Bulbs > Galanthus

Ebayer seller problems continue

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PhilG:
I thought I should inform people about my recent experience of buyer snowdrops from ebayer ricpo-754086.

I won an auction for G. koenenianus. Postage was prompt.
The plant was posted on 1st Feb and arrived on the morning of the 5th - 4 days in the post.

When I opened the box, I found a small non-flowering plant (the seller made no mention, that this is what was being offered), that was BADLY WILTED. A very small amount of moss was included in the bag with the plant, which was BONE DRY!!
The seller claimed it was moist when posted. But moist moss in a bag doesn't go bone dry in just 4 days.
I sat the bulb in water as soon as I got it, in the morning. Througout the day it continued to wilt and by the time I went to bed, it hadn't recovered any (over 12 hours later). I expected it to be dead when I woke up, but found that it had finally taken up water. So hopefully in a few years I'll get to find what he did send me??

But even worse than this - Even though plants this small can't normally be identified, G. koenenianus is so distinct that it was clearly not the plant advertised.
As we know G. koenenianus has heavily rigged underside of leaves and has supervolute vernation. This plant has no ridges and applanate vernation.
As I already have 2 seedgrown plants of this species (I wanted a 3rd for genetic variation), I know that these features are obvious on even small plants.

Initially the seller said "I will check the labeling on my pots", as well as saying mistakes are easily made. Mistakes can happen, Yes, but they should be 'easily made'. After further contact, the seller said nothing about any mix up, just "I do know a lot about snowdrops but even so i don't class myself as a expert".
So I'm guessing he doesn't have G. koenenianus?

Now fair play, he did give an immediate refund. But a small, half dead plant, that wasn't the species ordered, deserved nothing less than negetive feedback (in my books).

I know he has made other sales this year of 'G. koenenianus', so if you are one of those buyers, have a good look at the leaves!

annew:
That's so disappointing for you. Would be interesting to see his feedback.

PhilG:
Thanks Anne. Yeh rouge sellers are a problem to all of us.

Interesting developements, which I think speak loudly about this seller.

He started by telling me 'his brother' lives round the corner/over the road from me (a strange coincidence as he is from North England and I'm in SE Kent). He also sent me details about the front of my house to further prove he lives over the road - He has clearly been on Google Street View.
He also said 'his brother' bought from me 2 weeks ago and hasn't left feedback yet! another strange coincidence, especially as I haven't sold anything in over 2 Months! Another veiled threat.

He says in his feedback "These bulbs were bought from a Chelsea award winning grower" .... "we got intuch with the Chelsea grower and he could not believe the feedback". He doesn't say who this supposed grower is and hasn't responded to my requests to know who it is.

Then this evening he's also messaged me "Please could you revise my feedback ime not happy with myself as i am having nothing but bad days
please do it for me."

Maybe I'm being 'too hard'? but this seller sounds like nothing but a fraudster to me.
So if anyone has bought anything from him, BEWARE. Thankfully for me, I bought a species that is so distinctive, it couldn't be mistaken with anything else. But if you get one of these very small plants sent as something else that isn't distinctive, you'd never know until years later, by which time it's too late.

PhilG:
Unsurprisingly, some (and probably all) the photo's he uses aren't his!

I've tracked down the origin of 2 of them.
His G. koenenianus photo is from Paul Barney's Edulis website.
His G. "Chameleon" photo is from Richard Bashford.

I wonder who he pinched the rest from.
Who wants to bet on whether his plants are actually 'Organic' as stated ?

PhilG:
Paul has contacted him for using his photo and this guy had the check to tell Paul it wasn't. Paul is taking it up with ebay.

I've reported him to Trading Standards via Citizens Advice.
But when I tried to report him to Action Fraund (as Citizens Advice recommended) I was told it wasn't 'fraud', as I'd been refunded, so there was nothing they could do.
All I want to do is stop others suffering and loosing out at the hands of this guy - it shouldn't be so hard.

He's also selling 'seed bombs' which he claims contain Native Wildflowers, but also contain Red Flax (native to Algeria), Black Cumin (a spice from the Middle East),
Sweet Ayssum (presumably Sweet Alyssum) and Crown Daisy ( Native to the Meditteranean).

I just hope Trading Standards will eventaully deal with this guy

What am I doing wrong when trying to attach photo's?
I've just tried to add a pic of 'his' growing guide - which is probably from someone else.
I click on the Attachments option and select the photo from my comp.
But when I preview, a black box shows up with - Attachment C:\fakepath\
I had exactly the same yesterday when I wanted to add the pic of this wilted plant. What am I doing wrong???

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