Comments regarding J.L. Hudson, Seedsman

I have purchased seed from J.L. Hudson, Seedsman, for decades (since the 1970s, I believe). I wish all seed companies--indeed, all vendors--were as dependable and straightforward as this one. The amount of seed supplied is generous; the seed is of high quality; and you find here many a thing which you will not find elsewhere. It can't be easy to make a profit with, on the one hand, seeds of obscure plants which are not in high demand, and, on the other, the likely quick-selling-out of such sorts as *are* in high demand; this company is to be congratulated for persevering in its business. If seed of the same particular variety were being offered by, say, Burpee, Park, Thompson & Morgan, Johnny's Seeds, and J.L. Hudson, I would without hesitation choose to buy the seed packet from Hudson rather than the others. The customer owes it to himself and to the company to read, understand, and act in accordance with the stated terms of business; if this is done, it's smooth sailing all the way with J.L. Hudson, Seedsman!

"

Hey, thanks!

After the last two ratings, its nice to hear from someone who appreciates us!

We really do try hard to do a good job, and hope we succeed. We like to please our customers, and its really nice to know when we do."

I placed an order from J. L. Hudson's print catalogue. On the order form, I had to mark whether, for out-of-stock seeds, I wanted substitute seeds or a voucher. I didn't really see an option to request a refund. So, I marked "voucher." My order arrived with a voucher for several seeds that were apparently out of stock. I immediately placed another replacement order and used the voucher. On the order form, I once again marked "voucher" for out-of-stock seeds. When my order arrived, once again some seeds were out of stock, and I got another voucher. But at this point, I realized something. Every time I placed an order to replace the out-of-stock seeds from my last order, I was repaying the shipping and handling charge. If I had gotten all the seeds I'd ordered the first time, I wouldn't have had to pay shipping and handling again and again. And why were so many seeds out of stock? I placed three orders, and in every single order, some seeds were unavailable. Either I was *very* unlucky, or J. L. Hudson lists a lot of seeds in its print catalogue that aren't really available. So, I emailed J. L. Hudson to say that I wasn't overly happy with this situation. Given the high ratings here, I fully expected to get a nice email back and maybe even a refund for some of the shipping and handling charges that I had paid. It wasn't *that* much money, so I wasn't set on a refund. I mostly just wanted to hear from J. L. Hudson that they appreciate my business and sympathize with my feelings. Instead, I got an extremely snotty message that essentially told me never to order from J. L. Hudson again. The message basically said that I was the idiot who marked "voucher" on the order form and didn't check the website for availability of seeds, so I got what I deserved. Clearly, J. L. Hudson doesn't appreciate my business or sympathize with my feelings at all. J. L. Hudson's email went on and on and on too, such that I began to think, "The lady doth protest too much." I laughed out loud when I got to the part of the message where I was told that J. L. Hudson sells only the finest seed after meticulously testing its germination rate (as if I had complained in any way about their seed's quality). And I can't help but note that every negative rating here has a very long, defensive diatribe from J. L. Hudson accompanying it. In every case, it seems, if someone is dissatisfied with J. L. Hudson, the dissatisfaction can't possibly be J. L. Hudson's fault in any way; the dissatisfaction is the result of the complainer's being an idiot or a liar or a baby. I don't like defensive, arrogant people, so why on earth would I do business with a defensive, arrogant company? There are too many good businesses out there to waste my time on J. L. Hudson. For those of you who have positive experiences with J. L. Hudson, I hope you never have reason to complain about anything in any way, because if you ever do, you'll probably see a very different side of J. L. Hudson.

"

Here we go again!

Mr. Steinberg wrote:

"I placed an order from J. L. Hudson's print catalogue. On the order form, I had to mark whether, for out-of-stock seeds, I wanted substitute seeds or a voucher. I didn't really see an option to request a refund. So, I marked "voucher."

In fact, in his email to us dated February 8, 2007 he stated:

"I would say that this was all my own fault for checking "CREDIT MEMO" on my order forms instead of "REFUND," but I didn't really expect to have so much trouble with out-of-stock items when I ordered from a January 2007 catalog *in* January 2007."

