John, congrats on your new arrivals. Email these pictures to the seller and see what he/she can do for you.

I hope you get some money refund back to your account.

Marie

John congrats on the new plants and sorry for the damages. How the plants are tagged appears to me you have ordered from Orient Adenium. It appeared that they always put one or two damaged plants in every order (your order is the 3rd order I saw with damaged plants). They advised to me that they are willingly to replace the plants but shipping has to be paid by the buyer. Not sure how much the shipping charge will be for one or two plants, but 50 dollars is a ripoff.

John,

Are these plants from Rinoa (Orient Adenium) ?

Rick

Yes they are from Orient Adenium I have been following all the threads and knew that it was a chance but I saw Rick that you had mentioned that this was a really good time of year to order from them so decided to go for it. Like I said above for the most part I think that they sent me really nice plants just strange that at least the one was pretty bad looking the other damage makes me concerned that there could be infection from where the brown spots in the dug out part of the root. I think I am just going to send out note to orient and see what they have to say about it.

John,

It is a good time to order from Tawain now. It is disturbing that they would send out plants with damaged roots and if they are going to, then it should be mentioned to the buyer.

I had one of mine from Rinoa come last summer with a whole or portion of one root similar to the one in your photo. I always take pictures and I sent a photo to her the day I opened the box to let her know. Mentioned to her that this was sent this way and if there was any issues with it, that I expected a replacement at her cost (plant & shipping). As it turned out the plant is fine, but I do not believe they should ship plants such as this. Poor business.

Definitely send of photo's and message.

Rick

Put it this way...if you went into a store and chose your own plants would you pick those two? Doubt it, I certainly wouldn't. Why should suppliers send out inferior goods like this at the same price as good ones when the customer is ordering 'blind' as we say here? The two plants may survive if they stay with you following surgery, but they may not. If you cut them and then they decline would you then be able to claim later down the line? Would be far easier for them to recognise the damage when preparing them for shipping, cut them and replant and grow on to supply good quality plants rather than getting negative feedback like this.

Have they always been sending out a bad one or two in an order or is this new thing? Could be new inexperienced staff? Not an excuse really in my book. The responsibility surely rests with the owner. I had thought Rinoa was one of the better dealers, but maybe not, and to say that the replacements shipping is to be paid by the customer, that sounds bad to me.

Greenclaws, I am totally agreeing with you. It is bad business practice as I can see it. Words of mouth spread like wild fire. If they continue to do this, not many will buy or recommend their business.

Everything above that has been said makes perfect sense. It is getting the picture to them, that makes it difficult. You become a "fish in a big ocean".

I am not one to like to talk negatively about anyone, but when I see this sort of thing (inferior plants and bad business practice) happening. It all goes out the window.

I believe as Gill mentions above about a sellers business getting more volume, that quality diminishes. Not good.

I had an experience with 2 plants sent from Rinoa. I followed them via EMS tracking and their progress stopped at Customs. I received a letter from Customs stating that he plants where being shipped back to exporter, because they did not comply with Import Permit. They had Debri on their roots. I sent a copy of this letter to Rinoa and contacted the Customs office. I could not believe that they would be shipped in this fashion. Customs officer mentioned to me that "possibly they have inexperienced staff helping with the processing of their plants to be shipped". As it turned out the plants where sent back, regular post, meaning 2 1/2 weeks to get back to her (Customs does not ship using EMS). My concern at this point was, how are these plants going to look after 2 1/2 weeks and then being shipped back to me.

With a lot of emailing to Rinoa (Orient Adenium) and them not sending plants in that condition. She offered me a Refund. I told them that I wanted the plants that I ordered and a refund was again offered to me. I have encouraged and recommended them for so long that this was unacceptable. In the end she shipped me 2 plants and covered the shipping back to me.

Having said this, it was my next order that had a plant similar to John's in it. With a whole where they had obviously treated it. Response was that it would be fine from Rinoa. In the end it was, but this plant should never have been sent out.

