Poor customer care from seed companies

[enrich100]

Am I right to be upset with the service I have received?

Twelve days ago I ordered several packets of seeds online from one of the major seed companies (no names mentioned but they have been supplying seeds since 1855), I received an email acknowledging my order
I noted in the terms and conditions that "Most seed orders are shipped within 5 working days of receipt of order"

Yesterday (day 11) as I had not heard from them I decided to email there customer care department to find out what was the problem, within hours of the email I received a standard template email telling me that my seeds have indeed been dispatched and that they should arrive within the next 2 -4 days, this email seemed to ignore the fact that the order had already passed twice the normal shopping time but I thought its ok they are on the way

Today (day 12) I receive a letter from the customer care team saying thay are experiencing authorisation problems with my card number and they won't be able to dispatch my order until I return my card detail by post

I'm not upset that about the authorisation issue as sometimes payments and systems go wrong, it doesn't need to take so long to resolve a payment issue does it? but my main gripe though is the template email sent telling me my order had already been dispatched when infact it hadn't, to me this either means the customer care team just send out emails without actually checking, or they really can't tell and are just guessing

I just sent an email asking them to answer me why it took so long after an order has been acknowledged to actually contact a customer bearing in mind they had my address email and phone number on the order form and why they told me my order had been sent when it hadn't.

Am I expecting too much? or do I just have too much time on my hands?
perhaps being nearly 40 means I no longer have any patience I did when I was younger

[nerdgas]

If that was me I'd tell them to do one and order my seeds elsewhere.

No excuse.

Any decent online system should verify the payment (including getting full authorisation) at the moment the order is placed. And to expect you to confirm your card details in the post? What's that all about? Are their ordering systems also from 1855?

[pdblake]

I certainly wouldn't be sending card details through the post. A cancellation note yes, card details no.

[Bigmallly]

I certainly wouldn't be sending card details through the post. A cancellation note yes, card details no.

That's a deffinate agreement........I would be more worried about the email asking you to confirm your details. Ditch the order & go elsewhere. It sounds like you will get them quicker as well.

[kernowyon]

right own up!

who else has googled 'seed suppliers 1855' then.

personally never had a problem with them or the customer service but I agree with everyone else about sending details by post. If you really are not happy let your wallet do the walking.

[Jeanied]

TBH it doesn't surprise me about this company Enrich and Kernowyon - (and yes, I googled to check that this was the company I thought it was) - it went through a really bad patch a long while ago because of non-germination of its seeds - rumour had it they used old seed in with new. I had cause to complain about them recently due to non-delivery of christmas presents (from their brochure, Christmas planted arrangements, in a nice cheery red colour - what was finally delivered a month after Christmas was a pink bowl of hyacinths which were a) single and b) nearly dead). And customer service did not want to know/ couldn't care less. Now I just put the brochure in the recycling without looking at it.

[enrich100]

right own up!

who else has googled 'seed suppliers 1855' then.

well I had to give you all a challenge didn't I (I knew some would google it)


Just received this responce

Thank you for your reply and please accept my sincere apologies for the error. Unfortunately it does appear that your order was not looked into correctly. On checking this, we do have a problem authorising your credit card so we are therefore unable to release your order.

I certainly appreciate your comments and will investigate this further. In the meantime, if you would like to contact our customer care team , we will check the card details that we are able to despatch your order.

Once again, please accept our sincere apologies for the inconvenience you have been caused and we hope to hear from you shortly so that this can be resolved.

[quark1]

Well if its the one I think - I've always found them V.Good.

Recently when they had free P&P I took advantage to order up my seed spuds and other 'heavies' which attract greater postage costs.

After I'd made the first of 3 orders - split to max out specials' qualifications (the tight-fisted one - I don't deny it!) - I realsised I had missed 10% discount codes at the bottom of the order confirmation.

Cheekily I asked if they could be retrospectively applied - taking care not to apply the disc of the 1st order to the 1st order etc if you follow. Some days later I was astonished that they DID let me apply the discount and I can confirm that 2 credit amounts have appeared on my CC Bill today. I was expecting them to say use them for a future order!

