I agree that requiring a leaf sample is just plain silly. On the other hand, you presumably will eventually get what you ordered. All things considered, was your experiece really that bad?

Actually, I think your situation was pretty darn annoying, especially for them to futz around for months and demand snail mail over a $3.99 purchase. It costs Direct Gardening a lot more to handle the situation the way they did, that to have a quick, easy resolution to the problem. Diane

Joannemb, The title you chose for this thread is perfect, and everyone who sees it is well-advised to make a mental note of it -- and REMEMBER it. I'd never heard of the outfit until about two weeks ago when my dog's groomer told me a hair-raising Direct Gardening tale even worse than yours and asked me what she should do. I did an online 'investigation' and was astounded by what I found.

With the sole exception perhaps of Ty TY Nursery in GA, I can think of no mail order nursery whose reputation is as bad as Direct Gardening's. Their moronic request for leaves was simply a delay tactic. If you persist, there will be others. They expect you to eventually give up and go away. Maybe you should save yourself the headache and just do that.

I was annoyed that I couldn't simply email a picture of the plant, but played along (because yes, for 3.99...ok, whatever.) It is the fact that I got a letter back today saying that "They are both roses....how do we know it's not a fairy rose until it blooms" that sent me through the roof. The leaves are clearly different---any idiot can see they are 2 different variety of roses bloom or no bloom. Seriously, if I was trying to rip them off, would I really say that only one plant was wrong? I would have just bought another (not worse the hassle) but the shipping would have made it as much as a $20 nursery plant. Not worth buying ONE from them....which is why I bought 12 to begin with. Silly to expect to get 12 I guess. I am not going to give up (not for the stupid $20 but because at this point I just want to annoy them as much as they have annoyed me.

Jaxondel, REALLY wish I had done an online search first... Live and learn!~

I sent back a note saying,
"I have enclosed a picture of the rose in question so that you can clearly see that it is indeed NOT a fairy rose. I have also enclosed a picture of a fairy rose (just in case you weren't sure what it looks like.)" ;)

The time/turnaround on the customer service didn't sound unreasonable to me, but the methods sure did. One nursery sent a replacement 5 months after I first contacted them, and another nursery couldn't send a replacement until the next season since they were sold out of everything. And that's for way more than $4 per rose, but at least we had good correspondence via email and they demonstrated that they were seeking the best solution for their customer.

Mike Rivers:
I should have been more clear---I don't know that I will receive a replacement at this point. When I say I have to wait 2 more weeks, that means I have to send a photo of the rose (which takes 2 WEEKS for them to get and reply) and then see where we go from there. Just silly. It's 2012---why this can't be done via email is beyond me. And it's also beyond the superviser who has no idea why, but is adament that "It just does."

Joannemb, I have a kneejerk tendency to support rose suppliers. I probably rushed to judgement a little soon in this case.

One has to remember that suppliers have to deal with scam artists also.
One could send them an e-mail of anything, how would they kow the difference.

It may be a case of simple rules are rules, or it could be they have been burned by scam artists.

Remember one reason insurance rates are asininely high is also due to false insurance claims.

What goes around comes around.

Just out of curiosity, was the rose you ordered 'The Fairy' (Polyantha, Bentall, 1932) OR were you ordering the sort of little seed-grown Chinas sold in the 1800's as "Fairy Roses"??

Jeri

LOL -- Jeri, my dear, you don't want to know the answer to your question about these fairy roses . . . Trust me.

And to this RpR person: Say what?

I'm sorry ... but $3.99? Seriously, you can't even buy a burger and a coke for that these days. Whatever customer service they claim, it was a setup to avoid the issue of defects/returns wherever and whenever possible.

At those prices, count your blessings that you only ended up with one rose that was deviant.

ROTFL! No, I was serious!
I've known people who have grown some of those little "Fairy Roses," and they're sort of nice, really.

But, never mind. I went and looked, and I see that they are selling "Fairy Pink Cushion Rose" which is God alone knows what ... and also sell "Pink Cushion Rose" but they do not seem to offer 'The Fairy.'
So maybe what the customer THOUGHT she was ordering is relevant.

RpR:
". . . scam artists . . . "
REALLY?

