A few weeks ago I ordered to sets of 3 bare rooted plants of double
geraniums from Hayloft plants who say

"Buy mail order plants on-line with confidence. For that special, rare
or unusual garden plant, delivered to your door fresh from our UK
nursery in the Vale of Evesham, saving you a visit to your local garden
centre."

When they came they were Dutch bare rooted plants lifted who knows when.
I planted them on arrival, 3 were very dry and the other 3 had been
soaked and were still soggy when they arrived, within a few days 2 had
started to shoot, no sign of life from the others and to this day still
no sign of life.
I phoned them after 3 weeks and told them so they offered to replace I
of one variety and 3 of the other.
The replacements arrived yesterday, 2 bags with 2 roots in each Labelled
A and B.
The Dispatch Note says
PACK 1/A-B Geranium pratense Summer Skyes
PACK 1/C-D Geranium pratense Southcombe Double
0ne plant/root in pack B was Dead black and brittle.
When I phoned the girl seemed to have difficulty understanding my
confusion as to what I might have as replacements
She thought that A would be the first variety and B the second despite
what the Note says.
I said about the others not growing so she asked me to take a photo of
the "With a camera", so I asked if she wanted me to dig them back out of
the post, she had no answer, but did offer to send more replacements or
cash back, so I've opted for Cash back as I reckon the "plants must have
been lifted last Autumn and stored.
So let the buyer beware, they may dispatch the items from their nursery
but they don't grow them all, They also trade in Dutch items the same as
you would get from a number of other Mail order firms.
David @ a dry side of Swansea Bay

"David Hill" wrote in message ...

A few weeks ago I ordered to sets of 3 bare rooted plants of double
geraniums from Hayloft plants who say

"Buy mail order plants on-line with confidence. For that special, rare
or unusual garden plant, delivered to your door fresh from our UK
nursery in the Vale of Evesham, saving you a visit to your local garden
centre."

When they came they were Dutch bare rooted plants lifted who knows when.
I planted them on arrival, 3 were very dry and the other 3 had been
soaked and were still soggy when they arrived, within a few days 2 had
started to shoot, no sign of life from the others and to this day still
no sign of life.
I phoned them after 3 weeks and told them so they offered to replace I
of one variety and 3 of the other.
The replacements arrived yesterday, 2 bags with 2 roots in each Labelled
A and B.
The Dispatch Note says
PACK 1/A-B Geranium pratense Summer Skyes
PACK 1/C-D Geranium pratense Southcombe Double
0ne plant/root in pack B was Dead black and brittle.
When I phoned the girl seemed to have difficulty understanding my
confusion as to what I might have as replacements
She thought that A would be the first variety and B the second despite
what the Note says.
I said about the others not growing so she asked me to take a photo of
the "With a camera", so I asked if she wanted me to dig them back out of
the post, she had no answer, but did offer to send more replacements or
cash back, so I've opted for Cash back as I reckon the "plants must have
been lifted last Autumn and stored.
So let the buyer beware, they may dispatch the items from their nursery
but they don't grow them all, They also trade in Dutch items the same as
you would get from a number of other Mail order firms.
David @ a dry side of Swansea Bay
============================================

Mail order :-(

Yuk.

Rubbish sent is the left overs from the people who visit and can see what
they are buying.

Message? Go and VISIT and buy what you see.

Nearly all garden Centres have facilities to encourage you to look around.
We have a superb one, in fact two here on the Isle of Wight and whilst they
do local deliveries, I don't think they do mail order. (One in particular,
Thompsons on Hale Common do a superb cup of tea and their cakes are just too
fattening) ............................ Hope nobody objects to me
advertising their services. No of course you don't.

Face to face, you can't beat it.

Mike
South East Coast of the Isle of Wight



..................................................

On 10/07/2014 20:26, 'Mike' wrote:
"David Hill" wrote in message ...

A few weeks ago I ordered to sets of 3 bare rooted plants of double
geraniums from Hayloft plants who say

"Buy mail order plants on-line with confidence. For that special, rare
or unusual garden plant, delivered to your door fresh from our UK
nursery in the Vale of Evesham, saving you a visit to your local garden
centre."

