January 2022
Another year and back in a sad new "normal" due to delays in the postal network and with staff isolating at Royal Mail please allow UP TO 10 delivery days for your order to arrive from dispatch (Monday - Saturday)
Please also note we are dispatching within a 48 hour window due to staff currently being off with covid and or isolating, including those in the Growseed seed family household :( Customer service is open as normal. We only expect dispatch delays to be in place until 11th of January 2022
February 2021
We are still having issues with the post, we are dispatching items but reasonable time needs to be allowed for adverse weather conditions and the current stress on the network although things do seem to be improving in some areas. We are really sorry about any delay however once your order is dispatch it is our of our hands and we need to allow some time to pass in order to deal with anything.
Please also note that as of 12/02/2021 we will no longer be offering support via our hello@ email. You MUST fill in a form and a member of our new customer service team will be able to help you further. PLEASE DO NOT EMAIL DIRECT.All orders are dispatched within 14-21 working days of receipt. Please allow 10 working days for delivery AFTER you have had dispatch email.
January 2021
Week 5
We are currently fulfilling orders in 14-21 working days of receipt. We apologise for the delay. Most orders are dispatched well ahead of this time frame. This has been in place since the 11th of January!
Week 2 onward
PLEASE VISIT
https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12556/~/service-update
Click Royal Mail Deliveries at the bottom of the page. If your item has not arrived yet please check to see if you are in one of the effected areas. Many thanks.
Please check here to see if you are in an effected post code area: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55591063
NOTE: Unfortunately, due to an unusually high volume of orders, coupled with COVID-19 restrictions and the need for social distancing in our warehouse.
We are currently fulfilling orders in 14-21 working days of receipt. We apologise for the delay. Most orders are dispatched well ahead of this time frame.
Please be patient – there is no need to bulk buy seeds! There are plenty of items in stock and available all year round.
Week 1
Due to COVID Restrictions and Pressure on the delivery network please allow up to 20 working days for delivery. Even recorded next day deliveries are taking 72hours at the moment depending on where you live in the UK.
Also due to high demand please allow 3-4 days for us to process your order and reply to emails!
Please be aware there are currently delays in the delivery network.
We have been advised by Royal Mail themselves that they are currently experiencing delays with their tracking service.Therefore, please allow up to 20 working days for the goods to arrive; if you do not receive the parcel within this time period please contact us so we can look into this further. Thank you for your patience,
For more detailed information please see: https://personal.help.royalmail.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/12556/~/service-update
Please click the drop downs to see if your area or post code area is effected if this is the case you need to allow up to 20 working days for delivery!
December 2020
We have been advised by Royal Mail themselves that they are currently experiencing delays with their tracking service. They have advised that we need to allow unto four working days for any parcels that have been shipped with a 24 hour delivery service. Therefore, please allow four working days for the goods to arrive; if you do not receive the parcel within this time period please contact us so we can look into this further. Thank you for your patience,
Please click the drop downs to see if your area or post code area is effected if this is the case you need to allow up to 10 working days for delivery!
July 2020
This is hopefully our last COVID page update.
Almost all orders are now up to date. There are a few in June that are being dispatched but that should be completed this week.
IF your order is marked as a PRE ORDER. I am reviewing each of these to dispatch your seeds to you as quickly as possible. Please note Garlic and Onion sets are not dispatching until September / October.
Currently please allow 14 working days for your order to be processed and delivered (although the time frame is much quicker than that at the moment)
If you have emailed I am working to reply to you as quickly as possible. I'm around 3 days behind on emails so please allow 72 hours (working days) for replies.
Finally if you have had part order or an item or two are missing I am aware - these seeds will be to follow as they are being packed from freshly stored seed! :)
June 2020
Just a quick update for everyone.
I have seen your email. I am trying to reply back to you as quickly as possible between product requests and growing advice over the weekend I have over 1300 emails to work through and counting.
Replies are going to take around 3-4 days at the moment, however I will reply please allow time.
That said the focus is to get orders dispatched. All orders will be processed. Any person who is awaiting a delivery your order will be with you over the next few days. If you have issued a request for lost or replacement orders these are currently being processed also.
Please note orders for Garlic, Onion Sets & Shallots are PRE ORDER only as per the product page. These will be ready to dispatch from September to Winter & Spring 2021.
Hotmail & Outlook users please check your spam folder for emails.
Will you answer my support ticket enquiry?
We are working systematically through all queries received, but the large volumes received, in conjunction with staff being unavailable means that it is currently taking us some considerable time to respond.
Many answers to the majority of queries received can be found on this page, we hope to reply to all emails within a 48-hour window.
We would ask that you please refrain from sending in more than one enquiry at this time, as it won’t get you a faster response and indeed, just slows things down for everybody. We will get to yours as quickly as we can, and thank you for your patience.
Are you still operating?
We are operating as normally as possible, but we have experienced a huge rise in demand for our seeds as people are staying at home, and are now looking to their gardens for respite.
We hope to greatly improve delivery time scales going forward.
