To warn you all NEVER to buy plants from Thompson and Morgan!!

[Sheepareawesome]

At the start of May, with the garden centres closed, I thought why not order some plants online for the first time. Looked through my Gardeners' World mag and saw some ads for Thompson and Morgan. They looked good, their website was good and had quotes from satisfied customers, so I placed an order for 3 items.

BIG MISTAKE!!

The first 2 deliveries took one week to arrive from being posted, so were obviously dead on arrival. Emailed them (website said phones were off so email only) to complain and ask to cancel remainder of order which hadn't been sent yet as I didn't want to receive yet more dead plants. Got a reply with an apology and then a refund for the dead plants, but she said I couldn't cancel the remaining item that wasn't sent at that time as it was being picked and they couldn't stop it being sent. She said to reject or return the delivery and when they get the items back they would refund.

Hmm, bit strange but I thought OK as they said picking took 5 days so I was expecting them quite soon so should get the refund quite soon. That was 28th May and they still haven't been sent! Or refunded!

I looked into Consumer law as I was sure I had the right to cancel, and sure enough it says online you can cancel any time after placing the order up to 14 days after you receive the items. Since I haven't received the items, nor have I had an email telling me they have been sent, (nor an email telling me they are delayed from the original date of 21 days which has now long passed) I emailed them again 2 days ago, yet again asking to cancel the remainder of the order.

Yet again I was told they can't cancel as it is being picked. I asked them about the Consumer Contract Law in my email and they completely ignored this - just sent the bog standard 'sorry we can't cancel send it back if you don't want it sorry for any inconvenience' email.

So here I am, 6 weeks after ordering items that were supposed to take 3 weeks, still waiting for a company who so far have taken 19 days to do something they said would take 5 days, to send me an order I don't want which I then have to reject or return to them and then wait to get a refund.

If they can pick and post an order they can cancel it. What a complete farce of a company! Looking at their Trust Pilot and the various FB complaints groups, I am amazed they are still in business. Shame I didn't look before I ordered...

And to top it all, I paid using PP so I thought that would be OK so I tried to dispute it. PP opened the dispute and I got an email saying my email was passed to T & M so to wait for them to reply.....not the most helpful!

I expect I will get my money back at some point but for goodness sake how crap a company is this?!?

Anyone who can't get to a garden centre and who is considering ordering online - I strongly recommend you AVOID Thompson and Morgan! AAAARRRRRRGGGGGGHHHHH!!!!!!!

[TeeBee]

Same with Dobies. Bloody awful customer service. Everything late, half of them dehydrated on arrival. Everything arrived in bits and drabs so I couldn't make any displays at all. Every other nursery I have ordered from have outshone them on quality, service and price. I will never order from them again.

[TheTurnOfTheScrew]

Similar poor experience with Suttons. That's SUTTONS. Ordered thankfully just a few plants as not sure what mail order service would be like.
The plants arrived 4 weeks late (ordered at the start of April for May delivery) poorly packed and so completely battered. They were so very dry that I can't believe they'd seen water in the last month - not just a bit dried in transit. So dry the plug was separating from the roots. Bag o' shite.

Luckily I only spent a tenner and so decided to chalk this one up to experience, as I cannot face investing time and emotional energy in getting through the impenetrable customer service.

[Catsrus]

I've had really good service from all of the mail order plant nurseries - including T&M

[JackiFazaki]

Well now, that's a timely heads up. Thanks everyone.

[JacobReesMogadishu]

I think they’ve all been overwhelmed this year.

I’ve had shocking service This year from most of the companies mentioned In this thread and never had problems in previous years.

[Motorina]

I'm in the same boat. Order dead on arrival after a week in the post.) No reply to emails. Have raised a dispute via paypal - no reply to that, either. Waiting for it to get to the end of the 30 days.

The paypal dispute is on the basis of 'goods not described' as that was the closest match. Ordered live plants - got dead ones. We will see.

I get that the postal delays aren't their fault, but the total lack of any response is.

[DoyouthinkIcare]

I know this doesn't help you but I ordered fro Jersey Direct and am really pleased with the quality and service. A few of my blue and white bacopa turned out to be pink but, compared to the pandemic, that is a fairly minor problem!

[mrsrhodgilbert]

Also avoid Gardening Express, my order from 21 April arrived a few days ago in poor condition and the plants have obviously been forced. I should have waited for the garden centres to open. Communication with them was dreadful. I think they were overwhelmed, but surely you stop taking orders until you can deliver what you owe.

[GenderApostate19]

My first order about a month ago arrived in good condition, although the alstromeria I ordered were tiny for the price I paid, I’ve had to pot them rather than put straight in the garden, the verbena were larger but have done nothing in the 3 weeks since planting, that little lot was £30
I’m still waiting for my patio pond kit, ordered a week later.
Won’t use them again

[Jingstohang]

I ordered from Bakker on the 28th, they say it's taking 5 - 12 working days just now. Fine. Nothing yet, not even a "sorry they're delayed". These sites shouldnt take orders if they cant deliver.

