Comments regarding Farmer Seed and Nursery

I placed an order with this company on Jan 5, 2009 as of today Feb. 23, 2009 I have not received any items that I ordered. I have placed several phone calls and have been told that my order was shipped on Feb. 2, 2009 and they could not place a tracer or replace my order until it had been.
missing for 30 days. Will let you know if and when I receive my order.

We recently placed two large orders with farmer seed. The first one was placed on October 21st. The website stated that all orders placed before October 26th would be shipped for fall. We called them on November 17 to see when our order was shipped, and the friendly and helpful customer service lady was anything but either. She told my husband that a postcard was being sent to us in the unknown future to inform us that our order would not be shipped until spring, and that, if we didn't like it, we could cancel our order - but not over the phone. I thought that he was having a senior moment so I called back - on our long distance dime. I had the misfortune to speak to the same person. I work in customer service and would not still be employed if I spoke to a customer in that tone of voice. I then spent considerable time locating cometobuy.com and sent them a email about our experience. They forwarded the email to farmers. I then went to yellow pages and found the number for the Mn store. I called and spoke to a very polite store manager. He apologized profusely which is certainly more than I received on our first two conversations. We had made a 2nd order of nearly 200.00 the day prior knowing that it would not shipped for fall. We simply wanted to know why fall shipping was clearly promised on the first order if you ordered before the 26th if they had no intentions of doing so. The jury is still out as to how our future experience will be when our plants do arrive - who knows when that will be. We are landscaping a large property and were very pleased with their selection and pricing so are hoping for the best at this point. We will keep you apprised of our progress and want to give them a chance before giving a negative rating. Maybe the customer service person that we had the misfortune to speak to was having a really bad day and that is the reason for her tone on the phone and her inability to even give us an apology for the misrepresentation on their website.

I ordered a few plants. three were dead from the heat of summer shipping. I sent back the label. They said they would ship in the fall. I received my new plants with fall shipping. They seem fine at this time. Communication was not very well with the phone calls I made to inquire about the order.

On January 15 I placed an order with Farmer Seeds as I have done often before and in due time the seeds arrived and were planted. An important part of my order was Lincoln peas, a long time favorite of my family. The weather grew warm and the seeds sprouted, the vines grew, and the blossoms appeared. But in the six rows of peas I planted, the first two rows of blossoms were purple! Lincoln peas had always before had white blossoms. However, I watched and waited and eventually saw pods that were knobby looking, unlike the smooth pods of Lincoln peas. Eventually they matured and we ate some. They were not Lincoln peas.

At this point I wrote a friendly letter to the Customer Care Department at Farmer Seeds saying something seemed to be wrong. I thought they might find the situation oddly amusing as I did. But the reply, while it apologized “if there was an error” in my order, requested that I send “the original shipping label, along with a brief note detailing your request” and “a sampling, or picture of the item in question.”

Well, I had already detailed my request and was happy in the interests of science to send a sample of the non-Lincoln peas, but the original shipping label was long gone. Who keeps the original packing of a seed order for six months? I did send them their confirmation of my order which came by e-mail and said, “We suggest you save this email for any future inquiries.”

That did not satisfy the folks at Farmer. “We are willing,” they said, “to make a single EXCEPTION and send a replacement order if you will send us a COPY OF YOUR CANCELLED CHECK or CHARGE CARD STATEMENT as proof of purchase.” (Emphasis theirs.)

Why should I, I wondered, have to prove that I made a purchase from them? Don’t they keep records of what they sell and to whom? Yes, they said, they do keep records, but it is company policy to insist on evidence from me.

So I sent them a copy of the credit card statement. By now the cost of the correspondence (sending them sample pods and blossoms, sending them a copy of the credit card statement, etc.) was beginning to outweigh any possible refund.

And what have I received in return? An electronic transfer of funds that appeared in our account without other notice for one-third of the $6.95 I spent originally. They did not refund any part of the shipping cost, though the peas would have been the largest part of the cost. They have never even acknowledged the arrival of the samples I sent them, let alone report on what may have gone wrong or what the misfits were – though I asked more than once.

Result? The “Customer Care Department” has lost far more than $2.32. They have lost a long-standing customer and reaped some very unfavorable publicity.

received very small sticks,thought it was a joke.waited a few weeks and a few things started to grow,could tell the paw paws were dead.called and spoke to a manager and he said to return,well i guess it wasnt long enough for them as they sent my stuff all back and said to wait longer.basically calling me a liar that my 2 sticks werent dead.now i have lost my growing season and this wasnt the first time,last catolog was a burgess and i had alot of dead fruit trees.i suggest not to buy from these companies period.also had a very rude sales lady that sure cant handle the public.the manager even confirmed to me that she was nasty.so why would any business trying to make it put up with that.welll they lost me and anyone else i can let know how bad my service was.

