Thanks, Ben. I’m glad to know it wasn’t that I did something wrong. I couldn’t figure out what it was that I had missed… but was wracking my brain for something! I’d rather assume it was my fault than hers. But yes, perhaps it was a miscount on her part. Still, it seems so strange to me that she verified twice that she had a Versigny for me, waited 8 days to confirm my order and then said she DOESN’T have a Versigny for me after all. And don’t blame yourself, Ben, for increasing interest in this rose and selling them out for her! I think she sells out of this one every year, and as I said, I’ve been waiting in this one for several years now. I might give up at this point. I’m pretty bummed about this whole thing.

I'm sorry to hear that you have been so disappointed, judi. All I can say is that I think that telephoning is, in general, a good idea. Maybe I'm wrong, but I wonder if actually speaking to someone lends a more personal touch, which might unconsciously inspire the seller to put a person who phones them up in a higher priority position...just a thought.

You’re probably right, Bart. And I am someone who avoids making phone calls if there are other options. I can compose an email or text message at my leisure and know that the recipient can read and respond at their leisure, so I definitely prefer that option when possible. I don’t like pressure from others and neither do I want to put pressure on anyone else and phone calls exert more pressure- which may be just what is needed. And yes, the personal touch of a human voice is valuable. Perhaps if I ever try to order from her again, I should consider that.

And what seems even more strange to me is that she has still not answered my last two emails. I wasn’t harsh in my message to her, so I don’t understand why she seems to be ignoring me.

Well, I have always had good results just emailing her for availability. This year I talked with her about sending her a gift of Chartreuse de Parme so she could have it available in the future. She lost her parent plant of it. Then the plant I had for her died so I told her. No reply. Then I found another cruddy looking plant of it and potted it up. It went on to put out a nice new big cane. So I told her that I hoped I'd have a plant for her after all. No reply. I don't know if she is seeing her emails, doesn't want the plant or what.

She might be having health problems.

I thought of the same thing, Linda, that she might still be feeling overwhelmed by the hurricane aftermath or perhaps health issues. Perhaps if that’s the case, an email explaining why she’s been so poor at communicating would be helpful for all.

I tried ordering from them, and while communication was fast, they only had 3 of the 6 roses I was searching for in stock. Shipping for up to 6 roses was $75, which seems quite steep to me. I wish their website were a bit clearer—some roses are marked as sold out, but not all, so I ended up inquiring about ones that were unavailable.

I think that between health issues, hurricane issues, and limited staff and technology, they're doing their best to keep up with the volume of roses and orders. I always submit a variety of alternatives with my orders because sometimes roses get miscounted (as you discovered) or don't thrive between the time I order and the time for shipping. It's part of the nature of selling living things and being a small business.

Their roses are fantastic and still reasonably priced. I also ask about roses I'm interested in that aren't on the website and sometimes they're available. I love them as a company and am willing to work with some relatively inconvenient communications and website posts to obtain some fabulous roses.

Cynthia

It's probably best to make a large researched list to request what you want most, then chip away at your list year after year as they become available. RU has some rare ones not found anywhere else that I know of.

Right away after receiving my first order of two roses from RU , I wished I had ordered more. At the time I knew nothing of Capitaine Dyel de Graville https://www.helpmefind.com/rose/l.php?l=2.954

Opening the box , Heaven on Earth had a bloom that perfumed my package, it was memorable.

Cynthia and Berrypie- You’re absolutely right—I should have had a much bigger list. This was my first time attempting an order with them, and the interaction I had was quite pleasant. Next year, I’ll reach out much earlier and come better prepared with a longer list and backups. I would still love to give them a try. I am glad to hear you both have had a good experience.

Only thing is, the problem wasn’t availability this time. My first list of six was available except two. I found two more that I wanted and she confirmed that she had those. So then all six I wanted were available. I promptly ordered those six. Eight days later she said that one of those was not available. At that point, I figured it was best for me to try next year or not at all because the ones I most wanted were unavailable. No sense in adding more to my order if I didn’t really want them. I feel she could communicate with me at least, but I suspect she must be overwhelmed at present.

I'm sorry judijunebugarizonazn8 , I hope in the coming year the nice surprises you get will outweigh the disappointments.

Last Spring my local nursery told me they weren't going to carry the rose I wanted most. In Fall I found out they had some all along but I missed it !

O, judi, I can SO RELATE:" I am someone who avoids making phone calls if there are other options. I can compose an email or text message at my leisure and know that the recipient can read and respond at their leisure, so I definitely prefer that option when possible. I don’t like pressure from others and neither do I want to put pressure on anyone else and phone calls exert more pressure". Too many times it has happened that someone-and I'm speaking of friends and relatives, not strangers-has phoned me up to have a friendly chat when I am up to my neck in stuff that has to be finished, or accomplished then and there, and I've tried pretending that it was OK, which didn't work because people can tell when you're not relaxed,and I've tried asking them if we could have a raincheck and make a phone date, and that didn't work too well either. Worse yet was when I was having serious health problems and someone with obviously good intentions called me up impulsively to ask how I was feeling,and at that particular, precious moment I wasn't thinking about how I felt (which was rare since I felt horrible most of the time), so the well-intentioned call totally back-fired and reminded me of my misery!!! So I am very not into spontaneous calls, "just pick up the phone and call!", people say, as if my reluctance was due to something warped in me. However, I fear that in doing buisness, delicacy of feeling must be tempered with a proper degree of assertiveness.It's "buisness" for you, too, not just the seller.

I understand the reluctance to call someone, it seems like a bit of an intrusion. On the other hand, I think different people use different means to communicate, and for RU’s owner Pat and her assistant, they respond best to phone calls.

My friend Reba advocates you pick up that phone, too!

She took a while to get back to me via email after I submitted an order, she confirmed that she had what I wanted and told me I need to call in order to pay or to mail a check. I tried calling her at different times during business hours but she never picked up for me, and I did leave 2 voice messages as well but never got a call back. Eventually I mailed a check and emailed her a heads up about that, did not hear back. Maybe it's like others have said, health problems. Or maybe she's overwhelmed with orders. I hope you have better luck next year.

For placing the order, I had set up an email to send out automatically on December 1st with a list of what I was looking for. Might want to try that. I used gmail

Thank you, everyone for weighing in. Sounds like it’s not just me that’s having a hard time getting orders through and even phone calls aren’t working all the time! I guess it just is what it is. Maybe next year will be better!

Judi- Did you happen to see my post about rose.it? I wanted to make sure you saw as they are selling Summer Song and I know that is one of your unicorn roses. I ordered one myself.

I did, Lily! Thanks for making sure I saw that. I’m contemplating it. :)