When they came they were Dutch bare rooted plants lifted who knows when.
I planted them on arrival, 3 were very dry and the other 3 had been
soaked and were still soggy when they arrived, within a few days 2 had
started to shoot, no sign of life from the others and to this day still
no sign of life.
I phoned them after 3 weeks and told them so they offered to replace I
of one variety and 3 of the other.
The replacements arrived yesterday, 2 bags with 2 roots in each Labelled
A and B.
The Dispatch Note says
PACK 1/A-B Geranium pratense Summer Skyes
PACK 1/C-D Geranium pratense Southcombe Double
0ne plant/root in pack B was Dead black and brittle.
When I phoned the girl seemed to have difficulty understanding my
confusion as to what I might have as replacements
She thought that A would be the first variety and B the second despite
what the Note says.
I said about the others not growing so she asked me to take a photo of
the "With a camera", so I asked if she wanted me to dig them back out of
the post, she had no answer, but did offer to send more replacements or
cash back, so I've opted for Cash back as I reckon the "plants must have
been lifted last Autumn and stored.
So let the buyer beware, they may dispatch the items from their nursery
but they don't grow them all, They also trade in Dutch items the same as
you would get from a number of other Mail order firms.
David @ a dry side of Swansea Bay
============================================

Mail order :-(

Yuk.

Rubbish sent is the left overs from the people who visit and can see
what they are buying.

Message? Go and VISIT and buy what you see.

Nearly all garden Centres have facilities to encourage you to look
around. We have a superb one, in fact two here on the Isle of Wight and
whilst they do local deliveries, I don't think they do mail order. (One
in particular, Thompsons on Hale Common do a superb cup of tea and their
cakes are just too fattening) ............................ Hope nobody
objects to me advertising their services. No of course you don't.

Face to face, you can't beat it.

Mike
South East Coast of the Isle of Wight

You are so wrong Mike.
Long gone are the days when firms like Kent Country Nurseries sold
things like climbing strawberries and other things that fell foul of
trading standards and who had the policy that if you can catch 10
million people for a £1 each who cares if they don't come back.
Now a days Mail order firms who send out plants don't send left over
junk, they tend to send a very standardised item that fits the packaging
and doesn't cost the earth in delivery charges, but they want repeat
orders from all customers.
I know when I was doing mail order with the dahlias I had many customers
that came back year after year.
The only difference in what I sent out and what was collected was the
collected plants might be to large to fit the packs.
I buy am lot of plants by mail order and the only ones I've had problems
with have originated form Holland, though it is less than 5% of those
from Holland, and mostly from one firm that I don't deal with now.
David @ a dry side of Swansea Bay

"David Hill" wrote in message ...

On 10/07/2014 20:26, 'Mike' wrote:
"David Hill" wrote in message ...

A few weeks ago I ordered to sets of 3 bare rooted plants of double
geraniums from Hayloft plants who say

"Buy mail order plants on-line with confidence. For that special, rare
or unusual garden plant, delivered to your door fresh from our UK
nursery in the Vale of Evesham, saving you a visit to your local garden
centre."

When they came they were Dutch bare rooted plants lifted who knows when.
I planted them on arrival, 3 were very dry and the other 3 had been
soaked and were still soggy when they arrived, within a few days 2 had
started to shoot, no sign of life from the others and to this day still
no sign of life.
I phoned them after 3 weeks and told them so they offered to replace I
of one variety and 3 of the other.
The replacements arrived yesterday, 2 bags with 2 roots in each Labelled
A and B.
The Dispatch Note says
PACK 1/A-B Geranium pratense Summer Skyes
PACK 1/C-D Geranium pratense Southcombe Double
0ne plant/root in pack B was Dead black and brittle.
When I phoned the girl seemed to have difficulty understanding my
confusion as to what I might have as replacements
She thought that A would be the first variety and B the second despite
what the Note says.
I said about the others not growing so she asked me to take a photo of
the "With a camera", so I asked if she wanted me to dig them back out of
the post, she had no answer, but did offer to send more replacements or
cash back, so I've opted for Cash back as I reckon the "plants must have
been lifted last Autumn and stored.
So let the buyer beware, they may dispatch the items from their nursery
but they don't grow them all, They also trade in Dutch items the same as
you would get from a number of other Mail order firms.
David @ a dry side of Swansea Bay
============================================

Mail order :-(

Yuk.

Rubbish sent is the left overs from the people who visit and can see
what they are buying.

Message? Go and VISIT and buy what you see.

Nearly all garden Centres have facilities to encourage you to look
around. We have a superb one, in fact two here on the Isle of Wight and
whilst they do local deliveries, I don't think they do mail order. (One
in particular, Thompsons on Hale Common do a superb cup of tea and their
cakes are just too fattening) ............................ Hope nobody
objects to me advertising their services. No of course you don't.

Face to face, you can't beat it.

