with out any #5252 Robin Hood bushes apparently and after planting a total of 43 roots I have 6 plants. If this isn't corrected soon I will be contacting the better business bureau.
Dawn McNeal
Osakis, MN 56360
This is a copy of a letter I sent to them.
On Aug 6, 2006, Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens responded with:
"
On Dec 21, 2006 1:21 PM, Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens added:
The customer returned the original shipping label as per our guarantee in September and an adjustment was made on the items that were a problem."
On Jul 5, 2006, probichaud Madisonville, TN wrote:
Although my order was not huge, everything I received was in good shape and leafed out almost immediately - unlike some of my purchases with other nurseries. Maybe I was just lucky - but I am willing to use them again.
In 2003, I ordered a butterfly bush and about 50 Naturalizing Tiger Lily bulbs. The butterfly bush bloomed right away and was really pretty, tho it died throught the winter. That was my fault I didn't notice the wrong zone on that variety. The tiger lilies are just fourishing. They have been blooming every summer since I planted them. After reading these other comments, I don't think I'd order anything else tho.
I placed an order for dahlia's in Apr. 06 and my check has been cashed in the amount of $408.45 which show on my bank statement. I have e-mailed them with no response and have called constantly with their phone always busy. Guess I'd better call the Better Business Bureau. The check was cashed on Apr. 11 th it is now May 8th
On May 8, 2006, Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens responded with:
"
On May 13, 2006 10:13 AM, Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens added:
A d-mail was sent to this customer on 5/8 offering assistance, but we have not yet had a response. Our phones have been very busy, but we do respond to every email usually the following business day."
I sent a check for $94.20 for some fruit trees on March 29,2006 and as of this date (May 4, 2006), I have not received anything.
I plan to call and see if I can get a refund. PS, I wish that I had known about them before I ordered.....
On May 4, 2006, Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens responded with:
"
On May 9, 2006 4:58 PM, Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens added:
A d-mail was sent to this customer on 5/4 offering assistance. We have not yet received a response to our d-mail."
I bought from Richard Owen Nursery too and spent $35.33, received NOTHING, I thought they went out of Business so I google them and found this site, I’m going to try and get a refund. wish me luck
On Apr 29, 2006, Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens responded with:
"
On May 9, 2006 4:55 PM, Richard Owen Nursery / Exciting Gardens added:
We have been in contact with this customer via D-mail. We were able to stop her order to cancel it, but she decided she wanted us to ship the order instead, so we have."
They're still at it.
Boy, I wish I had seen this site's ratings before I ordered!
Got this really nice catalog in the mail, with terrific plants and great prices. If only it had been lost in the mail.
This place should have a slogan "If you think our prices are low, wait until you see our quality."
They have absolutely no clue how to run a business. I ordered a bunch of things at their website, and it said a week or more to process the order. Fine, no problem.
After three weeks, I tried calling them, but got nothing but a busy signal for two days straight. Finally, I emailed them asking for status. Next day I got a response, asking me to send the details again. Apparently, my name and order number were meaningless to them, and they could only look it up by my zip code.
I replied, and after another day, they responded by saying "we have received your order and it is currently in processing, which can take 3 weeks. Once it has completed processing, it will be scheduled for shipping based on plant availability and order date."
Needless to say, I told them to cancel the order and give me a refund (they had charged my credit card right away, long before they had any intention of ever shipping me anything).
On May 1st, 2006, bulbous1 added the following:
Update:
Three days after I told Richard Owen Nursery to cancel my order, a box appeared on my doorstep, a partial shipment. At last I understand how they operate.