My 2007 mail order with Farmer Seed and Nursery consisted of 2 Carpathian Walnut trees, 2 Hardy Almond Trees and 3 Manchurian Apricot trees. They arrived fairly timely, late May, and were planted and watered as per instructions. The Walnuts and Almonds never came out of dormancy......... the Manchurian Apricots did, but did not make it through the winter. On 12/12/07 I followed Farmer seed and Nursery instructions regarding replacements and sent a letter and the mailing label to what is apparently their "corporate office" in Bloomington IL explaining that I needed replacements for the Walnuts and Almond trees as they never came out of dormancy. I did not hear anything from them and did not receive the replacements, so on May 9, 2008 I called Farmer Seed and Nursery and spoke to Linda. I asked her to check on my replacement order. She could find no entries regarding my replacement request. When I told her about my 12/12/07 letter, I kept a copy of the letter and mailing label, she explained that replacements are handled by their "corporate office" and that I should re-send the letter and label. She went on to say that she too would contact their "corporate office" on my behalf. I did as Linda suggested. Today, 8/4/08 I followed up with the folks at Farmer Seed and Nursery and visited with "Cindy". Our conversation did not go well. After telling me that she could not find any record of my replacement requests, she immediately got on the defensive, telling me that I have to deal with their "corporate office" regarding replacements, accepting absoutly no responsibility for my replacement requests. I tried to explain to Cindy that my order was with Farmer Seed and Nursery, NOT with their "corporate office" and that I expected Farmer Seed and Nursery to, at the very least, be nice to me, be willing to help me and to intervine on my behalf with their "corporate office". I ended up having a very harsh and negative conversation with "Cindy", her putting me off again on their corporate office. I asked for their "corporate office's" phone number, she refused to give it to me. She did give me their FAX number (309-663-6691) and the name of a person at their "corporate office......... Laurel Adams. I'm not sure what to do, all I want is my replacement trees, as per their catelogue's guarentee. Any ideas how I might accomplish this??? Thanks in advance.

My order was with Farmers Seed (dba almost all that are in Bloominton, IL). I placed my order in Jan 08 (over $90) and my bad for not checking this site first! I received package 3 of 3 and several days later received 1 of 3. I called about 2 of 3 and was told to be patient. It took weeks to get all 3. I was missing items and called. The complications and delays were insane. End result was it was too late to plant the offered replacements (if they would have acted immediately, I would have been fine) but by May, it is too late. They wanted the original shipping lables, which I sent. But like so many others commenting here, they seem to have terrible postal services as they never received my labels. They still offer replacement plants but I can't plant them now in this Texas heat. This has been an extremely unpleasant experience. I was just about to order some bulbs for fall from a different company when I found this site and saw that the "new" company was connected to the problem one. THANKS for saving me that additional aggravation.

Three packages were "supposedly" shipped to me on June 2, 2008. I received #3 of 3 on June 9. The other two packages have not yet come. Today is June 20. The company will not give me the USPS Delivery Confirmation number so that my own Post Office can begin a trace. I have to wait until July 2, call the company back and have THEM do the trace. Needless to say, I will never do business with them again. The package I did receive was "live" plants--burgundy gaillardia--They were not in the best of shape, but are still living. I paid plenty for shipping, but they ship parcel post which the post office told me was the worst way to ship plants. I guess they make money on that, too. I would gladly pay to ship UPS or FedEx--these people just don't have a clue on how important our gardens are to us.

Unhappy gardener
New Glarus, WI

I ordered one willow tree, one manchurian apricot and one Moorpark apricot. I had contacted customer service a couple of times during the ordering process, never getting a rep that I would call friendly. The trees came in a green plastic bag that cost $.98 to mail and of course charged me alot more than that to mail. The trees had nothing protecting the roots and they were dry and some of the roots were broken of in the bag. The trees looked like little sticks, but which I expected because I didnt pay alot for them. The one I paid the most for looked the most dead the cheaper smaller trees actually had some green on them. I planted them we will see what happens. I am giving them a neutral instead of a negative only because the trees appear to be some what alive and since I have ordered from Autumn Ridge before, they are not as bad as that company.

We ordered about $40 worth of seeds, including a few plants, from this company. It did take a little long to receive them compared to other internet orders, but it says when you order them that orders take up to two weeks to be processed, then shipped, so I think it was just about that. Our seeds have come up just fine and our plants seem to be fine although it is a little soon to tell. We nearly tried to cancel our order after reading reviews on this site, but we are satisfied after all.

I placed an order for seeds and plants on March 22. The seeds were not received until April 21 or 22. They should have plants ready for transplant on May 1, a little late. The plants were received and opened on April 26. Out of 18 plants, 1 was graveyard dead, only one appears sure to live, the rest have from a 10% to 40% chance of living, maybe 6 with a 50/50 chance. I will never order from this company again.

Five weeks before the first day of spring, I ordered $62.70 of root stocks from Farmer Seed Co. The catalog said they would ship in 1-2 weeks. They said that nursery stocks would be shipped according to zone and date. With Spring only 5 weeks away, the weather was turning nice and root stocks really do not have frost worries. 3 weeks later I had not heard a word from the company and sent an email asking the status of my order. I got a form letter telling me nothing new and asked again for the status of my order. Got the same form letter again. That is when I found this site and over 100 negative reviews of this company. I wrote again and gave them 72 hours to give me a status of my order or at least an aknowledgement that I had an order in their system. I got a different form letter but still was told nothing more than I would get my stuff when I got it. I gave notice to cancel the order and the response was they couldn't stop the shipment if they didn't know where it was.
Of course they had charged my credit card the moment they got the internet order. After the 72 hours had passed with no shipment nor any information on the shipment, I called the Bank and the credit card company and challenged the charge for failure to meet the shipping information as promised in their catalog. The credit card put a temporary reversal and the bank investigated the situation. The week before Easter, the bank and credit card finished their investigation and agreed with me and permanently reversed the charge. That Saturday, the 2nd day of Spring, the package arrived without any prior notice or tracking number. There were live roots growing out of the shipping packaging. My wife and I decided to plant the roots and reverse the claim on Monday, which I did. Realisticly, the roots looked dry but most showed signs of new growth and I thought maybe I had rushed to judgement having been prejudiced by the reviews here. On March 31, 2008 The debit was placed on my account and the credit given to Farmer Seed.
April 14, I recieved a letter from Laurel Adams of Farmer Seed Customer Service, dated April 9. Ms. Adams advised that she was charging my account again for the roots I kept. She had already been paid on March 31. I wrote her a letter advising her of the details of the transactions to include the reference numbers assigned by the bank, but on April 15, another charge appeared on my account, this time identifying the company as Interstate Nurseries of Bloomington, IL. A call to Farmer Seed to quietly resolve this ended in a dead end. Laurel Adams does not work at that location and will not receive telephone calls. She does all of her communications by USPS or none at all was what I was told. I called my bank to challenge the charge and was not successful because the charge was still in a pending status. I would have to wait until it went into a permanent status--guards in place by the bank may catch it, but by changing the name of the company making the charge, I have serious doubts.
The root stocks have been in the ground for 24 days now and none have yet to break the surface. The bulk were Hostas and ferns...they still may grow but I'm beginning to have my doubts. I will not apply for warranty replacement even though I kept every shred of packaging as they require you to do for claims. If all I would get is replacement stocks, I would rather go buy more at Wal Mart. I will never buy anything from this company again.

