Money Moral Dilemma: Should I return the refund I got for 'dead' plants I revived?

bigalinsk

The contract was for an on-time delivery of the plants in good condition. Neither of these conditions were met, so no return of the refund. The fact that you benefited after reviving the plants is obviously on your mind, so I would place a further order with the company so they make a margin on an order that they would not otherwise have had. 

adeo

staggered said:

Ordinarily, if plants arrived late and in poor condition, that would be entirely the company's fault.  But during lockdown, particularly during the early stages, delivery services were really badly affected.  Maybe they did their very best to get the plants to you quickly and the delays were out of their control?

If I felt they'd done all they could, and had had no problem getting a refund from them, I'd probably offer to pay the refund back.  If I thought they could have done more, or were slow or reluctant to refund me, I wouldn't.

I received plant's within 48 hours after dispatch email via Yodel courier on several different orders and all plant's were in God awful condition IE yellowing or dieing leaves etc that would take approximately 5 to 7 days to develop on a plant that was inside a dark cardboard box! So that tells me they had boxed up plant's up to a week before courier collected from nursery! They literally were taking the proverbial!

REJP

How much money are we talking about?  How many plants?  Were they held up in delivery company's store for so long they looked dead?
Surely there are more important things to worry about than a moral dilemma about which we have so little information.  I would think the plants company have a system in which they recover money for bad delivery service from the company employed to get their plants to customers in good condition.  If they cannot recover the cost of sending you replacements they can always use a more reliable service for deliveries.  If it really keeps you awake at night, phone and tell them plants revived and see if they want money for the replacements.  As stated in other posts, goods should arrive in satisfactory condition, not your problem is it?

B*minx

I'm having a similar situation- I ordered 100 willow whips in April. They came wrapped in black plastic- in the heat wave-and very much the worse for it. I did plant them, all in a row, 10cm apart as advised, and gave them lots and lots of water, but over half of them died. I was in frequent contact with the seller, and I did ask for either a 50% refund or replacement for the dead plants. He has been very obstructive, argumentative and difficult and eventually I opened a paypal dispute, asking for the 50% refund. It seems to be at the last stage, he has come back saying he will offer a full refund but I have to dig up and send back all the plants- and at my own expense (this last bit is in the PP conditions). I'm so annoyed at how petty he's being, as the plants will inevitably die, plus it will leave a big mess in my garden. Is it right that I should have to foot the cost of the return? I am in such a dilemma about what to do. 

dirtmother

No, I wouldn't return the refund. You came by it honestly.
I would ensure they were reviewed honestly and positively, and prioritise them for future custom, ideally sooner rather than later.

MrSnoozy

Ordinarily I would say 'no, keep it', however these days when small businesses are struggling, and as you now appear to have nurtured the now healthy plants that you ordered and received (albeit a bit late - wasn't everything late during lock down?), I would have to say return the refund.
You helping them out won't make or break the company, but if more people are honest and fair, then more small companies will survive this turmoil - give them a chance, and use them for buying plants again!
p.s. - no - I don't work for an on-line plant company, or a small company adversely affected by the virus, I just think it's time for the community spirit of lock down to be part of the new normal...

Danielle_Fraser

People are blaming the company for the plants arriving in poor condition but that could be the fault of the delivery service.  I'd offer to pay back the refund.  They may tell you to keep them for being so honest.

garden_girl_2

B*minx said:

I'm having a similar situation- I ordered 100 willow whips in April. They came wrapped in black plastic- in the heat wave-and very much the worse for it. I did plant them, all in a row, 10cm apart as advised, and gave them lots and lots of water, but over half of them died. I was in frequent contact with the seller, and I did ask for either a 50% refund or replacement for the dead plants. He has been very obstructive, argumentative and difficult and eventually I opened a paypal dispute, asking for the 50% refund. It seems to be at the last stage, he has come back saying he will offer a full refund but I have to dig up and send back all the plants- and at my own expense (this last bit is in the PP conditions). I'm so annoyed at how petty he's being, as the plants will inevitably die, plus it will leave a big mess in my garden. Is it right that I should have to foot the cost of the return? I am in such a dilemma about what to do. 

Have you taken photos of these all the way through to prove this has happened?? Threaten with small claims court. 

adeo

Danielle_Fraser said:

People are blaming the company for the plants arriving in poor condition but that could be the fault of the delivery service.  I'd offer to pay back the refund.  They may tell you to keep them for being so honest.

I received plant's within 48 hours after dispatch email via Yodel courier on several different orders and all plant's were in God awful condition IE yellowing or dieing leaves etc that would take approximately 5 to 7 days to develop on a plant that was inside a dark cardboard box! So that tells me they had boxed up plant's up to a week before courier collected from nursery! They literally were taking the proverbial!

Akashr

I'd say keep the refund. It arrived late and it wasn't in the condition expected. The fact you made use of it due to luck is not relevant.

A similar experience I had was buying gym shorts online which one of the pockets had a hole in on arrival. I contacted them and they sent out a new pair and told me I can dispose of the other pair. I decided to keep using them, however I couldn't use one of the pockets. Whilst I still used them, they weren't fit for purpose if I needed to carry things. The fact it would've been too expensive to send back for the retailer isn't my problem, I just didn't want something going to complete waste. I could've used it as a rag if I wanted.

If you really feel guilty, maybe try ordering from them again to give them another chance, they've acted very reasonably so deserve another try.