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Import problem

I have a shipment that is held up in customs right now because the seller did not remove the plants from the growing media before shipping. The growing media is sphagnum moss, which is okay as a packing material, but the customs official who called me said these appear to have been growing in this moss, and it was not simply used as a packing material. They have had the plants for 3 days now trying to decide if they are allowed to let them through to me or if they must send them back to the grower in Maylasia. This company claims to ship to the US all the time, so they should know better than ship plants like this!

kristi
 
Interesting that customs distinguishes between LFS depending on how it was used.

The more I deal with overseas growers, the more careful I am. I've had multiple issues where I give them step-by-step guidance on how to package, where to ship, etc & they ignore everything I've told them & do whatever they want. Most of the time I suspect that this is due to language barriers & poor translation software. However, I keep recalling how another Terra member got hit with a $2500 fine & I weigh how much I really want the plants/seeds from overseas....
 
Going to send them back to the shipper.
Strange they always jest destroy mine
Have been bit so many times I almost to the point of not buying O S anymore
Where are they stuck???custom office
 
They are destroying them. They said they could charge me 250 dollars to have someone properly repackage the plants and have them shipped to me and I said no thanks. It's not my responsibility. The company shipping to me should have done it properly. So I sent them an email telling them I need a new shipment or a refund. They are going to refuse, at which point I will file a claim with paypal. This was $750.
 
Oh man Kristi, that's awful D:
Sorry you're going through that.
 
Ohman, that really sucks. :( I'm sorry that happened.
I've yet to order plants from overseas, because I'm sooooo terrified of having this happen.
 
These were not for personal use. They were an investment. So I am out so much more than the cost of these plants. I've made tags with the names of these plants, which cost 40 dollars and hours of time. I paid an employee to get pots filled with soil ready. Not to mention the lost revenue that I was counting on to help with Christmas. I'm so pissed. This company said they are familiar with shipping in the US and they have never had a package destroyed by customs before. The guy at customs is being a huge jerk. He admitted to not finding anything wrong with the plants, no pests or anything like that. He's following a stupid rule, and the plants are sterile and FINE but he won't allow them through because their roots are attached to the moss. So now I have to file a claim with paypal and hope they find in my favor and will give me my money back. That takes 30 days or so for them to make a decision. Then it will be too cold to order more plants, even if I find a company that I am happy buying from. This marks two overseas companies from my list now - unless they do the right thing and agree to reship at no cost to me since it was their fault.

I took the GRE last week and had a bad experience with it, too. So overall things are not going too well for me. Ugh..
 
It is very difficult to deal with US Customs these days. Unless it is in sterile TC media, it is very difficult these days to get plants into the US. It really has come to the point where you're best no longer trying.

BTW, I also sympathize with you on the GRE. The GRE is hell. I hope you didn't do too poorly as this could affect your ability to retake the test.

-Hermes.
 
The GRE is a joke, schools will look at prior GPA and classwork before they look at your GRE scores. I took it myself and took it as seriously as I took an exit exam and still scored decently. Many schools don't state a minimum score for acceptance simply because they really don't use it as a tool to examine students. I feel that it's become more of a accepted standard to require students to take it before admittance just to have some sort of barrier to say "You must be 'this' qualified to get in".
If you've had undergrad classes and did decently well, getting into Grad School shouldn't be an issue.

Best of luck with your current standings...
 
  • #10
I showed up to take the GRE wearing a short sleeved shirt with a button up sweater over it because the instructions I was given was "dress where you will be comfortable in a variety of temperatures". I get there and the guy makes me take my sweater off because he said it wasn't allowed in the room. So I was freezing, with goosebumps the whole time. Plus, he was coming in and out of the room slamming the door and talking to people who had questions. I couldn't concentrate, and this is a timed test - I had to reread things several times and couldn't concentrate because of all the distractions. There was a glare on the computer screen that made it really difficult to read. It was a bad experience. The program I want to get into does take the GRE score very seriously. Some don't, but for psychology, they really take it into account. They also take an average of all the times you take it rather than just taking the highest scores. I didn't do absolutely horrible, but not nearly as good as I need, so my future in a phd program is not secure. I was shooting for getting my bachelor's and going straight into a doctorate program. Now I may have to go for a Master's first and then try again in 2 years to get into the Phd program. I'm going to try again, but I'm going to have to bring the score up about 200 points to have a shot.
 
