Complaint Review: Palms & Gardens Nursery Inc.

I am a palm tree enthusiast student from Europe. In the beginning of 2003 I decided to buy some cold hardy palms over the internet beacuse the offer is very poor in our country and somehow I found Palms & Gardens Nursery Inc. (www.palmsandgardens.biz) that would have everything I needed.

I ordered the 28th of February 2003 and paid (the 7th of March 2003) by cheque the 53.63 Euros (plus 15 Euros of bank fee) because I wanted to prevent any credit card violation. Since I have not received anything many days after the payment, I became suspicious and found out that they inserted a new phytosanatory certificate item (US$ 50) on their site, compulsory for foreign orders. After many email sent they answered me, that they have received the cheque and that they will ship the plants. They also wrote that since the phyto-certificate was not present at the time of the order, I had not to pay for it.

And then nothing happened for a long time. I begun to write emails again till they finally answered I am not ordering shoes or books, that they are shipping the plants, but they are not sure if they will survive since I had chosen a slow shipping (and cheap) method (but I had chosen it from their own site!). And again nothing happened.

I have written many emails, even with the proposal of returning me the money if they are not able of shipping me the plants and also contacted the very kind people at the Palm Beach County Consumer Affairs, but it seems they are not going to collaborate.

Mitja
Palm Beach
Slovenia