GARDENING EXPRESS

MumofOne09

  I unfortunately made the mistake of ordering from this company without researching previous online reviews. I'm wondering if anyone else is experiencing this:?
Order made 12/04 £108. Website at the time stated 3/5 days which I didn't expect to be fulfilled and was prepared to wait longer but now 30/04 and still no plants. There is no contact number, they aren't responding to emails AND they've now shut down the Customer Service Ticket procedures and therefore there is literally NO WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH GARDENING EXPRESS. I have used RESOLVER to raise a complaint but received an automated response apologising for delay and attempting to close the case as response received. I will now have to attempt to get the money back through my bank.
Please avoid this company.

hollydays

Give them a break.The bad reviews, including the one left by you, are since the Covid outbreak. We should be supporting businesses not leaving them meaningless slatings! "If your query relates to delivery Please allow 15 days after ordering before you raise this type of query. We pick, pack and dispatch in excess of 10,000 orders every week during peak times. The nature of the product (i.e. live plants) is not the same as for dry goods (i.e. a product pre-boxed which just needs to be picked from a shelf). Every order we receive is different, and can consist of many plants. Each plant is hand-selected, has to be hand-cleaned and prepared for dispatch, is hand wrapped/packed, before dispatch. As this is such a manual process unfortunately it does all take time so we do appreciate your patience when it comes to receiving your order." You order from a gardening company( they are all under severe strain) during lockdown.. then are surprised..Go to the likes of b & m stores or another hardware gardening co and collect.

cymruchris

Another new member who has signed up to slate off a company with a single post who we'll likely never see again. There seem to be a multitude of people who think everything is hunky dory with the world and that if they order something online it'll arrive in no time. For the OP - taken from their website, that you would have looked at before ordering:

_________________________________________________________________________

How long will it take for my order to arrive?

Our Usual Dispatch time is 3-5 working days for all items in stock/season.

During this unprecedented busy period where we must adhere to COVID 19 government regulations, this may extend up to 15 working days.

The situation is changing all the time, and the couriers are also extremely busy, so in some instances this time frame may be further extended.

Regrettably we are unable to specify exact delivery times for all orders at the moment, and we do aim to be as fast as possible.

Some orders may be split and arrive in multiple packages over several days.

We thank you for your patience at this time, and would ask you not to panic.

We have plenty of lovely plants, so please do not worry, there is plenty of time for them to arrive and thrive this season.

There is no need to contact us whilst waiting for your shipment to occur.

_________________________________________________________________________

So there you have it - up to 15 working days which may be extended due to busy couriers - aiming to be as fast as possible - and that they have plenty of plants that will arrive in plenty of time to thrive this season. You obviously wanted some plants - so why not just be patient and wait for them to arrive instead of jumping up and down screaming blue murder? Did you not notice that there's a pandemic going on? Thousands of people staying at home - all turning to online ordering to get some gardening supplies - the suppliers (ALL of them) becoming overwhelmed and having to work in many cases with less staff to try and meet this huge increased demand. Again to the OP - Try cutting them some slack and having some patience - you're not the only customer in the world waiting for their plants (as it happens I'm waiting too - but I'm happy to wait until they turn up, and will be extremely grateful when they do turn up, as I know what's happening in the world right now!) I wish people would get a sense of perspective - these are not normal times. 

Notcoveringthegrey

cymruchris Shame you didn't calculate days correctly. Days ordered until time MumofOne wrote her post = 18.
Gardening Express, in the piece you cut and pasted, state 'extend up until 15 days'. That's a three day shortfall.
Yes. I've just joined as well. No surprises that I looked for Gardening Express threads as I ordered on 8th April. I have received no communication from them to explain why 4 weeks and 2 days later I am still waiting. I have literally pleaded with them.
MSE has not been my first recourse by any means. I have emailed. I have messaged. I have completed 3 of their 'tickets'. I have joined others on Facebook. I have tweeted. I have read Trustpilot but do not wish to leave a review as I am hoping that Gardening Express will fulfil our 'contract' or refund my money. I feel a certain reticence to comment prior to 'the end'. I am trying to be fair.
My advice to people thinking of ordering with Gardening Express at the moment, would be DON'T. Watch Trustpilot and their Facebook page until you read majority positivity. Be careful with the FB page, comments disapear!

