Gardening Express, Primrose and Plantsavers

[Thecazelets]

Has anyone actually received any plants from these 3 firms since lockdown? I foolishly placed orders with each of them in early April. Nothing at all received so far from GExpress or Plantsavers and my attempts to follow-up have been ignored. The only way to contact GE is to raise a 'ticket' online - no response so far, and Plantsavers similarly haven't responded to my query.

I did actually receive half my Primrose order after a month, with no reference to or acknowledgement of the (paid for!) missing items and the order date on the packing slip changed to 30 April (the order was made on 11 April). My follow up email querying the missing items has been ignored so far.

I realise these are tricky times, first world problems and it's churlish to complain when people are doing their best - but I've had no such problems ordering from elsewhere online, and I am down to the tune of £150 between the 3 of them as they all took payment at point of order.

I'd be interested (and maybe comforted if I'm not the only plantless one!) to find out how others have got on.

Hi, yes I put an order in with plantsavers for both me and my sister. They took a while to come but very impressed with the quality of the plants and compost

Yes I've had similar issues....very long delivery times, some stuff arriving and some not. Primrose seem to have stalled, I know they cancelled an order a friend put in a few weeks ago...my orders were before that so Im hoping they are just ploughing thro a backlog of orders.

Thanks - perhaps I shouldn't give up hope just yet....

I ordered plants and compost from Primrose 8 weeks ago. Got a despatch email for order three weeks ago.Then the compost arrived with no delivery note and no plants.
They have not answered repeated emails and I have opened a PayPal dispute (to which they have not replied.)
Look on Trustpilot and you will see lots of appalling reviews. Some people have spent over a grand on garden furniture and are really panicking.
AVOID

Primrose have sent an email saying they are going to refund 'all or some' of my order within 8 days but nothing yet!

It's a joke, I know they have been overwhelmed but surely that doesn't mean you can just take the absolute piss with money people have paid

I ordered from Plantsavers. Took about two weeks to arrive but really lovely plants. They are doing their best. It’s a brand new company and they have been overwhelmed with orders by the sounds of it.

Oh dear - that doesn't sound good.

Maybe with the garden centres opening again from this week they'll have a chance to catch up on themselves. (Crosses fingers).

Am so surprised and annoyed - have never had a problem ordering online before, but it really makes you lose faith, especially as there's seemingly no redress. Too small an amount each time for the £100 credit card guarantee or the small claims court.

I've ordered two houseplants and a hosta from primrose and heard nothing since March.... slightly concerned but at least it's not just me

Primrose took my order (from their limited Covid-affected range) on 11 April, on 17th assured me it was still coming. Then nothing till cancelling it all on 4th May. Pissed off it took so long to cancel and prevented me looking elswhere given everywhere has long delivery times , understandably.

Avoid Yougarden too. Ordered a patio potato growing kit on the basis of their adverts which featured 3 large pots, tubers etc. Waited til past the advised delivery date. No communication from them but money had been taken immediately. Facebook full of exasperated buyers complaining of not being able to contact them. Then site stopped people posting. Eventually turned up, no pots just really cheap plastic sacks. Wouldn't bother with them again.

Thompson and Morgan OTOH have been great.

I have used Claire Austen Hardy Plants, order took about 3 weeks to come but brilliantly packaged and great condition, very impressed. JParkers on the other hand... first grade bare roots my ass🤬

Exactly the same as Picassosdove.

I ordered plug plants and a bag of compost from Primrose seven weeks ago. Compost arrived but no plants. I have emailed twice since then to request a refund but have heard nothing back. Last email was over two weeks ago now...

Sorry to hear others have had similarly bad experiences. I am trying to take the charitable view that they've just been overwhelmed, but am still annoyed.

Having said that I have had a reply today from Plantsavers, so there is some hope I will actually get some plants from them.

Still no response, refund or plants from Gardening Express or Primrose. A lesson learned for the future I suppose.

Me, my mum and sister have received plants from Gardening Express, they tend to say when the plants will be sent out - depends on the plant.

Primrose ordered a fountain, stones and lights were all in stock. Have received stones, but have had an E mail about they may give refunds on some orders depending on what they have in stock. So I now have no refund and 25 kilo of stones I have no use for.

With any garden website it's always helpful to pop over to their Facebook, Twitter or Instagram pages for the comments. Very interesting some of them.

I've had plants from J Parker's - not very good condition and one was beyond help. They apologised and sent a replacement. Both lots were quick to arrive.

Sarah Raven are reliable - I've had two out of four things ordered with a third on the way.

Crocus have also been good - I ordered a small tree and a shrub. The shrub is absolutely diddy, but in fantastic condition. My own fault for not realising the size when I ordered.

Ordered £80 worth of plants from Gardening Express on 10 Apr, the payment was debited from my bank on the 13th.
To date , nothing received ( apart from one generic e- mail ) so raised a support ticket with them yesterday.

Also ordered plants from another company on the same date , not received as yet but at least the payment hasn’t left my account thus far. Beginning to wonder if that’s because they’re going to cancel the order....

I wouldn't mind so much the order being cancelled if I got my money back! At the moment I have neither the money nor the plants, so being ignored is infuriating.

Plantsavers though - all is forgiven as a bag of compost and a tray of 15 healthy looking plants arrived this morning. Hurrah!

Just had one plant arrived from Primose. Completely upside down in the box. Said 3l but is just a tiny root ball in a 3 litre post of compost. Quite disappointed and wouldn't recommend.

Primrose have eventually refunded me through PayPal for a huge order. It took around 2 weeks of emailing them.

Hmm - still nothing from Gardening Express or Primrose for me!

Yep, same here Thecazelets.
The other company I mentioned in my earlier post have been in touch , with apologies and promised delivery “ by the end of May “.
But still a big fat zero from Gardening Express....

Partial delivery from vanmeuwan but it's nearly a month now so I've requested a refund of the compost element but no communication. Very irritating.

Just adding to the list of who to avoid

Avoid Thompson and Morgan. My father placed an order late March still not arrived. No response to follow up emails. Plants will be dead / dying if they ever arrive.

I also had a terrible experience from Crocus. Spent £500 in orders late March, I received some tiny bedding plants mid April and then despite daily emails from me, it took a further 4 weeks to establish what was going on with my order. At various times I was told it had been delivered, was in depot, was out for delivery / all of which untrue. Eventually they agreed to a refund - offered 50 % for some unknown reason, then apologised and said they would refund everything. Then only refunded 75% and I'm still chasing for the missing refund. To my mind they are greedy and took orders they had no chance of fulfilling, and promised impossible timescales.

It’s been 5 weeks and nothing from gardening express

It just says processing the whole time which means it won’t even let me cancel the order now