Home › Forums › West Seattle Rants & Raves › RANT – Julius Rosso Nursery
- This topic is empty.
-
AuthorPosts
-
August 18, 2008 at 9:38 pm #587804
RonMParticipantWe had some yard work done by a nice gentleman. His work was exceptional, so we asked him to select some plants for our yard. He was shopping for several customers. He selected a 16 nice looking Azalias marked at $6.99 each. When he brought them, he discovered that he’d been charged $23.99 each! Clearly a mistake had been made. When he called the nursery he was told that all sales are final, but they would take them back for exchange of equal value. We hadn’t expected to budget that much. My wife and I took the plants back ourselves with the gardener on Saturday. The woman in attendance became immediately angry and argumentative. She admitted that the plants had been priced in error. She blamed the “stupid Mexicans” for incorrectly marking the plants. That remark alone steeled my spine and I was determined. I think to get rid of us she finally agreed to take the plants back and give credit to our gardener’s account, and she did. As we were leaving she followed us to the our cars screaming to us, “Never come back here again, I don’t want your business!” Our business was finished, but I told her that we certainly would never come back again, and neither would any of our friends! After leaving my wife begin relaying this experience to our Filipino friends and they in turn started calling all of the Hispanics they know…
August 18, 2008 at 11:43 pm #634529
mellaw6565MemberI’m sorry this happened – really makes me angry when people are so bigoted. Have you contacted the owners? I heard they are a long time Seattle business and maybe they are not aware of the employee’s bad behavior.
August 19, 2008 at 12:04 am #634530
charlabobParticipantI hope they aren’t aware of it. I raved and recommended about Rosso’s a few weeks ago. I called to let them know that this, if true, would make me and other longtime fans very unhappy. I hope we hear something soon — this really is one of my favorite places.
August 19, 2008 at 12:12 am #634531
TheVelvetBulldogMemberJulius Rosso is a long-time Seattle community member and nursery owner – in fact, I went to high school with one of his sons at WSea High. RonM – please DO call them and talk to a manager, I know this isn’t business as usual for them. I’ve had great experiences there, both as a regular civilian customer and as a wholesale buyer.
August 19, 2008 at 12:22 am #634532
flowerpetalMemberI’m glad to read so many favorable replies. I was speechless to read how you were treated RonM. It just doesn’t fit with JR.
August 19, 2008 at 5:01 am #634533
ellenaterMemberLet us know. Racists suck. And so does lame customer service.
August 19, 2008 at 6:20 am #634534
WSBKeymasterI would second and third the notes of having past excellent experience at this nursery. If you don’t want to call them, at least a note in the mail. Having supervised large numbers of people before, I know sometimes it’s impossible to know if you have a customer-service problem – until a customer lets you know what happened with an employee.
August 19, 2008 at 1:39 pm #634535
charlabobParticipantRon, I agree you should call directly. The person I talked with about this (see #3) is very concerned and will dig into it today. It isn’t that I’m doubting your acccount — it’s just so different from our experience. In fact, we once misunderstood the price of mulch and they sold us the packaged stuff at the lower price for bulk. That really wasn’t necessary, but it was nice.
August 19, 2008 at 3:07 pm #634536
RonMParticipantOur gardener spoke to a gentleman by the name of Mohammed, but Mohammed wasn’t there on Saturday. I didn’t get the name of the woman who we dealt with, but she gave us the impression that she was part of the family who owns the place. I had done some business with them years ago, but this experience was all I could stomach. This has started a ripple in the Filipino community (my wife and our gardener are Filipino).
If the owners are not a part of this it doesn’t matter to us now, I want nothing more to do with them. We concluded our business at the West Seattle Nursery where their Azalias of equal size were priced at about $14 each. They don’t have the huge inventory of Rosso’s, but they were much more pleasant to deal with.
August 19, 2008 at 3:51 pm #634537
charlabobParticipantIn other words, you are not going to contact them — you’re simply going to post your side of the story on a forum with a huge audience unseen audience and hope you can hurt their business.
I will still wait to hear from Rosso, but, as far as I’m concerned, your attitude definitely devalues your original rant. Sounds simply like another bomb. The downside of the extreme democracy that is the internet.
August 19, 2008 at 4:42 pm #634538
RonMParticipantIn other words, we are obligated to continue dialogue with a business that has treated us in such a way? I may have been mistaken, but the woman we were dealing with represented herself as the final authority or the owner in this case. Am I obligated to investigate this business further to find a “real†owner and then expect a civil resolution at some point? I think we could reasonably expect further confrontation and anger based upon our experience.
At this point I couldn’t care less about this business, only to say that we will have nothing further to do with them. We have no interest in their continued success or failure, they failed us in a prejudicial way (in our opinion) and it’s done.
This blog provided a platform to express our experience. You may express your opinions of its value and our credibility any way you like. However, when I burn my hand on a stove, it need happen only once!
August 19, 2008 at 6:19 pm #634539
mellaw6565MemberRon – the problem is that you are slamming a business where the owners may have no idea that this took place; and you deprive them of the opportunity to fire an inappropriate and obviously racist employee. Don’t assume that she was part of the family – many employees get too big for their britches when the boss is not around.
Give the business a chance to rectify the situation by contacting them – you never know, they may respond to the whole Fillipino community in a great way!
Otherwise, your rant will languish away until someone else runs into the same problem with this employee – would you want someone else to experience what you did? Just slamming the business isn’t going to fix it – only by contacting and confronting the owners will things change, IMO.
August 19, 2008 at 8:36 pm #634540
nwnativeMemberI’ve been shopping there for several years, but this past spring I purchased two of the same plants (same pot size) and one was marked $5 more than the other. I brought it to the attention of the person checking me out and she apologized, sighed and said it’s hard sometimes to get everything priced the same. The lower price was the correct one. I’ve always found them attentive and easy to work with. Please do contact them about your experience. You really do not know why this individual reacted that way, had there been some other incident that day? was she ill? She might not be a racist, but the statement certainly wasn’t necessary.
August 19, 2008 at 11:36 pm #634541
ellenaterMemberI think Ron has a very valid point. He gets to choose where he shops and posted on here to let others know. Just because some of you had great experiences, doesn’t mean he is obligated to follow up. Maybe some of you should follow up…
August 19, 2008 at 11:44 pm #634542
mellaw6565MemberEllenater – why would I follow up if I’m not the one involved? Our point was that if you are going to slam a business on this or any forum, then you should at least contact the ACTUAL business owners before you post so it can be determined whether this is just a rogue employee or a new business practice.
It’s only fair to the business…..
August 19, 2008 at 11:50 pm #634543
beachdrivegirlParticipantI have to disagree here. I have been in a store before and publicly dissed the business w/out bothering to address the business first. It sounds like RonM wasted enough of his time and was treated poorly by a snotty cashier whom implied that she was a decision maker. PErsonally, my time is more valuable, and i am assuming ronm’s is to then to further address the business in question. He is entitled to feel however he wants about a business regardless about what you, me, or anyone else thinks. and ronm that i am sorry that you were treated so poorly.
August 19, 2008 at 11:55 pm #634544
RSMemberYep, I agree with Ellenater and BDG. If I’d been given crap customer service and insulted by an employee who claimed to be a decision maker, I don’t think I’d feel any compelling need to re-initiate contact with them, unless it was to demand an apology. And even then, there are other places to shop that haven’t insulted this hypothetical me, so I’d probably spend my money elsewhere. It’s not RonM’s responsibility to make sure the owners know that they have rude and racist employees.
August 19, 2008 at 11:57 pm #634545
ellenaterMembermellaw6565,
You should follow-up only if you want to. Also, it is not at all his responsibility to contact the store. That employee made it personal and if it were me, I’d have done the exact same thing. It is the owner’s responsibility to hire good people. That may suck, but it’s true. She may have been lying about her role at the nursery but I really don’t think it’s up to him to figure that out. And as far as him posting his experience on here, he has every right to do that without contacting them. My suggestion was aimed at someone who patronized the nursery and maybe knew the owners. I do think it’s lame that people on here are sort of demanding that he contact them. Like I said, that woman made it personal… It’s not up to him to follow-up to make the rest of you feel better. He’s simply sharing his experience.
August 20, 2008 at 12:28 am #634546
charlabobParticipantI receiver a response from Rosso’s that satisfies me and I will continue to shop there enthusiastically.
NB, Ron — I’m not saying you were wrong at all in your perceptions; I do believe that anything that happened was an anomaly and won’t happen again.
Whether the business decides to follow up publicly is up to them – I wouldn’t :-) But I still love Rosso’s and will continue to recommend them!
BTW, I agree that everyone can post whatever they want — I can have an opinion about their methodology (and express it) and others can agree or disagree. That’s life in the small town.
August 20, 2008 at 3:24 am #634547
melissaParticipantWow. I’m kind of appalled. I don’t see why Ron should launch what amounts to a full-scale attack on the nursery, representing it as a racist establishment when he dealt with one dreadful employee. He’s under the impression that she’s part of the family, but doesn’t know and doesn’t seem to care. For all he knows, she may have been filling in for someone. She may be a member of the family, but I fail to see why an entire business should be lambasted for the misdeeds of one employee.
If he doesn’t wish to contact the business, that’s fine, but if that’s the case, he shouldn’t damn it publicly, as he hasn’t give management an opportunity to make it right. If he has contacted someone in a position of power at the business and received no satifaction, that’s another thing; in that case, it’s perfectly fair to holler to the hills about the behavior.
August 20, 2008 at 4:26 am #634548
mellaw6565MemberWell said Melissa – my point exactly. Ron’s post is an example of people who like to hear themselves rant, whine and complain but do nothing to address or rectify the situation. Don’t accuse a business or individual of bad behavior without knowing all the facts on both sides.
I said before in my OP, I’m sorry this happened to Ron, but his refusal to contact the business further to investigate and lodge his complaint appropriately (and not on this blog) lends much less credibility to his post.
I’m like Charlabob – I’ll continue to support JR unless I hear that Ron’s situation really did occur and was actually perpetrated by those in power. Until then, it’s just a whining rumor.
August 20, 2008 at 4:29 am #634549
mellaw6565MemberEllenater – He’s sharing his experience on this Blog because he wants others to know how bad JR is and not to do business there. Why should I take his word for it when the owner hasn’t been contacted? Why should an entire business suffer from a rogue employee’s behavior, especially when the owners haven’t been made aware of the situation?
If you’re going to complain about a business – take it to the source first before you attempt to label that business on this blog as unworthy or disreputable.
August 20, 2008 at 4:42 am #634550
HPMembermellaw, when you posted your rant on the blog regarding the bank robbery and the behavior of the police officers did you first call the supervisor or captain of these officers and give them a chance for explination before you posted on the blog? Im just guessing not because of the short time between the actual incident and your comment. I bring this up because ron was treated bad and this was one of reactions to post on the blog, I am in customer service and it is common knowledge that if you give bad service your customer will tell ten friends and if you give good service they will tell one. Bad service carries much more power than good service not that it is right thats just how it is. Imo
August 20, 2008 at 5:33 am #634551
mellaw6565MemberHP, actually I did call and complain. Your response – “I’m guessing not” – give me a break. I think my posts on this blog are clear – I don’t comment or suggest unless I also “walk the walk” on the subject. In short, I practice what I preach.
I’ve been to JR and treated well at all times. If someone cares enough to smear the reputation of a business on a public forum, then they should have at least the guts to complain directly to the owners to see if it really is the policy of the business to treat customers that way.
I’m not the first to suggest going to the owner, but yet, HP, every time I post on several subjects you attack me. I don’t know you and frankly based on your posts don’t want to. So get off my back – I’ve never been personal with you and I would appreciate it if you would stop being so with me.
August 20, 2008 at 5:47 am #634552
charlabobParticipantThere’s a big difference between telling 10 friends and telling 50,000 strangers. I happen to believe the latter creates a bit more responsibility. As I said, I spoke with one of the owners, and I will continue to shop there. I am not questioning the veracity Ron’s story — just the tactic of broad-casting one experience, especially the allegation of racism which is not taken lightly by anyone, including the owners of the business.
-
AuthorPosts
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.