Don't order from gardenocity.com or patiolover.com

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bigben

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I ordered a pot last monday from patiolover.com, which is a part of http://www.gardenocity.com/.

They said it would ship in 1 - 2 days...it didn't. I called everyday and they just kept saying it should arrive soon...

Today I called 3 times and demanding information and they told it it was out of stock. F*CKERS. I told them to cancel it and refund my money...they said they would but we will have to wait and see.

So basically they have a POS website with OLD information. They don't have inventory, they just place an order with someone else when you place an order. I hate them.
 
Thanks, it makes me feel better :)

Now I gotta get another pot...before this weekend! I may have to go to the LHBS. He has SS pots, but they are only 7.5 gallons :( and they are $80.
 
We've had a lot of problems lately with these kinds of threads, and it's impossible to know all of the circumstances. Not disputing anything that you've said - but we've had issues with other, similar threads. So, I'm going to go ahead and close this.
 
Seconded.

One bad experience does not mean they are a bad company.
By all means post your experience but please leave others to make there own judgement.
 
I am going to re-open the thread. I think it's valuable to get feedback on companies that have wronged you and have an open discussion for others to chime in with their experience or the company to respond.

I just think our community needs to not have a mob mentality in responses and the thread should remain open for this.
 
Wow - take that Mods! You think you're all high and mighty with your postings in locked threads and then Tx comes in and war-hammers your asses!

:D
 
the_bird said:
We've had a lot of problems lately with these kinds of threads, and it's impossible to know all of the circumstances. Not disputing anything that you've said - but we've had issues with other, similar threads. So, I'm going to go ahead and close this.
Click to expand...

I hardly call what happened with Misty as being a problem. I spoke, the people listened, she responded and every can make their own decision as to who was right and wrong.

Just because the vendor responded DOESN'T mean that it's a problem. I would encourage more vendors to answer complaints from the public. I wouldn't say she was honest, but again only she and I know whether or not I really called and whether or not she responded. You know me and you can make your judgement on my reputation.

If this guy is saying that http://www.gardenocity.com/ has bad customer service, than there's no reason to believe that http://www.gardenocity.com/ hasn't failed to meet his expectations. http://patiolover.com might also have the same poor customer service. The great thing about a forum like this is that it gives people the opportunity to voice their opinions about vendors like http://patiolover.com or http://www.gardenocity.com/. And since they don't advertise here, it's not like Tx is losing revenue.
 
I'm totality happy for people to post about there experiences but when it comes to one person with one purchase and one experience then I do not think a "Do not buy from" statement is helping any one.

Why can't people just post there experience and let others make there mind up.

I also consider spamming the companies name and web links to be a bad idea.

Come on guys, if you want threads like this to be allowed then please act sensibly.
 
orfy said:
I'm totality happy for people to post about there experiences but when it comes to one person with one purchase and one experience then I do not think a "Do not buy from" statement is helping any one.

Why can't people just post there experience and let others make there mind up.

I also consider spamming the companies name and web links to be a bad idea.

Come on guys, if you want threads like this to be allowed then please act sensibly.
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The internet has given everyone the ability to sell products to a mass audience. It is up to the consumer to monitor their performance and alert others to poor performance. If you choose to sell in the medium, you must accept the inherited risks.

I believe it's freedom of the press here. Free speech.
 
I will side with the pro-posting side. Now that merchants and consumers have moved onto the internet it has removed the guarantee of good service that you might have got if you could speak to someone face to face. It's our duty now as a FORUM of DISCUSSION to be open to discuss if something has been wronged. That's the capitalist and democratic way.

Now, on the other side, the mob mentality of banning the site is way to harsh. A warning, perhaps, but an outright "Don't ever buy from them" is unnecessary.

Just my .02
 
Here's my take on threads like this.

I really like to know about bad (and good) experiences people have with businesses. It may keep me from a bad experience myself. I guarantee if I get screwed by someone - especially brewing related - I'll let you guys know.

They can get really fun to watch. Who cares if it gets a little out of hand. We're not really making much of a difference in the big picture. Mostly looking out for our own, as it were. If someone gets bad service and then gives a rant that says "Don't order from ourcustomerservicesucks.com", I'm cool with that.
 
I work as a customer service rep. We always say if you give good service the customer might tell 10 people. I they get bad service they will tell 100.

I think that fits here however he telling 1000's.
 
This thread has only been viewed 146 times so far. I don't know if that number is unique viewers, either. I doubt it, though.
 
Cheesefood said:
If this guy is saying that http://www.gardenocity.com/ has bad customer service, than there's no reason to believe that http://www.gardenocity.com/ hasn't failed to meet his expectations. http://patiolover.com might also have the same poor customer service. The great thing about a forum like this is that it gives people the opportunity to voice their opinions about vendors like http://patiolover.com or http://www.gardenocity.com/. And since they don't advertise here, it's not like Tx is losing revenue.
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If you want to discuss a problem with a Vendor then do so in a civil manner. Trying to do stuff like this to get Google to index it will get the thread axed or the person doing so banned.
 
