# Done with Orchid Zone



## ehanes7612 (Mar 25, 2017)

This company is crap. I thought I would give them a second chance. Terrible communication and only when I threatened with an ebay complaint did they finally send it. The multi-growth plant I was lead to believe I was getting..was a one growth plant. They are just flat out liars and I am tired of dealing with them...too tired to deal with sending it back. I will just take this post as my means of retribution.


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## Ozpaph (Mar 25, 2017)

ouch


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## NYEric (Mar 25, 2017)

Did you try to contact John thru this forum?


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 25, 2017)

NYEric said:


> Did you try to contact John thru this forum?



After the last communication disaster with John over my previous roth order, I have no intention of trying anything. 

Also , their negative complaints on eBay have risen over the last month too


They have resorted to some deceptive practices..posting pictures of plants , saying the plants you will receive are like the one pictured..and the voila, not like the ones pictured. They have a delenatii compot now for bid..with a picture of a compot of about 30 -40 plants...I bet that is not what they are selling. The previous roth order I got was supposed to be 5 NFS never bloomed before roths...as they said in their email ad..that is not what I got..they were all bloomed out. There are several recent complaints on ebay attesting to their deception.. Orchid Zone lies, plain and simple....BUYER BEWARE!!

Just gonna be done with them...anything they say from now on I cant believe


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 25, 2017)

I am so annoyed I had to buy another orchid on ebay (different seller, of course) just to balance everything out...orchids are annoying

:fight:


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## coronacars (Mar 25, 2017)

I second that. Remember this post? http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43400

I know the truth about them and now I know you also know the truth. This was not a one off for them. This is how they treat customers. 

Why contact John through this forum? His email and cell phone number is posted on their website. The only problem is they are not interested in returning any emails or phone calls. Only after I disputed the charges through Paypal did I get any resolution.

Good Luck!

There are plenty of other sellers out there.


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## coronacars (Mar 25, 2017)

What amazes me is knowing that this is how they do business not very many people speak up and tell their experiences. Why is that?


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## Hien (Mar 25, 2017)

ehanes7612 said:


> This company is crap. I thought I would give them a second chance. Terrible communication and only when I threatened with an ebay complaint did they finally send it. The multi-growth plant I was lead to believe I was getting..was a one growth plant. They are just flat out liars and I am tired of dealing with them...too tired to deal with sending it back. I will just take this post as my means of retribution.


 Do you think the problem is with the staff ? that John is too busy to know about the situation ?
I hesitate to bother him . Last year I got two godefroyae/leucochilum Thai/Japanese black breeding from orchid zone , unfortunately , one plant infected with some kind of brownish/translucent oozing leaf (I would venture to guess that had the plants were sent dried instead of wetted, the infection might not had occured in the shipping box)
I contacted John right away at the time, he told me that he would give me a credit or refund, since i have not interested in any listed plant for a while until recently , I just sent him an email inquiring whether the credit is still good .
Hopefully I would receive some answer soon .
I do think that it is just the case of he is busy and I am sure it is hard to run a business since one can not do everything himself/herself but relies on the employees/workers to accomplished thing without screwing up thing for oneself .


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## coronacars (Mar 25, 2017)

Hien. This is a question I posed to one of his guys who I will not mentions his name. I asked him directly "is john so busy or overwhelmed that he just can't keep up or is it that he is incompetent?" His guy told me a little of both but mostly of the second one.

I never met John I talked to him one time when originally placing my order, but then in 4-6 weeks he would never bother to return many phone calls or emails. 

I would like to see how long it takes him to get back to you and what your experience is with him.

I think this is how they operate the business.


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 25, 2017)

Hien said:


> Do you think the problem is with the staff ? that John is too busy to know about the situation ?
> I hesitate to bother him . Last year I got two godefroyae/leucochilum Thai/Japanese black breeding from orchid zone , unfortunately , one plant infected with some kind of brownish/translucent oozing leaf (I would venture to guess that had the plants were sent dried instead of wetted, the infection might not had occured in the shipping box)
> I contacted John right away at the time, he told me that he would give me a credit or refund, since i have not interested in any listed plant for a while until recently , I just sent him an email inquiring whether the credit is still good .
> Hopefully I would receive some answer soon .
> I do think that it is just the case of he is busy and I am sure it is hard to run a business since one can not do everything himself/herself but relies on the employees/workers to accomplished thing without screwing up thing for oneself .



I have talked to John directly through email about the previous roth order I had ..either he is clueless to how things are being run (especially with marketing) or he is deciding the marketing ...either way , the end result is the same and he is the responsible party. I have sent other emails trying to get clarification on other issues...but they don't respond anymore. A business only runs as good as the person in charge's abilities. Seems like they are sacrificing customer service for making a buck


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 25, 2017)

coronacars said:


> I second that. Remember this post? http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=43400
> 
> I know the truth about them and now I know you also know the truth. This was not a one off for them. This is how they treat customers.
> 
> ...



yes, there are


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## Happypaphy7 (Mar 25, 2017)

It is sad to hear this kind of stories from such a well-known vendor.
Customer service is very important, so is honesty. 

