Northern Trading Company

Review: I ordered 6 plants from this company. I followed the included instructions and not one of them ever showed signs of life. The website says free replacement in a year with the shipping label. I have the shipping label and contacted the company they sent me a form to fill out and want me to pay shipping (which I can understand) but they want me to pay 1/4 of the original price of the trees. This completely conflicts with their free replacement within a year policy that is on their website.Desired Settlement: I would like new trees sent out to me and I will cover the shipping of $8.95 cents. I do not want to have to pay an additional amount equal to 1/4 of the original costs.

Business

Response:

We offer the following compromise to the written warranty as a solution to this matter. Please note that we would expect that the conditions of the warranty are followed in the 2nd of planting.

We will email this customer a label for the return trees and the post office will

give him, free of charge, a priority shipping tube. If the trees do not

fit simply cut them down. The replacement trees will be free and the fee of $8.95 this customer has offered to pay will

cover the shipping label we email to the customer. The only amount the customer will have to pay is

$8.95. I also need to send this customer a different type of replacement form, which must be completed and sent in with the dead trees. Thank You.

Consumer

Response:

[A default letter is provided here which indicates your acceptance of the business's response. If you wish, you may update it before sending it.]

I have reviewed the response made by the business in reference to complaint ID [redacted], and find that this resolution is satisfactory to me.

My wife and I ordered trees from Northern Trading Company in September of 2015 for our newly constructed home.
I was told by Northern Trading Company that our order would ship when the plants would go into dormant state which required the ground to reach a certain temperature for that to happen.
As weeks turned into months and the cold weather was setting in, I emailed the company about our order status. I was told in at least 5 separate emails that our trees were on order and would be coming when the trees went dormant. By the 1st week into December 2015, I was becoming a little anxious that our trees wouldn't arrive before our ground froze. So I emailed again and was told that our trees would ship by Dec. 8th or 9th, 2015.
Today is December 21st and we still have NO TREES. So I emailed the company today and just received a response that they NEVER even had enough stock to fulfill my order in the first place and we could carry our order over into 2016 or get a refund. So essentially, I gave Northern Trading Company a loan, interest free, for 4 months. I would like to have a bank give me that kind of a deal.
DO NOT DO BUSINESS WITH THIS COMPANY.

Review: Ordered live plants, they arrived dried up after a 23 day shipping time. 23 days in the South will ruin plants, even in April & May.Desired Settlement: Full refund.

Business

Response:

Hello,

Thank You for bringing this matter to our attention. The good news is that your purchase came with a warranty policy as detailed on the following web page: http://www.northwoodsnursery.us/pages/Replacement-Warranty

I will outline the warranty policy for you, however first note that as stated the plants you received were sent dormant and sealed in plastic for a long journey. When they arrived they might have looked dried out and dead, however they were very much alive.

Okay that said the first part of your warranty is that after your plants arrive if for any reason you are not happy with your purchase return the entire order in the original package within (14) days of receiving them and you can receive a full refund no questions asked. Okay the 2nd part of your warranty is why we kept badgering you to keep your shipping label for (1) year as the warranty states that If you should decide to keep your plants and they fail within the first year the nursery will replace them completely free of charge. Simply mail the shipping label from the outside of the package the plants arrived in along with a note informing them what you want replaced to the nursery and address shown on the label. They will then send back the requested replacements as soon as possible. We can assist with your claim if you prefer to send the label to us.

Also note that as stated we do not grow plants and the plants your received did not come from us, they are drop shipped directly from the grower. The warranty policy associated with the plants you purchased is not ours either and is also provided by the grower. we do not offer any warranty in addition to the warranty offered by the grower. We cannot alter or change any policies associated with the grower's warranty.

If you have any questions or we can assist you further please do not hesitate to contact us. If you want to review the policies you agreed to in our checkout they can be found on the following web page: http://www.northwoodsnursery.us/pages/What-To-Expect

Thank You.

Review: I ordered 10 Norwegian Spruce. They came about 2 weeks ago. The had mold on them like they had been sitting in the bags for weeks. I went ahead and soaked them overnight and them planted them the next day in very good soil and soaked them down. As I expected even though I kept them well watered the plants were dead and show no sign of life. I contacted Northern and they said I had to contact the shipper on the address label. Unfortunately the label had been lost. They said too bad your out of luck. It was defective merchandise in the first place and should not have been shipped. Totally uncooperative to resolve the situation.

