Don’t go to Champion Nursery in S.C., off of 707

[MrFancyPlants]

I moved to S.C. over the summer and was quite excited to check out a nursery just down the road from me. I browsed for a while and came back to a honey suckle looking plant that I was thinking on, but didn’t get a chance to ask what species it was. I looked at a few azelea that were up on a table like they were ready to be shipped out, just wondering if they might have been different quality or variety than the others, but they weren’t. I am walking away and the owner says that that area is “off limits!” and they are about to close early. I just turn my head to see if there was any indication that the area was “off limits” and he repeats again “Off Limits!”

I head straight for the gate to get out of there. A younger worker is heading down to close the gate in front of me. I ask if I can get through there and he almost reluctantly lets me out.

I posted a one star review on Gmaps, mentioning that they got real rude at closing time. And then it get even worse. He replies to my review calling me a creepy little POS, not quite in that order, but you get the gist. And said something about bonsai all I did was walk around looking at where to graft.
Bad move on my part, but I copy and paste his reply to Next Door, and say something about how, god forbid I look at plants at a nursery and that I never have been treated so rude.
He must have seen the post because he edits his reply to include “I should tell my wife… <seriously slanderous fiction>”
I have screen shots that he added it in later.

There is only one other bad review on Google for Champion Nursery by a former employee, and owner replied back with some, no doubt concocted story about how she was stealing from him. There are 70 some glowing reviews.
Honesty the guy has me kind of scared that he would stoop so low to keep a honest bad review off Google. What else would he do?

Anyways thanks for letting me get it off my chest. I don’t know if would be ethical to ask everyone to post bad reviews on Google for Champion Nursery off 707 in SC, but this guy clearly knows no ethical bounds.

 

[Michigan Tree Murderer]

Sucks that you had that experience, you think the owner would have more patience, or a customer first mentality. I always feel like I'm loitering when I'm at a nursery (for hours sometimes), but I've never had a problem. Maybe it's because I'm 6lbs of pure muscle, purple Mohawk, and I'll totally bite an ankle.

 

[leatherback]

I don’t know if would be ethical to ask everyone to post bad reviews on Google for Champion Nursery off 707 in SC

yes it would be.
Fake reviews -reviews of something you have not experienced- are just as bad as running a company badly.

 

[Bonsai Forest]

I moved to S.C. over the summer and was quite excited to check out a nursery just down the road from me. I browsed for a while and came back to a honey suckle looking plant that I was thinking on, but didn’t get a chance to ask what species it was. I looked at a few azelea that were up on a table like they were ready to be shipped out, just wondering if they might have been different quality or variety than the others, but they weren’t. I am walking away and the owner says that that area is “off limits!” and they are about to close early. I just turn my head to see if there was any indication that the area was “off limits” and he repeats again “Off Limits!”

I head straight for the gate to get out of there. A younger worker is heading down to close the gate in front of me. I ask if I can get through there and he almost reluctantly lets me out.

I posted a one star review on Gmaps, mentioning that they got real rude at closing time. And then it get even worse. He replies to my review calling me a creepy little POS, not quite in that order, but you get the gist. And said something about bonsai all I did was walk around looking at where to graft.
Bad move on my part, but I copy and paste his reply to Next Door, and say something about how, god forbid I look at plants at a nursery and that I never have been treated so rude.
He must have seen the post because he edits his reply to include “I should tell my wife… <seriously slanderous fiction>”
I have screen shots that he added it in later.

There is only one other bad review on Google for Champion Nursery by a former employee, and owner replied back with some, no doubt concocted story about how she was stealing from him. There are 70 some glowing reviews.
Honesty the guy has me kind of scared that he would stoop so low to keep a honest bad review off Google. What else would he do?

Anyways thanks for letting me get it off my chest. I don’t know if would be ethical to ask everyone to post bad reviews on Google for Champion Nursery off 707 in SC, but this guy clearly knows no ethical bounds.

The only reason I can think of for an area being off limits is landscape or customer holding area.

