Yep, so true, I think they will be OK.
Nite all.
JJA Seeds
Hi all,
Had an email today from someone in the seed business. I forwarded the email to Annette but don't think it would be right for me to give his name here.
I quote his email
" Yes, they are quite a good, respectable company so I'm surprised this
has
happened..."
This is a guy from within the trade so not an internet customer, so i'm guessing gets better service than people putting in tiny orders on the internet.
Also the guy that introduced me phoned he says they go away during june/july for about 30 days and it seems no corespondance during this time ever gets answered! Not very helpfull to us "the general public" but answers some of the questions.
So how does JJA know who's hoi-poloi and who's hoity-toity? Do they require references?
Maybe by giving good service to their preferred customers and shafting the "rabble", they tailor their business to a very select "sales by appointmentr only" clientele?
The guy i contacted would know them, as there business dealings would run into thousands of pounds and the orders would probably be done face to face.
Most new account customers in the Uk would be required to give references, so yes in kind of way.
Like any business unfortunatley its human nature to service the larger customers first. They are after all the ones that put bread on the table.
Some companies that are not run well then forget orders that are "put to one side", its not right but it is a fact of life when dealing with small businesses.
If this kind of business upsets anyone has anyone here tried dealing with the far east with imports? That would give you an eye opener. I have never known such out right lie's! hehehe
Mike
Just spoke to Jim Archibold.
seemed pleasant enough. Says he will refund Annettes money.
I'll keep you all informed if thats ok with annette.
Speak soon
Mike
Its cool with me Mike, lets see how this pans out.
Annette
Hi All,
I am just letting you all know that I have just received a refund from jja seeds off the $20US I spent plus an extra $10US, I would like to thank Mike for going on my behalf if it wasnt for him ringing them up and talking in person, I would never have received the refund or seeds.
A belated Christmas present that has ended well.
Annette
That's great news Annette, it has been a long haul but we got there!
I emailed them to let them know I had got the seeds on the same day to thank them. I got an email back on Saturday night which goes as follows:
Thank you so much for letting us know the seeds arrived and that we can draw a line under the matter.
Best wishes.
Jim Archibald
It looks now as if they are dealing with their problems and this has to be a good thing. The power of Dave's Garden! It's a good job I found their phone number too or none of us would be happy now.
I agree we would still be sending email after email being ignored.
Thanks Janet for getting the ball rolling and ending for us being satisfactory, if you hadnt have started the thread I would have just put it down to a live and learn experience.
Cheers Big Ears
Later Aligator......
Still... I'd like to order some seeds myself now though. I spent so much time cruising there site i fancy buying some seeds!
Anyone dare me? heheheh
mike, I dare you, if you put in a note saying who you are I think you should get them!
I replied to their email to me saying I'm happy, and that they had some wonderful seeds I perhaps would love to purchase in the future! Still scary though.....but I think a future order should now be honoured after this!
If i do do one i'll do it via credit card and make sure i get an availability list faxed through first.
I really get the impression that if they have the seeds it gets done, if they think they might have them later it gets put in a pile marked pending and sits there!
Surely if they are crooked through and through they wouldn't have sent the extra 10 dollars back to Annette.
Does anyone here want to do an order?
Just wonder if i phone up and get a list faxed through if anyone is interested.
Mike I would definately like some salvia seeds, lmk what is on the available list, I dont think that they would dare rip you off LOL.
A.
Just cause i threatened to take a baseball bat to there heads... heheh (only joking) it was a rounders bat... i'm far too girly to play baseball. heheh
I had a dmail from a newly signed member yesterday. He had spent $349 US with JJA in December, same old story. I checked their feedback and he has left a Negative.
That's a lot of money to just ignore his emails. He was asking my advice, which I gave.
I do wonder how many more there are who have been ignored and haven't yet found Dave's Garden.
The power of being a member or subscriber here does speak for itself.
Has he phoned them up?
Thats all i did to get Annetes money returned.
I told him where to find the phone number, and if he couldn't find it to ask me for it.
That shouldn't be 'all' you have to do should it?
Nah but they are (another word for not very good. lol) !
I wouldnt do business with them...
But then again i seem to have lost 25quid to Marks and Spencer this week... So its not like anyone is completely trust worthy!
Still no word from M&S i have sent 3 emails all with the order information. I did have one email back that said they couldnt find anything about my order...... yeah they found enough to bill me!
Its been going on since the first week of May.... At what stage do i say M&S are worse than JJA? Yeah takes some believing that anyone could be rubbish at running an internet business.
Mike
I had a problem with Van Meuwen, I ordered some Zantedeschias in the autumn for autumn delivery but in the end they couldn't deliver until March. In January I found they had reduced the price! They also had more new ones, so I cancelled the order and reordered at the new price, adding in the new ones.
I didn't see why I should pay another £6 for the same thing delivered at the same time, and pay two lots of postage. They sent a letter stating it had been refunded, then another nearly on top of that aking for my credit card details as it had expired and I had a new expiry date.
I rang them and gave it to them, beginning of February. I waited for two credit card statements as one was not long after that, no refund. I emailed them to tell them, got a reply it was refunded on "..." date in January. I replied no, it was not, and explained what had happened giving all details including reference numbers, order numbers etc.