Jeri

Just an update...
So, In March I ordered and planted a hedge with several fairy roses, and received one wild rose by mistake. As soon as the rose began leafing out, it was clear it wasn't a fairy rose, and I sent a sample of both plants asking for a replacement. I was told I had to wait until they bloomed even though it was clearly not a fairy rose. I waited.... 2 months. They bloomed. The wrong rose was a fuscia colored wild rose that now looked ridiculous in my fairy rose hedge. I sent the bloom in the mail and finally received a replacement in the heat of summer. Well, it did not make it, and when I called for a replacement I was told it was no longer under warrenty. Why? Because I had ordered the roses in March. But I just received the replacement rose 3 weeks ago I said..... Yes, we know, but that is how our warrenty works. I said, "Even if it is your mistake?" Yep. Never again.

Since there is no such class as "Fairy" among the official rose classifications, they can call anything they want a Fairy rose. If you disagree, that's your problem. You are lucky you got as much response as you did. Before you get suckered again, find out a bit more about roses and ask which roses, specifically, by name and class, they are calling "fairy."

I have never ordered roses from them; but I do have several fruit trees, some hydrangea, a willow, various hosta all growing from this company (up to 3 years old now). I've never had a problem so I have never dealt with their customer service, so I can't comment on that.

Everything was always shipped fast and was packaged well; I never had anything mis-labled.

But their stuff is *cheap* because it's *little*; that's what I could afford at the time and I was experimenting more than anything. Yes, there was some attrition, but I think it was probably more due to user error than something wrong with the plants.

Just a different experience. Like most things internet, I think this one is buyer beware, but no reason not to take a chance on a cheap plant if you have the time and experience to baby the little guys and don't mind taking a small risk. I mean, the prices this stuff sells at is like buying from someone on the side of the road-probably not going to be the best for handholding, but you might make out like a bandit!

I ordered 3 blue oat grass plants from Directgardening last June. They came as a bag of rotted mush and I kept telling myself that the roots would probably grow. When I finally gave up it was too late to get my money back, but they replaced them in the fall - not mushy - but again looking very dead. Spring came - they never grew, or course. Again I contacted Directgardening and the plants were replaced for the second time. These came in the same dried, dead condition as the others. I keep thinking whoever selected and packaged these had to know they were dead before they were shipped. I would have thought that out of all the ones sent that there would be the slightest hint of green somewhere. - Never again with this company..

It is a good deed to take the time to share bad experiences so that those of us who consider a particular company can consider your experience and then maybe go elsewhere with our hard earned money. So thank you, Joannemb.
There are some sites that rate plant vendors, it is helpful to leave your experience there as well. But also, you can leave a complaint with the state attorney general. Doing so is free. While they may not be able to recover your wasted money, if they receive numerous complaints from consumers they may launch an investigation.

Here is info you might need to fill out the complaint form:

Address
Direct Gardening
Division of House of Wesley
1704 Morrissey Drive
Bloomington, IL 61704
Phone
(309) 662-7943
E-Mail
customercare@directgardening.com

Here is a link that might be useful: illinois consumer fraud/attorney general/complaint form

I know where this place is...I've been there before and it's about 35 miles from my house. It's also a retail nursery with actual plants and a back room where they store the bagged plants. I believe they also do business as 'Interstate Nursery'. Their nursery stock looks a lot better than the bagged stuff, but even that plant material is mediocre. The business is a brick-n-mortar garage and parking lot...no greenhouse. Just a middleman and a poor one at that.

I received my iris today, big and beautiful with fresh new grouth, right on time.I would order from them again.I'm from Southern calif.

They ship to California? Not all nurseries do, because of the treatment requirements. At such reasonable prices, it's worth taking a risk. Most of their roses seem pretty generic though, like "red rose", "white rose" or "almost black". For roses, I'll stick with Burlington, Rogue Valley, Heirloom, etc. Joanne, maybe you could give your wrong rose to a friend or trade it in exchange for something they have.

There are several mail order companies served by that same nursery. Some are Direct Gardening, Exciting Gardens, 4SeasonNurseries and Farmer Seed & Nursery. They all have the same crappy customer service insisting that you send back your receipt and write a letter to get a refund or replacement. And then in many cases the plants they send you are not true to name. I have to admit, even knowing all that, it was difficult for me to skip buying my climbing roses from them for $5.99 each and instead to buy them from the better nurseries like High Country/Heirloom/Roses Unlimited/Sooner for over $20 more each.

I've sworn off all those nurseries that are supplied from the same place as Direct Gardening because of (1) horrible customer service (2) horrible product quality, often the bare roots they sell RRV, RMV and are rejects (or you can call them "seconds") (3) no guarantee that what you will receive is actually what you ordered. The best example I have on item (3) is, last year I purchased 3 ground cover roses from them that all turned out to be New Dawns!