I had ordered some stuff from a store a few years ago that did nothing but drop shipped. 20 dollars worth of stuff cost 45 bucks to ship cause it came from 3 different warehouses. Plus the cost of shipping was not shown till after the order was placed and it took 4 months to get everything. There was no warning or disclaimer that this was how the company operated which I thought was a complete rip. Thats the kind of stuff that needs to be called out.

Back to the original complaint, to jerk a customer around about the status of their order is bunk and there is no excuse for it. Crap customer service if you ask me.
 
Word of mouth is the name of the e-commerce game. Will I ever order from this company? NO. There are literally hundreds, maybe thousands of companies that sell the same stuff, and haven't screwed up. How hard is it to tell the truth? Ok, so the site was out of date. That's not that big a deal. Being lied to call after call after call? That is unacceptable, and they are going to loose business right up to their closing date. Welcome to the real world. I have one friend that I won't lend money to, because of a bad deal he had with another friend. Do I keep that info to myself? NO. I have another friend who I won't make any social plans with because he never ever shows, and I'm not afraid to tell others about his flakey habbits. That's life. I'm sure people have lots of bad things to say about me. So be it. I'm sure I deserve most of it.... hell, probably all of it.
 
One of the reasons I love this site is the sheer amount of information. Got a question about anything brewing-related (or non-brewing related, for that matter)? You're bound to find 20 people on here who can tell you the answer, or if not, at least point you in the right direction.

This information often takes the form of product reviews, or experiences with a particular retailer; I've seen threads where people recommended a particular ebay seller based on positive transactions with the seller. Along the same lines, I think it's important to note bad experiences with a retailer as well. Clearly the OP had a bad experience with this company and wanted to write about this experience in a public forum.

That being said, however, I think there needs to be a way of voicing one's opinions without making a blanket statement of "Do not shop at blahblahblah.com" ... someone here may very well have had a positive experience with the same company, and those opinions should be offered as well.

Perhaps we could add a retailer section to the existing Reviews section? Just a thought.
 
I agree, we should be able to share about our personal experiences, but not go so far as to put them on Colbert's On Notice list. I recently ordered some sleeve bearings from a site who's name sounds like McMasterCard. You'd think that with over 450,000 items they'd at least be able to tell you how much shipping is going to be before committing to ordering said items! But no! I had to write them an angry letter saying that shipping is what determines whether I buy something online or go all over town looking for parts. I doubt they took me seriously, as I was ordering a grand total of $3.24 of parts, and $4.50 worth of shipping.
 
eviltwinofjoni said:
I agree, we should be able to share about our personal experiences, but not go so far as to put them on Colbert's On Notice list. I recently ordered some sleeve bearings from a site who's name sounds like McMasterCard. You'd think that with over 450,000 items they'd at least be able to tell you how much shipping is going to be before committing to ordering said items! But no! I had to write them an angry letter saying that shipping is what determines whether I buy something online or go all over town looking for parts. I doubt they took me seriously, as I was ordering a grand total of $3.24 of parts, and $4.50 worth of shipping.
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That was the center of a huge discussion last yeark, with the consensus being:

1. It was impossible for them to be able to tell you how much the shipping on something would be given the unusual sized of the materials they sell, and the HUGE inventory of parts they have available,

2. They only charge ACTUAL shipping and handling,

3. 99% of their customers are business customers who know and accept this shipping policy as standard procedure,

4. They ship so damn fast, it's worth paying a bit more in shipping or for the parts (their base prices aren't all that great).
 
the_bird said:
4. They ship so damn fast, it's worth paying a bit more in shipping or for the parts (their base prices aren't all that great).
Click to expand...

Agreed. I ordered a few hundred dip-tube and post o-rings one Sunday evening, and they arrived in Tuesday's mail.
 
I find it curious that you guys seem to think that if someone posts the words, 'don't buy from xxx', then you are somehow obligated to follow those instructions. I'll take what the person has to say into consideration, but I'll decide for myself whether or not to place an order. I suspect the bulk of the people here would do the same. In light of that, what bloody difference does it make whether the guy 'tells' you to buy or not? The end result is the same.

Myself, I prefer to hear about these things. I hadn't thought about the notion that an online store would fill your order by buying from someone else. Now that I do, I'm a little wiser.
 
Look at what the power of bitching has done here though. We know that Austin Homebrew checks this site regularly for complaints and weh nthey find one, they respond. Now, he might look like a much better person if he ponied up for the vendor membership, but that's his choice. He'd look like a MUCH MUCH better person if he gave an HBT discount.
 
I am VERY familiar with Gardenocity and its spin-off businesses. I used to own an eCommerce site and used the same web developer they did. The web developer had poor customer service, too. I saw when Gardenocity "opened its doors" and began selling online. I closed my business and contacted them for employment. They have their "headquarters" in Tampa Bay area, but no one's home. They use a call center out of Virginia (used by other eCommercers as well), and drop ship everything. They don't carry inventory, but have drop-ship agreements with various distribution centers and manufacturers to do order fulfillment and shipment when the orders come through. Most of these eCommerce companies in this are operate the same way, although I am uncertain if Yardiac does this, and I beleive Gardener.com has most of its products in stock and only fulfills a few orders.
 

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