I ordered in January and had to call several times to receive any confirmation of my order, let alone my SEEDS. In Oklahoma, we like to plant our seeds indoors a few weeks before they are to go outside. When I finally called about the middle of March, I kept getting the run-around from very unfriendly, rude people who answered the phone. They kept telling me that my seeds had been shipped by Bulk Mail. OK--why would my seeds be sent by bulk mail when I had paid for the postage and handling on them and it certainly wasn't for bulk mail postage. After 4 phone calls, I finally asked to speak to the manager. He was on another line but did call me back and I was impressed with his demeanor and friendliness. He told me that if I would not cancel my order that he would send a replacement order of my seeds out by first-class mail the next day. This he did and I received my seeds about 6 days later. About another 6 weeks passed and I received my Banana Plant. I also received my potato sets. To date--it is April--I have never received my rose bushes and trees. I ordered at the same time from Stark Brothers and they shipped my trees in February and they are already leafing. When I called about my rose bushes and trees, the rude and uncaring woman who answered the phone told me that I had ordered from a Northern Company and not to expect my trees so early. Well, perhaps they should take a lesson from Stark Brothers on how to ship trees. Bottom Line: The only positive thing that this company has going for it is the very low prices for their products--but buyer beware. Don't expect fast shipments and don't expect to be treated nicely when you call asking about your order. Right now, I still don't know when I will actually receive the balance of my order. I won't order again from them.

I placed an order with F&S On Jan 17, of 08.. on
Jan 31st, I tired to cancel this order, (because of what I read about Farmers from this web site)
Kicking self for not checking this site before placing order..

but I was told I could not as they shipped out 2 seeds packages.. and would I like to cancel the rest of my order.. I told them yes,
It wasn't until Feb 26th after I told them I contacted the BBB. that I did received a part refund.
( which wasn't' to start shipping out until February with the most southern States going first).
I am still trying to get the rest of my money back from this company in full which is $13.84
My last email I receive from them, just tops the cake..

here is the full email.. judge for yourself's
first email to them : is at the bottom, then work your way upwards.

Letter sent to Farmers, with the return seed packages
-------------------------------------------------------------------
TO:
Farmers Seed & Nursery
Division of Plantron, Inc
1706 Morrissey Drive
Bloomingtion, IL 61704


From:



Monday, February 04, 2008


Please cancel this order #32317914 and the seeds, and give me a full refund of $58.51. Back to the card it was charged under.

The seeds have been returned to your company included in this letter. I also have included the cost of your shipping 0.76.4 cents, at 0.80cents, change attached to this letter.
, Please cancel all the order plus the seeds.
I do not want a replacement or to order anything else just the refund in the amount of $58.51.

Thank you,

Enclosed: Shipping Label
Castor bean
Tendergreen Cucumber
3-quarters
1- dime


Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
The order that was returned was delivered to your office at Farmers Seed
1706 Morrissey Drive
Bloomington, Il 61704

AS I was told by your "Customer Care Department" and listed on the Shipping label, to ship too.

On Feb 8th 2008
The delivery confirmation number is
0303 2460 0000 6089 5987
It was delivered as of The USPS web site on February 08, 2008 at 8:44 AM

If your company lost the order in Office, That is not my fault, I do have proof that it was shipped back and your company received the returned seeds, and the Money I sent to cover your cost of shipping the seeds, which was 0.74.9 cents. I sent 0.80 cents to cover the cost of your shipping cost, Plus what it cost me to ship your seeds back to your company along with the front of the shipping label, and a note as to why they were returned.
( an attached word doc. Is enclosed of the letter what was sent back with the seeds) as I was told to do so .. (which by the way, cost most then your 0.74.9 cents)

There is no reason for I to lie about two packages of seeds, but now it seems your company has a reason,

I never thought a company would stoop so low to "claim" you never received it. Clearly you did.



-----Original Message-----
From: Farmer Seed [mailto:customercare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 2:52 PM
To: C or C Hilburn
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


The person handling your account is Laurel Adams, who has issued a refund
for the portion of the order that was cancelled prior to shipping.

We have not yet, however, received the seed portion of the order back.

Thank you,
Customer Care Department

-----Original Message-----
From: C
Sent: Tuesday, March 04, 2008 6:19 PM
To: customercare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


AS I said before, this was not stated on the order as non-refundable fee,
shipping is an refundable fee when items are not shipped out.. Plus the fact
I gave your company money back for your cost of shipping.. which was 74.9
cents in this matter.
There was no processing fee stated to me. Until your reply on Feb 28th, 2008

This is shady business.