The "extra nice, number one plants" in the catalog turned out to be tiny seedlings. It's perfectly obvious that they planted the seeds when they received my order, since the growth is exactly what I would expect from the weeks of "processing time" as ExcitingGardens.com so euphemistically calls it. In fairness, they are perfectly fine seedlings, but I really would have been happier if they had simply sent me the seeds and let me plant them myself.On May 12th, 2006, bulbous1 added the following:
Final update: Sixteen days after my request to cancel the order (which they ignored), I received the balance of my order. It looks like the items might actually have a chance to live, but they're nothing at all like what the catalog promised. For example:
Catalog: "Sturdy, 9-12" plants"
Reality: cuttings the diameter of a pencil, that were drenched in rooting hormone and (bizarrely) shaved vertically to be perfectly square in cross section (they were at least 12" long, though)
Catalog: "4 year old, sturdy, branched, 8-15" plants"
Reality: tiny (8") rooted shoots the diameter of a piece of spaghetti
OK, I've learned my lesson. Thanks, Richard Owen Nursery! You've guaranteed that from now on I'll only order from reputable companies.
On Oct 5, 2005, TuddyE Georgetown, KY (Zone 6a) wrote:
I've hesitated to add my name to the list of suckers who have had experiences with this company, but I could hold out no longer. I received part of the plants I ordered from them [I was greedy and the prices were unbeatable, so once again I fell prey to their allure], all of which were nothing but trash. They were either very old dried up plants without root systems or slimey messes of I don't know what. Two extremes, hardly from the same time period or supplier, but dead none the less. I have reviewed numerous companies this fall, but nothing compares to the package I got from this one. Since then, I have e-mailed numerous times, called and talked to my charge company. Richard Owens customer service must be trained at avoidance, because that is the only real response I have gotten from them. I too have the name of the person who signed for my return, copies of the original packing label, my email, and pictures of the dead partial order. If nothing is credited to my account, the charge company will take care of it. You have 30 days from when you return the merchandise to file for reimbursement, they only have 14 days from getting it back to refund you money. It's no skin off my nose if that's the way they want to play, but you can bet everyone I talk to, and we do business with at least hundreds of people yearly, we hear about their game.
NEVER,NEVER ORDER FROM THESE PEOPLE---DON'T BE A SUCKER LIKE ME [I SHOULD HAVE KNOWN BETTER!!]
On October 10th, 2005, TuddyE added the following:
Well, I got an e-mail.They have had my dead plants for 3 weeks, at the cost to me of almost $6, and they claim they are now ready to credit my account minus the $7.95 delivery charge. I'll keep you posted
Purchased over $362 worth of bare root trees directly from Owen Nursery aka Exciting Gardens aka Inter-State Nurseries aka Burgess Seed & Plant Co. on March 19, 2005. Took my prized plants home and read through all the documentation on how to plant, water, etc. Planted 36 Colorado Blue Spruce, 32 Thuja Green Giant, 72 Douglas Fir Hedge, 2 Chinese Chestnut, 2 Red Haven Peach, 2 Granny Smith Apples, 2 flowering almond and miscellaneous small bushes. Watered, nursed and watched over as all, not some, but all of my plants and trees died.
Finally gave up and dug up all the dead plants and returned to Owen Nursery in July 2005.
Re-planted everything and watered even more as the heat of the summer was in full progress. Watched again as everything but 2 thujas and 4 douglas fir lost their needles or simply never even tried to bud a leaf. Knowing that my guarantee only lasted to September 1, 2005, I waited until today to contact Owen Nursery and ask what my options are to replace the dead plants. According to the first person whom I talked to, Owen Nursery only replaces plants once according to their posted warranty. Asked for a manager and was handed to [an employee] who informed me that their policy is to replace only once as clearly posted in their lobby. I was at the lobby twice and never recalled seeing any 4 foot high poster stating this. [The employee] then offered a credit for my purchase good until next spring. I asked what my guarantee would be for trees and plants picked up next year and [the employee] stated that my warranty period expires September 2005 regardless of when I exercise my store credit. I advised [the employee] that I would not seek a store credit, but instead wanted my full money back to which he replied we only offer store credit and replacements are only available one time. To end this story, I am now shopping at local nurseries for live 2-3 gallon spruce or fir trees. It may take me me longer to grow my wind break, but at least it will be growing and not simply rotting in the ground if I continued this charade with Owen Nursery aka Exciting Gardens aka Inter-State Nurseries aka Burgess Seed & Plant Co.
