Gardening Express scam

Stitchedsister

Gardening Express are behaving badly again. They've been advertising Monstera deliciosa 'Thai Constellation' (£109) but delivering Monstera deliciosa albo variegata, a much cheaper plant C. £50.
The plants come with a label and a Plant Passport, however, Gardening Express claim that the label is 'generic', and that the plants do not come from the nursery on the label, Urban Wild  in which case the Plant Passport isn't valid as it does not relate to the plants journey so it's illegal. 
Customers are concerned that if they send the plants back (at own cost) then a refund is unlikely given Gardening Express' history. 
Live Chat operators have been instructed not to discuss anything with customers anymore as the whole thing kicked off yesterday. Only the Nursery manager 'Steve' or the 'Founder' is allowed to do anything. 
I was personally told that a full refund had been processed to me by 'Sherry' , Live Chat manager to be later told by email by 'Steve' that she wasn't allowed to do that. I have no idea if it was done or not and Live Chat refusing to discuss. 
The images on the website have now been added to to show both Monstera deliciosa 'Thai Constellation'and Monstera deliciosa albo variegata, the description had also been changed as they have attempted to cover themselves by giving a description of the plants that have been sent out not the plants advertised. However, they have got the descriptions muddled up and attribute the descriptions to the wrong plants. They really don't know what they are doing. They have also added under information that is you grow it in better light the variegation improves. This is simply not true. The variegation on the plant advertised is stable and of a particular patterning and is yellow, the plant they sent out has variable and white variegation. The petioles on a Thai Constellation are extremely close together, whereas on an albo they are far apart. Thai's for this reason are normally propagated bytby culture and therefore more expensive in the UK and Europe. 
Gardening Express are treating their customers like idiots. People who spend this sort of money on a plant are usually collectors and are knowledgeable about the subject, we have verification that the plants received are incorrect from other nursery sources. The nursery on the labels who the plants have come from do not grow M. d 'Thai Constellation'. 

Someone at Gardening Express should own up to the mistake, refund it's customers and apologise. 

This is their incorrect update:

A lot of people get this special variety confused with the similar Monstera 'albo variegata'. Our grower carefully propagates vegetively to ensure plants are true to type. To avoid scorch of the soft variegated foliage when conditions are bright and sunny in the greenhouse, they are grown in partly shaded conditions, therefore please do not be alarmed on delivery, as this will result in less variegation being immediately present. If you therefore place your plant in a brighter spot, but avoid direct hot sunshine, a lot more variegation will appear on this most prestigious of houseplants. Of the two variegated Monstera forms available, Thai Constellation has large more irregular white paint-like splodges on the leaves, sometimes with half or wholly white leaves which look truly amazing. The albo variegata form, is a more typical plant with less heavy variegation and smaller markings or even dots on the leaves. Don't be confused due to the cultural techniques used in producing Thai Constellation that you have the wrong plant on arrival - you can look forward to a rare and unequivocally unique variegated Monstera that will be the Jewel in the Crown of any house plant collection as it grows.

Farway

Sounds typical GE as demonstrated by numerous threads on MSE

However I'm somewhat surprised that "People who spend this sort of money on a plant are usually collectors and are knowledgeable about the subject," would even contemplate using GE as a source of collectors plants

Is whatever Trading Standards are called these day are of any use? Or the Advertising Standards folk?

At least posting here will show in web searches as yet another,often ignored, warning

Davesnave

I'm fed up warning people who won't Google first before parting with good money. There are hundreds of small nurseries in this country, most of them struggling because of Covid and the inability to go slick with a big web site and flash advertising. They're run by enthusiasts for love rather than big profits and we lose them at our peril.

Who the hell needs GE and other big outfits? Certainly not me. Even the smaller nurseries can do mail order. If something goes wrong you'll have a far better chance of rectification than with the big boys, who often play rough and know far less than they try to imply, often being mere 'middle men.'

