Comments regarding Richter's Herb Specialists

I'm a long-time customer of Richter's, and I type this with utter dismay and sadness hoping that others can avoid the frustration I've dealt with.

Richter's was my go-to plant and seed company with an unmatched selection for so many years. I would accept the long wait because it meant I would open the box of goodies knowing they were quality plants that were well packed. Unfortunately only one of those things (unmatched selection) is still true, it seems.

This last purchase was so disappointing to say the least. The box came to me bulging which I found unusual for the well-packed boxes I've gotten before, but thought, "hey, they know what they're doing." I was wrong. I opened the box and found some of the plants arranged orderly, but some were in there as though they were an afterthought shoved in without care.

Most of the plants were strong and healthy as I expected from them, but a third of my plants were weak, dying, or dead. Richter's no longer answers their phone, so I emailed my claim with photos right after opening the box (only have 48hrs after arrival to file a claim). I got an email response that the photos will be reviewed. That was 3 days ago and no word. One of the DOA plants cost $10 each, not including shipping.

I used to love this company. Now I can't trust them. At all. And that feels like a betrayal.

Read the other reviews - this place is a dishonest clown show. I had an employee LIE to me multiple times via email. Not make a mistake but LIE! About half the plants died because if their incompetence and they were totally unwilling to take any responsibility, as I say LYING about what had happened. I don’t know how they are in business. Read the other reviews: your online order is likely to randomly just show up months or years later (one of the reviews says plants arrived 2 years after the order was made!) Crazy.

I ordered dozens and dozens of lavender plants and received zero reply about shipping. After a couple weeks I had to go back and check my credit card charges to see if it had even processed. After two months of waiting with no info I emailed to see what was going on and was told they would be shipped when ready. I asked for a more precise timeframe and was told verbatim “they will ship in early April”.

In late March I had to travel due to a death in the family. The day after I left home (March 28th) I received an email that the plants had shipped. Within 5 minutes I was on the phone to tell them I would not be home to receive the perishable package. They had sent the email AFTER it had shipped - the first proactive (if you can call it that) email I received about the order. I was assured that if they were damaged I would be compensated. They were delivered March 31st. When I got home the plants were nearly all dead. I was able to revive about half of them eventually.

When I contacted them to see about the compensation for their mistakes and to tell them I had specifically checked about shipping so I could be prepared to receive them, I was told I should have contacted them within 48 hours of delivery (I was home 72 hours after delivery and they were already toast). I told the lady that they specifically said shipping would be “early April” and she said ‘March 28th is early April’. I politely replied that “early April” is anytime April 1st and later (though really more like April 5th or so) and she again said “March 28th is early April”. Crazy and wantonly dishonest gaslighting!

Do not trust this company to send you your order in anything approaching a timely manner and when they make a mistake prepare for some bizarre and rude response. They are dishonest and disorganized and don’t care one bit about behaving responsibly towards their customers.

I was so excited to order from the famous Richter's and placed a $200+ish order. The poor plants took months to arrive. When finally shipped they were sent right before a holiday and stuck in the box for over a week, waiting to cross the border. The customer screwing rep told me it wasn't their fault the U S had a holiday. Right...our ways and land are so far from our good neighbor, Canada! Mine was the first shipment they ever sent to the faraway and mysterious USA.

When I informed them that practically EVERY plant developed serious mold and started to die in less than week--well the customer screwing rep was overjoyed to tell me that I had had to report in 2 days with pictures or else the warranty was invalid. As anyone would know--they had been moldy but it took time for the bloom to show.

Well I never! Just thought I would add my caution to the other cautions on this page. I guess they will be cheating people with their famous name until there is no one left to cheat.

Ordered around $100.00 in seeds for my garden. The seed count is very low. I received 5 leek seeds and 4 sugar snap pea seeds. Seriously not great value for the money. I have expressed my disappointed with the online feed back form. I have yet to hear back from them. Stay clear and buy elsewhere. Too bad because I actually live near the place and want to support the locals!

I ordered 8 herb plants and a fig plant. The pre-shipping total was $47.75. The shipping was $30.70. I placed the order even with the exhorbitant shipping because there were a couple of herbs that I wasn't able to find anywhere else.

