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More snazzy new plants!

  • #21
I feel there are a few things that need to be clarified here...I had originally typed this reply days ago, and then deicded not to justify the misinformation with a reply. However, even though the name of the company was not mentioned in the thread, we here at PetFlyTrap.com still stand behind our plants. For that reason, I will clarify the misconceptions some of you have regarding this transaction:

1) We grade our plants by the same sizing standards that Borneo Exotics (and many US CP retailers as well) use. That is, Small Nepenthes are up to 3 inches in diameter, Medium are 3 to 6 inches, Large are 6 to 12 inches, and Extra Large are over 12 inches. Leaf tip to leaf tip. This is stated on our web site, and lets our customers know exactly what to expect; however, we often send plants that are oversized as a thank you to our valued customers. More about how that relates to this order to follow.

2) Josh (Swords) ordered two SMALL potted N. boschiana. By the standard size grading, these plants would be up to 3 inches across. That means that the smaller of the two plants is what he paid for, and the LARGER of the two is easily a Medium, if not Large, plant...one if not two sizes larger than what was paid for.

3) Josh ordered one N. alata - Clone (t) Medium Hanging Basket. This means the plant should be 3 to 6 inches in diameter. But the pictures he took clearly show a plant that is easily double the size of the six-inch hanging basket that the plant is in. That would classify it as an Extra Large plant, which is two sizes larger than he paid for again.

4) The same holds for the ventricosa x merrilliana. Josh ordered a Medium Potted plant, but as the pictures he took demonstrate, the plant is easily over a foot across...an Extra Large plant, and two sizes larger than what he paid for once again. Lots of nice pitchers as well, which were not really shown in the pictures he took.

5) Josh was sent these oversized plants because we had already taken cuttings from these plants, so that we can continue to propagate them and have more plants for our future customers. This is a standard procedure that all Nepenthes nurseries use. However, the cuttings were too recent to be assured of them having acceptable roots developed; and thus our decision was to send Josh our PARENT plants with several YEARS worth of growth and roots, rather than send the actual Medium-sized plants he paid for and take a chance of the cuttings not doing well. We believe this was a smart business decision to make, one which we would make again given the need, and one which Josh should have been pleased with. After all, he now has our parent plants, and they will send out new growth from the node just below the cut end in the near future! Even so, we replied to Josh and offered him a full refund in return for the plants being returned to us, and we have yet to receive a reply.

6) We will continue to offer the best possible plants, and the most IN STOCK diversity of any carnivorous plant nursery in the U.S. We have over 10,000 plants in stock and ready for shipment, and if it shows up on our web site, its AVAILABLE, not an OUT OF STOCK item.

We are fully aware that Andrew will most likely remove this reply once it is noticed as a reply from a competitor, but felt the need to reply fully to Josh's claims. We do not hide behind a thread that talks of "a US supplier" without mentioning who it is. We are proud of what we have done with PetFlyTrap.com over the past three years, developing a carnivorous plant product line that is second to none and standing behind our products; and we have offered Josh a full refund if he wishes.

Anyone is welcome to e-mail me to discuss PetFlyTrap.com or this particular thread further; however, to show our respect for this being Andrew's forum, we will not be replying further here. People tend to distort things radically in the forums, and this is why we do not usually participate in them.

Good Growing everyone!

Mike Howlett
PetFlyTrap.com
orders(at)petflytrap(dot)com
 
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  • #22
Mike regardless of whether or not this was a good business move is not the point
the point is, he did not pay for a cutting/plant without its growth point, he payed you for a whole plant.
There is no guarantee that this plant will activate a node or basal, though its likely it will if kept in good conditions and grown well.
The better business option would have been to ASK and take into consideration that maybe he would not be happy with this move/decision before shipping and making the decision on your own.
thats just my 2cents
 
  • #23
Well, here's my problem with all this...If you wouldn't send cuttings that may or may not have roots, why would you send an old plant that may or may not activate a node? I mean, lopping off the growth point then shipping it might be more stress than it can deal with--that's not a guarantee that it'll just spring back to life.

I mean, gee, how nice of you to send bigger plants, but what does that matter if one is all gnarly, and two aren't ready to grow, and may not ever grow? And so you shipped them with big nice pitchers, pitchers don't always survive the acclimation process, so what kind of brownie points do you want for that?

Also, why do you have plants "in stock" that aren't actually ready to go out? What's the point of having a super major awesome variety for sale if you can't manage it to ensure crap like this isn't gonna happen? And as Kris said, why not just *ask* first, because now, you're out shipping, monies, AND your parent plants?

Shipping plants at advertised size- you can't lose doing that. Bonuses are nice, but not necessary. I don't think anyone would ever complain about that as long as it's as advertised. And I'd rather have a small plant at advertised size than a bigger one that looks like it has a seizure or just doesn't have a growth point at all. I'm pretty sure most growers would share my preference. Bonuses aren't bonuses if there's a catch. Either give more and do it right, or just stick to your advertisement. If you wanna make substitutions, ask first, but it's a better business model to just not have to.
 
  • #24
It's not the size of the plants but the condition of 3 of them I took issue with. I'm used to getting dime sized clones from Germany so bigger is of course better but no growing point is... a real bummer. I used alot stronger words when I unpacked them but I'm more calmed down now! :D

As I initially stated the first N. boschiana is a fantastic looking plant, even were it smaller it would still be a nice plant. The other one looks pretty funky with the deformed leaves and pitchers. Hopefully it will settle and make nice with the new growth that will someday look like it's partner. The new leaf unfurling on the weird one is all curly and well weird. I dunno what's wrong with it the other ones unfurling leaf is not doing the same thing.

