Comments regarding J Parker Dutch Bulbs Ltd.

I placed an order with The Guardian garden centre which turned out to be J Parker Dutch Bulbs. When the plants arrived they were in a terrible condition and only fit for the compost heap. I emailed them via their web page and also phoned their customer service department who were of no help suggesting I return the plants to them (cost prohibitive) or keep them and try and resuscitate them if they still died I could write to them before 1st August 2014 and they would consider my complaint. I have as yet not had a reply from my email!
When I order plants via the internet I need to know any problems will be dealt with quickly and with the minimum of effort on my part so I shall not be using this supplier again.

J.Parker Dutch Bulbs Ltd. I just read your shipping details.

Someone needs a lesson in geography as well as history.. Your first statement reads "all parts of the British Isles" You then exclude "southern Ireland, which is legally known as the Republic of Ireland (since 1922) and the Channel Isles.

It then can be assumed that you are shipping to Northern Ireland which is part of the UK as well as the British Isles? If you are able to ship to Northern Ireland or Ulster as it is also known, then why can't you ship to the RoI? Other UK companies have shipping costs for orders outside the UK.

Also, in conjuction with the "Irish Mirror", you offered bulbs to their readers. This is an Irish newspaper, printed in the Republic and read by the Irish public. This offer, was printed in £Sterling not euros and it does not include your postage and handling charges, much less that you will not ship to the Republic of Ireland. This information is found on your web page..

I look forward to your explanation.

Eva-Maria Busch
Swords, Co Dublin

"I think Mrs Busch is a bit too sensitive. The Delivery instructions are quite clear below:

We deliver to all parts of the British Isles. We regret we are unable to dispatch our goods to Southern Ireland or the Channel Islands due to excessive freight costs.

At no point do we imply that Southern Ireland (Ire) is part of the British Isles. We are quite aware that the Republic of Ireland is a Republic and soverign state.

We have only highlighted that we do not supply to Southern Ireland as a number of UK mail order companies do.

We make it quite clear that we do not supply to Republic of Ireland, because it costs too much for us to send reletively low value consignments to the RoI. (often more than the sale price of the consignment)

Although we are the final supplier for many Mirror Promotions, we do not have control of where they choose to print their promotions. We do not actively advertise within the ROI and remove all addresses from the ROI from our Mailing List.

Although a forum is an superb way of exchanging views and information. I wish it was used a little more carefully by some people, so justified negative comments can be transparant among the infounded spat."