Scottish Rock Garden Club Forum
General Subjects => General Forum => Topic started by: PDJ on February 22, 2011, 12:36:37 PM
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A couple of days ago I received plants from Bloms Bulbs and thought it was time to start a thread for rating mail order purchases.
Please rate the plants you receive via mail order both good and bad experiences.
Below are pictures of Bloms Plants.
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While I appreciate the intention here is to share experiences with Forumists and that these may be good or bad... I would hope that anyone with a bad experience with any seller first contacts the seller to make that complaint.
It is only fair to allow a seller a chance to make reparation.
Likewise I would hope that Forumists receiving good customer service, fine plants, well packaged, are equally quick to praise their suppliers both here and to the seller direct.
:)
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Thank you for your views Maggi but I feel that when you provide goods or services you should check the quality before dispatch as your reputation travels with the goods.
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Point taken Maggi, and obviously criticisms via the Forum of named suppliers may cause discomfort.
A common problem is supply of mis-identified or diseased material. In that context it's interesting to note the 'Returns Policy' of some suppliers of mainly dormant material who stipulate, for instance, that 'any claim for replacement/refund of plants for any reason be made within 7 days'.
Since mistaken identity or e.g. viral infection (neither unheard of ;)) are unlikely to become evident for at least several months, such a policy is dubious to put it mildly.
Caveat emptor.
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I am afraid Ashley that the trading standard require you to state that, no matter what your return policy is. Crazy I know. Most dormant plant suppliers offer a returns policy if incorrectly named after they are flowering.
Susan
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Interesting Susan. I wonder how that fits with EU consumer protection law.
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I am afraid Ashley that the trading standard require you to state that, no matter what your return policy is. Crazy I know. Most dormant plant suppliers offer a returns policy if incorrectly named after they are flowering.
Susan
Susan is that true because i bought a muscari from a very well know bulb supplier,and on flowering is clearly not that but just ignores my emails.
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I recommend to you all to do a little research into what is known in the UK as the "Distance Selling Regulations".
This requires that any seller using mail order, online ordering,( magazine, televison, whatever) to sell their wares (whereby the customer is not present and can examine the goods etc) MUST offer a refund if the customer cancels the order or sends it back OR NOTIFYS THE SELLER IN WRITING of INTENT to send it back within seven days of either making the order or of receiving the order.
I rather think that some sellers may be using this stipulation rather loosley to claim the type of return policy Ashley describes. These Distance Selling Regulations apply in addition to any regulations such as the Sale of Goods- Implied Terms Act and so on, which state that goods "must be of merchantable quality and fit for purpose".
In many distance selling situations, not just plant sellers, there is widepsread misunderstanding of such regulations and in some cases, outright mis-stating of them.
Thank goodness there are some extremely honest and straightforward dealers who would never dream of hiding behind such screens!
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I recommend to you all to do a little research into what is known in the UK as the "Distance Selling Regulations".
This requires that any seller using mail order, online ordering,( magazine, televison, whatever) to sell their wares (whereby the customer is not present and can examine the goods etc) MUST offer a refund if the customer cancels the order or sends it back OR NOTIFYS THE SELLER IN WRITING of INTENT to send it back within seven days of either making the order or of receiving the order.
I rather think that some sellers may be using this stipulation rather loosley to claim the type of return policy Ashley describes. These Distance Selling Regulations apply in addition to any regulations such as the Sale of Goods- Implied Terms Act and so on, which state that goods "must be of merchantable quality and fit for purpose".
In many distance selling situations, not just plant sellers, there is widepsread misunderstanding of such regulations and in some cases, outright mis-stating of them.
Thank goodness there are some extremely honest and straightforward dealers who would never dream of hiding behind such screens!
That's very interesting Maggi but it's application to plants seems far from straightforward. I suppose a diseased plant (say virused) is not "of merchantable quality or fit for purpose'' but a wrongly identified plant? I know of at least one seller who is very erratic in response (or lack of response) to complaints about identity. I have had three occasions to complain recently; the first time I was informed that plants are variable, the second time I was sent a replacement, the third time I had no response at all.
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I think that's the nub of the matter Gerry. Disease & misidentification should be covered by the 'fit for purpose' requirement. However a supplier who attempts to limit customer rights with something along the lines of 'We will not replace plants which are not returned within seven days of their receipt by you' directly contravenes customer protection law as I understand it.
Fortunately most suppliers are excellent and do not need to try such bluffing, as Maggi says.
