Hems Annoyed

ok I'm going to start this out by stating a few things. First, I have never ordered from Buried Treasures, and not sure if I'm going to again. Second, I was very clear in a voicemail I left with the company to NOT SEND any of my order until the end of March, beginning of April. The one owner, Chris, called me back (I have the voicemail message he left saved) and told me that it was ok, and they would HOLD MY ORDER until then. Thirdly, I was emailed 2 evening ago, by the other owner (not sure if it's a computer program or not) telling me, my order was on its way. Fourthly (not sure if that is even a word), I informed them in a return email that my weather was not looking good, and with it shipping priority mail, it might freeze, the weather has been horrible, and I really have no place to store, pot up, or otherwise take care of these, not inexpensive, annuals. No email was sent back, nor was a follow up phone call made to me.
I had a dentist appt today. Guess what was sitting on my front porch? Yeppers, the delivery from Buried Treasures. I do not know how long it was sitting there. The mail usually arrives between 830-1000am...this was about noonish that I picked the package up, brought it in, and opened it. I do not know if any damage was done to the tubers/bulbs...I won't know for probably another month or so. It didn't help that 2 of the bubls are, I hate to say it, but crappy looking to start with...I hope they do something.
Here are the pics:

I took individual pics as well. The bulbs/tubers I am most upset about is/are the 'Black Magic' elephant ears. Look at them, they look truly pathetic...

Sorry to hear that Thom. I would contact them again - phone and email. If you get no response, post a negative review in Watchdog giving the details you did here. They often respond to that. Good luck!

And this is just a pet peeve of mine...Some of these plants, 2 to be specific, I know nothing about. They are to be put out on my "tropical" themed deck once the weather warms up. NO PLANTING instructions...none. Even the really crappy catalogs send something...what gives?
I think the reason I'm so annoyed...One, a promise was not kept. I'm hoping this was an oversight on the owners. Second, they are rated as a TOP 30, in the DG Garden Watchdog...after this business, I can't see how or why they are. Thirdly, the expectations that I have led myself to believe, that any company, garden enthusiasts can endorse whole heartedly, have little to know negative anything said about them, and this happens...my expectations were VERY high, and what I had happen...well, they didn't live up to my perceived expectations.

Please, someone out there, comfort me, I feel needy.

I'm so sorry you had this terribly annoying experience, Thom.

Generally I've found bad experiences to be prominent on Garden Watchdog or perhaps I just take more note of them. One company I've dealt with has several very negative comments and yet I've only been very pleased with what I've received and when I received it.

Trading can be another misery and some plants I've received are worthy of tears so I have no choice but to strike those people off my trading list, which grows smaller all the time.

Definitely call the company and tell them the problem. It's something they have to correct in order to retain their rating. Please let us all know how it all turns out. I wish you the best.

well, I definitely commiserate with you . . . someone might suspect you had ordered from Michigan Bulbs! I do hope you phoned and gave them an earful, Thom :-)

The sad part here...I just went to their website, after I emailed them through DG, their phone number is listed, as I have called them before...their hours are list as being 2p-8pm...PST! I tried calling the other day, message, and last night before word twice, messages both times...This makes me want to cancel every order I have placed...although I know I won't. I know what Naylor Creek will send me, and I'll be giddy with joy. I know the peeps at Oakes Daylilies will make me smile from ear to ear. I know, vicariously through Polly and Pirl, that Ensata will make me happy as well. It's just one more speed bump in our great road of gardening. Although I feel like Granny all of a sudden ...lol.

Certainly Michigan Bulb Co. has turned off many to gardening. I wouldn't order by any type of newspaper ads for many years after that awful experience.

Oakes is a pure delight. They're wonderful and send big healthy plants. Ensata does, too, but that shipment should only arrive for you in August - Sept. - Oct.

Since I am a real beginner all I can say is: Call them and be tough.

For the sake of being "G" rated in/on this forum...I wouldn't want anyone to have heard what came out of my mouth, first, when I saw the box on the porch...second, when I RElistened to the voicemail the owner left me 2 days ago, and thirdly, when I opend the pacage up and saw what 'Black Magic' looked like.
Eddie Murphy at his best, nothing compared to me. I think both of my dogs even blushed.

Don't blame you one little bit. Even if all our hopes and garden dreams from the long cold crummy winter were not tied up in these orders and the cost was not a factor, a promise is a promise. Do keep trying to get satisfaction and an explanation. Also make sure they are aware no planting instructions or help of any kind in taking care of your order arrived either. Blast the pants off of 'em !

