The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Growing => Fruit => Topic started by: FaeFife on April 08, 2019, 01:23:48 pm
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Hi, does anyone know if the seed and Plant firm Thomson and Morgan are going bust? I ordered a few strawberry plants from them on 1st of March, with a five day dispatch time and still haven’t received them. I sent a few emails over the weeks and was told twice they were picked and in the warehouse but now a 10 day dispatch time! I tried phoning customer service but they will not answer. I then looked on their Facebook page and there are a lot of customers with the same complaints. That’s where I read about them going bust but I was wondering if anyone here had heard anything.
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I've generally had poor quality plug plants from them, so can't say it would surprise me.
They sent out a new catalogue a couple of weeks or so ago, however.
In conclusion, I don't know, and this doesn't really help you! :P
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My recent order arrived and the strawberry plants were all dead anyway.
Since my order, I have been spammed by email from them every single day despite unsubscribing each and every time and having not signed up to their marketing in the first place.
Personally, I would not use them again, however good their 'offers' may initially appear.
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Oh dear, I've had a really bad feeling about my order and now I'm really wondering! In short - no idea, but I've had a similar problem. I've contacted them and been sent revised dispatch times, which wouldn't be so bad if said revised dates hadn't also passed by the time they (finally) sent them to me... I've had new catalogues and constant emails since too. Used to order from them a fair bit a few years back, but not for a while. Suffice it to say I won't be doing so again...
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Fortunately I bought my whole order from DT Brown this year and they were with me very promptly. I like them, and what seems to be their sister company Mr Fothergills.
When you are buying plants/modules, they come not from the seedsmen but from outsourced producers, and the earlier you order the more likely you are to get good plants.
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Got my delivery from them Ok a couple of weeks ago.
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Have a look at the Seed Cooperative. They produce organic seed
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I doubt rey're going bust but I wouldnt lsoe sleep over thier departure. I stopped using them more than 25yrs ago... glossy cataloques, huge range, expensive and in my experience very poor germination rates.
Since I don't bother about organcs I buy my seed either ebay (premier seeds) or lidl or ocassionally wilco.
I have oen complainta bout premier seeds. I bought two packets of sweetcorn seeds claiming to have 55 seeds per pack. So I made up 55 3" pots each time and bless me I had the stress of 4 seeds extra!! What to do? The stress and worry! The damage this can do to someone with OCD. I want compensation....... ;D
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That made me laugh pgkevet, I buy most of my seeds via Premier Seeds on eBay too and have noticed the same thing. Just Seed are also excellent, same 'complaint' there... :excited: Sadly eBay sellers don't do the courgette I like (didn't grow it last year and had a zero crop from all the other varieties!) or I wouldn't have been tempted back by Thompson and Morgan's plant offers in the first place. That'll teach me to over indulge my plant mania when I only really needed a single pack of seeds... ::)
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I bought some soft fruit and strawberry's from T&M after it was picked up by the Moneysavingexpert website. Yes they did delay the delivery but they arrived and all is as advertised and I have to say the strawberry's are romping away.
I suspect they had a lot more orders then expected and are coping with obtaining supplies themselves.
I agree with the amount of emails but it is all fine really
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Hi, thanks to all for the response. Some satisfied and some dissatisfied like myself. I’ve sent them private messages as they requested on their Facebook page, giving my order number so they can check on the delay. Three days later and no response or acknowledgement, I’ve now asked for a refund. However I’m now six weeks behind with my “early strawberries” in my poly tunnel ????
Oh well, I’ll have to look elsewhere but it’s such a lovely morning, frosty and sunny, I’m heading outside and I’ll order some tonight!
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Morrisons have a good range too :innocent:
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I used to order a lot from the Organic Gardening Catalogue and always had good service but these days I tend to keep packets for several years and have mostly good germination rates so only need to buy a few this year so not worth paying postage. I tend to get whatever my local gardening shop sells and sow them in organic compost.
Just seen that Bakker online seed company have gone bust and there are rumours that T&M were in talks re buying them out so it looks unlikely that T&M are going bust.
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Same here. Small seed order two weeks after supposed delivery. strawberry plants also 2 weeks late. I emailed them to complain and said I had about £100 of seeds to order which would go elsewhere if I wasn't happy with their response. Well, I didn't even get a response, so my order was split between a few others, including suttons and the Real seed Company.
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https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03882103
Dissolved
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https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03882103
Dissolved
But the link says company dissolved as long ago as Oct 2017 !
Since T&M are still advertising on the web 19 mths later, there's something wrong somewhere !!
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That's what I thought.
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garden news is giving free seeds all from Thomson and Morgan so i wonder how it can no longer be in business.
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According to wikepedia:
<<....In May 2002, Thompson & Morgan returned to independent private ownership by Primary Capital Partners,the Sangster brothers and key management. The company was sold to BVG Group (https://www.bvg-group.co.uk/) in March 2017 through the acquisition of their parent company, Branded Garden Products for an undisclosed amount, however the sale price was estimated at £10m.[5] (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_and_Morgan#cite_note-hortweek-5) The new group will have a combined turnover of £140m, with an EBITDA in the region of £13.5m.[>> (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_and_Morgan#cite_note-hortweek-5)
..which sort of fits in with winding up the original post sale
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_and_Morgan (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thompson_and_Morgan)
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https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03882103
Dissolved
to become Branded Garden Products
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00358372
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not as fast as pgkevet on on keyboard !!
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not as fast as pgkevet on on keyboard !!
V says I'm too fast too... :innocent:
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https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03882103
Dissolved
to become Branded Garden Products
https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/00358372
Well, that's that mystery solved then.
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There do seem to be some problems though, according to this:
https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/apr/16/plant-firm-thompson-morgan-sows-seeds-of-despair (https://www.theguardian.com/money/2019/apr/16/plant-firm-thompson-morgan-sows-seeds-of-despair)
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My fruit plants arrived OK
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My asparagus crowns turned up last Friday - I ordered them in November, to originally be told that they would be despatched at the end of Feb. At the end of Feb, I got an email saying that it would be mid-March as there were supply problems. Having seen the similar problems on here I decided to give up on them as a lost cause.
I then got home from work last Friday to find a box of asparagus crowns sitting on the doorstep. Inside was a note apologising and saying that they have had IT problems and are trying to get through the backlog as quick as possible.
HTH,
Chris
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https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03882103 (https://beta.companieshouse.gov.uk/company/03882103)
Dissolved
But the date is Oct 2017 ?
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See above re takeover - going round in circles here. But basically they seem to be extremely slow to fill orders and may go out of business soon if they don't pull their socks up
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Blimey, i'm waiting for lavender and foxglove plugs plus a pile of free tomato plants via either Kitchen Garden or Grow your Own, can't remember which.
Now, currently tapping on a little laptop, but when i go on tablet, Van Meuwen site is a bugger to load and go through. Really doesnt like it. But i have noticed at the top, Branded Garden Products and they're the same folk as Thompson & Morgan.
I get emails as well from the others and they all seemed to be joined at the hip, got all the same offers etc. I have been buying plug plants via Groupon as they are cheaper (all coming from Thompson & Morgan though) yet 1 offer, i have had refunded as it was delivered from T&M but the plants were either half dead or broke. Sweet talking plants doesnt seem to work and though i shoved them in the garden, 1 has completely withered away and the other 2 arent sure whether to die or not.