Tom and Shan Nasser are good friends of mine. They have a wonderful collection of orchids, and they really do try to do right by everybody. Tom and Shan are honest and generous, often quietly so, so you won't see their generousity touted in blogs or elsewhere. Good people all around. I have done a number of verbal handshake deals with Tom, for sums often over $1000 and their has never been any issue with them changing the terms of the deal over over time. Their word is good, honest as can be.
Their business is based on selling divisions from their collection, not mass marketing of seedlings. Particularly for the Bulbos, Dendrobs & species orchids, rarely do they have more than 3 clones of any one species, their business plan is to sell divisions of their clones when they become available. This means they have a lot of "only one of available" plants, so keeping an internet catalog of currently available stock is not an easy task for them. I have mostly bought Paphs, Phrags, Dendrobiums, and Lycaste from them and have always had good results. Tom has many named and often awarded clones of Paphs in his collection gathered from all across the country. It is always worth taking a bit of time and wander through his greenhouse looking for the odd treasure lurking there. And yes, negociating over price is part of the fun, make sure you have the time to enjoy the process. :viking: There are times where it seems only one out of 10 of the plants I touch is actually for sale, but then again the ones that are for sale are often are quite unique.
They have good relations with HP Norton, and have some excellent Phrags in their collection, some from HP, some from others including a few from me.
I don't think it fair to slam them hard over a few mis-identified Bulbo species, that alliance of species is huge and poorly documented, much of the taxonomy is in flux and many species are in cultivation in such low numbers that few have experience is seeing most of the species live and in person. Tom is not a taxonomist, and doesn't have the time he would like to spend on verifying the identities of all the odd Bulbophyllums he has. Often he has to accept the name the plant was sold to him under. Eric Christensen used to spend a few days every year or two wandering through his collection, verifying names, changing ones that needed to be changed. I know they miss him since his passing.
I know Tom's cultural recomendations are top notch for growing Bulbophyllum, I personally don't know enough about Bulbo's to make any judgement on his taxonomic prowes over the group. I also suspect most people who think they know Bulbo taxonomy are more lacking than they might want to admit, as this is a diffucult alliance of species and genera to get a handle on.
Tom does have a rough and tumble sense of humor, more an east coast, New Jersey or NYC love of busting chops, and a low tolerance of arrogant, pompous or rude people, which means there is always one in the crowd that he might twist their tail rather than eat crow from them. He does enjoy a bit of verbal sparring, so he might not be everyone's idea of the perfect shopkeeper, but he is a good source for orchids and I do recomend giving him a try. Definitely visit. Oh and do remember, he is a little hard of hearing, so speak up. Some of the customer sevice issues he has had is because he simply did not hear what the customer was saying.
Do shop Carolina Orchids, do visit them if you can.