Thompson & Morgan. Your thoughts on their customer service.

[Chomerly]

I've only used Thompson & Morgan a handful of times (probably 3 times) but so far, when trying to get issues resolved, i would say that they are simply lackadaisical when it comes to customer service.

Remember the issue in the the GYO magazine (February or March edition) where you could get a potato growing kit for the cost of postage?
Well i took that offer and added some seeds to my order at the same time.
My seeds came within a week and, as the page on their website stated, the potato kit would arrive by the end of April.

I received the order in bits and the last thing i was waiting on was the bag in which i could plant all of the tubers.
I wanted to plant them all in stages so that there would be at least a couple of weeks between each potato type being ready for harvest.
I couldn't do this as the bag arrived quite late and the tubers started to produce its root stems.
So, it meant that i've had to plant them all at roughly the same time.

I did email their customer care team about and received nothing back from them other than the standard email detailing how busy they were and that they would be in touch as soon as they were able.
Anyway, 5 days had passed and low and behold, the bag turns up.
Furthermore, a second bag turned up this week on Tuesday.
No communication via email, letter or by phone that would even suggest that someone had read my email.
Now i have a bag that i have not really got any use for right now, although i can make use of it next season perhaps.

Moving on from this, i also purchased from them, an offer that they had towards the end of April.
The offer was for a lucky dip of fruit trees.
If you purchased 4 trees from them you would receive a fifth tree of a plum variety.
Well i received the order of trees last Friday, including the plum variety, but there were still only 4 trees.
I sent them an email again asking what was happening and again, aside from the standard we're busy email response, i've heard nothing back from them.

Is it just me or have any of you experienced a similar type of service from them?
Once this tree order has been rectified, if even gets rectified, i will be closing my account with Thompson & Morgan.
I think that any company who can't even get around to giving a response to emails, asking for clarification over late or missing parts of an order, shouldn't even be deserving of continued custom.

[Jeanied]

I must admit I give them a wide berth Chomerly - unless it is their seeds on offer at the garden centre. I once ordered a Christmas present for my mother - it was supposed to be a xmas arrangement of bulbs in bloom in a basket. It arrived after her birthday in late January and was definitely not bulbs in bloom. T&M's excuse was that the offer was for a product which came from Van Miewen and so my complaint was with them - and Van Miewen said that T&M passed the order on way too late for the Xmas delivery. I was so fed up with both of them I have never been tempted by either of them again.

Their customer service people were totally unconcerned that I had a complaint - just passed the buck.

[bearded bloke]

T&M customer services do have an account on here you could try sending a PM but it may take a while for a reply as they rarely visit.However if you would like to read their general terms of business,they are here .... http://www.growfruitandveg.co.uk/gra...ml#post1113047

[Knight of Albion]

I have to say whenever I've had an issue, T & M always resolve it as soon as they can.

I think the problem is they do these special offers, receive an influx of orders but don't have additional staff to deal with it all, so wires get crossed and things get behind.

I can well imagine irate customers going off on one and some poor clerk in admin getting an ear bashing. Which is unfair, because its not their fault.

If there's an issue, then state your case, but do it politely. You won't get your order any quicker by shouting.

[Alison]

There's been other threads re T&M and my feelings are that their customer service has been terrible for at least the last 10 years and I would never buy plants off them. Their seeds are OK but there are other companies I'd rather use who actually care about the service they provide.


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[Alison]

I have to say whenever I've had an issue, T & M always resolve it as soon as they can.

I think the problem is they do these special offers, receive an influx of orders but don't have additional staff to deal with it all, so wires get crossed and things get behind.

I can well imagine irate customers going off on one and some poor clerk in admin getting an ear bashing. Which is unfair, because its not their fault.

If there's an issue, then state your case, but do it politely. You won't get your order any quicker by shouting.

Agree with your comment about being polite but it is very difficult when several phone calks don't get a satisfactory explanation about where a product is, why it's not what you ordered, damaged or dead. They need to learn how to communicate and if there is bad news re delays etc then to let people know and not send something different out, week late and half dead. This isn't the offers either so they gave no excuse (not that I think that us one either)


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[greenishfing]

I have to say whenever I've had an issue, T & M always resolve it as soon as they can.