Any nursery that goes by more than one name, address, and telephone number should be suspect.
BUYER BEWARE!! IS AN UNDERSTATEMENT! AFTER NUMEROUS CALLS AND EMAILS AS TO THE WHEREABOUTS OF MY PLANTS, WAS TOLD THEY WERE DELIVERED. NEVER RECEIVED! RICHARD OWENS "TRACE" ON THE ORDER SAYS IT WAS DELIVERED, BUT NO ONE REMEMBERS DELIVERING THE 5 FOOT TREES. "CARRIER LEAVE IF NO RESPONSE" COVERS RICHARD OWEN'S THOUGH!! RECEIVED THEIR TRACE LETTER WITHIN 2 DAYS THOUGH , NO PROBLEM.
PLEASE DON'T WASTE YOUR MONEY ORDERING FROM THEM. I ONLY WISH I HAD SEEN GARDEN WATCHDOG BEFORE I ORDERED. AFTER PRINTING OUT 16 PAGES OF COMPLAINTS, I THINK IT'S TIME TO NOTIFY CONSUMER AFFAIRS.
BAD NEWs! I wish that I had seen your site to begin with. Though mostly nice to me throughout, I am stopping payment through the credit card and paying to make sure they receive all of this back. Plants were very small and nearly dead ...... took almost a month to process.
I will also try to post some of this info on other well known sites like Bizrate.com but do YOUR best to get the word out.
I ordered plants this year from this outfit half of which arrived doa. That's dead on arrival. The other half were miniscule. I planted them, (they were hedges) but even if they survive, I feel cheated since they were barely seedlings and for the price I was charged, I would expect that they would at least be plants. Sorry I didn't read the comments of others here before I ordered them.
Owen Nursery (aka Plantron Inc), bilked me out of $155 this last summer!! I ordered plants and they arrived at the post office in a ripped open bag, which was ripped because the cheap little plastic containers that the plants were in, busted enroute. I declined to accept the package. I was still debited in my bank account by electronic funds transfer, not only for the purchase price, but they used the same check number and debited my account an additional $25!! I have gone through BBB and it has not been resolved. I am starting a class action suit against this company, so if anyone here would like to be in it, let me know. dizzywolf@yahoo.com
SPREAD THE WORD.............WE WILL NOT BE RIPPED OFF!!
I ordered $54 worth of bushes from this company in February of 2004. After not receiving my stock by April, I sent several emails and made several calls to these people trying to find out what was the problem. I got three different explainations and no service. They missed deadline after deadline. I finally asked for a refund. Again, after several calls and excuses, I sent a registered letter, at their request, requesting a refund. After the alotted time and not hearing from them, I called the post office in Bloomington, Il who told me when the letter arrived and who picked it up! I called the company and got another crazy story about them not getting the letter yet. I mentioned the name of the person who picked up the letter according to the post office and got a, "Wait and let me check." The guy came back and said they found my letter and would get my refund check right out. And finally......they did! It was only $54 but I finally got satisfaction. However I didn't get my Winterberry bush for this season.
on the 14 th of july i ordered 2 smoke trees,,, i have my canceled check , but no trees,, and not a word from the company,, i wrote twice, with no reply ,
i will be happy to update this when i receive my trees, but i'm not holding my breath, i started to call the company, but i already gave them $15.20 cant see spending a long distance call on them too,!
barbara todd
heidelberg ky 41333
I also placed an order with Richard Owens Nurseries for a number of different plants. Not one of the plants I ordered survived. Not a single one. And I am not exactly new at this either. Daylilies shouldn't all die, especially when you order a whole collection (16, I think) of them.
I happen to be enough of a pack rat that I happened to keep the original shipping label. They did send me new plants within about two weeks, which is pretty good, but the new plants don't appear to be much better than the old ones.
