NEVER cheat on your seed company...

Expanding the medicinal herb garden has been looked forward to since cleaning out the overgrown Front garden bed. I had dreams of Mother wort, Lavender, Marsh Mallow and many more filling in the spot below my Bay like window in the dining room. The budget was set for what i could spend on the herbal seed. I searched online trying to find a company that had all the varieties I desired in one spot at a price fitting in the budget. Not an easy feat staying in budget for medicinal herbs. The excitement of receiving the herb seed had me checking the mail everyday, {I normally let the mailbox fill up before I bother going out there- or let the kids get it. As I tell The Captain, I am far to thin to exert my energy on keeping warm in this weather for junk mail.See? Being skinny has it's downfalls too. I look like one of those soup commercial kids going out to sled in the snow but have multiple layers on, they can barely walk.}.

My order was place on January 11,2011. I began to worry when over a week went by before I received a simple notice stating my package has shipped. I was met with big disappointment when the Manila envelope finaly arrived. Not only were 2 of my most desired herb seed NOT in there, the company never bothered to contact me before shipping the package. Instead I open it to find they were missing and on the receipt a highlighted statement "these herbs were unavailable". Their website did not list them as back ordered or unavailable. There was no email detailing they would not be in my order, no phone call nor did they give me the opportunity to make different choices or to cancel the entire order.

The point is, I had a budget and I chose to go with their company instead of a higher priced but Fantastic company here in the states. When I spoke to customer service they could care less about what had transpired. I was told they do not back order things due to it possibly being years before something comes in. Understandable but your site does not list them as unavailable & why was I not contacted before you sent a package minus items? You have my address, email & phone number. Their solution? "Well, you could always send the entire package back?". And HOW is that going to benefit me in anyway or solve the problem? I still have to pay the postage for it to go back, plus wait for the account reimbursement before ordering elsewhere since I have a separate account for online transactions. I spoke with the owner and did not receive much of a better answer then I received from their customer service. He did say he would check to see if those seeds are available...

So now I will be out of budget on my seed orders. More shipping costs endured over my desire to stay within a small budget, for seeds I had hoped to add in the medicine garden.

I will order from the company I should have originally used. The VERY reliable & fantastic supply of Herbals, Mountain Rose Herbs. Seeds are around $1 more per packet but at least YOU do not get my hopes up and smash them.Your upfront and honest.

 I feel such guilt straying from you. Never again will I patron another herbal seed company. All others pale in comparison to what you give. Hopefully you will forgive me for my moment of weakness and allow my order to arrive before seed starting day {February 14th}.

The lesson today Kiddos, from all the above rambling? Just because something costs less does not make it a good choice. Saving money is great but you get what you pay for.

Sweet Dreams

~Tammie