I will update the BBB notes, and I will be sure to add this letter in full
to Dave's Garden watchdog for everyone to read and know what type of Company
Farmers seed is, and your other companies under different names.

Again, all I ask if for the remainder of the refund of $13.84.

I don't think this is much to ask of your company, and I do hope you are
forwarding on the emails to the company headquarters in Ill and not taking
this open yourself to deal with. Since I was told below that you don't deal
with this at your office but it has to be forwarded to ill.



-----Original Message-----
From: Farmer Seed [mailto:customercare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Monday, March 03, 2008 8:31 AM
To: C or C Hilburn
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914

This fee is a shipping and processing fee. Your order was processed and part
of the order did ship. We do apologize, but this fee is not refundable.

Thank you,
Customer Care Department

-----Original Message-----
From: C
Sent: Saturday, March 01, 2008 12:31 AM
To: customercare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


The order was canceled before the order went out. Therefore you cannot
charge a fee for that, You shipped out, two seeds which cost 74.9 Cents to
ship. That money was returned to you with the seeds.

On top of this, there is nowhere on your web site that stated a
Nonrefundable Fee of any kind, nor after I placed the order, nor was it
included in the email you sent!

A Shipping fee of 8.95 Yes but the bulk of the order was never sent, it was
canceled before time. Therefore the shipping fee cannot be charged.
AS I said before, your shipping cost for the two seeds where only 74.9
cents , I included 80 cents to cover that.
Your company still owes Me 13.84.

-----Original Message-----
From: Farmer Seed [mailto:customercare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Friday, February 29, 2008 4:01 PM
To: C
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914

Our guarantee does state that the refund would be for the purchase price.
Our guarantee is as follows:

Our One Year Guarantee

If any item you purchased from us does not live, for a FREE REPLACEMENT just
RETURN THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL along with your written request within 1
year of receipt. If you are dissatisfied with any merchandise, return it
together with the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL within 1 year of receipt for a
FREE REPLACEMENT. Replacement guarantee is VOID unless the ORIGINAL SHIPPING
LABEL is returned. For a REFUND of the purchase price, RETURN THE ITEM AND
THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL, with the correct postage affixed, within 14
days of receipt.




Thank you,
Customer Care Department

-----Original Message-----
From: C
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 6:16 PM
To: customercare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


The order was canceled before the order went out. Therefore you cannot
charge a fee for that,
You shipped out, two seeds which cost 74.9 Cents to ship. That money was
returned to you with the seeds.

On top of this, there is nowhere on your web site that stated a
Nonrefundable Fee of any kind, nor after I placed the order, nor was it
included in the email you sent!

A Shipping fee of 8.95 Yes but the bulk of the order was never sent, it was
canceled before time. Therefore the shipping fee cannot be charged.
AS I said before, your shipping cost for the two seeds where only 74.9
cents , I included 80 cents to cover that.
Your company still owes Me 13.84.







-----Original Message-----
From: Farmer Seed [mailto:customercare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Thursday, February 28, 2008 4:55 PM
To: C
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914

The Shipping and Processing fee of $8.95 is a nonrefundable fee.

The $44.66 refund is for the remainder of the order that was cancelled. We
are not yet showing that the refund for the seed has been processed. Please
allow a little more time for this to occur.

Thank you,
Customer Care Department

-----Original Message-----
From: C
Sent: Wednesday, February 27, 2008 12:38 PM
To: customercare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


Thank you for the part refund giving to me on the 26th of February..
I am missing 13.84 of the full refund.. Please have this 13.84 refunded to
my CC account.
And explain to me why the complete refund has not been given.


I have updated the BBB file and they are aware of this part payment

-----Original Message-----
From: Farmer Seed [mailto:customercare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 3:11 PM
To: C
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914

We did receive your confirmation that you would like the remainder of the
order cancelled on Feb 4 as stated below:

From: C
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 3:15 PM
To: customercare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


I did receive the seeds today, they have gone out in today's mail with a
delivery conformation number
I am asking for a full refund, since I have also refunded your company the
cost of shipping the seeds out to me. Yes please cancel the rest of the
order. Let me know when this has been done, and the refunded given back on
my CC.

Thank you,


Once we did receive this confirmation we did forward this request to the
appropriate department. We are showing that there has been some activity in
your account as the order has been pulled. Please allow a little more time
for the refund request to be processed.

Thank you,
Customer Care Department

-----Original Message-----
From: C
Sent: Friday, February 22, 2008 5:31 AM
To: customercare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


The seeds where returned and the delivery confirmation receipt shows that
your company received the package on the 8th of Feb At 8:44 Am. ( Delivery
Confirmation # 03032460000060895987) To check on this please copy number,
then go here to Paste
//trkcnfrm1.smi.usps.com/PTSInternetWeb/InterLabelInquiry.do

I have not heard from your company about the refund nor has a refund been
refunded back to my account.
I was told 1-2 weeks for process, and it has been so.


I am in need of the phone number in Bloomington, IL so I may talk to the
people there who do issue a refund.

I asked for this order to be canceled on the 31st of January, (the date is
clear in this letter if you look below) I received a reply on the February
1st. Not the 4th of February as stated below.


-----Original Message-----
From: Farmer Seed [mailto:customercare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Wednesday, February 13, 2008 2:51 PM
To: C or C Hilburn
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914

The request to cancel the remainder of your order was forwarded on 02-04-08
when we did receive your reply.

It does typically take 1-2 weeks to process a refund once we have received
the return package of seed. Please allow a little more time for this to
occur.

