What no seeds?

Yes take them back, they'd have to be pretty mean to think you would be trying to blag them and bother with going all the way back for a couple of quids worth of seed.
I work in a garden centre and i'd exchange them

Same here. We'd get them credited from the supplier anyway so would make no difference to us.

I bought a packet of Echinacea 'Double Decker' a couple of weeks ago. The contents said 'average 20 seeds', whcih I'd take to mean 19 to 21, but when I opened the packet, there were only 13 seeds inside. The cost £2.83 so not cheap seeds. I took them back to the shop and they refused to exchange them, saying they were 'only agents for the producers'. Well, I would have thought that any shop was just an agent in that case. What about my statutory rights, eh? Anyway, she said to contact the seed company (Fothergills). I e-mailed them last week and still not reply :-(

Sorry Celandine - can't help you, but thanks for the opportunity for a rant lol

I bought a packet of Antirihnum seeds a few weeks back, the packet said 1200 seeds, I didn't stop to count them, ha! I would definately take the empty packet back and if the shop values your custom, they will happily exchange the packet for one with seeds in it. After all, you'll be shopping there again if you get good service.

That must have been a disappointment they should change them but if they refer you to the producer thats fine let them know strongly how much of an inconvienience this is to you an how disappointed you are and so on if no reply write or email again threaten consumer direct that should do the trick every time.

Sid this could be the same for you the product is not fit for purpose nor is it complete or of servicable quality i could go on.

Sorry i get a bit ranty about these things my work head kicks in.

good luck

Nice one Fifi - what is your work?

Thanks for all the answers - I'm all fired up now to go back to the garden centre!

Well, today I've had to eat my words. A package came this morning for me from Fothergills containing a new packet of seeds and a really nice letter apologising, and not just some standard letter, but a proper letter explaining about the mechanised process they use to fill the packets and what went wrong. Interestingly, they said it's in fact their policy to put more than the stated number of seeds in a packet. Result! Don't think I'll shop at the place I bought the packet - was really put out that they wouldn't just replace them for me...

Good luck Celandine :-)

Well done Sid - if I have something that's not quite up to scratch I always say 'I'll write to the company and let them know their standards are slipping', not to get freebies but to let them know that something isn't quite right. The companies are usually happy to hear if they have an unhappy customer, as bad customer service is bad for business. How many times have we all stopped going somewhere or stopped buying a certain product because we've had bad service or the product isn't what it's made out to be? These days, good customer service is sooooooo important - every customer counts towards profit. Customer service should be a number 1 priority for everyone - especially at the moment when we are supposedly in a recession. Customers are like gold dust to some companies across the land.

I couldn't agree more Greenfingers. Just today I ended up having an (almost) argument with someone from M&S Money - I'd had my car insurance with them and they had renewed my policy without telling me they were going to do it! They said they'd sent me a letter telling me, but I hadn't received anything. It was there word against mine. I wouldn't have minded if they'd just said they or the post office had made a blunder, sorry for the inconvenience, etc, but they made out it was my fault! They even charged me £1.50 because I had been insured with them for 1 day!!!! Can you believe it? I could have gone overdrawn, but luckily there was enough to pay for it in my account. Well, I don't easily lose my temper - at work I'm know to be able to sooth the grunpiest of customers - but good greif! I phoned round other companies and managed to get the price down by £30.

Oh, there I go again - another rant and not even garden related. Sorry...

Iv just sent complaints to a seed Company about 2 packets of the same seed having very Poor Seeds in them :( Most were Crushed & the Packets cost £1.99 each ! i had an email from them today asking for my address ? wonder if theyl post me any more the same ? :/

They will if it was Fothergills - they were really good! Send them your address Jac, you might get lucky like I did :-)

Well, seems to have stirred up some feelings here! I took my seed packet back to the garden centre today along with the receipt, got another packet off the stand and went to the checkout. No problem they just gave me the new packet. I made sure there was something inside this time!

Good for you Celandine. They should exchange them.
I'm thinking of writing to Veseys Seeds here in Canada...some of the seeds I ordered from them have had a very poor germination rate. I planted scabiosa seeds...at least 25 in the packet and only three came up. And one of those is stunted. Same with the Penstemon seeds and Pansies of all things. At least the pansies should have been easy to grow.

yay - well done Celandine :-)

Oh Sid - poor you. I know we're a nation of complainers but gardeners are normally calm, collected folk with constructed complaints. Glad you managed to save £30 though - just think of how many other plants and seeds you can buy!

Oh, I hadn't thought of that.....trip to the garden centre on the weekend then!