Comments regarding Sustainable Seed Company

Ordered a bunch of seeds and sent to another country. Wasn't aware that I needed to get a certificate for this. Customs siezed the seeds and requested the certificate. I messaged sustainable seeds (as they have no phone number) and realized that it was too late to get the certificate as the seeds already left their facilities. I asked her to send me a mere letter that states that their seeds are safe since I could not get the certificate. I could attempt to show this to the customs team as something from the company and hope that I could get the seefs. She (sustainableseeds rep) was persistently unwilling to help in any way. She kept repeating the same thing over and over, even though the certificate could not be done and I only wanted a letter stating that their seeds are safe. No help whatever.

I purchased some Henderson Lima beans from this company mainly because the quantity they offered for the price was better than others. The germination was so poor, and the few that did germinate are deformed. Beans sown on either side of these are perfect. I won't buy from them again.

Seeds we ordered have still not been delivered. When we contacted the company, the woman who answered, in effect said, "once it leaves here it's not our problem."

It's easy to blame the post office or other outsiders for a company's poor customer service. But that doesn't wash with me. I'll never use this company again, and will spread the word in the heirlooms community about their lack of service.

"On Jun 5, 2013 7:56 AM, Sustainable Seed Company responded with:

We deeply care about our customers and want to make sure that customers are satisfied with their seeds, customer service and reliable shipping.
As we explained over the phone, when seeds leave our warehouse we have no control over them. We requested that you contact your local post office as they will have more information than we do. Many times when people call to notify us that there seeds have not arrived, and after contacting the post office their package arrives within a few days. We offered to contact the post office to find out if I could locate the package for you. When you hung up on me I was trying to explain to you that once you have contact the post office, if you still did not receive your order in a few days, we could issue you a gift certificate for $4.98 (the cost of your seed order) so that you could reorder the seeds.
Again, we tried to resolve this problem with over the phone with you. However, it is unfortunate that you hung upon us. We offered to resend the seeds in the mail; although you were not happy with that and wanted the seeds sent overnight shipping. We tried to explain that we do not offer overnight shipping as we live in a small isolated rural community so we do not have that service available to us.
This spring season the Post Office has lost many packages. We are in the process of switching over to UPS/FedEx exclusively, but it involves software/hardware changes and is taking some time. We hope to have this issue resolved soon. We are very sorry you had such a poor experience with us.
"

I bought $50 worth of seeds from this company and never received them. I wrote to the company and this was their response:
Hello Randy

Unfortunately, we track the package with the same tracking number and have no additional information. I am sorry you have not received your order. If a package does get returned we will let you know immediately. Once packages leave our warehouse, they are the responsibility of the Postal Service. I believe the best thing for you to do is to contact your local post office. They will have more up to date information and should be able to answer any and all questions relating to your package. None the less, I am very sorry you have not received your order.

Sharon
Shipping Manager

The only information the Post Office will have is that I never got my seeds. Thanks for nothing.

"On Apr 11, 2013 8:55 AM, Sustainable Seed Company responded with:

As an owner of this company I'm so frustrated to see this Randy. This spring season the Post Office has lost HUNDREDS of dollars worth of packages and take ZERO responsibility putting it back on us to replace the lost seeds at our expense. This is exactly why we created the $2.75 insurance option. Sharon would have instantly sent out your seed again if you had it. I don’t blame you not wanting to pay for insurance to get your seeds. It is sad our Post Office has come to this point. Just yesterday we posted to Facebook asking our customers if they would pay a dollar or two more for FedEx and we would completely refuse to ship anything USPS…yes it is that bad. We got over 150 comments about how frustrated people were with the PO and how they wouldn’t mind paying the extra to get their seeds. So, it sounds like we will join other small biz owners in abandoning the USPS. I did check your tracking # and it says it was expected to be delivered April 1st. This is why Sharon sent you that email as they sometimes turn up. If you would like we can send you replacement seed today at no expense. If they do turn up please donate them to a charity of your choosing. Again, I am truly sorry. Soon we will no longer use the USPS.

Posted on February 9, 2012, updated February 10, 2012
I decided to try this company with a small order first...about $34.00. During checkout, the shipping charge was stated to be $9.20, but when emailed after ordering, the shipping showed as $22.00. I called (got voice mail) and emailed immediately, stating that if the $22.00 was correct, please cancel the order. If the $9.20 was correct, please ship the order. Later that day I got a phone message saying the actual shipping cost was $11.00. I said ship the order but I would not order anything else since I believe a company should stick to its statements. (Nowhere on the website did anything say the shipping cost was an estimate. Besides, $22.00 shipping on a $34.00 order. Come on.) The company's response was to cancel the order. That's not the behavior of a company I want to deal with.

"On Feb 9, 2012 1:04 PM, Sustainable Seed Company responded with:

Hi there Debra,
As we stated in our email to you, the $9.20 was only an estimated shipping charge, which is what shows up BEFORE you enter your address information. Once logged into the system with the ACTUAL address information, the shipping system gave several shipping options, one of which was $22 (which if you go on the USPS site and estimate the shipping of 7 lbs from 95428 to Ohio, shows a shipping of over $24, so we were actually "eating" $2 if shipped via priority). In response to your voicemail, we called back a few hours later (left a message w/your daughter) and assured you that we would choose the lowest price shipping option, which was a flat rate box. However that turned out to be $11.35...
Your voicemail was quite clear though, that if the shipping was to be the $11.00, to immediately cancel the order, which we did. We ordinarily refund orders in 7-10 days, but since you seemed quite upset, we made sure to refund it immediately as a courtesy.
We did just as you asked. I'm sorry you misunderstood the shipping system. In order to keep this from happening again, we have removed the estimated feature of the shipping program so no one becomes confused again. Happy Gardening!

Seeds didn't arrive and tracking number said USPS received electronic label but nothing else. Called the company and they blamed the post office, said they would research and email me. Then just emailed me the same tracking number. I replied and their next response said the post office sometimes doesn't update until delivery and asked me to call USPS. Did but they claimed SSC didn't deliver to them. I had to call SSC again and then wait for refund to be approved.

They sound like a small company and this doesn't seem to be a common occurance. Hope its a one off and they continue to please others - though I probably won't risk them again. Too late to plant my Goldman's this year. :( Reviewing here in case the Sustainable Seed Company turns out to not be sustainable.

"On Feb 22, 2011 4:00 PM, Sustainable Seed Company responded with:

Dear David,
As you say we are a small family owned company and to that end we are very conscientious of packages going out. In fact our mail lady has had the same route for 23 years and is excellent in taking care of our packages.

Your package was mailed 2/8/11 and assigned a tracking ID. You were emailed this tracking number 2/8/11. This information is a part of postal record. Your package was sent.

Unfortunately, we have no control over that package once it leaves our warehouse. The second time we contacted you and sent the tracking ID again because the P.O. said you failed to claim your package. We wanted to make sure you had the right tracking # to claim your package.

When you called today and said you still didn't have your package we said we would send it again or refund you. You asked for a refund. A refund of your total amount of $9.81 was issued. I'm not sure how this constitutes a negative rating or how this could have been handled differently. I'm open to suggestions. I'm very sorry your first experience with us was not a positive one.
Farmer John"