plant warranty
 

Ever have any one want a warranty on their plants? I had a customer come and want a warranty on here yellow tomato plants because they weren't blooming. sheesh! My dear husband told her I had no tomatoes left to replace them with. I told him he should have asked her for the plants back instead.

The only warranty I have seen on plants is usually as to variety, like on fruit trees or lilacs.


It was on a tag, so ask the tomato not blooming lady for the tag. ;)

[QUOTE=clkeiper;704134]Ever have any one want a warranty on their plants? I had a customer come and want a warranty on here yellow tomato plants because they weren't blooming. sheesh! My dear husband told her I had no tomatoes left to replace them with. I told him he should have asked her for the plants back instead.[/QUOTE]

Takes all kinds doesn't it? :lol:

I once had a customer come back to me with the long sad face, because he put his peppers out in an unheated greenhouse in March and they died. :lol: Talk about no warranty!
I did have some more plants with me though, and I gave him a few more to kill (or whatever) - not a full replacement but more of a token of my sympathy. And that is only because he bought so many in the first place, and his wife bought some other stuff from me too at a very slow market, I was happy enough to give him a freebie.
More usually, if people come telling that their plants died, you commiserate a little but never, never offer a replacement! They can buy one if they want it, and they often do.

Our local Green Acres Nursery does....:twisted:

[URL]https://www.idiggreenacres.com/customer-service/plant-guarantee/[/URL]

I hate the plant warranty concept.
But I guess the argument is that you give away something that has some kind of monetary value that gives you a temporary loss with the hopes that they are kept happy so they continue to buy from you in the future.
The cost to acquire a new customer might be higher than the cost of the free plant to keep an existing customer.
As biological/science minded people, we think using that brain and list all variables that went into the plant dying that were beyond our control, and think: why should I replace that? Plus we are taking their word for it on why they say it died.
But, using the reasons above, you might want to just replace it and move on with the hope they turn their frown upside down and keep buying from you for the next decade or more.
Where this gets tricky is when you go from replacing a tomato in a 1801 pot, and someone wants 15 azaleas in 3 gallon pots replaced.
I had no guarantees stated at my garden center back in the day. Told people that if they asked when shopping. We told them that we guarantee that the plant is good when you check out or we wouldn't let you leave with it.
However, when cases came in, I used judgement and circumstances to make a call.
Lady buys 20 1 gallon arborvitae and one dies, I'd replace it or give her credit for something else. A guy brings one fruit tree back dead and still in the original pot 2 weeks after buying it -sorry, we don't gaurantee it once you take it home and it is out of our care.

Our local nurseries and even Home Depot do offer a warranty on shrubs and some on perrennials. Those are usually for 1 year. I am not sure if any do on annuals/vegitables, but that is probably where they get it.

I have never taken a plant back but I have given some feedback as I did yesterday to a seller (not grower) where I bought a plant that has signs of virus this year. It had been pot grown and no other plants in my yard have this virus. The one I had grown from seed, also pot grown, no virus. Just thought the seller ought to know.

Otherwise, as a customer, I feel it is luck of the draw, win some, lose some.

Sheesh! I had someone complain to me this week about the free tomato plants I gave them that they killed. They said mine looked better than the store bought when they were planted in the ground but several died. I hate hearing that. I showed his wife my container grown plants that look great and then my neighbour's in-ground plants that also look great and sent her home to hubby with that eyeful. :)

There is no guaranteeing a gardener's skill.

I could see a big company that sells all things hort giving a warranty on plants... if it dies or doesn't grow, give the customer a replacement and a one-on-one instructional about ferts, pesticides, whatever whatever, and they walk away with their free plant and $40 worth of supplies they didn't know they needed. :twisted:
For a big box store, it may be worth their while to warranty plants that they KNOW are going to die, just to drag the customer back to the shop for their free replacement. :roll::lol: Foot traffic is key to the sales, bottom line the real hurdle is getting customer in the store. What are the chances you'll only pick up your warranty plant and not buy two or three " may as well get while I'm here".

Her complaint is that it wasn't flowering yet... the plant wasn't dead... I had a different one though do that to me though. she took home a beautiful bacopa plant and came a couple days later and said it died! wilted down after she planted it. so, I went and got another one out of the greenhouse for her.... I have no idea what happened to it. I am suspecting the wind twisted it and broke the stem, but she didn't even offer to pay for it. she snatched it out of my hand and walked away with it. yep... if it leaves here beautiful why should i replace something that she killed off? because I would rather keep her happy and not have her say one thing negative about me to anybody. you cannot pay for free word of mouth advertising nor can you ever repair or fix a negative word of mouth damage because you didn't feel it was your responsibility to replace it...

There is a fine line at times and customer service can be difficult.

I have some strong opinions on product warranties and reviews.

I feel if you broke it or it died due to abuse then the warranty should be void.
How that is proven sometimes is another story.

Look at this review and how stupid it is.
They used it for a year and they broke it probably in the door so it is a poor product?



★★★★★ 1 out of 5 stars.


· 5 months ago




[B] Poor rod [/B]




Bought this a year ago, now rod tip has broken off during transportation.



✘ No, I do not recommend this product.



Here is another one just as bad blaming the company on the product being damaged in shipping.
Blame FedEx or UPS USPS or who ever.




I received my combo damaged Don't be buying from company ever again



✘ No, I do not recommend this product.

I never let stuff like this discourage me but some people I guess it does.


The rest of the reviews were 5 star.

All reputable actual garden centres ( not box stores) offer at least store credit warranties on trees, shrubs and perennials here. You must keep the label and receipt and return the dead plant.
More importantly They also provide high quality plants that have been looked after and pruned correctly, good advice and instructions on siting and care which lessens the chance of failure. A guarantee is a sign that they stand behind their quality. I think few plants are actually returned to good garden centres because there should be no need.
KarenO

[QUOTE=KarenO;704341]All reputable actual garden centres ( not box stores) offer at least store credit warranties on trees, shrubs and perennials here. You must keep the label and receipt and return the dead plant.
More importantly They also provide high quality plants that have been looked after and pruned correctly, good advice and instructions on siting and care which lessens the chance of failure. A guarantee is a sign that they stand behind their quality. I think few plants are actually returned to good garden centres because there should be no need.
KarenO[/QUOTE]


I had two trees die and it wasn't the trees fault and I could have returned them.
But it would have been a stump left over from the deer eating them.:evil:
Bot them from a place here in town.

[QUOTE=Worth1;704342]I had two trees die and it wasn't the trees fault and I could have returned them.
But it would have been a stump left over from the deer eating them.:evil:
Bot them from a place here in town.[/QUOTE]


I would think that the trees should have been protected as part of the reasonable care expected to be done by the buyer not the nursery's fault, so how would that be possible to put in a honest claim ?