I will definitely not be wasting my time ordering from this company again.
Out of 108 bareroot rosa rugosa rose hedge plants, I had 107 grow beautifully. Only 1 plant did not live. I was very impressed with this average. All of the plants looked dead when I recieved them. I immediatelly soaked them in a water /rooting hormone solution for about two hrs. They were planted that same day and within a week or two began to grow. Now four months later I am very happy with them.
I thought that most mail order (website) Nurseries were pretty much up and up, until I dealt with these clowns. Sure, their prices are low, but "buyer beware"! You pay low, you get low, and I do mean LOW! The plants I recieved were nothing more than dried up sticks; I'm used to seeing dormant plants for shipping, but these were 99% dead! Still, being the optimist most gardeners are, I planted them, and the only thing that grew was the moss and weeds on the ground around them. When I tried to get some re-shipped, their instructions were to send the "original shipping label" back to them, and they would re-ship. I did. A month later, no plants. I called. "No record of your request yet - call back in two weeks". I did. "Should be arriving in a week." They did. Out of three replacement plants, only one had any leaves; the other two were small black plastic containers of dirt and green mush!
How this place (places) gets away with these practices is beyond me. I will NEVER do business with any of these Bloomington Illinois nurseries again. I have learned my lesson. I guess they don't have a Better Business Bureau in that city. If one is ever formed, their first order of business should be to close these clowns down permanently.
Last year on three different occassions, I place orders with this company.
for butterfly garden, I will like to know where 3 quarters of "this garden" went because it has not come up as of yet.
Hummingbird garden ordered same situation as above.
6 Giant Hibiscus same as above not even one came up.
1 violet tree wisteria, it arrived broken in half and dried up, had it replaced by them, replacement also arrived dead
1 weeping cherry tree bought at the end of summer season last year that also arrived dead, had it replaced, Replacement never came up this year even though is was protected and mulched agains frost and winter.
6 mixed russel lupines( arrived as mush)
3 purple cone flowers (one survived the other 2 where so scranny that it was pittiful still planted them, and of course never grew. Same situation with 3 Black Eye Susans
IAM SO ANGRY WITH THIS COMPANY I NO LONGER WANT TO HEAR FROM THEM OR ANY OF THEIR MANY NAMES. I have taken all of this at a loss since their replacements also leave a lot to be desired. Please do not purchase from them If you want beautiful plants, spend the money at your local nursery, where you can see what you are buying.
There should be a giant lawsuit made againts this people.
Over $ 130.00 wasted. Rotted material, immature dessicated material all lumped into a green plastic sack, with no packaging material. Don't order!!!! Very enticing catalog with oh-so-reasonable prices for absolute garbage received by the hoodwinked consumer.
Spent 3-4 hours planting for nothing. Gave them the benefit of the doubt that tghis material would return to life, sprout, something...Then wrote to them, and they told me no refund after 14 days. received a credit slip for 70 bucks, so I could re-live my misery. Caveat emptor, I am such a darned fool. What a scam.
Then I read in the comments above a reply marked as neutral from an employee saying they receive 2,000 orders a day. Of course. More fools like me. Hoodwinked by an attractive mass mailed catalog with what seems like fantastic pricing.
It's not my problem they get so many orders, just please send live merchandise. Or don't mass-mail your stupid, lying catalog in the first place. This man and his family are getting rich at the misfortune and woe of their customers. They are surely the Enron of the plant mail-order industry. Oh, SHAME, Mr. Richard Owen. Certainly you are on the bad book! Hope sincerely what comes around will go around. I don't hate easily. but this disreputable outfit inspired me!!
Someone gave a website to Illinois agriculture that doesn't work. I'd LOVE to invest equal time putting this horrible enterprise out of business. We all dislike being so blatently taken!!