Go to http://www.jlhudsonseeds.net/Steinberg.htm to see scans of his order forms - you can see that the "REFUND" option is quite visible right below the "CREDIT MEMO" option he clearly marked - there is ABSOLUTELY no way he could not have seen a refund option, and besides that, he admits in his email to us that he could have checked "Refund".

Yet now he claims "I didn't really see an option to request a refund." This is very interesting.

Mr. Steinberg wrote:

"I placed three orders, and in every single order, some seeds were unavailable."

Incorrect - on his order dated July 14th 2006, which was mailed to him July 18th - nothing was out of stock.

There were out-of-stock items on his two subsequent orders:

He ordered Jan 16 2007, it was mailed Jan 19th - 1 packet of Rosa eglanteria and 1 oz Allium tuberosum were out of stock - he asked for credit, we sent credit of $8.45 - $8 for seed, 45c for the postage he paid for the ounce. You can clearly see in the scans of his order forms that he checked the "Credit" option, and that we credited him the postage on the out-of-stock ounce.

He ordered Jan 26, it was mailed Jan 30 - he returned his credit memo plus a check for $4.50 - 1 oz Elaeagnus multiflora out of stock. Again he asked for credit, we credited $6.45 - $6 for the seed, plus 45c for the postage he paid for he ounce.

He states that: "But at this point, I realized something. Every time I placed an order to replace the out-of-stock seeds from my last order, I was repaying the shipping and handling charge."

Again, you can see from the scans that we credited him every cent of the postage he paid for the out-of-stock ounces he ordered. He did have to pay for the postage on the packets he ordered, and which he received - why we should have to refund him postage and packing which we already spent on mailing his seeds, I do not know. Our policy is to refund or credit any postage paid for bulk quantities when those are out of stock, and refund or credit any excess postage paid. However, we do not give free postage on orders returning a credit memo. Our postage rates are at cost as it is -- unlike some companies, we do not make money on postage charges.

Mr. Steinberg wrote:

"I placed three orders, and in every single order, some seeds were unavailable. Either I was *very* unlucky, or J. L. Hudson lists a lot of seeds in its print catalogue that aren't really available."

He has implied that we have no refund option, and further that we list a lot of items we do not in fact carry - the implication is that we gain money by not having to refund for a bunch of things that we don't carry.

Actually, the costs of printing and mailing a catalog are such that we do everything possible to minimize out-of-stock items - why spend money on printing the descriptions and mailing a catalog of things we do not carry? In fact our TOTAL for out of stock items in 2006 was a mere 2.8%. The 2007 total out of stock is running about 2%.

He wrote: "Instead, I got an extremely snotty message that essentially told me never to order from J. L. Hudson again. The message basically said that I was the idiot who marked "voucher" on the order form and didn't check the website for availability of seeds, so I got what I deserved."

What I replied was:

"I am very surprised to hear that you are 'annoyed at the service I have received this year.' We filled both of your requests for seed promptly, accurately, and followed your instructions to the letter ('Credit Memo for out-of-stock items')."

Strange that he thinks this is "extremely snotty". At no time did I ever call him an "idiot", or say that "he got what he deserved".

And to answer his question about why there are out-of-stock items in January, ("Why are you advertising so many items that are already out of stock in the very month that you published your catalog?") I replied:

"As for having so many items out of stock the first month the catalog goes out - first, we have to get the catalog final format to the printer in late November (it takes some weeks to print), and we don't always have confirmations of what our collectors/growers will not be able to supply. Some species inevitably come in late, so are out of stock the first few weeks of the year. Then there may be a few items that come in, but our germination test shows the seed to be inadequate, so we do not distribute that seed, and have to try and hunt down another source of supply (if any)."

My reply, simply trying to explain why there may be out of stock seeds at any time of year, even though they are listed in our print catalog, seemed to make him even more angry. Also, we do provide continuously updated sold out information on our website - anyone with internet access who wishes to avoid ordering out-of-stock items can check the website. We can't do this in the print catalog for obvious reasons.

