The fate of my POOR orchid! - Orchid Board

Optimist · #1 12-06-2013, 06:40 PM

I need to let off some steam here. I ordered a huge lovely oncidium from an ebay orchid vendor known to many of us here-- I will not mention the vendors because he did the best job he could under the circumstances and I hold him guiltless (except for one area which I will enumerate below). I ordered the orchid on the 27th of November and the entire USA was warm and lovely. A storm was brewing in Canada but (I thought) we still had a good week of clear weather. Little did I realize that the vendor would not mail till the first of the next week when the bad weather was starting. That's okay, I thought, it would get here as long as it is by Wednesday, 3 days after it was sent.

Nope! the Orchid gods did not look down favorably upon me. The tracking at the on-line USPS tracking ends with the 3rd of November. For 3 days the truck or whatever it has been on has been absolutely silent, not coming into depots, not doing any postal business worthy of "tracking."

In the mean time a major storm has come through and the weather is now freezing at night, and pretty cold during the day.

My poor orchid! I see it dead of freezer burn, a horrible mushy mess of wilted greens! It had lots of bulbs, It had to be at least 10 years old! I am so darned angry at the Post office and I am a bit miffed at the famous orchid vendor for not looking at a weather map and shipping my orchid just a few days earlier.

I wrote him an e-mail and he said no doubt it would arrive today. Friday the 6th. Nope. No mail at our house. The package according to USPS Tracking has not moved. It is still in Wisconsin, not moving.

I will never allow the USPS to ever again get ahold of any orchid I buy online.

I see this as my fault and my fault alone. I should have known better. No more online orchid purchases in late fall.

I will be surprised if the orchid arrives alive when it does. I am fuming and sad at the same time! Just pffft. Yech. Errrggg!

mooburr · #2 12-06-2013, 06:50 PM

I'm sorry to hear about your struggle. How frustrating! Hopefully the orchid gods will throw you a bone and it'll miraculously arrive in fine shape. Is the vendor helping to remedy the situation?

Optimist · #3 12-06-2013, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mooburr

I'm sorry to hear about your struggle. How frustrating! Hopefully the orchid gods will throw you a bone and it'll miraculously arrive in fine shape. Is the vendor helping to remedy the situation?

He seems a good sort of fellow. I would not ship now for anything. The winter is upon us and I don't trust ice and snow. If it is dead I hope I get a refund or at least a credit on my next purchase--- in the spring. Yes, I do hope it is packed tight enough to survive. But golly, it would have to be contained in a ton of packing peanuts to survive that cold snap we just had.

Orchid Whisperer · #4 12-06-2013, 06:59 PM

It may be sitting in Wisconsin because if it is marked perishable or live plants, they know it will do better in a heated mail sort facility.

Relax & see what happens. I wish you luck!

I do suggest that you consider UPS or Fedex for future cold-weather shipments, or waiting until it's warmer.

Optimist · #5 12-06-2013, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Orchid Whisperer

It may be sitting in Wisconsin because if it is marked perishable or live plants, they know it will do better in a heated mail sort facility.

Relax & see what happens. I wish you luck!

I do suggest that you consider UPS or Fedex for future cold-weather shipments, or waiting until it's warmer.

I had not thought of this. Yes, I knew it was on the brink of bad weather!

I just went with the service the sender provided. Every day after I saw tons of FedX and UPS trucks in the neighborhood and thought Why, Why, Why!!!!

This gives me a little hope, but for some reason I do not think of people looking out for my well being. That is a foreign idea to me.

MrHappyRotter · #6 12-06-2013, 09:01 PM

I haven't had to deal with this problem, but I know it sucks. Sorry to hear you lost a big, beautiful plant.

I'm always surprised at how many plants are up for auction this time of year on Ebay. It seems risky to me to ship tropical plants after mid-fall. I've seen a few things I really would like, both on Ebay and some of my favorite vendors are posting new plants, but I don't trust any of the carriers to be reliable when their volume dramatically increases in preparation for the holidays. I had several (non-plant) things I ordered online Friday (I did a bunch of Christmas shopping since there were so many Black Friday deals online) that were "guaranteed" to be delivered Tuesday didn't show up until today, a few days late.

Plus, the weather here is so unpredictable. One day it can be nice and spring like (today it approached 80 F), and the next day or two, it can be freezing (like they're predicting for Sunday). I just can't risk it.

Some sellers and vendors offer heat packs, which help if the plants are packaged properly, but are much less reliable if the plant isn't packaged properly to begin with. That happened to an acquaintance of mine once with a flask or compot off Ebay. He paid the extra cost to get the heat packs, but the package wasn't sealed very well, the box was small and he ended up with a bunch of mush.

Optimist · #7 12-06-2013, 09:11 PM

You had me at the "box of mush". TY

nikkik · #8 12-07-2013, 05:50 AM

I hope your plant arrives safe and sound. I believe I know the vendor when you stated that your orchid is stuck in Wisconsin, he's good about making things right, if it's who I'm thinking of. Although, I know that's probably not much of a consolation considering your orchid is stuck in the postal system in the freezing temps. Good luck and please update us when it arrives.

camille1585 · #9 12-07-2013, 04:15 PM

Fingers crossed for you that the plant will arrive healthy and happy! Hopefully the box is sitting someplace warm now, so at least it won't freeze into mush.

Leafmite · #10 12-07-2013, 05:03 PM

The orchid is hopefully being held some place nice and warm. I ordered from a place in Conn. and we were to have a week of nice, warm weather so they shipped. Suddenly, the forecast changed. Only one plant didn't make it but I definitely didn't blame the vendor. After all, Ohio weather is unpredictable. I hope your plant is just being held for its own protection. If it is damaged, hopefully it is insured.