I hope they clear up before ruining the long held reputation of the name any further.


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## JAB (Mar 25, 2017)

Yup. My experience has been similar. It is a shame as the OZ under Terry was amazing. Harder and harder to find quality plants AND service in this hobby.


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## troy (Mar 25, 2017)

Hein, if you do get a refund and a plant replacement, be extra sure you check the rootzone before you set in your grow area...just saying


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## Hien (Mar 25, 2017)

troy said:


> Hein, if you do get a refund and a plant replacement, be extra sure you check the rootzone before you set in your grow area...just saying


 Thanks for mention this , in fact i should start to pay attention to all new plants from all sources before put them into the collection.
The problem is not many of us has the luxury of a separate quarantine growing space to ensure new plants are separate for at least a few months before put them with the rest of the plants .


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## Mark Karayannis (Mar 26, 2017)

I hope everything will be cleared up and hopefully with an apology.


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## MattWoelfsen (Mar 26, 2017)

Sorry you had such a bad experience. I learned a long time ago, if the plant pictured is not the plant you will get, I skip it. That was a $48.81 purchase + $12.00 shipping Lesson Learned.


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 26, 2017)

MattWoelfsen said:


> Sorry you had such a bad experience. I learned a long time ago, if the plant pictured is not the plant you will get, I skip it. That was a $48.81 purchase + $12.00 shipping Lesson Learned.



yeah , mine was a 110 plus 25 shipping experience for a one growth gloria naugle..total ripoff


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## troy (Mar 26, 2017)

Mine was 150.00 for a rootless esquirolei full of bugs, full of bugs!!


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## coronacars (Mar 26, 2017)

If more people spoke up I'm sure that there are a lot more people who have been taken advantage of by Orchid Zone. Like I said I'm convinced this is how they do business now.


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## troy (Mar 26, 2017)

I would not have said anything but that has happened alot, more than 3 times


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## coronacars (Mar 26, 2017)

Troy that is exactly my point. Here is a business that probably for years had a good reputation and did good business. Then new management comes in and messes things up. People order and get taken advantage of. People think well it's a good business everyone likes them and speaks highly of them so it must just be a weird coincidence and don't say anything. So their pockets get fat for doing shoddy work. That is why I'm encouraging people to speak up. They need to stop taking advantage of people in their business as usual attitude. 

They should get a reputation going forward of what they are doing now, not what the past was.


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## JAB (Mar 27, 2017)

Remember when hard work and pride in your job was all it took? Seems to be the exception, not the norm anymore. Sad


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## h_mossy (Mar 29, 2017)

ehanes7612 said:


> This company is crap. I thought I would give them a second chance. Terrible communication and only when I threatened with an ebay complaint did they finally send it. The multi-growth plant I was lead to believe I was getting..was a one growth plant. They are just flat out liars and I am tired of dealing with them...too tired to deal with sending it back. I will just take this post as my means of retribution.



I wish you would go back on ebay and file a complaint. Not as vindictiveness or retribution, but so noobs like me would see and be wary of dealing with them. If they can't do business honestly, they should not be in business. I know you are tired of dealing with them, but do make the effort. Another idea would be to have a section here dealing with vendor experiences, both good and bad, so people can be aware, and if word gets around maybe some vendors would clean up their act before someone else gets burned.

I've tried to complain to ebay about some items that were clearly not what the seller said they were, but ebay would not take any complaints until after you made a purchase. Nice.


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## ehanes7612 (Mar 29, 2017)

h_mossy said:


> I wish you would go back on ebay and file a complaint. Not as vindictiveness or retribution, but so noobs like me would see and be wary of dealing with them. If they can't do business honestly, they should not be in business. I know you are tired of dealing with them, but do make the effort. Another idea would be to have a section here dealing with vendor experiences, both good and bad, so people can be aware, and if word gets around maybe some vendors would clean up their act before someone else gets burned.
> 
> I've tried to complain to ebay about some items that were clearly not what the seller said they were, but ebay would not take any complaints until after you made a purchase. Nice.



i did, I have filed two against Orchid Zone


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## Chicago Chad (Mar 29, 2017)

> I wish you would go back on ebay and file a complaint


He has. It has the same text in the complaint.

http://feedback.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewFeedback2&userid=theorchidzone&ftab=AllFeedback&myworld=true&rt=nc


> Another idea would be to have a section here dealing with vendor experiences, both good and bad, so people can be aware, and if word gets around maybe some vendors would clean up their act before someone else gets burned.



we do and we are a critical group

http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6


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## h_mossy (Mar 30, 2017)

ehanes7612 said:


> i did, I have filed two against Orchid Zone


A big mahalo for that.


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## h_mossy (Mar 30, 2017)

Chicago Chad said:


> we do and we are a critical group
> 
> http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?f=6


Nice! Hadn't been to that section before - obviously.