I think the problem is they do these special offers, receive an influx of orders but don't have additional staff to deal with it all, so wires get crossed and things get behind.

I can well imagine irate customers going off on one and some poor clerk in admin getting an ear bashing. Which is unfair, because its not their fault.

If there's an issue, then state your case, but do it politely. You won't get your order any quicker by shouting.

I agree about being polite but their customer service is, in my opinion, abysmal. My problem was never resolved.

I also think that a company that puts special offers on and then lets customers down by not having the infrastructure/staff to fulfil their orders does not deserve my business.

[marchogaeth]

There's been other threads re T&M and my feelings are that their customer service has been terrible for at least the last 10 years and I would never buy plants off them. Their seeds are OK but there are other companies I'd rather use who actually care about the service they provide.


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

See this? Well I'm quoting Alison because what I think of T&M customer service isn't printable. They have even "pH, you queued" up seed orders for me before now. Grovelling final apologies and copious vouchers don't cut the mustard either as it become a vicious spiral. I've got one £10 voucher left to spend next time the P&P is free and that will truly be it after 18 months of dispute resolution.

[Chomerly]

Believe me, i haven't got anywhere near to the shouting stage yet.
I figured emailing would be easier but i'm still awaiting on a response.

Its amazing to me because after checking my account, i found that i had only ordered from them twice.
So that's two times i've experienced a shockingly low level of service and two times that i've had to email them about a missing part of an order.

I can accept the fact that orders may come in parts but what Thompson & Morgan need to understand is that a little bit of communication is all it takes to alleviate the concerns of those who spend their money with them.
If, as in my case, i am having to await for my missing item because there aren't any in stock right now, then why not include a message along side the delivery notice documentation stating so?
Why just drop off an order and leave it to the customer to get in touch because they have no clue as to why part of an order is missing?

What's even more frustrating is when you go onto review sites for Thompson & Morgan.
There are complaints about them, with regards to customer care (or lack thereof) and a lot of what i've read has elicited a response from there customer care team within 2 days.
I can't get that kind of reaction from them in one or two weeks.
Its because of things like this that i find companies like Thompson & Morgan should no longer get my custom.

It's a competitive market out there and if Thompson & Morgan can't up their game then i'm afraid that will lose customers to local garden centres and other on-line retailers.

[ugley_matt]

Not a single one of the poppy seeds i bought germinated. Sent a tweet to their account, got a reply asking for the order number, 30 mins later an email from CS saying they would send a new packet, arrived 2 days later.

On the handful of occasions I have found twitter the best place to get a response

[Chomerly]

I had never even considered Twitter as a way of communicating with them.
In fact, i never gave it a thought with regards to T&M even having social media pages.

Perhaps i will try that.
Thanks Matt.

[WendyC]

I'm afraid I look very closely to see who is supplying any offers and don't bother if it is T&M.

[Alison]

Not a single one of the poppy seeds i bought germinated. Sent a tweet to their account, got a reply asking for the order number, 30 mins later an email from CS saying they would send a new packet, arrived 2 days later.

On the handful of occasions I have found twitter the best place to get a response

I see that as an even greater negative against their customer service ie they only care if they think other people might hear that they're rubbish. Obviously make use of it if you tweet but most people don't and they should be able get the same level of service for their money


Sent from my iPad using Grow Your Own Forum

[Mr Gardener]

I've ordered a few times and had cause to contact them once, that was for an offer from a group discount offer site which arrived promptly but wasn't as described. Got a quick sharp response and a satisfactory outcome.

I agree comms are far from brilliant and that's an area they could improve, particularly where orders are split. I had one occassion where I ordered to work and the order arrived in stages... all the seeds came on time but the fruit trees were delayed... ended up arriving the day before a week off and I'd biked into work! Interesting experience getting on a packed train home with a bike and two fruit trees!

[BertieFox]

Although I've had issues with T and M in the past, such as the wrong type of seed supplied and non germination, I always found them very helpful and willing to put things right. They gave me several packets of the right variety to correct the first error and have always been quick to respond. The worst time I had was when they were sending out seeds very, very slowly because their international service went via some distant location, but they have stopped that now and seeds arrive fairly quickly. I hope you sort your issues out with them.