I ordered some plants, they didn't arrive on the expected day so I emailed. Got a very curt (and very badly written) email that did not answer my query. Phoned and spoke to a gentleman who apologised for the delay and promised to make my order a priority so that it would arrive "on Tuesday" - it didn't. Emailed again but got no reply. Phoned again on Friday and was told by a lady that she would phone me back when she had spoken to the warehouse manager - six hours later she hadn't. I phoned again and spoke to a different lady who told me that the man I had spoken to had no authority to promise a priority dispatch and that actually they were unable to fulfil my order. Not sure when they planned on informing me of this and they debited my account as soon as I placed my order. Am now waiting for refund. From my experience I will not use J. Parker again and would not recommend them to anyone else.
I wouldn't order from them again. I got a couple of soft fruit plants from them about three years ago and they were just fragile twigs that needed a lot of care and attention. I bought an identical species in Tesco for next to nothing and it was far more vigorous.
I did not realise J Parkers and T&M had a poor reputation!
Earlier this year, I ordered from JP for the first time, and thankfully did not have any problems (plants were for a customer). I ordered two bare root plants that arrived earlier than the predicted date.
My only negative would be, although the plants looked healthy, there were the odd poorly pruned stems which had dieback - I was easily able to prune the dead stems back, so why it wasn't done properly in the first place, I don't know..... anyways, thankfully the plants are now thriving!
I wouldn't order from D.T. Brown in a hurry. Couple of years ago, I ordered Nasturtium 'Jewel Cherry Rose' from there and once the seeds I sown came into flower, the majority were the usual orange and red colours, with the odd pink instead of being all pink!
I ordered some Hippeastrum bulbs and while they were not shipped out quickly, what did arrive was of excellent quality! They were very large, firm bulbs that went on to produce some spectacular flowers.
DISAPPOINTMENT:
On 3 January, I therefore proceeded to order a viburnum, a herbaceous peony and a tree peony. They generously threw in a mixed set of tulips that I totally do not want but I'll try to find some useful purpose for them. I called today (8 January) to see when the items would be shipped (bare-root peonies need to be in the ground ideally in autumn to establish and they like a good hard, cold snap to kick them off come spring)...I was told that the tulips will be shipped today as they wanted to "get rid....I mean get them out as soon as possible"...Freudian slip or what, hey?? That my viburnum and herbaceous peony will be shipped in the next 7-10 days but that my tree peony wont be getting here before the END OF MARCH!!! Apparently a letter had gone out but to the people who ordered before Christmas...in the post! The customer service rep said that he would speak with his manager and get me one sent out in the post. I mean come on...in the age of email??
VERDICT:
Bulbs look to be good for the money but herbaceous plants less so. They are also not the fastest shippers but I understand, given the volume of orders and having to source products. J Parkers told me that they had to await bare rooted stock from their suppliers and then pot them on so be aware that they are not necessarily direct suppliers, which probably explains why unpotted bulbs would be in much better condition than the plants we get. I would assume that these process-potted plants do not have enough time to establish themselves before undergoing the stress of shipment.
I might therefore order my liliy bulbs at the end of the month to arrive for spring planting!
So it looks like a mixed bag, really. I might just cancel the rest of the order and get my peonies from Purely Peonies (www.peonygrower.co.uk) from whom I purchased some lovely Peonia Gardenia bare root. They don't have the Peony Suffruticosa tree peony that I had ordered from J Parkers but they have other varieties and they arrived in pretty good nick- cheaper than J Parkers too!
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You 're right Rosemummy, service is good, I always have emails answered straight away, but I thought Sunday pm was brilliant.
I ordered some plants, they didn't arrive on the expected day so I emailed. Got a very curt (and very badly written) email that did not answer my query. Phoned and spoke to a gentleman who apologised for the delay and promised to make my order a priority so that it would arrive "on Tuesday" - it didn't. Emailed again but got no reply. Phoned again on Friday and was told by a lady that she would phone me back when she had spoken to the warehouse manager - six hours later she hadn't. I phoned again and spoke to a different lady who told me that the man I had spoken to had no authority to promise a priority dispatch and that actually they were unable to fulfil my order. Not sure when they planned on informing me of this and they debited my account as soon as I placed my order. Am now waiting for refund. From my experience I will not use J. Parker again and would not recommend them to anyone else.
I wouldn't order from them again. I got a couple of soft fruit plants from them about three years ago and they were just fragile twigs that needed a lot of care and attention. I bought an identical species in Tesco for next to nothing and it was far more vigorous.
I did not realise J Parkers and T&M had a poor reputation!
Earlier this year, I ordered from JP for the first time, and thankfully did not have any problems (plants were for a customer). I ordered two bare root plants that arrived earlier than the predicted date.
My only negative would be, although the plants looked healthy, there were the odd poorly pruned stems which had dieback - I was easily able to prune the dead stems back, so why it wasn't done properly in the first place, I don't know..... anyways, thankfully the plants are now thriving!
I wouldn't order from D.T. Brown in a hurry. Couple of years ago, I ordered Nasturtium 'Jewel Cherry Rose' from there and once the seeds I sown came into flower, the majority were the usual orange and red colours, with the odd pink instead of being all pink!
GREAT SUCCESS:
I ordered some Hippeastrum bulbs and while they were not shipped out quickly, what did arrive was of excellent quality! They were very large, firm bulbs that went on to produce some spectacular flowers.
DISAPPOINTMENT:
On 3 January, I therefore proceeded to order a viburnum, a herbaceous peony and a tree peony. They generously threw in a mixed set of tulips that I totally do not want but I'll try to find some useful purpose for them. I called today (8 January) to see when the items would be shipped (bare-root peonies need to be in the ground ideally in autumn to establish and they like a good hard, cold snap to kick them off come spring)...I was told that the tulips will be shipped today as they wanted to "get rid....I mean get them out as soon as possible"...Freudian slip or what, hey??
That my viburnum and herbaceous peony will be shipped in the next 7-10 days but that my tree peony wont be getting here before the END OF MARCH!!! Apparently a letter had gone out but to the people who ordered before Christmas...in the post! The customer service rep said that he would speak with his manager and get me one sent out in the post. I mean come on...in the age of email??
VERDICT:
Bulbs look to be good for the money but herbaceous plants less so. They are also not the fastest shippers but I understand, given the volume of orders and having to source products. J Parkers told me that they had to await bare rooted stock from their suppliers and then pot them on so be aware that they are not necessarily direct suppliers, which probably explains why unpotted bulbs would be in much better condition than the plants we get. I would assume that these process-potted plants do not have enough time to establish themselves before undergoing the stress of shipment.
I might therefore order my liliy bulbs at the end of the month to arrive for spring planting!
So it looks like a mixed bag, really. I might just cancel the rest of the order and get my peonies from Purely Peonies (www.peonygrower.co.uk) from whom I purchased some lovely Peonia Gardenia bare root. They don't have the Peony Suffruticosa tree peony that I had ordered from J Parkers but they have other varieties and they arrived in pretty good nick- cheaper than J Parkers too!