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I think that's the nub of the matter Gerry. Disease & misidentification should be covered by the 'fit for purpose' requirement. However a supplier who attempts to limit customer rights with something along the lines of 'We will not replace plants which are not returned within seven days of their receipt by you' directly contravenes customer protection law as I understand it.
Fortunately most suppliers are excellent and do not need to try such bluffing, as Maggi says.
Yes, Ashley, I think you're right and I think the regulations would support that Disease & misidentification should be covered by the 'fit for purpose' requirement.
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The Returns policy of a company is all well and good but the point I was making is why send them in the first place.
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The Returns policy of a company is all well and good but the point I was making is why send them in the first place.
Why indeed?
It can be that the postal service causes a delay, of course... but that is usually easy to check with postmarks.
And something that is exhibiting the signs of four weeks decay in a plastic bag did not get that way from point of departure to point of arrival in two days.... :-X
I fear there will always be some 'wide boy' who prefers a quick buck to establishing a long and trusting relationship with a customer who will return time and again and spread good reports - perhaps with the distance involved in mail order they feel "safer" from recriminations?
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I am neither condoning the dubious internet sales nurserymen or accusing any fourmist of trying to dishonestly claim a refund, but when I worked in a garden centre we were always getting folk coming back months and up to a year or more after purchasing plants with the defunct remains.
Some of these complaints were genuine, but others played (usually successfully) on our goodwill. Rarely did they produce repceipts for the purchase, and when questioned as to how they had treated the plant, it was obvious in some cases that they themselves had been responsible for its demise by not treating it properly. (e.g. you plant a 9 foot tree, water it in, and think that’s it, no more aftercare necessary regardless of the weather) We usually recognised our own plants even though they did not always still have our label on, but in some cases people would swear they had bought them from us when we did not even stock those plants. One one occasion, after swearing that he had bought the plant from us, the manager found the label belonging to another garden centre on the corpse!
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Sorry I meant 'forumist' not 'fourmist' in the previous entry!
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You show us the other side of the coin, Maureen. It is always useful to consider the view of the other person.
P.S. You can always re-enter your post, by clicking on the modify button above it, to make any corrections.
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When I was back in England, I had one particular nursery that I would have walked there and back to get the plants I wanted. Some reasonably priced, some a little more expensive than I would have liked but undoubtedly (in my humble opinion) excellent quality and great value for money, and if I was limited to having only one nursery I could buy plants from, then this would be the one.....BUT............without exception, I had to remove every scrap of soil from the plants and start from scratch otherwise they would probably have very quickly succumbed. Not diseased, not virused, not unhealthy in any way, but the compost they were growing in, although suitable for 3 inch pots, was most certainly not conducive to transplanting into the ground.
What am I trying to say here?
If I hadn't thought to look at the compost and check the root system on every occasion, I would have lost the vast majority of plants and probably ended up condemning the nursery person on this forum. I guess I'm just saying that before you slate people in public, just be aware that maybe the quality is not as bad as you think.
Being stuck in the middle of nowhere as I am, I have to rely solely on mail order for plants. So far, I haven't had any bad experiences.
In a past life I was a Quality Manager. There is an old saying in the profession that the worst quality complaint is the one you don't hear about. As Maggi says, give the nursery the opportunity to make reparation before posting for all the world to see.
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Woottons of Wenhasten - not recommended.
I was there in 2008 and selected the best Pelargoniums with lots of buds and growing stems. Then plants arrived in an onion bag in a small box. A very small box considering I picked the best looking plants. What was in the onion bag was shocking. Michael Loftus would only refund half of the cost. All plants died.
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helianthemums.co.uk - not recommended
The plants arrived very poorly packaged. Most plants broken. No refund offered
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Karen Junker. For Daphnes not recommended.
Daphnes in their pots placed in plastic bags in a box with no packaging. All damaged. Non alive today
No refund offered
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Well to add some balance, I bought some Irises and other stuff off a couple of folks
Garthwaite Nurseries
Westcountry Nurseries
and I can recommend them well packed and not only did Garthwaite keep up with regular emails we actually had a "natter" about all sorts of things !
I also bought some Pleione bulbils off some chap called Koolplants it was a mixed lot and I expected about 30 ... 120 later I was sick of planting the damn things ;D they havn't grown yet David and I've had them nearly a week ;D ;D
Only joking, David was good as well and gave me some good adivise - God knows what I'll do if all 120 come up ... anyone recommend a good 2nd hand greenhouse seller :o
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Karen Junker. For Daphnes not recommended.
Daphnes in their pots placed in plastic bags in a box with no packaging. All damaged. Non alive today
No refund offered
I bought some American hollies from him and they were very well packed and really good plants.
