Ok, not happy news for me tonight…
Turns out my Anthurium Pallidiflorum, my favorite plant in the world and one I was so proud to buy myself, is in fact an Anthurium Vittarifolium and the seller knew when it was sold to me.
And the kicker is, that this seller was one of the more well known Aussie online stores. WTF..MT?
I only found out because a kind person on here let me know I was labeling it wrong, I had wondered, so I was comparing mine on here with other young Pallidiflorum and found a post from the seller admitting they were “duped” by their seller and it was dated 17 days before I purchased mine. WTF!
In absolutely no way should they have continued to sell it as a Pallidiflorum after that post. They should have stopped selling, changed the name or put a note in the listing if they were not sure. The only reason they would have left it was because they sell for a lot more than Vittarilolium and at the bargain price they sold them, the plants would sell faster. Its all about money.
So I commented on the Instagram post, asking what exactly I had been sold and why they continued selling them as the wrong plant.
In response, all I got was “how it didn’t matter, it happens in horticulture all the time” (you’re a business and fall under Australian consumer law) and that they were the real victim here. They even threw in a “Bunnings do it all the time” when I wouldn’t let up debating their excuses.
So not only am I heart broken, but now angry and can’t believe the pathetic response I got. Not sure if the person I spoke to was an employee or the name sake of the business. but it’s not ok and now I have two bloody Vittarilolium and no Pallidiflorum. My dream plant and now I am not in a position to fork out the money to get one. ($600 vet bill for Molly yesterday and it’s on going and expensive if blood tests don’t go our way 😪) I could cry right now.
Anyway, rant over, But, I will never buy from that store again. I have also removed the store from my recommendations on this site, I can’t recommend them at all now. I hope anyone else who bought one either does not care or at least reads this and now knows. Being duped isn’t fun.
I want leave this on a positive though: I guess all collectors are duped at some point and I can only take this and grow from it. Plus, I guess when I do get my actual Pallidiflorum it will be extra sweet…
Thanks for reading my rant, please take from it that you should always do your research on a plant and don’t always trust the seller. We could all learn something from this. Xx happy growing.
Velvet Leaves Of Adelaide 