Beautanicals (also dba Australian Gardener)

First off, this is a legitimate business - it is almost too good to be true! If you're looking for a seed, odds on they have it. Their seed variety is massive! Downside - their customer service. I'd like to know if anyone else has had trouble contacting them? I understand they work in their nurseries for most of the day (good on them for working so hard - it shows in the variety of seeds they have to offer!), but we had a bit of an unpleasant experience with them in the past. We were worried about our seeds not growing and they were more than upset with us for daring to question their 30-year business and even went as far as to say we should never order from them again. I think they misunderstood our intentions when we e-mailed them. We did try to explain but we haven't heard back from them. It was a little upsetting (as we love gardening and we were excited to have stumbled across their site). Has this happened to anyone else? I hope this review is followed by many more good ones, as like I said, their variety is amazing and their hard work shows - I am just genuinely wondering if we should be expecting such a negative response if we do ever try to contact them or ask them questions again? Good customer service really does go a long way. There's no such thing as a stupid question, and every question should be treated to a professional and respectable response. I hope that this is helpful feedback :)

Overall I was not happy with this experience. I ordered a packet of euphorbia peplus seed from Beautanicals; it arrived quickly, but, when I opened the mailer, I found that the seeds had been ground into fine powder. Fearing the worst, I sowed what was there but attained a germination rate of 0%. I contacted the company and asked what might have happened to these seeds; the proprietor responded promptly and said that it sounded as if the package had gone through the heavy-duty mechanical postal sorters--which is why, he added, they write, "hand cancel" on their packages. The problem is that the package I received had no such inscription on it. He offered me a refund, but I declined it (most of the cost had been shipping, anyway, and I figured my credit card would, again, charge me for the currency exchange, so it hardly seemed worth the trouble). He also suggested that I re-order a bigger package of seeds, which would stand a better chance of survival in the mail. Ummm ... no, thanks! I had a much better experience with fairdinkumseeds.com: while their price was a bit higher, their packing was much more painstaking, as they encased the seeds carefully in bubble wrap, within the package, to insulate them against the vicissitudes of intercontinental shipping.