I just hope in my frustration, and ire, which is at a cool luke warmish simmer at the moment...I don't drop my favorite bomb. It's the biggy...the one Ralphie uttered in "The Christmas Story." I wish I could have taken a picture of Iris, our Pug, when I saw the box. In her own little pug way, she just stared at me, head cocked to one side, and then, right as the "f-bombs" were at their worst, her bigger than life tongue just rolled out of her head. I started to laugh, although I was still highly irritated. I'm off from work today, so, due to the fact that we are sharing a vehicle, I'm home bound...so, I'm stewing. All will be well. I'm just keeping my fingers crossed that this was an "oopsie" and I'm just over reacting.

This message was edited Feb 27, 2008 2:48 PM

Wow - didn't know they were in the top 30 to boot! That makes it all the more likely that they will respond. In my experience, it's only right to give them a chance first before posting a negative review. If they don't, then go with both barrels, but don't make the dogs blush again! I've had those moments too. You should hear what comes out of my mouth when the deer eliminate an entire season's worth of blooms in one morning. I think it's still echoing across the Hudson.

Poor, poor Thom. Victor, are you doing to write about them in your top 30 series? LOL. Poor Thom. (((Thom, Thom's tropical themed deck))) I don't think you should give up hope on that plan yet. x, Carrie

Victor, it is one of the reasons, almost the main one, as to why I am so flustered. They are in the TOP 30!...I know mistakes happen...they have something like 350+reviews, and only 6 negatives. Those negatives haven't even been this year, or within the last 12 months.

I will definitely be giving Paul his tropical themed deck. Even if I have to break down and by the elehpant ears from Lowes or Home Depot...and buy potted up cannas for outrageous prices around here also. It'll get done...it always does...just chaps my donkey that this happened.

I will wait for them to respond. BUT, if I don't hear/see anything back from them today....I will be writing a not so nice review in the watchdog. Then maybe this can be addressed.

At work there is a plaque...goes something like...Address a concern, before it becomes an issue. Address an issue before it becomes a problem. Address problems before they get out of hand. Something along those lines.

At the post office, there's one more line. 'Address out of hand problems before there is a new job opening...' Hang in there, Thom!

Wow, I feel for you there.. I had the same experience (and worse) with DirectGardening when I first started gardening so I've used the WatchDog here ever since.. Never thought the companies on the Watchdog can goof like that badly.. Gee.. Hopefully they address the issue before you have to do anymore legwork anymore..

i am so sorry that this happened! Keep us posted on what happens when you do reach them...

People don’t listen anymore.
When I worked in the Bronx I used to get a cup of tea at a bakery next to the subway station near my job. Everyday I asked for a cup of tea with lemon & sugar. The first time the lady made one with milk and sugar. She threw it out and made a new one. The next 2 times the same thing happened. So I decided to ask for a cup of tea with lemon & sugar – ‘no milk’. The same thing happened – she added milk and by now she was agitated when she threw out the one with milk! This happened 2 more times. Then 6th time she told me not to tell her not to add milk, just to tell her lemon & sugar. Ok, so I went back to what I had said before in the first place. The next morning I told her tea, lemon & sugar… she added the milk again! Now she threw it out and she gave me a new one but this time she looked at me as if she wanted to kill me! After a week of this I gave up. From that day on I brought my own tea bag to work and made my own tea. The same thing happens sometimes when you ask for a sandwich with no mayonnaise… plop! There goes the mayo again… the first thing they put on!

Last August I placed an order with one of the top 30 watchdog companies for a couple of plants & asked them to ship them to me right after labor day. They sent me a personal E-mail just to confirm the ship date of Sept 9th which I had asked for… as if it was unusual not to receive it immediately. I explained to them I did not want to plant in the middle of August because of the heat and lack of rain. In September the plants arrived. As if they had set them aside back in August and not watered them for 6 weeks. They were so bad my dead weeds looked better. I threw them away – first and last time ordering from this “top ten company”. It seems like sometimes the top rating gives them the license to send you junk or else their system is so mundane and automatic that they instinctively do what they are used to without thought.

* If the tea story made you laugh then good! -That’s what it was meant to do – Just to brighten your day after your bad experience!

…. The bad part is that it’s a true story!! ☺

Ok...GREAT NEWS...yippee.

