JParker's Roses Review - Diseased and Dying - AVOID AT ALL COSTS!

EllieRose

I made the mistake of ordering roses from JParkers. I am writing this JParkers review in the hopes that anyone who is considering ordering roses from them will see it when they google something like "jparkers roses review" because when I did that, nothing came up, only their 4.6 star rating on Trustpilot. I decided to order because they had a seemingly great sale on (10 hybrid teas for £35) and most of the reviews on trustpilot were great, so I assumed that they would behave like any normal company and send me good products. Sadly, I thought wrong. 

I ordered this product: https://www.jparkers.co.uk/ht-rose-collection-collection-1. It arrived about two weeks after I ordered it in an absolutely appalling state. All of the roses were obviously diseased and afflicted with blackspot and mildew and goodness knows what else.

I immediately contacted them to complain with plenty of images of the issue and a request for a refund, but all I got was a condescending response saying that "it is normal for perennials to not look their best at this time of year". I replied but have not received a response yet, although I doubt I will be getting a refund from them. Screenshots from the conversation are below as well as images of the mess that I received.

Appalling products and abysmal customer service! For the sake of your sanity, please avoid JParkers.
 

Te

Personally if you want decent roses you may consider David Austin's rose nursery, obviously you can select via there online website, i appreciate it will cost you more but sometimes the old saying "you get what you pay for", i've heard many negative remarks regards purchases from jparkers, i believe though if you purchase as such it deserves to be highlighted so other gardeners can be prewarned, would agree their customer services also requires attention.

WillowBark

I'm sorry that you had such a rubbish experience with them, I've so far found them to be very good in general. I bought some roses from them in Autumn last year as bareroot plants and they seem to be very healthy. Maybe just a bad batch? I agree though that their response to your email is not acceptable - your roses are clearly suffering from more than ordinary dormancy! I hope they get back to you and that you manage to get your money back.

Fire

I have found Parkers pretty good also in general. I wouldn't dismiss them from just one order. For roses I would recommend specialist rose sellers like Trevor White.

Some growing companies are really struggling with Covid disruptions - deliveries, importing, transport, warehousing, customer service deluge, working from home.

JennyJ

I have had issues with J Parkers (bare root perennials geraniums and pulmonarias that turned out not to be the varieties that they were meant to be) but they gave refunds for those, and I've had no problems with other stuff from them.

It could have been growing conditions last year that made their rose stock not-so-good, but for £3.50 each you can't expect what you'd get for £10 or £15 from a rose specialist.

They're not the best bare-root roses I've ever seen, but I would suggest get them planted, and see what happens. If they don't grow you can send more pics. If they do, prune back to where the new shoots come from and see how they go. Blackspot is very common particularly if the air is clean, and as far as I know doesn't kill the plants. Just be careful to clear up any affected leaves when they fall.

LToby

they even label their plants wrongly and when you tell them about it, all they say is sorry, i've put the plants in the bin as I did not order them ... even forgotten your order after following up twice. In my black list of garden centres/nursery.

BenCotto

I wouldn’t mess with anyone who knows “plenty of years’ experience” takes an apostrophe! 

Fire

The letter does seem to suggest that will honour their "full guarantee", so perhaps politely mention that you would like a refund.

sarinka

I would give them a chance... most bareroot roses look quite wretched just now, surely? I bought a couple of cheap roses from JParkers in Nov and they are already putting on a lot of pretty red growth (shoots and leaves) 

debs64

I don’t think covid can be blamed for roses that are clearly infected with blackspot? I would bin them to avoid passing on the disease to healthy roses and demand my money back. 

amancalledgeorge

We've had this conversation a few times before. There's a reason why specialists exist, because they devote time and effort to grow one species really well. I have roses by Parkers, Trevor White and Austin...frankly the difference in quality justifies the price difference. A cheap spindly rose with take much longer to grow into something you'd be happy with, why do that to yourself for the sake of saving a fairly insignificant amount of money? With roses you truly get what you pay for.