Roguelands - seed company or real rogues?

[veg4681]

Brief update – I took this up with Rogueland’s payment company who emailed me today to say that Rogueland’s have despatched the goods again. I’m not going to hold my breath but the clock has been reset!

Incidentally, despite a positive snowstorm of emails, Rogueland’s never responded to me at all (some customer service huh?)

It doesn't hurt to write to your credit card company for the price of a 2nd class stamp. Give them the details of the order with CCNOW as the billing agent that appeared in your cc statement. after that, I had a call from my cc pretty fast to say they've sent me a letter, in it they informed me that the american billing agent had refunded and they did.

[T-lady]

Hey veg4681

Do you think it fair to give them this one more chance to get it right first though?

[veg4681]

They don't deserve a second chance. They're in a business and if they can't sort themselves out to serve their customers with an acceptable standard of service, they shouldn't be in business, let alone continuing to put out their website luring innocent customers in. Just remember, customers before who lost their money never got anything. It's not just about the money, it's about the principle. Believe me, you won't ever hear directly from Rogueland ever again anyway - been there man.

[deadwood]

Perhaps it is me but what did you order from the US that you could not have found here? Also have you any idea how "good" the US postal service is? Just about everything I have ever ordered from the US is sent via FedEx, DHL, UPS or similar. But not by US Post.

I was looking for Jacaranda seeds and although there are several possible overseas suppliers there are 3-4 that are UK based and it just seems easier to deal with them.

A simple question on this forum would I suspect have given the names of several UK seed suppliers that people have had good service from.

[smallblueplanet]

...
A simple question on this forum would I suspect have given the names of several UK seed suppliers that people have had good service from.

Often the varieties, cost and quantity of seeds are better on non-UK sites.

But anyway having ordered lots of 'stuff' from various parts of the world, why shouldn't you expect the same service where-ever you buy from?

[deadwood]

Sorry to be as obvious as this but T-Lady has no varieties and no seeds and has paid whatever the cost was.

If everywhere gave the same level of service then this thread would not exist, and I would care about which garage I took my car to.

Last time I had anything from the US via US post the post office here charged me for VAT and added a handling charge for charging me for VAT. The package was $23, the VAT was minimal but the handling charge was either £3 or £5. So I ended up having to pay the post office about half the cost ofthe item itself. I think the threshold is about £10 but it is a good way for the post office to make money.

[Paulottie]

'Roguelands'.....mmm, sometimes it's all there in the name

[smallblueplanet]

...Last time I had anything from the US via US post the post office here charged me for VAT and added a handling charge for charging me for VAT..... I think the threshold is about £10 but it is a good way for the post office to make money.

Well if you don't know anything about customs regulations what do you expect? You're allowed to import certain goods up to a value of £18 (excluding p&p) before you're liable to duty & VAT, unless its a gift in which case its £36 ex p&p.

Importing Goods from Abroad

Oh and last time I bought anything from the US it came here via Parcel Force and the 'handling charge' was £13 (and duty and VAT) but I still saved about £90 on the price charged over here!

[gojiberry]

I have always bought all my gardening from UK suppliers and will do for most of my requirements. However, even with all the bad reports I am still very tempted to have a go at getting seeds from Roguelands. Why??? Because there is nowhere that I know of that will offer me 100 packets of seed for £15 in this country. To me its a bit like buying a lottery ticket but with slightly better odds than the lottery. I can understand the principle thing and we should get what we pay for. But I do know the risks and maybe one day I will take them.
P.S. Ive been waiting 3 months for my gojiberry plants from T & M and not likely to see them for at least another.

[Paulottie]

Watching 'wartime kitchen garden' ...In the war they used to send over packets of seed from America, Evidently some of the varieties didn't perform as well in our climate.

[muckdiva]

Watching 'wartime kitchen garden' ...In the war they used to send over packets of seed from America, Evidently some of the varieties didn't perform as well in our climate.

I wouldn't recommend anyone using Roguelands, for obvious reasons, but I have to say, the seeds I got from them last year have performed very well, especially some sweetcorn called Reids Yellow Dent which grow mega big, even with last year's rubbish weather.

But, if they are not fulfilling orders, they shouldn't be encouraged, even if the cost is low.

[T-lady]

[QUOTE=deadwood;185120]Perhaps it is me but what did you order from the US that you could not have found here? Also have you any idea how "good" the US postal service is? Just about everything I have ever ordered from the US is sent via FedEx, DHL, UPS or similar. But not by US Post.

Actually I did try and couldn't find a particular type of asparagus seed in the Uk.

I have had excellent experiences shopping abroad previously and expect a level of service from all of my suppliers (see later remarks about T&M delivery dates on certain items).


What state would the British export market be in if we all took this approach?

[multiveg]

Anioleka? or something like that was another name for them when they were based in Scotland and selling through eBay. A friend ordered from them ages ago and had no problem with them. However, that was before they moved across the pond. There have been many threads on other gardening fora about this company and the general advice is to steer clear...

[deadwood]

SBP: The duty is paid on cost of import, if the import cost threshold is £18 then fine, but the cost of import defined by the website you give includes the postage and that is not fully accurate either.

HMRC define the value as Cost+Insurance+Transport, or as they put it CIT. If the CIT is greater than whatever the threshold is then you pay duty. The web site you give shows the postage being included in the determination of duty and the HMRC site state that the figure on which duty is arrived at also includes any insurance paid. I think £18 is the threshold amount if you buy from abroad and carry back to the UK as personnel baggage, hence no postage or insurance is applicable.

I have purchased sufficent items from abroad to know this. Had it explained to me at the heathrow customs house when collecting an item. It really made me unhappy as I realised that I would be paying 17.5% of the shipping and insurance as well. They then said that the item I was importing qualified at the 5% rate not the 17.5% rate and so wiped nearly £300 off the bill. I was then very happy. This little piece of information helped me a few years afterwards as DHL tried to charge me at 17.5% for a similar item

The problem with the post office is you could get something from the US for say £12, pay £4 insurance and £4 for shipping (=£20) then get landed with a bill from the postoffice for £3.50 plus their handling charge of £8. So you have to pay a further £11:50 to get the £12 package off of the post office.

That is in effect what happened to me. I ended up paying the post office almost as much as the initial price of the bits I ordered. It is the handling charge that adds to the overall cost of small items.

If you do get bigger items from abroad try FedEx, last few time I had items via them it seems that they do not apply the charge if the total value is less than £100. I have a nice spotting scope that is £245 here and was in total £93 from the US.

As for buying from abroad, no problem, as I said I have quite a lot from abroad. But with the internet it is quite easy to do a bit of reaserch before hand, 10 minutes of it could well have shown up if roguelands had a good, fair or bad reputation. It is after all money.

[smallblueplanet]

SBP: The duty is paid on cost of import, if the import cost threshold is £18 then fine....

As I said, if you go over the £18 purchase price threshold then you become liable to duty & VAT. Beware that the £18 value is determined by an exchange rate set by HMRC and might not be the exchange rate used to determine your cost. Therefore you could find an item valued at over £18 by HMRC even though you paid less than £18.

Deadwood I used to work in HMCE in the mid-80s. Here are the current Notices if you wish to read them.

A guide for international post users
HMRC Reference:Notice 143 (August 2007)

HM Revenue & Customs


Valuation of imported goods for customs purposes, VAT and trade statistics
HMRC Reference:Notice 252 (June 2006)

HM Revenue & Customs

Here is a link to TARIC which will tell you the rate of duty due on an imported item

TARIC Home Page