It is time that people let them know that sending out plants in less than perfect condition is unacceptable and will eventually hurt their business. Unfortunately, I do not think that it will help unless they hear from a lot of people.

Appoligize for the rant.

Rick

Rick we need a black list on this site and Facebook for places not to buy from and put Rinoa at the top maybe she will do better? she was one of the best but not any more it looks like everbody has problems with her

roger

Oh man I sent my email before I saw all these responses and was pretty tame in my response. It is so bazaar that some of the plants would be so nice and then they seem to just throw in a plant or two that are totally messed up. I did tell her that I had brought it to the attention of the adenium group I am a member of and was told I should contact the seller about these plants. I will wait to hear back from her but it might also be a thought to attach links to this thread and maybe a few others letting her know what people are saying about her business practices and shipping unhealthy plants.

Ok so I just got a response from Rinoa here is what she said.

Hello John

Thanks for your message. And appreciate for the photos you sent. The Variegated Red leaf has the chunk on the caudex. But currently it was healed. We understand you feel concern about it. We will replace Variegated leaves Red leaf for you.

As for the Red Wing. Please use the clean knife to cut off the end damange part of Red Wing. If possible. Mixed the powder of Sterilization then spray it on the wound. And leave the plants dry for around 2 days then put it into the pot. Normally, if the plants staring growing new leaves. The plants are fine for continue growing.

Please keep me update of the Red Wing condition. If you have any further questions. Please let me know again.

Regards

Rinoa

This was my response back to her maybe a bit mild but I like to try to work this out and not be to aggressive.

Hi Rinoa,

It is good to hear back from you about the two plants I am unhappy with and concerned about. I appreciate that you will be sending me a new Variegated Red leaf and will do what you have suggested on the Red wings plant and keep you informed on how it is doing.

I will also post your response to my adenium group so that they know you are taking care of the problem and replacing the Variegated red leaf plant and watching the health of the other one with me.

Thank you again, John

I will let you know when I hear back from her.

Thanks for the support and suggestions.

John

Hi John, Below is an email I sent to her and her response. She agreed to send a replacement for us. Hope the next order whoever place with them will be much better.

Very well put Shang

roger

Wow thank you Shang I think this could all be very good in the long run for all of us. They really do have beautiful plants but to send us these damaged and sickly plants is just not ok. As was stated above we as plant lovers would never choose to purchase a plant like these in a store maybe if they were in a box for a few dollars and we wanted to try and save the poor things. Rinoa seems to have a good business but like you told her it does not take long to mess up your reputation. It seems she maybe getting a clue I don't know about you but I am a crazy plant person and if I am happy with who I purchase from I will be back again and again. I have never purchased plants from overseas and have to say it is a bit stressful and getting plants like this does not help.

I am happy to see that you will be getting taken care of with new plants also so nice to be a part of a group that watches out for each other.

Thanks again, John

Bottom line! Rinoa is responsible, as those that work for her are to be following her standards. Her responsibility to make sure plants are healthy and not being sent out with any sort of damage. If her staff do not perform up to the standards in which she used to have, then she will lose business.

I have been purchasing plants from Rinoa since 2011 and very many. Always with the best quality.

If a plant was to become rotten after us planting it, then our responsibility. If there are effected branches and/or cut roots, never should have been sent.

The only way people can help is to all send a message to Rinoa (Orient Adenium) personally to let her know your concern of prospective orders.

I sent off another email to her in regard to my disappointment last night.

Rick

I just received an email from Rinoa. There is no need to copy & paste it here.

In her response she addresses all of my concerns, but she comments " we would not send plants that where rotten". Rotten is not the issue, it is sending out a plant that they have treated prior to a rotten root and assuming the purchaser will nurse the plant along.

