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racin_rose

Outstanding service from Rogue Valley Roses

racin_rose
10 years ago

I ordered some bands a few weeks ago, an order for my mom and an order for myself. My mom's arrived all the way in Ohio in perfect shape and her Tournament of Roses was blooming, and her Oshun had buds which thrilled her.
I have seen some complaints online from people saying that RVR does a little overkill with their packaging. Well, not so. It's necessary. I had ordered a Pomponella and they promptly informed me it was not available, and offered to either refund my money and put me on the waiting list, or I could pick a new rose. I chose to exchange it for Jeri Jennings, because I have been eyeballing it for some time.

The order arrived and everything was perfect, except that Jeri Jennings had come loose in the box and broken the main cane...a big deal for a band. I don't fault RVR for this because this is NOT the first time I have gotten a rose in the mail that's been beaten to death by the shipping company. A David Austin I ordered for my stepmom arrived in FAR worse shape, and given that the rest of my order was fine I decided to try to save this one. I was able to tape the cane straight with a Band-Aid and so far it hasn't dropped any leaves, but I sent a couple photos to RVR that day and asked them if they thought it would make it.

Without batting an eye they said they would send another and never asked for me to send the broken one back. Today it arrived, a bigger and fuller band than the last with a bud on it, at no cost to me and much sooner than I thought.

Every band I've gotten from them has done well with the exception of Souvenir Du Docteur Jamain, which is alive but seems to hate me, and I think that's me or the variety and not RVR.

Anyway, I really appreciated the customer service I got from RVR and would not hesitate to order from them again. Their bands are priced competitively with others and their shipping is the most reasonable I've encountered. We're quick to complain when we're treated badly, but sometimes it's good to say "thanks," too.

Comments (14)

  • nastarana
    10 years ago

    I am very happy for you that you had a good experience with RV.

    Me, OTOH, not so much.

    Item, one alba which sat in its pot and refused to grow all summer. It is now planted and has finally after I applied some sort of wonder powder the hydroponic growers use, condescended to put out some tiny beginning leaves. I ordered 4 albas this year. The other three jumped out of their pots and are now happily throwing out canes and leaves like gangbusters.

    Item, one plant of 'Shadow Dancer' which so far has produced one solid pink semi double bloom.

    Item, one 'Pink Cloud' which has not bloomed yet--not in itself a problem--but gives every appearance of being a rambler, not a large flowered climber descended from New Dawn.

    We shall see what they all look like next spring.

  • joshtx
    10 years ago

    I am glad someone has had a good experience with RVR. I have emailed them twice and am yet to hear back from anyone. I am sure they are busy, but it has been a few days since the email was sent.

    Josh

  • bluegirl_gw
    10 years ago

    The orders I've received from RVR are packed very well but I don't know what on earth happens after that.

    Every order I've received has arrived in a box that looks like it has been stomped in the middle. Last fall I posted about it & quite a few folks reported the same. One person posted a photo of a box that was literally smashed in the middle like someone had deliberately stomped it intentionally.

    My plants have always been very good. I just don't know why so many of their boxes are so smashed. Vintage ships in the same sort of long box & they always arrive fine. Same with Pickerings & J&P. And those boxes haven't been re-enforced in the middle or anything--it's odd.

  • Lynn-in-TX-Z8b- Austin Area/Hill Country
    10 years ago

    Joshtx,

    They are really slow about answering e-mails. After about 3 days I usually give them a call and always seem to get in touch with someone quite easily.

    Lynn

  • shellfleur
    10 years ago

    I was impressed that this past thursday when i emailed a question about a particular rose to RVR, I received back a prompt, informative response around 9pm that nite.

  • jacqueline9CA
    10 years ago

    I have had very very good service from them over the years, but I always order by phone (except for the one time I was in the area and dropped by the nursery). The roses I have received in the mail have always been in good shape.

    How fast roses take off, (assuming they are the correct one and arrive alive), is more, I think, a function of how they are treated after they come out of the box, and of course how mature they are when they arrive. After that, it is a matter of the conditions they are in, and the patience, or lack thereof, of the gardener.

