Lilium nepalense

I would very much appreciate your opinion about these L.nepalense I received on the 24th march from VanTubergen, Netherlands.
In my eyes they look dried out , badly damaged on the outer scales and have some blue mold.
They did not answer my repeated emails to them telling how badly they were looking until today I finally got a reply;

She says that L.nepalense always look that way, brown and looking as if they are no good, that a little blue mold shouldn't have an influence on the development of the plant. Only if they would feel very soft they would be lost. Now the bulbs didn't feel firm but kind of withered and dried out, not completely soft though, but no growing point was visible.
I don't have a good feeling about these bulbs and don't feel like paying for them. They probably don't have any better looking ones as she doesn't go into the subject of sending me other ones like I requested..
I had ordered last year some L.martagon var.albiflorum from them and none have come up, they looked in a similar bad state.
What do you think?

I have heard from a knowledgeable lily man that the blue mold seldom causes any problems. But overall, they look in a pretty bad state. Nepalense bulbs are expensive, especially at that size. In my opinion, I think they are unacceptable, unless the price of the bulbs were comparable to normally cheaper bulbs.

As you know, there is a difference between softness from dehydration and softness from rot. These would seem to be alive inside. If she gives you the option, I would pay half the payment and keep them. Nepalense bulbs are supposedly very succeptible to moisture rot when dormant, so if you keep them, I would first plant them in a pot, with a well draining potting mix, so you can have control of the soil moisture. When they start growing, then I would plant them out.

It doesn't surprise me that your martagon var. albiflorum did not emerge. Martagons are know for skipping a season of growth after bulbs have been stressed, as yours definitely was. I suspect it will not grow above the soil at all this year, but come up the season after.

Thank you for your helpful advise Leftwood!
I have potted them up, but do you think I can still expect them to bloom this year if they are still alive? Remember there was not the slightest sign of a growing point in their centres..

Yes, the softness was from being dried up, but the outer scales looked so bad that I don't believe they had any life in them.
I guess I don't have to pay much for them; 10,50 € for three, the sending costs were more than that! But still I don't find that's a reason to treat these poor lilies so barbarically! It hurts to see them in that state!

About the L.martagon var.albiflorum;

"I suspect it will not grow above the soil at all this year, but come up the season after."
That means that it would take two seasons to recover? as they didn't come up last year ?
Two of the three are for sure dead, I had potted them up in well drained soil but found them rotten later on, the third has been planted on a well-drained hill in the garden, but I don't remember the exact spot, so perhaps there's still a chance..
Many of my martagons came up much later than previous years, we had a very harsh winter over here, sigh...

Oh! When you said you received the albiflorums last year, I just assumed you meant last fall, which would make this season their first.
If you got them last spring, and it didn't show up last season, and it is not showing up now, than I think it is dead.

It is okay if you don't see any growing point on the bulbs. Nepalense bulb scales are relatively few and very tight compared to other lily bulbs. That price was a bargain for those size bulbs. It is unfortunate that they are in such a bad state. I am not sure how the growth cycle is on this species, but they may want to bloom. However they have been stressed so badly that the flower would be small, most likely deformed, and ugly. If you do see a flower bud coming, I would pinch it off. Even an ugly flower takes a lot of energy to produce. And that energy would be better put to use growing a healthy bulb.

Oh I'm sorry, I had mistakenly said last year while it had to be two years ago, time goes so fast!

It will be hard to pinch off an eventual coming up bud, lol, but I'd better take your wise advise!
Still practising the virtue of patience!
This last order of the nepalense was the third this year, all were from three different companies.
The first I've send back as they also were in such a bad state,(half-rotten) the second,(dried out and damaged) same story, but this company offered to send me other bulbs I still have to receive.. It looks like most bulb companies over here don't treat their specie lilies well..
Thanks so much for your helpful advise! :)