I had a very bad experience with some plants from Hayloft ,which died over the winter, which I felt should have not been sent out until spring.I sent them a pleasant letter and they replaced all of them as soon as the weather was suitable,excellent and friendly service.
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Two bulb suppliers whom I recommend unreservedly:
Pitcairn Alpines,
Pottertons.
I also recommend two smaller (semiprofessional?) bulb suppliers:
Buried Treasure (Rannveig Wallis),
Dryad Nursery (Anne Wright).
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I agree Pottertons are excellent!
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and top marks to Janis
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From a Southern Hemisphere POV....... I'd definitely recommend Marcus Harvery (our very own Hillview Croconut) of Hillview Rare Plants in Tasmania. Over the last 20 years of buying from him I have probably had maybe half a dozen plants that didn't cope well with transit (and believe me, with the amount I've bought from him, that is a very small percentage! ::)), and if anything is ever a problem he will always replace them either that year or the following one when the season is right. The same goes for the rare occasions that there has been a mixup and what grows isn't exactly the variety it was supposed to be. Brilliant!! 8)
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I accept that it would be very disappointing to get plants other than those selected Mark but in the case of your Pelargoniums I would have been very worried about my own skills if I could not have saved the plants you illustrated, even though they were, in effect, just rooted cuttings. I would have planted then in either small pots or in a tray, filled with a compost with a lot of grit in it and brought them on gradually to planting out size. They look healthy and turgid, even if not the ones you selected. Surely they could have been saved.
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Thought I would resurrect this post as I just took delivery of 18 plants from Arrowhead Alpines (Brigitta and Bob Stewart) of Michigan, 414 miles from Berea, via UPS.
I was notified that they were on their way on Monday and they arrived Wednesday.
Not a single damaged leaf, branch, rosette in sight. Perfectly packaged, healthy, moist compost.....and as good as it gets.
Kudos to Arrowhead !!!!!! Wonderful service, superb plants.
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Years ago I bought several hundreds pounds worth of hybrid daffodils from a firm that advertised in "The Garden". The bulbs looked alright and were potted by variety and placed in a separate section (we do this with all material). Just upon the emergence of the first leaf tips the horrible virus infection was evident.
I could not believe my eyes as variety after variety was showing virus symptoms. I did not want any refund but to warn them against such widespread infection but they never took the trouble to even respond. Obviously this is rather uncommon in the UK but this things DO HAPPEN.
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Alan & Sherba,
I have a friend in Maryland who sends me the Arrowhead Alpine catalogue every year - just for my entertainment. to read of the lovely selection of plants they offer etc.
Great catalogue. Paddy
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Ordered Clematis alpinas & macropetalas from Taylors Clematis. Courier delivered next day, packaging and condition of the plants was superb.
Mike
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That's great Alan and Mike.... all service should be like that, eh?
Alberto... sadly such an experience is not uncommon in the UK. :'(
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Maggi, I know. It has always been intriguing if they sent so many virused bulbs because the recipient was abroad (Argentina in this case).
On the other hand, a lot of garden hybrids are virused and have been for decades. In narcissi, 'Tete a Tete' is an obvious example, lots of stock is heavily virused and you can also find tissue cultured material that is incomparably vigorous.
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I'd heard that stocks of 'Tete a Tete' (or some of them) are virused & I'm also deeply suspicious of imported bulbs. So, on a visit to a garden centre this morning I had a look at about 30-40 pots in flower & I have to say that I could see virus symptoms in none of them. Perhaps the symptoms develop after flowering? Perhaps these were microprops? If so, I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole - I prefer plants which are perennial.
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I'm also deeply suspicious of imported bulbs.
I'm sorry to say that I have received virused bulbs from British nurseries who claim to grow all their own stocks, so there is no simple answer for this problem.
I much prefer to obtain bulbs from the likes of dedicated specialists on a smaller scale, like Anne Wright.
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Gerry, the virused 'Tete a Tete' show notoriously striped and longitudinally distorted foliage. Symptoms do not show themselves in the flowers. If the plants you saw had normal foliage, they must have been part of the tissue cleaned stock.
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i have always had good plants well packed from edrom..
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I have to say that Gerd Stopp's plants are packaged to perfection, heartily recommended.
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For Primulas Philip Bankead sends out some lovely plants and they are always well packed.
http://www.primulasandauriculas.com/index.html
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Can anybody recommend this nursery http://www.floramontana.de/pflanzen.html i like his dwarf iris.
Edit by maggi to fix the link
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David, Hans Martin's nursery has a very good reputation among the german rockgardeners.
