Last gardening season, I purchased a collection of dahlias from Swan Island Dahlias which grew, but failed to thrive. I am an avid and experienced gardener, have had dahlias in my garden for decades, and have never had a bad year with my plants. I reported the failure before the company's October 15th deadline of the growing season In keeping with the company's policy stated in their Grower's Gaurantee and Terms of Sale. I spoke with Jennifer, who identified herself as third generation in the Swan Island famly business, and she assured that would mail me a replacement collection in the next year.

When I asked Jennifer what she thought could have gone wrong since I had never experienced a problem like this before, she offered to help if I sent her a photograph of the bed of dahlias. At no time did she say that the photo had to be received before October 15th or that my guaranteed replacement collection was contingent on her review of the photo. Furthermore, I assumed that I since I had reported the problem on September 24th that I easily had met the deadline of the company's return policy.

When I sent her photos in early February, she said that the plants were viable and therefore would not be replaced. She was defensive, rude, raised her voice to me, and insinuated that I was essentially trying to scam her family business of a few plants. Atypical for me, I had to raise my own voice to attempt to be heard over her reprimand of me and she hung up on me as if I were the one who had acted badly from the start.

I am angry that I not only reported a failed shipment of dahlia bulbs, but that Jennifer applied additional conditions (that photos be submitted for review before October 15th) to her company's warranty which do not appear in the Grower's Guarantee and Terms of Sale.

If I had told her that I did not have a camera, I am pretty sure that given our initial conversation on Sept 24th that she would kept her promise to mail a replacement collection in the next growing season.

I have purchased plants from many many Growers and have never had such a bad, misleading, or demeaning customer service experience. Other buyers should beware that Swan Island Dahlias does not back up their product as they advertised, treats loyal customers like we are being dishonest with them, and fails to make my purchase right even after I reported it to them in a timely and responsible manner.