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On Jun 5, 2009, socaligardener Long Beach, CA wrote:
POOR CUSTOMER SERVICE-THEY IGNORE YOUR CALLS AND NEVER CALL BACK WHEN THEY SAY THEY WILL.
I spent $60 worth of money on a variety of seeds and I followed explicit planting instructions provided on the seed packets. I diligently checked seedlings everyday and once I noticed a few sprouting I also noticed they immediately started to wilt and die. This happened to all seedlings across 15 different cellpacks that I had planted the seeds in, offering partial light, full light or darkness as per the instructions. A month into this process and with no results, I contacted Swallowtail and expressed my concern and left a voicemail. I received a callback from a woman who said she would talk the manager about how to handle my situation and instead they never called me again. I called back and left a voicemail saying I was waiting to hear back to resolve this situation (I wanted a refund but never even got that far in discussing since once they realized I was not happy with the results, they decided to duck for cover and never return my calls.). I continued to nurture the cellpacks for ANOTHER TWO MONTHS but there were no signs of growth at all from the seedlings and I had bought approx 17 different types of seeds for Spring planting, and I planted in Spring in mild California weather. It was a COMPLETE WASTE of TIME AND MONEY and worse, Swallowtail Gardens feels they are too far above their customers to resolve any situations. They just can't be bothered with you. Spend your money elsewhere as there are plenty of other seed companies out there. I suggest http://www.mycooksgarden.com which is Franchi Seeds. I found them at the Los Angeles Botanical Gardens Show this year and they are great.
On may 9, 2009 I placed an online order. I did get a confirmation and the product would be delivered by May 12.
It is now June 3rd and I do not have the seed I purchased. I have called, left messages, and emailed this company , no response. I did leave a message each time I called, due to "high call volume". I have no response, and no seed. I did call them again before posting this comment.
I do understand this is a busy time of year for them. But, Im coming up on a month of waiting on my shipment. All I have asked is for help with this situation of why I do not have my shipment.
I feel I have given adequate time for a response. I did give more time than I normally would due to the time of season it is .
In the past month I have ordered 2 small orders with this Company and both times I had to call to find out when my order would arrive. I never got to talk to a rep, just leave a message. E-mails go unanswered. Both time it took over 10 days to get from Cal. to Arizona. If you have LOTS of time, these are your folks.
On Mar 6, 2008, Lala_Jane North West, OH (Zone 5b) wrote:
This is the first time I have ever left negative feedback for anyone anywhere. And I hate it. But I feel that I must express my disappointment.
On Feb. 2nd I sent Swallowtail Garden Seeds an email telling them that I'd had extremely low germination on a packet of their coleus seeds. I asked their advice on whether they thought the seeds might still sprout (it had been 3 weeks,) or if they thought should I replant. After 5 days with no response I sent another email asking if I could get the seeds replaced.
The next day I got a reply telling me, "As our seeds are guaranteed, of course you can get a replacement." Fast forward 4 weeks. No replacement seeds sent. No contact from Swallowtail Seeds.
On March 3rd I sent another email asking if I'd gotten lost in the shuffle. Again no response. This morning I sent yet another email and.......you guessed it. As of this writing there's still been no response.
By reading through their past feedback this company has a pretty good reputation. I'm not sure why I've been given such poor customer service but it is certainly frustrating and I will not be ordering from them again.
On Feb 20, 2007, turtle_girl Westminster, MD (Zone 6b) wrote:
I have to agree with kqcrna in Cincinatti. I've yet to figure out why this company is so highly rated...and I'm fairly easy to please. My initial reaction was to give them a positive rating with suggestions on how to improve their website and customer service. However, problems with my order and a lack of communication from the company have soured me on this experience.
To top it off, I had to spend several hours of my free time doing research on how to grow their seeds because the packs often lack such basic information as planting depth, sowing time, or frost hardiness.
I placed a large seed order with them on 1/19 because of all of the positive ratings they got on this site. It took over two weeks to get the bulk of my order (a bit long, but expected). Part of the order was sold out and part was on back order. It would have been nice if they would have noted this on their website or at least sent me an email letting me know this so I could order from another source. The back ordered items were supposed to be sown in late January.
More than a month later, I've yet to receive them...However, I was charged at the time of my order. I'm not uptight about the money so much as I just find it to be a bad business practice.
Additionally, you can't check the status of your order online, so I called them a week ago (Not a toll-free call) to check on my back-ordered items. I received an Email back letting me know I should get the rest of the order "soon"...I guess they couldn't be bothered with the time or expense of returning my phone call. I'm still waiting for my seeds.
On February 22nd, 2007, turtle_girl added the following:
Though I appreciate the amount of work and dedication that goes into running a small business, there is a certain level of service that is expected of any establishment large or small. I don't feel that level was met in the way this company handled my order, especially compared to the service I've received from similar companies.
I also appreciate this company's high standing among DG members, but I can only speak for my own experience. Anyone researching this organization will see that it was unique.
Lastly, if this gentleman had put even half as much time and effort into communicating with me about my order as he did to responding to a "negative" rating on this site, I would have given his company a glowing reference. I don't want a refund. I just wanted a little communication and some information on how to sow the seeds I ordered.
My back ordered items finally arrived yesterday. If I get decent germination rates, I will change my rating to neutral.
