Plants from gardeningexpress.com

kirsty99

Yes, that happened to me too. I had an email on the Thursday to say plants had been shipped and they arrived on the Monday (with one shrub missing from the order).

pippa_r

kirsty99 wrote: »

I have just seen your thread, I am having exactly the same problem - see my thread:
http://forums.moneysavingexpert.com/showthread.html?t=443579

Have you had any luck with them? I have tried phoning, mail, email, and online support tickets, and not a single one has been answered.

I found it interesting to note too that the only posts by Spike100 are defending the company.

Thanks for your input Kirsty. No, I haven't had any luck with them, either in contacting them or getting a refund. They won't respond to any of my attempts to contact them. The plants I ordered are in stock everywhere else so it's not a seasonal issue as suggested by Spike100. I have reported them to Trading Standards and have now spoken to my credit card company who say they will investigate once my next statement has been issued. Should I also be speaking to the Police as someone else has now suggested to me? What do you think?

I hope others don't waste their money on this company.

kirsty99

I have also reported them to trading standards, and have written to them requesting a refund for the missing plant (I don't hold out much hope of a refund for the plants that weren't as described). I am going to try my credit card company if I don't get any reply from them in the next few days.

Not sure about reporting it to the police. OH is police officer and feels Trading Standards and credit card company would be more appropriate to start with and then perhaps police if still no action.

I had a helpful email from Consumer Direct, I've pasted it below in case it helps anyone else:

"You appear to have entered into a legally binding contract with the trader which is governed by the Sale of Goods Act 1979 (as amended by the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994 and the Sale and Supply of Goods to Consumers Regulations 2002). This gives the buyer and seller rights and responsibilities.

Under this Act, the goods should be as described, if they are not you could seek the correct goods, or a full or partial refund, depending on whether acceptance has taken place.

In addition, the trader should deliver the goods within the agreed deadline, failure to do so is considered to be a breach of contract. The Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 do state that the trader has 30 days to deliver before the contract may be cancelled. The consumer must then be reimbursed within 30 days under these regulations.

If you are unable to contact the trader verbally, we would recommend writing a formal letter, sending it by recorded delivery and request that this is resolved within the next 7-14 days. To check the current company status you could contact Companies House on 0870 33 33 636, and they should be able to provide further information.

If you require any further advice or information about this case, please do not hesitate in contacting Consumer Direct on 08454 04 05 06 quoting your reference number."

pippa_r

Thanks for the info Kirsty.

GardeningExpress

Hi,

I work for Gardening Express, and have recently been made aware of this board, I am here to help any one that has a problem, and offer an apology in advance for anyone that has experienced such a problem.

We are growing almost faster than we can deal with, but extra measures are being put into place to deal with demand, and 99% of orders are being delivered within 5-10 working days subject to seasonal delivery periods, with many faster than this.

If you can email us directly to Orders@gardeningexpress.co.uk with your order number and nature of query, we will undertake to resolve all issues put to us within 3-5 working days. Alternatively call 08000 33 61 61 between 10am and 4pm Monday to Friday - we now have extra staff manning this line, and a further call centre has been centracted to address excess calls also.

You may also wish to read
http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel....BA14&aId=35485

explaining recent delivery problems....

If you are still having problems getting in touch, we will be posting up the duty managers mobile number when we've been given authorisation to do so.

skid112

web link doesn't work, awaiting reply to email i sent to that address in March, as for duty managers phone number best not to hold my breath. Phone number is nothing new not even going to waste the time or money on calling it

this should be the weblink http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=35485

oh and forgot to add the hahahaha bit, as for the delays in delivery, only seem to mentioned on the web site after 24th April, what about all the ones from before?

GardeningExpress

hi,

as stated on our site, many items are shipped at the best seasonal planting time - even for hardy plants, we recommend that this is when the highest risk of frost is past - therefore items are back ordered in accordance with our stated terms and conditions, to be despatched when ready. These staggered despatch periods are common place in the mail order plant industry.

The last frost can be expected in may, therefore, all the back orders have been delayed. I hope this answers your query.

olly300

GardeningExpress wrote: »

hi,

as stated on our site, many items are shipped at the best seasonal planting time - even for hardy plants, we recommend that this is when the highest risk of frost is past - therefore items are back ordered in accordance with our stated terms and conditions, to be despatched when ready. These staggered despatch periods are common place in the mail order plant industry.

The last frost can be expected in may, therefore, all the back orders have been delayed. I hope this answers your query.

Instead of responding to people here it would be a good idea to respond to customers individual emails within 7 days of them sending them to you - it's called customer service.

You should also not be debiting people's credit/debit cards until you know you can fill the order.

I suggest any customer who doesn't get a response should report your company to trading standards - http://www.tradingstandards.gov.uk/

Thank you pippa_r, skid112, kirsty99 et al from stopping me buying from this company.

skid112

GardeningExpress wrote: »

hi,

as stated on our site, many items are shipped at the best seasonal planting time - even for hardy plants, we recommend that this is when the highest risk of frost is past - therefore items are back ordered in accordance with our stated terms and conditions, to be despatched when ready. These staggered despatch periods are common place in the mail order plant industry.

The last frost can be expected in may, therefore, all the back orders have been delayed. I hope this answers your query.

hahahahaha
best avoided i think

BUBBLES_3

Im sure I found this company via some critical websites with very negative comments about their service. If you Google their name rather than key in their web address you may find the same bad reviews.