I thought this was a strange phone call

I can't remember for sure who the vendor was, but last night I got a telemarketing call wanting to tell me about their bulb specials. I was intrigued by the call so I let the girl speak and she went down the list daffs, such *& such tulips, etc. I wasn't interested in the items, but was curious as this is the first call if this sort I've ever gotten. Don't quote me on this, but I want to say it was Dutch Bulbs, a company from which I bought and was happy with.

anybody else got such a call?

Yes. The call is from Van Bourgondien. Their url and web name is dutchbulbs, but the catalog is Van Bourgondien. They also send a ridiculous amount of email in addition to the only garden co. I've ever known to make unsolicited sales calls. Avoid.

This message was edited Sep 21, 2005 7:25 PM

I bought from them and they performed in a satisfactory manner. However I've checked their rating on GWD and don't think I want to expose myself to a bad experience. Too many good places around to risk it with Van Bourgondien aka dutchbulb.

hmmm. Mailorder nurseries making telemarketing calls. interesting. I put my name in that DO NOT CALL database that was all the rage a couple of years ago. Wonder what became of that?

The same thing happened to me this spring.I got a call from Jackson & Perkins.I had ordered one rose bush from them DonJuan because the companies I usually order from were out of it.
About a month or so after I planted it I received a call telling me that they were having a sale and that Don Juan was also included in the sale items.There is one thing I really hate and that is buying something at full price and then being told it is now on sale.
We are also on the do not call list.
I told them never to call again.

They called me at work - twice!!

Do Not Call list don't include companies you have done business with, including but not exclusively your credit cards, dept stores ect.
It is only companies you have never done business with.

Have any of you ordered from brecks? They sent me a coupon but I'm reluctant to use it. Thanks

look on the watchdog section of this site. they have a terrible rating.

Hey, folks---I used to work for "Foster Gallager" Company about 2-3 years ago. They owned Michigan Bulb, Spring Hill, Brecks, and about a dozen other bulb and flower catalogues. Foster Gallager was a good company decades ago, but the people who ended up owning it were a bunch of greedy cheats. They pocketed millions while running the company into the ground. A month or so before they closed for good, they held a meeting of the employees and told them all was well. Then, one Friday, all employees were notified they would no longer have a job on Monday! Not only that, but the stock they'd owned for years was worthless, and also their pensions and insurance! That was a mini-Enron if I ever saw one! Fortunately, I was new to the company, so had not pension, no stock and no time invested, and I had already left the company a year before they went bankrupt. I would like to remember the names of all the catalogue companies they owned, and make sure NEVER to buy from them! Certainly Michigan Bulb was a stinkeroo from the word "go," with their tremendously annoying "sweepstakes," in which they'd send a six-figure check that made it look for all the world like you were a big winner, while only the tiniest, tiniest print made it apparent you were not. When I phoned to complain about all the sweepstakes letters I was getting in the mail, the MOST affected, wheedling little he-she answered the phone and whined to me about the company being within the law and blah blah blah. That was another problem with Foster Gallagher---the he-she's had infiltrated and were hiring each other. There were "managers" only twenty-years-old walking around the place in cut-offs up to their crotches. My first manager spent fully three-quarters of the first meeting we had with him bragging about all the drinking and gambling he did! The place was a madhouse, and was so totally stupid that it had middle-aged women employees, the kind of employees ANY employer would give his/her eye teeth for---in tears, the morale was SOOOOO bad! WORST company I EVER worked for, bar NONE!

Oh, yes, I forgot to mention that the reason I chimed in was because Foster Gallager definitely used to make unasked for telephone calls to customers who had already ordered at least once from them. I worked customer service and took orders for the company, but REFUSED to make any of those calls(telemarketing calls) because I HATE getting such calls myself!

Rose Mallow. Save your money. I would not buy from Brecks, even though they are probably owned by someone new. I would buy from Dutch Gardens ANY TIME I COULD, rather than buy from Brecks. Brecks likely has kids working for them who know nothing and care nothing for bulbs. When I worked at Foster Gallagher, the young female sitting across from me had a pierced tongue with a ring through it, and I had to look at it every time she spoke to me. She couldn't have cared less about what she was doing. It was just a "job" to her, as it was to so many others who worked there.

Save your money and do not order from Brecks. They were owned by Foster Gallagher. Likely the company is peopled by know-nothing/care nothing employees, and they will not ship top-notch product nor give good customer service.