The unfortunate thing about Thompson and Morgan is they are no longer Thompson and Morgan. They are now owned by BVG Airflo Group Ltd. The group are a multi channel retailer with various avenues such as fishing tackle, sporting supplements, footwear/ clothing and home/ garden products. This creates the problem in that with any larger company it all comes down to turnover and profits so customer care often goes out of the window. They will blag you until you cannot be bothered to fight them anymore over a low cost item so they can maintain their profits. You can threaten legal action against them (or going to Trading Standards) using the distance selling regulations but the regulations are not black and white when it comes to perishable items so you will often be wasting time and breath.
Saying that, being a grower and a smaller online plant retailer, people should realise that with many plants it is not just about what’s on top, its often about what’s below. Little or poor growth on top does not always mean an unhealthy or poor quality plant. Many plants do not like having root restriction so will often have poorly performing top growth when grown in a plug or small 9cm pot. This means that it just needs to be released from its root restriction and, then, will suddenly rocket away. As for T&M’s dispatch times, they can be incredibly slow (I get shouted at if something is not dispatched within three days despite advertising 5 day dispatch) but are we not gardeners? Are we not meant to be the patient ones in a technologically impatient world of *I want it the day before I ordered it*??
Fredbare ... we live and learn ... I would pot them on into bigger pots for now and plant them out when they're bigger and stronger. When you do plant them out plant them deeper than they are in the pots ... that way they'll grow lots more shoots from the base and grow even stronger eventually.
It would seem that T&M Customer Service has not improved in the five years since this thread began, and I wish that I'd been aware of their unreliability before I ordered plants from their online catalogue on 26/5/19. After watching Gardeners' World at the Chelsea Flower Show on BBC and being impressed with a new Agapanthus called 'Fireworks' which won third place in the Chelsea Plant of the Year 2019, I searched google and found that it was available from T&M with delivery by the end of June. Unfortunately they had sold out of plants in 2L containers but still had plants in 9cm containers for sale with a discount if ordering three. I ordered online and paid with Paypal and received an immediate email receipt thanking me for my order and confirming that plants would be despatched by the end of June. The email also contained a link so that I could track progress of the order, and it's a good thing that I did because it showed 7/8/19 as the estimated despatch date. This was no good to me as I will not be in the UK from early August until late September, so I sent an email querying the despatch date and received an automated response from Nichola Scarfe (Customer Services Manager) advising that they are currently receiving very high email volumes but would reply in 14 days. I received no response within the 14 days and so I decided to ring their customer services dept for an explanation, but the lady who I spoke to was unable to offer any explanation for the despatch date discrepancy or their failure to reply to my email within the time stated by her own manager !
I told her that as a first time customer I was disappointed with their service and would like the payment refunded to my Paypal account. She agreed to do this and offered a rather half-hearted and insincere-sounding apology.
Needless to say, this will be the first and last time that I order from T & M. In fact it has put me off ordering plants online altogether, as it would appear that Branded Garden Products Limited own several more of these online gardening companies.
If anyone from T&M sees this comment, I hope that they make Nichola Scarfe aware of the dismal failure of their business to provide a positive experience to this first time customer. I also wonder if the Gardeners' World team were aware of the poor service provided by T&M to many of their customers when they eulogised about this particular plant on their TV program ? I'm sure that many other viewers will have been impressed and will have wanted one when they saw Carol Klein purring over it. Especially considering that it is apparently only available to buy online from T&M and other online companies owned by Branded Garden Products Limited of Ipswich.
Posts
The unfortunate thing about Thompson and Morgan is they are no longer Thompson and Morgan. They are now owned by BVG Airflo Group Ltd. The group are a multi channel retailer with various avenues such as fishing tackle, sporting supplements, footwear/ clothing and home/ garden products. This creates the problem in that with any larger company it all comes down to turnover and profits so customer care often goes out of the window. They will blag you until you cannot be bothered to fight them anymore over a low cost item so they can maintain their profits. You can threaten legal action against them (or going to Trading Standards) using the distance selling regulations but the regulations are not black and white when it comes to perishable items so you will often be wasting time and breath.
