At True Blue Garden Centre, providing great quality and great service is important to us. But we know there are times when everything doesn’t turn out as expected. We respect your rights as protected by Australian Consumer Law and honour consumer guarantees and warranties, both statutory and manufacturer, to ensure a great product experience. In addition to those rights, we have prepared this policy to provide clarity about returns and refunds with us.

Please read the following carefully to ensure you are fully aware of your rights under this policy and our obligations to you.

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THINGS TO KNOW BEFORE YOU BUY PLANTS

1. Plants are living and perishable, they require an appropriate environment and care. In our nursery, they receive attentive care consisting of usually daily watering (at times twice a day), checks and treatment for weeds, pests and diseases and pruning and deadheading of old flowers and abnormal growth.
2. Potted plants require more regular watering than those planted in the ground. Potting mix is designed to be free draining to prevent root rot and to allow roots to grow and move through the media. In a pot, the plant has a limited ability to seek water and nutrients and therefore requires regular watering and care.
3. We will gladly assist you in making your selection. However, once a plant is taken home, it is beyond our control how they are cared for. We are here to support you, and our Horticultural team will be happy to assist you with any concerns you may experience.
4. Each environment is unique, we will discuss these with you as you are making your selections. Our customers come from a wide geographical area with unique environmental influences and not all our plants suit all areas. Part of the fun of gardening is experimenting with plants but this is your enjoyment. Make your selection with reasonable care – don’t put shade plants in the sun, protect young plants from frosts, water them to establish even though they are ‘drought hardy’.
5. All plants go through an acclimatisation period after being transported, during major season changes and adjusting to the micro-climate of your property. Plants in our nursery have had some opportunity to ‘harden’ after coming from production nurseries but they will still need to adjust to your place and where you are going to plant them. It isn’t uncommon during this acclimatisation phase, especially following transport that a plant may show signs of stress such as some leaves turning yellow or brown, dropping leaves or even drooping. In most cases, the plant will find its new equilibrium within 2-4 weeks but reach out to our Horticulturist if concerned. For these reasons, we also recommend not repotting your plants immediately as this will add further stress. Waiting a period of at least 2 or 3 weeks before repotting is usually ideal.

 

CHANGE OF MIND

There is no obligation under Consumer Law for True Blue Garden Centre to provide a refund or replacement if you change your mind. However, because we want you to be satisfied with your purchase from us, we, within our discretion, offer you the opportunity to exchange your purchase within 7 days. To make this exchange though, several conditions need to be met:
• The exchange is within 7 days of the original purchase.
• You provide valid and intact proof of purchase (receipt, delivery docket)
• The product is in its original packaging with tags and labels attached and is in a saleable condition. Goods must be unused. Plants must not have been planted, modified and be undamaged.
• The product is not an ‘excluded product’ as noted below.

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EXCLUDED PRODUCT FROM CHANGE OF MIND RETURN
The following products are excluded from change of mind return -
• Seedlings and herbs
• Potted colour annuals
• Annuals
• Clearance plants and items
• Special customer orders
• Commercial orders

 

FAULTY/DAMAGED GOODS
The consumer guarantee under Australian Consumer Law broadly provides that goods will be fit for purpose, of acceptable quality, match the description provided for the product. We work with our suppliers to ensure our products meet or exceed these criteria. You are entitled to a replacement or refund should the product have a major fault. If the goods fail to be of acceptable quality but this failure does not amount to a major failure, you are entitled to have
the goods repaired or replaced. The death of a plant does not constitute a fault in the product itself. As noted in the section above, Things to Note Before Buying Plants, plants are living things and require observation, care and maintenance. Upon completion of the purchase transaction, the consumer takes on these responsibilities. The consumer guarantees under Australian Consumer Law may be applied where a plant is mislabelled (wrong type, genus or species), flowers a different colour than that specifically specified (though natural variations do occur), is pot or root bound or carries some other defect to performance that can’t be determined before purchase.

 

REFUND OR EXCHANGE OF FAULTY GOODS
True Blue Garden Centre will provide a refund, exchange or repair for goods deemed faulty from manufacture or supply in the following circumstances:
• You provide valid and intact proof of purchase to validate that you purchased your goods from us;
• The goods are assessed by True Blue Garden Centre as being faulty and have not deteriorated or failed to perform as a result of a failure of proper care or maintenance by the customer.

If your goods are deemed faulty and a refund is the most appropriate course of action, it will be issued in the same tender as the original transaction. For goods paid for by credit card, the original credit card must be used. Refunds to credit cards can take some time to process by banks, please be patient to allow them to process.

 

CANCELLATION POLICY
Customer special orders of quantities that exceed our usual stock levels are unable to be cancelled once placed. Due to the nature of nursery production and logistics and the fact that the products are living and perishable, we are unable to allow cancellation of an order for a change of mind after the order is placed. The process we start as soon as an order is placed means these items are ordered from our growers and may have already started their journey to our store. Where special order quantities exceed our usual stock levels, we will request a 50% deposit to confirm the order. This deposit is non-refundable.

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TRANSPORTATION CONSIDERATION
Our plants are grown by a variety of growers in eastern and southern Australia. We believe that we can provide a high level of diversity of products whilst ensuring high quality, As plants are living things, the altered climate, movement and handling can cause transport stress and some leaf damage can occur during this process. Our horticulturists will treat and care for the plants so that they will recover and ‘harden’ in our nursery environment before you take them home.

In the event you have a long way to travel with the plants you purchase from us or have requested that we transport them to you, we will prepare them, given sufficient notice, and we will pack them to aid with minimising damage and shock. If your plants have wilted after their journey, we suggest giving them some water and placing them in a protected area (out of direct hot sun, or high winds, or frost) to recover. See point 4 of Things to Know Before Buying
Plants. In most cases, your plants will bounce back quickly. If you have any concerns, please contact our Horticultural team for additional tips.

**The term ‘hardening’ used in the policy refers to the conditioning of plants outside the production environment where exposure to more extreme climatic conditions (full sun, frost, wind, etc) takes place and watering is less frequent. It is a process of acclimatisation that makes the plants more resilient and ready to plant out.

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