"I laughed out loud when I got to the part of the message where I was told that J. L. Hudson sells only the finest seed after meticulously testing its germination rate (as if I had complained in any way about their seed's quality)."

As you can see from my reply, I merely mentioned that sometimes things are out of stock because if germination is low, we do not distribute them. I certainly did not use the phrase "the finest seed after meticulously testing its germination rate" as he claims.

As for telling him "never to order from J. L. Hudson again", I explained:

"We are a seed bank, not a commercial enterprise... We invite you to obtain the seeds you need from a commercial enterprise, and hope you find a source of supply that meets your satisfaction."

He states in his rating of us:

"And I can't help but note that every negative rating here has a very long, defensive diatribe from J. L. Hudson accompanying it. In every case, it seems, if someone is dissatisfied with J. L. Hudson, the dissatisfaction can't possibly be J. L. Hudson's fault in any way; the dissatisfaction is the result of the complainer's being an idiot or a liar or a baby. I don't like defensive, arrogant people, so why on earth would I do business with a defensive, arrogant company?"

This is actually kind of a neat trick - if we take the time to try to set the record straight after being libeled online, we are posting a "very long, defensive diatribe". If we show that the problem was not actually our fault, but because of customer error [they gave us the wrong address (Heimler and Lamb Abbey), the seed that failed actually tested out with high germination (Shirer), or this guy, who checked "Credit" and got credit] then we are "defensive and arrogant". Neat trick - if we respond in any way other than apologizing to people for their own mistakes, we are bad guys.

This guy just won't take any responsibility. Check his neutral review of Logee's - one of the most respected nurseries in the country - and his complaint that their plants don't live long. I guess it must be their fault that plants in his care do not live a long time - it can't have anything to do with him.

He states: "For those of you who have positive experiences with J. L. Hudson, I hope you never have reason to complain about anything in any way, because if you ever do, you'll probably see a very different side of J. L. Hudson."

Again, untrue. We absolutely will admit it whenever we make a mistake. If we make a mistake, we always "own up" to it and correct the problem - check these ratings of us:

Windy (March 26 2005 - on next page of reviews) - we sent the wrong packet on an order, and immediately replaced it.

airren (20 July 2003) - "... one packet was missed in shipping - customer service answered my email immediately and sent the missing packet."

corbus (Nov 24 2006) - he describes getting zero germination from a packet and our helpful response - "The one time (years ago) we had zero germination we wrote for advice, and received a reply with detailed instructions as well as a free packet of seed."

As for being "snotty" or arrogant:

dirtdiver (23 Feb 2005) - "fast and polite".

As for overcharging for postage and packing:

Audrey (Jan 20 2007) - "Their charge for shipping is the lowest I've seen, which allows me to get even more seeds."

We stand by our high reputation, and would urge readers of Garden Watchdog to look over the many positive ratings we have received. And do check out the negative reviews we have received, and our replies - judge for yourself whether they are "diatribes" or whether they are honest explanations of the facts.

I'm sorry if I do not apologise to people for filling their orders exactly as they instruct."

I had such high hopes with these folks. They've got a really interesting selection of seeds and I very much like their philosophy. My recent experience with them however was deplorable. I ordered 2 ounces of Amaranth seeds from them, paid for the order via Paypal (an option they strongly urge people to use), and provided to them within my Paypal transaction the specifics of the seed request in lucid detail, including the item ordered, qty, cost, shipping address, etc. I shortly thereafter received a quick e-mail that my order had shipped. All good stuff. Weeks later I learned that they never bothered to read the confirmation e-mail that Paypal had provided to them with all of my order information and that my order was simply shipped to a name, city and state (no street address) that was part of a signature file in a subsequent e-mail I'd sent to them after processing my Paypal payment. Most people who use Paypal, not to mention vendors who urge their customers to use it, know that a Paypal transaction is set up to relay all of the information that they may need to process your order. JL Hudson never bothered to read the Paypal e-mail sent to them with my payment. They apparently saw an incomplete address in a follow up e-mail I'd sent to them and figured "oh, what the hell. . . let's mail it to this black hole. . . .it'll get there eventually."