Mike
South East Coast of the Isle of Wight

You are so wrong Mike.
Long gone are the days when firms like Kent Country Nurseries sold
things like climbing strawberries and other things that fell foul of
trading standards and who had the policy that if you can catch 10
million people for a £1 each who cares if they don't come back.
Now a days Mail order firms who send out plants don't send left over
junk, they tend to send a very standardised item that fits the packaging
and doesn't cost the earth in delivery charges, but they want repeat
orders from all customers.
I know when I was doing mail order with the dahlias I had many customers
that came back year after year.
The only difference in what I sent out and what was collected was the
collected plants might be to large to fit the packs.
I buy am lot of plants by mail order and the only ones I've had problems
with have originated form Holland, though it is less than 5% of those
from Holland, and mostly from one firm that I don't deal with now.
David @ a dry side of Swansea Bay
==============================================


David, in the words of Mandy Rice Davies ....................

Mike



..................................................

On 10/07/2014 21:43, David Hill wrote:


You are so wrong Mike.

How do I count the ways?

But buying online is a simple procedure that almost always works well -
and on the odd occasion where there is a problem with the goods, the
companies work hard to fix it. Failure is much more visible to other
customers with online shopping so I think companies will work much
harder to sort out grievances than the high street equivalent.

I've been buying online for many years and have only ever had an
unsolved problem with one company - coincidentally gardening related -
and that was Ideal World's gardening offshoot. Needless to say, I
haven't done business with them again.

--
regards
Andy

On 2014-07-11 10:44:04 +0000, News said:
snip

But buying online is a simple procedure that almost always works well -
and on the odd occasion where there is a problem with the goods, the
companies work hard to fix it. Failure is much more visible to other
customers with online shopping so I think companies will work much
harder to sort out grievances than the high street equivalent.

I've been buying online for many years and have only ever had an
unsolved problem with one company - coincidentally gardening related -
and that was Ideal World's gardening offshoot. Needless to say, I
haven't done business with them again.

You've just demonstrated why people offering mail order have to send
out good quality or lose cutomers. Word of mouth is a powerful tool!
How many times have we seen adverse comments about plants and seeds and
people swearing never to return? We sent a Reinwardtia indica to a
customer just recently (he's delighted with it) which was smaller than
we would normally send but it is all we have until later, so we gave
him a partial refund. If something goes wrong, we fix it or we refund.
At least one third of our customers are repeat business and others have
heard from a friend etc. Trying to palm off shoddy goods by mail order
is a quick way to lose business or fail altogether.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

On 11/07/2014 14:01, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-07-11 10:44:04 +0000, News said:
snip

But buying online is a simple procedure that almost always works well
- and on the odd occasion where there is a problem with the goods, the
companies work hard to fix it. Failure is much more visible to other
customers with online shopping so I think companies will work much
harder to sort out grievances than the high street equivalent.

I've been buying online for many years and have only ever had an
unsolved problem with one company - coincidentally gardening related -
and that was Ideal World's gardening offshoot. Needless to say, I
haven't done business with them again.

You've just demonstrated why people offering mail order have to send out
good quality or lose cutomers. Word of mouth is a powerful tool! How
many times have we seen adverse comments about plants and seeds and
people swearing never to return? We sent a Reinwardtia indica to a
customer just recently (he's delighted with it) which was smaller than
we would normally send but it is all we have until later, so we gave him
a partial refund. If something goes wrong, we fix it or we refund. At
least one third of our customers are repeat business and others have
heard from a friend etc. Trying to palm off shoddy goods by mail order
is a quick way to lose business or fail altogether.

Which is why the EBay feedback system generally works very well. Nobody
wants to risk negative comments

On 2014-07-11 13:21:19 +0000, stuart noble said:

On 11/07/2014 14:01, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-07-11 10:44:04 +0000, News said:
snip

I've been buying online for many years and have only ever had an
unsolved problem with one company - coincidentally gardening related -
and that was Ideal World's gardening offshoot. Needless to say, I
haven't done business with them again.

You've just demonstrated why people offering mail order have to send out
good quality or lose cutomers. Word of mouth is a powerful tool!
snipTrying to palm off shoddy goods by mail order
is a quick way to lose business or fail altogether.

Which is why the EBay feedback system generally works very well. Nobody
wants to risk negative comments

Yes, it does. Someone once tried it on with me and I said so. She spat
tacks but it wasn't the first time she'd done it to others and a month
or two later she was dropped as an eBay seller.
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk

"Sacha" wrote in message ...

