CAMDEN GARDENS

Service run by Christine Westergaard. The day of scheduled delivery, they called and delayed the delivery by several hours at last minute notice. Bought 4 large plants with planter arrangements. They looked very nice initially. In the following days I noticed a musty smell (which I now presume was the moss they put in the planters for decorative effect). I also had acute onset of worsened allergies the day following delivery which worsened as the week went on. 5 days after delivery I realized it was probably these plants. I was miserable, doubling up on allergy medication and with very poor sleep. I came home from work after making the link that it was probably these plants that were the allergen triggering change in my environmental. I never had problems with plants before, so I suspect it was the moss. I immediately phoned my interior designer who placed a call to Ms. Westergaard. My interior designer told me apparently Ms Westergard was out of town for another 5 days (and apparently there was no one covering the service). I had wanted to immediately return the plants for a refund. I could not keep these plants that were worsening my health in my house, so I carried them to my woodshop (which is warmer than my garage and not withint he ventilation system of my house). The next week when Ms. Westergaard returned my interior designer's call....the message was conveyed to me that because I had moved the plants to a different temperature, I could not be refunded my money because the plants could not be resold. This determination was made without Ms. Westergaard or anyone from her company actually coming to my house to evaluate the plants or even speaking with me directly. I was told I could get a percentage of the pots and non-plant items refunded, which would be at maximum 1/4th or less of the $1600.00 I paid. I took very good care to carry these plants to an area in my house that would not cause toxic health effects to me any longer but that was still warm and not outside the house. I had to sanitize my house, wiping down surfaces, vaccuming, and washing linens to get rid of the bits of moss and effect of the allergens. It appears none of that was a factored into the no-refund policy after hearing the plants were moved from my living room to an insulated room adjacent to my garage. even though it was the plant product delivered that caused physicall illness (improved after I moved the plants) and even though I attempted to return the plants earlier but the person in charge of the company was away with no one covering for 5 days. So now, I basically have large plants that I'm allergic to that in my woodshop that I'll have to find a way to dispose of and I'm down $1600.00. I wish there would have been more flexibility on the part of this business owner, first of all to be more responsive earlier to my concerns and report of health impact of her delivered product. I wasn't expecting a full refund, but I was not expecting to be totally blocked from a refund completely except for a partial percentage the plastic pots the plants are in, especially at a cost of $400.00 per plant x4. For that amount of money paid, I'd expect higher quality of customer service.