NYC Christmas tree supplier alleges tree fraud at home depot


Then fly to federal court!

Evergreen East, a Wisconsin-based Christmas tree cooperative that calls itself “New York’s Best Christmas Tree Seller,” has been hailed by Home Depot, Whole Foods and their suppliers for labeling cheap Canadian Nadian balsam fires as valuable freezers. Court – Cadillac of conifers according to papers.

Frasers are famous for their two-tone color of needles, with a dark green on the top at the bottom of the silver.

A Manhattan federal court complaint alleges that retailers “sold hundreds of potential balsam fir trees during the 2019 Christmas season, which they deliberately misrepresented as mismanagement and Fraser fir trees.”

Frawers are sold at 9 179 for a 6-footer and 9699 for a 12-footer by customers at Evergreen’s Mom-and-Shop shop on the sidewalks of Manhattan.

Fugazi Fires, sold by major retailers – which come from North Carolina-based supplier Bottomly Evergreen – start at just $ 80 for a 6-footer, said Kevin Hammer, president of Evergreen East.

He said fictional fires crippled the competition – and insecure tree shoppers cheated.

“I have been doing this for 47 years. We have no pressure on Bottomly’s ass, “Hammers of the Bensonhurst descent told The Post. “We are a cooperative that retails trees in New York City since 1974.”

Christmas Tree Lot at Northern Boulevard, Home Depot in Queens.
Christmas Tree Lot at Northern Boulevard, Home Depot in Queens.Jesse Rice

Hammer said New Yorkers want what they pay for.

“Home Depot is not a canal street where you buy fake Gucci bags. People go there and see a tree from Canada and [don’t realize] It’s a second or third rate, “he said.

He also told the Post that even corrupt Christmas wholesalers harvest trees before they do and often ship from Canada to North Carolina so they can incorrectly tag them in Carolina-grown.

Hammer says his trees are a variety of high-quality Fraser, and he’s actually grown in North Carolina – and this shows a more valuable effect.

“You pay for Gucci bags – and you’re getting Gucci bags!” He said.

Botamly Evergreen boasts that its farms are located in the “beautiful Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and the western part of Virginia” and has provided “top-quality Fraser fir Christmas trees” since opening in 1990.

But the complaint claims that Bottmalley imported 100,000 or more Canadian balsams in 2019 and laundered those trees through its retail partners. Defendants were aware that they were labeling, marketing, advertising and selling balsam fir trees that were incorrectly assigned to Fraser fir. “

Kevin Hammer shows the balsam fir branch (left) from the Home Depot tree compared to his own Fraser fir tree (right).
Kevin Hammer shows the balsam fir branch (left) from the Home Depot tree compared to his own Fraser fir tree (right).Helen Seedman

Hammer claimed to the Post that the boat made the Home Depot and Whole Foods an “ally of the scam.”

The lawsuit, filed in January, states that on December 16, 2019, the Home Depot was “notified in writing that it was selling a bottled Christmas tree with the wrong label.”

Home Improvement Titan adds Firm Fraud, Home Depot “no quick fix” to stop lawsuit charges “The sale of fake trees continued for days and possibly for the entire selling season.”

Evergreen has been struggling to get an adequate supply of high quality Fraser fir trees in recent years and, due to the scarcity of those trees, has had to pay a premium for them, leading to a significant drop in its profits, the lawsuit said.

“Willful misrepresentation” claims indefinite compensation, attorney’s fees and for defendants “they account for every Christmas tree sold in 2019 labeled as Fraser Fir.” Evergreen wants whatever profit is made, “for every tree sold that the defendants could not prove was really a Fraser fir.”

Home Depot Christmas Tree in Queens.
Home Depot Christmas Tree in Queens.Jesse Rice

Home Depot corporate spokeswoman Margaret Waters-Smith called Christmas’s curfew “a different labeling error.” “Once we became aware of that, we worked with the supplier to verify proper tagging on future deliveries,” he said.

Advocates for Whole Foods and Bott Tomly have filed for dismissal, essentially saying consumers will not be able to see the forest from the Christmas trees. They argued that the complaint “fails to prove that” the deliberate misdirection of the tree affected the people’s purchasing decision in any way. “

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