Can companies request to be removed from watchdog? TyTy gone

Hey Dave, there is a nursery down in south GA named TyTy and their web site is http://tytyga.com/index.html and they are also known as The nursery at TyTy. I know they were previously in the Garden Watchdog since the feedback was so completely awful I was scared for life to ever get myself involved with that outfit.

A new DG'er just sent me a d-mail talking about ordering from there and I wanted to make sure he read the terrible feedback first, but either I can not find the company on the watchdog or it is no longer there. Can companies request that they be removed from the garden Watchdog and they get taken off?

Susan

TyTy was a big blow up here and we had a discussion about it in this thread back when they were still listed.

Basically it comes down to: we had to make a decision about what to do with the legal threats they sent us. We were about to go into a lawsuit that our attorneys estimated would cost about $50,000 to fight. Keeping TyTy in the database wasn't worth that kind of money, so we just removed them and were done with it.

Whether that was the right decision or not, I'm not sure, but it was the only financially feasible approach, considering our bank account...

dave

That is very unfortunate, but I understand. It is a shame they did not use their energy and resourses to improve their outfit and have a better business instead.

I am surprised that they could bring you court, when you were just providing a service of allowing customers a forum for feedback. There are loads and loads of websites out there devoted to telling the dirty side of very large corporations and they continue to operate without ceasing, so it just makes me wonder.

Thanks

Susan

Is it possible, without starting a legal battle, to leave their name with something like "This company has stated that they do not wish to be listed here". That would be truthful and still send up warning flags to someone with money to spend. If the GWD is the who's who of the mail order plant world, why would a company NOT want to be included?

We do this, actually. Try searching the watchdog for "tyty".

dave

Matter of fact, I just did! Quick easy search too I might add. LOL The way that is worded works too! :)

I have to say I have had no interest in looking up that company in a very long time. I received the 'too good to be true" warning a long time ago.

Dave...that's perfect. Works for me.

Ahhhhhhhh, well, if your like me... you would have stopped at "No companies found" Thats what I did this morning. The post at the bottom, if noticed, seems generic and may imply that they have just not been rated. If I had been searching for them before placing an order, and only used the watchdog as I so ofter do, I would have accidentally placed the order, not having read the bottom tag.

I would prefer something a little bit more noticeable. How about a page that shows up saying at the top,

"TyTy Nursery has requested that we not list them in the Garden Watchdog and all previous member postings and ratings about this company have been removed by request of TyTy nursery. Please check with the Better Business Bureau"

If they have stipulated that you not name them at all, you can just sub "This" for TyTy.

It is honest, speaks volumes and gives the Daves gardener and honest consumer information they can use.

Dave, I understand that you don't want a legal dance with this company, but their must be something "more informative" you can say that is PC and legal and truthful that will not result in any legal brawling. The BBB has certainly listed them as having numerous complaints and they are not being sued.

There must be a way to be informative without landing in trouble. It is a service you are providing to help the unsuspecting gardeners out there.

Susan

This message was edited Feb 23, 2006 10:09 AM

Is there a BBB site for looking up online businesses. I heard there was one, but don't know how to get there. I always use the BBB site when I deal with businesses in my area. It saves a lot of heartache and money.
I do like the idea of mentioning the company and then to check out the BBB. If I didn't see a company in the Watchdog, I probably would just assume they had never been used and try them. With the BBB lookup suggestion I can see that something may be amiss with it and check it out that way.

BBB's are regional. Just type in BBB and the name of the city where the company is located (or the nearest large city, or even just the state) into Google.

ok now i'm curious.

How or why could they sue you? I know you can sue anyone for almost anything, but i've never heard of this before.

stumped.... and perplexed.

if you don't want to go into a explanation a link to a previous discussion would be ok.

curious and nosey moonwolf.

edited to add
or you can always tell me none of your beeswax and i'll understand.

This message was edited Mar 4, 2006 7:19 PM

For what it's worth, a google search for TyTY nursery returns as the fifth entry a link to this thread. This is the information age, and businesses can't hide their practices very easily anymore. Relevant information for TyTy nursery will eventually filter down to potential customers.

Moonwolf,

By the time they threatened legal action, suffice it to say that the feedback on TyTy in the Watchdog was.... unflattering to say the least. I guess they felt it was hurting their business.



This message was edited Mar 6, 2006 10:12 AM

I understand that. What I don't understand is how they have a leg to stand on legally against daves gardenwatchdog?

Thats the part that perplexes me. Which was why I was asking for a link.

Well, maybe they didn't, but it still would have cost a tremendous amount of money just to defend ourselves.

The thread has been pulled so there is no link, but when this all came about, Dave very democratically brought the whole issue to this forum and took a vote as to what the membership wanted to do: defend ourselves legally or just pull TyTy from the Watchdog. The members voted to just pull TyTy from the Watchdog and move on.

oh was not aware of the back history. Which was why I asked.

It is a bit disturbing that a company can sue a gardening site for simply placing their opinion of their product.