Thank you,
Customer Care Department

-----Original Message-----
From: C
Sent: Tuesday, February 12, 2008 3:33 PM
To: customercare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


OK I am lost, You asked me if I wanted the rest of the order canceled, I
said yes please do, and on top of that I received the seeds which I am
returning. Now you tell me that this mail has been forwarded to the
appropriate department? Isn't this a little late to tell me this?

The seeds where returned and the delivery confirmation receipt shows that
your company received the package on the 8th of Feb At 8:44 Am.
Yet I have not heard from your company nor has a refund been refunded back
to my account.
I am in need of the phone number in Bloomington, IL so I may talk to the
people there who do issue a refund.




-----Original Message-----
From: Farmer Seed [mailto:customercare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Tuesday, February 05, 2008 3:35 PM
To: C
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914

Your request has been forwarded to the appropriate department.

Thank you,
Customer Care Department

-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Monday, February 04, 2008 3:15 PM
To: customercare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


I did receive the seeds today, they have gone out in today's mail with a
delivery conformation number
I am asking for a full refund, since I have also refunded your company the
cost of shipping the seeds out to me. Yes please cancel the rest of the
order. Let me know when this has been done, and the refunded given back on
my CC.

Thank you,




-----Original Message-----
From: Farmer Seed [mailto:customercare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Friday, February 01, 2008 10:46 AM
To: C
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914

The seed from your order has already been shipped and should arrive in 7-14
days. We are unable to cancel this part of your order. Our warranty,
however, does provide instructions for a refund--simply return the
merchandise together with the ORIGINAL shipping label, with correct postage
affixed, within 14-days of receipt. Please also include a brief letter of
explanation, so we will know your wishes when the package is returned.

Would you like us to try to cancel the remainder of your order?

Thank you,
Customer Care Department

-----Original Message-----
From: C
Sent: Thursday, January 31, 2008 9:03 AM
To: CustomerCare@farmerseed.com
Subject: RE: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914


I would like this order cancelled.

-----Original Message-----
From: CustomerCare@farmerseed.com [mailto:CustomerCare@farmerseed.com]
Sent: Thursday, January 17, 2008 7:47 PM
To:
Subject: Farmerseed.com Order #32317914

Thank you for shopping at Farmerseed.com!
This email confirms receipt of your order
request 32317914. A summary appears below.

We suggest you save this email for any future
inquiries. To assist us in providing you with
the best customer service, please include your
order number on all correspondence.

***************************************
Order number: 32317914

Bill To:
Mrs

Ship To:
Mrs

The following items were requested on 1/17/2008 7:47:24 PM:

Item # Description............................ Quantity Price

6458 Lily, Stargazer 3 $2.99
7739 Lily, Oriental Mixed 8 $6.95
7763 Trumpet Lily Collection 1 $21.75
6931 Lily, Lollypop 6 $4.99
6492 Lily, Hybrid 10 $3.99
3544 Snowball Bush 1 $3.99
3390 Bean, Castor 1 $2.95
3045 Cucumber, Tendergreen 1 $1.95
Free Gifts as Earned
Free

Sales Tax $0.00
Packing $8.95
Total Charge $58.51

Returning to Northern Wisconsin from Iowa we took the Faribauilt exit and found ourselves driving by the Farmers Seed Nursery. In the market for more perennials of course we stopped. We found beauitful Phlox plants and bought a bunch. They seemed to get thru the summer well and blossumed as good as first year plants would. With our minus 25 degree winters we will see this coming summer....That said, I appreciate the comments, good and bad, it's great to find this site thanks to the Garden Gate magazine. As for mail ordering, no we learned the hard way with Mich. Bulb etc. it's a disaster...Buy plants & shrubs you can see, even tho. it means putting on the miles.

I ordered the citrus tree collection and the voodoo bulbs (bulbs that grow without dirt or water) from Farmer Seed and Nursery in the end of Dec. I just came across this website and am wishing I would have known how bad this company was before I ordered from them. I was thinking of canceling my order but since they already charged my credit card I decided I didn’t want the hassle of trying to get my money refunded. Although I am not expecting much, I am hoping that the trees I ordered are at least alive when I get them. I am so glad I came across this website though. At least now I can check out the reviews given here before I decide to order from any other online or mail order nursery.

Went to Farmer Seed and Nursery in Fairbault three times last summer. When you ask to buy plants the clerks are obviously bothered that you asked as if you are interferring with their day. They always said they are out of most of the plants I asked for. None of the raspberries I bought from them lived. The problem is the staff treat the plants as if they are not alive. Roots are dry and the plants are withered. If you go to the Fairbault store bring a plastic bag with wet peat moss in it. Their bulbs are good.

There is another Farmer Seed and Nursery in St. Cloud, Minnesota. They have the same stock but they take care of their plants and the stock is in great shape.

If you order from this company make sure you have a huge mailbox because they ship you a plastic bag full of dead plants that the mailperson stuffs into the box. Since the bag didn't have any dirt in it I would assume the plants didn't have any to begin with. I think they just pull them out of the ground and stuff them in the bag. Once burned twice learned.

I wish I had read the reviews before I ordered from this bogus company.... lesson learned. They specialize in sending dead plants. When I asked if they wanted me to send the dead plants back to them for a refund, they said I didn't have to - just send them a letter with the mailing label. Nice try - now they are saying I only get a replacement certificate - to buy more dead plants! What a deal!
I was going to buy a birdfeeder, or something else that wouldn't die while it spent a month in the mail, but they don't carry any feeders, just some bird houses. I'm afraid to order anything - because another growing season will go to waste! ARGH!
DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!!!

