Help figuring out the Morality of this product issue?

[Filozophr]

Sorry if this shouldn’t be discussed here, I won’t name anyone, I don’t want to start any problems. To break this down in the simplest way possible, Bought a plant from a seller here, seller ships plant with bamboo stick in pot, bamboo stick literally churns up the root system of the plant in shipping, plant dies 7 days later, before plant died asked seller for advice to save it, followed sellers advice, plant obviously still died. Seller insist I send him the plant back to get my refund, I say sure, but it’s dead already. He asked if I used fertilizer (why would I use fertilizer on a rare tree seedling?) I say no, I did nothing to the plant. He says he’s gonna “test the soil”.

 He sends me instructions to get a return slip. No return slip link on my PayPal activity page for the money I sent. Decided to dispute with PayPal. I tell him I did. He sends me my money back, ask me to never buy from his store again, then blocks me, after that he unblocks to tell me I killed the tree then blamed it on the bamboo stake, and then insists that I added fertilizer to the pot and killed the plant (which I didn’t) ( and who’s stopping him from adding fertilizer to the pot when I ship him the plant and he just, you know, lies about it? It’s a lose lose for me)

I had firmly agreed to return the plant, yet he states I didn’t want to return the plant, (which explains why I supposedly added fertilizer to a tiny pot with a tiny rare SEEDLING that is extremely sensitive for god knows what reason?)

Funny enough, he tells me good luck etc etc and if I had a problem on the first day I should said something instead of a week later. It’s funny considering I did say something and he left me on read FOUR WHOLE DAYS.

Now tell me, based on what you’ve read. Am I just some bad person, or did I have valid reasons for wanting my refund? I have visual proof, and screenshots of every step of our conversations. Every single message, the dates, everything. I’ve learned to keep track of stuff like that from sellers who’d act like certain things weren’t said etc.

I don’t want any bad blood from anyone, I got a damaged product, I got my money back. There no issue. What I don’t want is a tarnished reputation and ending up being blacklisted by other sellers because I’m the guy who “kills his trees and blamed the seller” I’d rather not have that. Thank you for reading.

[JoeP450]

What was the plant?

I’m just curious, as I hear some are weaker shippers than others.

-Joe

[Filozophr]

Annona salzmanii

[RollingInTheWeeds]

According to your acount here, sounds like you did all the right things.  I'd keep all the documentation you have just in case you need to pull it out for whatever reason.  But I doubt that you'll be "blacklisted" by other sellers.  Just my 2 cents.

[Epicatt2]

Hope that I'm not abetting a trend here, but . . . .

I suspect I know exactly who this seller is that Filozopfr is referring to because I had almost the exact same thing happen with plants I bought from (a certain) seller.  Plants arrived wilted and never recovered despite me  reporting the situation to the seller and following seller's instructions.

When plant died anyway the seller dug his feet in about refunding the plant.

I gave seller the benefit of the doubt and ordered from there one more time and had another unfortunate experience with damaged plants similar to that of my first order.  When I explained the situation (nicely) seller blocked me.

This sort of treatement by a seller is very likely no coincidence at all, and IMO twice-burned is plenty!

Paul M.
==

[Jaboticaba45]

What was the sellers advice? Did you keep the tree in full shade? Water?
Not sure of anyone selling salizmanii on here, but I recently got some from someone through a trade and am happy with them.

[skhan]

IMO, if the seller is comfortable shipping it and doesn't have some type of no refund policy or guidelines published. I think a refund would be fair.
Tiny seedlings are finicky and salzmania is even more
This is sort of why I don't like shipping plants, it's a lot of stress on the plants and there is a lot out of my control.

[nattyfroootz]

You are well within your right to ask for a refund and the expectation to send the plant back is unrealistic.  Sorry that happened to you. Ultimately there are much better options than the "bamboo stick method" IMO.

[Bush2Beach]

Also there is no harm in letting us know who this is to not repeat the failure.
They’ll still get business to be sure , but I like to get a red flag warning to not purchase from someone until they get their shit together, which may or may not happen.
Usually sellers here are really good, but this is not super uncommon either.

[johnb51]

I don't think you need to worry about YOUR reputation, or being blacklisted.  This seller should be worried about his reputation!

[Seanny]

You bought a perishable item through the mail.
Just suck it up when it perished.

[Jaboticaba45]

You bought a perishable item through the mail.
Just suck it up when it perished.

It's a rare tree that cost lots of $
Seller did bad job in packaging it from what it sounds like. If you do the bamboo stick method it is effective if and only if the stick is taped on the outside of the pot to brace the pot from moving in the box. Not put the stick in the pot. That would just stress it more. Since the seller did this bad packaging, it was his fault. I understand if the post office crushed the box and it died, but from what he is saying, it is just the effect of a poor shipping job.
Let us know who the seller is!

[brian]

Paypal (non-Friends+Family)/Amazon/Ebay/Etsy will all basically refund anything "significantly not as described" and they aren't going to waste their time reviewing each case.  Buyers have all the power so getting a refund is no issue.  Mailing back a dead plant is just part of the process (it proves you aren't just trying to score another one), but you won't have to pay return shipping if you process it correctly.  Worst that can happen is they won't sell to you anymore.  It seems silly to antagonize buyers when the odds are stacked in their court, but people are unpredictable. 


If I have a beef I tend to just not buy from that seller anymore and let it go.  But it is good to share you experience with others in case there's a trend. 

[roblack]

Seems pretty standard for sellers to send plants with bamboo and other sticks in them, both well taped and otherwise. I've never knowingly had an issue with a plant due to such.

Sorry to hear of your loss.

[Seanny]

Stake and tree were poking out of packaging.
Hard to proof the abuse from shipping.

[CarolinaZone]

Hmm. That's a tough one. I have had a seller send me a plant that was damaged because of poor packaging and all I got was a "we agree they should have handled your package better" which was basically a tough luck." Do I think Everglades Farm did me dirty? For what I paid and the business they're in the should have better packaging and offer some insurance and some assurance that the custome gets what they want in good condition. Will I buy from them again? Probably not. What's my recourse? Well there isn't any. Other than posting on a forum like this it's basically tough titty. I have small and large shippers do me the same way. One Green got me once and I used to buy f om them every year. Nowadays there is no customer loyalty so I have no problem outing a bad experience.

[Galatians522]

Two quick thoughts from a source that has given me good ethics advice for years.

1). Treat other people the way you would want to be treated. Do this even when THEY are annoying and/or rude. It is amazing how many current issues in our world would be solved if people just followed this advice.

2). Learn to forgive people when they mess up because you mess up, too. Forgiveness does not mean that you don't learn anything from the situation or that you have to have business dealings with someone in the future. It does mean that you make a consious decision to not be bitter about things or hold a grudge against the person.

I realize that these things are easier said than done. You are still going going to have feelings of frustration at times and situations like this can make you feel feel like no one cares. When you feel that way, just remember that there are people who do care (just look at how many people have commented on your thread). I think its also good to talk about what bothers you because it can help you learn from and deal with bad situations.

[Bush2Beach]

So who is it that needs help learning to pack plants better?