A company committed to good service wouldn't have this slipshod attitude. One, they'd have read the Paypal confirmation and noticed the full address and order details provided to them there. Two, if they'd not bothered reading the Paypal confirmation, they'd at least have noticed the lack of a complete address in the customers follow-up e-mail and would've contacted the customer asking for clarification. Moreover, upon having a disappointed customer point out their oversight which caused the order to be shipped to an erroneous address, they'd have resisted the urge to send off a histrionic e-mail to the customer attempting to make them wrong for their own poor service, lack of attention to detail, and sloppy business practices.

The money for the order has been refunded and I shall not be doing business with JL Hudson again. It's such a shame to stumble across a business clearly more committed to being right than they are to customer service. Any business that understands the true concept of service would've taken ownership for the oversight and focused on what they could've done to end up with a satisfied customer.

Unfortunately, these same folks eventually will read this feedback and expend 10 times the effort responding to it than they actually spent on my order. That's what's really sad.


J A Gasbarre
Vinalhaven, Maine

"

Sigh. This guy is so completely wrong.

Reviewing his emails, from the very first he approached us with an attitude - a chip on his shoulder. Absolutely nothing we could ever do could possibly satisfy him, he was just looking for a fight.

He requested seed, and gave us the wrong address - simple as that. We filled his seed request exactly as he wrote it, and mailed it to exactly the shipping address he gave us. He claims he followed our instructions for requesting seed - he did exactly the OPPOSITE. We sent him a FULL REFUND, because he claimed it was now too late to plant. What else could we do?

In the "histrionic" email I supposedly sent him, I simply pointed out to him the three places on our "How to request seeds online" page where we ask people to give their mailing address in the seed request e-mail (NOT in the PayPal payment).

Also, there are two places where we tell people specifically NOT to put their seed request and address in the PayPal payment, but in a separate e-mail, so of course he buried his correct address only in his PayPal payment, and gave an incorrect shipping address in his seed request.

We patiently complied with all of his demands for special treatment (confirming in-stock, confirming that we would notify him when mailed, etc.)

Unfortunately, his e-mails became ever more rude and demanding, no matter what we did to try to please him. Finally, I sent the e-mail pointing out that he had refused to follow our clear, simple instructions for requesting seed, and in fact he had placed his request in exactly the opposite way we instruct. I mentioned that I did not appreciate his rudeness, and that I thought he would be happier ordering seed from a corporate seed company that caters to "consumers", rather than requesting seed from a seed bank, and that we would not be supplying him with seeds in the future.

This of course triggered his shrill negative review above, in which he refuses to acknowledge any responsibility for giving us the wrong shipping address - it's just all our fault, no matter what.

One percent of the public consumes 95% of the customer-service resources of any organization. Every day we patiently answer questions that could easily be answered by looking at our website. We advise people on gardening problems, we refer people to other sources, we may end up answering a half-dozen e-mails for someone, and get a one-packet seed request for our pains. We are glad to do this - it is part of our public service.

We will bend over backwards for our clients, but there are limits.

Contrary to Mr. Gasbarre, this response is actually only one-tenth the effort we put into trying to make him happy.

We stand by our reputation - if anyone takes this shrill, accusitory review seriously, just read the many positive reviews below to get an idea of the quality of our customer service, and how we readily own up to any genuine mistake we may make and correct it.

--JLH"

I LOVE J.L. Hudson Seeds!!! I have placed some large orders because they offer many things not found anywhere else. I've had very good success with the majority of their seeds. I find the catalog a great reference tool also. I'm already researching and compiling my next order. Keep up the great work!!!
Linda
Thistledown Farm
A very satisfied customer.

I have been a customer for a few years now and have had much success with seeds from JL Hudson. They have a lot of unique and diverse seeds that cannot be found elsewhere with complete growing instructions. The catalog is priceless that I find myself referring to it again and again. Orders are received quickly and seed quantities are quite generous Thanks!