  • #11
F R e N c H 3 z is correct that a lot of factors go into the selection of grad school students, but he is not correct that GRE is a joke. It is anything but a joke. Some schools take it very seriously, especially in years like this last one where some schools had 10 times the applications that they had in previous years. And it will depend upon the program you are trying for. Some schools/departments do have published GRE standards that must be met. Others it doesn't matter so much as long as everything else is strong. And it is a means of weeding out weaker students before they get to the door. PhD programs are particularly competitive since most are at least partially funded by the school itself. It is important to remember to keep in mind that GRE is a weak indicator of your potential ability to do well in grad school--grad school admissions committee care a lot about this!

It is also important to remember that the GRE is not really testing you verbal or mathematical aptitude. English and (grade 10) math are simply the means that they can use to test other things in such a way that students from any discipline can do the test without a prerequisite of specialized knowledge. With that said, the GRE is actually testing you on two rules of graduate school (1) knowing the system, and (2) jumping through the hoops. Successful graduate students always study for tests even when they are told not to study. Students who study for the GRE get an average of 300 points higher than those who did not. And even though ETS says you cannot study for it, those that study for it score much higher than those who do not. Furthermore, your ability to take the test seriously shows that you can apply yourself and study for a test even though it is complete poppycock. Finally, it is important to recognize that the math portion of the exam is not about math at all, it is a logic test using math. And yes, all sections of the test matter, even if your particular school says it does not. I know a guy who scored high 700s on the verbal and less than 300 on the quantitative. And even though he applied to schools that said they only looked at the verbal, 5 out of 6 rejected him on the basis of the low score. The truth is that no one wants a social scientist that cannot read a graph or an engineer who cannot construct a simple sentence. Both portions are important and both count even when the schools say they do not.

The good news is if you are going for a master's degree the GRE score will play less of a role for the admissions process. If you got at least 1100, you will be fine for the masters level. If you are applying for a top school for the PhD, you will need at least 1350. And if you are applying for a PhD at a lesser school you may be fine with a 1250. The silver lining in this is that people who take a master's before a PhD are more likely to actually complete their PhD as opposed to those who enter straight from their bachelor degree. It is also important to note that if you did really poorly and you retest raising your score by more than 200 points, be prepared to take the test a third time as their anti-cheating protocols kick in. They will consider you guilty until proven innocent and will not post your improved score until you can prove you didn't cheat by taking it a third time. And of course, you are paying for this third retest--there are no freebies with ETS. It isn't fair but it is their game and their rules.

If you would like to discuss this off-line, feel free to PM me. I'm right now at grad school and will be going through the application process yet again in the not too distant future.

-Hermes.
 
  • #12
The plants are still sitting in customs. Malesiana Tropicals agreed to pay the 250 dollars to get the plants reconditioned so they would be released, but they asked me to pay the money and they would pay me back. I said no, gave them the number to contact and work it out themselves, and I haven't heard back from anyone. I paid through paypal, so lucky for me, I have that avenue open to get my money back. I already filed a claim of nonreceipt of the shipment, so hopefully paypal will find in my favor and give my money back. If a miracle happens and I get the plants and they are still in good shape, I will cancel the claim through paypal. This is such a mess.
 
  • #13
The plants are still sitting in customs. Malesiana Tropicals agreed to pay the 250 dollars to get the plants reconditioned so they would be released, but they asked me to pay the money and they would pay me back. I said no, gave them the number to contact and work it out themselves, and I haven't heard back from anyone. I paid through paypal, so lucky for me, I have that avenue open to get my money back. I already filed a claim of nonreceipt of the shipment, so hopefully paypal will find in my favor and give my money back. If a miracle happens and I get the plants and they are still in good shape, I will cancel the claim through paypal. This is such a mess.

Due to some issues with plant shipments in the past I have called Paypal and there policy for ANY plant matter is the seller is at fault. They don't care about any details but it was a plant or plant matter and the seller is at fault. Something to keep in mind if your selling plants.

