Bad experience with Andy's

I requested a few plants from Andy's to pick up an an orchid show in San Francisco last month. After a couple of weeks, the plant I was most interested in turned out to have been mislabeled. I was very disappointed since I had been looking for this species for some time and it was only recently added to Andy's website. I contacted Andy's, sent a photo of the plant and eventually received a reply offering to replace the plant at no charge with my next order.

I do not feel that is sufficient, and I told him that twice and have received no response. I have to buy something else to get the plant I paid for? Perhaps I am expecting too much. It seems to me that the only valid options were to send the correct plant or refund the purchase price. The plant I received in error is not one that I would have purchased. I have purchased over three dozen plants from Andy's. I have purchased my last plant from Andy's.

 

Make a new order? You mean pay twice for the same plant, plus tax and shipping?

 

Harry Phillips replied first to say that Andy was out of town and would reply when he returned. The second response from Andy make the offer I mentioned. I rejected that; received no reply. I sent another email six days later; still no response.

I know that someone from Andy's usually (not always) calls. They still have the option of contacting me. Frankly, I find their attitude not only surprising, but offensive.
I want the plant or a refund. That just does not seem unreasonable to me. Having to make another order to get what I already paid for does seem unreasonable.

 

I guess I am not understanding something. If I place another order for the plant, I have to pay for it. And if they send the wrong plant, I should just continue to order until somehow they get it right?

 

I have been receiving responses by email, so it is not that they didn't respond at all. They just have not responded to my last two emails. From experience, I prefer having everything in writing. It eliminates inaccuracies. If I had only oral communication, you have to trust both sides to be accurate. You all know Andy, but you don't know me, so you would probably have suspected that I had omitted some details that would present a different picture. I have the emails, so no problem.

 

As I said, I have purchased well over three dozen plants from Andy's. Before this, I would have strongly agreed with everything you say. That is why I am stunned by the response. Here is the entire response from Andy himself after I sent them a photo of the plant:

"Thanks, we will send a replacement on your next order at no charge.
Andy"

I believe the Andy you describe would have immediately sent the correct plant without hesitation. What happened to him?

 

I see I am not the only one with this problem. I assume your incident is quite different from mine, since you do not seem to feel it important to say how you resolved your problem with Andy. I do not find any information regarding a policy on mis-labeled plants on Andy's web site. If there is a growing problem of misidentified plants, there should at least be a statement of policy concerning what will be done in those cases. I agree that Andy's has been one of the best species vendors, but none of the others have sold me the wrong plant either. I did pick up the plant at an orchid show and it was in bud at the time.

My main reason for bringing up this topic was just to understand if my expectations were unrealistic or self-serving. What is the responsibility of the vendor and what is the responsibility of the buyer? Perhaps if Andy used PayPal these problems would be resolved quickly and with no misunderstandings. Seems that having policies clearly stated beforehand would be mandatory.