Has anyome had any dealings with this company?

I ordered a fair quantity of bare rooted roses from them in early October.
They say in their blurb that plants will be delivered Oct/Nov, but so far
there's been a diquietening silence from them despite them happily taking
my money.

http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-0001...rose-korresia/

On 11/11/2013 22:08, Frank Booth wrote:
Has anyome had any dealings with this company?

I ordered a fair quantity of bare rooted roses from them in early October.
They say in their blurb that plants will be delivered Oct/Nov, but so far
there's been a diquietening silence from them despite them happily taking
my money.

http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-0001...rose-korresia/







I've used them many times. They've never failed to deliver, but I trust
the quality of their bulbs more than I do of their plants. However, it
was their herbaceous plants, rather than woody material, I had problems
with. Woody material is less likely to collapse in transit.

It may be that they will only send out roses when they are dormant and,
since we've not really had a lasting cold snap to induce dormancy, I
suspect they may be waiting for the right moment. Be patient a while
longer. You may yet receive them in November.

If it makes you feel better, prepare the planting hole in readiness.
I've done this in the past. I then put a large pot or bucket in the
hole to stop soil and detritus falling in. It makes the job so much
easier when the rose comes and bad weather comes with it.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

On Monday, 11 November 2013 22:37:54 UTC, Spider wrote:
On 11/11/2013 22:08, Frank Booth wrote:

Has anyome had any dealings with this company?



I ordered a fair quantity of bare rooted roses from them in early October.

They say in their blurb that plants will be delivered Oct/Nov, but so far

there's been a diquietening silence from them despite them happily taking

my money.



http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-0001...rose-korresia/















I've used them many times. They've never failed to deliver, but I trust

the quality of their bulbs more than I do of their plants. However, it

was their herbaceous plants, rather than woody material, I had problems

with. Woody material is less likely to collapse in transit.



It may be that they will only send out roses when they are dormant and,

since we've not really had a lasting cold snap to induce dormancy, I

suspect they may be waiting for the right moment. Be patient a while

longer. You may yet receive them in November.



If it makes you feel better, prepare the planting hole in readiness.

I've done this in the past. I then put a large pot or bucket in the

hole to stop soil and detritus falling in. It makes the job so much

easier when the rose comes and bad weather comes with it.

Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their own terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of very poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure whether to ask for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or have the damaged roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait again). I guess my early misgivings of this company turned out to be well founded and I won't be using them again.

On 2013-11-30 23:11:05 +0000, said:

On Monday, 11 November 2013 22:37:54 UTC, Spider wrote:
On 11/11/2013 22:08, Frank Booth wrote:

Has anyome had any dealings with this company?



I ordered a fair quantity of bare rooted roses from them in early October.

They say in their blurb that plants will be delivered Oct/Nov, but so far

there's been a diquietening silence from them despite them happily taking

my money.



http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-0001...rose-korresia/




I've used them many times. They've never failed to deliver, but I
trust the quality of their bulbs more than I do of their plants.
However, it was their herbaceous plants, rather than woody material,
I had problems with. Woody material is less likely to collapse in
transit.



It may be that they will only send out roses when they are dormant
and, since we've not really had a lasting cold snap to induce
dormancy, I suspect they may be waiting for the right moment. Be
patient a while longer. You may yet receive them in November.



If it makes you feel better, prepare the planting hole in readiness.
I've done this in the past. I then put a large pot or bucket in the
hole to stop soil and detritus falling in. It makes the job so much
easier when the rose comes and bad weather comes with it.

Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they
arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their
own terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of
very poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure
whether to ask for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or
have the damaged roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait
again). I guess my early misgivings of this company turned out to be
well founded and I won't be using them again.

I'm really sorry to hear this, especially as some of us were reassuring
as to their usual standards. They, like anyone who sells anything
online, are at the mercy of couriers/post office though, so damage may
not be their fault. Poor quality is another matter.
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

On Sun, 1 Dec 2013 12:22:23 +0000, sacha wrote:

On 2013-11-30 23:11:05 +0000, said:

On Monday, 11 November 2013 22:37:54 UTC, Spider wrote:
On 11/11/2013 22:08, Frank Booth wrote:

Has anyome had any dealings with this company?



