Carl made a booboo!
 

Just thought I'd share this experience with everyone.

A couple of months ago, I e-mailed Gary Meyer of Colombian Orchid imports about the availability of some species. I'd heard that he's got a good track record, and I figured I'd ask him about prices and availability, so I could get in an order in the future (I've been saving my money all summer so I could make a large haul this fall).

I think he misunderstood my price request for an actual order. I checked my e-mail a while back, and he e-mailed me a receipt and instructions on how to pay him, along with a list of the plants that he had imported on my behalf. I e-mailed him back to tell him that I just wanted to know about prices earlier, and that I hadn't intended to order at the time.

Well, it's too late now. The plants came as a part of his spring importation, and now that he has them, I don't want him to be stuck with them. I also don't want him to think that I made an order and then chose to back out at the last possible moment. I just e-mailed him and told him that I'll take responsibility for the mistake, since my first e-mail was rather ambiguous about my intentions. That said, I'm going to mail him a money order in about two weeks, and claim the plants.


...Whoops. I just hope he can forgive me for not responding earlier, and for not being clearer about my intentions. I realize that the importation process is difficult and expensive, and I feel bad about accidentally making him import plants I didn't intend to buy at the moment. :blushing:

heh ooops indeed..you gonna sell some plants now? :).

I start my conversations off with orchid sales people over the phones/email like this " I dont have any money but let me ask" :).

What a big oopsie! I hope that this mistake didn't cost you too much at least... I try to be so careful about how I phrase emails when asking about availability because something similar almost happened to be (but for only $30-40 of plants!)

So what will you be recieving?

Oh boy. What a big mistake. Hope it is not to much money. What did you accidentely buy now.

WOW, hope that doesn't set you back too bad. If you're going to sell some though to help cover the cost, let us know what you got.

Wow, thats too bad. I think. Hmmmm, I wonder if the family would buy that as an excuse? I didn't REALLY make the order, but.....

Let us know when you are ready to pass some on if you have extras.

Ouch!
Sometimes the language barrier can truly bite.
When I contact outside the US I keep it brief...not to be rude but to avoid confusion.

You could always post a list of what you are getting and see if anyone here would like to take some off your hands :biggrin:

To anwswer everyone's question, the plants that were mistakenly imported were Bollea hirtzii and Chaubardiella pubescens.

I just got an e-mail back from Gary. It turns out that he's already found new homes for the plants, and that I don't need to pay him because the order wasn't official. :)

Some of you were just waiting to pounce on my collection, weren't you? Well, you're out of luck - I'm not selling anything to anyone at the moment. JK :p

I currently don't have any extras, so I wouldn't have anything to sell.

Good for you. I guess you have been very lucky.

Good for you. At least you know that he will definitely import what you want and that he is honest. And yes, many of us (myself included) are always ready to pounce on extras.