A serious question about vendor identification

[Nlamr]

I am not going to name the vendor in this instance because I am just looking for an explanation as to what has has happened, I have my suspicions but I would prefer to be correct about them before making any public statements. I have searched the internet and found no answers. Last week I ordered a Phal. bellina fma pink 'Pinkie' x self, when I received my order the tag read bellina fma pink x bellina alba, and the tag was just a simple tag, not the normal one my other plants from them have. I contacted the seller the next morning informing them that I had received the wrong plant. They told me this was the correct plant and they would send me their tag, stating "always trust our labels," even sent me a picture of another plant in their greenhouse with both differing tags in it. Even after repeated questioning they never offered any explanation as to why the tag said a different cross than what I had ordered. Does anyone have a reasonable explanation for this?

[JScott]

I think the most reasonable explanation is that they sent you the wrong plant, or at least a mislabeled plant. You'll have to grow it on until it blooms to know for sure, but by then, I'm sure they won't be interested in helping you. There are several vendors we have discussed here at the OB who are notorious for sending the wrong plant or mislabeled plants. If you don't want to say it publicly here, PM me and I'll tell you if your vendor is one of the ones that regularly sells the wrong plant to people.

[Keysguy]

Is this an orchid nursery or an orchid vendor?
From nursery website or other such as ebay/etsy, etc.?

[Roberta]

Niamr -

If you do a Search in the Vendor Feedback forum, you may find reference to your vendor and the experience of other people with them.

[Nlamr]

It is from a nursery, unfortunately....

[Keysguy]

If it's from somewhere we here might all consider "reputable, a possible scenario is that they did the cross and sent the pod out to a lab for flasking and initial pot-up.
They lab may have mis-labeled so the nursery re-labled and missed a few but because they were all together they have high confidence what it is.

If that were the case, I'd be OK if they could answer that they have good evidence they got from the lab that they had screwed up the labels.

[Nlamr]

If they told me that I would absolutely understand and believe them, I am a reasonable person and mistakes do happen we are all human.... It is more the fact that they gave no attempt to explain the situation that has me troubled.

[JScott]

Originally Posted by Keysguy

If it's from somewhere we here might all consider "reputable, a possible scenario is that they did the cross and sent the pod out to a lab for flasking and initial pot-up.
They lab may have mis-labeled so the nursery re-labled and missed a few but because they were all together they have high confidence what it is.

If that were the case, I'd be OK if they could answer that they have good evidence they got from the lab that they had screwed up the labels.

She doesn't want to slander this nursery publicly, and I respect that, but I asked privately what nursery it was, and it is one that has a bad reputation. Always check the vendor feedback forum before you order from somebody you have never ordered from before!

[Mr.Fakename]

Phal bellina and violacea might be the two Phal species with the most "fake" cultivars.
A lot of alba are not real albinos, they're crossed at some point with a Phal micholitzii.

Some breeders are not honest and cheat by selecting the traits they want in a species -more flowers, punchier colour, bigger flowers, whatever- and then hide the distinct morphology of that species by breeding it again with the original one. Unless you have access to DNA testing, you'll probably never know what's in your plant.

If it looks too good to be true, sadly it probably is!

[SouthPark]

Originally Posted by Nlamr

They told me this was the correct plant and they would send me their tag, stating "always trust our labels," even sent me a picture of another plant in their greenhouse with both differing tags in it.

You could certainly ask them - why do they have tags that don't match what they reckon the orchid actually is.

Regardless of the reason - it certainly must be due to sloppyness or carelessness on somebody's part on that side.

A proper explanation to boost confidence is expected.