I ordered a fair quantity of bare rooted roses from them in early October.

They say in their blurb that plants will be delivered Oct/Nov, but so far

there's been a diquietening silence from them despite them happily taking

my money.



http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-0001...rose-korresia/




I've used them many times. They've never failed to deliver, but I
trust the quality of their bulbs more than I do of their plants.
However, it was their herbaceous plants, rather than woody material,
I had problems with. Woody material is less likely to collapse in
transit.



It may be that they will only send out roses when they are dormant
and, since we've not really had a lasting cold snap to induce
dormancy, I suspect they may be waiting for the right moment. Be
patient a while longer. You may yet receive them in November.



If it makes you feel better, prepare the planting hole in readiness.
I've done this in the past. I then put a large pot or bucket in the
hole to stop soil and detritus falling in. It makes the job so much
easier when the rose comes and bad weather comes with it.

Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they
arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their
own terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of
very poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure
whether to ask for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or
have the damaged roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait
again). I guess my early misgivings of this company turned out to be
well founded and I won't be using them again.

I'm really sorry to hear this, especially as some of us were reassuring
as to their usual standards. They, like anyone who sells anything
online, are at the mercy of couriers/post office though, so damage may
not be their fault. Poor quality is another matter.

I ordered some bulbs from their cheapie sale leaflet. All arrived OK
apart from 5 cyclamen hederifolium corms which were so shrivelled I
doubt they'll do anything. The bulbs, mini-daffs, iris and tulips,
seemed healthy enough.
I also ordered some astrantia and echinacea from them. These arrived
last week, all bare-rooted in poly-bags. Time will tell.....
I also ordered 5 "free" cyclamen plants from a firm in Guernsey. These
also arrived on Saturday, each in a 2 1/2 inch square pot, in
poly-bags. All growth had been cut to less than 1 inch above soil
level. Somewhat of a challenge for me!

Pam in Bristol

On 01/12/2013 16:55, Pam Moore wrote:
On Sun, 1 Dec 2013 12:22:23 +0000, sacha wrote:

On 2013-11-30 23:11:05 +0000, said:

On Monday, 11 November 2013 22:37:54 UTC, Spider wrote:
On 11/11/2013 22:08, Frank Booth wrote:

Has anyome had any dealings with this company?



I ordered a fair quantity of bare rooted roses from them in early October.

They say in their blurb that plants will be delivered Oct/Nov, but so far

there's been a diquietening silence from them despite them happily taking

my money.



http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-0001...rose-korresia/




I've used them many times. They've never failed to deliver, but I
trust the quality of their bulbs more than I do of their plants.
However, it was their herbaceous plants, rather than woody material,
I had problems with. Woody material is less likely to collapse in
transit.



It may be that they will only send out roses when they are dormant
and, since we've not really had a lasting cold snap to induce
dormancy, I suspect they may be waiting for the right moment. Be
patient a while longer. You may yet receive them in November.



If it makes you feel better, prepare the planting hole in readiness.
I've done this in the past. I then put a large pot or bucket in the
hole to stop soil and detritus falling in. It makes the job so much
easier when the rose comes and bad weather comes with it.

Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they
arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their
own terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of
very poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure
whether to ask for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or
have the damaged roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait
again). I guess my early misgivings of this company turned out to be
well founded and I won't be using them again.

I'm really sorry to hear this, especially as some of us were reassuring
as to their usual standards. They, like anyone who sells anything
online, are at the mercy of couriers/post office though, so damage may
not be their fault. Poor quality is another matter.

I ordered some bulbs from their cheapie sale leaflet. All arrived OK
apart from 5 cyclamen hederifolium corms which were so shrivelled I
doubt they'll do anything. The bulbs, mini-daffs, iris and tulips,
seemed healthy enough.
I also ordered some astrantia and echinacea from them. These arrived
last week, all bare-rooted in poly-bags. Time will tell.....
I also ordered 5 "free" cyclamen plants from a firm in Guernsey. These
also arrived on Saturday, each in a 2 1/2 inch square pot, in
poly-bags. All growth had been cut to less than 1 inch above soil
level. Somewhat of a challenge for me!

