ComplaintsforA Proper Garden

• Initial Complaint

  06/05/2024

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  Less than a year ago I purchased a Bloodgood Japanese Maple from A Proper Garden. The purchase price was $499.99. We also paid $99 for delivery and installation. It looked great that year. This year it developed some kind of disease. I brought in pictures to show *** and he informed me to wait another two weeks to see if it starts to leaf out. He informed me that if it doesn’t it is covered under the 1 year warranty and he will either replace or refund. I talked to him again three weeks later and he told me to come in and pick a replacement tree and he will replace it, which I did that same day. Since then we have called and left 5 messages and stopped into the store 4 times to try to get in touch. The employees are absolutely no help and just keep saying there is nothing they can do without *** being there. I told them 4 days ago when I stopped in that if he can’t get in touch with us we want a refund because it has already been about 40 days. He did not get in touch with us so we went in today to get a refund. Once again the employees refused to give us the refund and said that *** has to do it. We are extremely frustrated with the horrible customer service and just want the full refund that the warranty guarantees. We want nothing to do with this company any more.

  Business response

  06/05/2024

  Yes, Mr. ******* did purchase a tree a year ago and I did speak with him about that tree earlier this spring.  At the time, many maples seemed to be slow leafing out and I felt we needed to give it more time.  Several weeks later when he didn't feel the tree looked like it should I agreed to replace it for him as a courtesy.  He was asked to come in and select a replacement tree, which he did.  At the time our lead time for planting was running approximately 4-5 weeks as during this extremely busy time of year the crews are working six days a week and at their maximum capacity.  Calls and visits were made repeatedly to the store in the past week, at a rate sometimes more than once per day.  From what has been reported to me, the staff was treated very poorly during these interactions, leaving them to opt out of engaging in the situation.  The past several weeks I have been working outside of the office 9-10 hours per day.

  Our policy is to offer a one time replacement for a tree which dies within a year that was planted by A Proper Garden.  This warranty does not include things such as diseases contracted after installation or other factors outside of our control.  

  We have already agreed to replace and replant this tree at no cost and stand behind that offer.  All we request is that they wait their turn in line with everyone else.  If Mr. ******* would prefer to pick up the tree and plant it himself, or simply have it delivered without planting we are happy to accommodate that.  Otherwise, we can commit to completing the planting by June 20th or before.  

• Initial Complaint

  09/28/2023

  Complaint Type:

  Service or Repair Issues

  Status:

  Answered

  More info

  DOT: May 5, 2023. Spent 3 hours at the store working directly with the co-owner, *****. 3 pots were picked out, marked and the remaining discussion was re: type of flowers/colors to be planted. ***** stated that he would come to my residence, personally, (within 2 weeks) to plant flowers. This never happened. 1. The following 2 weeks, I received several calls from one of *****'s co-workers, *****. She repeatedly stated that she was confused about what to plant and gave no reason why ***** could no longer plant them. After multiple calls to the shop asking to speak with *****, I was told 'this is his busy season and he will get back to you.' He never did, all summer. 2. The pots were delivered 2 weeks later without my knowledge. Once I realized they were at my house, I quickly ran outside and told the delivery personnel that 1/3 pots were incorrect and that the color and quality of the flowers were incorrect and looked horribly unhealthy. The delivery man called ***** and he handed me the phone. ***** said he would come out the following week to replant everything. He never did. 3. The incorrect pot that was delivered was 1/3 the size that I picked out and paid for. It was the only one that size (huge)! 4. To date, I have received multiple texts, pictures of incorrect pots, excuses for why the job was not completed and an offer to 'make it right' by doing fall pots free of charge (which I have no interest in). These were all from ***, the other co-owner. 5. They continue to text me and threatening to take me to small claims court to obtain their money for the 'plant material and delivery charge.' At no time, has anyone assumed responsibility for their incompetence, failure to correct existing plant material, or offer to ATLEAST come to my home to speak with my husband and I and to correct the problem. Gardening is my passion and it resulted in tremendous disappointment from a business with extremely poor customer service. I do not want further contact with them.

  Business response

  10/05/2023

  1.  We delivered the pots to **** ****** as promised.

  2.  On Saturday, May 27th **** ****** called the store and insisted that we had delivered the wrong pot.  I personally worked with her and double checked all of our paperwork.  The pot which was delivered matched both the description and price of what she purchased.  I offered to meet with her at the store to review the pots, but she stated she did not have time to do so.  Next, I sent to her pictures of all 6 styles of pots we had in her color that were the same or larger than what she had received.  The biggest pot I sent her was 52" tall, and she replied that what she wanted was "at least twice as tall".    Despite sending all of the pictures, copies of our price list (with pictures) and the delivery ticket I could never get information on which pot she felt was correct.  We were willing then, as we are now to switch the pot in question out if she feels it's incorrect.