I agree that formulated replies are dashed annoying. I have often said in my emails that I want a 'human' to reply with properly constructed sentences and not a choice of approved words which must be picked. If they want dummies or chimps on customer service duty they need look no futher than their local zoo.

Hope you've got your order sorted by now one way or the other.

[Bigmallly]

What confuses me is the timescale it took for them to acknowledge a problem with the card. I had a problem with mine a few weeks ago because the numpty bank had put a wrong digit in my postcode but I was told "at the time of ordering" (not with this company) that my card had been declined, not 12 days later. Very strange.

[enrich100]

I agree that formulated replies are dashed annoying. I have often said in my emails that I want a 'human' to reply with properly constructed sentences and not a choice of approved words which must be picked. If they want dummies or chimps on customer service duty they need look no futher than their local zoo.

Atleast one employee prefers sending formulated responces with out actually chasing up the issue

What confuses me is the timescale it took for them to acknowledge a problem with the card. I had a problem with mine a few weeks ago because the numpty bank had put a wrong digit in my postcode but I was told "at the time of ordering" (not with this company) that my card had been declined, not 12 days later. Very strange.

me to I have I emailed asking why it took so long, also why They can answer only one question per email

I know they wont "investigate this further" as customer services rarely do, its just lip service

i'm looking at other suppliers, if it were veg I would have several options but the suppliers I usually use for veg seeds either don't do flower seeds of don't do the flowers i'm looking for, I was going to grow the flowers as a surprise for my OH as she really does not like veg gardening but loves flowers, I really didn't think it would be so difficult almost tempted to forget it but it's not my OH's fault

[smallblueplanet]

Tell * & * to cancel your order and go elsewhere - its your money, you owe them nothing...they had their chance and blew it.

What sort of flower seeds are you looking for, maybe the combined seed sellers knowledge of all of us GYO seedaholics can help you?

Have you tried Nickys btw they do lots of flowers...

Nickys Seeds - grow garden plants from seed

[enrich100]

Tell * & * to cancel your order and go elsewhere - its your money, you owe them nothing...they had their chance and blew it.

What sort of flower seeds are you looking for, maybe the combined seed sellers knowledge of all of us GYO seedaholics can help you?

Have you tried Nickys btw they do lots of flowers...

Nickys Seeds - grow garden plants from seed

Sad to say my knowledge of flowers is limited even though I studied horticulture for three years at school
my OH loves Carnations and Chrysanthenums so I had ordered

Chrysanthemum indicum Charm Early Fashion Mixed
Chrysanthemum x koreanum Fanfare Improved F1
Carnation : Giant Chabaud Mixed
Carnation : Stripes & Picotees
Black Cherry : Tomato

not the most adventurous of orders but its what she loves (the tomatoes were for me as it started of as a veg order until she kindly reminded me my seed box has all I need (not all that I want though ) Like myself she has heath issues so I like to get her surprises through out the year to keep her smiling

[smallblueplanet]

DT Brown has some flowers & free p&p on seed orders?

DT Browns | Flower Seed A-Z

[Izi]

If it's who I think it is ( thankyou SBP for the clue) then I had some problems with them last year. They had sent me a £5 voucher and I had trawled the catalogue for the cheapies and the two for one or buy that get this free offers. ( Like I do cos I'm Yorkshire and tight)

Sent in my order and when it arrived there was a further bill attached to it for £2.50.

I rang customer support and they were very rude about it and said I must've quoted the wrong code and I was at fault and MUST settle the balance.

I always write a duplicate copy of every seed order I make with cat numbers price etc ( cos I'm a Virgo) so I checked and double checked and argued the point in the politest voice until I was told that " they would overlook MY error this time as everybody makes mistakes"

Cheeky So and So's!

Got a £5 voucher this year from them too, but I'm not inclined to use it.

Hope you get it sorted out.
Izi.

[enrich100]

I have to admit it was the voucher that tempted me to use them, but the customer service experience is telling me never to use them again