Pam in Bristol




Hi Pam,

I don't know how well you know Cyclmen but, if you see no growth on
them, don't throw them out until you've checked that the bulb is firm
and healthy, as they show no signs of life above soil level in the
dormant season. Many people have thrown out cyclmen (esp. outdoor
types) because the tuber is very hard and looks somewhat like a pebble.
A rotten tuber is very clearly that, so there should be no mistake!
--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

"sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2013-11-30 23:11:05 +0000, said:

Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they
arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their
own terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of
very poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure
whether to ask for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or
have the damaged roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait
again). I guess my early misgivings of this company turned out to be
well founded and I won't be using them again.

I'm really sorry to hear this, especially as some of us were reassuring
as to their usual standards. They, like anyone who sells anything
online, are at the mercy of couriers/post office though, so damage may
not be their fault. Poor quality is another matter.
?
Well harking back to my post last November it turns out that a few of the
roses we ordered from J Parkers are the wrong variety now that they are
flowering, let alone the problems we first had with the poor quality.when
they were first despatched.

It seems others have had problems with this company as well so it wasn't
just me being fussy.. I certainly won't be doing any further business with
them.

http://chat.allotment-garden.org/ind...topic=115709.0

On 30/11/2013 23:11, wrote:
On Monday, 11 November 2013 22:37:54 UTC, Spider wrote:
On 11/11/2013 22:08, Frank Booth wrote:

Has anyome had any dealings with this company?



I ordered a fair quantity of bare rooted roses from them in early October.

They say in their blurb that plants will be delivered Oct/Nov, but so far

there's been a diquietening silence from them despite them happily taking

my money.



http://www.jparkers.co.uk/plant-0001...rose-korresia/















I've used them many times. They've never failed to deliver, but I trust

the quality of their bulbs more than I do of their plants. However, it

was their herbaceous plants, rather than woody material, I had problems

with. Woody material is less likely to collapse in transit.



It may be that they will only send out roses when they are dormant and,

since we've not really had a lasting cold snap to induce dormancy, I

suspect they may be waiting for the right moment. Be patient a while

longer. You may yet receive them in November.



If it makes you feel better, prepare the planting hole in readiness.

I've done this in the past. I then put a large pot or bucket in the

hole to stop soil and detritus falling in. It makes the job so much

easier when the rose comes and bad weather comes with it.

Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their own terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of very poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure whether to ask for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or have the damaged roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait again). I guess my early misgivings of this company turned out to be well founded and I won't be using them again.




Oh dear, Frank, how disappointing! I'm very sorry to be proven right in
this case, but I've had similar experience so I'm not that surprised.
If I were you, I'd cut my losses and ask for my money back rather than
replacements. Hope you can make a go of the better ones.

As I said before, Parkers bulbs are not bad, especially if you order
early. I still use them for bulbs because their prices are reasonable,
but I would understand if you wanted no more to do with them.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

"Spider" wrote in message
...
Oh dear, Frank, how disappointing! I'm very sorry to be proven right in
this case, but I've had similar experience so I'm not that surprised.
If I were you, I'd cut my losses and ask for my money back rather than
replacements. Hope you can make a go of the better ones.

As I said before, Parkers bulbs are not bad, especially if you order
early. I still use them for bulbs because their prices are reasonable,
but I would understand if you wanted no more to do with them.

Actually I don't think Parker's prices for bulbs (Tulips and Narcissi) are
that good at all. I looked at their bulb prices 3 months ago before the
roses and thought...nah. The roses seemed good value but we all know the
story about those now.

The nursery where I get most of my bulbs from were half the price of
Parkers, like £2.00 for 10 Tulips or Narcissi and in certain cases with the
more popular varieties, £2.99 for 50 Tete A Tete or £1.69 for 10 Emperor
Tulips. I find Lidl are also very good value for bulbs if you get in early
(early Sept) before their bulbs are snapped up, eg £1.69 for 12 Red Riding
Hood Tulips. (I'm looking at some of my dockets here).