Unfortunately, the plants I really wanted arrived almost dead, and the fig was cancelled by Richters because it was "no longer available." Even though I paid for the order by credit card, Richters policy apparently is to apply a credit to your Richters account, not issue a credit through the credit card company. I could not find this policy anywhere on their website. But since I will never be ordering from them again, I won't be using the credit in any case.

Because of a cool and wet spring, I was told my order would be shipping later than expected so the plants would be more established. It seemed reasonable to me, but several inquiries about an estimated ship date went unanswered. When the order finally shipped, it became clear that most of the plants had been ready for weeks (long and leggy) except one, which still was barely rooted and was smashed in shipping by all the large overgrown plants around it. I simply requested a replacement plant be sent. It took some time for any reply, but I was eventually told my Richter's account would be credited. That means I recoup the plant cost but have to pay shipping again. I looked to re-order the plant, and it was out of stock. I opted for maybe seeds, which are available. However, when I went to check out, despite weeks now after their response, there still is no credit applied to my account to apply to an order.
The other plants I have seem to be fine, and I was pleased with the selection, however their customer service seems ill equipped to handle negative issues. With so many other excellent companies to choose from, this one is not worth the trouble.

This is the second time that I ordered from them. Both times I had to email them, 6 or 7 weeks after they started shipping to get the status of my order. I received less than half of my order with no explanation and, more importantly, no refund. The plants are good quality, but this company is not worth the hassle and wait.

Unfortunately and sadly i have not had a great experience with Richter's seeds. Upon planning a $300.00 order for seeds, and as a first time customer, i decided to place a $40.00 order first. Im glad that i did. I waited and waited for my seeds, didn't come, so i called Richter's and they were friendly, said i put in the wrong address,, which i doubted right away,,, as i go over things 3x before i press send,, but benefit of the doubt we "corrected" the address ( PO Box number ) i contacted the postal service who confirmed they did not receive a parcel from Richter's seeds at all.
Again i waited and waited, called the post office several times. No parcel, so i called Richter's again,,,,, and they said "it came back" and they resent. So again i waited ( going on 6 weeks at that point ) and how does something come back- when it didn't get here to be sent back????
Anyways she said another one had been sent- yet they still had the wrong box number. Again corrected the box number over phone. Waited and waited, called again, she said it should be there very soon and just wait a bit longer. Post office still has not received anything. They have post it notes all over the post office waiting for this phantom parcel. 2 months later,, still nothing! Its getting late- too late to plant my seeds indoors. A wasted year for the garden ( have a shorter growing seasons due to chinooks) Im sure glad i didn't proceed with that $300.00 order!!! I think ill try Brother Nature seeds instead.

By all means, order their catalog - it is most informative. And the variety of herbs they carry is enormous. But don't buy anything from them unless you cannot find it elsewhere. Why? They sent me the wrong plant my first order & would only refund me the money - I wanted the plant! On my second order, I got an totally empty seed packet & another seed packet grew out a different plant than was on the packet. I have a feeling that this place is either too big or they just have incompetent employees.

At first everything seemed great. They had a huge selection of exotic plants, and we're super diligent in answering my questions prior to my order. They were also super diligent in replying to my questions post order. All seemed great, and though they tool a while to ship, shipping took just two days! Perfect, right? No... First, part of my order was missing. Second, the plants received looked iffy, and a bit browning, but I figured that was sue to shipping. Regarding the missing plants, I emailed and they promised a refund- 10 days later, nothing, and no more replies. As for the plants, 90% of them were dead within the week. They turned brown/gray, and shriveled out of existence. Only three plants and one plug from the pack survived. I had hoped this would be my go to greenhouse, but I don't think I'll ever purchase from them again.

Very disappointing mail order. Very small rosemary plants, brown leaves, bugs and overly wet. The thyme plugs were nearly dead on arrival and most did not survive. Directions advised to keep huntington carpet rosemary moist? VERY wide selection of plants on the expensive side, however. If you could select your own plants at the greenhouse might be worth it. Don't waste your time and money doing a mail order from them.

It's a nice place to visit when there's snow on the ground, it really is great to smell dirt and herbs in the dead of winter. They also have a nice selection of books. However...

- powdery mildew in many areas of the greenhouse
- gnats flying all over the place
- most of my plants did not thrive, and they weren't cheap
- extremely low germination rate in seeds, the ones that did sprout simply wouldn't grow, even though I followed the advice of staff. I wonder, since the packets don't have plant-by dates, if maybe they were old seeds?

