Kelley's Korner Orchid Supplies

[MJG]

Originally Posted by JScott

And by the way, I know if you are just now hearing all of this, it may sound dramatic like I've overreacted, but remember that this has been going on for three years. For two years, I didn't even get the magazine that I paid for. I was supposed to get a welcome packet, which I never got. I know you get get into a lot of botanical gardens for free if you are an AOS member. How do you prove that? Is there a membership card? It seems like there would be a membership card. That makes sense to me, but I don't know because I never got a welcome packet. DId that contain a membership card? It's like I paid my money, and they immediately forgot that I even exist. So if this sounds dramatic and over the top to you, remember how long I have been dealing with this, and how many times i have reached out to them and got no response, and how many of the things they were supposed to do for me as a member that they didn't do. I'm not being overly dramatic here, and I'm not overreacting. Three years is far too long for this to have gone on, and I'm done with it.

Please don't feel like you are being overdramatic or overreacting. You are not. Regardless of what's gone on internally with the AOS (and I'm talking over the past 3 years-- not because of covid), they have taken your money and failed to fulfill their side of the contract. And they've failed to communicate. That's not acceptable. You've done nothing to bring this on or exacerbate the situation.

Kudos to Kelley's for their kind and generous action.

[Leafmite]

I haven't heard of any issues with other members of my orchid society but, then, I think we had a person in our OS that would sign people up and send for the memberships. He knew people from everywhere.

[MJG]

Ok, so I joined the AOS on June 21. It was a 2-year gold membership and entitled me to the $30 coupon. When I read JScott's post I realized that I had not received my membership kit with my card and the coupon yet. I also had not received a print copy of the magazine yet. I have been getting lots of emails about online events and resources in the meantime.

I emailed the AOS Wednesday night about the status of the membership kit. I received a very nice reply today saying that they had been running behind on getting the kits out recently but just caught up. They'll be sending my stuff next week. Totally understandable these days.

JScott, not to take anything away from your experience which was awful, but I do want to put it out there that someone else (me) had a recent experience that was positive. If you pm me I can give you the actual name and email of the person who responded to me.

[knsrn]

Wow, this has made me worried about joining. I was considering it because I really wanted the magazine, but if they are having trouble getting them out I'm not sure if it would be worth it otherwise.

Does anyone know if they have an online version of the magazine? I was looking forward to a physical copy for the pictures, but I'll settle for the info via online.

[estación seca]

I'm getting my physical magazine. There is also an online version, and access to all the old issues. Members also have access to a lot of recorded video lectures.

The amount of information available makes it very worthwhile. I have noticed the AOS through the years is generally too timid to give detailed growing information, and most of what is available to the general public on the Web site is too general to be of much use. ("Water carefully and give adequate light.") This is partly due to realizing people grow plants in different conditions. I have also noticed a lot of people don't want to know anything about an orchid other than whether it grows C, I or W.

[Roberta]

I just get the online version of the magazine. Saves trees, postage, and space in my house. Back issues are available, too. So it is worthwhile joining. I do suggest going with the online version... saves some money, you can always add the physical version later.

Not my favorite organization, but there are enough resources for me to consider it worth the money.

[Ray]

I have been an AOS member since the mid-70's. I get the paper mag, but it's usually recycled within days.

What tickles me is that I only learn that they have published one of my articles when 5 copies of the issue show up in the mailbox.

[MJG]

Woo Hoo!! As promised, today I received my new membership kit and my first copy of the printed magazine. There is an actual membership card in the envelope as well as the $30 coupon.

JScott, I hope you get some joy finally too!

[JScott]

Originally Posted by MJG

Woo Hoo!! As promised, today I received my new membership kit and my first copy of the printed magazine. There is an actual membership card in the envelope as well as the $30 coupon.

JScott, I hope you get some joy finally too!

I should be getting my welcome kit with membership card and coupon (for this two year membership, and for my first two year membership) soon! I emailed the person you told me to email, and I was very polite, but I didn't get a response from her.

So after a few days,I emailed somebody else, and I'm not proud to admit this, but it was a nasty email. I hate to act that way. I know those people who respond to that stuff have a hard job, and working in customer service/satisfaction is often thankless and and can be very frustrating because people by and large are not very kind, but i felt like I had no choice. I had exhausted all other possibilities.

So I sent them an email that basically said, "This is what is what is going to happen, and only this. There is no other option. You will do it this way, or I will open a dispute with my credit card company. You will send me a welcome packet and it will contain my membership card. It will contain not ONE, but TWO 30 dollar coupons. You will either do that, or you will cancel my membership, issue me a refund for the months I have left on my current membership (which is about 14 months), and you will issue me a refund for the difference between the print issue membership and the digital only membership, because for my first two years I did not receive a single print copy of Orchids, so I basically had a digital only membership, so you will refund me the additional cost of the print membership. That is the only way this is going to happen, or I will open a dispute with my credit card, and I will tell them that I paid you for goods and services (magazines and membership benefits) that you failed to provide, and I will probably win, and I will probably get a full refund for both years. So are we going to play nice? Are you going to do what I'm telling you to do, or am I going to have to get nasty?"

She agreed to send me my welcome packet with my membership card and the two 30 dollars coupons, so they should be here soon. I still haven't decided if I will renew when my current membership expires. Only one or two of the articles, or maybe three, in any given issue actually interests me at all, and you don't really get any other benefits unless you live near a botanical garden you can get into for free as an AOS member, or you travel a lot and you can visit multiple AOS associated botanical gardens. So I don't know. I had to get mean, and I hate to have to act like that, but I tried for so long to do it the nice way, and it didn't work, but I still feel bad anyway.

But hopefully this is the end of it, and maybe in the future they will take special care to make sure that I am treated the way all members should be treated, and that I'm not ignored and cast aside. I just don't know what i'll do when my membership expires, but for now, I think it's fixed. It took three years, but I think it's fixed.

[Ray]

Please learn to use paragraphs. One long, unbroken post like that discourages people from reading it.