Dealing with a vendor about items damaged from cold

[FairyInTheFlowers]

Personally, in this situation, I can't find the vendor to be at fault. Vendors cannot guarantee that weather that is warm enough to ship plants will hold until they are delivered. You never can quite know when a cold snap will hit. If a customer makes an order and then tells the vendor to ship it as soon as its warm enough instead of waiting until the weather is guaranteed to be warm enough along the route of travel, the vendor should not and cannot be held responsible, especially for a trip that will last longer than heat packs ever could. If I were you, I would have seen if they would have held it until I personally felt the weather was good enough. That way, if the plants did get cold damage, the vendor can't be unfairly blamed

[theroc1217]

The only vendors I know in WI are Oak Hill, very reputable, and ShermanTP, who I have a lot of personal experience with. He always says, too, to make sure you're home when the package arrives if it's cold out.

If you're not home to receive a package of live plants in winter, I think that's on you.

[SJF]

Originally Posted by TheBlazingAugust

Personally, in this situation, I can't find the vendor to be at fault. Vendors cannot guarantee that weather that is warm enough to ship plants will hold until they are delivered. You never can quite know when a cold snap will hit. If a customer makes an order and then tells the vendor to ship it as soon as its warm enough instead of waiting until the weather is guaranteed to be warm enough along the route of travel, the vendor should not and cannot be held responsible, especially for a trip that will last longer than heat packs ever could. If I were you, I would have seen if they would have held it until I personally felt the weather was good enough. That way, if the plants did get cold damage, the vendor can't be unfairly blamed

The vendor said they would hold the order until it was warm enough. I responded by saying, yes, to hold it until the weather was warm enough. I got an e-mail saying that it had shipped and it arrived during the Nemo snowstorm.

---------- Post added at 07:25 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:23 AM ----------

Originally Posted by theroc1217

The only vendors I know in WI are Oak Hill, very reputable, and ShermanTP, who I have a lot of personal experience with. He always says, too, to make sure you're home when the package arrives if it's cold out.

If you're not home to receive a package of live plants in winter, I think that's on you.

I was home when the package arrived. I took it from the postal delivery man and unpacked it immediately. It was during a major snowstorm. I watched the tracking from when they sent the e-mail that it shipped. I made sure I was here to receive it...not that I would have gone anywhere in blizzard conditions.

[Ray]

If you buy a small appliance that doesn't power up or a shirt with uneven sleeves, you send them back, so why not a plant?

...because they were likely defective when shipped, so the vendor can probably get money back from the manufacturer or distributor.

If I screw up and a plant arrives in bad shape, I 1) refund the money, or replace it if possible, and 2) let the person keep the plant, giving them the option of rescuing or trashing it. It was my mistake, I'm not about to ask them to spend more money.

[Leafmite]

Did the plants sit outside once delivered? If not, complain to whoever delivered your plants. Most vendors mark the boxes as 'live plants' and they should not have been left on a truck in the cold. What if they had been birds?
As for sending the plants back...I think it is reasonable if their policy states this. If you buy a dog from a kennel and it dies of distemper, you typically need to have the vet certify its death. Petstores have you bring the creature in before they will replace or refund. Unfortunately, some vendors have been burned in the past so they are ultra careful now. I have had plants affected by unpredicted cold weather (welcome to Ohio where the forecast can change hourly!) and I have saved them...a few times. Often I find that my plants do bounce back with babying. The orchids often need some isopropyl alcohol treatments to prevent rot (vanilla seems to be really temperature sensitive for me). Read the policy and if it doesn't state that they plants may need to be returned for a refund, you might want to argue that.

---------- Post added at 12:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:03 PM ----------

I see you recieved the package directly. I am surprised, then, that the vendor isn't more interested in learning why the plants didn't get better care while being shipped. I have recieved lowland equator rainforest plants in the dead of winter with no damage (no heat pack, either, regular post)! That package sat out somewhere in the cold, likely on a truck or loading dock. Your vendor should be happy to be notified of such service!

[SJF]

Originally Posted by Leafmite

Did the plants sit outside once delivered? If not, complain to whoever delivered your plants. Most vendors mark the boxes as 'live plants' and they should not have been left on a truck in the cold. What if they had been birds?
As for sending the plants back...I think it is reasonable if their policy states this. If you buy a dog from a kennel and it dies of distemper, you typically need to have the vet certify its death. Petstores have you bring the creature in before they will replace or refund. Unfortunately, some vendors have been burned in the past so they are ultra careful now. I have had plants affected by unpredicted cold weather (welcome to Ohio where the forecast can change hourly!) and I have saved them...a few times. Often I find that my plants do bounce back with babying. The orchids often need some isopropyl alcohol treatments to prevent rot (vanilla seems to be really temperature sensitive for me). Read the policy and if it doesn't state that they plants may need to be returned for a refund, you might want to argue that.