In the winter of 2002-2003, we ordered five varieties of grape vines, 4 vines of each variety, to begin a varietal trial in Wyoming. One of them was Himrod Seedless. I was born and raised near Himrod, New York so this variety was to be the centerpice of our trial. See University of Wyoming website, and search for grapes, you'll find a power point of our project.

We nurtured these vines for five seasons, and they produced the first fruit this year. Some other varieties produced in year two. The fruit of this vine is red, and seeded. Himrod is white, and seedless. Farmers Seed clearly sent us the wrong variety !!!

I googled to send them an Email asking about replacement. After this site popped up first, and I read a sample of negative reviews, I decided it was hopeless to pursue a complaint. My advice: avoid this company. I will, and I will tell all my friends to do the same.

It's pretty clear Farmers Seed monitors this site. If you want to do something about this problem, I'm sure you can figure out where I live. I'm the only guy in Wyoming ordering grape vines from you. But after five seasons of work to find out you duped me with the wrong variety, I will be fairly hard to convince to do business with you again.

I ordered a hundred scotch pine seedlings and some asparagus this spring. The order arrived and the asparagus was dried out and the scotch pines were dried out and brown. None of the pines lived, that's right none.. I contacted the company and after several emails I got a "replacement order" that had the plants in plastic bags. Again, most of the pines were brown and some of the plants were actually moldy. I planted the trees in a fallow area of my garden so that I could take extra special care of the sick plants-it would appear that none of the plants are going to live either. My feeliing is that replacing a mostly dead order with another dead order is not too cool. I contacted the company and was told that they would never ship them this way. This may be the case, but if shipping by mail is too tough, perhaps another line of business would be in order. I guess this is just an expensive lesson...

I received my order from Farmer Seed & Nursery on 5/12/07.
I ordered their "hosta Heaven" which was supposed to have two each of three different hostas. I received only 3 total, one a blue hosta was moldy and never did come up. I wrote to them on 5/15 and included my mailing label. Never heard back nor received the missing items. I had also ordered 3 honeysuckles and a bleeding heart. The honeysuckles were totally dried small "sticks." Nevertheless I soaked them in water for hours before planting. They never showed ANY sign of life despite my nurturing. I returned those items on 6/11/07 asking for my money back (could only send a photocopy of the label cause I had already sent it back on 5/15). I have since written two more letters, no response. I would have been much better off if I had planted my money. This company is a total sham and should be reported for mail fraud. My hard earned dollars are wasted.

Ordered Dinnerplate Dahlias from Farmers Seed. Three out of nine came up. None were more than two feet tall and sure weren't Dinnerplate. Will NEVER do business with this company again.

To get right to the point here is the specific issue that bothers me. I received a bunch of items from them including one magnolia. This item was totally and dead on arrival. It was a broken dead stick in some soil. This is not what I consider bare root. There wasn't any root or root nodes at all, just a hollow rotten stick. I asked them to replace this item since it came dead on arrival and I opened the package the day it arrived. So far they are requiring me to send in the packing list in which it came in if I want a replacement. To me that just seems wrong since it was totally dead. At this point I would recommend avoiding this company. It is one thing to get a dead plant, it happens, but another thing to make the customer take their time just to get what is rightfully theirs......

Hello. I wasn't sure how this worked, but I checked your list of seed/garden catalogs and didn't find the one that has given me problems for 3 years now: FarmerSeed.com .

3 years ago, I order 5 kiwi (1 male & 4 females for $22.95), some strawberries, yucca, tulip trees, and everbearing raspberry as well as others things that I did received, but did not survive. I also ordered some other items that did survive, but weren't a problem. They have a 1-year guarantee that if they don't survive for any reason, we could reorder.

So, I wrote the letter and they said they'd send the kiwi, strawberries, yucca, tulip trees, and raspberries. I didn't receive them that spring and had to call the company again to let them know I didn't receive them and had to fight with them for over 6 months to get them to agree to re-ship this spring. I'm sure they were delivered to the wrong address, but that's neither here not there, I personally did not receive them. However, I'm a fiber artist and home 100% of the time during the week days and Saturday, I should have received them and the mail comes in the morning.

To make a long story short, I received the raspberries, strawberries, and tulip trees a month or so ago. I have yet to receive the kiwis and the yucca plants. I called them today and a woman answered. She told me all of the above, but the kiwi were shipped and the they didn't have the kiwi on the list, but I had written letter to them before about htem, and got a form back from them that said they'd ship all th eplants including the kiwi two years ago, and she said the kiwi were not on the form for this shipment. She also said the yucca was in the same order as the strawberries, raspberries and tulip trees, but they weren't there when I received the order.

Just thought I'd tell people that if they are going to buy seedlings or small trees, they're much better off purchasing from Home Depot or a local Nursery than from the Farmer Seed catalog and their affiliates. This whole group were once private companies and were bought out by a conglomerate who is running House of Wesley, Direct Gardening, Wayside Gardens, Honeycreek Nurseries, Interstate Nurseries, as well as others.

I've written to them twice, talked with them 6 times, and I still have received my full order. I'm going to be writing to the Better Business Bureau about this because it's a racket as far as I'm concerned. I'm really angry now. So, I'm sending an email to them, stating that I want my money back for the yuccas and kiwis because if I don't, I'm talking to an attorney about all of this.

Jet Tenley
Walla Walla, WA

In early May I placed an order with Farmer Seed. The wait was a little long, but eventually arrived in (2) partial shipments, bare rooted and bagged in plastic. So far, approximately 75% of my order has shown signs of life. The weeping willows, rose of sharon hedge, red buds, and dawn redwood are thriving, and the magnolia tree and burning bushes are doing ok. However, the red maples, perwinkles, and tulip trees never had a chance. I didn't pursue getting a return for the dead plants, nor will I. I figure the cost was minimal and, regarding what lived, I came out ahead (compared to prices at local nurseries). In fact, I would almost recommend this nursery if their shipping methods were improved.

