Triton Orchids / Michael J Cook Jr.

[hypostatic]

This is a review of "Triton Orchids"; aka Michael J Cook Jr. on Facebook; aka TritonOrchids@yahoo.com on Paypal.

I give this vendor 1/5 stars. Overall experience is negative. I cannot in good conscience recommend this vendor.

Issues with the vendor:

Sells incorrectly labeled/identified orchids
Purchased plants advertised as "Clowesia Rebecca Northen 'Mikabi' ". Received plants with tags that read "(C1. Rebecca Northern x Ctsm. expansum) 'M' ". This is definitely not what was advertised, or invoiced. A quick googling reveals that this is actually "Clowesetum Rebecca Express 'M' ". So they have absolutely no idea what they are doing in this regards.
Do not expect to receive what you pay for.

Sells orchids that are not in stock
Paid for orchids in May. Kept asking when they would ship, and was repeatedly told "next week". Was only told a month later that they did not actually have the orchids, and didn't know when they would receive them. Received written confirmation that I would receive a refund within 24 hrs. I waited several weeks, and nothing; I had to take matters into my own hands through Paypal.

Improperly packs orchids
Orchids are fairly delicate, and should be packaged carefully with materials that are soft, and that will prevent the orchids from being jostled during shipping. The vendor loosely packed the orchids with hard/tough paper. I provided photos showing clear damage from shipping, and the vendor said they weren't damaged, they "just got roughed up a bit". Vendor stated that if I wanted a refund on the damaged orchids, I would have to go through the trouble of shipping them back, and paying for the shipping.

Has a policy AGAINST refunds if something goes wrong
My package was crushed by USPS. The box literally says "INSURANCE INCLUDED" (by USPS)! Immediately as the package arrived, I provided photo evidence of the damage to the vendor -- vendor said they would file a claim. Later, vendor said they would not provide a refund. So basically, the vendor planned on profiting doubly on me, and on the insurance claim. (isn't this fraud?)

Sells orchids that are in poor health or dying
Vendor either doesn't know how to care for orchids, or what a healthy orchid should look like. Vendor definitely doesn't care about profiting off a sick/dying orchid. Provided photo evidence of the orchid's health moments after receiving it. After some arm twisting, vendor decided to only refund 50% of the sick orchid, specifically stating that this went against their policy.

[Leafmite]

Wow. It does seem as if they are flipping orchids (not having them in stock and needing to wait).

[Subrosa]

I would add "poor communication" to the list. I ordered a Cymbidium from him that was in bud, and saw that we were expecting a cold snap so I tried to contact him to get him to delay shipping with no acknowledgement or reply. He shipped the plant a few days after I tried to contact him, and the buds were lost to the cold. The plant survived, and was labelled correctly, but I bought the plant in bud specifically to have it in bloom over the holidays.

[hypostatic]

Yeah, the plants I purchased were supposed to be gifts... I'm not giving someone a battered/bruised/sick plant as a gift, let alone a plant different than I intended to buy...

But yeah, communication took WEEKS sometimes...