Whole Foods Market
Bug Infestation

Whole Foods markets itself as being a healthy living, lifestyle store. I had purchased two organic basil plants in the summer, as their display of garden plants and herbs was very attractive. After I brought them home, I repotted both of them. Within two weeks, my garden was overrun with with small black, hard shelled bugs. Not only was that not horrifying, I started to notice small notches on the leaves of my other, healthy, bug-free plants. Two weeks later, one of my plants was pretty much, defoliated and a number of others were missing significant portions of their leaves.

I trapped a couple of the problem bugs and took them to my local garden store, where there were classified as "vine weevils". Whole Foods has sold me basil plants which contained vine weevil larvae in the soil.

I called up Whole Foods to speak with their plant department. I was told that I could receive a refund for my $3 plants. What Whole Foods failed to acknowledge was that their supplier was selling plants with larvae in the soil.

Thinking that the plant department would like to know about chemical-free, biological treatments with nematodes, I tried to explain to the person that they should look into this for their remaining plants. I was told that "nobody else has had this problem", and "I can offer you a refund of $3". Additionaly I was told to use "complementary" plants in my garden to get rid of the problem bugs. Unfortunately this was poor advice as (1) I had a number of plants that are not bug-friendly already in my garden and (2) once the weevils are mature there is no other way to get rid of them aside from individual capture. I have been told by a number of garden stores that nematodes are the best way to prevent a vine weevil infestation.

I am incredibly disappointed that Whole Foods (1) sold plants infested with bugs, (2) refused to acknowledge the problem, (3) refused to look into preventative measures so other people don't lose their plants to these nasty creatures, (4) the attitude that a $3 refund would be sufficient and (5) the excuse that they only use organic suppliers and that nothing could be done without the use of chemicals. To date, I have spent over $50 just to take care of this problem. I have been told that I will likely have to spend another $50 in the spring to ensure that none of the lavae live through the winter and reproduce next year.

Company: Whole Foods Market
Country: Canada
Province: British Columbia
City: Vancouver

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