ps3isawesome

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Location mini-profile: Northern California USDA 9B Posts: 580

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Member Back to Top Post by ps3isawesome on



Here's their response:



Looks like you ordered during the tropical heatwave which was accompanied by rain, 100+ weather and humidity. Unfortunately at that time we received an import of heat sensitive highland nepenthes, my father was in the hospital, our 3 person staff was cut back to one while me and christy had to face the realities of life. Everything being said, you received your order 9 days after placing it. Which isn't too bad considering the obstacles we were overcoming at the time. And sorry for your delay, Chris did the best he could during our absence. I'm sure everything arrived in good shape and hope you enjoy them. As you can see it took me a month to reply, Live happens... No need to explain any further than that.



Several things I have a problem with.

1. My order didn't arrive in 9 days. As you can see the order was placed on July 14th and the packages arrived separately on July 31st and August 1st.





2. I don't believe they couldn't reply to me until now because they uploaded pictures onto their Facebook and Instagram account and replied to questions around July 24th.

Facebook



Instagram





3.They also never responded to my request for a refund.





4. The comment I left in one of their pictures back in July asking about my order has been deleted and I'm also blocked from leaving other comments on their Facebook page.



I completely understand life gets in the way and having a sick family member and a shortage of staff is really tough. But all I asked for in the review I left them on July 28th was a response and I got none until now. Plus their comment of "Everything being said, you received your order 9 days after placing it. Which isn't too bad considering the obstacles we were overcoming at the time". The 9 days isn't true and it was pretty bad since I had to asked two other vendors to delay their packages because the pots and plants I ordered from Southbaytraps didn't arrive on time.





I was going to let it go and give them a second chance with another order. Their response changed my mind.



However, their plants arrived nicely packaged and was in good quality.

They finally contacted me via Facebook under my 1 star review.Here's their response:Looks like you ordered during the tropical heatwave which was accompanied by rain, 100+ weather and humidity. Unfortunately at that time we received an import of heat sensitive highland nepenthes, my father was in the hospital, our 3 person staff was cut back to one while me and christy had to face the realities of life. Everything being said, you received your order 9 days after placing it. Which isn't too bad considering the obstacles we were overcoming at the time. And sorry for your delay, Chris did the best he could during our absence. I'm sure everything arrived in good shape and hope you enjoy them. As you can see it took me a month to reply, Live happens... No need to explain any further than that.Several things I have a problem with.1. My order didn't arrive in 9 days. As you can see the order was placed on July 14th and the packages arrived separately on July 31st and August 1st.2. I don't believe they couldn't reply to me until now because they uploaded pictures onto their Facebook and Instagram account and replied to questions around July 24th.FacebookInstagram3.They also never responded to my request for a refund.4. The comment I left in one of their pictures back in July asking about my order has been deleted and I'm also blocked from leaving other comments on their Facebook page.I completely understand life gets in the way and having a sick family member and a shortage of staff is really tough. But all I asked for in the review I left them on July 28th was a response and I got none until now. Plus their comment of "Everything being said, you received your order 9 days after placing it. Which isn't too bad considering the obstacles we were overcoming at the time". The 9 days isn't true and it was pretty bad since I had to asked two other vendors to delay their packages because the pots and plants I ordered from Southbaytraps didn't arrive on time.I was going to let it go and give them a second chance with another order. Their response changed my mind.However, their plants arrived nicely packaged and was in good quality.

billredlionpa

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A pitcher is worth a thousand words :)



Location mini-profile: Red Lion, PA Posts: 836

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Member Back to Top Post by billredlionpa on



But yeah that sucks. You really can't schlep your way through customer service, or not give good service then lie about it in this day and age.