I had the misfortune of buying from the Plantron, Inc under both the "Richard Owen Nursery" and "Four Seasons Nursery". In both cases, I had less than a 20% growth rate on the plants -
and I'm pretty good at this gardening thing :)
The plants arrived moldy, dried out, with little to no packing material! Especially bad was the "Four Seasons" order, which arrived in a SEALED PLASTIC BAG!!!!! I've pulled stuff out of the composter that looked more lively! The mock oranges were mere sticks taped together; the lilies were bags of mush; the sage was powder; the black eyed susan was...well, you get the idea. The Richard Owen Butterfly garden was a disaster - of the entire thing, only 1 butterfly plant and 2 stella de oros are even recognizable as plantlife so far. What should have been the "centerpiece" - the butterfly bush - is a dried out twig in the center of a patch of dirt.
The day lilies look good so far as do the astilbe. Fortunately, they were able to tough it out!!!
Complaining does not help! There are no refunds - well, there supposedly is, but I had to "return the plants in the original packing". Even if I had kept the smelly plastic bags, I've already wated too much money to ship mold and dust at my own expense. I cannot believe that this company has not been shut down!!!
The items we ordered arrived in a sealed plastic bag and were for the most part rotten, the one exception being a fruit tree which resembled a twig from some desert region. The roots were dry and had been for some time, all the water in Nebraska couldn't possibly encourage it to bud. After reading the comments posted here I decided I have better things to do than fight a loseing battle. Another lesson learned about buying without checking it out first.
Placed order for ornamental grasses and hybrid willows. All arrived dead, moldy in a green plastic bag. Planted them with slight hope they would emerge from "dormancy".
4 weeks later all are still dead. While trying to find a contact number for Richard Owen Nurseries, I found this site. After reading the postings, decided my life is too full of other headaches to try and fight it out with them. I learned my lesson and hope this company will honestly try and improve its products and service. Thank you all for your postings.
20 May 2004.......Ordered $61 worth of plants and 5 of nine were dead on arrival. Four were totally decayed and could not possibly have reached that state of deterioration in transit. The remaining 4 plants are all sickly and will likely also die. No response to my email complaint. Awful outfit and should be out of business, I say.
All of the previous complaints are true--plants came in a green garbage type sack (very poorly packed), with everything bare root, a few things were moldy and/or dried out. I ordered 5 tree peonies (decent plants, some very nice sized, although dry, cost was $9.95/plant), 12 giant hibiscus (very tiny plants, but then, I only paid $5.65 for all), butteryfly bush that were sticks although some were starting to grow (8 for $10.95), 4 carnations (at $2/all--I don't think these like to be bare rooted at all) and a clematis (blue light, double) for $6.47--it looks the best, but was also priced about the same as other companies. Only a partial order has been received so far, and, to me, "you get what you pay for". I think most (though not all) of the plants will live--most of the prices were rock bottom, so even if half die, it's still not a horrible deal. If you're looking for huge plants that will bloom the first year--this company is NOT for you. I gave a neutral feedback--partial because I haven't received the full order, and there's better companies to order from, but for the cost, so far, I'm happy enough with my results. If you do order from this company, keep in mind that you're getting quantity instead of quality.
On Apr 8, 2004, JAppleseed San Francisco, CA wrote:
Merchandise diminutive in size, moldy, dry, broken, and most items not alive or died soon after arrival. Terrible deception and fraud involved with all associated companies. Tried to resolve, total lack of response. Company immediately charged charge card, but didn't ship some items until nearly two months later. Tried to cancel subsequent shipments after receiving first part of order which contained totally unacceptable plants and bulbs. They put me off, lied to me, and shipped the remainder of the items although I sent them 7 e-mails after not being able to reach them by telephone.
