Comments regarding ABP Nursery, A Surf & Sierra LLC Co. (formerly A Better Plant Grower)

Looks like I am the first to report this press release today from the Tulare County District Attorney’s Office:

PHILLIP J. CLINE
District Attorney & Public Administrator
DISTRICT ATTORNEY
County of Tulare

County Civic Center
221 S. Mooney Blvd., Rm 224
Visalia, California 93291 4593
(559) 733 6411
FAX (559) 730 2658

Press Release

On 01-26-06, Investigators of the Tulare County District Attorney ’s Office in cooperation with the Central California Better Business Bureau, and the Federal Trade Commission served search warrants at the residence and business of a Visalia resident, Christopher Morgan Gilcrest, age 41.

As a result of a six-month investigation, investigators discovered over 100 consumer complaints against the Internet businesses known as; “Growquest”, “ABP Growquest”, and “A Better Plant Grower,” for theft and fraud. It was learned that a warehouse, located at 446 W. Prosperity, and a residence located in the 1000 block of S. Kent Ct. were the computer bases of this operation. Investigators contacted consumers and businesses across the nation and discovered that the suspect, Gilcrest, and his business staff would take credit card orders of roses, ladybugs, and citrus trees and fail to provide the products to the consumers.

Businesses with losses to Grow Quest were identified as rose growers and distributors. Investigators discovered that Gilcrest ordered large amounts of rose plant products from distributors and did not pay for those materials. Dave Austin Roses LTD, England, Performance Nursery, Redondo Beach, Weeks Roses, Upland, California, and locally, Luis Nursery, were among the affected parties.

During this investigation, it was discovered that Gilcrest employed individuals to assist in manual labor and other services without providing workers compensation insurance or tax withholdings for his employees.
During the service of the Search Warrants, Gilcrest was arrested for Grand Theft, False Pretenses, and failure to provide insurance. During the search, Investigators seized five computers and components, bank records, business records, ledgers and documented the existence of numerous plant materials in Gilcrest’s possession.

Investigators attempted to assist the injured businesses by allowing victims to view the unpaid for roses. As a result, investigators were able to return, to Performance Nursery, approximately 400 plants, valued at $8,000.00.

Gilcrest was transported and booked into Tulare County Jail this afternoon for the listed charges. Bail has been set at $25,000.00.

Any business representative or consumer, who has not been previously contacted about this business, is asked to submit your complaint to the Special Investigations Bureau at the telephone number of (559) 733-6600.

For additional information, Tulare County District Attorney’s Office
Contact: ADA Don Gallian- (559) 733 6411.

At the beginning of last summer I ordered parasitic nematodes from this company. Months passed and they didn't arrive - so I called and talked to Chris. Chris said he'd send them out as soon as the weather was suitable for sending them. Months again passed - so I called him again. He explained the gist of his circumstance, apologized profusely, and volunteered to refund my money if I could produce a receipt.

I don't know this guy and maybe I'm naive, but it is clear to me that he wasn't running from his responsibilities and had every intention of putting things right. So much time had passed that I had misplaced my receipt and I wasn't about to move heaven and earth to get a $28 refund - but I have no doubt that, had I found it, I would have received a refund.

I will admit that I'll be waiting to see a positive customer commentary before I order again, though.

I ordered two rose bushes in June of 2005 and have received nothing. I have tried to contact this company at least 10 times since then via phone, fax and email, asking for the status of the order, and have received no reply. I tried to dispute the payment with my bank, but was told I waited too long. I've now filed a complaint against the company with the Maryland Attorney General. Never have I seen such disregard for customers...as far as I'm concerned, this company has stolen. $46.57 from me.

I ordered 1000 ladybugs from this business and recieved them a few days after the order. I admit to feeling a little bit of panic when I read these unfavorable reviews (I usually check with dave's G.W.D. before makeing an order with a new company but this time my pest infestation caused need of haste) however my only possible complaint is that I could never get past the answering machine message when I called. The status check on the website works just fine for tracking orders and though I may have been shorted 1 or 2 ladybugs out of the thousand (just a joke, as if any fool would try to count a writhing mass of living insects) there were more than enough to make me feel that I had recieved the service that I asked for.