As an experienced and professional gardener he cultivates his plants without much protection in a very rough climate in an elevation of 500m, so they stay healthy and compact. He worked for a long time in botanical gardens and
keeps good contact to other good growers and seed collectors.
After my retirement 4 years ago (after 14 years) from organizing the Czech-German rockgarden-
meeting I was so happy,that he overtook this job immediately and must say, that he does this
sometimes not so easy work perfectly.
Of course I am also a happy customer.
The correct adress is www.floramontana.de
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While I'm not in a position to recommend that nursery Davey, I can certainly recommend his irises and many other plants he lists. I could have a lot of fun there, if only I could. :'(
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What a wonderful forum this is. I've just spent a happy hour looking at Taylor's clematis nursery after Mike's recommendation, then got waylaid into Marcus Dancer's Clematis site, then got wistful about getting hold of a true Clematis texensis ... is there no end to the 'wants' list daydreaming?
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... is there no end to the 'wants' list daydreaming?
I do hope not.... that's the kind of wants list I can afford!
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For Primulas Philip Bankead sends out some lovely plants and they are always well packed.
http://www.primulasandauriculas.com/index.html
I can confirm that David. Had a great deal and great plants well packaged.
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Thank you for that Rudi,I really feel for you Lesley >:(
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I would recommend Burncoose. Not the cheapest, but always well packaged (which is difficult in the case of a 80cm Sollya). And it was my Sollya that reinforced my faith in them - having ordered the white form it was blue when it bloomed. So off went the email with photos and me thinking "here we go" and they replied "no problem, we'll dispatch the correct one ASAP". The replacement arrived two days later. And as a bonus, when I enquired about returning the wrong one I was told it was there mistake and to keep it by way of an apology.
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This one would not make you happy but may be a collectors item. Although I understand sharing wives is something done in parts of Asia so it may be okay.
http://www.guandongenterprisesltd.com/
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I received my snowdrops from Avon bulbs and really can not praise them enough.TOP MARKS
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Avon Bulbs: Three snowdrops arrived today, perfectly packed, in excellent condition and all three with two flowering stems. Other items, polygonatum, nerine and eucomis were in similar good condition and packaging. Enclosed was a personal note to apologise that one item was sold out.
This is no surprise as I have always found this standard of care from Avon Bulbs.
Paddy
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This one would not make you happy but may be a collectors item. Although I understand sharing wives is something done in parts of Asia so it may be okay.
http://www.guandongenterprisesltd.com/
Knowing the way Royal marriages go perhaps this company has just beaten the competition to the marketplace :-X
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Same here. I ordered 8 snowdrops from avon and pleased with every one. Will be using them again.
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This year, after several years of trials, I've found a site in my garden where Erythronium dens canis actually thrives (the Americans seem to do well anywhere). Consequently I've been looking to buy more forms by mail order & have been horrified by the standard charges for postage & packing made by many nurseries, even for small orders. A minimum order size I can understand as economically necessary but exorbitant charges for p & p? That's simply exploitation.
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This year, after several years of trials, I've found a site in my garden where Erythronium dens canis actually thrives (the Americans seem to do well anywhere). Consequently I've been looking to buy more forms by mail order & have been horrified by the standard charges for postage & packing made by many nurseries, even for small orders. A minimum order size I can understand as economically necessary but exorbitant charges for p & p? That's simply exploitation.
What makes it even worse is when the morons that are entrusted with our goods loose them!
My (admittedly insured) Habenaria medusae have been lost - whilst my money is safe I can't find a replacement this side of Thailand. Very frustrating....
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This year, after several years of trials, I've found a site in my garden where Erythronium dens canis actually thrives (the Americans seem to do well anywhere). Consequently I've been looking to buy more forms by mail order & have been horrified by the standard charges for postage & packing made by many nurseries, even for small orders. A minimum order size I can understand as economically necessary but exorbitant charges for p & p? That's simply exploitation.
I agree Gerry.
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Can anybody recommend somewhere reliable to get Penstemons? I seem to have lost my old favourites over the winter, such as Garnet (Andenken an Friedrich Hahn), Midnight etc.
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Hi Anne, I received a healthy P. Stapleford Gem from Constantine Garden Nursery and they have several Penstemon in their catalogue ;)
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Thank you, Nicole.
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Can anybody recommend somewhere reliable to get Penstemons? I seem to have lost my old favourites over the winter, such as Garnet (Andenken an Friedrich Hahn), Midnight etc.
