Seed Savers Exchange poor service

[Yak54]

Hi folks

I've been buying seeds from SSE every year since 2009. But this year I placed an order for 4 different types of lettuce and 2 different types of basil. I entered the order on Feb 18th. Yesterday I sent an e-mail asking when my order would ship. Of course I got no response today. I am very unhappy with this poor service. Of course I really don't need the Basil seeds for a month or more but I was planning on sowing the lettuce seeds indoors this coming week end. I placed orders to 4 other seed venders at the same time and have had their orders for more than a week. So I'm thinking of cancelling my order with SSE and crossing them off my list for any future business. Anyone else had similar problems with SSE ?

Dan

[Spike]

oooh Gonna hold off on my order! Not that I really need to place an order for anymore seeds!

[wykvlvr]

I got an email saying they got my order on 2/20 but they have not charged my bank yet... In their defense the website does say they are 1-3 weeks behind and are processing orders as they receive them.... and it has only been 2 weeks...

[karstopography]

Seems like a lot of seed outfits are struggling with issues. I haven’t ordered from SSE since early in 2020. I had one seed order this year take a few weeks to get here. Not much is wholly back to normal, that has been my experience with doing business in 2022.

[Yak54]

Well I called SSE today which is 2 days shy of 3 wks since I placed my order and the C/S person told me that there was a possibility that my order could ship in the next few days but it would probably be next week till it ships. So I cancelled my order. And all I can say is that after being a customer of SSE for 13 yrs. I probably will not purchase from them again. I don't like being treated this way and I got the sense they really don't care. So FWIW this is my experience with SSE in 2022. Hope other folks have a better experience.

Dan

[Setec Astronomy]

Hey Yak, I understand your frustration, but as previously mentioned, all the seed places seem to be having trouble, whatever the combination of factors...we're into the 3rd year of this. I remember talking to someone at Johnny's on the phone a year ago asking when something was going to be back in stock, and said "so it's going to be like last year again?" (meaning 2020) and he said "worse, it's starting earlier this year".

I'm going to send you a PM about something unrelated.

[OhioGardener]

I ordered from them. It was a few months ago though and it shipped right away. I've been noticing that a lot of seed companies have disclaimers on their pages stating they're behind and experiencing a high volume of orders. In my experience, the folks at SSE are really good people and I hate to see them struggling.

[pepperhead212]

I'm sorry to hear about that, too. I have seen a few disclaimers on the places I have ordered from, but have not had one slow delivery this year, like last year. Most faster than I expected, and one, from north Jersey, the very next day! Hopefully things will be back to normal everywhere soon, and at least for next season.

[zeedman]

In full disclosure, I am a long-time SSE member. That being said...

The increased interest in gardening first inspired by the empty shelves & food insecurity of Covid continues - and situations occurring elsewhere in the world aren't helping either. Staffing shortages are still a lingering issue for some companies, as are supply issues & greatly increased demand. Some companies have adapted to these conditions better than others - and apparently, SSE is still struggling. They are not alone; having seen the writing on the wall, I've ordered more seed than usual (actually pre-ordering for the next couple years). Most orders arrived quickly (Baker Creek gets special kudos), but one order took 3 weeks... and one placed in early January just arrived last week!

I am seeing more inquiries & seed requests than usual, so I can assume that SSE is seeing the same on a much larger scale. I would encourage anyone ordering from SSE to be patient, and not judge them too harshly given the current unusual circumstances.

[Spike]

I am seeing more inquiries & seed requests than usual, so I can assume that SSE is seeing the same on a much larger scale. I would encourage anyone ordering from SSE to be patient, and not judge them too harshly given the current unusual circumstances.

OMG I had talked myself out of another order and now am gonna have to order after all!!

[maxjohnson]

Nothing surprising, there are a lot more preppers now and a lot of people buying up heirloom seeds because of food security concerns. Couple that with price increase in all energy/commodities means slower turn around. It's probably going to be this way forward.

[Yak54]

Hey Yak, I understand your frustration, but as previously mentioned, all the seed places seem to be having trouble, whatever the combination of factors...we're into the 3rd year of this. I remember talking to someone at Johnny's on the phone a year ago asking when something was going to be back in stock, and said "so it's going to be like last year again?" (meaning 2020) and he said "worse, it's starting earlier this year".



As far as "all the seed places seem to be having trouble" goes I ordered from 3 other seed sources the same time as I placed my order with SSE and these other 3 sources had my seeds to me in 8 days or less. So these other seed sources don't seem to be having as much difficulty filling orders as SSE. Just my experience FWIW.

Dan

I'm going to send you a PM about something unrelated.

[Setec Astronomy]

As far as "all the seed places seem to be having trouble" goes I ordered from 3 other seed sources the same time as I placed my order with SSE and these other 3 sources had my seeds to me in 8 days or less. So these other seed sources don't seem to be having as much difficulty filling orders as SSE. Just my experience FWIW.

I have no dog in the hunt here, I understand what you are saying. I complained/advised a month or two ago about a long delivery quote I got from a different seed vendor (which didn't take as long as they said). As always, different suppliers will have better or worse customer service, I was just saying that it's been an endemic problem, I'm not sure if it was last year or the year before that Johnny's said for 3 weeks or so they would only take orders from farmers, and not from us hobbyists, to make sure they were serving the people whose income relied on them.

[Danny]

Seems like plenty of seed available, but short on staffing and the slow down with the postal services maybe causing some glitches too. Things have changed and have to learn to work around the changes. Good idea on ordering early, too, even for next year.

[Sue_CT]

Well there are always other places. I just got a nice fast turnaround from Tomatofest. Thanks Gary.

[Yak54]

Well there are always other places. I just got a nice fast turnaround from Tomatofest. Thanks Gary.

Yes Sue I think you hit the nail on the head so to speak. Why give your business to a place that can't perform in a normal manner ?
There are places that still seem to do a good job with our seed orders COVID or NOT. So at least I know better for next year.

Dan

[pepperhead212]

Tomatofest was one of the first ones I ordered from for the season, and got the seeds very quickly.

[bower]

I ordered new grains this year from Prairie Garden Seeds, and they came really quickly.
Also ordered from Northwest Meadowscapes, which shipped within 24 hours.

I must say that Baker Creek seemed to suffer a lot in 2020 but they have really bounced back and their site is full of great stuff. I could not get their website to work for me though. Wouldn't read my address, eventually I gave up.