Thanks

[redacted]Desired Settlement: Get good trees in time to plant

Business

Response:

Hello,

As explained in our policies and in numerous email we are merely a dealer and not the actual grower of the plants that we sell on our website. As stated the warranty policies are not provided by us, they are manufactures warranties and we cannot change the terms of the warranty as it is written by another company. Live plants come with a (1) year free replacement warranty offered by the grower, however they require the original shipping label/packing list from the outside of the package to claim this replacement...No Exceptions. Because of this requirement we put warnings on every product page and send numerous warnings via email. Customers are also required to read this policy in our checkout and accept this policy by checking a box before they are allowed to checkout. The warranty also states that if the customer wants to return the plants for any reason they may do so within (14) days of receiving them and the grower will grant a full refund.

In this complaint the buyer mentioned that we responded with "Too Bad", which is completely false. We keep logs of all email and this customer was only reminded of the warranty policy, which they should have already known about and we have no record of this customer informing us that they lost the label. In the past if a buyer informs us they didn't read the policy and through out the label we offered to replace them for half price. When this happens we basically have to purchase the buyer new plants out of our pocket. We would prefer to refund this customer for the plants, however not the shipping which we think is more than fair considering. Thank You.

Northern Trading Co

Review: I purchased over 85 trees, I followed planting instructions and watered regularly - non of the trees survived. I contacted the company immediately when the trees started to die, they told me to wait because it was because of the shock of being replanted. Every tree died! I spent over $400 planting these trees not including time and help from several people. I informed this company that I wanted to return the dead trees and be issued a refund - this was sent by email to which I have a copy. The only reply from the company was giving me an address to send the dead trees - they never said anything, at that time, about not giving me a refund. I know their policy on refunds - THEY JUST DON'T DO IT. I would not have spent the $10 to send the trees back if they were not going to refund my money. Since none of the trees lived, if this company wants to pay the cost I put out the first time (over $400) to plant the trees, I would accept the replacement trees, but I should not foot the additional expense, the second time, to replant the trees that will probably die! They said that 1% usually die and they will replace the dead trees. I lost 100% and this just indicates there was something wrong with the product. I believe they intentionally sell a product that will not grow. I would like to know their cost on these trees! There is no guarantee the replacements will live! I am well aware of their refund policy, but there must be an exception when you loose 100% of the trees and the customer has put out more money, on planting, than the cost of the trees. I would like to know where they purchase these plants!Desired Settlement: I expect a full refund because 100% of the trees died, not the 1% they claim normally die and my expense was much higher than the cost of the trees! I didn't expect that 100% of the trees would die! I don't want to hear more about their replacement policy and there is no guarantee the replacements will live! Just refund my money and consider the matter closed!

Business

Response:

Hello,

In response to your complaint I wanted to again explain to you that the warranty policy provides a refund within (14) days of receiving the plants and/or free replacements if the plants fail within (1) year of receiving them. You received your plants in October 2012 and you first contacted us on Dec. 5th, 2012, which was already past the deadline for returning them for a refund according to the warranty at which time we asked you what season you preferred your replacements to be sent. The warranty Policies can been seen at: http://www.northerntradingco.com/pages/Warranty-Return-Policy. We place a link to these policies on every product page and in every email we send throughout the ordering process. You must also check a box in our checkout stating you have read these policies before you are allowed to complete your purchase.

That said I am still willing to work with you on this, however we cannot be responsible for your planting cost and it is inappropriate to ask how much our costs are. Also I do not see where we would gain by intentionally sending dead trees, we even state in the 1st sentence of the planting instructions to do a scratch test prior to the pre-soaking step to make sure the plants are alive. You paid $248.13, not the $303.93 you stated in the complaint. $31.98 of the amount was for packing & shipping. First, I am willing to send you 85 new trees during our spring shipping window and although the warranty says you are responsible for the shipping I will pay for the shipping. I know you said you didn't want to go through the cost of planting again, however I'm not sure what cost would be involved here unless you purchase a seedling planting tool for around $20 there should be no cost and only about 3 hrs at best to plant 85 seedlings this size. We do not have a record of your return as mentioned in your complaint, however if you give me the tracking number I will give you a partial refund of $95.00 in lieu of sending you replacement seedlings. Also note that we sent you (12) free plants in addition to the 85 seedlings, which are not covered under the warranty policy. Please let us know how you want to proceed. Thank You.

Northern Trading Co

Purchased 8 trees from Northern Trading, all arrived dead. Replacement trees arrived in the fall and none of the trees lived either. Nothern Trading does not stand behind their product. In summary they partner with a shoddy nursery that can't ship bare root trees with any success, and they take a "hands-off" approach to resolving any issues.
I would stay away from Norther Trading and chose a reputable nursery.