I drove a distance to purchase the plants; unfortunately I won't be going back.

I should have read these reviews before ordering and I would have found another company. If you want seeds to start early in March, you need to find another company unless you order way ahead of time. I had a simple order of 3 seed packets. I placed the order on the Internet on February 28. A week later I get an e-mail telling me my credit card doesn't work in Canada. I call the bank the same day and authorize the charge, an authorization which is only good for one day. The charge went right through. Then on March 12 they get around to mailing my 3 little packets. From order placement to receipt will end up taking over 2 1/2 weeks.

20 plants were dead or missing from my order. I emailed them 5 days after receipt of the plants to let them know. They said they could not help me after 48 hours. Outrageously bad customer service. Missing and completely dead plants had to have been part of the original packaging. There were also crushed, out of the pot, bareroot plants. I will never order from them again.

I've been purchasing a wholesale order for my own shop most years from Richter's over the past 25 years. Today I drove 6 hours (round trip) to pick my order and found when I arrived that the wholesale price was no longer offered. OK if they've changed their policy but they might have told me when I called this morning to tell them that I was coming . I spent 400.$ and they would not give me an itemized bill which will make it very difficult for me to price my plants AND the people that served me were very unfriendly. A real change since the days of Otto and Waltrout Richter - a lovely friendly and sharing couple - who began the company many years ago. This will be my last trip out to Goodwood. There are many other herb sellers out there these days with a way friendlier approach.

Ordered from them in the past and was happy with the plants and service. This year I ordered 25 herbs costing over $100 with the shipping. Only received 20, with no explanation as why others were missing. Was issued a Credit Note, which comes to the second issue. Although box clearly marked "live plants", the route used by UPS involved several stops along the way PLUS box was kept in a non-air conditioned delivery van and not delivered until the end of a very hot California day. Many of the plants were dead or dying. Contacted UPS and was informed that delivery priority established by corporate policy & basically that home delivery not a high priority. Store credit does me no good as delivery still an issue. 4 months later only 5 plants still alive.

I've ordered from Richter's in the past and as long as my order is not bulk they are great. The few times that I've tried to order in bulk through them they have been terribly slow. I thought by ordering 2 100 plant plug trays in February that I'd have them by April/May. It is now July and I still haven't seen them. Same thing happened last year when I tried to place a bulk order in the summer for a Fall order. Eventually I ended up having to cancel the order because it was taking too long. Guess I'll have to just grow from seed myself when I'm looking for large quantities going forward.

My plant orders were very disappointing, lavendar was very small with brown leaves, contacted customer service and was told they would replace the plants. I have never received them.
Spoke with someone who had worked in their greenhouse and found out that they clone diseased plants, spray with banned pesticides that have been stockpiled, and many staff members were getting sick. The owners did not care just told the staff to leave if they didn't like it.
This does not sound like a company that cares about the quality of their plants. The treatment of their staff is disgusting and I will not be using them again. I do not wish to buy herbs that have been treated with toxic pesticides.

I have been a customer for many years. Most of my experience has been with seeds but I have also bought sage and scented geraniums with positive results. I recently bought a bunch of plugs. Of the 6 plug groups, the three lavenders arrived dead. I sent an email to the effect. It took 3 days for them to respond and they asked for pictures. I could understand such a response if I has said the entire shipment was dead. One lavender plant was totally dead. One has only 3 live and the other has only 2. The other three groups of plugs was generally fine. They didn't indicate that they would do anything. Quote " so our greenhouse can evaluate". This totally angers me. Well me - customer - is evaluating this business as inept!

We're in CA and our plants arrived dead and dying. We've been getting the run around for over 3 weeks and still haven't gotten a resolution. The next step is taking this up with the credit card. Very disappointing. We were going to use them for a large project and I'm SO glad that we did a trial order first. This is the worst service and the have the weirdest business practices we've seen. All and all, an F minus.