KatrinaWaves

Notcoveringthegrey said:

cymruchris Shame you didn't calculate days correctly. Days ordered until time MumofOne wrote her post = 18.
Gardening Express, in the piece you cut and pasted, state 'extend up until 15 days'. That's a three day shortfall.

Shame you’ve never heard of ‘working days’

It was 13 workings days between MumofOnes order and her post here. Considering she has emailed them multiple times, raised customer support tickets, started a resolved claim AND left bad online reviews I’m going to safely assume she started all this tomfoolery before the 13 days. 

You are currently on 19 working days. Yes over their estimate. Perhaps if people were reading their terms correctly, and their calendars correctly, and not bombarding them with emails, support tickets, Facebook group messages and resolver claims them MAYBE they’d have more time to focus on getting your plants out.

also 30,000 people are dead and you are getting your knickers in a twist over waiting an extra four working days for some plants. Find some perspective please 

JJ_Egan

100% thanks for the above comment .

sand_hun

Judging by this company's mentions on Twitter (@gardeningexpres) there are a LOT of angry customers out there. Mostly people seem to be irked about the fact the company are continuing to promote themselves (daily digests and responding only to the handful of people who praise them) and take new orders despite an enormous backlog and a total lack of communication with customers who are awaiting orders.

Personally, I ordered from them on April 5th at which point it said delivery would be 10-15 days. I raised a couple of support tickets on their website to chase, but heard nothing back. Eventually I called my bank to dispute the payment and have been issued a provisional refund. Just now, I have received an e-mail from Gardening Express to say my order is with the courier (Hermes). Unfortunately there's no way of contacting Gardening Express or Hermes to stop the order from shipping.

Do I let them deliver and then reject the order on the doorstep? Some people have reported receiving items after about 4 weeks and saying the products were dead/in a poor state. 



 

[Deleted User]

sand_hun said:

Judging by this company's mentions on Twitter there are a LOT of angry customers out there. 

A lot of people are also doubtless "angry" that the global pandemic has deprived them of their livelihood or, worse, of family and friends.

Perspective. 

As you've already drawn a refund from your Bank I suggest you refuse delivery of your flowers, otherwise get the bank to reverse the chargeback.

JJ_Egan

In todays paper they said they are overwhelmed with orders but will fulfil them all .

sand_hun

Moneyineptitude said:

sand_hun said:

Judging by this company's mentions on Twitter there are a LOT of angry customers out there. 

A lot of people are also doubtless "angry" that the global pandemic has deprived them of their livelihood or, worse, of family and friends.

Perspective. 

As you've already drawn a refund from your Bank I suggest you refuse delivery of your flowers, otherwise get the bank to reverse the chargeback.

Yes, fully aware there's a global pandemic, thanks. Believe it or not, it is possible to be both remorseful about the current situation and also angry about other things at the same time. The fact of the matter is, customers would have been a lot more understanding of Gardening Express's predicament had they made the effort to respond to support tickets. Instead, they focused on processing new orders, sending out promotional tweets and very selectively highlighting the few snippets of praise that has been sent their way, all whilst ignoring thousands of customers who have already paid. Had they managed expectations of existing customers instead of purely thinking maximising profits they wouldn't have got into this mess.

KatrinaWaves

So you’re mad at them for focussing on processing orders? And not messaging people to tell them that they’re concentrating on processing orders? You do realise that promotional tweets are automated, and will have been set up ages ago. There’s not someone sat there ignoring support messages whilst writing out tweets. 

I respectfully suggest it is not possible to have perspective on the current global pandemic whilst simultaneously being angry about plants. 

You are extremely lucky that your only concern during this is plants, not the health of your friends and family or the security of your job or your financial situations. Plants.