Interaction shorted for the review. The owner Kristen Deluca is NOT kind. She's rude, dismissive, inappropriate & lacks accountability. She harassed us, threatened us & made a scene in front of everyone while being unreasonable, confrontational, extremely unfriendly & attempted to victimized herself as if she'd been "attacked" by us. Other reviews show she's done this to others.
11/26 my gf & I went to Deluca Farms to buy a tree. We were met w/ some very friendly women who assisted us look for the right one. I asked a woman who was helping me w/ a tree if I could take pictures there tomorrow. She said of course but come by early b/c they had an event. We ended up deciding that we'd take a look at the trees in the morning when we came back to take pictures. 11 AM 11/27 my gf & I returned w/ my friend, his son, his pregnant wife & nephew (all BIPOC). A woman politely told us that there were nicer, larger trees under the tent, so we moved. Another woman approached us confrontationally & w/o even greeting us told us that we aren't allowed to take pictures b/c they only work w/ one photographer & everyone else has to pay a $25 fee, w/o even knowing if we had. I explained to her that someone told us the night before that we could w/0 mention of a fee. Our friends got dressed & came from Long Beach explicitly to do so. I did not know that she was the owner at this point. She said that wasn't possible, b/c everyone knows the policy & asked for the name of the associate. We didn't tell her, b/c we didn't want to get the kind woman in trouble. I explained that I came here to buy a tree but didn't get one yet. I asked if we could continue the shoot since we were told we could & everyone was already there. She said as long as we bought a tree that year, to which I explained again that we had every intention of doing so initially but that her approach was very off-putting. She asked why I was being so rude. I said I was being calm & nice, but direct & honest about how she was making us feel. Saying I have the capacity to communicate respectfully to come to a resolve. She said she was going to call the two sales reps & if they did say I could take pictures that they were not going to be able to work that night. I told her that that was unfair & that as a customer, I didn't need to know how she was going to treat/punish her employees. She tells me that I don't have to buy a tree, and I needed to get off of her property. I told my gf she was unreasonable & that she wasn't acting right & walked away. She said I called her white & I was racist. I told her that I wasn't racist, but she was absolutely acting like a Karen & was mistreating us as customers. She asks for our names & we did not tell. We both then start filming one another & she tells my gf she is going to call the police. My gf gracefully tried to reason w/ her but she continued to talk over both of us then approached my friend & his pregnant wife, nephew and 4 year old son and antagonistically telling them they needed to leave immediately. I stood in between them & asked her to address me & not my friends b/c it was rude. She said I was in her face, but I wasn't. I told her we were leaving and said I was going to write a review about the interaction & then she tells an associate that she is going to follow me to my car & pulls out her phone again.
I stopped outside of the gate asking her to stop antagonizing me. She said could film me b/c it's her property. She said I needed to apologize for calling her racist to which I reminded her that I didn't call her racist. She said I was unprofessional, but she is the owner & I was the customer trying to be respectful & levelheaded. No matter how many times her husband asked her to let us speak, finish, or just allow us to take the pictures she refused, recording me the entire time & calling me racist & saying I targeted her & threatened to slander her. Which is not the same as being honest about your experience. I promised her I wouldn't put the video online but as we walked away, she stared at us
until we left. read more