A few weeks ago I ordered five different seed packets online using my credit card. I received a confirmation email shortly thereafter listing my order and the credit card used (with pertinent numbers X'd out). Their magazine states that non-perishable items will be shipped within a few days so after a week when I noticed they hadn't charged my credit card I emailed them to see if they were going to do so soon. They responded a couple of days later stating that they had some server problems the exact day I had ordered (a Sunday) and had lost most orders and that I needed to call them to give my credit card information again and they would send out my seeds. They then called a few days later to again state the same information on my message machine with their number.
When I called back, the woman I spoke to was extremely rude. I told her about the email and she bluntly said, "we didn't crash." I paused, then said, "your server was down the day I ordered." She said, "no it wasn't." This was all before I had even given her any information about myself.....so when I finally read her the email that I had gotten she replied that indeed their server had crashed that day and all the orders were lost. She didn't even have a record of my order under the order number or name, even though I had gotten an email from them (with the explanation of the server problem) saying they had my order ready, but they needed the credit card information again. Finally she rudely (tone of voice) and bluntly said, "do you want to make an order now?" I replied that I would probably do so online (who wants to give their information to someone like that?) and she just hung up!
My thoughts on reading a lot of the negative reviews on this site: This company may actually be a great company; their catalog sure is. So perhaps they ought to clean out their customer service department because with all of the complaints of lost credit card info, lack of returning calls, blatant rudeness, etc, it comes down to bad people skills. I'm saddened because I'd love to order tons of stuff from this company, but I'm not going to deal with rude people. I feel bad for a company that has employees like that tearing it down.

I ordered six plants from Richter's in the spring. They took a while to arrive and when they did, they were much smaller than I expected and they all had scale and white fly. Three of the plants died. It took a lot of work to maintain the other four. They seem to be doing okay now, but it took a lot of effort.

I feel that this company is DISHONEST. I've repeatedly had bad experiences with them improperly charging my credit card and taking forever to correct their mistakes. Yet I keep ordering from them because they have plants that I can't find anyplace else - and their catalogue is an education in itself. But I will ALWAYS carefully check my shipping charges and my credit card statement. It's a shame that they've ruined their name. I wish I had an alternative source for herbs.

excellent products but bad communication. their customer service is terrible!!!! impolite and plain rude!!!! and i was just inquiring about my order...i wasn't even complaining/??!!

Great selection but the worst customer service. Frustrating and awful if there's a problem with an order. If you're lucky and everything goes right, the seeds are wonderful.

I ordered from this company before I looked at garden watchdog. Last time I will ever do that again!

Their catalog is very impressive and they offer a lot of hard-to-find herbs. But that is the end of the good impression I have been left with. Their website is clumsy to navigate and lacks pictures on a lot of their herbs.
After I placed my order and received a confirmation number I waited and waited and waited. So after 2 and a half weeks and after having received all of the other seeds I had ordered that day from other companies, I called to see where my order was. By the way, they have no toll free number, so you have to make a long distance phone call to canada. Their website does not offer customer service, just an oportunity to leave feedback.
The woman I spoke with was pleasant and helpfull, but informed me that my order was shipped a week after I had placed my order (for seeds that just seems silly) and that I could expect it in ANOTHER 5 WEEKS. Since it will get held up at the border for inspections. I wish someone had told me that before I paid $5 to ship my seeds. Which is ridiculous for $15 worth of seeds! But I wanted those herbs so bad . . . ALL of their shipping costs are outrageous, ESPECIALLY for plants.
I also wish they had let me know that some of the seeds I had ordered were not available. Most other websites do this.

Anyway, I'll update when my seeds come as to their condition and other such important info.

Richter's Herbs didn't ship a January purchased order until June. Our climate only allows for a short planting time til heat becomes extreme. I called four times explaining this only to be told April 15, May 15 and finally "It's backordered" and then "It's impossible to get everything out in time". Why be in business then?Email inquiries were never responded to. Finally my incomplete order arrived black and cooked, the box stating "do not expose to extreme heat". If I hadn't lost time and money it would be funny.

I ordered plugs from Richters......after sending two emails and no one responding, I called them to inquire on the delivery date, they could not find my order.....After I insisted they resolve this problem here and now....they finally found it....and will not get sent out till next week.....needless to say I am not a happy camper. The gal gave me the direct line to Conrad Richter who is CEO of the company. I called and left a detailed message, and yeah, you guessed it....he has not called back....Here is another company I shall never do business with.

It has been two weeks since I called Richters, and still no plugs. I will call them tomorrow and cancel this order.