GUESS WHAT, yes, I got the same reply! I hung on the phone for ages and gave up so emailed them again, I as good as shouted at them in block capitals, asking what I had to do, was no-one reading what I had told them! I got a reply which always takes about a week, apologising for my distress and they would investigate.
It took a long time to get it, but it was given not long ago! No letter to confirm it either, it just appeared on my statement which I can check online. One does wonder!
It does amaze me that large companies can get away with it.....
I had a customer screaming at me on Saturday at the tills with other customers around that she bought some plant in december and that half of them had died so she wanted a refund for all of them....... she had no plants no reciept and no idea exactly what they where..... I did offer to refund if she returned the dead plants... that really wound her up! What was i supposed to do?
I think the problem is some customers and shops are winding people up so much that good customers and shops are starting to act all the same.... I have noticed a big increase in aggressive customers in the last ten years... this means for the rest of the day after geting a bad customer the member of staff hates all customers!
I think there is a bad river of change in retail.... !!!!!! (there are no angels)
Mike
In our smaller retail stores they have posted notices that once the plant leaves the store it's yours.
The big box stores still still have a 'refund/no questions asked' policy, which I think is foolish. People need to take responsibility for their own actions (or inaction). I have always had a policy of 'When the check clears the bank....'
I have lots of repeat business.
Its a shame but its illegal over here to put up a sign saying "No Refunds". There is a law about acceptance of goods i.e if they treat them as there own them they have accepted them... i figure that means once they have planted them or "not watered them" really wouldnt want to test it in court though as the customer would be seen as the victim. Just as shoplifters are! lol
Mike
Shoplifters are victims? And burglars are confused shoppers, just in the wrong store?
Yeah Goverment are now trying to downgrade shop lifting as a crime so it is up to the shop to sue rather than the courts to naturally sentance them.... mainly because it happens so often.... backwards logic or what? lol
And all this time I thought it was government's purpose to keep order in the public sector.
But, I understand the law enforcement types, it is just easier not to deal with the criminal element, they are such a bother, those troubled souls. Coffee and donuts are more important (in your case would it be tea and crumpets?).
Tea and crumpets! lol... The funny thing is we own the coffee shop they stop at... but its coffee and tea cakes in the morning and tea and scones in the afternoon... we have very refined coppers! lol
Well it is good to know that there are some refined souls in that branch of the gov't. The ones that visited me were more inclined to luke warm coffee and M-16's.
Here in the country we still have the old british bobby!
Are they still unarmed and civil?
We could use about 5-10 million of that kind of law enforcement officers.
Yep No guns just stab vests and a batton.. Mind you we get alot of plain clothes officers at ours... with unmarked cars.
Now Civil.... hmmmm depends how you mean on that one! lol
Mike
As long as the pay for their snack they can whine as much as they like.
Had a load in today made me think of this thread.... One with his tie hanging down from being clipped onto his pocket..
Looked scruffy! Hey the police today! lol
Mike
Sounds like just the man to send over JJA for a little chat about the lack of good business practices. He might the right impression on them.
You mean get our police to do some work..... you must be mistaking what they do! lol
My M &S stuff finally arrived ... so all ends that ends well.... persistance is the key... does help to have a good negotiation skill. lol
Mike
So if I move to the UK it seems I will have to order my seeds at least 16 months in advance, then send angry emails and make phone calls of disappointment to complete the transaction. Do those companies give stress discounts?
I did get a £10 credit for my trouble....
I'm hoping as my internet site grows (there is not much to buy at the moment) when and if i do get an order i process it straight away and correctly.
Mike
Here is a link http://davesgarden.com/gwd/c/154/ to a company in the US that has quite a record going, even their 'positive' reviews talks about the problems that had.
I placee a couple orders with this grower here in the US and this was the result:
On May 23, 2006, dale_a_gardener Tampa, FL
(Zone 10a) wrote:
These people are plant collectors and not high quality plant sellers. Almost all the comments (even many of the positive comments) I have read indicate that they never have all the plants on their website and quality & size are ongoing issues with them. They do not appear to give refunds, only credit for more plants.
I ordered from them in Dec 2005 and Jan 2006 and paid at the time I ordered. I recieved my order mid May 2006. It was incomplete, they made substitutions without my consent. Over 3/4 of the plants sent were of the lowest quality I have gotten thru a mail order firm. About a quater of the material was barely rooted plugs or liners made to look like 3" material. Many were incorrectly planted and had stem rot in various stages.
They were well packed, but, many were crushed and leafless. The box was not damaged on the outside which leads me to believe they caused the damage by over packing the shipment. They said they combined my two orders and sent an invoice for only one of the two orders.
They repeatedly ignored my email, made polite excuses, my favorite was that the weather was bad. Hard to believe, since they have greehouses for these frost tender plants. I found them to be pleasantly evasive.
They have an incredible collection of plants and it seems a shame that they only place they all seem to exist is in cyberspace and their digital photograph collection.
I will never do business with this firm again. I do not wish to receive anymore plants of such low quality after a long and unnecessary wait.
They offered to make amends and I had to insist on a refund. Credit or Discount is just sucker bait with some of these folks.
I have learned to placed orders with firms I don't know that are under $30 and see how it goes.
Luckily with the uk there are only a few on the far edges that i won't end up getting to one day if they rip me off! lol
You US guys have a bigger area to cover when things go wrong.....but as will all things patience is best.... if i don't get them today i have years to seak them and my money out.
Mike