I took a chance and ordered from Farmer Seed and Nursery this spring, because of their low prices. I got 40 native daylilies, 30 ground cover daylilies, 6 douglas fir trees, and 50 vinca minor (periwinkle). The native daylilies looked good, and are growing well (have not yet bloomed, though), and about half the douglas fir trees seem okay. The ground cover daylilies and periwinkle didn't look good from the beginning, but I planted them all anyway. The ground cover daylilies were moldy, wilted, and dead-looking (not dormant!), and the periwinkle were dried out. After several weeks (over a month) I couldn't find the periwinkle, and only a third of the ground cover daylilies were growing.

I called the company about a replacement, and was told they could be replaced, and I had to send the original label from the package along with a letter requesting replacement of the items - which I did. A few weeks later I received a letter in response, which included the label and my original letter with the "several weeks" (time they had been in the ground) underlined and a comment they needed to be planted for at least 6 weeks - which they already had been. No replacement. No nothing. I don't know how they keep time, or whether they didn't keep a record of my phone call - they certainly didn't follow through with the promised replacement.

Rather than fight with the company, I figure it's not worth the aggravation, and a lesson to deal with a more reputable company in the future. You get what you pay for. I have bought many, many items from Brecks, Henry Fields, and Gurneys, and if their plants don't grow they replace them after a simple phone call.

I will not be ordering from Farmer Seed and Nursery in the future, nor from any of their affiliates - low prices don't make up for the poor customer service, the aggravation, and the frustration.

I ordered 6 blueberry plants from Farmer Seed & Nursery this spring. When they arrived they were bare-rooted and very dry. Two of them looked like much of the bark had been scraped off. I planted them the next day and kept them watered hoping they'd so signs of life. Of the six plants, only three have survived to bud. These three seem frail but should make it. I am disappointed in the shape in which they arrived and the survival rate. I actually found this site looking for Farmer Seed and Nursery to contact them about this problem as I no longer have the spring catalog. Having waited to try and see if they would survive I also exceeded the 14 day limit. I have bought seeds from Farmer in the past and thought I'd try the plants. Hopefully, they can rectify the situation. If not, I'm another dissatisfied customer.

I too wish I had read the below comments before ordering. I split a fairly large order between Stark Bros, Gurneys, Raintree Nursery and Farmer Seed Nursery. I received healthy, well packed plants from everyone...except Farmer Seed. Most of the plants were shipped bareroot in a green plastic bag without any internal protection or moisture. Two months later I haven't lost one single plant from the other companies, in fact they're all thriving, but over half the Farmer Seed order has failed to produce any growth at all. The "5-on-1 Apple" and their "Fruit cocktail tree" are now dead twigs. Most of their raspberries failed to produce any growth and the ones that did still look small and sickly in comparison to the other companies product. If you ever order from them, don't throw out the label on that green plastic shipping bag as their policy states "Replacement guarantee is VOID unless the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL is returned." Same policy for a refund, assuming you can return the plants to them in 14 days. Sounds like a great "policy" for them, not so much for the consumer. I called Farmer Seed this morning to try and resolve my problem and was told that without the original shipping label I would have to write them a letter accompanied by some "proof of payment" stating that I don't have my original shipping label and await a response. I indicated that their "plant labels" are still affixed to each of their dead plants and surely they had a record that I paid, otherwise they never would have shipped them to my address...but they were very clear, returning them now without the original shipping label wasn't an option. I'd persue this further, but their refund period is only 14 days so that's no longer an option. I'm extremely dissatisfied with the quality of their product so replacements aren't likely to be acceptable solution to me. (I was actually optimistic they were going to grow at 14 days... or would that be 10 days if you have to subtract time to ship them back?). If the probable outcome is "more of the same" as indicated by the extremely poor quality of their original shipment and numerous comments below, then to me it's simply not worth the additional time, aggravation and return shipping cost. In my opinion there are too many other companies with substantially better product, packaging, policies and customer service to chose from other than Farmer Seed Nursery. BUYER BEWARE!

I have ordered plants from Farmer Seed this year and I wish I did my homework and checked this page before ordering. Plants arrived in really bad condition and extremely small, teeny-tiny roots, dryed out stems. Paked in just plastic bags, no anything to keep roots from drying out, not a piece of sphagnum moss, nothing. Roots were either dry, or suffocated. I have ordered number of shrubs and bushes and only 3 little ones show any signs of life. They will definetely not grow as promised this year and I will have to wait several years for them to be blooming. I am not ordering from this company ever again.

I should have listened to the collective wisdom on this site, but I like to give people a chance.
I did received the plants/trees I paid for, but they were in horrible shape. The cherry is a stick, the carnations were unthrifty and puny, the birch trees were topped (?!) and all were beat up due to the shipping method. Customer Service at Farmers stated that they regularly prune trees before shipping and that this is normal and that they always ship in these plastic bags.
My only recourse, after several emails, was to ship the plants back, at my expense, for a refund of the plant costs only. Well, that is hardly an option because by then shipping would cost me more than just swallowing the loss. I'm glad I didn't risk much $.
I am frustrated because I paid for something in good faith, expecting to receive it in acceptable shape, and then I am expected to pay for their mistake. If I had changed my mind that would be one thing, but I received material that was sent out from the retailer in damaged/unacceptable shape (it appeared to me the trees were topped in order to fit in the plastic shipping bag). It seems to me that the company should be fully responsible for ALL costs.
I asked that I be removed from all Plantron mailing lists. I hope they follow through as they said they would. A company like this needs to learn about Customer Service and mainitining some pride in their company.