On 01/12/2013 20:02, Frank Booth wrote:
"Spider" wrote in message
...
Oh dear, Frank, how disappointing! I'm very sorry to be proven right in
this case, but I've had similar experience so I'm not that surprised.
If I were you, I'd cut my losses and ask for my money back rather than
replacements. Hope you can make a go of the better ones.

As I said before, Parkers bulbs are not bad, especially if you order
early. I still use them for bulbs because their prices are reasonable,
but I would understand if you wanted no more to do with them.

Actually I don't think Parker's prices for bulbs (Tulips and Narcissi) are
that good at all. I looked at their bulb prices 3 months ago before the
roses and thought...nah. The roses seemed good value but we all know the
story about those now.

The nursery where I get most of my bulbs from were half the price of
Parkers, like £2.00 for 10 Tulips or Narcissi and in certain cases with the
more popular varieties, £2.99 for 50 Tete A Tete or £1.69 for 10 Emperor
Tulips. I find Lidl are also very good value for bulbs if you get in early
(early Sept) before their bulbs are snapped up, eg £1.69 for 12 Red Riding
Hood Tulips. (I'm looking at some of my dockets here).




You may be right about bulb prices. I get a few relatively cheaply from
some supermarkets and large gcs. However, I can't get to either Aldi or
Lidl (or indeed some gcs) without a lift, so I have to look at the
catalogues. Parkers are certainly cheaper than some I've seen, hence my
remark. I have also noticed that the cheap supermarket types are
limited in variety so, again, I find it worthwhile looking at catalogues
for particular bulbs.
Another problem I've had when buying bulbs from nurseries is that, if
they're sold loose, they end to get mixed up so I wait weeks to see
something in bloom, only to find it's not what I wanted.

--
Spider.
On high ground in SE London
gardening on heavy clay

"Spider" wrote in message
...
Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they
arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their own
terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of very
poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure whether to ask
for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or have the damaged
roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait again). I guess my early
misgivings of this company turned out to be well founded and I won't be
using them again.

Oh dear, Frank, how disappointing! I'm very sorry to be proven right in
this case, but I've had similar experience so I'm not that surprised.
If I were you, I'd cut my losses and ask for my money back rather than
replacements. Hope you can make a go of the better ones.

As I said before, Parkers bulbs are not bad, especially if you order
early. I still use them for bulbs because their prices are reasonable,
but I would understand if you wanted no more to do with them.

On a brighter note, I asked Parkers to replace the the 3 damaged or poor
quality roses (sent them photos). They agreed and the replacements arrived
on Wedmesday - 4 days after as opposed to a 2 months wait from my original
order. This time the quality of the replacements was A+. Pity they couldn't
manage that first time. Didn't even need to send the poor ones back. So I'll
have to wait and see whether those grow ok.

On another issue, when the original delivery came there was no invoice. When
requesting the replacement roses I poiinted out to them that I needed an
invoice, but still none came. Today I made a second request for an invoice
to be told that they don't normally do those for retail sales as it's not
part of their system??? After firmly telling them I need one for tax
purposes they agreed but would have to get one issued through their account
department. All a bit amateurish really. Whenever I've bought anything
online the goods always arrive with an invoice. Never had to request one
until now.

On 06/12/2013 19:37, Frank Booth wrote:

On a brighter note, I asked Parkers to replace the the 3 damaged or poor
quality roses (sent them photos). They agreed and the replacements arrived
on Wedmesday - 4 days after as opposed to a 2 months wait from my original
order.

As has been pointed out they needed to be dormant to lift, that is why
you had to wait two months initially.
--
Phil Cook

On 06/12/2013 19:37, Frank Booth wrote:
"Spider" wrote in message
...
Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they
arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their own
terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of very
poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure whether to ask
for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or have the damaged
roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait again). I guess my early
misgivings of this company turned out to be well founded and I won't be
using them again.

Oh dear, Frank, how disappointing! I'm very sorry to be proven right in
this case, but I've had similar experience so I'm not that surprised.
If I were you, I'd cut my losses and ask for my money back rather than
replacements. Hope you can make a go of the better ones.

