Worst venders

Ok, this was bound to happen. I don't want to censor people here, but please lets try not to turn this into a bashing session.

If you have an issue with a vendor, I will not stop you from sharing it, but please try to be fair.

If this turns ugly it will get moved to the outhouse.

 

Posey, I think Forrest wants people here to be fair. Tell us your side of story but be honest about it. Every vendor can make a mistake including your favorite vendor. When you say you dislike this vendor or that vendor in public, you should at least tell people the reason why...

 

I've had trouble with Carolina Orchids. They have a great number of hard to find plants and if Tom Nasser says they're large - they're large. No complaint with size.

However, I've ordered twice and both times the plants were very poorly packed - like bouncing around inside a far-too-large box. One plant actually arrived in pieces. My other gripe is with labeling: at least 20% of the plants I ordered turned out to be mis-labeled. I did not make any attempt to work out a restitution deal with them so I have no idea how they deal with problems. I just put the issue behind me & decided never to order again.

 

Posey,
For once in my life I have to agree with your craziness. I'll never buy from Bergstrom again.

The guy is a bit crazy. I tried to work with him on a trip to do talks in Florida for orchid societies. After a month of planning he said he had a medical problem and could not travel. The ASS##OLE showed up in the US doing talks the next month. He does a bad job of identifying orchids also.

 

I think I started this thread off with the following....

(Hi All
What about your worst vendor? What is the legality of announcing his name etc in a forum such as this? Do any of you want to know such info anyway?
A group of us paid over heaps of money for some 379 orchid plants in February 2006. Still haven't received them!
Tony )

And I think some of you should be a bit careful what you say about named individuals. It can amount to slander. You can be sued and the USA is a great place to be sued in.
I am merely stating the facts when I said that we had paid over heaps of money for some 379 orchid plants in February 2006. Still haven't received them. I will give you the name of the vendor too, but just bear in mind what I have said about slander

The vendor was Hans Herman from Thailand

Tony

 

I'll mention in passing that I had some minor issues with Whiteoak orchids on the one order I placed. They were resolved in a satisfactory manner and if they had more Angs, I'd order again from them.

This is in contrast to Carolina orchids. I agree 100% with what is posted previously about Nasser. I'm not worried about slander since his practices are well documented on orchid forums and his reputation is well earned. That being: selling good sized plants that are NOT what you order. I believe of the 7 plants I ordered, so far only one has bloomed out to be what was advertised.

In my case, i ordered an alleged Aeranthes nidus, an extremely rare and never available plant, and pulled A. peyrotii out of the poorly packed box. Anyone with enough knowlege to claim they have nidus would in no way 'accidentally' send peyrotii. They are completely different.

A second example is what he claims is Aerangis laurentii. First of all the genus is wrong and he should know that if he's advertising/selling it. More importantly, when I ordered it and paid a crapload for it, I got a freaking Aerangis biloba. The first is rare, distinct, and unheard of in the U.S. The second is common and readily available and *not* worth what he charged me for it.

The first time I heard of his reputaton was in 2003 and was in reference to improperly labelled dendrobiums. The second time was a year or so later and was in reference to pleurothalids. Now, myself and T. Migratoris can add Angraecoids to the list of plants that he either doesn't know or is willing to improperly label in order to sell.

I'll stop there. The moral to the story is that you should not believe he has what he claims to have and you certainly should not buy anything from him without seeing it first.

 

I've also had bad experiences with Bergstrom orchids and won't order from him again. In all fairness, he did give me a decent sized bonus plant but it wasn't in the best condition although it survived.

I must also say I've ordered from Glenn at New World Orchids for several years. One of my orders included a four fan Shutenno. It wasn't until I repotted a year later did I discover that it was acutally a four one fan Shutenno. For the $ charged, I was really upset he would be willing to do something like that. I have received decent neos from him but prob will not order from him again.

 

I don't have any particular issues with a vendor except ecuagenera ' cause they are extremely poor about responding to email. But for vendors in general, I am particularly irritated when they don't ship to Hawaii. I'm willing to pay extra for the phyto if I want the plants bad enough.

Update - I placed an order with Bergstrom Orchids (yeah, I read what Posey and others commented, but I have fewer options than you all do), and a 2nd order just before the first one arrived. I have responded to Bill with photos to back me up. I'll post the results after I see the 2nd order, and give Bill a chance to respond - no slander, just the facts backed up with photos, and y'all decide for yourselves if this is someone you wish to do business with. (Forrest - that acceptable?)