I ordered several items, all of which arrived in good shape. In particular, the strawberry plants were well rooted mature stock, and all 100 of them are growing just fine, although I do wish they had been shipped a little earlier. The yostaberry plants were also well established plants, and are growing fine. The paw paw trees were ok. And the citrus trees are all growing fine, alhough the orange tree was a little small, but the lime tree is already blooming after only about 1 month. All in all my experience with Farmer Seed is that they have exceeded my expectations for a mail order nursery.

I wish that I had seen these reviews before ordering. I ordered 12 tomato plants and 12 pepper plants in an assortment of types. Pepper plants arrived as "mush" with nothing left to even try to get them to grow. The tomato plants were curled up and yellow as if they had been in the shipping container for weeks. I have been able to get three of them to look like they are starting to releaf and grow. This is a total mess. $60 down the tube with nothing to show for it. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY. THEY DON'T KNOW HOW TO PACKAGE AND SHIP - ASSUMING THE PLANTS WERE HEALTHY WHEN THEY HAD THEM.

What a disappointment. The plants where poor quality and 2 of the trees where dead. I was only wanting a refund on the 2 trees, but sense I have to send the Original Reciept in I am not taking any chances on the other stuff not making it and not being able to get credit on them so I am sending it all back. Thankfully it is not a large order. I should have done a little research first.

"

We are sorry that the customer did not plant the other two items and give them a chance since it sounds like they were viable. However, the customer is correct in that they can simply return the merchandise and the original shipping within 14 days of receipt for a refund. The customer could also have received the refund on just the two items and we would hold onto the shipping label in case any of the other items died later. If that happened, they would just need to let us know how many of which item died within one year for free replacements."

While it has been years since I've ordered from Farmer Seed in all fairness to them I can not let Yoopiecats statement go unchallenged.

Silver Lace Vine IS NOT polygonum cuspidatum, it is Polygonum auberti. We are talking about two completely different plants. P. cuspidatum is a rampant suckering shrub while silver lace vine is just that.....a vine, which is not on any erradication list that I am aware of.

I really wish I knew about this website before ordering and silly me threw out the packing labels. None of the plants I ordered survived and had followed the directions to a "T" but the hardy poplars I ordered (I was a little worried at the sticks I received) by the end of the season looked wonderful. We'll see come spring if they survived the winter.
I definitely won't order any more plants from them, though.

"

A dmail was sent to this customer offering replacements on any dead items. We are pleased to hear that the poplars are thriving."

All the Plantron catalogs I have received this year, Inter-State, Kelly Nurseries and Burgess are selling a highly invasive plant that they call "Silver Lace Vine." It's latin name is Polygonum cuspidatum and is listed in "Invasive Plants of the Upper Midwest" (published by the University of Wisconsin Press-2005) as an "invasive plant of major concern". It is commonly called Japanese Knotweed. I spoke to my local DNR plant specialist and they are aware of 2 plants in our county that they are going to attempt to eradicate. This is a highly invasive plant with a root system that can eradicate anything in its path. Think kudzu. The fact that this company even sells this is deplorable. I have e-mailed them but doubt I will get an answer.

"

Please see the posting made by "mikerotell" above.
We have no idea why "yoopiecat" states that we are selling polygonum cuspidatum. We are selling Silver Lace Vine, Polygonum fallopia aubertii."

I ordered from this company before I researched them. After reading all the negative comments, I decided to cancel. Since I had ordered over the net, I didn't realize they didn't even have a toll free number, a very bad sign!

I sent an email request to cancel and also faxed them a copy of my approved order with "Please cancel" written on it. I get a transaction printout from my fax so I will use that as proof I cancelled in plenty of time if something should go awry. My credit card company has also been notified that there should be no charges from this company or any of it's affiliates, including Plantron. I am hoping they will do the right thing and cancel the order without any problems or underhandedness.

My question is, has anyone tried to cancel orders from this company before they received their order?

I did not realize at first that Four Seasons Nursery is a part of Plantron/Farmers Seed Co. I ordered from them and received very small, weak plants, 1/3 of the order was dead when received and the others in poor condition. One bulb was crushed when the second part of the order was received. I sent back the original shipping label as instructed. I finally received another small, weak plant as replacement that was covered with ants. I sent the label on the box back for the bulb replacement and that was returned to me with a statement that I needed to send them the label off the box, which has been thrown away. Surely the packing list would have been sufficent to show them that 1, it was their order, not another companys, and that 2, it was paid for and 3, that they had, indeed, shipped it to me. Not good enough. However, in telephoning them I did talk to a woman who, after going through a "who's on first" routine about what shipping label they wanted she finally agreed to accept a copy of my visa bill showing their charge(see #2). Whew! My point is: They make it more trouble than it is worth to get replacements for unacceptably poor quality merchandise, which is finally replaced by unacceptably poor quality merchandise anyway. I will do my best to find out the names of other divisions of the Plantron Inc. and avoid ordering anything from any of them.

"

Our replacement guarantee reads as follows:
"If any item you purchased from us does not live, for a FREE REPLACEMENT just RETURN THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL along with your written request within 1 year of receipt."

We are uncertain as to what the customer is saying above and do not understand if they actually ordered from our company, Farmer Seed, or not. We do not have packing lists, just the shipping label which is found on the outside of the package and contains the customer's name and address. It is also what lists all of the product and is the proof of purchase which is why we request that it be sent back for the guarantee. In addition, we would like to point out that we have received no complaints regarding ants on any of our product."