I'm still wondering about the psosibility of having the following or something like it come up a the top of the page as a search result for TyTy....


"TyTy Nursery has requested that we not list them in the Garden Watchdog and all previous member postings and ratings about this company have been removed by request of TyTy nursery. Please check with the Better Business Bureau"

Susan

It's a generic/non-specific message for a couple reasons. One, it avoids us mentioning them by name (which goes back to the legal issues) and two, it's a message that applies to more than just this one company. (And no, I won't name any names - if you have reason to be looking for other companies that have been removed for similar reasons, you'll stub your toe on the same message.)

I don't know if Dave can or will consider making the message more prominent. As he alluded to above, there was a huge legal issue with them last year, and I would guess they check up on the Watchdog occasionally. There's no reason to deliberately tweak their nose and risk a second go-round with them.

I had someone recently rake us over the coals for refusing to stand our ground with them (it's much easier to have lofty ideals when you're not footing the legal bills ;o)

They, too were asking (demanding) to know why we had removed this company.

I encouraged the user to contact this vendor and ask THEM why they had been removed from the world's largest, oldest and most well-known directory of mailorder gardening companies. I haven't heard back, so I wonder if they took my advice - and if so, what they learned as a result of their inquiry.

Maybe, just maybe you can have anyone who asks link up to the companies ebay rating?

Unless they managed to get that squashed.

If their that bad why hasn't the attorney general not done something?

I know it's daves decision as well as the rest of the board, but it disturbs me a company can bully the garden watchdog like that.

I know before deciding to buy from mailorder I check the garden watchdog.

I find that disturbing, too, moonwolf23, as the Garden Watchdog isn't, technically 'Dave's Garden's' (the entity) opinion on the company, but rather the opinion of consumers!!
That's akin to suing the Better Business Bureau, you know what I mean?

I think, in the long run, TyTy wouldn't have had a 'leg to stand on' in a legal battle, though I surely understand Dave's reasoning for 'nipping it in the bud'!!

Regarding the company occasionally checking into the website, that
would mean they still have access, or a spy who does.

(---scanning the crowd with a discerning eye---) ;-)

There is another gardening site with talk about it as well.

I'm curious as to how the cached versions are not available.

All they would have to do is have an individual become a member without subscribing. Everyone can check the Garden Watchdog. And if a alias was used by an employee of TyTy or even the owner, how would anyone at Dave's know? Dotti

I found TyTy while searching for muhly grass online through Google. I wasn't have much luck via Davesweb.

I then check to find TyTy on Gardenwatch dog. Being new to the Garden, I was a little confused by the wording. I then searched 'TyTy garden' on Google and the second link was this thread.

These threads must be public and are being picked up by Google.

Anyway, sounds like TyTy is too good to be true.

Nancy

Nancy, the threads in this forum (and a few others) are not viewable to the public. The only way you will see them in a Google search is if you are still logged in here. (Try logging out and re-run the same search - this thread won't show up ;o)

When I called TyTy to ask them about their business, it was like talking to a southern brick. He had no idea how long they had been in business, why they weren't on the watchdog and what it was... just if I wanted to place an order. He couldn't even come up with words to try to tell me that they were a good business when I was asking him about their nursery. Most everything I asked was met with, "I don't know". I find it hard to believe that such brilliance could actually follow through with any litigation.

I'm also at a loss to understand why DG members that do have knowledge of this nursery and know to stay away from them would vote to hang other unknown buyers out to dry without so much as an explanation such as the one I have suggested. I do understand that a lawsuit was "pending", but a disclaimer such as the following would not list all the bad feedback, which is what they wanted and it would still let the buyer beware and check the BBB. It's not enough to be lawsuit worthy.

"TyTy Nursery has requested that we not list them in the Garden Watchdog and all previous member postings and ratings about this company have been removed by request of TyTy nursery. Please check with the Better Business Bureau"


Susan

Susan, I think you're just going to have to trust Dave that he has said all he can without potentially raising their hackles again.

I don't think anyone has said their lawsuit was winnable - but it would have taken a tremendous amount of our hard-earned capital to defend ourselves against them.

I don't know for sure that it's true, but over the years, I've heard many people say they are owned by a Yale-graduate lawyer. 'nuff said?

I used to work for a woman who's son was a lawyer. You can't find a competitive rate to win against something like that. LOL

Patrick A. Malcolm, the owner of TyTy is a 1963 Yale graduate with a degree in biology. If he is a lawyer, he didn't get it at Yale.

Susan

very interesting thread...

I agree ... very interesting thread. I came across Ty Ty's site when googling for different plants and decided after reading feedback in GW that I would not purchase from their company.

I certainly understand Dave's position on this. Some folks are sue happy! Even if they know they don't have a leg to stand on and couldn't win, it still makes them happy to cause the defendant to to spend bundles of money going through the legal process.

They do say the best defense is a good offense.......nuttin' like a mice offensive LS...

We ordered many trees from TyTy about 10 years ago. Few have survived. Their customer service was basically non-existent, so I am fascinated by this thread I came across just browsing the DG site!