Earlier this month, HM of London wrote in about the intemperate response from the online nursery scentedgeraniums.co.uk when she questioned the quality of a plug plant.
Her experience was a consolation for AC of Lower Chute, Wiltshire. She had been a regular customer for five years when, in 2015, she was banned from shopping with the company. Her offence? To have asked, in a politely phrased email, when she might expect an order of plug plants placed two months previously.
The response from owner Annie was typed entirely in capital letters. It reads: “I REALLY CANNOT EXPRESS IN WORDS HOW TOTALLY DISAPPOINTED I AM – YOU FIRST ORDERED FROM US IN 2010 AND YET YOU THINK IT ACCEPTABLE TO NOW GIVE US GRIEF AS YOU ORDERED TOO LATE THIS YEAR! AFTER 5 YEARS WE WOULD REALLY THINK THAT YOU HAD BOTHERED TO READ OUR ORDERING PAYMENT AND DELIVERY INFORMATION SEVERAL YEARS AGO. WE EXPECT GRIEF FROM NEWCOMERS TO OUR WEBSITE – NOT FROM ONGOING REPEAT CUSTOMERS!! I SHALL NEVER SELL TO YOU AGAIN AND I REALLY DO MEAN THAT – NEVER ORDER AGAIN AS I SHALL CANCEL ANY ORDER RECEIVED.”
Annie is unrepentant. She tells The Observer that if AC – “a name I will most definitely not forget in the future” – had read the terms and conditions, she would have realised that earlier orders are dispatched before later ones, and that she ordered “far too late” and had to go to the back of the queue. AC’s loyal custom over the previous five years is, she says, illogical given her ignorance of the nursery’s dispatch procedures. She claims that since the original letter appeared in The Observer the business has been bombarded with abuse from someone she suspects is a competitor, and that the website has been suspended prior to a revamp.
The nursery has decided to discontinue plug plants because of “a small minority of customers” who complain. “We shall be tightening up our T&C’s for 2018 deliveries and if an order needs to be cancelled – it most certainly will be,” she warns.
“As for complaining after receiving an order – nobody will ever please every single customer all of the time. We would average maybe five complaints a year out of several hundred orders. We would hope any newspaper thinks about this prior to publishing hatred and untruths.”
The nursery appears to be good at growing plants; hopefully, during its relaunch, it will work on nurturing goodwill.
The T&Cs seethe with resentment about customers who dare question or complain, and its contact section declares that the owners are too busy to accept phone calls.
Those same T&Cs end with a warning against rudeness. “Please communicate with us in a POLITE way. You’ll get a much better result.”
Perhaps Annie should read them.
If you need help email Anna Tims at your.problems@observer.co.uk or write to Your Problems, The Observer, Kings Place, 90 York Way, London N1 9GU. Include an address and phone number.