As I said before, Parkers bulbs are not bad, especially if you order
early. I still use them for bulbs because their prices are reasonable,
but I would understand if you wanted no more to do with them.

On a brighter note, I asked Parkers to replace the the 3 damaged or poor
quality roses (sent them photos). They agreed and the replacements arrived
on Wedmesday - 4 days after as opposed to a 2 months wait from my original
order. This time the quality of the replacements was A+. Pity they couldn't
manage that first time. Didn't even need to send the poor ones back. So I'll
have to wait and see whether those grow ok.

On another issue, when the original delivery came there was no invoice. When
requesting the replacement roses I poiinted out to them that I needed an
invoice, but still none came. Today I made a second request for an invoice
to be told that they don't normally do those for retail sales as it's not
part of their system??? After firmly telling them I need one for tax
purposes they agreed but would have to get one issued through their account
department. All a bit amateurish really. Whenever I've bought anything
online the goods always arrive with an invoice. Never had to request one
until now.


You really have it in for Parkers don't you.
You should have gone to a wholesale firm, but then you might not have
got the small quantity you wanted.

In article ,
says...

On a brighter note, I asked Parkers to replace the the 3 damaged or poor
quality roses (sent them photos). They agreed and the replacements arrived
on Wedmesday - 4 days after as opposed to a 2 months wait from my original
order.

Nothing at all surprising. The weather is now cold so they don't need
to hold off lifting plants to sell bare-root.

No nursery should lift pack and transport bare-root plants while they
are still in active growth. It was a mild autumn and that's the reason
you had to wait for the first order.

Janet

On 2013-12-06 19:37:23 +0000, Frank Booth said:

"Spider" wrote in message
...
Well the roses finally arrived today - last day of November. Had they
arrived any later they would have been in breach of contract of their own
terms. However 3 of the 9 roses delivered were either damaged or of very
poor quality. Not good at all. They are going back. Not sure whether to ask
for a part refund and buy the remaining 3 elsewhere, or have the damaged
roses replaced (and no doubt I'll have a long wait again). I guess my early
misgivings of this company turned out to be well founded and I won't be
using them again.

Oh dear, Frank, how disappointing! I'm very sorry to be proven right in
this case, but I've had similar experience so I'm not that surprised.
If I were you, I'd cut my losses and ask for my money back rather than
replacements. Hope you can make a go of the better ones.

As I said before, Parkers bulbs are not bad, especially if you order
early. I still use them for bulbs because their prices are reasonable,
but I would understand if you wanted no more to do with them.

On a brighter note, I asked Parkers to replace the the 3 damaged or poor
quality roses (sent them photos). They agreed and the replacements arrived
on Wedmesday - 4 days after as opposed to a 2 months wait from my original
order. This time the quality of the replacements was A+. Pity they couldn't
manage that first time. Didn't even need to send the poor ones back. So I'll
have to wait and see whether those grow ok.

On another issue, when the original delivery came there was no invoice. When
requesting the replacement roses I poiinted out to them that I needed an
invoice, but still none came. Today I made a second request for an invoice
to be told that they don't normally do those for retail sales as it's not
part of their system??? After firmly telling them I need one for tax
purposes they agreed but would have to get one issued through their account
department. All a bit amateurish really. Whenever I've bought anything
online the goods always arrive with an invoice. Never had to request one
until now.

Online sales are a tiny part of our business but we don't send an
invoice unless asked to do so. That's never happened for a private
client but understandably, has been requested by e.g. NT gardens,
landscapers, or similar. As has been said before, you had to wait for
your original order because bare root plants are ONLY sent out when the
leaves have dropped. We get all sorts of bare root stuff here for e.g.
hedging (not roses) and impatient customers often ask when it will be
in. The only answer we can give is "when it's ready". This year, it's
been on the late side. There is no fixed date for these things and as
this has been a very mild autumn, many plants have held onto their
leaves for a long time. Right now, I see a mosquito flying round the
kitchen and we comment often on the amount of leaves still on oak and
beech trees, even after a couple of frosts.

As a matter of curiosity, if the damaged plants grow sturdily, along
with their replacements, will you feel morally obliged to send Parkers
a proportion of the cost of the new, freely and quickly replaced plants
you have?
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon