| Neutral | daedelus902
(12 reviews) | On May 6, 2007, daedelus902 Charlotte, NC
(Zone 7b) wrote:I am reporting a resounding negative and do not recommend this nursery. It is apparently some mon and pop shop and very inefficient. It took 4 weeks to get them to finally process a refund for an order that never shipped. In addition, they charged me 20% "service fee" for the same order that never shipped. To make a greater insult to injury they charged me 20% for the ENTIRE order , (20% of the shipping charge that thay never shipped???). Avoid these folks, you'll be glad you did. If they are this desparate for money, I believe they will not hesitate pinch it from others. No way to run a business folks. They won't get my business again.
On May 24th, 2007, daedelus902 changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:
Due to an additional refund from this company, I am upgrading their rating to a neutral. We would have upgraded Sandy Bar to a positive, however, after going through the dates and times of my order and its subsequent cancellation via email and phone calls, the response from the company was, (in my opinion), a clearly biased recounting of the circumstances; i.e. my order was cancelled with 36 business hrs of the order confirmation and well in advance of shipping. (The paper trail being inarguably de facto).
Also, at the time, this nursery had/has no published policy for refunds due to either returns or for restocking unshipped goods, (the cause for our disagreement with Sandy Bar). Although I do understand that there must be a charge for restocking, without a stated policy one has no way of knowing whether a 20% fee is not random, frivolous, or applied inequitably. I would suggest that a more well-planned and stated policy on returns be published to avoid future problems. As always with all vendors, (especially the smaller ones), caveat emptor.
On May 6, 2007, Sandy Bar Nursery responded with: "
On May 17, 2007 10:33 PM, Sandy Bar Nursery added:The same time that this customer sent us an e-mail complaining of this charge he entered his complaint on this forum, without waiting for our reply. I responded to his e-mails immediately and we arrived at mutually agreeable arrangement. (I refunded him $3.80, his last e-mail to me read “Thank you. That is equitable”). Since he has taken the time to lodge a complaint but not to explain the ultimate outcome, and also has not told the full story, I feel compelled to offer my perspective.
I spent a good bit of time on the phone with this customer answering questions regarding whether or not the Blenheim Apricot would be suitable for his area. After some research I gave him my advice – the Blennheim is an excellent apricot, but it was not rated for his climate zone, so if he wanted a fool-proof, disease resistant variety he should consider another one, but if he felt adventurous he could give it a try and consider it an experimental planting. He decided to try it and placed an order. We bundled, boxed, labeled and shipped the tree and charged the customer’s card. Before UPS arrived for pick up the customer called to cancel his order because he had talked to his local extension agent who advised against the Blenheim. I explained that we were happy to cancel the order but there would be a nominal charge because of the time we had put into processing the order. Many companies would consider an order this far along as already processed and shipped, and would have had the customer return the item for any refund. We were willing to pull the order from the shipping line, un-box and un-bundle, change our shipping summary, adjust our inventory and issue a refund, however, we did need to charge a nominal fee to cover our expenses. In any case, I was willing to discuss the matter with the customer and reach a mutually acceptable solution (i.e. I refunded him $3.80).
We spend hundreds of hours a year offering advice and adjusting orders to suit customers needs, climate zones, pollination requirements and growing conditions, at no cost to the customer. We enjoy doing this and consider it part of our job. We put a lot of information in our catalog and on our website and enjoy giving our customers good service. The last feedback I received from a customer was this : these were the best plants I have ever received, and I have ordered from a lot of places. I almost quit ordering from mail or internet because most are so bad. Thank you for your great nursery business.
We are not “some mon (sic) and pop shop and very inefficient.” We are not “desparate (sic) for money, nor are we ready to “pinch it from others”. This was a rare incidence when a customer cancelled after we had bundled, boxed, shipped and charged their order. I repeat for emphasis - many other businesses would have considered the order complete and allowed the package to be shipped, but we took the effort to pull the package from the shipping lot and cancel the order.
I support “watchdog” forums like these – I use several myself; they’re a great way to get advice from other shoppers and hold online businesses accountable. Unfortunately online forums can also be subjected to the occasional irate individual who might choose to use them as a soapbox, as I feel was the case here. I feel I was insulted and, despite the fact that the customer did not offer the full story, and I issued him a refund, I still receive a negative rating that does not go away.
By all means, register your feedback; rate nurseries; hold them accountable. But please give the nursery an opportunity to respond to your complaint before posting it on a public forum. And please avoid personal insults. I have worked in the nursery and agriculture industry for many years and I assure you that the majority of people who work with plants do it because they love plants and are honest people, if they wanted to make a lot of money and/ or fleece people, there are easier ways to do it. Also, be on the lookout for hastily written and angry comments (i.e. misspelled words, exclamations!!! CAPITAL LETTERS) and take them with a grain of salt.
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