I had a difficult time deciding whether to post a positive or a neutral feedback since my experience was both good and bad. I would say this is a marginally neutral feedback. I found the owner, Chris, to be concerned about providing good customer service (positive) but, in the end, he was unresponsive (negative). I ordered a tree from this company about six weeks ago. One problem I had was that my credit card was charged before the company ever acquired the plant from the grower. My card was not supposed to be charged until after the tree was boxed and ready for shipment. I was told shipment was delayed due to cold weather, but now it appears that the tree was never in his possession to send. Now I'm not saying he even could have sent the tree if he did have it, because I do believe the weather was a prohibitive factor. The problem I had was that my card was charged prematurely. On the positive side, when I asked for a refund, I got one immediately. In my opinion, and I may be wrong, the owner is overwhelmed with personal problems that are affecting the way he runs his business. I feel for him, I have been through the tough times too. But that's not what this review is about. It is supposed to reflect my business experience with this company. I was not pleased with the outcome, I would love to have received the tree, but at least I did not lose any money, just a lot of time. As far as communications with the owner, he was always polite and courteous. He always answered my emails and he even sent me his cell phone number so that I could reach him more easily. He seemed genuinely concerned about treating me as a valuable customer. Unfortunately he just did not come through with the tree in the end.

This is a derivative of Growquest and I have had dealings with Chris Gilcrest of this company- very bad dealings. I was even threatened at one point to intimidate me to back down (like THAT worked- NOT) Growquest broke federal law regarding the regulation of pesticides in their dealings with me. This man at one time claimed his wife was ill in the hospital as the reason he could not conduct business appropriately, now he claims that his wife and he are divorcing as the reason he could not complete business. The fact is he is a scam artist and a crook and is under investigation of law enforcement and was long before he ever knew about it. He lies incessantly, he takes peoples money and gives them nothing in return but broken promises. He has just shifted faces again to continue with his fraud.

WARNING- before you do business with this company you need to read the comments about Growquest. If you still want to do business with this individual you'd be better off finding a local thug and handing them the money, why send it across country along with your address, phone number, and FINANCIAL INFORMATION.

My concern centers on the OWNER of BOTH these companies and my experience WITH HIM IN HIS BUSINESS CAPACITY.
Last winter I ordered a hard to find plant. I was billed but it didn't arrive. Sold out? Understandable. Then he offered to personally look to see if any had been moved to the wrong spot and really were available. That's more than I expected. I thanked him. Then no response. Another long-distance call. He offered to get one from another source if I located one and sent a reminder via email. Wow,. I thanked him again.and dutifully sent off the email. No response. More emails (explaining the situation in case an employee who dIdn't know the situation should get it). No response. Finally I got ahold of him. He said he would send someone to get it that weekend. None came. This time he promised to see to it and got somewhat short, complaining he had to run the business ON HIS OWN as his wife was "SERIOUSLY ILL AND IN THE HOSPITAL" and he had been at her bedside so the business had slipped. I responded that I understood family comes first and that I hoped he and his family were well and asked what the current situation was with the order, expecting a refund. More promises. I would have thought a simple refund would have been in order so he could see to the family crisis and extricate himself from a business obligation he clearly wasn't able to handle. But SINCE HE OFFERED I FIGURED THE FAMILY PROBLEM MUST HAVE BEEN RESOLVED, and figured I would give him the opportunity to resolve the order now that it had been. I thanked him for his continued effort and wished his family well. No plant arrived. I got a refund. I was lucky. I didn't lose money.
MY PROBLEM IS THIS: He clearly wasn't meeting his promises and instead of a simply refund he continued to make promises. I wondered if I was being strung along but kept hoping he would come through. I understand family comes first but you'd think a company this size would have an employee capable of doing a simple refund or pick up instead of having this drag on for months. If he had told me he wasn't able to fill the order in the first place or even later when it became apparent to him that he was having business and/or family crises I would have been disappointed but would have felt I had been fairly and professionally treated. The string of promises and what I believe may have been lies were unnecessary and only made the experience much more negative in the long (and I mean LONG) run. When I went online and learned that he and his wife decided IN OCTOBER to divorce but he has already found a "new love" I have to tell you I wondered if the claim of ilness and dutifull attendance to his wife were lies and he had been spending the time he should have spent on his family and business committments out there "finding" his 'new love". I don't say this in a nasty way. It just reinforces my lack of onfidence in this business owner. While we were both polite- indeed I thanked him repeatedly for his continued efforts (which he clearly wasn't really putting forth for whatever reason) the end result is this: He either was not able to handle that business' growth and/or has poor judgment when it comes to dealing with simple customer orders.
Whichever the case, I will not be doing business with Mr Gilcrest. Consider looking at the Growquest customers' comments before making your choice.