The Tree Center
View company profile →
My maple arrived misshapen and I would have to pay to ship the huge box back for a refund
My maple arrived misshapen. It was not damaged, but pruned into an "obtuse triangle" shape, with the main lead cut so it would never grow from there; only the leads to the side would grow, making it lopsided. The base of the tree was wonky. It never should have been shipped out. I would attach pictures but can't. I emailed the Tree Center to tell them how bad the tree was and to ask how to return it; I sent them a picture. They said I could return it but would have to pay shipping, which would have been expensive due to the size of the box. I called the 1-800 number to talk to a person directly, she stated that all customer service requests must be handled via email so there is a record of the communication. I said you could just record the call, but whatever, I complied and sent an email asking for escalation to management. The manager, 'Rave,' stated that the tree appeared healthy and the only option for a refund was for me to pay to return it. I replied that I would be disputing it with my credit card as well as reporting to the BBB. You can't send me a misshapen tree, essentially defective merchandise since I was expecting a normal tree, and then be like, too bad, you now have to pay to return it. If I had changed my mind, that policy makes sense. But sending me a defective tree and then making me pay to return it is not okay. So I asked 'Rave' to escalate it even higher. Since I had only 7 days to initiate a return, I stated I would drop the dispute with my credit card company if they would refund me all but $50 [my total was $180, $30 of which was shipping cost which never would have been refunded anyway]. She got permission from the owner to do that. I replied okay, that I still felt they should refund in full. I settle with this because of I only had 7 days to make resolution before fully out of luck. This was all unacceptable. A waste of time, energy, money, etc. I do not recommend ordering from them - at least nothing that would be expensive to ship back.