Cotswold Garden Flowers has been recommended to me, but as they're about 40minutes away I'll be taking a drive down there at easter instead. I would happily put some seeds for P.digitalis "Huskers Red" in the post, although this gem of a plant is pretty readily available nowadays.
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Can anybody recommend somewhere reliable to get Penstemons? I seem to have lost my old favourites over the winter, such as Garnet (Andenken an Friedrich Hahn), Midnight etc.
Cotswold Garden Flowers has been recommended to me, but as they're about 40minutes away I'll be taking a drive down there at easter instead. I would happily put some seeds for P.digitalis "Huskers Red" in the post, although this gem of a plant is pretty readily available nowadays.
It's kind of you to offer, but that is one of the few that came through unscathed.
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Can anybody recommend somewhere reliable to get Penstemons? I seem to have lost my old favourites over the winter, such as Garnet (Andenken an Friedrich Hahn), Midnight etc.
Cotswold Garden Flowers has been recommended to me, but as they're about 40minutes away I'll be taking a drive down there at easter instead. I would happily put some seeds for P.digitalis "Huskers Red" in the post, although this gem of a plant is pretty readily available nowadays.
It's kind of you to offer, but that is one of the few that came through unscathed.
It always does!
I'll post up on what I see at CGF after I've been there. I'm told that he's an old school plantsman.
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That reminds me that Bob Brown, who hasn't been up this way for yonks, is due to give a Talk at the Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden sometime soon....... will edit post when I've checked the date ;)
It's on June 9 - The Noel Pritchard Memorial Lecture:
Bob Brown, subject will be 'Geraniums - Restraint and Discrimination'
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That reminds me that Bob Brown, who hasn't been up this way for yonks, is due to give a Talk at the Friends of the Cruickshank Botanic Garden sometime soon....... will edit post when I've checked the date ;)
It's on June 9 - The Noel Pritchard Memorial Lecture:
Bob Brown, subject will be 'Geraniums - Restraint and Discrimination'
It would appear that his reputation precedes him!
An on-line acquaintance who made me aware of CGF bought a Lachenalia viridiflora at one of the talks that he gave at her local garden society evenings. That is one to snap up!
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I have bought quite a lot off CGF mail order and never had any problems.
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CGF is a fabulous nursery, with a huge range of very tempting plants to suit various tastes constantly changing. I always spend more than I planned when I go there.
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Oh dear, it's going to cost me a fortune!
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well ive just recieved 4 lovely well packaged paris rhizomes.all wrapped in moss from greenmile nursery in belgium.in fact axialis was still in leaf and looks fine.
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It's always nice to hear positive feed back. 8)
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I can agree with Manicbotanic about Greenmile nursery ;)
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For NZers, I've had good plants from Parva Plants recently, tho' one Scutellaria has refused to break dormancy. The packing of the plants is quite good but my hand has twice been ripped open by badly closed staples.
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In 2010 I received bulbs under the name “Narcissus cantabricus ssp cantabricus from Malaga” from Miniature Bulbs. These flowered for the first time this year & turned out to be N. cantabricus var. foliosus (from N Africa).
I reported this to Miniature Bulbs. Here is their reply:
"Thank you for your email. The 'cantabricus' bulbs were obtained a couple of years ago as small bulbs and grown on. These came from a very well known gentleman grower who I can only surmise 'mixed up accidentally' some cantabricus.
Sorry to hear that you have not received the N.cantabricus subsp cantabricus you had hoped for but as you will note we did not put any up for sale this year.
Our alpines have yet to start flowering although there is plenty of green growth but we are in North Yorkshire.
Regards
Ivor Fox”
A perfunctory apology, no offer of replacement bulbs & no offer of any kind of refund - the bulbs I received were somewhat cheaper than the ones I paid for. I received no reply to a further email enquiring about this.
This is not the first time I have received wrongly identified bulbs from this source together with a complacent response to a complaint but it will certainly be the last. It appears that, unlike other suppliers, this one accepts no responsibility for the identity of the plants he sells. His ‘Terms of Business’ state that “No liability will be accepted after 14 Days...” A clever strategy for an irresponsible bulb seller!
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Further to my post above - I emailed Miniature Bulbs to inform them of my intention to post here. This morning I received an reply telling me that I would be refunded the difference in cost between the bulbs I received (& did not want) & those I actually ordered. Mr Fox seemed somewhat aggrieved at my complaint.
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I bought a single Crocus laevigatus albus bulb from R V Roger nurseries in north Yorkshire in mid-October. Two weeks later it flowered and i realised it obviously wasnt this variety. I phoned them and within two days had THREE replacement bulbs. Brilliant service. Will definitely be buying from this nursery again in the very near future.