I make my living via customer service (auto sales) and man, between the surveys and Google reviews, yelp, social media, etc etc you really can't afford to take a misstep without paying dearly for it. But at the end of the day I'm a consumer like everyone else, and I'm glad that we have the tools to equalize bad experiences like yours (and the one that Mike had recently trying to get some sphag moss!) Ouch! I know there are a lot of plants you can only get once in a while and from random vendors, but whenever possible, I've tried to get my plants from people I know, like the people on this forum. It's like I'm multiplying my purchasing power - I get the plants I want while helping the 'local' economyBut yeah that sucks. You really can't schlep your way through customer service, or not give good service then lie about it in this day and age.I make my living via customer service (auto sales) and man, between the surveys and Google reviews, yelp, social media, etc etc you really can't afford to take a misstep without paying dearly for it. But at the end of the day I'm a consumer like everyone else, and I'm glad that we have the tools to equalize bad experiences like yours (and the one that Mike had recently trying to get some sphag moss!)

james

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Member Back to Top Post by james on My experience to date: I am still waiting for my N. Hamata I ordered through their site on 7/28. I got confirmation email of my order then on 7/31 I got another email saying my order was cancelled. I wrote them back asking why and was told he sent me an email which was never received. I got another email on 7/31and I was then told that they had sold the nicer larger ones and that they did not want to send me a small plant at that price. They said they had one reserved with my name on it and that it should be ready in 8-10 days. I wrote them back telling them I never got their first email and got another email this one from 8/4 and was told again that they were holding one for me and it would be ready in 7-10 days. I wrote back and asked them to notify me when I could place the order again that email was sent on 8/4 and I have not heard anything back from them since. I guess at this point I am no longer waiting for it.





southbaytraps

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Member Back to Top Post by southbaytraps on Hey ps3, once again sorry for the shipping delay and mistake made with the pot sizes you ordered. I think when we finally communicated via email that there was some level of understanding. My father was in the hospital, eventually he was diagnosed with hodgkins and is doing okay. He received his port a few weeks ago on the same day as an amazing cp grower and friend of mine.



One thing which is very disappointing is that positive feedback about my work has been deleted from respected forums. Do a google search for, southbaytraps forum ... Broken or deleted links. Threats are consistently being made from other businesses and I am currently being harassed on a large scale in an attempt to create a lawsuit against me. All for trying to make rare varieties of cp's easy to obtain.



My goal is to make people happy, if there is a problem I always resolve it. Refunds if requested are promptly given. The heatwave hamata incident was unfortunate, some people decided to cancel immediately and were refunded immediately. Anyone who waited to long and cancelled was shipped a seed grown rare nep from the 50+ varieties I have growing. There are one or two people who decided to wait it out and as promised they are getting a bundle of plants because the length of time they have waited is embarrassing but as promised I'm going to make sure they are happy with what they receive.



I can only hope the cp community will appreciate and allow for me to help our hobby grow, conserve rare plants and be open and accepting which is a trait most of us share.



If you live in Southern California and want to visit, shoot me and email and I think any suspicions about me or my plants will quickly dissolve. I don't believe in soliciting feedback from all of the customers who have thanked me. So if I provide bad plants people should share that with the community. As for service, every email gets answered sometimes immediately other times it takes me a day or two but I always reply.



Doing the best I can, nearly all profit is spent acquiring more varieties. A practice that I have no plan on stopping, and has already resulted in about 100 species/varieties. Eddy? Candy Stripe?



In any case other than my apologies, the defensive nature of this post is due to all the threats coming in lately.

~Mike | Southbaytraps



cpbobby

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Member Back to Top Post by cpbobby on I do not wish to speak on other matter above but I will speak on my own personal experience with southbay. first of all they were very generous with me and allowing me to trade a few of my pings for a regia approx 4 inches. It has been a while since I have bought retail drosera but imo about $40 or so for that plant, potted and shipped well which would also increase the price.



granted in my perception this was less of a business/purchase matter and more of what I consider a collector to collector matter however it was shipped here to va promptly and the plant arrived in great shape.



I think I was given a great opportunity.





ps3isawesome

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Location mini-profile: Northern California USDA 9B Posts: 580

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Also, Flytraps wanted to be more strict about which vendors are allowed to be mentioned on their website. So I can totally understand why they took down your post where you announced all your inventory update. BUT, it's probably for your own good since you left the advertisement in my review of Southbay and its now deleted . Ya i totally agree with Bill. Had you replied to my messages and cancellation request before you processed and shipped my order I prob would've been less pissed about the whole thing. You'll prob want to check the messaging system and whether it's working or not on your website because it went through on my end.Also, Flytraps wanted to be more strict about which vendors are allowed to be mentioned on their website. So I can totally understand why they took down your post where you announced all your inventory update. BUT, it's probably for your own good since you left the advertisement in my review of Southbay and its now deleted