Slinky

I can't have done my homework properly as I recently ordered a tricolour buddliea in the GE sale at £9.97, down from the usual £15 or £16.  I ordered another plant which was fine. Postage for the two was £5.99.  When they arrived it was pretty obvious that there were only 2 plants in the buddliea pot, not the 3 there should have been. I emailed them, didn't get a response and raised a support ticket a few days later. 17 days after receiving the order as I hadn't had  a reply to the email or the support ticket, I had an online chat where the operator said she would raise a new support ticket and take it up with the nursery manager and let me know within 24 hours. 3 days later I hadn't had a response, the new support ticket had disappeared without trace (I photographed the online chat fortunately), I had another online chat. That operator told me the plant was wrong and they had refunded me. I didn't want a refund, I wanted the plant. They refuse to send me another plant. I have told them they can re-charge me the £9.97 but they say that isn't possible.  The obviously don't want to incur a delivery charge to satisfy this order. The best they would offer me when pressed was a £5 credit which doesn't cover the delivery charge. 

Not the best company I've ever dealt with.

twopenny

Do they have an address on their website.

I'd be inclined to save all conversations (make sure in writing ie screenshot) with date and name. Photograph plant and label then send them a letter by recorded delivery stating that you are going to take legal action for fraud which is what this is.

But that wouldn't stop the volume of people falling for their tricks. They need to be reported to some authority or other. That would require enough people to get together and gather their own evidence though which is unlikely.

goldfinches

I can only assume that the business operates on the basis that every year some people take up gardening for the first time and that there are sufficient numbers of them who can be persuaded to part with a few pounds apiece to make it worthwhile organising to fleece them. 
My first thought about the sort of people running this type of business is that "if you're bright enough and sufficiently diligent to run this sort of operation why don't you just run it properly and make even more money?". I've come to the conclusion that it's the fleecing they're enjoying and all the rest is just the elaborate set dressing.
Very peculiar. 

Davesnave

goldfinches said:

My first thought about the sort of people running this type of business is that "if you're bright enough and sufficiently diligent to run this sort of operation why don't you just run it properly and make even more money?".

I've looked at their physical site on Google and Street View over the past few years since they featured here. It's grown hugely. With the amount of investment that's occurred, it's clear someone is doing well from GE, but perhaps not all the customers.

Slinky

It's mad. If they'd have sent me a replacement plant and shown signs of good customer service, it's likely I'd have bought from them again, as they have some nice plants I haven't seen elsewhere (the standard bottlebrush, which is the other plant I bought).  As it is, they've lost me as a future customer.

As far as taking legal action, I've got bigger battles to fight with other, equally inept organisations - Scottish Power being one, my gym's inept payment services provider being another. Poor customer service is rife these days.

Farway

twopenny said:

Do they have an address on their website.

I'd be inclined to save all conversations (make sure in writing ie screenshot) with date and name. Photograph plant and label then send them a letter by recorded delivery stating that you are going to take legal action for fraud which is what this is.

But that wouldn't stop the volume of people falling for their tricks. They need to be reported to some authority or other. That would require enough people to get together and gather their own evidence though which is unlikely.

They have featured on Radio 4s "You & Yours" a few times, for shoddy service, even had MD on

But like many places, including NHS, Police & local councils it was "lessons learnt, procedures changed blah blah etc"

As S says, poor service is rife these days

[Deleted User]

Davesnave said:

I'm fed up warning people who won't Google first before parting with good money. There are hundreds of small nurseries in this country, most of them struggling because of Covid and the inability to go slick with a big web site and flash advertising. They're run by enthusiasts for love rather than big profits and we lose them at our peril.

Who the hell needs GE and other big outfits? Certainly not me. Even the smaller nurseries can do mail order. If something goes wrong you'll have a far better chance of rectification than with the big boys, who often play rough and know far less than they try to imply, often being mere 'middle men.'

Hear, hear,  D  👍

[Deleted User]

Slinky said:

It's mad. If they'd have sent me a replacement plant and shown signs of good customer service, it's likely I'd have bought from them again, as they have some nice plants I haven't seen elsewhere (the standard bottlebrush, which is the other plant I bought).  As it is, they've lost me as a future customer.

As far as taking legal action, I've got bigger battles to fight with other, equally inept organisations - Scottish Power being one, my gym's inept payment services provider being another. Poor customer service is rife these days.

I'd go as far as saying, it's the norm, and the very subject which fires me up every time - when did companies, especially large ones, decide it was time to cut it from their business model ????😡