Primrose (online garden centre) bad experience - what should I do?
dappledshade
Posts: 982
in Plants
Hello all.
I could, frankly, kick myself.
Back on the 27th March, I ordered a few plants, mainly fruit bushes and veg, from Primrose.
Stupidly, I didn’t research the company at all beforehand (unlike me, as I’m normally very careful to) and have since been reading horror stories from equally disappointed customers, even pre-Covid.
Their reputation precedes them, it seems: quick to take the money, but hugely delayed orders, sometimes arriving 4 weeks or more late, often bad quality plants etc, the list goes on.
Rather predictably, it has been almost a month since my order and nothing has arrived.
I have tried to cancel my order online (I placed it online too), but I can’t even access my account - password isn’t working...
If I ring their customer services number, there is an automated response, saying that they’re closed and staff are working remotely, from home.
I’ve emailed three times, to ask them to cancel my order, but I’ve heard nothing back.
It is impossible to get through to them.
Yesterday, I received a standard email sent to everybody, just outlining that they’re trying so hard to deliver items and please bear with us etc, that they may be cancelling some orders they can no longer fulfil but that’s it.
It was from a no-reply sender.
Now, I’m a key worker (school) and my OH works in the NHS, so we are the last people to be unsympathetic to the current issues surrounding deliveries, but this looks much like a company being grabby and greedy, then turning around weeks later only to say ‘oops, haven’t the time to fulfil all of this, never mind’.
I don’t even want my order any more, I want to cancel it but I can’t work out how to.
If it arrives months late, I’d even have to pay to return it.
Has anyone else had this experience with them and if so, what did you do to get your money back?
Thanks 🙏🏻
I could, frankly, kick myself.
Back on the 27th March, I ordered a few plants, mainly fruit bushes and veg, from Primrose.
Stupidly, I didn’t research the company at all beforehand (unlike me, as I’m normally very careful to) and have since been reading horror stories from equally disappointed customers, even pre-Covid.
Their reputation precedes them, it seems: quick to take the money, but hugely delayed orders, sometimes arriving 4 weeks or more late, often bad quality plants etc, the list goes on.
Rather predictably, it has been almost a month since my order and nothing has arrived.
I have tried to cancel my order online (I placed it online too), but I can’t even access my account - password isn’t working...
If I ring their customer services number, there is an automated response, saying that they’re closed and staff are working remotely, from home.
I’ve emailed three times, to ask them to cancel my order, but I’ve heard nothing back.
It is impossible to get through to them.
Yesterday, I received a standard email sent to everybody, just outlining that they’re trying so hard to deliver items and please bear with us etc, that they may be cancelling some orders they can no longer fulfil but that’s it.
It was from a no-reply sender.
Now, I’m a key worker (school) and my OH works in the NHS, so we are the last people to be unsympathetic to the current issues surrounding deliveries, but this looks much like a company being grabby and greedy, then turning around weeks later only to say ‘oops, haven’t the time to fulfil all of this, never mind’.
I don’t even want my order any more, I want to cancel it but I can’t work out how to.
If it arrives months late, I’d even have to pay to return it.
Has anyone else had this experience with them and if so, what did you do to get your money back?
Thanks 🙏🏻
0
Posts
https://forum.gardenersworld.com/discussion/1036308/anyone-ordered-from-primrose-recently/p1
I did phone the number and after a 30 minute wait did get a refund.
If you live in Derbyshire, as I do.
Now having a real issue with Suttons. Over a month and the order is showing as not even processed, phone numbers are closed, no reply to emails or their customer service email system. Also have wait 10 minutes just to browse the site and my account each time.
I will echo though that in the past never had any issue at all with Primrose, used them plenty of times before, when all the madness is over, will use them again.
It seems everything is overstretched with staff shortages and a lot more people getting interested/having time to do the gardening increasing the number of orders way above normal.
Have to say though that I'm glad the Sutton order was the last I placed. Make do and mend now for the rest of the year.
I have ordered from other companies and the communication has been excellent. Even during Covid. Even when understaffed. Even when remote working from home.
Many, many companies are in the same boat, yet it’s interesting how some still manage to communicate with customers, whereas others go awol.
Ive heard that Primrose were not too hot on the communication front even pre-Covid, so I’m not filled with too much hope.
A simple, personalised email to inform a customer that there is a delay but that they haven’t been forgotten, or even to give some sort of tracking info so they can check for themselves, wouldn’t go amiss.