I asked about where everyone buys their plants and if you have ever had a bad experience with a dealer. Well I had issues with one company that I went back and forth with for months over plants they sent me that were not in great condition when they arrived, and failed to thrive. the replacements were just as bad I did not want to go through the hassle of dealing with their UN-customer Service yet one more time so I dropped it and called it a 20 dollar lesson. I will never purchase from that dealer again (Direct Gardening) as that had to be my single worst customer service nightmare. I purchase mostly from Watergardens.com and Lilyblooms.com now and have looked at others as well but they are my two favorites. One reason is their customer service. I had sent Lily blooms an e-mail last fall shortly after my purchase arrived with concerns about 1 of the 2 escarboucle lilies I purchased. and their response was this
At 12:47 PM 9/28/2006, you wrote:
I just ordered over $200.00 dollars worth of water lilies from you and
they all arrived in good condition with the exception of 1 plant which
just appeared to be of a lesser quality when compared to all the other
plants. All the other plants appeared to be healthy and were of a good
size and weight. good color etc. this one particular lily appeared to
be very small and not as healthy and robust as the other plants. I have
doubts to wether it will survive or not given it's condition.........
Then I got a call from their customer service:
I just spoke to your customer service and they asked me to give it
a chance to grow (2-3 weeks ) and see how it does. If it does not
attempt to grow, call back and lilyblooms will replace it. I will wait and
contact you then. Again good doing business with you. Thank you.
And an e-mail from Curtis
If it doesn't grow and do good for you, let us know and we would be happy to replace it.
<Curt
LilyBLOOMS
When I did not see any signs of life I got real concerned and sent this:
At 11:22 PM 1/21/2007, you wrote:
Just as a matter of updating you. Neither Escarboucle has done anything,
they lost what few pads they had and nothing. The other lilies, all planted
in the same soil and same style are all doing great. We have had a
relatively mild winter here in Tallahassee and all of the lilies are growing
new pads, Again with the exception of these two. To be fair I am waiting
until the water warms up to see if I get any response from those two. When
it is warm enough I will wade in and pull the baskets to check for signs of
life. Again I just wanted to refresh this e-mail to ensure replacement if
these do not grow. Thank you again, Andy
And just last weekend I pulled the baskets out of the water. One (the one I was having an issue with) had some rot and had not done well at all, still it looked as though it might be savageable despite having only one or two roots; so I cut all the bad parts off and repotted what was left in hopes it would thrive. The second lily appears to be trying and I am hopeful because it finally grew some pilot leaves. Still I thought it only fair to wait and let Lily Blooms know the outcome good or bad when I had some answers. Lily blooms did something I have never heard of.... Went all pro active. I just received this
From: "info@lilyblooms.com" <info@lilyblooms.com>
To: "Andy Zimmerman"
Subject: RE: Enquiry from LilyBLOOMS Aquatic Gardens
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2007 15:16:47 +0000
We are now shipping zone 8 and your escarboucle should be sent
sometime next week.
LilyBLOOMS
I didn't even have to fuss. They kept track of my response/request from months ago!
![Afro O0](https://www.worldwidewatergardeners.org/forum/Smileys/smilies_smf/afro.gif)
THAT
![Afro O0](https://www.worldwidewatergardeners.org/forum/Smileys/smilies_smf/afro.gif)
is outstanding customer service!
Andy