Business ProfileforOoltewah Nursery & Landscape Co., Inc.

Ooltewah Nursery did not honor their 30 day return policy but rather singled me out to alter it at the owner’s whim. I’m a senior adult and received a phone call while I was at work from the business owner to notify me that future purchases will be “All Sales Final.” I was appalled at the owner’s hateful behavior. Owner never expressed thanks to me for being a loyal customer. I realized after the phone call that the business used their “loyalty” tracking system against me! I erroneously believed that Ooltewah Nursery honors their 30 day return policy. And, I foolishly trusted that 30 days means 30 days! On a very limited basis, I took back merchandise that was unused with tags attached and presented a sales receipt with their printed 30 day return policy. In each transaction, I chose to exchange a few pillows and/or garden flags. So, the business lost NO money in the original sale and EACH exchange was within 30 days! For three years, I’ve shopped at Ooltewah Nursery and spent hundreds of dollars. Examples of my purchases include 18 Climaweave pillows, 10 concrete figurines, 9 large terracotta pots, assorted bushes and plants, wind chime, shepherd hooks, garden flags and resin figurines. This senior adult will never subject myself again to not only the business owner’s unappreciative attitude but also her targeting me for some unknown reason through their loyalty program.

The owners do indeed greatly appreciate and value all of our loyal customers. This family owned small business would not have endured nearly 35 years had it not been for our faithful and loyal customers. We do not take that lightly. Customer service is a foundation upon which this business has been built and is our highest priority. This is the very reason that our return & exchange policy favors the customer with a generous non-plant 30-day policy period. This customer chose to abuse the policy by a pattern of returning goods excessively. This customer had 7 returns/exchanges in less than 1-year time frame. For example, on 3 separate instances beginning Fall of 2022, Spring 2023 and Fall 2023, an outdoor/indoor pillow was purchased and either returned or exchanged just before the close of our 30-day policy time frame. Due to the on-going pattern of abusing our return and exchange policy, we sadly made the decision to adjust our policy for this customer individually. We regret that we were compelled to do this, and did not come to this decision lightly. We valve all of our customers and their continued loyalty. Dealing with such cases on an individual basis allows us to continue offering our 30-day non-plant policy rather than changing the policy for everyone. Our customer service specialist (not the owner) called the number we had on file to inform her of our decision and our reason for doing so. Our cashier manager also sat in to witness the phone call. We chose to call rather than wait to do so in person when she returned the next item, so as to spare her any public embarrassment. We are indeed sorry if this decision has caused her any distress, but it was unfortunately necessary. We sincerely hope that she will continue shopping here, but fully understand if she chooses not to do so.