Deann

I placed my first order with Richters in Canada and received my mint and thyme plants today.
They were ~very~ securely packaged and all look green & healthy. The soil in their pots was moist.
I will most likely order from them again.

I bought a number of seeds and plants a few years ago from Richters, over two seasons. Most of these survived and did fine; I bought a large expensive bag of seeds of a particular umbel that had zero germination under any treatment regime, but that species is known to be difficult. As others have noted, the billing was a mess. I'm at an institution from which others have also placed orders, and they just could not comprehend that we were different people with different addresses and would not pay for each others' orders, etc -- so that's not a recent problem. My biggest criticism of Richters is that two of the seeds I bought turned out to be misidentified (right genus, wrong species). That's just unacceptable, and it will keep me from buying from them again.

Ordered seeds & plants from Richter's in 2003, and was pleased with everything. Didn't garden in 2004, but if they have something I can't find locally, I would order from them again.

We ordered some lavender plugs from Richters. When they shipped the order of one flat each grosso and provence UPS left them at the incorrect address. They were left at our neighbors who where out of town. When the came back 2 days later they brought over the package. Over half of the plants, at that moment, where rotted from sitting in the box in the driveway while it was hot and sunny each day. We didn't at that point have a problem with Richters since it was UPS. I called them the next working day and left a message. No answer. Later that day I left and email. I never did get and answer to that. The next day my husband called and got a person on the phone. To make a long story shorter they wanted us to ship the plants back to them, paying for it ourselves, and they would then file a claim with UPS and refund us the money for the plants plus the 11 dollars it cost to ship them back. We called back to see if a notarized statement from our neighbors would be ok but it was a no.(Funny because when I called David Austin Roses a few weeks after that to tell them I got a white rose instead of a pink they said no problem and refunded it within 2 days onto my card) After a number of weeks we started calling again, because we had recieved confirmation that they recieved the package, but there was no refund on the credit card. When I finally reached someone (same problem as before, it takes them DAYS to respond to an email and not at all to phone messages) she said no problem she would at that moment refund my 109 dollars (that included the 11 for shipping) I said wait a second, the charge to my visa initially was for 123 NOT including the 11 we paid to ship back the plants. Oh, she said, there must be a mistake, she didn't understand why they had charged that it was not the correct price. Anyways she gave me to another lady who said she would straighten it out and refund us the rest of the money of which we have never seen and are disputing on our credit card. This company is a complete and total hassle to deal with and I won't do it again. There are others who sell lavender plugs.

BUYER BEWARE!
I have ordered from Richters off and on for several years because of the selection. I generally order plants during the winter for shipment the following spring because if I wait until spring to order, the ones I want are often sold out. In the past the plants I received from Richters were alright. Not great, but not bad and most survived.

I placed an order for seeds and plants in November of 2003 and the seeds were shipped and received in a reasonable timeframe. Since the company is located in Canada, I know that they generally do not ship plants too early in the spring so I wasn't concerned that I hadn't received my plants until the beginning of June. I live in Oklahoma and the weather gets hot here fairly early. After 3 emails, with the third being sent to several of their company email addresses, I finally got a reply yesterday from someone within the company concerning the plant portion of my order. This person in "Customer Service" informed me that an office manager had cancelled my order and expected me to reorder in 2004.
WHAT!!!!! What kind of moron would cancel an order and not even inform the customer that they've done so. It's now too late in the season to obtain the plants I want from another source and I'm still having to spend time and effort to determine if I in fact PAID for the plants and shipment of the plants that they do not intend to send me. I've asked for some evidence that I was NOT charged or was credited for the cancelled portion of the order, but so far there's been no response.
They call this customer service? Anyone who has ever gardened would realize that plants ordered in the dead of winter are desired for shipment the following spring. Their company information indicates that plants will not be shipped until the weather and climate are suitable.
I am furious! Although they have a huge selection, the quality of items received from them in the past has never been superior so after this experience, I will NEVER order from them again! I would not recommend this company to anyone unless perhaps you live close enough to select and take home your plants. There are too many good companies out there who actually do provide quality plants and customer service.

