Thursday, August 25, 2011

Breck's Response

Here is my email:

Dear Customer Service,

I have put off sending this email for months, but after another dud Breck's order, I feel I must let you know of my disappointment in the last few orders from your company.

The only order number I have is this one:

Order Number: xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I don't know the others.

I only know that the dahlias, Elephant Ears and Pineapple Lilies I have received from you have not been of the quality I expected. Of the entire Elephant Ear order I placed last year, only two common green EE's survived. Of the Pineapple lilies,one had a tiny bloom last year and the other barely came up. This year, neither came up. I have ordered two Rembrandt dahlia collections and the only surviving dahlias I have are the common purple/white dahlias and the gorgeous red/purple centers from two years ago (I am very happy with the red/purple Rembrandts). I also loved the red/white and the gold/red varieties, but they have all died.

This year I ordered 3 dahlias. I LOVE Myrtle's Folly. Both came up and I am very pleased. I also like Trebbiano, but only one of them came up. Neither of the Santa Claus tubers came up.

I write a garden blog and I have blogged about the duds (as well as the outstanding items) I have received. I have posted pictures of the dahlia tubers (some very tiny and shriveled) as well as what has/has not bloomed. If you care, you can read my latest post here:
It show pictures of all the items I have mentioned above.

My free time is limited so I have no desire to look up past order numbers, etc. to write for a refund. I am sure you have all that information on your own computer system.

Please look at this post and do whatever you feel is right.

Thank you.

In less than 24 hours, I received this response:

Thank you for your email. I apologize for the inconvenience. We do not keep credit card information on file, so we have issued a refund check for the items requested in the amount of $27.98, $24.44, $14.98 and $10.64. Please allow two to three weeks for check processing.
If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

It's a cold response. I say "cold" because it is a form reply with  no mention of my particular problems.    I would have liked them to  write a sentence or two addressing my particular order...perhaps a little affirmation that the tiny dahlia tubers were certainly not what I should have received. It leaves me wondering if everyone gets a handful of crappy items interspersed with the quality items. Most people probably don't bother complaining, so they don't have to refund anything.

But in the end, they stood behind their product and sent a refund for the inferior items. 

So those of you who have emailed me wanting to know if you should order from them, I still say yes, give it a try.  They have some great items that I would have never been able to find where I live.






8 comments:

  1. Hmmm...a form letter, so quaint of them. I'd still take the refund and shop elsewhere. Are there any local nurseries up your way? They would probably have bulbs in their inventory and they may just be nice and 'fresh'. I bought iris and daylilies from eBay because I could read the reviews and see what the other customers thought. Most were good and bloomed year in and year out. The company I mentioned that Martha Stewart uses is a seed company(saw the catalog today). I bet if you snope around her website, she would give other company recommendations.
    I'm really glad you did write the letter!

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  2. Well, at least they DID comment and did it in QUICK order...so much better than some places where your cries fall on deaf ears. It's just to bad all the way around! At least you got your money back and I would probably try then again too! xo Diana

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  3. I'm glad you wrote that, and you did get a faster response than what I expected. Good for Breck's, but you're so right--how "cold". Perhaps they're "pissy" that someone called them on their stuff. Good for you!!
    :)

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  4. Dianne,
    My problem is that I have no local nurseries. They come and go, rarely lasting a year. I have only Home Depot and Walmar.


    Hi Diana,
    I have been ordering from them for 20 years! I can't fault them for standing behind their product. They always have sent a refund or replacement with no questions asked. That is why I keep ordering. I am just getting tired of having to request refunds or replacements. I agree that was an extremely fast response!

    Sue,
    I think you understand completely! :)

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  5. Maybe they didn't comment on why, but it's great they did respond and issue you credits. Id' sya that is pretty good customer service.
    I love the ones you do rescue! LOL

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  6. Evidently they have had similar problems since they did not haggle about it and had no explanations.I am glad you got your money back at least but I know you would have liked to have had some good flowers this summer instead. Mentioning the blog probably did not hurt either. LOL! I mentioned all of that about my Binaca rose from Wayside but never did get a response so I will not deal with them again. Have a wonderful weekend Zoey.

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  7. I am glad you did it. You got money back, but no apology or even admission of a problem! That would've been satisfying, I think.
    The bulb people I use is Brent and Becky's. They cost a little more, but I don't have any of the problems of duds!

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  8. Zoey, kudos to you for standing up to them and for getting your money back. An apology or at least a sincere 'we're very sorry this happened' would have been nice, but getting your money back is better. With my luck, I figured I'd get the apology but no refund!

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