People have talked about the rising prices on gardening. Well what happens if they have to make a substitution since they don’t have it but have increased their prices. Well in Raintree Nursery’s case you charge the amount of the old item they purchased and downsize the item. What Raintree nursery should have done is downsize it and offer me the old pricing of the 2 quart in my opinion. When I asked if I would be refunded they responded saying they would offer it at the same price I purchased it at. At the same time you would think they would see it from my view and the fact it is not the item I purchased it at.
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Not what I would call good customer service.
I know things are tough for lots of businesses that aren’t in Forbes and The Wall Street Journal, but in my mind you have an obligation to your customer. Once they accepted the order to provide you with the one gallon size they had a contract to meet that level of value, and they dropped the ball. They should know that it’s a lot easier to keep an old customer than it is to make a new one.
I wonder what would happen if you told them you wanted to return the item and get a full refund? I think it would be fair to expect them to pay shipping both ways, too.
I’m not trying to see Raintree get taken advantage of - I just think they should have done better and that they should see why.
I hope it works out for you.
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I quit Raintree almost 20 years ago after buying from them for years. They sent a ‘Nikita’s Gift’ I had back ordered for several years. It was DOA, they said wait till end of the growing season to see if it leaf’s out. I did, it didn’t. Wanted a replacement, they said, “You’ll have to pay new shipping”, I said I won’t be buying from you again.
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Agree Mark,
Raintree has lost its better rating in my mind. I got a fig tree several years ago that was marketed in one name variety but after several years of growth it was apparent to my friends in Seattle who know fig varieties better than most that my Raintree fig was mislabeled. I could not get them to admit it was the wrong variety even after sending them pics of the trees foliage and fruits as compared with the actual variety from a nearby nursery. All they would agree to do was issue a store credit 3 years later at 50% of my purchase price. Now Biden would give his sole for that type of deflation!
Dennis
Kent, wa
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Why are you keep buying from them, just say no.
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It’s sad to see this. They have always treated me extremely well. But my experience is about 4-5 years old.
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One Green World cancelled an item and kept shipping at original price. I complained they refunded me 4 dollars shipping. We all got to keep them honest.
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Sorry to hear, that is very frustrating. So much has been said about rising prices of everything, gardenflation is truly something however.
I got my first ever order from raintree today, I only ordered because they had something of sentimental value to me and I couldn’t find it anywhere else. I ordered a 4-combo tree and to my surprise, the tree arrived with 6 varieties marked on it. Customer service was great modifying my order a few times but of course its easy to sell something. I’ve heard stories of them selling mislabeled varieties and definitely fear that happening in all honesty.
Last year Onegreenworld refunded me and they included the shipping adjustment automatically. Interestingly enough the same tree is 10$ and they have over a dozen left when they were sold out this time last year. Seems like less things are sold out, hopefully people are pushing back on all the price hikes all around. All the medium big nurserys like the two above seem to really be gouging now…
On the other hand I just bought a couple bare root trees 4-5ft from tractorsupply for 11$ a piece now that they dropped from 15$, they very adamantly claim to be refundable if they don’t grow out… seemed worth giving them a shot
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An update to the story. They claim they were not selling the 2 quart last fall. Seems I should still get a discount. They claim he gave me a 5 dollar refund now but I have not seen it on a email yet.
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I wouldn’t call that bad customer service, I’d call it unethical.
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Same thing happened to me I ordered 4 in 1 mirabelle plum and I got 6 in 1 instead. Very satisfied so far with my orders at raintree nursery. Sorry for you guys bad experiences.
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Ours are still $39 and they look terrible.
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i agree with you.
If they promise a certain size and than don’t deliver. They should give you a refund or discount.
I think it was nice of One Green World. But unles the shipping was on a per pound basis. I think it was fair to keep the “flat shipping” rate the same.
in my point of view as a customer you can expect some ordered plants to be out of stock. (plants die or might not have grown as expected)
I think it would be nice of the seller to give you the option to cancel the order if to many things are out of stock. But i would not expect a shipping refund if a small part of my order was out of stock.
If the shipping is on a pound bases or a significant part of the order is out of stock it changes ofcourse.
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I don’t think it’s asking too much for the seller to keep track of what they have and only sell what they actually have in stock
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but what happens when a plant dies between your ordering and them sending it? Or when a seller sees the the plants still in stock aren’t big enough or of an quality they prefer to sell?
For a seller with only a limited catalogue you can expect them to keep up with stock levels and a small buffer.
But i often buy from sellers with a huge range of different cultivars and plants. And i expect if i place a large order that a few items might be out of stock. Just like i don’t expect my greengrocer to have the same stock each day or week.
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I noticed as I added items shipping became more, so from my perspective it was fair that if they removed items, it would be fair to expect them to decrease shipping price…
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I just ordered a couple more plants I probably don’t “need”, and have an order in the mail. Compared to many of the other shipping costs I’ve seen this year, Raintree looks pretty reasonable.Fingers crossed I’ve got no surprises coming. I’ve found them pretty fair for me in my limited experience with them.
I’ve obviously had several things among ghe hundreds of plants I’ve ordered show up as less than I expected, but the only time I’ve truly been disapointed was with one of those fly-by-night, stuff everything in a plastic bag places substituted something I’m not even supposed to grow in this state for something without any discussion up front. The very few other times I had substitutions, the vendors have called and said “we can fill this one, this is what we can do.”
Hopefully the bad experience was a one off thing and not a sign of decline.
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I think most business are still reasonable. Each business has its own internal battle to fight.
One company’s rebates to avoid: paypal. If they claim a discount, take it with grain of salt.
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Raintree has more affordable shipping but charges double the competition. Something I have found is sure places like Bay Laurel charge more in shipping if I end up getting a fair amount of plants or even 2 plants cost is competitive with Raintree. I called them and they said if anything is over 50 dollars I would not save on shipping. Well every tree on their website is over 50 and so are many of their bushes.
1 gallon is not really 4 quarts, it’s more like 3 quarts. Your 2 quart plant will grow into a gallon plant in about 1 week of good weather.
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