After I complained to their always unidentified 'customer service' employees, they referred me to their 1704 Morrissey Drive address, and told me to write a letter outlining the problems. So not only Internet fraud, false and deceptive advertising, grossly inferior and unacceptable merchandise, and unfair trade practices are involved with all their companies but so is total lack of professionalism, putting off and misleading customers, and everything else outlined by customer comments. (By the way, the few glowing comments on the 'base' Direct Gardening page are likely from company employees . They just don't correlate with the overwhelming experiences of most posters…)
Customers who have been 'burned' can fight back. First, call your credit card company or contact them via their website and do a chargeback. Refer to this 'watchdog' site by URL as documentation that others have been burned. You might not get your money back, but every chargeback against them and their associates costs them $25.00, and nothing goes on your record or credit history.
Then, as others have suggested, file complaints with the Better Business Bureau, the Illinois Attorney General, the FBI Internet fraud unit, the U.S. Postal Service, and any other regulatory authority that should know about this kind of blatant fraud. Help fellow gardeners protect themselves by getting the word out on how these companies operate and deceive people.
On Apr 5, 2004, LEBLANC1429 Santa Maria, CA (Zone 10a) wrote:
Although I am not pleased with the quality of the plants I have received from this company, most of the perennial plants I received today (the third of a four-part shipment) arrived soupy and rotted in their plastic bags. I have requested their replacement.
Save your money and order some place else! I ordered Iris
but by the time I got them it was so late in the season
(late October) they just froze out. They would replace them, but with late shipping they would just freeze out again - who needs it?
I GOT ROYALLY SCAMMED BY HIS COMPANY AND ALL THE ONES THAT HAVE THE ADDRESS: BLOOMINGTON ILLINOIS...STAY AWAY FROM!!!!THEY TAKE YOUR MONEY AND LEAVE YOU WITH NOTHING BUT SOME DEAD, DRIED UP PLANTS, SHRUBS,TREES, THAT YOU NEED A "TWEEZER" TO FIND THEM...THEN WHEN YOU DO FIND THEM YOU JUST THROW THEM OUT.........AND THERE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS THE WORST!!!!!...DON'T GO THERE!!!!!!!!KEEP YOUR MONEY AND PAY ALITTLE MORE SOMEWHERE ELSE!!!!!!!!!NOTHING BUT MISERY.......
My husband order a med/lg supply of flowers, trees, etc. When the order arrived, we had nothing but dead, wilted and damaged products. Not one thing was plantable. So it seems that most people who think they are purchasing items for their gardens are simply donating money to Richard Owen Nursery for shipment of useless flora. I have written to them but have not received a reply, let alone replacements.
Has anyone received replacement or refunds?
Sincerly,
Winnie/Charles Hillock
Time to add my review to this long list of negative comments.
My order was finally received after 3 months. (I hope they enjoyed that free loan since my credit card was charged upon ordering.)
Repeated calls and emails to their customer service were unanswered or not helpful.
I also received the standard USPS bulk rate shipped sealed green plastic bag with everything stuffed inside.
The daylilies were bags of rotted mush, the hyacinth bulbs had mold, the daffodils were starting to rot and the trees are lifeless sticks.
I'll try to plant them as they suggest but I think most of this is a lost cause.
One thing I did notice is that the shipping bag has their dealer license from the state of Illinois. This could be a way to get their attention since their current license expires on June 30, 2004. I would think that shipping moldy rotted items is a violation of the Illinois Insect Pest and Plant Disease Act.
On July 10 I placed an online order total of $131.93 for what looked like some very beautiful plants. Of course I did not expect my plants to arrive looking like the photos but neither did I expect trees shipped with no soil or bare root plants shipped with no moisture holding medium. Each plant I ordered came bare root and looked dead.
The day my first plants (2 total) came in, approx. 4 weeks later, I found my credit card billed for the entire shippment even though the rest of my order would not be delivered untill the Fall. This is a practice I did not agree with and so called the company to cancel my order saying I would return the two 1.49 plants I received. The person that I talked to told me I would have to mail a written request of cancelation, I could not do it over the phone. When I told her I placed the order online, could I cancel online also, her reply was "NO". So I told her that I would contact my credit card company with a disputed charge and apply for credit, to which she told me, "do what you must". So I did, and my credit card company did indeed go to bat for me.
