Burchell Nursery

I purchased a pink lemonade blueberry bush from Costco supplied by Burchell NurseryThe label on the plant, which I still have, says it is a self fruiting plantThat means you don't need other plants to make it produce fruitAfter a couple of years this plant is not producing When I contacted the company on My 15th,they said I need another different blueberry plant to pollinate mineI told them I bought it because it said it was self pollinating and did not need another plantIf that is the case then this is fraudAfter emails and phone calls, I have been put off since then and they are ignoring this issue I wonder how many other people bought this plant and are having the same problemI think this is fraud to the public by miss labelingTo date they have not tried to compensate me for this in anywayI will also look into the state attorney's office as they sell a lot of plants at Costco every year

I am rejecting this response because:THE FOLLOWING IS AN ACCOUNT OF ALL EMAIL COMMUNICATIONS  WITH THIS COMPANY HOWEVER IT DOES NOT TAKE INTO ACCOUNT ALL THE PHONE CALLS TO TRY TO RESOLVE THIS PROBLEM.AT NO POINT IN ALL THIS HAS THE COMPANY EVER SAID ANYTHING OTHER THAN IT NEEDS ANOTHER BLUEBERRY TO POLLINATE.NOW THEY WANT TO BLAME THE CONSUMER.  My first contact to the company was May15,2016  three months ago, not when they say I complained on August 23rd,2016.My letter to the company states my plant had blueberries last year, 2015, when I got the plant because it had berries on it WHEN I BOUGHT IT. They grew and we ate them but none since then.Here is my email from May and the response I received from Manny.from: M Silva [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2016 1:20 PM To: Robert Gray Subject: pink lemonade blueberry  Hello,  I purchased one of your blueberry bushes it is doing well and growing. Last year I had some berries and they were great. This year I have been waiting but there seems to be a problem and I don't know what I'm doing wrong.  The plant has grown and has had lots of flowers and buds, then they dry up and fall off. I'm not getting any berries over an 1/8 of an inch and then they fall off. I'v lost tons of berries but my bush keeps making more and they fall off . I have used blueberry fertilizer and water regularly, what am I doing wrong.  I live in union city near the foothills, warm and nice weather bordering on hot in the summer.   Any help will be appreciated.  Thank you, Merilyn SilvaHere is the answer I received from Manny the next day..............Return letter states clearly "IT COULD BE LACK OF POLLINATION" why say that if the plant does not need it.???????   Manny Sousa <[email protected]> May 16 at 8:15 AM To [email protected] CC Becky Officer Robert Gray Tom Burchell M Silva <[email protected]>Merilyn, It sound like it could be a lack of pollinazation. Many times blueberry flowers will die and fall off  if it has not been pollinated. Its fairly common for this to happen. Do you have other varieties of blueberries in your garden? If not, I would try introducing another variety . Try and stick with a Southern Highbush varieties that will do better in your area as a pollinizer such as O’Neal. Misty, Sunshine blue, etc.. Let us know if you have any other questions and thank you for purchasing one of our Blueberries. Thank You, Manny Sousa The Burchell Nursery Inc. Cell (209)485-4552 Bus (209)845-8733 Fax (209)847-1972 www.burchellnursery.com www.tomorrowsharvest.net email: [email protected] MANY PHONE CALLS AND NO REPLIES,. ALWAYS TOLD MANNY WAS NOT AVAILABLE TO HELP ME. SO I SENT THIS EMAILNOTE THE TIME  THIS WAS SENT 9:55AM Aug 10 at 9:55 AMTo Manny Sousa CC Becky Officer Robert Gray Tom Burchell Message body           I am sending this email to all to advice you that due to the lack of effort on your behalf and all the excuses, nothing has been done to help me. I have been put off since my complaint May 15th of this year and the excuses I get boil down to Manny doesn't have time to fix this, he's on vacation , he's gone again, his wife is sick. It would appear this is his company and he handles everything or in my case he handles nothing.           I see no alternative at this point but to file a complaint with the Revdex.com and contact the state attorney's office as I believe there are probably a lot of people that were defrauded by this company for the same reason I was, false labeling, that is fraud.          I will do whatever I need to to fix this problem myself.                                    �...⇄ Cordially, Merilyn Silva  NOTE THE TIME OF THE REPLY------JUST 19 MINUTES AFTER MY EMAIL.  Manny Sousa <[email protected]> Aug 10 at 10:14 AM To M SilvaCCBecky Officer Robert Gray Tom Burchell Message body Merilyn, I apologize for any frustration. It is not our intention to put you off. You may have  called the office when I was on Vacation or when my wife was having surgery. I was not aware you had called. I sincerely apologize for any inconvenience.  If you would like I can send you another blueberry to cross pollinate your pink lemonade blueberry. If you would like to call me or send me your address I can work on this as soon as possible. Thank You, Manny Sousa The Burchell Nursery Inc. Cell:1-209-485-4552  HERE IS MY REPLY: M Silva <[email protected]> Aug 10 at 4:11 PM To Manny Sousa CC Becky Officer Robert Gray Tom Burchell Message body Dear Sirs:          I just got home and opened my emails. I did receive your reply but the Revdex.com said it will take about 3 days, so I have not contacted the attorney generals office yet.           I find it odd that you could not contact me in the LAST THREE MONTHS but now that I have gotten fed up and moved on to other means of dealing with your company that all of a sudden you can answer me in 12 MINUTES. This just confirms my suspicions that you were trying to get rid of me by ignoring me.           I will wait until you have heard from the Revdex.com and how they feel about your fraud before I move on or accept your offer of another tree, really, at this point.           This is not how you run a business and defrauding the public is not a good way to get repeat customers.                                   ...⇄ Sincerely, Merilyn Silva    IF THEY CHOOSE TO BLAME ANOTHER COMPANY THAT IS THEIR BUSINESS, THE TAG ON THE PLANT BELONGS TO THEM NOT ANOTHER NURSERY, OR I WOULD BE DEALING WITH BRIGG'S??? OBVIOUSLY I WILL NEED ANOTHER PLANT OR THIS WILL NEVER GIVE BERRIESTHEY DO NEED TO SEND ME ANOTHER PLANT THAT IS LARGE ENOUGH TO BLOOM AND POLLINATE, ALSO SOME MORE SOIL AND FERTILIZER OR PAY THESE ITEMS.   ANYTHING LESS IS NOT FAIR AT THIS POINT AS THEY HAVE CAUSED ALL THIS TIME AND EFFORT ON MY BEHALF TRYING TO CONTACT THEM AND SETTLE THIS OVER THE LAST THREE MONTHS.                                    �...⇄ MERILYN SILVA  S