Lover of herbs and old roses

Plants were diseased, covered with plastic, and dead, Although they did refund with out any problem at all, it's discouraging to have to reorder from someone else because all your plants arrived dead. I will not buy from this company again.

kathy_ann

I have not received an order I placed 30 days ago by phone and was told the seed would go out that day because I had expressed concern about it being late in the season. I inquired by email 6 days ago and have not received a response. My credit card was charged the day I place the order. I am very disappointed with the service and will never order from them again.

I ordered seeds, only, from them at the end of April of this year. First of all, I did not know how to use their website to add to my order which hadn't shipped yet, so I had to call them to correct that. I was told that several things were not available even though the website listed them as available. So after the call to them, I expected to get a confirmation by email as I had paid for it over the web with a credit card...it took at least three days to receive the confirmation which was my only invoice or receipt of the transaction. Then it took at least a week or so for them to charge my credit card. I finally received the seeds last Saturday which was on May 22. But according to the invoice which they sent, they still got the order wrong after me having called them 3 times and emailing them more about it, they charged my credit card for 3 different types of seeds that I did not receive! There was nothing on the invoice to indicate that the seeds would be sent later or were not available...it said that they were sent with this order! Inside the package were spilled seeds which didn't seem to be from anything inside the package; plus they put my mobile phone number on the outside of the package on the mailing label for the whole world to see! So I have now emailed them 4 times about the order and they have not answered back one time...the first email was on the same day I got the package (about May 22). What I want to know is, do people commonly loose seeds on the border when customs inspects the package? The seeds not in there were: Schisandra, Hops and Snake Gourd...not like they are drugs are anything or weapons of mass destruction??? On the outside of the package was the phytosanitary certificate plus an indication that it was seeds...but it also said that they could open and inspect the package...how would I know if that is what was done here? In other words, how would I know if customs inspectors had removed some of the seeds from the package at the border, or that Richters just did not send the seeds but did charge me for them??? I am sure that many people here will read this and think that I am making much ado about nothing, but this is the very first time that I have ever ordered any seeds and I am startled at the unprofessionalism of a company that I have heard to be so highly spoken of for their professionalism all of these years! If they did not send the seeds at all and don't ever intend to then they need to credit my credit card for the ammount that they charged me for those same seeds and send me an email stating that that is what they are going to do!

Richter's has a lot of rare plants that is not available by other seed sellers, but their customer service is horrible. I order 30 type of seeds one month ago. When I email them 2 weeks after the order, they said the order is in process, so I wait another 1 week and called. When I called they told me that the credit card didn't go through. So when they called, I give them the credit card number. When I gave them the credit card number they said the order will ship that week. As I find out 1 week after that week the order is not yet shipped. I was very upset on how they handle the order. The worst of all, I order only seeds from them. I was waiting for the seeds diligently because I need it for a school project. This is the worst online merchant I ever dealt with. It seems that they take 6 months to fulfill a little order as seeds. I will never buy from them again. Nor will I recommend my classmates or my teachers to buy from them. Their customer service are horrible, they lied, they delay, and they don't fulfill your order. Beware buyer, their online order safety is in question. The weird thing is they can loose credit card number in cyberspace. If I ever find this website and their negative feedback, I will think twice before ordering from them. This is the worst nightmare online buyer can have is losing their credit card number in cyber space.

My order took over three weeks to fill. When I e-mailed the company, they took 4 days to respond. While waiting for them to respond to my e-mail, I called the company to find when my order would ship. In neither case - in the e-mail or the phone conversation, did they notify me that one of my seed packages (patchoulli) was unavailable. I have checked their web-site and find that they still list this seed as available.

I ordered $114.75 worth of merchandise in Feb. thinking that I would receive it to plant this year before it got so hot. As May approached I decided to cancel the order because it is getting too late and I changed my mind. Their customer service gave me a hard time and acted like they had never heard of anyone changing their mind and cancelling an order. They finally gave me a credit for only $93.75 after a lot of kicking and screaming on their part. I don't know what the $21.00 they are trying to keep is for. I guess they are trying to charge me for cancelling the order or service charge of some sort. Their catalog says absolutely about their being a charge if you decide to cancel an order. I'm sorry I ever made the order but believe me, it'll never happen again. Be warned that you should check in advance about their cancellation policy and/or associated fees. I believe that if a merchant takes 2-3 months to fill an order the customer likewise has the right to change his mind in the meantime and receive a full refund without a pile of static.