Meanwhile on September 18, I received the remainder of the plants in a plastic bag with a large hole in it and roots from the 2 trees sticking out. I decided to give the company a chance and if the plants looked ok, I would let them recharge my card for the total. Wow what I saw amazed me. Nothing appeared to be living. And what was sent was all root, no hint of leaves on anything.
I have read the other complaints here and wish I had done so before ordering, I never would have placed that order. I will be sending the complaint on to the recommended persons. And in closing would like to warn everyone away from this nursery.
On Sep 10, 2003, dirtyoldman Birmingham, AL wrote:
It is truly amazing to me that a nursery this bad has managed to survive so long. The problems people are describing now mirror my experience with the company 20 years ago. At the time, I had a grand scheme in mind for planting Paulownia trees to harvest for the wood, which is very valuable in Japan. So I picked up the Richard Owen catalog, saw 1-2 foot Paulownia trees advertised for a cheap price (I think it was about 4 bucks a pop) and quickly ordered a dozen that spring.
Within about 40 seconds, my credit card was charged, but no plants were forthcoming. Weeks went by -- no plants. Finally, I contacted them. They said they had had a crop failure, but plants would soon arrive. Unfortunately, they did.
What I received were a dozen seedlings. And when I say "seedlings," I mean plants that had literally germinated from seed a few days before. They were only an inch high and still had their seed leaves. Half of them were dead in the box. The other half lived about 24 hours after being unpacked.
So I wrote the nursery and asked for my money back. They said I should plant the seedlings, dead or not, and give them a chance. How much fertilizer, I wondered, do I need to apply to dead plants?
I wrote back, telling them that I was a trained horticulturist (true), that I know a dead plant when I see one, and that I have never witnessed a dead plant return to life, no matter how long you wait. They insisted I was mistaken, that even though the seedlings had long since disintegrated, they would revive. Finally, I threatened to take them to the Postmaster General. After months and months of stubborn refusals, they finally gave me my money back.
Clearly, the same lack of professionalism that characterized this nursery so long ago still prevails. All of which proves P.T. Barnum was right.
IN MAY OF 2002 I ORDERED 8O HYBRED WILLOWS (VERY FAST GROWING). THESE WERE TO BE A NATURAL PRIVACY FENCE AS WELL AS AN ENCLOSURE FOR A PRIVITE GARDEN. WELL, IN JUNE 2002 THEY TOOK MY MONEY FROM THE ACCOUNT I HAD FURNISHED THEM , AFTER FINDING THIS OUT, I EXPECTED TO SEE MY ORDER ARRIVE SOON. WEEK AFTER WEEK WENT BY , AND STILL NO TREES. I STARTED CALING AND CALLING AND AFTER MANY (AT LEAST 10) CALLS AND AN ASSORTMENT OF AT LEAST 8 DIFFERENT LIES, I HAD HAD ENOUGH, BY NOW IT WAS NOVEMBER. MY NEXT CALL WENT TO THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF IL. AT THIS TIME THEY HAD MY MONEY FO 4 MONTHS. (THIS IS AN ILLEGAL PRACTICE). ONE AND A HALF WEEKS LATER I RECIEVED MY TREES , IN A DARK GREEN PLASTIC BAG WITH NO BREATHER HOLES (KEEP IN MIND THEY ARE QUICK GROWING), NEEDLESS TO SAY , THEY CAME OUT OF HIBERNATION AND STARTED BLOOMING. I PLANTED THEM AS SOON AS POSSIBLE BUT A WEEK LATER WE GOT A SNOW STORM (I LIVE IN MICH.) AND OBVIOUSLY THEY ALL DIED. WHEN I CONTACTED THEM ( NEEDLESS TO SAY I WAS PISSED) AFTER ALL I HAD PLANNED AN ENTIRE SUMMER OF LANDSCAPING AROUND THESE TREES. THE COMPANY COULD HAVE CARED LESS ABOUT THE AGRIVATION THEY CAUSED ME. AFTER SENDING IN MY RECEIPTS FOR A CREDIT VOUCHER (THEY REFUSED TO REFUND MY MONEY) , AFTER WHAT THEY DID, ADDING INSULT TO INJURY. I HAVE PLACED ANOTHER ORDER ( A YEAR LATER MIND YOU) ONLY BECAUSE OF THE VOUCHER, AND AFTER A MONTH AND A HALF THEY STIIL CANNOT OR WILL NOT EVEN VERIFY THAT I SENT THEM THE VOUCHER OR THAT THEY RECEIVED MY ORDER . I AM ON MY FOURTH PHONE CALL TO THEM ABOUT THIS PROBLEM . THE CO. SEEMS TO BE VERY UNORGANIZED, AND COULD CARE LESS ABOUT ITS CUSTOMERS. I THINK THE ATTORNEY GENERAL OF ILL. SHOULD HEAR FROM MORE OF US , THEY WERE VERY HELPFULL TO ME.ITS TIME RICHARD OWEN NURSERY WAS PUT OUT OF BUSINESS.!
