Wrong Species Sent to Me from Tennessee Wholesale Nursery... On Purpose...

[barguy8194]

So... I bought two pitch pines from Tennessee Wholesale Nursery online. What I received, I believe, is two Virginia pines (photos attached). There are two twisted needles per fascicle, rather than three, and the buds are hairy. I emailed the nursery about the problem, with photos, and their response was that they "reserve the right to substitute species in the event of the requested species being out of stock." They also made sure to point out that the species is "better suited to my hardiness zone."

Well... the reason I bought pitch pines is because they backbud prolifically, and they're native to my home state. I prefer to work with native species, and this is one of the few that is decent for bonsai purposes. Virginia pine is not native, and not as well suited to bonsai, as far as I can tell.

However, the nursery seems to have made it clear that they do not intend to send me what I ordered. Their response basically says to me "you get what we give you, not what you paid for, go f**k yourself."

Needless to say... I won't be ordering from them again or recommending that anyone do so.

The question is now... I have two Virginia pines... how do I treat them? They're two-needle pines, so my guess is to follow @Vance Wood 's Mugo advice?

Any other ideas?

On the pitch pine front... I'm a little discouraged from online ordering now... guess I'll be making the two-hour round trip to the nearest pitch pine grove I know of to collect some from the wild...

 

[TN_Jim]

Thanks for the heads up. That is definitely not right! However, I have seen some incredible Virginia pine bonsai. I believe they are forgiving, and needles reduce significantly. I’ve even seen some in the wild with needles less than an inch.

 

[Adair M]

Treat them like Japanese Black Pine, not like Mugo. Virginia Pine can be decandled in the summer. They tend to not create fat trunks, so they’re usually made into the tall slender styles.

 

[penumbra]

Thanks for this. I was going to get some from them but not now.

 

[GGB]

definitely virginia pines, good eye. I think they make much better bonsai than pitch pine but that's a matter of opinion. Bummer they aren't native up there. I get wanting to use local stuff but they are "nearly natives" at least. John Geanangel has some great looking naturalistic virginia pines you might be able to find on google

 

[Brian Van Fleet]

Treat them more like Japanese Red Pines. They don’t love wet feet, and don’t need to be decandled every year. They’re also a little touchy to root work, so don’t repot too often.

 

[barguy8194]

Treat them more like Japanese Red Pines. They don’t love wet feet, and don’t need to be decandled every year. They’re also a little touchy to root work, so don’t repot too often.

They shipped them bare rooted, (which was another problem I had with the nursery) so I guess for now I’m just hoping they survive. Thanks!

 

[sorce]

I don't think we have a right to be upset here.

Let's review this list.

Premier Bonsai Nursery.
Bonsai Nursery.
Nursery.
Wholesale Nursery.
Wholesale Nursery OnLine.

If I were to shop for a Bentley at Beaters R Us I would expect similar results.

Sorce

 

[barguy8194]

I don't think we have a right to be upset here.

Let's review this list.

Premier Bonsai Nursery.
Bonsai Nursery.
Nursery.
Wholesale Nursery.
Wholesale Nursery OnLine.

If I were to shop for a Bentley at Beaters R Us I would expect similar results.

Sorce

Understandable, but if you found a used Bentley at Beaters R Us, got it home, and found out it was a Pontiac with a Bentley symbol welded to the front, then you called the dealership and they told you "we reserve the right to sell you a car you didn't ask for, screw off" you'd probably be pissed. Regardless of the quality of the nursery, it is not unreasonable to expect that a person gets what they ordered from any retail business. If the trees had shown up dead, or if they die within a year, I will not be surprised. If you bought your used Bentley at Beaters R Us and you got a crappy used Bentley, and it died on you and was beyond repair within two weeks, those are results you should expect. But receiving the wrong product, due to purposeful action by the sales person, and when calling it out, being met with a refusal to acknowledge any wrong doing?
Different story, @sorce .

I'm not complaining about the quality of the plants. I'm complaining about the damn species.

 

[sorce]

retail business

I was thinking about how unfamiliar most people are with wholesale business.

Same story.

Sorce

 

[_#1_]

I was thinking about how unfamiliar most people are with wholesale business.

Are you saying it's perfectly fine for a business to ship 10 Orange trees when you ordered 10 apple tree? Is that how this work in the nursery trade?

I understand it you ordered 10, 10ft Apple trees and got 10, 5ft trees. But.......

 

[sorce]

Are you saying it's perfectly fine for a business to ship 10 Orange trees when you ordered 10 apple tree? Is that how this work in the nursery trade?

I understand it you ordered 10, 10ft Apple trees and got 10, 5ft trees. But.......

Different flavor apples perhaps.

It's all written out in the fine print.

Your choice to buy wholesale is not the same as your choice to buy retail.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Costco and Sam's club are retail businesses.

Made to feel wholesale so you spend more money.

Sorce

 

[penumbra]

I was thinking about how unfamiliar most people are with wholesale business.

Your choice to buy wholesale is not the same as your choice to buy retail.

There is no reason why it should be so, and it is certainly not across the board this way. There are wholesale nurseries that are top shelf and there are retail stores that are bottom of the barrel. Its good to have a devil's advocate but even he needs to think before voicing or penning his response.
The biggest issue here to me is not that a mistake was made but that the owners / management won't own up to it and admit the wrongdoing. I would be pissed and if at all possible I would stop payment.
I am half inclined to get in touch with the nursery and order some pitch pines from this nursery and make them put it in writing. I would make it clear that pitch pines is all I will accept. It would be interesting to see what happens. I am thinking that they have them but just didn't ship them.

 

[sorce]

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Wholesale.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Let's review this list.

Premier Bonsai Nursery.
Bonsai Nursery.
Nursery.
Wholesale Nursery.
Wholesale Nursery OnLine.

Not to be a dick...but....

Reviewing that list was all that was ever necessary.

Sorce

 

[sorce]

Logistics have it so that a wholesale operation can't drop what it's doing to go dig your trees special.

Hence the prices.

It is probably even more cost effective to also call everyone with the no SUBs box checked to see if they'll uncheck it.

Sorce

 

[Wires_Guy_wires]

I had the same thing happen once. Then I decided to look for the tick boxes about replacements. They're almost always there.
My last JBP took 11 months (!) to arrive. That's something to take into account as well when you order online and take no replacements.

 

[barguy8194]

View attachment 292609

Sorce

I did find this after they pointed it out to me in the email. The problem is I looked for any “fine print” for a good twenty minutes BEFORE making my purchase and didn’t find this page. It was hidden on the site as well as the customer service email.
If this was their policy, it should also be policy to put that information front and center at the checkout screen. One simple sentence could have avoided a whole lot of frustration on my part. But I wasn’t told about the “no subs” policy until after I emailed them several times about the confusion.

Either way, my mistake, for not asking enough questions. I own that. Which is why I’m asking now, “what do I do with these trees?”

Either way, would not recommend doing business with this nursery. Regardless of the “fine print,” this feels scheisty at best, purposefully deceitful at worst.

If they want to operate as a “wholesale,” they ought to refuse transactions of fewer than a certain number of units. That’s wholesale. But I could have placed an order for one single tree, if I wanted to. That’s retail.
My thought? If you sell retail, have your customer service match. If you want to have the customer service to match wholesale, then sell wholesale. Not retail.