[Councilworker]

My Thompson and Morgan orders have been mixed success . Busy Lizzies arrived in pretty bad condition due to the time in transit as did my perrenials. tried to rescue them but very few survived. Fushias arrived ok but random late frost did for a few of them. Lavender and blueberries which I ordered back in February all ok and thriving. Think the post delays have been the main problem. Marshalls took well over the advertised 3 weeks for despatch but raspberry and strawberry plants did finally get here and seem to be doing ok so far. I was more irritated by the absolute lack of communication from them.

[Dreamprincess]

My poor tomato plants arrived completely dead, having taken a week to come via royal mail. I have had to isolate myself completely so feeling a little down: pathetic as it is, I shed a tear for the poor things. I sent the required email and it took them well over the expected 14 days to reply and apparently replacements are on their way.

However, what has made me absolutely furious with T & M is that the plant food I also ordered at the same time was sent by courier and arrived within two days. Unforgiveable.

[ilovecherries]

@Gunpowder

Don’t buy from Primrose either. Won’t start my rant as I will never stop.

Yes, I ordered from Primrose in April. No plants but I did out of the blue get an refund two weeks ago. Hideously expensive as well.

[LunaNorth]

Interesting. I’ve just found this thread after trying to track down my Primrose order.

Ordered 21st May. Received an email saying some orders are going to be cancelled, so they are obviously struggling, but nothing to say mine has been.

Just tried to track my order. No tracking details available.

Load of bollocks.

[BeforeIPutOnMyMakeup]

I think I only have one plant from them that hasn't died.

I prefer eBay sellers who are smaller nurseries. They tend to send out deliveries within 5 days and most are careful to avoid weekend dispatch.

[MiniMileyMoo]

Agree. I ordered some bulbs that failed to arrived, lost in post- after a long winded email discussion they agreed to resend them...in January 2021!!! Several long winded emails later I did get a refund. And only 2 of my 36 plug plants have survived.

[WhatTiggersDoBest]

I ordered in March and had to wait until late May for one of my shipments. Alive, thankfully, but packaged utterly stupidly (two cherry trees in one box, end-to-end so one arrived with no soil as it had been upside down throughout its journey to Northern Ireland). I managed to save the tree whose soil had been lost but I wasn't happy. I ordered from Marshall's at the same time as T & M, and the Marshalls order came alive and in a timely manner and packaged sensibly.

[SparklesAllOver]

Gardening Express are also dreadful - I ordered this

and what I received was this!!

[Didiusfalco]

I had some sorry specimens arrive from T&M, although they did survive. Not really that cheap though for something small and limp. Slightly more niche, but got amazing healthy deliveries from David Austin, Trevor White and Millais Rhododendron/Azalea specialists during lockdown.

[user1465335180]

I didn't have much luck with Thompson and Morgan either, tiny plug plants of which half died. Can heartily recommend Farmer Gracy for bulbs and Crocus for main plants

[minniemoll]

I was lucky, I ordered from T&M before lockdown and everything arrived fine and is now thriving. But I've read so many horror stories online since then that I wouldn't touch them with a bargepole!

If you need plants quickly, I can't recommend Morrisons highly enough - their plants are so cheap and such good quality, and the range changes all the time. They have lovely clematis and other climbers for £1.80, trays of bedding plants for £1 - £2, fuchsias for £1, perennials for £2 - my garden is full of their stuff!

[wowfudge]

Parker's sent me two ropey and one dead plant - all three the same plant variety. I emailed a photo to their customer service and received a replacement within a week. All three are looking good where I planted them now.

It's been really tough for lots of nurseries as the volume trade sales haven't been there whilst garden centres were closed and they've had to destroy lots of plants they couldn't sell. They've also been inundated with far more online orders than they would normally deal with and for different things than the overstock they've had to destroy.

I waited four weeks from for a refund on some clothes I bought from an independent retailer from the date I posted my returns because they reduced their Royal Mail deliveries to once a week then quarantined returns for 10 days before processing them. I knew that would be the case before I ordered, but it was still annoying.

[IamEarthymama]

I have ordered from Secret Gardening Club and they have been excellent for a wider choice of plants

For bedding plants I searched for local nurseries and on local FB Groups.
To my great delight when my order turned up it was a lovely nurseryman from a stall on Blackwood market where I always spend a fortune every year!!

[IamEarthymama]

Secret Gardening Club

[ValiaH]

Waiting on plants that I ordered before lockdown- So, March time? Apparently they've been in picking since mid April. I'm planning on contacting my bank for a charge back now, given that T and M have refused to refund until I refuse the delivery of the plants.