On May 18, 2007, I ordered two packages of watermelon seeds. On the same day, I received an email that my order had been received. Later the same day, I received another email that my order had been sent.

I received the seeds in today's mail, May 21st!! I would definitely order again from them and recommend them to others.

Karen

What's not to like about this company? Outstanding in EVERY WAY. Selection. Support. Speed of shipment. Knowledge. Follow up. Price.

I'm so thoroughly delighted with this company that I need to buy more land, so I can get more seeds.

HIGHEST RECOMENDATION.

I ordered seeds March 27 and have them already! I paid by paypal, which went very smoothly, and I'm really excited to plant my new seeds! Also, the packaging was well done - included a new catalog, updates and nice packing slip with my original request on it (which is nice, because now I don't have to check my sent emails to find out which ones I ordered!). Thanks JLH!

I have been ordering seeds from J.L. Hudson for many years and I have had the most positive experience with this company. The catalogue provides a wealth of information about a wide variety of plants, and the book selection is equally interesting. Service is outstanding--shipments arrive promptly, the orders are accurately filled, and, in the rare cases of out-of-supply, replacement choices are thoughtful & interesting. What a wonderful company!

EXCELLENT Transaction. Seeds arrived promptly and I am very excited to begin planting. I will definitely order from the Seedsman again. AA+!

J. L. Hudson's seed catalog is so fantastic -- educational, fun, fascinating, and packed with information and thoughtful quotations. No photos, but then again you can find photos on this site or elsewhere on the internet. I have ordered twice from them so far and was quite happy with everything. The most recent time (Feb. 2007) I placed an order I got the seeds extremely quickly. Their seeds have germinated well, and their packets are hand-typed! They have seeds for such interesting plants, some very rare ones as well as the usual suspects. Such an amazing variety, too. I am going to buy all my seeds from them if I can from now on. I love their outlook as well.

"

Thanks for your kind comments! But I must correct one thing - we don't hand-type our seed packets - they are printed with an antique machine called an "Addressograph". It uses a stamped metal plate and an inked ribbon, so it does look just like typing, but we can pound out the packets at more than one per second! (For you youngsters out there, ask an old-timer what a "typewriter" is. They were amazing word-processors that needed no electricity, and never crashed!) Addressographs were the technology of choice for mailing lists up through the 1970s, and have only faded away during the last thirty years or so. They could even do complex sorting and selection of addresses through an interesting "mechanical computer" involving pins and tabs.

So why do we still use an antique like this? No electricity! Never crashes! When we moved out here to our remote, off-the-grid location back in 1982, we ran the seedbank entirely without electricity for years - we even used kerosine lamps until we got some solar panels and 12 volt lights. Now we have a small bank of panels and have regular 115v AC, but the old Addressograph still works fine, and "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". I even have one of the mechanical platemakers, which stamps the metal plates - it was built in about 1909, and when I got it, it had been sitting in a barn for decades, was covered with hay dust, but I just dusted it with compressed air, shot some WD40 on it, and it worked fine. They don't build things like that anymore. Judging from how fast computers become obsolete, I expect that old antique will still be working long after every computer now in existence has gone to the scrap-heap. Sometimes, like with wine, heirloom vegetables, and antique machines, older is better!"

I have been ordering seeds from them for three years now, and this has become my absolute favorite seed supplier. Only once there was an item out of stock, late in the season, and I was given full credit for it. I also love the catalog for it's wonderful information, I have learned a lot from simply reading it!

The very model of a good seed company: extensive selection, one of the most informative catalogues in the business, low prices, incredibly cheap and fast shipping (orders to Canada have often arrived within 8 days of ordering). Seed is always clean, and germination rates are as listed in the catalogue. Extremely prompt customer service. I have ordered from this company for 5 years, small to large orders, and the seeds have frequently arrived before I have even recieved order acknowledgements from other companies. Vote with you cash, and support companies like this.

Last year I ordered over a dozen packets of seeds, including flowers and vegetables. No ordering or delivery problems, I received everything promptly. Germination was fantastic. Prices are incomparable.