As it is, my rating stands. Here is a further explanation as to why:
Inconveniences:
-Although the company does indeed have an impressive selection, there is no search engine to weed through it (something which is fairly standard in online retail) (Note: though I never mind browsing through seed catalogs, this makes ordering difficult because of the next issue)
-If you take too long trying to find everything you want, their website empties your "cart" and you have to start all over again
-Although they do offer a toll-free fax line for placing orders, their customer service phone line is not free to the customer (again, something which is fairly standard in any retail)
-Order processing is very slow compared to other seed companies (Case in point: I placed similar sized orders with Territorial and Swallowtail on the same day. Territorial shipped my order within two days and sent me an email to let me know it had shipped. Swallowtail shipped my order two weeks later and sent no email.)
Deal Breakers (for me):
-One of the items I ordered was sold out for the season and another was on back-order. The company did not notify me of this until almost 3 weeks after I placed my order and I received the rest of my seeds. Because their products are time-sensitive, someone from the company (or even an automated email) should have let me know this so I had the option to order elsewhere and still get the seeds in plenty of time to give them a good start.
-I called them (2/12?) to find out what was going on with my back-ordered items and asked that someone return my call. All I got back was an email saying they planned to send out the rest of my order later that week and I should get it soon. As of 2/20, my seeds were still MIA and I had heard nothing more from the company on whether they had even been shipped.
-Only a few of the items I ordered contained information on ALL three of the basic seed sowing questions (how deep to sow the seed, how many weeks before last frost to sow it, and how many weeks before/after the last frost to transplant it). Though their site does contain a very detailed and helpful page on general seed starting information, I needed info specific to what I was planting. I'm not a novice, but I also don't know all that info by heart. I ordered three dozen varieties of seeds from this company alone. The owner's suggestion that I call him for that info seems a little unrealistic, especially considering I couldn't even get someone to call me back about the status of my order.
On Feb 20, 2007, Swallowtail Garden Seeds responded with:
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On Feb 20, 2007 6:53 PM, Swallowtail Garden Seeds added:
First: We are a family run business and we sell seeds because we love it and we are certainly disappointed if anyone is unhappy. If this customer will contact us we will refund their money and they can keep all their seeds from their "large" order and it will cost them nothing. And they didn’t have to post to get this deal, we offer this to everyone—it is our standard way of doing business.
I am not sure who this is posting so I cannot address their concerns specifically. But we are here during the week to give planting advice (so there is no need to check reference books if you don't want to) and we respond by e-mail (usually within 24 hours) if you don't want to use the phone. However, it is my own opinion that the planting instructions on the packets are more than adequate and we have a great seed starting page on our site also (several Universities use it in their own programs). Perennial flowers on our retail (non-professional) site have winter hardiness ratings so you can become familiar with them before you buy and we have a zone chart on the site so you can see if the plant is right for your area.
We only charge for back-orders if we believe we are getting the item in very soon. But we sometimes get disappointed too. Crops fail, promises made to us by other companies to fill the void can't be fulfilled (and we understand this, no blame intended--this is Christmas time in the seed business and there is extraordinary demand for a limited number of resources). And sometimes our back-order date isn't met. We are not perfect.
When we tell someone to expect their seeds soon it means that the seeds have already shipped via U.S. mail and at the time of time of inquiry the delivery is still well within the normal shipping time. We do ask the person to keep us posted so if a problem does appear we can fix it. But it is true we get the credit when the Postal-Service is unusually fast and we get the blame when it is unusually slow. Neither is fair.
But a last point and I want to be very clear on this. We have a good rating because we earned it. We respond to customers quickly, we offer a 100 percent unconditional guarantee, we offer unusual varieties (over 4,000 counting our bulk section, and over 1200 retail). We cultivate a culture of caring about what we do and how we do it within the company.
It truly doesn't matter to me what our Dave's Garden rating is, it does matter to me that we behave here at Swallowtail Garden Seeds with integrity: both in the quality of the products we offer and how we treat our customers. And by that measure I feel very good about what we are doing and who we are.
To all of you, have a wonderful season. You have shown us extraordinary support over the past few years. And it is very much appreciated. And as stressful as spring can be for both growers on schedules and suppliers I hope we can all find it in us to be kind to each other and make a genuine effort at productive communication. We guarantee everything we do unconditionally, and that will hopefully ease at least some of the natural stress of the season.
Happy Spring and whether buying from us or another supplier, please really make a commitment to enjoy yourselves as you discover or rediscover the miracle of the seed.
Over priced seeds that did not come true to type. Poor customer service.
On Jun 26, 2005, Swallowtail Garden Seeds responded with:
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On Jun 26, 2005 8:42 PM, Swallowtail Garden Seeds added:
It is our commitment that any customer who contacts us with issues about "true type," germination or any other concerns about the quality of their experience with our seeds will be dealt with quickly and generously. Although we don't have a record of shipping to Chardon Ohio within the past 3 years (we do understand the shipping address could have different) we have contacted this person through this web site and offered a full refund.
This is terrific site and we certainly encourage anyone with opinions about us to post. We do ask however, if you have a problem, to at least consider coming to us first. In almost all cases, customers are pleasantly surprised at how far we will go to make things right. We can make 99 out of every 100 customers happy, but we will always be sad about the one we missed. If we are aware of a problem, we fix it...always. "
