mme_hardy | Customer service 101

The nurseries I cherish in my area have all gone out of business. There's now only one that isn't part of a chain; I never bothered with them when the three other nurseries I favored were alive. For two years I have been trying to get the survivor to order a moderately-obscure citrus, the "chinotto" or myrtle-leaved sour orange. Inevitably by the time I got back, they'd have lost the order. And I mean completely lost, leafing through all the pages and no record of my existence. Sunday, the fourth (at least) time I asked, the desk employee took all my details and promised to have the owner call me Monday.

Today they called me and said, sorry, that plant isn't available, try again next fall.

So I did a desperation Google. As usual, I found lots of plants that couldn't legally be shipped to California (citrus quarantine). Then I found a link to the wholesale grower I'd told the local nursery sometimes stocked chinotto.

The wholesale grower had it currently in stock, and it turned out that they don't have a minimum order. I ordered it directly from them. I am a great deal less than impressed.