The catalog itself is a wonder. It has no pictures, but includes hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of flowers and vegetables you will not find anywhere else. I spend months reading and re-reading this catalog just to learn new things. I particularly like that all items are denoted by family, genus, and species.

I look forward to purchasing more items from them.

It pays to order their catalog. One can learn much by reading about all the different kinds of plants one can explore.
I have ordered from them for many years and not been disappointed. Germination rates from tobacco, datura, hibiscus and cotton seeds have been great. Prices are very
resonable with shipping charges that are minimal.....

I placed my first order with this company, two packets of Gunnera manicata, and received them promptly. A catalog, order form and return envelope was included with my seeds. This is a place I'll surely visit for seeds now.

I placed an order and got immediate confirmation of my order via e-mail. The next day they notified me my order had shipped. I live on the opposite side of the country from them and received my seeds in five days. Later, I e-mailed them about some other seeds I was interested in and got a prompt informative reply. I would use them again and recommend them to anyone.

I've ordered from the J. L. Hudson company for years, and love the wide selection and very reasonable prices. Their charge for shipping is the lowest I've seen, which allows me to get even more seeds!

Around 20 years experience ordering from Hudson. Seeds, books, gibberellic acid kit; all arrived as ordered without problem. The one time (years ago) we had zero germination we wrote for advice, and received a reply with detailed instructions as well as a free packet of the seed. We always look forward to the arrival of the new catalog. Hudson is a first-rate business.

This is my absolute favorite seed business!!

You really must dig into their site and look at their seed, book list. This company is something special.

//www.jlhudsonseeds.net/

Their hard copy catalog a scattering of nice botanical drawings and no pictures, but OH! what they have to offer!! And they are always adding more. Their descriptions are enough for me to mark many more seeds than I could ever buy or plant (although their prices are low). The hard part is deciding what to NOT get. I doubt you will find anyone else with such an interesting and wide range of seeds you ever imagined you would find...or occured to think of. I save my catalogs to pass on or loan only when I have bought an extra or I have gotten the new yr, because I keep going back to look through it. They also have growing instructions which have made it possible to germinate seeds I would have certainly failed at otherwise. I've gardened at least 40 yrs I've learned a lot more about growing from them and have become a much more adventuresome gardener. This yr I'm going to restrain myself and start off with just their 11 different colors of foxgloves, then check out their vegatables, get the trees seeds I've been looking for and and......

I ordered several packages of different eucalyptus seeds late last spring. The seeds (very reasonably priced, especially compared to similar seeds from Windmill Outback Nursery) arrived very quickly. Germination rate has been near 100%. I will order from them again often.

great business. a little on the cautious side though. seed selection tops any company i've come across. makes you wonder how they do it. thank you for your services j.l. hudson.

GREAT seeds! This company has my husband's favorite seed catalogue. We have about 45+ varieties of hard to find specialty plants (that we grew from J. L.Hudson seeds in our specimen gardens.) My husband used to have a seed company in Colorado and his exchanges of information, seeds and important growing techniques with J.L. Hudson was enriching for all. Now, I am a customer for life, too!

Their ordering process was easy and paying via PayPal was easy too. I ordered seeds that are available no where else this year and even this late in the season they had inventory to fill my entire order. Their web site has an 'out of stock' section where customers can check availability. They keep their site current. My seeds were shipped quickly and all germinated well. I will be a repeat customer. J.L. Hudson deserves my 5 Gold Stars

they don't have the seeds listed they said they did.

"

??????? I have no idea what this is about - I've checked our email files going back three years, and our client database back to 1989, and this person has never ordered seed from us or ever emailed us. I can find no record at all that this person has ever contacted us in any way. We post a list of out-of-stock items on the website, and every out-of-stock item is also marked "Out of Stock" right next to the price. Only 2% is currently out of stock. I have no idea what this person's complaint is about - perhaps they have confused us with someone else? Or perhaps they were directed to our website by someone with an out-of-date catalog, or a search engine that was out of date. Or maybe she ordered under another name? If she would contact us, maybe we could find out what she wasn't happy about, and fix the problem - we try to do a good job!"