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## Mikefallen13 (Mar 30, 2017)

I bought a Cattleya coccinea from them several months ago over eBay and it was poorly packaged (especially considering they charged me $20 for shipping a plant in a 3" pot), I thought it may have been a one-off occurrence... Apparently not.

I'm glad I happened across this thread. I was literally just about to purchase a kovachii seeding from them, I'm definitely reconsidering now. It's a shame when a business goes downhill like this.


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## paphioland (Apr 1, 2017)

My experience has been contrary to what others have wrote here. So I think it is only fair that I give my absolute honest positive feedback. Plants I have bought have always arrived on time, many arrive overnight and I've put in many many orders. John has been very responsive by email. Plant packaging has been very good. Time of arrival has been exceptional compared to other sellers. The only single problem I've even had our of hundreds of orders is that a absolutely magnificent paph division was a growth with no start with a huge flower. When I bought I couldn't see the plant in the pic but the flower was amazing. The division was very expensive and went on to die from what i think was stress of shipping and a huge bloom on a single growth plant. Just died leaf by leaf yellowing. John said he would let me know when another division was available. It was more heartbreaking than anything else because I loved the flower. Probably should have asked for a pic of the plant. But where else can you even get a flower like this? Maybe nowhere. If there is a place they are in Japan and for that flower prob would have been 20 percent more expensive. This is just one of literally hundreds of plants I've bought, including many divisions with zero problems. Plants arrive well grown and vigorous looking. Many times they have more growths than I expected. I have almost never seen bad roots. In honesty I have seen a very rare mealy bug. I spray regularly, as everyone should, so this is not an issue. In a big greenhouse or any greenhouse you are bound to have rare bugs. I would say over 99.5 percent of my experience is excellent. In addition I find descriptions to be extremely honest of blooms and plants. If you've gotten roths from John you can see how well grown and huge the plants are. I don't know another retail grower with plants like that. Is there another grower who has the genetic quality that the orchid zone has for paphs? No offense to other growers but I don't thing so. So, I can't relate to these negative experiences. If you look at eBay feedback it is overwhelmingly positive. In addition I'm to lazy to put feedback which I should change. My eBay feedback would have been 100 percent positive 5 stars. Ive bought literally 100s of plants from John and will continue to do so.


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## JAB (Apr 2, 2017)

Perhaps the difference is John gives more/better service to those who spend more money with him. I made a small order and almost to a T had the exact opposite experience (and it seems like negative experiences seem to be more prevalent).


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## coronacars (Apr 2, 2017)

JAB I think you are exactly right. Spending $$$$ and a lot of orders gets you a different service. I also understand that. You have to take care of someone spending $$$$$. But for the rest of us we stuck HARD!


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## Fabrice (Apr 2, 2017)

Terry was a passionate guy who lived for his orchid business.
John is first a business man who like then orchids.
It's as simple as that.

To take care rich customer is not a problem and is even the basis of business. 
But despising the customers who spend less is a big mistake. This thread is the proof...

@paphioland: OZ genetic quality is the heritage of Terry work. What will be the future...?


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## StreetVariety (Apr 2, 2017)

I placed a $800 order with Orchid zone and I changed a small thing with the order and he did not refund the difference after I inquired him about it twice. I had to get the money back through a paypal dispute... I don't think it's even about the money for better customer service.

I would not recommend supporting this company any further.


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## PaphMadMan (Apr 2, 2017)

Looking at the eBay feedback, 10 negative to 155 positive in the last 6 months, would seem to indicate a trend toward recent problems. Further back there are almost no negatives. No matter what the history or perhaps continued attention to truly large orders and established customers (which are probably not through eBay) it does indicate a problem. A change in personnel caring for plants and filling orders, or a change in the personal attention John can give to small sales day to day, can make a big difference. There is no doubt the breeding available there is exceptional. Hopefully, any problems can get turned around.


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## gonewild (Apr 2, 2017)

Spiraling down.
Remember this thread?
http://www.slippertalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=38841&highlight=kovachii


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## emydura (Apr 2, 2017)

PaphMadMan said:


> Looking at the eBay feedback, 10 negative to 155 positive in the last 6 months, would seem to indicate a trend toward recent problems. .



By eBay standards that is pretty bad. You rarely see worse.


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## JAB (Apr 2, 2017)

A true business(wo)man gives the same service regardless if the tab is $10 or $10000. Period.


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## troy (Apr 2, 2017)

I received the first one from pacific orchid expo 3 years ago, caudatum in bloom, dozens of bugs in the dead root zone, I thought that would be an isolated thing, over the years it has gotten worse, too much money spent on half dead plants,, call my bluff, buy a plant from them, check the rootzone, maybe after this thread they will tighten up their service


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## ehanes7612 (Apr 6, 2017)

it's too bad ..because the new flask list just came out and I probably would have bought a kovachii flask


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## Linus_Cello (Apr 6, 2017)

ehanes7612 said:


> it's too bad ..because the new flask list just came out and I probably would have bought a kovachii flask



The KV X FS was tempting but too expensive.


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