In the nursery I work at here in Charlottesville VA, we have contractors and designers jobs for whom we hold in a loosely fenced off and enclosed area. But everything is obviously tagged and labeled for both the designer and customer. If the customer wants to see what they purchased and check on it, we allow them to briefly look at it, but otherwise nobody enters. Our rehab center is also in this area (Betty Ford Rehab Center, for sick plants ).

Was there any indication you walked into a holding area?

 

[Bonsai Forest]

Sucks that you had that experience, you think the owner would have more patience, or a customer first mentality. I always feel like I'm loitering when I'm at a nursery (for hours sometimes), but I've never had a problem. Maybe it's because I'm 6lbs of pure muscle, purple Mohawk, and I'll totally bite an ankle.

From the doggo’s perspective, I love this hahaha

 

[Bonsai Forest]

yes it would be.
Fake reviews -reviews of something you have not experienced- are just as bad as running a company badly.

Agreed, it would be unethical. People (owners, employees etc.) can learn and grow to become better at their jobs and be more personable and courteous, but a flood of bad reviews can ruin their opportunity to do so.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

The only reason I can think of for an area being off limits is landscape or customer holding area.

In the nursery I work at here in Charlottesville VA, we have contractors and designers jobs for whom we hold in a loosely fenced off and enclosed area. But everything is obviously tagged and labeled for both the designer and customer. If the customer wants to see what they purchased and check on it, we allow them to briefly look at it, but otherwise nobody enters. Our rehab center is also in this area (Betty Ford Rehab Center, for sick plants ).

Was there any indication you walked into a holding area?

No indication that it was for holding, but I could tell that they were set aside. I spent about 1 min to check the tags to see if it had cultivar info, but it didn’t, so I walked away.
I was only there for a grand total of a 15 min, max.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

yes it would be.
Fake reviews -reviews of something you have not experienced- are just as bad as running a company badly.

Agreed, and I shouldn’t have brought it up.

Somehow it is easier for me to refrain from name calling.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

His response to your review tells me more about his business than your review.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Agreed, it would be unethical. People (owners, employees etc.) can learn and grow to become better at their jobs and be more personable and courteous, but a flood of bad reviews can ruin their opportunity to do so.

He did write a (criminally libelous imho) fake review of my review. Which I reported to BBB, but I don’t have much hope that will come to anything.
I debated calling the local non emergency police line, but I get a bit nervous not knowing the local politics real well around here.
I know he is not going to learn and grow from this because he seems to be effectively curating his reviews via lies and fear.
Look at the line he added in about what I should tell my wife, between the two versions. I hope he doesn’t know I actually have a wife.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

He did write a (criminally libelous imho) fake review of my review. Which I reported to BBB, but I don’t have much hope that will come to anything.
I debated calling the local non emergency police line, but I get a bit nervous not knowing the local politics real well around here.
I know he is not going to learn and grow from this because he seems to be effectively curating his reviews via lies and fear.
Look at the line he added in about what I should tell my wife, between the two versions. I hope he doesn’t know I actually have a wife.

Let it go. His response to your review is more damaging than anything you wrote. Never wrestle with a pig - you get dirty and the pig enjoys it!

It looks like a small seasonal bedding plant nursery anyway. Nothing that would particularly tempt me. When you come up our way I can point you to some nurseries that are 10x the size and where the owners are a little more customer friendly

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Let it go. His response to your review is more damaging than anything you wrote. Never wrestle with a pig - you get dirty and the pig enjoys it!

It looks like a small seasonal bedding plant nursery anyway. Nothing that would particularly tempt me. When you come up our way I can point you to some nurseries that are 10x the size and where the owners are a little more customer friendly

Thank you, thank you; you are a wise nut.
I knew that at some level, but that is just what I needed to hear to put it to bed.
I should plan a trip up there, maybe in the fall? I can’t find any clubs around here and it would be real nice to get at least some meetings on my schedule, at least biannually or so.
MFP

 

[Glaucus]

Talk to your therapist about this.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

Talk to your therapist about this.

Good advice, and apologies for bringing my drama to the forum. But, I’m going to try to “let it go” first.

 

[Srt8madness]

Talk to your therapist about this.

Don't come dicking up another thread.

