A month ago I purchased two succulents from New Dream World, a shop on Etsy, for a birthday gift to myself. I had favorited several different specimens in several different shops and finally decided on a shop to buy from. The specimens offered were lovely, and they had THE ONE I have been coveting since I fell in love with succulents. The Black Prince. While I had 10-15 plants on my list I decided to start with two, just to see how it went. The store stated that the items were shipping from Elk Grove, California along with tracking via the United States Postal Service. They seemed to have decent reviews, however, in retrospect I should have gone further back in the review timeline.
I noticed an email from the seller several days after making my purchase, and after reading it, I was livid. It stated that my item was coming, but..,well here, I will let you read their message :
I would never have purchased plants coming from China. It is much too long a trip, and I do not appreciate being lied to. I had specifically done a search for stores inside the United States and this shop was purposefully deceitful. I tried to track the package, but the tracking information they provided was for a site that was not in English. Two weeks later the package arrives:
I can tell from the outside, that it is not going to be very pleasant. I proceed to open the package and this is what I found inside.
While these are what I ordered :
I left the mangled and moldy leaves where they were and marched upstairs and contacted the shop to let them know what I had received. A day later the shop replied asking for a photo of the damaged plants. I obliged immediately. The shop owner tells me I will be issued a full refund, and to not throw away the leaves as I could root new plants from these. Two things wrong with that. #1 I did not order leaves, I ordered “plant cuttings” #2 The leaves were so damaged and moldy, there is no way they would have taken root. The Black Prince had one lil scraggly dried out root dangling from the bottom and was no where near the size specified in the listing. Three days later I have no refund,and not only has she not sent the refund, but she has begun a “Cancel Transaction” on Etsy. This is an option available when the store and a customer agree to terminate a transaction without either party suffering any type of penalty. I had not requested a Cancellation, but she went this route so that I would not be able to leave a negative review on her account. The process is not instant as Etsy needs to review the situation so I clicked to the review section and left an accurate account of my experience with the shop. I also started a Paypal claim. Which she ignored. So I contact Etsy in full detail explaining what has happened. They assure me they will look into the shop and it’s practices. I contact the shop owner one more time, explaining that I will have to escalate the Paypal claim if she does not respond. No response. I escalate the claim,pointing out that it is illegal to ship plants internationally without a phytosanitary document because of the risk of introducing pests and diseases. (btw The only reason I know this, is because I am coveting orchids in Thailand)
Within 48 hours I have my refund. AND THEEEENNNN, the shop owner has the AUDACITY to contact me, telling me they have issued a full refund, and could I please update my review on their page. WHAT!?! SERIOUSLY?!? This woman is crazy. Oh Im gonna update my review all right, and let everyone know that I had to start and escalate a claim with Paypal and report your shop before you would issue me a refund. Will I update your review?! Humph. Receiving a refund does not change the horrible experience I had with your shop, and your customer service. I do not want others to have to go through what I just did. So no I will not change my review to a favorable one so you can take money from someone else and send them a box of moldy leaves.
I was informed by the Etsy team that they handle all issues internally and privately. I was curious as to whether or not the shop was being held accountable for lying to potential customers. I was not disappointed. The shop had updated their location to read Shangai, China and they edited their shipping information. I did a happy dance.
I don’t know if no one else decided to take matters as far as I did, or if my complaint was the last straw for that particular shop owner. I don’t really care. I am overjoyed that I did not take it laying down. I had only spent a total of $9.80, but it was my $9.., well my husbands ;P $9.80 and I’ll be damned if I am just going to let someone take it.
It is already hard enough to trust shopping online, without shop owners deceiving customers about origin and quality of products. You may not always win but I don’t feel you should ever allow these types of people or companies get away with it without at least attempting a fight.
Sooo buyer beware. This shop has good reviews peppered with a few terrible ones, so perhaps it is luck of the draw??
DaturaDeadly 