Kay, I would NOT be happy either if I had received such an order, not in the least! Of course, with living in Canada, I have never ordered from them, though am sorry to hear of your BAD experience ...

Terry

Wow, I think I would be calling or sending an email back to them to let them know of what you got and how you did not get what you ordered and were given substitutions when you did not say you would accept them. Then I would call my credit card company and contest the charges. It sounds as if you had a horrible first and last experience with them.

Thank you so much for your responses.

I really believe that the person who was "filling (HA!)" the order did the entire thing very deliberately. I ordered on June 21st, and my credit card was charged then. I got the order four months later. Credit card companies will not go back that far to correct a flagrant abuse.

My only choice is to let the whole thing be a lesson, put on my big girl panties and deal with it.

Some of the leftovers I will keep. Some of them I will trash. A very expensive lesson learned.

On the other hand, I have ordered from a couple of other vendors recommended here and gotten excellent service with beautiful plants, so I will try to deal with the known.

kay

Kay, if you let the credit card company know when you ordered the clematis and that the charges were made then and that the clematis were not shipped until later and provide them with the appropriate documentation, then I don't believe the 4 months should be an issue. If it were me, I would at least give it a try.

Over the years, I have ordered clematis from Chalk Hill and for the most part was pleased with what I received. There were occasional plants that died outright after receipt that were replaced for me and there were a couple that had less than stellar root systems, one of which died a slow death and others which finally flourished. I have a sneaking suspicion that the person who was the nursery manager at Chalk Hill for years is no longer there and that the orders are being filled by "new" employees or employees that are doing the biding of the actual owners of the nursery. Murray Rosen, the mannager of Chalk Hill who always tried to resolve issues with disgruntled customers, would never have let pathetic plants be shipped or allowed substitutions that the customers had not authorized.

Thank you so much for your advice. I have the original orders still on the computer where the statement "Your credit card will be charged now and your plants will be tagged sold" is included. Some of the plants appear pretty healthy. The one Proteus stinks, and is dead. Several others appear on their last legs.

I will send the info to my credit card company. I have ordered an amazing amount of plants this summer, and I have been very happy with almost everything.

These clematis were the first large plant order I had ever made. I guess I was expecting the wonderful customer service to continue through the end, and you are probably right, underlings are shipping whatever to the remaining customers.

Thank you again for your advice, I think I will take it. (But to be honest, I doubt there is much to "back out" for Visa as long as Chalk Hills has been "going out of business").

kay

Many credit card companies will do chargebacks up to six months after the purchase.

You certainly should call your bank.

Kay, First of all have you tried to call Chalk Hill? I would ask to speak to Murray and explain to him that you specified no subs. He is a fair and honest person and hopefully will credit you for the subs you did not order.
Arlene

I've NEVER had a problem with ChalkHill ..I received my order and it was awesome as usual...Jeanne

I also was lucky and received exactly what I had ordered and have no complaints at all about the quality. It's surprising how much the quality apparently differed.