I really don't think you will have any problem getting a full refund from Paypal.
 
  • #14
I have called Paypal and there policy for ANY plant matter is the seller is at fault.

Thanks, I sell plants on ebay occasionally so that's good to know.

Do they make stipulations on how long the person had the plant before they killed it or is it only "on arrival" they care about? I have no idea how plant shops can stay in business offering a year guarantee on their plants - one never knows how a customer will treat the plant once they get it home.
 
  • #15
Thanks, I sell plants on ebay occasionally so that's good to know.

Do they make stipulations on how long the person had the plant before they killed it or is it only "on arrival" they care about? I have no idea how plant shops can stay in business offering a year guarantee on their plants - one never knows how a customer will treat the plant once they get it home.

From when I talked to them, its there normal 30 day window. Any claim on a plant or plant material the seller is at fault.

For an example that actually happened to me. I sold an orchid on E-bay, it arrived in good condition (had e-mails from them saying so), the new owner tried to grown it with the roots completely underwater for a week. It died, they filed a claim and Paypal could careless what happened. I lost.

I've only had a few problems out of the hundreds of shipments but they were all like that, the new owner did something really wrong with the plant and filed a claim. Paypal refunded them every time and did not care about the details, photos or e-mails. Things like, you tried to grow Nep on your patio in 110 degree weather and you did not water it for a week? It arrived in perfect condition, of course you should get a full refund.

Oh and Paypal does not require them to return the plants either. So you could order, pay with Paypal, get healthy plants, file a claim, get your money back and keep the healthy plants. But thats just wrong...
 
  • #16
Buyers on ebay are starting to really take advantage of the no negative feedback from sellers. It's rediculous. Paypal always finds in the buyer's favor because they want people to keep buying. I've never had to do a claim this large, and it is from overseas, so I'm a little nervous about it with so much money at stake.
 
  • #17
o you could order, pay with Paypal, get healthy plants, file a claim, get your money back and keep the healthy plants.
Any claim on a plant or plant material the seller is at fault.
Buyers on ebay are starting to really take advantage of the no negative feedback from sellers.

That's just awful... I've been lucky I guess, really only ever had one complainer who potted the N. hamata he got from me in a big pot of miracle grow after unpotting it from the LFS it was sent growing in. Took the poor thing about 3 months to die before he sent me a big letter detailing how he tortured it. Then ending with "so please send me another N. hamata or my money back. My wife is really mad that I spent so much on some plant only to have it die so quickly, it must have been poor quality."

He got a reply but it wasn't a refund or another plant. I didn't hear from him again.
 
  • #18
i stand on none side, but i could think how mad you will be if the plant was arrive in good condition and the seller will still have to refund it when the plant die, maybe some sort of agreement should be make? such as giving the do's and don't list to the buyer before they buy it, make sure they understand it then you send to them, just to make sure the risk they will have if they did not understand the standard or basic requirement of a plant.....and tell them there will be no refund if the plant had die due to careless of the buyers( i have been asking a lot of question before i decide to buy any plant too, because environment requirement might be different from the seller if he/she is the one who brought the plant to stable condition)
maybe i will be screw when i give this comment, but i think that this should be done as i have been a seller and a buyer.....
 
  • #19
I myself always listed "DO NOT buy this plant unless you are experienced with growing Nepenthes they are difficult plants to keep alive." As well as send a link to my website along with the plant on how to care for them if they are clueless and buy it anyway. If they don't follow warnings and directions then I can't help them any further than that.

I have never complained about myself killing a plant and I've sent may to the great compost heap in the sky over the years. I shudder to think of a dollar amount but then education has never been cheap. I've only done a bit of complaining if I get the plant and it's in terrible shape or mangled which has happened only a couple times to me in all the years of ordering plants by mail.
 
  • #20
"He got a reply but it wasn't a refund or another plant. I didn't hear from him again."

Lol, same here. I list growing instructions in the listing, plus give them the link to my website with detailed growing instructions, plus tell them if they have any questions, ask BEFORE buying the plant. I also tell them that I am assuming they are familiar with buying plants through the mail, are aware of the stress that shipping causes, and are prepared to "baby" the plant for a while as it adjusts to new environments.
 
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