What's your experience in mail-ordering orchids?

[jrodpad]

I've ordered a number of orchids through the mail at appropriate times throughout the year (I live in New England) and have generally had good experiences. I always do my homework and order from reputable sources - ideally talking to or corresponding with a real, live person or two who has ordered from the source before and has had good experiences. I've had good luck ordering from both brick and mortar operations and from certain ebay sellers.

There was one time that I ordered an orchid and had all of the buds blast within a week of unboxing. I called the seller, we discussed my growing conditions at length and when they were satisfied that it wasn't due to the conditions in my home, they sent me a free replacement, in bud, with my next order. You should definitely give them a call and give them the opportunity to make things right.

All of that said, I would much rather buy my orchids in person so that I can inspect each plant from root tip to bud. I enjoy comparing similar orchids to try and find the one that looks most robust. It's part of the thrill of the hunt.

Let us know what happens if you do reach out and give them a call.

- J

[camille1585]

Me too, I prefer to buy my plants in person (love to chose the best one!), but with the 'local' sellers being quite a ways off and shows infrequent, I buy mostly by internet.

If it's a grower that several orchid friends recommend then I make a good sized order the first time (around 100€ worth, at 10-20€ a plant). Otherwise I'll only order one or 2 plants the first time and see how it goes. For ebay I only buy from sellers who show pics of the actual plant, and have a look at the recent feedback.


Personally I think that paying extra for a budded/blooming plant is a bit unfair, since most of the time the transport shock and 'new home' shock is enough to blast some, if not most, of the buds/blooms. The only ones I've ordered that survive the changes are the ones with small spikes having no apparent buds.

IMO, buds/blooms should just be icing on the cake, so that the only surprises are good surprises. For example a few weeks ago I ordered 5 plants from a german grower. One was sold in low spike (and was on sale because of that!) and 3 others (phals) which were supposed to be either 'near blooming size' or even 18-24mo from blooming all had buds or open blooms! That was a very nice surprise, so I wasn't too disappointed when the blooms dropped within 3 days, and the budded one lost half the buds.

[trdyl]

While I prefer to buy plants in person, there aren't any "local" venders in my area. I have not had a bad order yet.

[King_of_orchid_growing:)]

Wait...

You live in San Diego?

Why not go to Andy's Orchids?

[JanS]

Thanks for all your replies - so far it looks like many of you have had good experiences. The grower I ordered from (I am assuming I should not drop names here) has a very obvious, one-word.com site. I did send them an e-mail about the order much like what I posted here plus more detail and have been ignored. Based on your comments, I will give them a call and see what they say as soon as I get back from travel (which may be a while since I am presently stuck in Chicago with the "storm of the century".
The reason I didn't just buy locally is because I got onto the "fragrant orchid" gig and they seem to have a huge selection of plants that are hard to find in any local vendor. The plants themselves look fine, it's the $10 extra bud/flower ripoff that I think is unfair and now makes me gun-shy to buy anything without seeing it.

[Paul Mc]

I have done quite a few mail orders, even in winter, and have had no problems. There is one that I got a few weeks back that's having some issues, but it's a tempermental little bugger anyway (it doesn't like being moved or repotted). That being said, now that I know about the issue, it's doing fine and is mending quite nicely.

I have to agree, when you start a new relationship with a company, keep your initial purchase small so your loss is minimal if they turn out to not be such a good company for you.

Sorry to hear about it, but at least they are not dead! Hopefully they will bloom again for you soon!

[landanew]

Originally Posted by JanS

Thanks for all your replies - so far it looks like many of you have had good experiences. The grower I ordered from (I am assuming I should not drop names here) has a very obvious, one-word.com site. I did send them an e-mail about the order much like what I posted here plus more detail and have been ignored. Based on your comments, I will give them a call and see what they say as soon as I get back from travel (which may be a while since I am presently stuck in Chicago with the "storm of the century".
The reason I didn't just buy locally is because I got onto the "fragrant orchid" gig and they seem to have a huge selection of plants that are hard to find in any local vendor. The plants themselves look fine, it's the $10 extra bud/flower ripoff that I think is unfair and now makes me gun-shy to buy anything without seeing it.

Why would you not want to tell us their name? I certainly would not want to order from them. I order on line and would be the first to let people know if I had a bad experience and who it was with.

Brad

[trdyl]

Originally Posted by JanS

Thanks for all your replies - so far it looks like many of you have had good experiences. The grower I ordered from (I am assuming I should not drop names here) has a very obvious, one-word.com site. I did send them an e-mail about the order much like what I posted here plus more detail and have been ignored. Based on your comments, I will give them a call and see what they say as soon as I get back from travel (which may be a while since I am presently stuck in Chicago with the "storm of the century".
The reason I didn't just buy locally is because I got onto the "fragrant orchid" gig and they seem to have a huge selection of plants that are hard to find in any local vendor. The plants themselves look fine, it's the $10 extra bud/flower ripoff that I think is unfair and now makes me gun-shy to buy anything without seeing it.

By chance was it Norman's Orchids?

[Daethen]

I agree with you, Ray. I know it sucks on your side, but if the customer ends up happy you should win in the long run.

[JanS]

Sorry - wasn't sure what's allowed here.

The (excellent-working) web site is accessed via orchids.com. When you click through the "contact us" part....you do get to Norman's Orchids. I just wish their web site skills matched the honesty of their plants.