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.

We've been waiting 7 weeks for an order from Primrose. They have responded to our queries with a general "sorry we're busy." On the basis of the problems mentioned here I think we will try to cancel the order tomorrow.

That must be so annoying - and in my head Crocus were at the more reliable end of the spectrum!

My orders were smaller but I just can't believe Gardening Express and Primrose can get away with taking my money and not supplying the goods or responding to queries. I've not had a single problem with anything else I've ordered online during the pandemic.

They won't be getting any business from me ever again!

I’ve had the same problem with Gardening Express. 7 weeks since I ordered now. I’ve emailed them repeatedly, asked for a refund but no response. They seem to be posting on Twitter with various excuses/updates (@gardeningExpres). I’m not holding my breath...

Gardening express have a lot of updates about orders on their Facebook page. I ordered a couple of weeks before lockdown and got my plants no problem. I think it's just the crazy number of orders they have had come in recently. Thompson and Morgan I ordered from last week and they are already on their way so impressed with that.

In case you don't have Facebook this was Gardening Expresses latest update yesterday.

Good morning everyone!

Here are some photos I've just taken out and about in the nursery, as well as another update regarding our deliveries…

⏰ We are still estimating that most orders will be dispatched in approximately 2 – 4 weeks at present.

The team are working day AND night, 7 days a week to dispatch all orders as fast as possible and we expect normal delivery timescales to resume by the end of this month.

🌱 Some new crops of plants are now ready, so our team are now picking a RANGE OF ORDER DATES in April, the oldest of which are 10th of April.

There may be a few orders with older dates that are either being packed now, or will be around another week.

The dispatch process is entirely dependent on when the relevant plants are ready to ship.

❄️ We had a -3c frost here last week, but we think we are now out of the woods with these, so all the plants will be nice and tough and hardy, as they are all cold grown outdoors with limited protection on these chilly nights.

These have however meant a few varieties have not grown as fast as anticipated, and we won't compromise on quality when sending your orders, so thank you once again for your patience.

This all means you get strong plants acclimatized to existing UK conditions that will grow away quickly now the frosts are finishing.

❓ If you think your order may have been missed, please check that you have received your order confirmation (this can go into your junk folder). This can also be checked by logging into your customer account directly on our website.

As long as there is confirmation of your order, then we have your order in hand.

⚠️ UNFORTUNATELY, WE CURRENTLY DO NOT HAVE THE RESOURCES TO RESPOND TO INDIVIDUAL SOCIAL MEDIA COMMENTS OR DIRECT MESSAGES RIGHT NOW.

IF YOU NEED ASSISTANCE PLEASE CONTACT US HERE (please login to your customer account):

help.gardeningexpress.co.uk/support/home

🛑 Our Customer Service Team are also experiencing very high volumes of customer enquiries, so there will be a SIGNIFICANT delay in responding to your support ticket, however, we WILL get back to you as quickly as is possible and resolve any issues for you.

Thank you once again to everyone for your kind words of support, encouragement, your patience and understanding at this time.

Many thanks

The Gardening Express Family 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦🌱🌻🌺

Thanks for that- useful to see. I have no choice really except to wait it out.

Yes, thank you haget - I’m not on Facebook ( old gimmer) , so much appreciated. Fingers crossed that our plants will be worth the wait ....

Primrose have only part refunded my money and still seem to want to send me 2 surfinias out of a larger order. 2 surfinias for a £6 delivery 7 weeks late. No ta

I ordered from Gardening Express at the beginning of April, and thought I was lucky because my order came in a few days. I hadn't realised there were problems till after.

Now I'm waiting for an order from Primrose. Hadn't realised they were delayed either... Fingers crossed Luckily it's not a big order that I'm desperate for, but still

I've had a few deliveries from J.Parkers since lockdown, the plug plants have been a little ropey but the potted plants (ferns in this case) have been perfectly fine.

Houseplants-wise I ordered some from a shop called Conservatory Archives that I found on Instagram. It was DD's birthday in may and she's into succulents. Small shop, new to online /distance selling, and they've been excellent. Not a huge selection, but really good quality.

Oh !
E- mail from Gardening Express, confirming despatch, with a tracking link to Yodel.
Package now at Yodel’s Hatfield sorting centre, estimated delivery date is Saturday, 23rd May.
Will update on condition and appearance of plants and shrubs when they arrive .

Oh that's good news! Fingers crossed...!

I ordered plants from Garden Express on 9th April. I only received the email with details that it is shipped with hermes on Tuesday. Two days now and Hermes are still saying waiting for package from sender so still waiting...

Oh dear - Hermes. Fingers crossed for you, but don't hold your breath - one of mine was allegedly shipped by Gardening Express via Hermes in early April with an emailed tracking link. I had several days of 'Waiting for package from sender' before the message suddenly switched to 'We cannot deliver your parcel, please contact sender'. And here I still am nearly 6 weeks later, still contacting the sender (or raising support tickets, as there is no other way to contact them) to no avail!

Ordered from Primrose on 5th April, heard absolutely nothing. Luckily paid via PayPal and opened a case which went in my favour last week and received a full refund. Will never order from them again

Yodel link now says order out for delivery today - we’re 66, out of 130 on board ( feel sorry for the driver ) - so feeling a little more positive .....
Just hope they’ve been packaged well, as the van sounds quite full !

Good luck!

Primrose are in my bad books also. I ordered mid-March (before lockdown!), and have had emails saying: despatched 21st April, cancelled 21st April, despatched 22nd April, despatched 6th May...

Have I received anything? Have I buggery. I have been restrained and only sent one email at the beginning of May, and another this week - pointing out the plants will be dead by now if they've 'been in the post' since late April.

No reply to either.

Just unpacked my Gardening Express order- came in two boxes ( 3 shrubs together, separated from the bedding plants ) . Very well packed, sturdy boxes and LOTS of sticky tape and polythene .
Plants look to be in good condition - the Verbena Bons and Thrift very strong and healthy- looking.
The shrubs ( one each of Clematis, Caryopteris and Ceanothus ) rather smaller and barer than expected, but all in all quite acceptable.
Now, I wonder what my second online order
( not GE ) , due to arrive “ at the end of May” will be like.
Fingers crossed for everyone still waiting , waiting and waiting......

Glad there's been some good news!

Keeping my fingers crossed too!

Had a email from primrose saying not delivering and getting refund a week ago, still nothing, not impressed

Also waiting on an £80 order from Gardening Express, ordered on the 12 April. Sent two tickets about two weeks ago with no response.

Really not impressed. I saw their Facebook page notice and was hoping I'd have heard something by now. Definitely won't be using them again!

Nor me!

Bakker.com in the Netherlands have just fulfilled my order to the UK within a week. Variety of plants, packaged appropriately. All seem in good (enough) condition. It would have helped to have a 'this way up' label on the box but the courier didn't read my instruction of where to leave the package anyway so it mattered not! Bakker have 50:50 delighted/annoyed current reviews. I'm delighted. I've visited my local garden centre (Dobbies), excellent social distancing and hygiene implemented by the company but limited stock.

I ordered from Primrose at the end of March and heard nothing and recieved nothing for weeks and weeks but then my order did start arriving, all from different suppliers they must use. I have to say that all the plants were in excellent condition, I ordered a strawberry plant, pea plants and a luxury brassicas collection. Saying that I didn't get a reply to any of my chasers and on that basis probably wouldn't use them again. Thought this might give some hope to those still waiting though!