Information on Shelburne Company

This has to be one of the worse customer service companies I have, in my 60 years, seen. Companies have to realize that the most important asset is their customers. If you sell your company, anyone would look at your customers to decide a value. The customer service is lacking training and proffesionalism.
I talked to Sandy and she says that she owns the company and that she does not have a boss or superior. But there is a Edeth Barnes that is the president but she can only be reached by letter (there is no phone or e-mail for her.)
I researched the company and found that Mr. Richard S. Friedberg is the president.
BBB has 39 compaints against them and it appears that they are all involved with customer service.

I ordered the 1000 Plugs thru the mail and recieved them very quickly. I also ordered several bags of the Nutri-20 Plant Food 20-20-20. I followed all directions very closely. The fertilizer performed excellent. I had a couple of bags left over and treated my lawn this month with excellent results. My lawn is dark green and my neighbors look and admire.

However, the plugs had about a 20% or less success rate. I will not order them again and have told others to look elsewhere. 3 of my neighbors watched my plugs all summer and last fall to determine if they wanted to order them and have also decided not to order the plugs.

I contacted this company last fall and was told by apparently the same rude person that there was no warranty on the plugs and if I wanted to I could reorder them this spring.

I have opted to use seed. Something that REALLY works for less expense, better results, and a much more professional and friendly representative at the counter.

I am in the process of building my first home. I do not know much about grass so I asked for a sample of what Zoysia Farms had. I have seen some grass that has a bluish tint and I do not want that. When I called, the woman was rather rude like the other previous poster said. I read that review after doing more research and thought that perhaps this method of dealing with customers is the norm. If it is, I do not like what I heard and I will take my business elsewhere.

For the owners of this company, please try to train your customers representatives. I am a business major and I understand that customer representatives play an important role in how customers "see" your company. A pattern is beginning to form and if I were in a leadership role within your company I would work hard to correct this problem before it ruins your reputation and clientele.

Concerned

I wish I would had seen the reviews posted on this site before I invested the time and effort on ZFN. It only cost me the gas money to go to the farm over the weekend. I had called their office last week to inquire as to when their store would be open. They told me it would be open on Saturday, so I went on Saturday. I got there and the store was locked with no indication of life other than a few cars in their parking lot. After looking around for a while I finally found some ladies that tersely told me they "may open on Thursday". I understand that the weather could cause a delay in opening the store, but telling me with certainty that it would be open comes with at least some level of customer service obligation. Doesn't it? A "sorry about the misunderstanding"? Guess not.

Based on my experience I have to be thankfull I didn't get their product on Saturday. If I had problems I cringe at where that would have taken me. I judge my vendors by their customer service. ZFN failed the test. Thank goodness I only spent the gas money. It's time to move on and give their competitors a try.

We are sincerely sorry. There appears to be a misunderstanding. Our store for local grass pick up traditionally opens the last weekend in March, provided weather and harvesting conditions permit. All customers are asked to confirm 24 hours in advance about harvesting conditions and how much grass they require. We want to harvest enough to meet demand for the next day and insure the grass is as fresh as it can be. When the fields are wet we cannot harvest.

Because Easter is so early this year and because customers have placed orders and requestd pick up on Friday and Saturday (March 21 & 22) before Easter, we decised last week, to open a week earlier this year provided Mother Nature cooperates.

I'm not sure where the confusion occured about grass being available and the store opening on March 15th, as this was never discussed or under consideration.

All staff members were made aware of the decision to open a week earlier than normal. It is possible we said we hoped to open the store the Friday or Saturday before Easter but that of course would be March 21or 22.

We have apologized in person to this customer (a few staff members were working Saturday, explained the situation and said we were sorry) and again in an e-mail on Monday responding to his e-mail voicing his displeasure.

We continue to be sincerely sorry for this misunderstanding.