    Jackie

  • hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
    10 years ago

    My 'Lemon Spice' arrived horribly virused, though it is growing well. I'm disappointed about it having a severe case of RMV. I will look to buy it elsewhere. The 'Snowbird' is also growing well.

  • Jasminerose, California, USDA 9b/Sunset 18
    9 years ago

    I ordered a very hard to find rose from the Rogue Valley Roses website and was very pleased with the healthy plant I received. I then ordered another rose. They had a bit of trouble filling my second order, because as they explained, it was in stock when I ordered it, but when they went to pull the plant there was an issue that they were previously unaware of. I understand that roses are by nature, unpredictable. I appreciate that Rogue Valley Roses wouldn't mail me a rose that didn't meet their standards. What I didn't expect was a personal call from the manager, offering me the rose from their own garden collection, so that I wouldn't have to wait until they could propagate more. I was really touched by the generosity and professionalism of this nursery. I hope they are around a long time, because some of the roses they carry can't be found anywhere else.

  • nastarana
    9 years ago

    jasminerose4u, I do hope your good experience means RVR is getting their act together. As you say they offer some cultivars which cannot be found anywhere else. They have a string of negative reviews at Dave's Garden--it is not a few folks here who are unhappy--so maybe something has changed for the better.

    I can live with miles of scotch tape and smashed boxes, but I do like to receive the cultivar I ordered. 'Pink Clouds' is not the same rose as 'Pink Cloud', and 'Shadow Dancer' is supposed to be striped, which mine is not; nor does it appear to be growing like a climber.

  • Jasminerose, California, USDA 9b/Sunset 18
    9 years ago

    Nastarana:
    I'm sorry about your experience with RVR. I would be upset too if I received the wrong rose. I saw the 50% positive and 50% negative reviews on the DG website. Hopefully the managers and owners are paying attention and are responding to the feedback.

  • jerijen
    9 years ago

    Oh, look -- I've received MANY roses that were not what I ordered.

    The worst offender in our experience was the original Heirloom Roses Co. (St. Paul, OR). I'd say 90% of the roses we ordered from them either were mis-labelled, OR they didn't have what we ordered, so sent us what they had.

    I've come to believe that the hallmark of a good nursery is NOT whether they sometimes make a mistake, but rather -- how they deal with the error, and make it right.

    Jeri

  • Jasminerose, California, USDA 9b/Sunset 18
    9 years ago

    I agree, Jeri. Some of the complaints about Rogue Valley Roses were about how the mistakes were handled. But in my case, they were more than fair. Hopefully that practice will continue. I wanted to show my gratitude for their generosity by sharing my experience here.

    This picture is of my Climbing Yellow Sweetheart rose (no thorns!) from Rogue Valley Roses

  • quitaque1
    6 years ago

    AVOID ROGUE VALLEY ROSES, NEW MANAGEMENT DISHONEST. I've had excellent experiences with Rogue Valley Roses in the past. However, they are under new management and they just stole $32 of my money. To be precise, I ordered two roses this spring, they were healthy and grew well, but when they bloomed, it became obvious that one of them had been mislabelled - they accidentally sent the wrong rose. No big deal, just send me the right rose or refund my money. I sent three emails, got no response whatsoever, so I went to phone calls. Got a man who never gave me his name and wasn't particularly polite, made it clear he didn't really want to be bothered. He told me the company was under new management, they'd been backlogged and were struggling to catch up and would get to my issues as soon as they could. I waited a week, nothing, so I called back. Same again. Last week, after three emails and three phone calls, I told the guy I wanted my money and I wanted it within three days, no more postponements. He said, "Okay, I'll use PayPal and send you an instantaneous transfer so you can have it right this minute." I said fine. But, it's been three days and the money isn't in my account. So I called back and he said, very self righteous, "I refunded your money last week."

    But he didn't. I don't have the money. I even logged into PayPal to see if anything was being held in PayPal rather than put in my bank account. Looks like Rogue Valley Roses has stolen $32 of my money.

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