horticulturesource.com SCAM or cops??

[nUt_jOb]

I need some help people. I haven't ordered hydro stuff in a while and I needed to get some stuff and I found a new site http://www.horticulturesource.com which had great prices and looked pretty legit. So I sent off my Money Order and waited.. and waited.. finally contacted the guy that runs it and only after I contacted did my order ship.. the entire order was DROP SHIPPED from NGW directly to my delivery address (i.e. nothing was sent from Usisu / Hort Sorce).

Upon examining the delivery two items were missing.. about $50 worth.. and one item that was shipped was not what was advertised on the guys website. Of the two items that were missing, one of them (the only item in my order which was really exclusive to the cause) was some DR NODES.

I contacted him again and informed him that items were missing and all I wanted was for him to ship me the missing items.. he said quite directly that he knew and was sending a refund for the items. A few days later I get a nice hand written check to me directly by name from "HORTICULTURE SOURCE" and WTF am I supposed to do with it??? Deposit it in my bank account??

At BEST I got scammed.. I mean.. you send in a M.O. to get around the paper trail and I am sure the guy knows this and sends refund checks out that he knows will never get cashed. SCAM!! At worst.. its the cops and they are trying to bust me.

What would you do?? trash or cash the check? Does anyone else have good / bad experiences with horticulturesource.com?

 

[Stealthy]

Do you know someone (family or friend) that can endorse under your name and cash it for you or put it into their account and give you the cash? That's what I would do.
Sounds like a legit business that is poorly managed.

 

[Haps]

A scam is when you do not get your money back, you did. Sounds like a small business to me, nut job.
H

 

[nUt_jOb]

In the interest of protecting my interests.. not really.. as in nobody that is not involved needs to know and nobody that is involved would want to risk it.. if you know what I mean.

All I can say is I have more than a few orders under my belt from various places and I really dont have a warm fuzzy feeling about this one.. I have had the refund issue come up in the past and they mailed cash in an envelope with the part of the order that they could fill.

I appreciate the response.

 

[Mr Celsius]

You're paranoid... go to www.gardenweb.com and checkout the hydroponic section. You'll see many many people using hydroponics in a legal situation...

Do you have a bank in your area that the check is written from? If so, you can walk into the bank and cash it without an account. Say its Bank of America... they're everywhere in America.

 

[bigbag]

discount hydroponics is a reputable outfit in Cali.

 

[nUt_jOb]

Mr. Celsius.. great advice but the bank is from small town nowhere.. I had to double check because I did not think about that.. I'm barely lucky enough to be from a generation that actually used checks..

I pride my self on not being too paranoid, just paranoid enough. It sounds like I may be a little past the mark on this one.. but I still would love to hear from a satisfied customer from Horticulturesource.com..

Thanks to all who replied.. oh and I did not want to turn this post into a list of favorite online / mail order suppliers but I do have a short list of favorites if anyone is interested.

 

[ElGato]

i've ordered from horticulturesource.com quite a few times

always the best prices and quick shipping IME

the one time i didnt get what i ordered was when they sent me a gallon
of SM90 instead of a quart, i didnt bitch too much about that




mj

 

[nUt_jOb]

EL gato... did your whole orders get drop shipped from NGW or did they actually come from Usisu inc (horticulturesorce)? They do have the best prices.. part of the reason I thought it was too good to be true..

Im going to e-mail them and just ask to mail them the check back with some difference in a M.O. to order something else.

Edit: Ok I have e-mailed them.. awaiting response..

 

[TORO!]

wow people are fucking stupid and paranoid. hydroponic equipment is legal and plenty of people use it for legal plants. there is no need to be paranoid and drive to hydro stores in different cars paying in cash.

 

[nUt_jOb]

If you think the DEA/cops dont track hydroponic sales.. read:

http://www.apfn.org/thewinds/1997/11/hydroponics.html

Laughing Buddha Nursery -> DEA FRONT

The DEA subpoenaed United Parcel Service (UPS) delivery records associated with hydroponics stores, getting information on tens of thousands of people suspected of procuring hydro equipment for marijuana growing.

The DEA says 98% of the marijuana today is grown in the USA. 34% of that is grown hydroponically indoors, in clandestine closets and bedrooms.

I mean seriously.. if you were a DEA agent.. and you just had to bust some pot growers.. Where would YOU start looking first? Be careful people. They go for UPS records too.. so consider alternate shipping as well. If I lived any closer than a four hour drive from the nearest hydro store I would never mail order.

Oh and I got a very curt response from Horticulture source saying basically I could send the check back if I wanted to but they didn't answer any of my other questions (like if the items I originally ordered are back in stock) and yea.. shady little small business at best. One man runs it.. or so it seems. Still kinda undecided on what to do.

