Orchid Zone amazing seller.

[troy]

I like john as a person, he's a good guy, I'm just at a stand still at why he keeps shipping me messed up plants. Purchasing his plants through 3rd party vendors shipped from orchid zone at the time, I did not know that, I got very mad at a good friend because of the amount of bugs and damaged roots, then he told me, the plants were sent from O.Z. I really hope John buckles down on his business!!!!

 

[Happypaphy7]

Plants being living things, and you go by top growth to estimate the overall health, sometimes it can happen that customers get less than ideal plants with roots or other issues. In a commercial nursery, they are bound to have bugs and disease as well as genetically weak plants.
I just don't think vendors send crappy plants intentionally, although some seem to care less about quality.
This is why I do not mail order. I have to see and pick myself.

Take pictures as proof and talk to them if you get a plant with problems.
How vendors respond to this situation is what matters the most to me.

Getting a crappy plant ( happened to me a few times and so I don't mail order any more.i have to see what I get, prefer to examine them myself. No surprise this way or hold grudges against anyone) happens. It's the customer service and honesty of the business that makes a difference.

Orchid limited ( since it was mentioned lately) has an excellence customer service and responds very well.
Others like Normans, well, we all know.

 

[paphioland]

Maybe you should read what ehanes7612 posted. Gonna call him names, too? All I'm pointing out is the timing is suspicious. I'm pretty sure 'trolling' would be far more involved than that. (I've seen the reviews)

The timing is purposeful. You need multiple feedbacks not just one to get a balanced non skewed idea. Sample size matters. Sorry if this is difficult for you to understand. Like I said I have no problem with fair honest feedback but you should have no problem with mine.

 

[tnyr5]

BTW, this forum is the best for Slipper orchids, the variety of personalities here make it do

Or personality disorders lmao :rollhappy:

On a more serious note, I have had beautiful plants come from them in the past. Not giving my opinion, just sharing data.

 

[JAB]

Eric
When one is losing $50 orchids.... one is going to get "touchy"

 

[mrhappyrotter]

I have bought a few plants from OZ over the years. I have never been disappointed. They were either picked by myself or off eBay with good pictures showing the plants. No surprises.

I have to say though it has been my experience that they are rather hard to reach and do not respond very quickly to phone or emails at all.

One more to add, since I like to see my plants before buying, they seem to have stopped posting pictures of plants they list on eBay.
I think currently or just up until recently I remember seeking Roth, Gloria Naugle, Alexj all of which had a representative picture, not of the exact plant.
And Franz Glanz, show two pictures of flowers and no plant pictures. At $150, I have to see the plant and know its condition.

I know it's a work to add individuals pictures for each listing but I hope they understand it's a part of investment to their business ( and relatively small one at that) and showing photo of exact items being sold is a main attraction for people who shop on eBay.

If you go to OZ again, I'm getting you to be my personal shopper.

 

[Fabrice]

@Paphioland: If I don't have doubt about your OZ opinion, to create a new thread just after the ehanes thread is necessarily "suspect".
It gives more impression to read a personn who want to help a friend than a real cutsomer review.

Timing is just not pertinent...

 

[gego]

I'm not sure what's been going on there. I have gotten great plants from them at shows and now they have auctions on eBay with actual plant photos. Maybe someone slipped up for a while and now they are trying to recover. ??? BTW, this forum is the best for Slipper orchids, the variety of personalities here make it do
So take the good with the bad and stop being so touchy.

Well said.

 

[JAB]

FWIW my friend sent two emails after this flask list came out. Has received zero replies. Not even saying OZ is sold out. Pathetic service. Period.

 

[ehanes7612]

if anything, this proves they are inconsistent in their service..enough to warrant high caution

 

[coronacars]

I think it's now the norm on how they do business. Buyer beware!!!

 

[Guldal]

Vive l'Europe!

I have from time to time been very envious of some of the plants, being offered for sale in the US.
I must say, though, that after reading through this thread, I've become more and more happy about the very reliable european vendors, I've come to deal with over my few years as a Paphioholic.
Especially my main Orchid-pushers: Orchidegartneriet in Fredensborg (Hans Christiansen), Popow (Neboscha Popow), Assendorfer Orchideensucht (Hilmar Bauch) and a few others.
Btw. have bought some really nice OZ-Paphs, but through Popow in Germany!

Would love to get a few tips on other good european dealers (main interests: Paphs, of course; botanical Phalaenopsis and Sophronitis)?

I for my part wouldn't waste my time and money on vendors with a lousy and/or disrespectfull customer service - and I can only heartily agree with those recommending never to buy a costly plant on ebay or other sites, where you don't get a pic of the actual clone you are buying!
(Of course you can run the risk with less costly plants to test a seller - and sometimes be very pleasantly surprised!)

Most kind regards to everybody!
Jens, Copenhagen

 

[Mikefallen13]

Well, I thought I would add my experiences to this thread since I recently purchased 2 plants from OZ via eBay. One was a buy it now listing, sight unseen and the other was an selected individual plant auction.

My first purchase was one of the Phrag. kovachii seedlings they have listed. I made a best offer on one, so I ended up paying $180 shipped which I was happy with, especially considering I paid over $120 for a 4" LS seedling a while back. They actually messed up my order at first, but I sent them a message and they responded quickly (literally within 15mins) and got it sorted out. The plant was shipped via FedEx and arrived quickly. It was packaged well, still securely in the pot with no apparent shipping damage. The plant itself looks good, it has one old growth with a LS of about 12" with a new growth starting, some minor leaf spotting on some of the older leaves nothing to worry about. The potting mix did look fairly broken down but I was pleasantly surprised by a very healthy root system. I was quite happy with the whole deal! So I decided to purchase another plant...

I saw they posted a very nice Jason Fisher WYSIWYG auction which I ended up winning, I paid for it the next day annnd.... Nothing. No shipping notifications, no messages explaining why the plant wasn't shipped, nothing. I finally got a shipping notification this afternoon, literally a 9 days after paying for the plant. No tracking number provided. Obviously, I haven't received the plant yet and I'll surely update when it does arrive.

I can't say I'd recommend them after this, service definitely seems to be very hit or miss. It's a shame, since they really do have quality stuff but its not worth the potential risk IMO.

I also did inquire about the flask list, got the list and one additional response but nothing after that, even after several attempts to contact them.