Well it’s been two weeks since I reached out to Burnt Ridge - no reply yet. The tree is now 99% dead.
2 Likes
After 23 days (and a totally dead tree) got a reply from Burnt Ridge:
“Thank you for notifying us about the problem with the Kanko Bai. We can include a free replacement with any new order next winter/spring.”
Maybe I’m a bit sensitive, but I would at least have liked an apology and a refund. The tree is now removed and replaced with an Oro Blanco…
I might order from them again - not sure.
At least they replied and have offered a free replacement. Some places may have asked for you to “give it time” or blamed it on some other factor.
Granted they want you to buy more items and pay the shipping, and they will throw your replacement in the box with it. Better than a sharp stick in the eye.
1 Like
After proving it is dead. I agree with @Monardella. They should have refunded at least the cost of the plant. You didn’t pay next year, why wait till next year to honor your word. If all these mail order companies focused more on sending out quality products they wouldn’t spend so much time making excuses.
I came to the conclusion that they were only good for potted plants.
I fully agree that there is more that they could do. However, nurseries I’ve dealt with have a replacement warranty, not a refund warranty. Could just be the ones I’ve worked with, but id assume more than half will honor with replacements not refunds.
And a person should have to prove their plant is dead, that’s what keeps people from claiming that their plants are dead and receiving a refund, but in reality they are alive and well. I don’t see anything wrong with the seller wanting proof that their product is faulty.
3 Likes
I agree with everything you said. I’m one of the people unhappy with my order, so slightly slanted in my opinion. They all offer the same warranty, which in my opinion does not amount to much. I bought from about eight vendors this year, so really got a good sampling of who’s who. I did have a couple winners, but most provided some form of disappointment and I would only buy potted plants from them in the future.
Kellogg…you are correct. There are more than most people imagine who complain and want refunds, ….
so much so that most nurseries that sell retail (at least in Kentucky) have abandoned a guarantee of any type.
And those who do still have one, only give a 50% off on a replacement, and have a shorter period than one year.
Those who offer a full one year warranty with no questions asked…also have the highest pricing…which is to make up for the dishonest and for the novice gardeners with ‘brown thumbs’.
Why should I ‘subsidize’ the dishonest and the ‘incompetent’ by buying from such stores?
I’ll keep buying at lower prices, and if 2 or 3 percent of the items I receive are faulty,
I still came out cheaper in the long run!
5 Likes
You guys are a lot more forgiving. I look at it like they knew it was poor quality when they put it in the box. So they are basically telling me that they want me to eat the loss instead of them. A good company would inspect and verify quality before boxing it. I’m pretty familiar with the disappointment of un-boxing to find trees with no roots. It’s like getting underwear for christmas.
2 Likes
My complaint this year, though not with BR is companies which take my money in Feb and then send an email mid-May saying their plants aren’t good. Another email 2 mins later saying they will be refunding me. Another email 3 mins after that refunding the money.
If you can’t supply the plant give me a day to pick something else, if that’s my choice.
Also, I’ve got 3 berries which still haven’t done anything. Can’t say it’s due to lack of care, I’ve been home the whole time.
Scott
4 Likes
I agree that there are more than a few places that need to think about their customers more than themselves. Unfortunately, we have gone away from the customer comes first mentality and put profits in front of keeping a good name and being honest. Im talking about society as a whole, not just nurseries. Maybe with this whole pandemic, some of the big players in the markets will rethink their models and start to move back to putting their customers first.
3 Likes
I have been more and more making my purchases from small nurseries and supporting our forum grafters with sales. They are the ones that still care about quality.
6 Likes
Always read their warranty or refund/replacement policy before buying from anyplace. Some places require returning the dead plant/tree and having the shipping label attached. Other places will send a replacement IF you pay the shipping costs for the replacement. Some places ( not many) will send you a refund. You just have to know before you buy from all these online nurseries and then get surprised at what their policies are.
3 Likes
I have ordered a lot of plants from Burnt Ridge over the last 15 years. This is the first time I got a sub-par tree (as far as it’s form - extremely crooked and bent - really really bad), and the first time I had a plant die. So I guess that’s a pretty good record. Maybe I am naive, but if I was running the business I would be worried about alienating a long-term customer over a single tree. All they need to do is to look at their records and they will see that I have never made a complaint of any kind before. Like I said before, I might order from them again if they have some unusual species that I want.
3 Likes
It’s possible that things aren’t business as usual because of the Corona virus. I’ve noticed a number of businesses that are usually pretty reliable, struggle with some things I normally consider pretty basic. I don’t run a business, but on the board of a non-profit that interfaces with the public, I’ve seen some of the disruptions that can throw processes for a loop.
In other words, I’d be willing to cut them some slack if this is really their first screw up for you in 15 years. They could probably use some understanding and support.
4 Likes
Yes I agree. There have been businesses that have had to move workers around or stagger work or shipping hours to accommodate CDC guidance on social distancing, sanitizing, etc., and even had people get laid off or not come into work. Perhaps its an issue with their quality control department having new people or just working tons of hours to pick up slack where it showed up.
Like Murky said, 1 mess up in 15 years is a great track record, a little slack might be in order.
2 Likes
My order was shipped Jan 23, 2020. So that appears to be before the corona crisis. But yes I am willing to give them slack. But I think it is good to put all of this out there since this is what actually happened with this nursery.
4 Likes
did anyone else have low viability from scion from them? I had grafted 18 apple rootstocksfrom them with only 1 take out of the 18. From the 4 other sources I ordered from this spring I had success with 37/42 grafts. While it may have simply been bad luck, I am uncertain why this source had such low viability.
2 Likes
This is my first year grafting, so my results were just OK. That said, I was unable to get any takes on my peach and plum scions that I got from Burnt Ridge, yet I was able to successfully graft plums and apples from other sources.
I was thinking it must be a combination of being new + peaches and plums being a more challenging graft. Looks like I might have had another factor working against me…
1 Like
Peaches are generally tough to graft from scion, I haven’t grafted plums, but I averaged 70% on my apricots and 0% on my 2 peaches from burnt ridge. I anticipated the peaches were going to fail though regardless of source, they were more so a quick attempt that was low risk/cost.
1 Like
I’ve generally had good luck with Burnt ridge.
This year they sent me 5 persimmon rootstock. All 5 dead soon after grafting.
Meanwhile Missouri rootstock is 22/25 successes.