Great question Stuart as I had wanted to discuss this at some point, so I guess now is good.

First thing is to let you know that we will make sure you understand we are on your side. “Don’t worry, we will replace the plant! Now, let’s see how we can make that replacement plant work for you.”

Hopefully you are calm now that you realize that you will have the dead plant replaced. We can discuss what might have happened to the dead plant so it won’t happen to the new one. It could have been a plant that would have never had survived no matter what. Generally that’s not the case, but it does happen.

As far as being worried about the three months that has passed since planting, so what! You have been coming to my garden center for awhile now and I am not about to loose a customer like you over a plant. Beside they were dormant and how could we know until they leafed out.

Let’s make sure that you used the right soil conditioners, starter fertilizer, and variety of plant for your situation. You did everything right and the plant failed? Take this new one and let’s try again. Make sure you keep us informed if anything doesn’t look right with the new planting. Sometimes we can solve the problem if we find out early enough. Don’t be embarrassed to call, e-mail, or come in, it’s our job to help you be successful in your gardening pursuits.

It’s interesting to see how little of this type of problem we deal with. People who shop here have learned that our plants are quality and if something goes wrong they can count on us. We do have on lady who told me point blank that she likes Home Depot’s policy of taking back anything, anytime. She asked what are policies were and I said “your satisfaction”. She then brought back some garden tools that had been used, but didn’t satisfy her anymore. They work as described; she just doesn’t want them now. We credited her credit card.

This lady has done this in the past and its getting to the point where we just might “fire” her as a customer. I haven’t figured out yet how to do it, but she will never be satisfied and is not the kind of customer we want to deal with. In 24 years in the business there are only a handfull of customers that are not worth dealing with. Usually people figure out what type of store we are and either like us, or go elsewhere.I have said before that the small independent garden center cannot please everyone all the time. Pick you target audience and serve them with remarkable service and let the others that will never be satisfied go.

That one of the hardest part of being in the retail nursery business. While the replacement plant you will receive from us costs us money, it will never be as valuable as a good customer. We need to think about the long haul and the importance of customer relations. So many retailers think the customer is taking advantage of them like the lady above. Really, most are just confused and want to know what happened and are thrilled to have a place they can go for plant help.

Stuart, let us know how the “returning the plant trip” goes. It will be interesting to find out how they deal with your concerns.