Ordered a number of seed packets from this company this spring, as have done for several previous years. Everything I ordered has now come up. I consider this the best seed company in existence, bar none. Their catalog may only be black and white, but it always lists many, many rare, hard-to-find seeds, and it is packed with information (tips on germination techniques, actual quantities of seeds you can expect, how hard they are to germinate, etc.) that many of the other companies never list. This the first company I look at every time I need seeds.

I placed an order for seeds via email & Paypal. It was a pretty easy procedure (complete directions on the website). My seeds arrived in 2 days (CA to OH)! Very impressed with the catalog, service and speedy delivery. They have seed varieties you'll find nowhere else. Will definitely order from them again and recommend them highly!

I sent in a seed order early in 2006. The seed packets arrived safely and what I expected. Lots of good information
in the catalog on seed propagation. Reasonable prices and
quick shipping.

My experience with J.L. Hudson has been extremely positive . His seeds came very quickly, and so far I've had extremely good germination. The prices are great, and it's nice to be able to get the quantities of seeds he ships. The catalog is wonderful, and I actually tried some things I might not have thought about otherwise because of his descriptions. Please disregard the one negative feedback posted below. I think the person who posted it owes J.L. Hudson an apology.

Have purchased seed numerous times from JL Hudson. Always fast shipping, great selection of seeds, terrific germination, no minimum order and the cheapest shipping you would ever find. Really irked me this morning when I saw a negative posted for them. If the guy had such 'bad' service the first order, why did he order again? Where else could you even order only 1 packet of seed? I am very grateful that businesses like this still exist, they are becoming very rare.

Great selection of hard to find seeds. Quick Shipping, Thanks

Sometime last fall (during the off season) I placed an order for a few seed packets. After about 3 weeks when nothing arrived I sent an e-mail and got no response. After 4 weeks I sent another e-mail, received a reply with with no apology and received the packets 2 days later. 30 days total waiting time with no explanation.

Last week I ordered one packet of seeds (great turnaround time) which the catalog states I would receive 25-50 seeds. (Christmas Lima Bean). Figuring on the average I would get at least 35 seeds I received 18.

Can't figure out how they feel anybody could be satisfied with this result. I guess seed amounts can vary at any time although this seems a lttle too much without some kind of notification. Maybe this was such a small seed order it was not that important

"

I'm sorry Mr. Heimler is not satisfied. The situation is not exactly as he has claimed. We take pride in our service, and take all complaints seriously. Sometimes we do make mistakes, but always rectify them. I hope everyone who is concerned by his rating will take the time to review the following correspondence which shows what actually happened.

Here is a record of our correspondence with him concerning his orders (his street address is XXXed out to preserve his privacy):

Monday 25 July 2005 18:04 he wrote:
> I orderd with you just one packet of "blue lake" peas around the 14
> of July and have not received them. Enclosed was a check of $3.
> Thank You.
> Sincerely,
>                           Richard Heimler
>                           XXXXXXXXX Rd. #205
>                            Thousand Oaks, CA, 91360

We Replied on July 25th:
We received your order July 19th, and the seeds were mailed by first class mail on July 22nd. You should get them sometime between today through Wednesday. Except I see you are at #205, and unfortunately you did not give this number on your order form, just "XXXXXXX Road". Your mail carrier may get it to you anyway, but if it is returned to us, we will re-mail it when it gets back to us. Please let us know if you receive it!

Best Wishes,
-- J.L. Hudson, Seedsman

On Tuesday 27 September 2005 16:52, he wrote:
> I sent you a check of $7 September 10 for several packs of seeds and have
> not received them. Seeds ordered include one package each of ;
>
>                                          China Rose radish
>                                          Round Black Spanish radish
>                                          White Tipped Scarlet Turnip radish
>                                          White Egg turnip
>                                          Yellow Globe turnip
>                                          Florida Broadleaf mustard
>
>                                          Sincerely,
>
>                                                        Richard Heimler
>                                                        XXXXXXXX Road #205 Thousand Oaks, CA  91360 rheimler@yahoo.com

Then on Monday 03 October 2005 12:32 he wrote:
> Please excuse me. I sent you an e-mail about a week ago concerning a $7
> order for 6 seed packets I did not receive. The check was dated Sept. 10
> and had not posted as of Sept. 30. Therefore, either the postman or I must
> of misplaced/lost the order.