Saying that, being a grower and a smaller online plant retailer, people should realise that with many plants it is not just about what’s on top, its often about what’s below. Little or poor growth on top does not always mean an unhealthy or poor quality plant. Many plants do not like having root restriction so will often have poorly performing top growth when grown in a plug or small 9cm pot. This means that it just needs to be released from its root restriction and, then, will suddenly rocket away. As for T&M’s dispatch times, they can be incredibly slow (I get shouted at if something is not dispatched within three days despite advertising 5 day dispatch) but are we not gardeners? Are we not meant to be the patient ones in a technologically impatient world of *I want it the day before I ordered it*??
the simple fact is the name Thompson and Morgan used to mean quality it means just the opposite now
After vowing "never again" .... I recently relented and sent for the 48 plugs of lavender offer - 24 each of mustead and hidcote.
Total cost of £5.95 including postage .... estimated delivery before end Oct.
These arrived last week and are great ... all potted up and the greenhouse smells gorgeous.
I just thought I should report a happy ending for a change.
Bee
A single bee creates just one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in her lifetime
Another Sad story
Very disappointed with T&M response to my conversation after the delivery of two clematis plants
bought for £15 plus p&p. The plants were healthy enough but only rooted cuttings height 12 cm.
Winter flowering variety, they arrived two days ago and apparently, after emailing them I was told that they are not expected to flower until 2018.
I accept that in the advert it was stated that the plants would be in
7cm pots, sorry for the newbie that's not much of a hint, I should
have read more into that statement but still feel that it should have
made the point re.flowering expectations. So probably a lesson
learned the hard way, just hoping that my remaining rose order will
bring a better result!
If so I'll post a positive comment to balance.
Last edited: 06 November 2017 13:18:57
Fredbare ... we live and learn ... I would pot them on into bigger pots for now and plant them out when they're bigger and stronger. When you do plant them out plant them deeper than they are in the pots ... that way they'll grow lots more shoots from the base and grow even stronger eventually.
I find that you get more for your money from Taylors http://www.taylorsclematis.co.uk/clematis-decmber-to-february/ , although costing a bit more initially.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Many thanks for that I'll definitely contact Taylors
After watching Gardeners' World at the Chelsea Flower Show on BBC and being impressed with a new Agapanthus called 'Fireworks' which won third place in the Chelsea Plant of the Year 2019, I searched google and found that it was available from T&M with delivery by the end of June.
Unfortunately they had sold out of plants in 2L containers but still had plants in 9cm containers for sale with a discount if ordering three. I ordered online and paid with Paypal and received an immediate email receipt thanking me for my order and confirming that plants would be despatched by the end of June. The email also contained a link so that I could track progress of the order, and it's a good thing that I did because it showed 7/8/19 as the estimated despatch date.
This was no good to me as I will not be in the UK from early August until late September, so I sent an email querying the despatch date and received an automated response from Nichola Scarfe (Customer Services Manager) advising that they are currently receiving very high email volumes but would reply in 14 days.
I received no response within the 14 days and so I decided to ring their customer services dept for an explanation, but the lady who I spoke to was unable to offer any explanation for the despatch date discrepancy or their failure to reply to my email within the time stated by her own manager !
I told her that as a first time customer I was disappointed with their service and would like the payment refunded to my Paypal account.
She agreed to do this and offered a rather half-hearted and insincere-sounding apology.
Needless to say, this will be the first and last time that I order from T & M. In fact it has put me off ordering plants online altogether, as it would appear that Branded Garden Products Limited own several more of these online gardening companies.
If anyone from T&M sees this comment, I hope that they make Nichola Scarfe aware of the dismal failure of their business to provide a positive experience to this first time customer.
I also wonder if the Gardeners' World team were aware of the poor service provided by T&M to many of their customers when they eulogised about this particular plant on their TV program ? I'm sure that many other viewers will have been impressed and will have wanted one when they saw Carol Klein purring over it.
Especially considering that it is apparently only available to buy online from T&M and other online companies owned by Branded Garden Products Limited of Ipswich.
Gardeners beware !!!