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Main Headquarters 739 Linden Avenue, Rochester, NY 14625 585.586.3366 |
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Toll FREE: 1-800-728-2716 |
FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions)
Basic Questions
1. In what geographic areas does Plant Designs, Inc. provide service?
2. What does my service include?
3. What is covered under the plant guarantee?
4. How often will my technician visit my premises?
5. Are the plants mine to keep or are they leased?
Sales Questions
6. Do you have pictures of your plants?
7. Why aren't the prices of your plants on-line?
8. What do you charge for your service?
9. How do I order a new plant?
10. Can I get credit for old plants or containers when I buy new plants?
11. Can I buy flowers or poinsettias?
12. Do you accept credit cards?
Answers to Basic Questions
1. In what geographic areas does Plant Designs, Inc. provide service?
Plant Designs Inc. covers more geographic area than any other plant service company in Upstate New York. We have offices in Rochester, Syracuse, and Buffalo. We generally service locations in and around the metropolitan regions of these three cities.
We assess every potential client on an individual basis, and determine if their location is feasible for regular plant maintenance. We have clusters of clients in outlying Upstate New York areas such as Brockport, Canandaigua, and Oswego, which usually makes it no problem to cover most corners of the region.
2. What does my service include?
We recommend our plant maintenance service for any commercial customers with indoor plants. The cost of the service is very affordable when compared with having one of your own paid employees caring for the plants each week. If you sign up for our service, a trained plant technician will visit your location on a regular basis to water, fertilize, clean, dust, trim, and rotate your plants as needed. We will treat plants for diseases and insects if they appear, and apply preventative treatment at various times of the year. Periodically, we will clean your plants' containers.
Your location will also receive intermittent inspections by a supervisor or manager. Remember when comparing plant services that not all services are the same. Some companies offer plant-watering services. These services can leave you with leggy, undernourished plants. We focus on the total health and appearance of your plants.
Our technicians are all uniformed and we require that they get a signature when they visit your premises.
With our service you will get our plant guarantee. Our guarantee states that if any plant should decline in appearance or become unhealthy due to our neglect, we will replace it free of charge. See below for more information.
3. What is covered under the plant guarantee?
If any plant should decline in appearance or become unhealthy due to our neglect or natural causes, we will replace it free of charge. If you are a current client, the situations which are not covered by our guarantee are listed in your contract. Some common instances in which we will not provide a new plant for free are: denied access to the plants, theft and vandalism, fire or floods, insufficient heating or cooling, and dumping coffee or mop water in the plants. If you are considering our service, our sales representative can explain more to you.
In most cases, we replace plants with no questions asked.
4. How often will my technician visit my premises?
The majority of our clients receive weekly visits by a trained service technician at roughly the same time each week. However, in some markets, such as Syracuse, some clients receive bi-weekly visits. This is due to several factors, including the wider proximity of commercial establishments we must cover in the area. We maintain the same high standards for the appearance of our plants regardless of the frequency of our visits.
We do allow for the occasional missed visit by our technicians due to unavoidable situations.
See What do I do if my technician misses a visit? for more information.
5. Are the plants mine to keep or are they leased?
The plants are yours. In almost all cases, the plants are purchased at the start of service by you. When we replace a plant, the new plant becomes your property as well. If you are in a large company, see your sales representative or contact our office if you have additional questions about who owns your plants.
In some rare cases, we will lease plants instead of selling, but this is not our normal policy. We feel that leasing is seldom in the client's best interest. Leasing plants avoids an upfront purchase cost, but greatly increases monthly costs.
For instance, let's suppose someone offers to lease ten plants to you, including service, for only $70 per month. Sounds like a great deal - until you do the math. Multiplying $70 times twelve equals $840 per year. After three years your total is $2,520. Most likely, you will be locked into a contract- if you cancel before the end, you owe the rest. And, when you cancel service, they come and take your plants away. Not such a great deal.
Under the Plant Designs plan, you can purchase those same plants and containers for approximately $400.00. You then pay $50 per month for service. Doing the math, the annual total the first year is $1000, and $600 for each year thereafter. The three year total is $2,200 (versus $2,520 leasing, a 15% savings). Each additional year, you will pay $600 instead of $840 (a 40% savings!!!). We do not lock you into a contract, so you can cancel at any time. And if you do cancel, you get to keep all your plants. This is a good deal.
If the upfront cost of plants is cost-prohibitive, we can work out a payment plan for you. If your goal is to save money, we would rather work with you to reach that goal, rather than charge you more down the road for leasing.
Answers to Sales Questions
6. Do you have pictures of your plants?
Yes. We have put pictures of our most popular plants on-line. Click here to see them.
7. Why aren't the prices of your plants on-line?
We would like to provide prices to our clients on-line. Unfortunately, we cannot list our prices because many of our larger jobs and government contracts are bid situations. In these cases, we are bidding against another plant vendor(s) for your business. Placing our current prices on-line could place us at a disadvantage in these situations.
We also do not ship our live plants. Placing prices on-line might give the false impression to the average internet visitor that we did ship plants.
If you are considering purchasing plants, please feel free to give us a call. We will be happy to discuss what plants would fit your budget and we will get a proposal to you.
8. What do you charge for your service?
Generally, for plant maintenance service in Upstate New York, you should budget between $3.00 and $5.00 per plant per month. The price includes all aspects of our service, and of course, our plant guarantee. Your price may be lower or higher than that based on several factors, including:
- Your geographic location or number of locations to be serviced.
- Quantity, size, and/or value of your plants.
- Current health or appearance of your plants.
- Accessibility to your plants.
If you have under 12 plants you may be subject to a minimum monthly charge. Please call us to arrange a free consultation. We give all pricing upfront and there are no hidden charges.
9. How do I order a new plant?
Ordering plants from us is simple. Call your local Plant Designs office (see our main page for phone numbers) or e-mail us at sales@plantdesigns.com and we will arrange to send a representative to your location. We can then recommend the right plant for the desired location. If you need plant maintenance, we can arrange that too.
Our representative will return to our office and fax you a proposal which includes all prices, and any additional labor which may be required. Sign and fax back the proposal to approve it.
We do not have on-line ordering because we do not deliver plants outside of the Upstate New York area at this time.
10. Can I get credit for old plants and containers when I buy new ones?
Unfortunately, we do not accept plants and containers as credit. We recommend that you give the plants to employees or friends as take-home gifts.
11. Can I buy flowers or poinsettias?
Yes. You can buy potted flowers through us for special events, employee gifts, or simply to brighten up your office. We also have several flower-rotation and bromeliad rotation programs available.
For the holiday season, we offer poinsettias delivered to your location. If you are on our service, your technician will care for your poinsettias and they are all guaranteed until Christmas.
12. Do you accept credit cards?
Yes. We accept Visa and MasterCard. At your request, we can charge your account automatically for plant service on a monthly or quarterly basis.
13. Do you add sales tax?
In most cases we are required to add sales tax. Plants, containers, and plant maintenance service are all subject to sales tax if you are purchasing in New York State. If you are not required to pay sales tax, or are purchasing for resale, please provide us with the appropriate certificate.