We replied on October 5th:
Dear Mr. Heimier,
I'm sorry for the delay in replying to you, but we have been out of town for 2 weeks on a seed collecting trip. I will check on your order tomorrow, and let you know what happened to the order.
Sincerely,
Sheri Calkins
-- J.L. Hudson, Seedsman

We replied later the same day (October 5th):
Dear Mr. Heimler,
I found your order, it was received here on Sept 16, and was mailed out to you on Sept 20th. It was only Sept 27th when you sent your email asking about it, so I am wondering if you did receive it by now after all? Please let us know if it did arrive.  Otherwise, we ask our customers to wait one full month from the date the order was mailed, before we will replace it. Sometimes the mails are just slow!

Also, the order we have was for Turnips White Egg & Yellow Globe, and for Radishes China Rose, Round Black Spanish, Long White Icicle and White Tipped Scarlet Turnip.  There is no Florida Mustard on the order, but you did note a substitue of Beet Lutz Winter Keeper. If we do need to replace the order on Oct 20, should we replace the Long White Icicle Radish, or do you want the Fl. Mustard instead?
--Sheri Calkins
-- J.L. Hudson, Seedsman

He claimed that "After about 3 weeks when nothing arrived I sent an email and got no response. After 4 weeks I sent another email, received a reply with no apology and received the packets 2 days later. 30 days total waiting time with no explanation." As you can see, the actual longest delay he experienced waiting for a reply was September 27th to October 5th, or just 8 days (while we were out of town). The delay on his order back in July was caused by his providing an insufficient address on his order. I think we did in fact explain and apologize to him each time.

Every order we have received from him has been mailed within 4 days of receipt.

Concerning the shortage of seeds in the packet of Christmas Lima, now and then during a packeting run, a packet gets fewer seeds in it by mistake - mistakes happen to the best of us, and we have already packed up a replacement packet to him in response to his email to us earlier in the day, and it will be mailed tomorrow. I would have appreciated it if he had waited for our response before making a negative rating.

I hope everyone can see that we have gone the extra mile for him, and we hope he finds everything satisfactory now."

best prices, widest selection, you cannot beat the shipping price.

With the quick shiiping, and the nice packaging, I will definately buy from the group again!

I have had all the positive experiences with J.L. Hudson as mentioned above. Just wanted to add that since my preference is for substitution rather than refund when they're out of something I ordered, I can't imagine any other business being more generous - certainly have never experienced anything like this with any other seed or plant company.

Catalogs like the Hudson seed catalog were made in heaven for blustery winter evenings with the boob tube either turned off or put out on the curb to Freecycle and only the sounds of a purring cat or hooting owl to accompany this intellectually satisfying horticultural feast.

Great selecton. Great seeds. Great company. I will order from them again.

This seed company was highly recommended to me 2 years ago from a gardening friend, I am so grateful that I took her advice because since then I have put in several orders. I just can’t resist the selection that they have in stock!

I live in Canada and have never had a problem with transport; always speedy delivery and welcoming service. I also must add that the #1 reason I will continue to order from them is that they give ALOT of seed at great prices and cheap shipping too! I highly recommend this company to all my Canadian Gardening friends!

Sharon

J.L. Hudson has a great selection of many not so easy to find seeds. I have ordered a bunch of seeds from here and have been very happy with the amount of seeds I recieved in each packet and the high germination they gave. Great catalogue too!

This is a great company. I have always been pleased with their service and prices and I always get a timely response from them if I have a question or problem. And you can't beat $1 for shipping!!

I ordered from them for the first time in 2005. They had many unusual seeds that I bought and they germinated with great percentage.

I also got some little chinese yam air tubers and everyone of them grew. They have cheap prices that are hard to come by these days. Shipping is down-right cheap, also.