Comments regarding Doyle's Thornless Blackberry

Ordered two blackberry plants in Jan. 2016 is now end of May no plants no refund no explaintion as to what the holdup is.Get emails asking for financial backing all the time from this place, this is not good way to run a company!

Well folks I am into my sixth season with Doyles blackberries and it has been a very dissapointing experience. I live in zone 5 in western Colorado. Every year I have expirenced severe cane damage which triggers early primocane grow and little energy put into what little flora canes that did survive. So here I am again June 10th with very little foilage on my flora canes and primo canes growing. I have given these plants every chance for six years. My soil is fertile P H correct and plenty of moisture. What berries I have harvested are mostly from what little are produced from the primocanes. I have talked with Tom Doyle extensively and over the years about the problems. Tom is a nice guy but it seems he mostly a salesman . Tom's latest explanation is that the plants are like kids { they do what they want to }. I guess it is my on fault. Doyles webb site states they are growing in all fifty states not that they will produce any respectable amount in all fifty states. I have 48 plants and have worked very hard at making perfect growing conditions only to recieve a small amount of poor quality berries. Buyer beware

I bought two plants for $20 each. What I received were two rooted cuttings in tiny peat ball starters. The root mass in each was about 1 square inch. The plants are very weak and sickly looking. I hope they live. These plants are at least two years behind berry plants that you might buy from other nurseries for far less money.

These cuttings had been stuffed into long pots to make it appear as if the plants had extensive root systems, but the tiny root balls fell out of the pots as soon as I opened the box.

Doyle is willing to give me a refund but I want to see if these berry plants live up to their hype. At this point I have no reason to believe they will, so it is a gamble on my part. If they die I will return them. I just wanted to let everyone know what you get for $20.

I bought 2 Doyle's plants 3 years ago, I specified a window of shipping dates, the plants were shipped about 3 months late, just in time for 90'+ temperatures, one plant was parboiled on arrival, the other squeaked by.
Doyle's did replace the dead plant.
After 3 years, they finally bloomed, set a total of 14 berries between the 2 plants, the first berries finally turned black and soft today, they are full of very large seeds, the taste is about like a lemon.
Very disappointing, I am going to remove the plants this week and stop buying something that seems too good to be true.
A waste of time and money, I could have had several thornless berries in production now, of other types.
Caveat Emptor
Donald Rinks

I purchased two blackberry bushes in summer of 2007. While the bushes grew wonderfully, those canes died off during the winter months, so we have had no berries. I really had thought that Doyle's were more hardy and would have no problem fruiting in northwestern Illinois. I've tried to e-mail the company to find a solution if there is any, but they have not responded.

Wish i had some berries. Problem is Doyle's kept reassuring me ALL spring and summer last year that they'd have my plants out in 2 weeks... only to tell me in late summer that in fact they didn't have ANY for me til the next year. Wish they's been up front about that, I'd have asked for a refund and started another variety, had a lot of money tied up in that and it was quite annoying. I understand that plant's are fickle and it's hard to predict production but then why have an elaborate pre-order page posted?

Terrible Customer Service Experience: Placed an order April 2nd which was scheduled to ship on April 26th. Checked the website May 5th and it said that order would ship May 15th. Called May 20th and 22nd and heard nothing back. Sent an inquiry email June 5th and heard nothing back. Sent an angry email June 10th and got a canned response saying that my phone & email must have changed(neither did) and offering an excuse that they have too many customers and not enough staff. I responded to the email asking once again about the status of my order and have not had any response.

It has now been nearly 3 months since I placed my order, I have missed half of the growing season and there is no sign of the order being delivered. I have to laugh at some of the other posts where the Dobson people claim that "no one values customer service more than we do"....people who value customer service invest in enough staff to provide service.

My advice to readers of this thread is to help them out and not add to their burden by adding to their woes by becoming an additional customer.

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We do have a problem with production this year that is beyond our control and we are shipping plants as quickly as they are ready. We don't know until Monday of the week we are shipping how many plants we have ready so its very difficlut to project ahead to give a difinite delivery date.

We do return all phone calls if we have a number that works and I personally answer all emails.

Due to the problems this year, we are getting about 100 phone calls and 40 emails daily.

Most likely the customer has our email blocked so we are unable to respond."

Ordered the Blackberry "bush" & received a 5" wilted leaf. I had ordered in early spring and they were out. I FINALLY rec'd. my "bush" the middle of October (I live in NORTHEN Indiana!!). I planted it and it was dead 2 weeks later (after our first frost). I made sure to mark the spot where I had planted it. By mid-April, nary a sprig. I called them and got through to a woman on the first try. I told her I was thoroughly disappointed that I had spent that much money for a leaf that came three months later than it should have and I wanted my money back. I had it in two days. I also made my point that for that much I should have gotten a REAL plant. I thought their ad was VERY misleading.

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Apparently some people are never satisified. We made a full refund in two days including all shipping charges. Nobody values customer service and satisifaction more than we do.

We have never advertised that we are selling a "bush". We do sell tissue cultured virus indexed plants that grow very large."