Steve - Roses Unlimited have AWESOME roses. They really really do. I drool over their list, know that what I order is what I will be getting, and have an assortment that can't be matched locally. That said... I will probably put in 1 more order from them for Star of the Nile & English Perfume as they're the only ones who have those roses. They will be on the absolute bottom of my list to order from because they send out teeny little gallon bands that just do NOT make it here. My area is too hot/arrid/intense for those poor babies. Their "2 year old roses" that were on sale last year were honestly about half-to-3/4 the thickness of a pencil. I don't think I lost the 4 I ordered... but I'm quite sure that they probably just will not survive the winter due to their teensiness. Pat's a very nice lady and the young lady who answers the phone is always very polite. But I hate not being able to order online, I hate having to pay via mail, and they are not very quick to respond. All this said & done, that's why they're on the the bottom of my list. I've only got .. 2? roses that have survived 2 years from them.. and I've ordered probably 30. Only one that did marvelously is Orange Velvet. Even my Rhapsody in Blue from them is still a very spindly rose. I ordered another RiB from GVR last year and that rose is about 10x the thickness in canes as the one I got from RU.
But as far as J&P, I will NEVER order from them again. They did me wrong in a bad way with almost destroyed my mom's mother's day.. here's what I put in DG's Watchdog:
On Jul 2, 2008, skiekitty Parker, CO
(Zone 5b) wrote:
OMG, I cannot begin to describe my nightmare with J&P. I figured that this was a completely top-notch company until I tried to order something! For Mother's Day 08, I decided to order for my mom a Simplicity Hedge Roses - 6 roses (yellow). I ordered on April 21 08 with delivery around May 6th (my mom lives in Zone 3 in NNY) as Mother's Day was May 11th. By May 7th, I don't have a confirmation number and my order # was not accessable on their website. I had to call them up to figure out what was going on! First operator on 5/7 told me that it was shipped out via USPS. I explained I had ordered this to be shipped UPS as the USPS doesn't deliver well to where my mom lives (Amish country). She said, sorry, that's how it went. I asked for a confirmation # to track it, no such thing. Frustrated, I called on 5/8 to get a tracking # and I was told that this was shipped out on 5/3 via UPS! I explained that I was just told the day before that it was shipped out USPS and THIS operator didn't understand why I was told that. I told her that I didn't care, as long as it got to my mom before Mother's Day (in 3 days) and that I had ordered this 3 weeks previously & my CC had been charged back on April 23. In frustration, I called AGAIN (still, my order was not accessable on their website) on 5/9 and was told this time that it was shipped out on 5/3.. FEDEX! WHAT??? What on heck is going on? What's, next, Pony Express? So I *do* get a tracking #.. and it has a delivery status for 5/12, the day AFTER Mother's Day! I call immediately back and raise 9million different kinds of **** and they did refund 20% and refund the shipping.
Long story short, my mom ended up getting them on the 10th (?), but they were all dead. Being shipped from California to NNY in a plain cardboard box w/the humidity just killed every little leaf on all 6 roses. I called them back AGAIN, but they couldn't find my order due to the fact that they'd just been bought up, had new software, blahblahblah. They *did* promise to ship out new roses (they only have a 60 day guarantee? Walmart has a 1 year!), but since this was on June 30, 08, there's no guarantee my mom would get them THIS YEAR. Both she'd & I gotten better service & plants from BigBoxes! Never Again!!!!