  3.  ***** is a member of our design team who was trying to help ***** out during a very busy week with many deadlines.  However, in the end, ***** ended up doing the pots himself personally using the notes from when they had met in the store.  This information was shared with **** ****** on May 27th.  

  4.  We were always willing to change out any plants that **** ****** was unhappy with and ***** offered to do so personally, however, there was no point in replanting until we had a conclusion on having the correct pot in place.

  5.  Attached are pictures of the pots, provided by the customer, and all of the plants appear to be very healthy and doing well.

  6.  **** ****** would never confirm with us which pot she felt she should have, nor did she articulate what was wrong with the plantings, only that they were wrong.

  7.  Further, she filed a complaint with her credit card company reversing the charge for the pot she had previously paid for.  The agreement was that she would pay the delivery cost, soil and plantings after delivery, none of which are paid for.

  8.  In another attempt to bring the matter to a satisfactory conclusion for the client, I again reiterated that we would change out the pot if she felt it was wrong, discount the summer plantings and provide her with a free fall planting in hopes of making her happy.

  9.  The reply from **** ****** did not acknowledge this offer, or make suggestions as to what she would like.  She only stated "my husband is very angry and request no further contact w/me".

  10.  At this point the customer has requested no contact, but has and has enjoyed use of an 800.00 pot as well as the plantings and services provided.  Every time the conversation went to what we could do to correct the situation with her communication stopped, and ultimately ended with a request for no communication, we can only assume that her intention is not pay for the goods and services requested and provided. 

  Customer response

  10/06/2023

  [If you do not say why you are rejecting the company's response, BBB must close your complaint.] 
  
  Complaint: 20669700
  
  I am rejecting this response because: 

  1. Pots were delivered as promised; however, the incorrect (that should have been 3x/size of pot delivered) pot was delivered. AT THE TIME OF DELIVERY, I HAD THE DELIVERY PERSON CONTACT *****, THE CO-OWNER TO LET HIM KNOW I RECEIVED THE WRONG POT AND THE FLOWERS LOOKED AWFUL. WHEN I SPOKE TO ***** AT THE TIME OF DELIVERY, HE STATED HE WOULD FIND THE RIGHT POT AND REPLANT MY FLOWERS THE FOLLOWING WEEK...THIS NEVER HAPPENED AFTER MULTIPLE CALLS/MESSAGES LEFT.

  2. Multiple texts were received from ***, co-owner, showing pictures of pots asking if he found the correct pot. THE CORRECT POT WAS NEVER FOUND BC AT THE TIME OF PURCHASE, IT WAS THE ONLY ONE ON THE LOT. IT WAS APPARENT THAT THIS WAS SOLD TO ANOTHER CUSTOMER. I HAVE A FRIEND WHO WAS WITH ME DURING THIS ENTIRE EXPERIENCE WHO CAN ATTEST TO THIS.

  3. At no time did ***** contact me to let me know he had passed my order on to a colleague. She called multiple times, confused as to what plant material/colors I ordered. The colors ended up being incorrect, far from what ***** and I discussed at his shop (I spent almost 3 hours there).

  4. They NEVER followed through with coming to my residence to change out plant material. They did NOT accept ownership that the original pot I purchased was no longer available and further, no attempt to come to my residence to look at the pots/plants was made. They never followed through all summer.

  5. The attached pics they provided were after I spent hours watering them after delivery, unfortunately, they returned to a poor state several days afterwards. I called *****, left multiple messages without a response.

  6. I did indicated specifically that the colors I wanted were bold, brilliant NOT pastel, several times at my initial meeting with *****. He wrote the plan down. ***** indicated that '***** couldn't locate the notes from our visit,'

  7. I filed a complaint with the Credit card co. bc they would not return my calls and finish the job. They could not provide a pic of the original pot I purchased.

  8. *** did NOT reiterate that he would change the pot bc he could never locate the original pot I purchased at his store. Further, I do not do/enjoy fall planting, only spring/summer. I had no interest in free fall planting.

  9. *** is correct. After months of poor customer service, no ownership of multiple errors, continuous texts from *** 'trying to make me happy,' I requested they no longer contact me. I gave him the option of contacting my husband to meet with him in person to attempt to resolve this problem...HE DID NOT. Instead, I received a threatening text from ***. This is when my husband and I decided to contact the BBB.

  10. Finally, what started out as a new, fun, exciting experience at 'A Proper Garden,' (my friend and I also had lunch at their lovely store and I purchased several Mother's Day gifts there) turned out to be a colossal disappointment, hassle/frustrating summer that has truly, never happened with any other company. I do not want to be contacted by them again and hope that this doesn't happen to another customer who is passionate about gardening and values (at the least) acceptable customer service. Thank you very much.
  
  Regards,
  
  ***** ******

*Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business. ↩