Ive just ordered some hop rizzies

[Tim74]

I ordered two rhizomes from A-Plus back in February and like others here, I did experience problems with their communication, or rather the lack of it. I had more of a problem with the extortionate p+p costs; I was charged just over £5 for two hop rhizomes, each packed in a sandwich bag and posted to me in an A4 padded envelope. Some of the cost would have been assigned to the lifting of the rhizomes.

I have my own plant nursery and do a fair bit of business by mail order, so I feel qualified to comment about this, and I know that £5 is not what it costs to process and pack two hop rhizomes. I have a real problem with any company making money on p+p. I do all of mine at cost and customers do appreciate it and show that appreciation by repeat ordering. I won't deal with A-Plus again. I did raise my concerns and was told my comments would be passed on. Goody gum-drops.

[arturobandini]

P&P Skanking also makes me instantly furious and there is still loads of it on eBay.

[brewsters millionths]

to be fair to them, the p&p doesn't go up when you order more so small orders which are more hassle pay more, big orders more worthwhile pay relatively less.
from customer service point of view, i let them know that two of the 4 hadn't survived and they're sending out replacements at no extra cost. thumbs up to them.

[pantsmachine]

I agree about P&P, i recently bought a few plants from these guys on ebay who are the opposite
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll? ... 0097929569

Plants were in pots and bubble wrapped envelopes and well labelled for the postie to know what he was handling. Worht a go if any of you guys are putting plants into your garden this year.

[Tim74]

to be fair to them, the p&p doesn't go up when you order more so small orders which are more hassle pay more, big orders more worthwhile pay relatively less.

That's no excuse; I sell plants mail order which also have to be lifted and packed, and the sensible way of doing it is to hit a load of orders in one go; collate a weeks worth of orders and then go out to the stock beds and lift the lot, then go back inside and pack them up. If they aren't doing that, then they aren't running their business in an efficient manner. However, I suspect that they do deal with multiple orders at any one time, so customers buying small quantities of rhizomes are being done.

I've been selling plants and seeds by mail order for a long time now and the most common praise I get after the quality of plants is my reasonable and non-profit making p+p. There's no excuse; price up the sandwich bag, price up the padded envelope, the postage and the time taken to lift the plants (very little time when dealing with dormant rhizomes) and then do it at cost. That cost for two rhizomes isn't a fiver.

[brewsters millionths]

you could start doing hop rhizzies on here then.
i'm sure we'd all be happy to deal with a forum member.
how about it?

[arturobandini]

i'm sure we'd all be happy to deal with a forum member.
how about it?

I'm also prepared to put my money in your mouth or wherever it is!

[Tim74]

I'd be more than happy for you to stuff money into any of my orifices...
Unfortunately I don't have the room that I'd need if I were to start supplying hop rhizomes; I wish I did!

[arturobandini]

Heh!

You can't blame us for trying Tim.