---------- Post added at 12:10 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:03 PM ----------

I see you recieved the package directly. I am surprised, then, that the vendor isn't more interested in learning why the plants didn't get better care while being shipped. I have recieved lowland equator rainforest plants in the dead of winter with no damage (no heat pack, either, regular post)! That package sat out somewhere in the cold, likely on a truck or loading dock. Your vendor should be happy to be notified of such service!

You would think they would be happy, especially since I notified them so quickly.

I am sure they are a pleasure to work with when there are no issues. As I mentioned the bark was fresh, plants would have been great if not cold damaged from being shipped too early. As a result of the way they are handling this situation I am "unliking" them on Facebook and will never order from them again. They lost a good customer. I don't know how they could reasonably think this is an appropriate way to treat someone. They never even responded to the e-mail I sent yesterday. They can have their dead plants, hopefully they send me nice ones in return, if not, I think it will be time for a refund. They already told me that they don't have nay more jewel orchids, so I can't have that one re-placed with the same plant.

---------- Post added at 01:40 PM ---------- Previous post was at 01:36 PM ----------

I just noticed on a Facebook post that Waldor orchids is not currently shipping orchids. They are waiting until the weather warms up. It isn't even as cold now as it was when they shipped my plants and the snow storm was headline news. As someone mentioned in this thread, that is whta you look for in an orchid grower. I now know better. Expensive lesson to learn.

[orchidsarefun]

I try not to buy anything in colder weather because of issues such as yours.

However I have discovered - though never tried it personally - that you can request the package be held at the post office/ facility. That saves it being driven around most of the day in a mostly unheated truck.
Also - another trick, you can call the delivery service ( I did with UPS ) and ask them to have the item delivered ASAP. I got something in the morning instead of the late evening that way.....they do try and oblige.

[quiltergal]

When you send the dead plants back I would not bother with careful packaging. Shove them in an envelope and send them back the cheapest way possible. Or ask them to pay for return shipping if they want them back. The error was not yours so you should not have to pay one more penny to have the problem fixed.

[SJF]

Originally Posted by orchidsarefun

I try not to buy anything in colder weather because of issues such as yours.

However I have discovered - though never tried it personally - that you can request the package be held at the post office/ facility. That saves it being driven around most of the day in a mostly unheated truck.
Also - another trick, you can call the delivery service ( I did with UPS ) and ask them to have the item delivered ASAP. I got something in the morning instead of the late evening that way.....they do try and oblige.

I have learned my lesson and won't order in cold weather again. The funny part is that a friend sent me an orchid from Hawaii a few days before V-day, it arrived fine and blooming. It suffered no ill effects.

Those are great suggestions if I were to order in cold weather. Thank you

---------- Post added at 03:08 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:04 PM ----------

Originally Posted by quiltergal

When you send the dead plants back I would not bother with careful packaging. Shove them in an envelope and send them back the cheapest way possible. Or ask them to pay for return shipping if they want them back. The error was not yours so you should not have to pay one more penny to have the problem fixed.

Thank you for the suggestion. I agree. I am thinking I may send them back bareroot. They did e-mail me again and again say that I need to send the plants back

[Leafmite]

Well, I agree you should be unhappy. I have gotten Hausermann's and Logees orders without a problem. If it is bitterly cold, they don't ship. When they do ship, the plants are really well wrapped with many layers of paper. Al, from Al's Orchid Greenhouse, is still holding an orchid for me (he is such a class act if you are looking for a great vendor).
I do order in the winter because I trust these three vendors to provide me with unfailingly good service. I have yet to be disappointed. (Plus, Logees sometimes sells out of items if I don't order early.)
I documented my experience here on the board with Hausermann's single error (in many, many orders). When they sent me cattleya dowiana instead of the schroederae that I'd been long wanting (I always opt 'no substitutions'), they checked out my order, asked a few questions, and sent out the schroederae immediately. There was no request to return the dowiana. I think this shows class.

---------- Post added at 03:33 PM ---------- Previous post was at 03:31 PM ----------

Again, sorry your vendor wasn't classy about this.