Lockyerfuchsias Reviews 2

Plants Dying
My brother and I recently went to Lockyer garden nursery. The brother is a massive fuchsia fan. I seemed to be following him. My brother bought 14 fuchsias. I bought 6. Mr J Lockyer went and got a certain plant for my brother, and on his return, I noticed that Lockyer had taken all fresh cutting from the said plant (it was £6). Also, we were unable to pick out our own plants. Lockyer went and got them for us. (understandable, Covid.) Moreover, we were the only customers there. so safe distancing would have been acceptable. (his rules, and we abided by them by staying outside). All in all, we bought 20 plants and spent a lot of money.
3/4 weeks later, my Hawkshead has died, and my Hermiena is also dying. However, my brother has lost 4 fuchsia plants, and a 5th is also on its way out. On seeing them wilting, I removed them from their pots and took a look at their root system as I felt this was the problem. On inspecting them, I first thought it was root rot (Pythium) which is salvable. Unfortunately, I think it may be Black Root Rot (BBR, Thielaviopsis basicola) far more disastrous. It is a fungus that is highly contagious and will spread to other plants within the greenhouse. The only way to know for sure is to get them tested. I have quarantined all the fuchsia plants that I bought from Lockyer. If it is this fungus, I do not want it to affect my other plants. I have tried to contact John Lockyer but to no avail. I am continuing to try. I HAVE NOT HAD THE PLANTS TESTED.

I ordered some fuchsias from this company way back in March. Unusually, they do not undertake modern payment processing such as Paypal and request sending bank details through the post. This is what I reluctantly did as they had plants I really wanted. I received no acknowledgement of the order but knew I would have to wait a while.

Two months passed and the company were advertising ordering on site with a 7 day turn around. Having heard nothing, I started to worry about where my bank details were - they could have been lost in the post or been passed to anyone. Luckily, I found a copy of the order so I emailed, politely asking if they had the order as I was worried about my bank details.

I heard nothing. I emailed again expressing concern that they had not put my mind at rest regarding my bank details. Again nothing. I emailed a third time explaining that they had had my order for two months and I was worried about my bank details being out there somewhere. I explained that I know they are busy but so am I - very, very busy. I also explained that all I wanted was a simple yes or no reassurance they safely had my details from a security point of view. I explained that any company could and should find A FEW SECONDS to reassure a worried customer with an email reply. Not even this prompted a response.

I emailed a fourth and final time, this time expressing my real concern and that I would be setting up a Trustpilot review if they failed to put my mind at rest. No response.

I have now had to cancel my bank card because I have no idea where this order is and Lockyer Fuchsias have not had the common decency to reply to 4 emails. Others have told me I was silly to order from a company insisting on this kind of risky payment method. Perhaps I was?

I am sure they must have satisfied customers though for the life of me I cannot see why with such an appalling attitude towards customer care, bank card security and communication. My emails have all been respectful and polite.

Some horticultural suppliers have awful reviews on Trustpilot but at least they respond to their customers.

Beware of this company with its antiquated methods and refusal to engage with customers in a modern and acceptable way. Being busy is no excuse for this dreadful approach to business. They are simply and unacceptably rude and put your bank details at risk in they way they ask for them.

They may well have won gold medals for their fuchsias but sadly they come last place in the race for decency, security and customer care.

Update: I did receive the fuchsia plants but they had cashed the money BEFORE I changed my card so I needn't have gone to the trouble of cancelling my card had they had the decency to respond to my FOUR emails. To cap it all of, one of the plants was wrong (a plant I already have and it was one of the more expensive varieties) so I emailed again and low and behold again no response. To be honest, I wouldn't order from them again, not just because the customer service is diabolical but also because the plants they Sent were pathetic little things. If you don't mind the variety, Morrisons were selling fabulous fuchsia in pots for £1 each. I bought 40 of them and they put the Lockyer fuchsias to shame - especially given the Lockyer fuchsias start at £2.50 each and go up to £5 and all you get is a minuscule rooted cutting.
Had I had any idea of the utter frustration and hassle dealing with this company would causs, I wouldn't have touched them with a barge pole. I collect plants of all types from a vast range of suppliers and have never experienced such a level of poor service. Frankly, they don't deserve the custom.