Youngleaf

Nice plants but the owner is deceitful and condescending and discriminated against me because I'm disabled – I've been dealing with [Name Removed] from this store on Etsy. I'll write this review in chronological order of issues for ease of understanding: Monday 25th October Ordered 4x plants. 1 plant order couldn't be fulfilled as they don't have the stock and it's 2-3 weeks away from being ready. [Name Removed] agreed to swap it for another plant of similar value & contact me when the original plant I ordered was back in stock. (They then left the unavailable plant up for sale on their Etsy store for a further 4 days.) Was advised by [Name Removed] that, "your plants will be on the road this afternoon". [Name Removed] was very quick to answer my queries almost immediately after I asked them, (quick as in, within 5 minutes of me messaging them).

Friday 29th October I hadn't received the plants, nor any tracking information so I contacted the shop early in the morning to request tracking info. Received a response straightaway stating, "your plants were packed and sent on Monday. Delivery usually takes between 24-48 hours, allow an extra day for Auspost has been under a bit of pressure lately." "You will find the tracking number(s) below." At this point, it was still listed as Pre-transit on Etsy (aka it hadn't yet been shipped).

Then I received a message almost immediately after that one, stating, "We ran out of time on Monday to have the plants shipped, your parcel will be send this morning for a delivery on Monday, you will receive your tracking number shortly." I responded immediately requesting cancellation of the order and a full refund, as it's now Friday and I also stated I wasn't sure why I wasn't informed of the delay (if I hadn't followed up, would my order have even been shipped? I was supposed to have received it by Friday as their shop advertises that they ship, "Every Monday and only Monday. It allows your plant(s) to arrive before the week-end.")

Approximately 5-6 hours passed, I did not hear from[Name Removed] (contrary to all other communications up to this point in which they responded very quickly, I assume [Name Removed] didn't want to lose ~$120 in revenue from my request for a full refund). I then received tracking information which Australia Post estimate my delivery to arrive on Wednesday (5 days later). So by this stage I think it can be safely assumed that [Name Removed] blatantly ignored my request for a full refund & shipped the order anyway, as I have no explanation for why all my previous communications were answered within minutes of me asking, but my request to cancel the order was ignored for almost 6 hours without a response. As [Name Removed] had ignored my request, I contacted the store to advise I was disappointed with their customer service (or lack thereof). This is their response: "your plants were posted early morning yes. We do send over 200 plants per week via Etsy/Ebay and our website and have been doing so fort he last 3 years, please be sure that we are well aware of the best days and times to ship plants. Australia post does not stop on week-end and no, plants do not sit in warehouses, the plants sent on Friday travel as fast as the plants sent on Monday, it is a 48-72 hours process. I can not see where we would have "lacked courtesy towards our customers", we are always working on improving our process, I will welcome any suggestions form your end."

OK so the first issue is I'm not getting the plants in 72 hours, so [Name Removed] wrong on that. There's the patronising tone of the response, I don't know how they think that that in itself is not discourteous. Then there's the lack of acknowledgement that they ignored my request for a refund (they haven't mentioned it at all, in fact, which only indicates they're avoiding the topic as they know it's dishonest in terms of business practice). There's also the part about knowing the best days & times to ship plants but then shipping my order in direct contradiction to their advertised shipping days of MONDAYS AND MONDAYS ONLY.

Anyway so I am writing this review here and in other places so that customers can be aware of the lack of transparency provided by this business. Oh, and their Etsy store says they dispatch from Surry Hills, NSW, but the parcel is actually coming from Pomona, QLD. I am not sure if this is to avoid issues with border/customs in terms of which plants are allowed to go where. I guess we'll never know, and honestly I don't care to ask as I'm not interested in being further gaslighted and lied to by the store owner.

Edit: 02 November - the owner used discriminatory language towards me and was ableist upon me advising them that I have a disability. Absolutely abhorrent behaviour. They are also claiming that Facebook "removed my review" of their business, which is entirely inaccurate and a complete lie, as the review was still on Facebook after they started claiming that Facebook "stepped in" on their behalf. I requested proof of Facebook's intervention, (as there was none), and the owner miraculously was unable to provide proof of any kind. I've uploaded a screenshot of the type of messages they've been sending me via the Case I opened with Etsy. Etsy refunded me the full amount of the items I purchased :) They are also investigating the shop owner's conduct with relation to the discriminatory language used towards me during the interaction.