I received a complaint on August 23 about a blueberry plant that was purchased on 6/6/2014 according to the customer. The complaint states that the blueberry plant we sold was not self-fruitful and after the first year of fruiting it has not had any fruit since. We are a wholesale nursery and we...

purchased the blueberry plants for re-sale to customers in Northern California from [redacted] Nursery in Washington. The nursery in Washington states that the plant is self fruitful and should not need a pollinator to bear fruit. A search on the web for 'Pink Lemonade Blueberry' reveals that it in fact it does not need a pollinator to fruit. Here are some examples from other retailers and wholesalers. http://www.armstronggarden.com/pink-lemonade http://www.homedepot.com/p/OnlinePlantCenter-3-Gal-Pink-Lemonade-Blueberry-Fruit...⇄ http://www.starkbros.com/products/berry-plants/blueberry-plants/pink-lemonade-bl...⇄ http://www.burpee.com/fruit/blueberry-plants/blueberry-pink-lemonade-prod001577....⇄ We use the information supplied by [redacted] Nursery in Washington and rely upon them to make our own tags. Pink Lemonade Blueberry was developed by USDA as a widely adapted variety. Because it is a growing, living plant the environment will have an affect on its growing and fruiting habit. Growing the plant in full sun, part shade, wet soil, dry soil, how cold or how hot the location is will all affect the plant. We have no way of controlling where the customer plants this variety or control on how they take care of it. We have never had a complaint about this plant in the four years we have been selling it or other plants we sell. As the customer states the plant did bear fruit in the first year so the plant is capable of producing fruit. We do not know nor can we control what the customer did this year to cause it not to fruit. This plant has been released from USDA since 1996 and is successfully grown all around the country. When the customer emailed us on May 16 we suggested adding another variety to see if that would increase fruit production even though this variety is self fruitful. We also contacted the customer on August 10th and offered to send another blueberry. We are sorry that her plant is not bearing fruit like she thought, but we cannot control how the plant grows or how it will respond to its growing environment. We will not change the wording on the tags because that would mean all the nurseries in the country would need to change their tags as well. We follow the instructions on the tag that is supplied by [redacted] Nursery where we purchased the plants and the information provided by USDA who are the ones responsible for developing that variety. It is not fraud to simply reproduce language on a plant tag from the original source of the information about the plant. We state on our tags and advertise the information that most accurately represents the plant in a typical growing environment. We cannot control the environment of the plant so these instructions were meant to be used as general guide lines. Results will vary from location to location.Sent on: 8/24/2016 2:14:35 PM