Kelly Nurseries False advertising and return policy Faribault MN

I ordered from this catalog as I knew it had been around a very long time - I've been receiving their catalogs for several decades.  They have a return policy if you are unhappy with the plants "for any reason".  I felt fairly confident I would be safe ordering through them.

I ordered a number of bare-root perennials and a young " 36" peach tree".  I was horrified to see the "plants" that actually arrived.  They arrived late for the planting season in my area, but that was the least of my concerns.  The perennials were half-inch long single roots.  I am an experienced, life-long gardener, and it was difficult to determine whether these small threads were alive or dead.  They certainly were not "plants".  The peach "tree" - which was nearly $30 - consisted of a 36" stick, the majority of which was dead, but there was some minor growth on the bottom 3" root end of the stick. 

I have ordered and planted young whips before, the difference being the entire length of the stick is alive with a viable root ball.  It's unlikely this died in transit as there was no dead growth on the dead portion of the stick.  The notice that came with these sorry scraps was "give them a chance".  As a gardener, I decided to do just that; perhaps they had suffered in transit, and possibly came from robust stock that would fill out quickly once planted.  Of course this was not true, and the small plant threads vanished into the ground as soon as they were planted. 

The stick managed to put on a few leaves at the base, but was in no way a tree.  Should it survive, it would not be a tree for ten years.  I gave the plantings the summer for the benefit of doubt, and continued to care for them.  Yet when I called up the return policy to get my money back, I found that the policy not only required the plants' return, it was limited to 6 months after the shipment of the order.  Not only was I unable to locate the dead plants, my return window had ended before the season was over - in direct contrast to "give them a chance". 

Apparently, the only time you can send anything back to them for a full refund is within 14 days of receipt (also in direct contrast to "give them a chance").  Anyone who gardens or knows gardeners know that they are highly unlikely to do that, and will strive to save the plants, no matter how feeble.  I was not done with this though, and was looking them up this morning to speak with them directly about their atrociously substandard product.  Website appears to be permanently down.  I spent $81 on this junk and have nothing to show for it.