It was the two headless twins I really freaked over though (cos they were pretty expensive). If this is the first time you've ever sent out plants that have been topped without an established new growing point please make sure it's the only time. Chalk it up as a learning experience, I'm not the only customer who will be unhappy receiving freshly topped plants. I would have paid the extra $20 or whatever for the larger size with a growing point since the size I ordered were out of stock.

New plants have to adjust to my conditions VS the greenhouse, plus contend with being repotted (because I won't use anyone else's growing mix or pots) and then if they arrive with no growing point that's like a triple whammy on a new arrival. I will not be repotting the twins until I see some good new growth, but in the mean time this puts me in fear of both the soil (whatever might be lurking in it) and the roots on the plants as they reestablish since my conditions require the plants to be in a fast draining airy mixes or the roots will often die.

As far as making this a flame post, it's not, I'm pretty easy going. As a community of growers we always tend to discuss our new arrivals good or bad. Since we aren't allowed to mention US vendor names we are restricted to discussing just the facts of the plants before our eyes not politics of what vendor we're using and so forth. I always like to brag up my new plants and not whine about how disappointed I was in the shipment.

I was indeed offered a refund if I shipped the plants back but I ordered them because I wanted these exact plants from my wishlist. I was simply shocked with their condition upon arrival. I do hope these put up new growing points, from the photos online they look like they could be awesome plants someday.
 
  • #25
That's just not kosher and those plants don't appear to me to be 'stock' plants that have been used for propagation. They appear to have been hacked prior to shipping. I could be wrong but come on... I grow nepenthes too! I'm not buying that story.
 
  • #26
I think all that mostly needed to be said has been said, I agree with Kris, swords, Liz, etc. We are the growers, we are the clients of a company such as xxxxxxxxxxxx.com.

There's no distortion of facts going on, like swords said, this is just feedback on a shipment and the same would be said about any order of Nepenthes that came in without a growing point. If none of us would appreciate a topped plant, then it just wasn't a good business choice to make.

We all grow Nepenthes here and some of us with great success, I, myself, am a very amateur and small-scale grower, yet even I know, as do most of us here, that the growth point of a Nepenthes is the most sensitive and important part on the entire plant.
 
  • #27
And no response... He must know hes in the wrong, the best excuse he could come up with still would not satisfy me if i were in swords' shoes.....
 
  • #28
I reread his post he said he said up there he "wouldn't be replying further"... :lol:


His response up there is essentially the exact same excuses he emailed me, just substituting my screen name for "you". I'm really saddened to not have another vendor to use he looked to have a great catalog but if this is the kinda stuff I'm gonna get... I'm so glad I didn't order all the plants I wanted. $225 was enough of a waste of money. Live and learn.


So far, no new growing points....
 
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  • #29
Sorry to hear about your woes Swords but you're not alone. I too was blown away by **********'s catalog. My first order from him was fine. My second order I received a "beheaded" plant too but since it was nice and a size upgrade I was cool with it. However, after my most recent order I won't be doing business with him again. I ordered three N. spectabilis x aristolochioides because the description said: "These are seed-grown plants, so no two are alike, and these will be both male and female plants in the mix." When I got the plants in the mail the tags on them said assorted clones. I emailed him on 6/23 and again on 7/2 and still haven't received a response. NOT COOL.
 
  • #30
Did your beheaded plant start a growing point? So far neither of mine have, the leaves are yellowing and starting to look bad though so that's a plus I guess.... (for Mr. Howlett)

:(
 
  • #31
Oooh, more than one occasion? This is a legit practice for him, eh?
How disappointing.

Especially, since as it appears, they certainly don't always grow new growth points.
For example, squirrels decapitated my N. Mirabilis. Despite a small basal offshoot as well, the entire plant withered and died over time rather than keep going.


I will not be ever ordering from him... if it can be helped. >.>"
 
  • #32
Can someone PM me that name of the distributor of these plants so that I can avoid ordering from here by accident? Or at least just let me know if this shop is in the states or overseas?

I'm really sorry about your plants Swords. I hope they bounce back and grow to be beasts to be reckoned with :). All the best.
 
  • #33
The user name of the TF member who replied is the same as their vendor name if I am not mistaken.
 
  • #34
Not yet but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. It would be a shame for such a nice plant to crap the bed.
 
  • #35
Stunning, he has done this to more than one person and thinks it's OK.

Iceman, how long have you had it without a growing point? I never usually really care if the lower part starts growing again cos I have the top rooting someplace, in this case we don't have it someone else does...

Robthered, I'm PMing you with the info.
 
  • #36
I got my plant in early June so it's been a month. I think chances are still good it will put out a new growth node (it better!). What makes me even angrier is that he hasn't emailed me back yet about the N. spectabilis x aristolochioides that were supposed to be seed-grown and weren't. :censor:
 
  • #37
Well, I think redflags should'vefrom the beginning, since I have yet to hear about seedgrown N. spectabilis x aristo. Also taking into account BE has clones of them, and that is where he/his store gets most of his stock from.
 
  • #38
True but that doesn't excuse that business from false advertising. You shouldn't have to double-check to make sure what a grower says about his plants is true. I assumed they were seed-grown because that is what it said. The price was reasonable too and I thought that seemed believable since BE seed-grown plants tend to be less than a place like EP.
 
  • #39
Well, I'm not saying it is your fault or anything like that. Thats just what I would think, I don't blame you at all... especially with such a seemingly good stock.
 
  • #40
Oh I know. Sorry if I sounded defensive. I was just getting heated over the bad experience. :)
 
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