Comments regarding Steele Plant Company

I have not received the sweet potato plants yet. So I cannot comment on those. But I will update this review after all is said and done.

But so far, I am less than pleased with ordering from this company. I live next to TN, so I figured it wouldn't take too long for an order to arrive. I placed the order early and ask them to note on the order that I requested to receive them in time to plant on May 23. But, they just now sent the order out. So it looks like I will be receiving them May 25. I might feel different about that if they had let me know. But this company does not like to respond to emails in a timely fashion. And apparently they don't know how to read notes placed on orders. Furthermore, they do not send you the tracking number.

I don't care much for this company so far. They don't do business half as well as all the competitors. So I am likely to order from somewhere else from now on. And considering the bad reviews already posted here, I expect to be changing this to a negative when a handful of terrible plants arrive. Crossing my fingers on that one. And since I am pretty much fed up with bad business altogether, if this one goes sour, I will be posting bad reviews all over the Internet. It's high time we all fight for the service we all deserve. It's our money being spent!

I have very mixed feelings about the Steele Plant Company. They do a lot right. They have an amazing stock of sweet potatoes. I am sincerely impressed by how quickly they reply to emails, and how fast they send out orders.

However, in my case there just wasn't enough attention to detail. The first time my order shipped, they wrote my wrong on the package, so it was returned to them. They assumed I'd given them the wrong address, and told me I'd have to reorder, but they agreed when I offered to pay half price. I asked them for a photo of the returned package and discovered they'd written the address wrong, but they didn't offer to refund the extra charge.

They re-shipped the package, and I got it a week later. The slips looked dead and smelled terrible. They weren't wrapped very well considering the distance they had to travel, with a very small amount of moss to hold moisture. Still, they must have sent 25 when I ordered 12, and after a week of nursing them back to health I'll probably have 10.

If I lived near Tennessee I would definitely order from them again. Farther away, I'd ask them to pack the order a little better, and keep my fingers crossed.

Posted on July 30, 2010, updated January 21, 2012
I ordered some sweet potato plants last winter from Steele and they finally shipped on the 23rd of May ( a bit late for Minnesota). I notified them that the order was short and a bit late and that the plants did not look good but I planted them anyway. Did not receive the rest of the plants for another week. The balance of the Georgia Jets also looked bad but the other varieties looked fine. Their literature said the plants would do well even if they looked bad when received but all but about 6 of the 50 ordered survived. I had noticed on their web page before I received my order that they were not accepting orders for any more Georgia Jets because they did not have enough. I assume that is why they shipped plants they would probably not have normally shipped. I have sent them one notice that the plants were very sickly looking and another email early July telling them the mortality on the Georgia Jets I planted and they have not responded. Their Web page states that they will not accept responsibility for plant that do not produce because they can't control how they are treated after they are received. Since the other varieties I received did fine I believe they are fully aware that the problem is in the quality of the plants they shipped but refuse to acknowledge it or to compensate me. All of you readers know that there is a lot more involved in bad starting plants than just the cost of the plant but the vendor should at least make good on that part of it, especially when they know full well that the plants they shipped were not good quality.

If you buy from them you may get good plants; some of mine were good, but if they are not - it is obvious that they really don't care!

I sent an email asking about ordering slips and if snail-mail or phone were the only options.

I received a 1 line email in response that said, "We are out out for the season."

Good or bad, first it didn't answer my question and second customer relations must be last on their list in my opinion. I'll find a friendly company that is interested in the home gardener.