What is not being understood. You would not go into buy a pair of Jean's and expect to have to repair or patch, because there is a whole. They are taken off the shelf or put on clearance!

Mentioned about buyers not liking to have to repay for shipping on replacement plant and understands this. Then do not ask for it, send out new plant and learn from your mistake and neglect.

I am sending a note back to Rinoa. There are other sellers and she will not be in business long if this practice continues.

I am so sorry to see this happening and to take such a cavelier attitude will not help.

Rick

Hello everyone! Ive emailed Rinoa my concerns as well

Rinoa, I appreciated that you took the time to explain your side of the story and believe me I do not judge a book by it cover. This is something I have learned as a very young age. As you can see, we all love adeniums very much especially the plants you are selling. To proof my point, the shipping charge we paid alone for the plants we ordered from you we can easily get at least 4 more plants from Thailand or three similar below plants in the US.

I cant speak for other, but I grow adenium for their roots or unique caudex. The flower is a bonus. The weather we have here in North America is very cruel to adenium plants. Only a few months within a year are suitable for growing adenium. Even with experience, roots rot is the biggest issue most North American hobbyists have to deal with every year. Any imperfections to the roots system will rise the level of risk. Also, the soil mixture we have here doesn't help much either. Nursing a recent purchase plant back to it healthy condition is something we do not want to deal with. Since we valued your business, all we ask in return from you are not to send us any recent treated plants for roots rot. I appreciate that you understand our concern and take this matter seriously.

WOW! Just catching up on this post. This explains Rinoa's sudden policy change and her email to me regarding replacing my plants. Thank you to everyone who went to bat for me and for everybody else who paid good money but received damaged inventory.

Even so, I honestly can't see myself purchasing from anyone outside the U. S. I haven't even looked on Rinoa's site since my experience. For me, the damage has been done and it's not worth the risk, hassle and headache. Best of luck to everyone who orders from her in the future.

Thanks again everyone,

Tyler

I appreciate that Rinoa has addressed this and has made restitution in effected cases.

I would have no problem purchasing from Rinoa. I have been purchasing plants from her for many years and have a nice collection, thanks to her. There are very many sellers that would not do what she is doing now. I have had quite a few emails with Rinoa lately with honest correspondence and good feedback.

Thank you for listening and taking the time Rinoa.

Rick

I emailed her a profuse "thank you" and let her know that I'd be spreading the word here on the forum. I'd pretty much written it off. Anything at this point is gravy.

Tyler

I feel lucky. My order from Rinoa came through pretty well and I'm happy with it. I had a few broken branches and a couple of small bad spots on the roots but nothing major I couldn't take care of myself. Only one of my plants showed an issue later that needed cutting out and hopefully it'll make it. I certainly hope a bit more care will be taken because I would like to be able to order from Orient Adenium in the future. I also appreciate Rinoa taking the time to read these posts. Thank you all for your posts and we all need to keep aware and discuss.

I am so happy to see all of this come about nice that Rinoa took the time too listen and respond in a good way to the concerns and comments about her plants. I am very happy that Tyler and Shang and others myself included are getting our damaged plants replaced. Rinoa has such beautiful plants and with the work that Rick and others have done talking with her I will be happy that I can feel comfortable buying more plants from her in the future.

Yes Rinoa this is the way to care of your business think you

roger

Hello John or anyone else:

1. Please let me know if all the grafted Adeniums that you have purchased from Rinoa produced the same type of color and shape that were advertised for these plants. 2. How long did they take to flower after you received them?

3. Anyone had experience with growing from seeds purchased from Mr Ko or Ms Rinoa, please inform seeds from which supplier have a better chance to grow into what are on the pictures. I still love pink flowers but I think if 90% of them would turn pink, then it would be too much.

4. Can anyone comment if the adeniums which turn pink, is it the same kind of pinkish flower, or there is a variety in different form and shade of pink?

5. Was it ok to import grafted plants to the USA?

Thank you.

Sunny