I got an email yesterday with an " Update on fig orders and refund request. " Says they are behind and won't take any more riders until current orders have shipped. Says he is very sorry that it is taking so long to grow and ship these orders. Says orders will start shipping around Nov. 1st". Mike South Jersey I am just forwarding the info I received because of the trees I ordered

Look like he is making some progress on his fig orchard...I wish that he can fulfill all of the orders, but I do not think that it will be this or next year, judging from the large amount of orders in queue and the specifics of the orders with respect to those slow growing cultivars.  Good luck to y'all.

On 8/15/17 I received an email from Green Fin Nursery saying "We are behind on fig tree orders and will not be taking any more until all current orders have shipped.  I am very sorry that it is taking so long to grow and ship these orders. . . . cuttings orders are expected to ship out starting around November 1st."

The message also says, "If you have requested a refund and have not yet received it, please send a new email request to greenfingardens@gmail.com with REFUND in the subject, and please include your name, current mailing address, and refund amount."

Hope this helps!

Man if he would just search his inbox for any email titled REFUND he'd have a place to start on that list...

Most people that I've met who love to grow figs are generous to a fault. That's probably why GreenFin Garden's order backlog happened in the first place. Like MikeSJ, I made an order, received the same email message. I believe they are working as hard as they can to fill orders and make customers happy even though some fig varieties that were sold last year are slow growing cultivars as schang mentioned in his comment. I agree with figeater, let's give him a chance.

After receiving the email from James (GreenFin) I requested a refund after in hopes that I would get some sort of response and I did. He emailed me and explained why he has not been able to fulfill orders. He said the refunds would take time (2-3 months) and that he would have to sell what he has in order to fill those requests. I don't know if he is being truthful or honest but I would hope that at least he has some business sense to figure out a way to do right by those, like me, who trusted him and his business.

I just saw some of his Video updates on his Youtube Channel.

Maybe he omitted it from the video but I didn't see any fig trees that looked like they were getting ready to ship. Looks like he grew out all of the ones from previous videos and will use that growth to take cuttings this fall. There's no way he is planning on shipping those large containers of fig trees. That would cost him a fortune.
Looks like he is doing a nice job building his orchard with everyone's trees. Unfortunately I cant imagine anyone would be interested in buying cuttings or trees from him after this fiasco so all of this work may have been for nothing. Hasn't even bothered to come by and post an update for folks here or respond to any questions.

The only problem I have is that he's letting figs grow on the trees. To me, that seems to be a bad idea for a nursery operation. Energy that could be used to put more growth on is going to the fruit. Then again, the labor to pick all the figlets off would be immense.

Things in the video look good. I'm still betting/hoping figs get shipped this fall or winter.

I think you'd want to grow figs on the tree's just to verify they are what you
think they are.Unless they come to me from an unimpeachable source that's
what I do.

HE IS A REAL PEACH OF A GUY!  FEEL SORRY FOR HIM, REALLY?  HOW ABOUT ALL THE PEOPLE THAT LOST MONEY ON THIS?

I got the same email from greenfin. I responded with a refund request. He responded back with a long explanation that he does not have the ability to provide any refunds. He claims that he is still taking orders so that can get money to provide refunds on previous orders.

This is part of the email pertaining to refunds:

"So after putting in about 7,000 hours of hard work (70-100 hrs/wk, every day with no days off ever), not only didn't I make money, I'm actually at a large loss. As things currently stand I have a large number of extra fig trees (beyond those reserved for remaining customers), and I have to sell those extra trees to raise money for refunds and for shipping out the remaining orders (all the shipping money that I had set aside for those orders was sucked up by refund requests). So hopefully I can get you and everyone else taken care of sometime in the next 2-3 months as I sell them off. "
James/Greenfin Gardens

How the heck does he have extra fig trees that he says he has to sell when he hasn't shipped out a single order?

Got the same email.  It seems he's trying to say that to refund money, he has to sell some of the trees that were cancelled.

At least you're getting emails. I'm not even getting that.

I'm not getting any emails either. I ordered In Dec, 2015.

I was not on the mailing list.  But after the latest message, I did request a refund.  That's when he replied to me with the same email posted in this thread.

I think he planned early on to sell those trees at a higher price. He put people off to keep making more cuttings and more trees with the infrastructure he created by the use of the interest free money. Now it's up to the community if they are going to perpetuate the scam by buying the trees he is planning to liquidate.

If you look at his shipping video he did you can see the figs he had planned to sell were all in cups. Maybe 16 oz.. Looks like he's up potted all of those into at least 1-2 gallon. I'm pretty sure those are not the ones he is shipping.
In the 2 latest videos he did a great job showing off his fig orchard. Not a word about the trees he has for everyone else. After re watching the first video I did see a few bins with the trees in cups but they look horrible and there is no where near enough to fill orders.
My guess is he will take cuttings this fall and start some new trees over the winter and maybe ship in the spring.
I do feel sorry for all of you that have waited this long.

As with any under capitalized business, you have to grow your way into becoming a larger business. Growth to fast usually ends in disaster.
Then we have this
"and I have to sell those extra trees to raise money for refunds and for shipping out the remaining orders (all the shipping money that I had set aside for those orders was sucked up by refund requests). So hopefully I can get you and everyone else taken care of sometime in the next 2-3 months as I sell them off. "
Unless he is selling them locally I cant imagine him selling them off. It also sounds like he cant ship unless he finds some money from someplace.
Lesson learned here. In the future buy from people who have the stock to sell you. If your going to be a seller, only sell what you have in stock. Do not accept money for future production.

If he would have done this he could have shipped all those trees he had in the spring.

2-3 MONTHS to get your money back?  It sounds like you've entered the next phase of the scam.  MY money is on there being another "excuse" in 3 months time...
I haven't bought anything from this guy, because I first checked this forum before making any purchases, and just the uncertainty around this seller caused me to steer clear.  If it's questionable, it's not worth my time or money.  I am sorry and hopeful for those who have lost time, money and sanity on this seller.  But at some point, you have to realize you've been had, and likely aren't going to get your money back, and IMO taking a legal course of action may be prudent, or at least worth looking into.  If for no other reason than to prevent others from falling prey to this scam as well.  If growing and selling figs is his business, he's a worse businessman than Trump and should consider another line of work.

Hey, man, please don't bring Trump onto this forum!

It wasn't an interest free loan. If you read James's response, it's more like kiting checks.

This is not check kiting. All the money is good. Simply theft by deception. Whether he intended to steal from everyone from the get go is a different story, and completely negligible.