On 2014-07-11 13:21:19 +0000, stuart noble said:

On 11/07/2014 14:01, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-07-11 10:44:04 +0000, News said:
snip

I've been buying online for many years and have only ever had an
unsolved problem with one company - coincidentally gardening related -
and that was Ideal World's gardening offshoot. Needless to say, I
haven't done business with them again.

You've just demonstrated why people offering mail order have to send out
good quality or lose cutomers. Word of mouth is a powerful tool!
snipTrying to palm off shoddy goods by mail order
is a quick way to lose business or fail altogether.

Which is why the EBay feedback system generally works very well. Nobody
wants to risk negative comments

Yes, it does. Someone once tried it on with me and I said so. She spat
tacks but it wasn't the first time she'd done it to others and a month
or two later she was dropped as an eBay seller.
--

Sacha
========================================


eBay is a different ball game BECAUSE of the feedback system. I have had
some wonderful transactions on eBay to the extent of making friendships, but
'Mail Order' is something different and you are dealing with those
businesses who "SOMETIMES" want to off load rubbish. They are not bothered
about the odd customer who is not satisfied because they, like me, will
understand that they have been ripped off and learn by their mistake :-( and
not bother to either complain or come back.

Mike

..................................................

On 11/07/2014 16:43, 'Mike' wrote:

"Sacha" wrote in message ...

On 2014-07-11 13:21:19 +0000, stuart noble said:

On 11/07/2014 14:01, Sacha wrote:
On 2014-07-11 10:44:04 +0000, News said:
snip

I've been buying online for many years and have only ever had an
unsolved problem with one company - coincidentally gardening related -
and that was Ideal World's gardening offshoot. Needless to say, I
haven't done business with them again.

You've just demonstrated why people offering mail order have to send out
good quality or lose cutomers. Word of mouth is a powerful tool!
snipTrying to palm off shoddy goods by mail order
is a quick way to lose business or fail altogether.

Which is why the EBay feedback system generally works very well.
Nobody wants to risk negative comments

Yes, it does. Someone once tried it on with me and I said so. She spat
tacks but it wasn't the first time she'd done it to others and a month
or two later she was dropped as an eBay seller.

It's because idiots don't bother to kick up a fuss and just walk away
after getting riped off that this sort of thing goes on.

Makes me think of the Irish man who went to watch Greyhound racing. in
the 4th race Irish luck romped home, so he went to see the owner to buy
the dog off him.
Well a few days later the dog was due to be delivered to him when he got
a phone call form the owner to say the dog had died.
"Don't worry Sor" said Paddy "I'll still have him".
A few months later Paddy met up with the man he'd bought the greyhound off.
"What did you do with the dog Paddy?
"Well Sor" said Paddy "I had 1,000 raffle tickets at £5.00 a ticket, and
sold them all".
"But what about the person who won it, he wouldn't be happy with a dead
dog".
"He wasn't Sor, so I gave him his money back".

It's because idiots don't bother to kick up a fuss and just walk away
after getting riped off that this sort of thing goes on.

Makes me think of the Irish man who went to watch Greyhound racing. in
the 4th race Irish luck romped home, so he went to see the owner to buy
the dog off him.
Well a few days later the dog was due to be delivered to him when he got
a phone call form the owner to say the dog had died.
"Don't worry Sor" said Paddy "I'll still have him".
A few months later Paddy met up with the man he'd bought the greyhound off.
"What did you do with the dog Paddy?
"Well Sor" said Paddy "I had 1,000 raffle tickets at £5.00 a ticket, and
sold them all".
"But what about the person who won it, he wouldn't be happy with a dead
dog".
"He wasn't Sor, so I gave him his money back".

:-)

On 2014-07-11 17:08:07 +0000, David Hill said:
snip

It's because idiots don't bother to kick up a fuss and just walk away
after getting riped off that this sort of thing goes on.

Makes me think of the Irish man who went to watch Greyhound racing. in
the 4th race Irish luck romped home, so he went to see the owner to buy
the dog off him.
Well a few days later the dog was due to be delivered to him when he
got a phone call form the owner to say the dog had died.
"Don't worry Sor" said Paddy "I'll still have him".
A few months later Paddy met up with the man he'd bought the greyhound off.
"What did you do with the dog Paddy?
"Well Sor" said Paddy "I had 1,000 raffle tickets at £5.00 a ticket,
and sold them all".
"But what about the person who won it, he wouldn't be happy with a dead dog".
"He wasn't Sor, so I gave him his money back".

Love it! ;-)
--

Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon
www.helpforheroes.org.uk