Am I being unreasonable?

[RobinB]

Last Spring (almost a year ago), I ordered some Paul Robeson seeds (among other things) from a vendor called "Cherrygal" (cherrygal.com). I finally got around to emailing her and letting her know that one of the tomatoes I ordered did not grow true to type. It was Paul Robeson, and what I got was small black plums. She offers "Black Plum" and I sent her some photos of what I got and asked her if she thought that I might have gotten those instead. I was respectful and polite and asked her if I could get me some Paul Robeson for my 2013 garden.

Her response was this:
"Those are not black plums. Not sure what they are. Our Paul Robeson seeds come from a reliable source and I’ve had no other complaints. Coming so long after the fact, I don’t know how to respond. If you want to try again, we are still offering the Paul Robeson."

I feel like she is calling me a liar, and it seems like she seems to be under the impression that I would buy them from her again. What do you guys think? Am I being unreasonable? I really don't want to be, I just want the tomato that I bought. I got so busy that I never emailed her until now. I certainly won't be doing business with her again, that's for sure. I looked over at Gardenweb and she has 17 negatives and 17 positives...

Robin

[fortyonenorth]

If I remember right, her seeds are like $1 pack--at least they used to be. I'd chalk it up to experience and move on. No sense wasting your time dealing with a vendor who won't accommodate your "complaint." Most reputable vendors wouldn't bat an eye at replacing seeds that were off type. PM me if you want Paul Robeson seeds, I can send a few.

[Fusion_power]

In general, you are being reasonable and she is not. My suggestion would be to get some good Paul Robeson seed from someone here. If you want, I think I have some fresh 2012 seed that I could send, just pm me an address. I know that does not make right what cherrygal is doing, but I would point out that her reputation for standing behind her seed is a bit tarnished.

DarJones

[RobinB]

Yeah, I ordered from her right about the time I joined Tomatoville last year. Now, I definitely know better, and I know who to ask! I think I'll do a separate post with photos of the small oval black that I found, because it was really, really amazingly good. I saved seeds, and we'll see what I get next year. Paul Robeson was my first tomato love, the first heirloom that I ever tasted and it holds fond memories! Thanks for the offers I appreciate it! I think I'll just throw away the remainder of the seeds from cherrygal and start fresh. Sigh.

[Sun City Linda]

If she wanted your future business she should have offered to send you the seeds, as in, no cost to you. When I was new to my tomato addiction and not connected here yet, I ordered from some seed seller with an internet presence. I cant remember what I ordered, but it was not what he sent. When I contacted him, he told me I had to spend my money to RETURN the wrong seed type, and then he would send what I has asked for.

All it takes is one stray seed so the fact that no one else had a problem that they brought to her attention is not valid. I dont think you are being unreasonable at all. I think she is demonstrating poor business practices.

[livinonfaith]

I bought about 50 packs of seeds from her a couple of years ago in her fall sale. There were a few issues with her seeds and I had already given her a positive before I realized that, but most were okay.

The most interesting thing out of my order with her is that I got three completely different kinds of peppers out of just four Aconcagua pepper seeds. Out of the three plants that were sweet and correctly shaped, two ripened from yellow to red and one ripened from green to red.

The fourth was a medium to mildly hot pepper, crinkly, cayenne shaped, thick walls, about 7" to 8" long and extremely vigorous. It definitely wasn't Aconcagua, not even close! But it was my favorite pepper that year, and I'm still trying to stabilize it.

Robin, I don't think you are being unreasonable, but I don't think you will ever get any satisfaction from her. It's pretty obvious that she doesn't care about her customers or reputation.

But, maybe instead of the people who got taken for a ride, we were the lucky ones, right? We both got really cool mystery veggies that no one else has! That's how I'm going to look at it anyway.

[noinwi]

A couple of seasons ago I ordered some mignonette seeds from her but was disappointed as they had no scent. I googled images of them to see if I'd just had weeds popping up in my container, and found that the flowers looked the same, but the leaves were a little different(maybe a different cultivar). I never bothered contacting her...I kept hoping the flowers would get fragrant later in the season, but it never happened.
I had also ordered at that time some Hinnomaki red gooseberry seeds(5 seeds for $3), which I winter-sowed, and some Velvet Red cherry tomato seeds.
One gooseberry seed sprouted, then I killed by keeping it covered on a sunny winter day.
The tomatoes grew well(also WS'd), were quite interesting(fuzzy fruit!) and not bad in flavor.
It also took a couple of weeks to receive my order. I chalked it up to experience(the gooseberry thing being my bad) and just decided I wouldn't order from her again.

[ScottinAtlanta]

I agree - too small to worry about. Enjoy the plums - you came out a winner.

[Wi-sunflower]

Our Paul Robeson seeds come from a reliable source

That sounds like she doesn't actually GROW her seed but is just a re-seller.

There are plenty of good sellers here at TV that grow the seeds they sell. They are the vendors that deserve your business and most likely will stand up for their business if there are problems. I know I will.

Carol

[FILMNET]

My opinion only! too late to tell her, and her seeds are very cheap. Aslo she has a ton for sale look at her herbs? A ton of Basil wow?

[ginger2778]

I too got seed from a source who is well thought of here, and it wasn't as labeled. I contacted her, and she did say she would not sell anymore. That was good, but I think she should have offered a replacement of some kind. She did not. So even the reputable ones can let you down.
I don't want to say who though, don't want to hurt her business.
I am commiserating with you and I don't think your request was at all unreasonable.
-Marsha

[carolyn137]

There are three sources for OP tomato seed. A vendor can grow all that they list, the vendor can subcontract out for seed production, and last, a vendor can buy off the shelf in bulk, and some vendors do all of the above in one combo or another.

With OP tomato seed I don't know of one site, regardless of how "reputable" it might be called, that hasn't had some wrong seeds, a stray seed, some crossed seeds, etc.

And that's b'c they grow too many plants to even think about bagging blossoms or geographic isolation, which is not as good as bagging blossoms. Same with some sub contrators and samewith bulk seed bought commercially.

In previous seed offers here and starting back in the AOL Tomato Forum in the early 80's and from my SSE listings which at one time were in the hundreds, I can have maybe 2000 seeds of a variety, I produced and processed all my seed back then, and can go through maybe 1000 before an off type appears.

I know what my average crossing rate is, about 5% which means of seeds saved from 100 varieties about 5 will be crossed. Crossing rates muchhigher than mine are often the norm, but this business of saving seed and crossing has been dicussed here in MAY threads for MANY years, soplease, I'm using this illustration to make a point.

And in all the years I offered seeds here and there, but especially with my SSE listings going back to when I listed so many, I know of only about 10 that had crossed seed.

So I don't know what a "reputable" source means, considering the seed sources that vendors have availble to them and errors that can occur. Are some sites better than others in that regard? Yes, I know so based on the fact that at GW for many years I did a wrong varieties thread.

I stopped doing it b'c many with seed problems refused to contact the vendor, which is the right way to go, so I said I would, which was a huge mistake b/c there were two vendors that said it wasn't uncommon for someone to name a seed source, but actually named the wrong one, so seed site owners prefer that you contact them directly to see if their computer records match the claims made against them.

I hope that helps, somewhat.

Carolyn

[bower]

In the case of a packet of seeds, since the postage cost is almost as much as the item, the proper thing for a vendor to do is to credit your account with a refund or replacement on your next order, ie a free pack of seeds, that can be shipped with your next order at no additional cost.

That way they show respect for the customer's honesty in good faith, continue the business relationship, but don't also take on replacement costs in excess of your lost value.

[Sun City Linda]

I had a really good experience with a vendor called Sunshine Farm. Before I received my order they contacted me via email saying there had been a mix up and they were sending out my correct order that day. They also sent out a large padded SASE for me to return the wrong order. Mistakes happen and how they are handled says a lot about the vendor.

[paulgrow]

I would go to Gardenwatchdog.com and post a negative comment.