BEWARE!!!! This is a rant on the orchid business

[cnycharles]

Actually I heard about the ice cube trick for blooming cymbidium if you live in a hot weather zone. It may be just a myth.

it's not a myth though maybe a measure of degrees. you can pour buckets of ice over them, they can take upstate ny snow for a while if the temps aren't too much below 30˚F, and they need the cold snap to get them to flower

 

[dave b]

I dont have much experience in the orchid customer experience world, but ages ago i worked for a local aquarium shop. For years we held the hands of newbies explaining why their tank of toxic brew was killing the fish. I gave the lecture (kindly) on the Nitrogen Cycle and correct tank maintenance / cleaning a bazillion times. Some actually wanted to learn, and took advice to heart. Others eyes glazed over, and just wanted more fish. Then you always get the ones who already know it all. They've been raising fish for 15 years and...blah, blah, blah...some young whippersnapper behind the counter cant tell them crap. OK, fine. Here is your fish you bitter old lady/man, now go home (all under your breath while smiling of course).

 

[Scott Ware]

Amen, dave b. I've been making a mental comparison between the orchid business and the aquarium business since this thread began. I operated an aquarium fish store for several years and was involved in the same customer education and handholding experiences you mention. The one thing that stunned me is how so many people insisted on spending hundreds of dollars on fish, but wouldn't ever consider spending $5-$10 on a book that would help them keep the fish alive and happy. Ask them to bring in a water sample and they would insist that it was unnecessary because, "Our water tastes fine." Then when they managed to kill a fish, it was always my fault from their point of view because I must not have told them everything they needed to know. There are many parallels where the orchid and aquarium worlds are involved.

 

[Gcroz]

. There are many parallels where the orchid and aquarium worlds are involved.

I agree. Yes, it's true that when you educate a customer, many rarely listen. And just like you said, it's always the sellers fault that the plant/fish died. I hear the ice cube trick often, it seems that Home Depot employees give that info out. Now, when you try and correct it you get the glazed eye look. I've even been told I'm wrong on that subject.

Goodness, the fonts of wisdom at the Big Box stores sure have me beat!

 

[Leo Schordje]

All in all, I have had pretty good luck. Part time in the orchid business for 16 years now, I have had only one bounced check/deadbeat customer and only a few customer satisfaction problems.

One I feel bad about was a series of disasters trying to ship in cold weather to southern Louisiana. Mostly my fault, we could not get the timing down right. I did my best to make good, replacing the plants ordered twice. Yet in the end, I know the customer wasn't happy.

It is a good thing I don't have to pay the mortgage with the hobby business, I have walked away from certain customers, because they struck me as being too high maintainance. But that does mean I have to get back to my sometimes miserable day job in the chemical industries.

Leo

 

[littlefrog]

I guess I'm asking for trouble, but I love selling orchids... Perhaps it is my personality. When I instruct I instruct... In teacher voice, sometimes, if I need to. It sometimes even works. What I don't really like is keeping my web-inventory up to date. It is just the last thing in the world I want to do. But selling at shows or in the greenhouse is fun.

I have a few difficult customers, but they are usually my best customers so I tolerate it. I can't remember anybody doing something really stupid and then trying to blame it on me. Or perhaps they did, and I just didn't notice? That would be a hoot.

I have had a few people who have told me plants haven't done well, and I often just give them another one even if it was their fault. Or at least a nice discount on the next one. It doesn't happen very often. I think most people are embarrassed to complain. Maybe it is a midwest thing. Usually if I replace a plant it results in high satisfaction and many repeat orders, so it is a win-win.

I've had a few boxes not make it for various reasons, usually the post office's fault. I expect it to happen sometimes, and I suspect it happens more often than I hear about (again, not everybody complains).

 

[Ernie]

I'm with Rob and Leo. The good times make up for a few bad. Just part of the territory. I just try to do my best- no one can ask more than that.

-Ernie

 

[Paph_LdyMacBeth]

I wish the people I have been dealing with in my area were so helpful!
I go to greenhouses looking for help/advice/info and usually the answer is "it grows like a phal." Since when did that become the standard for growing all orchids?!? ...and usually I know well enough to know it grows nothing like a phal...like my tolumnias who hate me with a passion because I didn't out until they were all wrinkled what they really need (this probably took less than a week)

I also had a situation where I was picking up some plants at a local show along with some extras & the guy who was running the booth said "Oh I'll get you some bigger plants than that, but I ended up going home with Oncidums with rotten pesudo bulbs and two plants that were completely different than what I had picked out!

So customer services is important...even if you cant please everyone!

 

[Greenpaph]

I volunteered work at the Boston Flower Show every year for 32 years with Victor DeRosa (DeRosa Orchids) and at his greenhouses in Natick many weeks per year. We both would give cultural advise to many customers through the years. There would be a few that would claim we were the cause of their orchids demise. However, (like Rob said) we would give them another one free or discount one. That always brought them back or satisfy them.
These few problems were outweighed 50 to 1 by the many satisfied customers that came back year to year and swore by our cultural advise and claimed that they were able to bloom their plants over and over! Then we would let them shine as we would ask them for their cultural advise!

I am glad that you could vent! However, no customer or orchid is worth getting that angry about! Enjoy them both and make them happy!

 

[Bolero]

Of course the plant needs more than that. For someone to accuse you of knowing nothing about plants when they themselves have a limited knowledge is poor form to say the least.

It's ok to let it out, that's why we are here. I also know that the customer is not always right as the old saying would go.

 

[NYEric]

Um, the saying here is "The customer is always right." Whether it's true or realistic I can't vouch for.

 

[lipelgas]

well, I was helping to sell orchid at local orchid show this spring. must say, that people believed me when I told something. of course, most of them bought the simpliest ones - phalaenopsis's, but several of them even considered to go to "teach" their friends, because I said something else. I think, I'll do it next year again

 

[NYEric]

Good, help spread the knowledge.