 

[Fishsauce]

Let it go. His response to your review is more damaging than anything you wrote. Never wrestle with a pig - you get dirty and the pig enjoys it!

It looks like a small seasonal bedding plant nursery anyway. Nothing that would particularly tempt me. When you come up our way I can point you to some nurseries that are 10x the size and where the owners are a little more customer friendly

I'm visiting my son and his gf in Charlotte next month and would love some recommendations regarding which local nurseries to visit. Thank you.

 

[BrianBay9]

It's amazing how often retail nurseries miss the basics of customer relations. We were recently in a local nursery and my wife picked up a couple of plants, about $100 each. A woman working there ran over and snatched them right out of her hands, and with a nasty attitude told her "Leave those alone! They're already sold!" No tags to indicate that, no roped off area. If she had been nice and said she hadn't had time to tag those yet we would have picked something else and moved on. Instead she was rude and we moved on without a sale. All it takes is a smile.

 

[ERClover]

Folks like this “gentleman” are not worth the energy you’ve already expended in my opinion. As others have said, he clearly relishes the opportunity to spar with you in his own business’ review section which says it all. There isn’t anything you can do to change or “punish” him really, other than deny him your business. I know if is difficult to let go of a perceived grievance in the immediate aftermath and I often stew over situations like this myself, but I think you need to hear (or read I suppose more accurately) that contemplating calling the non emergency police line over this is perhaps more than slightly ridiculous in response to what happened.

 

[cheap_walmart_art]

I moved to S.C. over the summer and was quite excited to check out a nursery just down the road from me. I browsed for a while and came back to a honey suckle looking plant that I was thinking on, but didn’t get a chance to ask what species it was. I looked at a few azelea that were up on a table like they were ready to be shipped out, just wondering if they might have been different quality or variety than the others, but they weren’t. I am walking away and the owner says that that area is “off limits!” and they are about to close early. I just turn my head to see if there was any indication that the area was “off limits” and he repeats again “Off Limits!”

I head straight for the gate to get out of there. A younger worker is heading down to close the gate in front of me. I ask if I can get through there and he almost reluctantly lets me out.

I posted a one star review on Gmaps, mentioning that they got real rude at closing time. And then it get even worse. He replies to my review calling me a creepy little POS, not quite in that order, but you get the gist. And said something about bonsai all I did was walk around looking at where to graft.
Bad move on my part, but I copy and paste his reply to Next Door, and say something about how, god forbid I look at plants at a nursery and that I never have been treated so rude.
He must have seen the post because he edits his reply to include “I should tell my wife… <seriously slanderous fiction>”
I have screen shots that he added it in later.

There is only one other bad review on Google for Champion Nursery by a former employee, and owner replied back with some, no doubt concocted story about how she was stealing from him. There are 70 some glowing reviews.
Honesty the guy has me kind of scared that he would stoop so low to keep a honest bad review off Google. What else would he do?

Anyways thanks for letting me get it off my chest. I don’t know if would be ethical to ask everyone to post bad reviews on Google for Champion Nursery off 707 in SC, but this guy clearly knows no ethical bounds.

The amount of nursery owners who act like this has surprised me since I took up bonsai. Actually the sheer amount of unpleasant people in general in the gardening/plant world. I just chalk it up to people who like plants more than people.

 

[Bonsai Nut]

The amount of nursery owners who act like this has surprised me since I took up bonsai. Actually the sheer amount of unpleasant people in general in the gardening/plant world. I just chalk it up to people who like plants more than people.

I actually think it has more to do with people who like money more than plants. Nursery owners who are only in it for the $$$ are much less friendly (IMHO) than those who themselves are really into plants, landscaping and cool cultivars.

I have lost count of the number of nurseries I have visited where the owners don't really know that much about what they are selling. Just a couple of weeks ago I bought two interesting hollies from a nursery where the owner described them as "John Henry" cultivars. There is no such thing as a John Henry holly. John Henry is the name of the label manufacturer whose nursery labels they were using. The nursery tags had fallen off or been lost over the years, and the only descriptor left was a piece of a nursery tag with the name "John Henry" on the back I just plastered a smile on my face, bought the trees, and said "thank you"