After the email I sent to Buried Treasures fully expressing my concern, ire, annoyance, and questioning the size of the 2 'Black Magic'...I did get an extremely apologetic response from the owner. He told me that he forgot to mark on my invoice to not send until April. His partner/wife (not sure, they can also be brother and sister), assumed the package was good to go and sent it. He read my first email to them, and hoped that package that was in their shipping area was mine, until he got my 2nd email.
He, in his email to me, stated that: First, he apologizes, second, he will be resending the whole entire order April 8th, free of charge, and told me to basically do with the bulbs what I wanted. Because of my concern for possible freeze damage...he told me to wait about 10 days or so, if the bulbs/tubers didn't/don't get mushy to try and pot them up then. Essentially, his thoughts on this were economic, why pot them up, wasting potting mix, if the bulbs are going to die...which was very nice of him.
They have already sent me a new invoice, stating that the order will be shipped the first week in April, and will send growing instructions.

Thank you one and all for your thoughts and concern...I hope nothing like this happens to anyone. The outcome is a good one, but it still buggered the heck out of me, I'm happy though. The one thing that upsets me, but it's just a quirk of my own, I now have exotic bulbs in bags, and can't really do anything with them, and I feel bad. It's part of plant empathy. I just hope they don't get all mushy.

Great news, Thom! I had a feeling it would turn out this way. Most top rated companies get there by doing whatever it takes to make the customer happy. Congrats!

So glad everything worked out for you! Who knows. maybe BOTH orders of plants will grow great!

Hem, what are you doing on the LA? More DL I see! Thats a nice dark your bidding on and she is a great seller! I have several of her cultivators. You should check out her web page.

I just signed up for the DL auction...I didn't know it existed. When everyone was talking about it last year, I thought they were talking about an auction of DL's that someone from DG was doing, on this web area...it drove me nuts to not be able to find it anywhere...lol.
Then, I was googling, and just typed in daylily, and hit enter, and the Lily Auction was one of the first ones...I went there, just got the email verification/confirmation done, and this is my first bid, I hope I win it.
Ebay for plant people...oye...lol.
I'm going to have to. After yesterday the need to eat, and shop is kicking in my compulive habit(s) really bad...lol.

If you go to "other plants" they have lily bulbs from our own DG 'Mainiac' and also found Echinacea 'Green Jewel' for a about half the price I paid. They have a total of 10 to sell and only 2 have been taken.

Congrates on getting your tropicals order taken care of and on your first DL bid. Now take a breath, get some thing to eat, rest, and get in there and bid. LOL We will expect to see lots of pics of the results from this frenzied buying spree of yours. I do love your enthusiasm. :)

Great news, Thom. I'm glad it all worked out for the best.

There will be auctioning on DG soon, Thom.

Victor-not sure if that's a good thing, or a bad thing...I might have to get another credit card...lol.

More credit? (More debt?) Not always good, Thom ....

O M G...my first bid and I won...wooooooohhhhhhhoooooooooooooooo

Ok, now I need to find out this persons address, name, and mail the check or money order out to them...this is the lovely I won, yeah....

Ok, the pic is gonna have to wait a few...have to figure out how to import the pic to another program...you should all get to see it before my birthday.

What did you win?

Ok...I hope this worked...

I saw this and it was a "I so need that yesterday DL."

Carrie....debt, what debt? I just trudge through the bills when they come in. The only thing I complain about, is the price of gas. And, I was watching the news, they are expecting it to hit about $4 a gallon by spring. I might invest in a bike.

I saw this DL, black, purple sheen, STUNNING, and a large flower too...ok...not exactly working into the color scheme for the bed I'm making for Paul...but, it'll get out there. With some of the species DL's I'm getting, which are mostly yellows and oranges, this will look stunning!

I love that daylily, Hem! Alas, limited funds this year :-)

Thom, here is her site "Westbourne Daylilies"
http://www.westbournedaylilies.com/2008%20INTRODUCTIONS.HTM

The name of the beauty, 'Westbourne Wild as a Buck'

Give it a few years, I'll divide some!

Thanks, I will remember that, Hem. Baby Brugs are thriving . . .

I think I need to get the scissors out...I'm about to lose control, and I know I'll like it...lol.

I have her 'W. Birthday for Teresa', 'W. Storm Cellar' , 'W. Naughty Girl', W. Easter Egg Hunt' , and one more but the name escapes me at the moment.