I've had a nightmare with both these companies that I thought people might like to be warned.
Anioleka/seedfest.com Ordered seeds over a fortnight ago and received a pleasant e-mail saying they'd be in the post the following day. Now, 10 days later, I have received no seeds and, despite e-mailing the company every day for the past 5, they have not even had the good grace to respond to them. So ... no seeds and no way of contacting the company (no phone number in sight!).
Harrods Horticultural â€" without doubt the cheapest enviromesh around but they don't seem to want to deliver it! Over the course of the last 5 weeks they've promised me it's due to be delivered the following day ... it's still not arrived. They reply on average to 1 in 6 of my e-mails and now tell me it's out of stock and should be with me by 12th May ... no apology, compensation etc. Might get the mesh in time for getting my brassicas out ... just 8 weeks after ordering. Make a bit of a joke of their delivery promise - to dispatch within 2 days of the order or they'll inform the customer!
Just needed to get this sloppy service off my chest as I genuinely don't believe either company care a jot about my custom. I hope others are treateed better
And I bet they charge a fortune postage and packing! >:(
You must be so annoyed ! I would complain - or at least tell them you're about to complain - to trading standards. The usual standards of trading apply to internet sales. Companies must show terms and conditions, contact details and cancellation procedure. If they have promised to deliver in 2 days and haven't then I would cancel the order. Chiltern seeds are very good and quick with orders so I can recommend them. They have the hugest range of seeds I've seen too and an amusing catalogue (no room for pictures though).
Trading standards is difficult ... but worth considering, certainly for the seeds. My main problem with the enviromesh is that it's definately the cheapest I've seen ... so I feel slightly over a barrel!
I am certainly annoyed so anyway of showing the companies that without me losing out is what I'm searching for ... e-mails are simply ignored
How irritating - but my experience was quite the reverse - both kept in touch and delivered promptly. Mind you, I did order in the depths of winter when demand was probably down....
AC
Hi all,
I's just received an email from seedfest and hope you all don't mind me posting their reply here. I was happy to report ther poor service up until no but it only seems right to commend them for sending a thoughtful and apologetic e-mail ...
"Hello there Paul!
 Many thanks for your emails regarding your order. Unfortunately, we have been experiencing some major internet problems over the last week and so we must humbly apologize for not answering your emails until this afternoon simply because we couldn't access them.
 According to our shipping records, your order was shipped on Friday April 16th. With that in mind, I suspect that your order has been lost enroute, for which we must apologize. Unfortunately, at the moment, Royal Mail is having a great deal of problems in some areas (some areas have postal strikes, we are told) and they are definitely not as effecient as they once were. Not only is delivery slower in some areas, but we are seeing about 10% of all orders going astray.
 We will, within the next hour, post a duplicate of your order, along with some extras for your inconveinance, which you will want to watch for over the next few days. If in the chance that your first order also arrives, please keep the duplicate with our best wishes.
 Many thanks again for your order! if we can be of any assistance, please do not hesitate to contact us! Now that our internet problems have been solved, you should get a reply within a few short hours of emailing.
 Thanks again and please accept our apologies for the delay."
As they've got such an intertesting range of seeds this could well convince me to re-order
Cor, what a good reply! Let us know what the 'extras' are. ;D