Plug & Liner Claims

Home / Plug & Liner Claims

...continued from How To Order Plugs & Liners

Harris Seeds is committed to ensuring a clear and stress-free ordering process! We know issues can arise when shipping live plant material. Please use the information as a guideline on how to prepare and properly care for your plants and review the important information from our 2022 Claims Guideline below.  

Filing a Plug & Liner Claim
Filing a Plug & Liner Claim

Text version of the above graphics:

Harris Seeds is committed to ensuring a clear and stress-free ordering process! We know issues can arise when shipping live plant material. Please use the information as a guideline on how to prepare and properly care for your plants and review the important information from our 2022 Claims Guideline below.  

Preparing for your order to arrive:

Review the order acknowledgement.

  • Verify the ship week is correct
  • Verify the shipping address is correct
  • Verify the order has been placed as it was submitted to Harris Seeds
  • Contact us immediately if you find any errors with the order. Once product has been sown, the vendor cannot make changes to product or ship weeks.

Know the ship week selected when the order was placed.

  • This information can be found on the order acknowledgement.
  • Please call Harris Seeds at 800-544-7938 or email plugdept@harrisseeds.com if you have not received an order acknowledgment after placing an order.

The vendors ship Monday through Thursday of the scheduled ship week to ensure orders will be delivered by the weekend.

  • During their busiest ship weeks (late February to late March), they may ship 7 days a week.
  • Tracking will be available when the order is ready to ship from their greenhouse.
  • Most orders are shipped 2 day or overnight.

Make sure pots, growing media/area are prepped and ready for when the plants arrive.

  • Plugs and liners are young plants that will not sit well in the trays for long.
  • It is important to transplant live plant material right away!

Your order has arrived, now what?

Bring the box(es) in from the elements as soon as it/they arrive(s).

  • Meet the driver if possible.
  • Due to COVID restrictions, most carriers adopted policies that waived signatures upon delivery.
  • Once the driver drops the box(es) it is your responsibility to retrieve it/them and bring inside.
Open the box(es.)
  • Remove all plug/liner trays from the box.
  • Inspect for quality and accuracy.
    See below for any reasons that may warrant a damage claim.
Take photographs of the trays in the state they arrived.
  • A great way to document a plant’s growth!
  • These will be required should a claim be necessary. Please include images of the tray label located on the edge of each tray.
Pot up all young plants immediately. Provide ample water, light, and care per professional and cultural guidelines.

    Something isn’t right? Reasons a Damage Claim may be required:

    • The order arrived and the plants are frozen
    • The order arrived and the plants have overheated
    • Damage due to transit/mishandling by the carrier
    • Trays show signs of disease or pest damage
    • Trays are missing but the packing slips says they should be in the box
    • Trays show more missing plant cells than what is noted on the packing slip (Harris Seeds has a Minimum Guaranteed Cell Count – Review the front page of the pricelist for more details.)
    • You received the wrong item/color/variety.

    How to report an issue:

    DO NOT CONTACT THE VENDOR DIRECTLY.

    As the broker Harris is responsible for refunds and coordinating replacement trays.

    • Contact Harris Seeds within 24 hours of receiving an order/receipt of goods from the carrier.
    • Be prepared to provide your Harris order number (ORDXXXXXXX) or customer id.
    • Not all issues require a claim - Cultural issues (such as bloom color, growth rate, plant identification) will be referred to a product manager to investigate and review with the vendor.
    • Take pictures of the condition the trays arrived in. Photos are required by the vendor.
      - Additional pictures of the progression of the potted plants are required for a claim.
      - Pictures should only be sent in response to the Claim Email containing next steps (by Replying All) that will be sent after the claim process has been initiated.
      - Images that are not sent in response to/attached to the Claim email chain will not be considered part of the claim and will result in the claim being denied.

    • Please do not throw away plant material!
      - While it is rare, vendors do reserve the right to ask for plant material in question to be shipped back to them for examination and approval.
      - Any material disposed of prematurely will forfeit your right to any potential claim and refund.
    • Pot up all live plant material (if not related to disease or pests). It is expected that the plants will be professionally cared for.
    • Allow 3 days for live plants to settle from transit.  Most plants will bounce back from their trip.

      If Needed, Finalize the Claim:

      Do not delay in the next steps as claims are time sensitive!

      • Call Harris Seeds after 3 days but no longer than 20 days if you feel plants are not viable. You are required to provide exact numbers of cells lost. Refunds are not issued for whole trays unless validated by photos provided. DO NOT CONTACT THE VENDOR DIRECTLY.
      • Inform an agent if you will need replacement trays.
        - “Replacement” trays are full trays.
        - This will be considered a new order subject to normal ordering guidelines; payment, availability, and below minimum requirements as new tray(s) will ship a different week than the original order.
      • Reply All to the claim email sent from plugdept@harrisseeds.com with your attached pictures or send via mail.
        - The photos should demonstrate a progression from the state the plants arrived to their current.
        - Additional supporting evidence, such as a written explanation, videos, etc. are always encouraged. Clear and concise documentation = faster claim processing.
        - Based on the pictures and cell counts we receive; we will send the claim to the vendor for review and potential re-imbursement.

      Freight & Claims:

      We follow each vendor’s policy regarding freight:

      • Raker will refund freight due to transit damage and charges freight on new orders
      • Pleasant View will not refund freight due to transit damage and does not charge freight on new orders
      • Four Star will refund freight due to transit damage and charges freight on new orders
      • Mast Young will not refund freight due to transit damage and does not charge freight on new orders
      • Gro N Sell will not refund freight due to transit damage and does not charge freight on new orders