What is your product review policy?

Reviews are not censored. We have never incentivized or paid for a product review. All product reviews are welcome.  We do however filter posts that are not actually product reviews. Here are examples of product reviews that will be removed.

 

Service related reviews on product listings. We have a section for service related reviews. Please use it. Examples of service related reviews would be “Order arrived late”, “The pot was damaged in shipping”, “I ordered the 221 mix and they sent the 11011 mix by mistake”. Product reviews need to be based on the product itself. Human error, delivery and order issues are service related and have a home.

Product reviews from competing companies. Market manipulation from competing brands in order to deface our brand is strictly prohibited and enforceable. If you are Bonsai Bob and leave negative feedback for a Bonsai Jack product it will be removed.

Reviews that contain spam or external links. We have spent hundreds of thousands of thousands of dollars building our brand. Product reviews are not to be used to promote other websites or services without permission.

Factually incorrect product reviews. Example: I ordered 5lbs of soil and checked the weight using my $20 bathroom scale. It only weighed 3.5lbs. This type of product review will be removed because the buyer is comparing home use measuring devices to calibrated commercial devices used for legal trade. Its like buying 2lbs of ham from your deli who used a $2500 scale and taking it home and weighing in on your bathroom scale. This is factually wrong. It would be silly to think we would cheat a customer out of product and risk our hard-earned business reputation.

Elaboration on measurements. We are required to use calibrated measuring devices for our orders. Calibrated measuring devices are not the same as store bought measuring devices, especially those designed to measure liquids. This is because they require an eyeball guesstimate of the level measured.

Calibrated dry measure cups are the only true measurement for dry goods.  We have packed over a million bags using calibrated / certified measuring devices. For transparency: Florida Weighing and Measuring Device Permit # WM28162 (30 Volumetric Devices and 5 Retail Scales) Issued by Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services. 1-850-921-1590

Another factor to consider is settling. The department of weights and measures states the product is to be poured to measurement. It’s not packed, pressed, packed or vibrated after pouring. We would need to take the time to shake each measuring device for a set period of time in order to pre-settle the product before it ships. This is not possible and not practiced with any vendor.

Vendors do however usually add a certain percentage of extra product to each order to account for settling. You can see this in action with any store bought dry good. If it states 5lbs on the box it’s probably 5.25 pounds on a legal scale. We use heaped measurements for pine bark for example to account for settling as best we can. Each pine bark bag actually measures about 4.25 gallons legally before its shipped. Pine bark does compact on shipping.

Another example of factually incorrect product reviews would be statements like “I was thinking the particle size would be smaller/larger, something closer to lentil size, not pea size”(this is actually a review BTW) Or “no way this pot is 6 inches. It looks closer to 3 inches”. These will be removed for two reasons. 1. It is not possible to guess what the customer was thinking when they ordered a ¼ inch particle product. 2. If a 6-inch pot was ordered and the customer states it “looks” closer to 3 inches without actually measuring it with a tape measure it will be removed.

The legal stuff…
All claims arising out of or resulting from this agreement, including tort
claims, are governed by the laws of the State of Florida, in the United States
of America, as if both the buyer and the seller were residents of and
physically present in Florida at the time of the transaction, and without
giving effect to its conflict of laws provision. The parties expressly submit
to the jurisdiction of the state and federal courts of Florida. Any party
commencing against the other party any legal proceeding, including any tort
claim arising out of this agreement may bring that proceeding in any court of
the State of Florida sitting in Lee County. Each party hereby submits to the
nonexclusive jurisdiction of those courts for purposes of any such proceeding.
Each party hereby waives any claim that any a legal proceeding, including any
tort claim brought in accordance with these terms has been brought in an
inconvenient forum or that the venue of that proceeding is improper.