I sent an order to richard owens nursery, a short time later my hasband and i both became disabled and unable to plant the shrubs we had planted, since the order had only benn sent out 2 or 3 weeks earlier, i thought they would cancle the order for me. Instead they rushed me my order, in august in the middle of a drought, In the case they sent out the order way to early. And we could not plant it had we been able. So now I have to fight them with trying to get my money back which is only $44.76. I doubt that amount will make or brake them. It won't make or brake me either. But I learned a valuable lesson, check on places like this before you order. If I had only done that I might not have placed the order, but it would not have mattered since we both became disabled so suddenly, but these are not the kind of people I wish to do business with.
I ordered a Blue Damson plum tree in 1999. It came looking like a stick with little root. It survived by constant care.
Last year it bloomed, this year it produced fruit. It was a plum tree, but not anything near a Blue Damson. It looked like a extra large Bing cherry, a sweet plum though. 4 years of waiting on the wrong tree. I'm waiting to see they make good on the tree. Grafts on the 5-in-1 fruit trees I've ordered, ended up having 0-3 grafts survive. No problems with bulbs ordered.
I along with another co-worker ordered about $50 in plants and bulbs. Firstly, our order took almost 2 months to receive. The first part of the order some of the bulbs were moldy and rotten. Not sure if any of the "free bulbs/seeds" will come up. I know one of the house plants I received was three very small clippings and within 1 week shrivled up and died. Outdoor plants I received looked unhealthy and I planted according to instructions and 6 weeks later no growth or activity. I was elated to see such great prices, but now I know why. I would not recommend this supplier to anyone. I sent an email to their customer service and was told that I could return the items with their return label. I'm not going to do that because chances are I will get the same quality of merchandise. I am an avid gardening person and I was totally disgusted with the quality and condition of the merchandise this company sent. Don't waste your money on this company
We ordered plants from this company on April 21, 2003 . They cashed our check on May 8 , 2003 . When we called to inquire about status Mid May , their customer service rep told us , after the check cashes & they still don't ship you the goods till 6 to 8 weeks later . When we complained about this procedure , the customer service rep stated they were a subcontracted service & they couldn't do anything .......... basicially told us "well , too bad , that's the procedure "................. We'll never buy anything from this company again & we go out of our way to tell our friends ................ Buyer be ware , when dealing with Richard Owen Nursery!
Several months back, I returned shipping labels because of plants that would not grow. Several weeks later, then returned the labels, stating I "needed to send labels". What did they think those green things were? Some of the dead plants were not on the labels sent because the label they were on was sent previously. I was waiting to see of some of the other plants would grow, which they didn't. I sent those labels back along with a note stating as such. So far, there has been no response whatsoever from them. I feel they hassle people so they don't have to honor their "guarantee."