 

[pimpjuice]

Oh and I got a very curt response from Horticulture source saying basically I could send the check back if I wanted to but they didn't answer any of my other questions (like if the items I originally ordered are back in stock) and yea.. shady little small business at best. One man runs it.. or so it seems. Still kinda undecided on what to do.

lots of small mail order businesses drop ship their merchandise rather than maintain inventory, NGW and hydrofarm carry just about everything a grower would need and can ship quickly.

I bet they think your shady for wanting to send their check back for a money order

 

[ElGato]

sorry to hear bout yer bad bro

perhaps the DEA does track sales......what then? i mean , if they do then they already know what youre doing right?........you gonna stop what your doing just cuz they know you purchased some totally legal gear from a growshop?


i personally think hortsource is a stand up company
like i said before ...........i never had any problems whatsoever

quick delivery, great prices and plain brown boxes, i dont know what more i could ask for

so they sent you a check ?
imho you should cash the freaking thing and get on with your life
it's your money



mj

 

[dongle69]

If you think the DEA/cops dont track hydroponic sales.. read:


The DEA subpoenaed United Parcel Service (UPS) delivery records associated with hydroponics stores, getting information on tens of thousands of people suspected of procuring hydro equipment for marijuana growing.

That was 20 years ago. Things are a bit different now.

 

[Harry Gypsna]

It just sounds like exactly what you said...adrop shipping outfit...theres a few operating in the Uk...No pysical premises, just a website and a list of stuff froma wholesaler-the they take the order-give it to the wholesaler and the wholesaler sends ur shit.... I saw an ad for one of these wholesale dropship companies the other day looking for ppl to setup dropshipping growshop websites.... Its probably just a guy running it from ahome office... Its kinda link a franchise operation except you dont even have to open a shop or go to work lol you just check ur computer evreyr day, print off the orers and fax em to the wholesaler...and evey so often deposit checks ond money orders or whatevr... the ad for the one I saw they even design ur site and hook you up with everything and you dont ever handle any goods or anything the main company does it all...
The refund being a check well thats pretty standard really...
It would a pretty easy way for ICmag to setup its own ICMag online growshop-obviously thered be a limit to the places theyd be able to ship to... It might be something for Gypsy to think about actually... Fucking complicated though with all the different countries involved.... youd need different sections for different countries and a dropship wholesaler in each country with that countries popular products.... Complicated and a PITA-probably why it doesnt already exist.....

 

[chosen]

Exactly that was back in the day with operation Green Merchant. It bugs the crap out of me that so many Americans don't realize that tons of countries use hydroponics in order to produce a large percentage of their produce.

"hydroponically grown produce at all major supermarkets across North America. Valued at 2.4 billion dollars the hydroponic greenhouse vegetable industry has a growth rate of 10 percent per year and accounts for nearly 95 percent of the greenhouse vegetables produced in North America. "

Global Trends
"Global Trends

Given the number of advantages of hydroponics it is not surprising that hydroponics techniques are increasingly finding favor for commercial food production in many countries all over the world. According to recent estimates countries having substantial commercial hydroponics production include Israel – 30,000 acres, Holland 10,000 acres, England 4,200 acres and Australia and New Zealand around 8,000 acres between them."

 

[nUt_jOb]

Thanks for the good info.. I haven't actually had any new questions for the forum in a long time. I will be heading to a city with the real shops this weekend for mothers day anyways so I can pick up what I need then.

Oh and I am not saying be super paranoid about hydro equipment.. just don't become too complacent. Thats all I am trying to say.

 

[Daemon]

I think you were saying to be super paranoid, at least that's how it seemed to me.

I've used horticulturesource before and they are a great company.

Also, do you have proof of the DEA pulling UPS records for hydro-related stuff?

 

[Harry Gypsna]

that dea ups thing was when green merchant was happening....

 

[pimpjuice]

I've read something a lot more recent than that ... a user named onebakedpotato I can't remember if it was on this site or cworld. Any how he was a closet gardener in the midwest with a small concealed garden, his wife didn't know he had created a false wall in part of the house. Anyhow he got busted by locals and when he got discovery he found out DEA had provided ups records from wormsway. It seems that dea in some areas distributes info on possible targets for locals to pursue, in onebakedpotatos case he lived in really small town. I clearly remember in his posts he was self-employed, owned his own home, didn't know anyone in town, etc., he was quite shocked by the whole thing when he found out the info came from a dea 'cd rom' mentioned in discovery. He had ordered rockwool starters & clonex, a few times.

Never have stuff sent to your house...