How long will it take for my order to arrive?
Our Usual Dispatch time is 1-2 working days for all items in stock/season.
During this unprecedented busy period where we must adhere to COVID 19 government regulations, this may extend up to 15 working days.
The situation is changing all the time, and the couriers are also extremely busy, so in some instances, this time frame may be further extended. We are therefore now advising further possible delays of between 2-4 weeks for shipments of orders. Unfortunately, these are unforeseen circumstances and we are working very hard to bring these timeframes back down.
Regrettably, we are unable to specify exact delivery times for all orders at the moment, and we do aim to be as fast as possible.
Some orders may be split and arrive in multiple packages over several days.
We thank you for your patience at this time, and would ask you not to panic.
There is no need to contact us whilst waiting for your shipment to occur.
I’ve only received part of my order?
To streamline and make our shipping operations as fast as possible we are shipping some items separately from others at this time. This means you may receive multiple parcels at multiple times from multiple different couriers.
There is no need to contact us if you've only received part of an order – please be patient whilst you wait for the remainder to arrive, the whole order will be fulfilled.
My Support Ticket question has not been answered?
We are operating remotely with reduced staff, so do ask that you please bear with us whilst we reply to your query. We are experiencing high volumes of orders and therefore queries.
It is important not to raise additional queries if you have already contacted us and are awaiting a reply, as this prevents us answering more queries.
PAST UPDATES ARE BELOW
** UPDATE **
- Please allow 48 hours for a reply to emails. Contact form is the best way to reach out, you will get a reply.
- New orders please allow upto 14 working days for your order to be processed. At present it is much quicker than that.
** 4th MAY **
OUR EMAIL HAS CURRENTLY GONE OFFLINE. There seems to be a bug or issue with GMAIL. Please allow up to 48hours (Monday - Friday) for me to reply to emails. I will respond. You email will be replied to it will take a little while for them to land in our inbox!
Plug plants I am waiting for it to warm up a little before posting, at the moment it's only 6c here where we are in the nights! That cold in the sorting station will see your plugs arrive dead!
Orders & Replacement order are moving out much quicker now if you order has not arrived yet it should be with you any day now.
** ANOTHER UPDATE **
Royal Mail are posting updates as well although service is running "normal" there maybe a delay in the system I'm not making this up or blaming the post so please allow a few extra days remember the post has to go through the network!
Wednesday 22 April 2020
Normal deliveries and collections should take place throughout the UK this week. However, despite our best endeavours, it’s likely some areas of the country will experience some level of disruption due to Coronavirus-related absences at local mail centres or delivery offices. We’re sorry about this. Every item of mail is important to us, so we’re working hard to keep any delays to a minimum. Thank you for your patience and understanding in these unprecedented times.
It's too late to sow tomatoes and peppers?NO! You can sow them on heat until May 11th if you want a summer crop, anything later (Mid to End of May) will be LATE summer crop. Tomatos and peppers will continue to fruit until October / November if you can keep them under cover! Any winter green fruit can be placed on a window sill in the kitchen next to some ripe fruit and it will be fine in a few days.Remember our summers have been warmer most growth takes place in June / July so even later planting crops will still thrive and fruit this year!
Keep your pepper plants over winter, cut back old growth water lightly and you will get an earlier start next year and twice the crop!!
** IMPORTANT UPDATE **Please note I can not give exact updates on delivery once it has left my hands.
If you have emailed about a replacement I have seen it. Your replacement is on the way once I have issued another dispatch notification.
ALL April Orders are currently being processed and dispatched. Please await for a dispatch email it will arrive. My focus is trying to get as much out as possible. Your order will arrive, there is plenty of time left to sow and grow :)
Stay with me it will arrive.
Stay safe**22nd April UPDATE **
Please note it's still very cold with us at the moment so a bit early to be posting plug plants aiming for the end of the month/start of May.
Thanks for everyone's emails. Sorry if you have not had a reply I am working through it you should get a fresh shipping email alert once it's been dispatched. Please stay with me I am with you! Thanks again.
** 20th April UPDATE**
Firstly, thanks to everyone for sticking by me. This is taking a little; while I’m having to pack up stock, as well as orders as well as deal with emails. More on this below:
- I am aware of a few orders from the 21st- 25/26th gone missing these are being replaced on request. Please note I have had some parcels returned also so if you can let me get them back out they should be with you by the end of the week.
IF you think your parcel is missing please use the CONTACT FORM do not email me direct.
- Orders 26th, 27th – 31st should all be arriving sometime this week if they have not already arrived.
- April orders are currently being processed and packed and posted out.
- As below please allow 14 working days (Monday- Friday) for me to process your order and allow additional time for delivery.
- IMPORTANT – I am aware you can not access your customer account section that has been restricted while new orders have been suspended.
- Order status updates are slowly being updated anything before the 1st of April I am having to do manually so please allow me time to update that I’ve focused instead on posting orders, sorry.
- Contacting - please do not hit reply to your order or status email – it makes it difficult for me to track communication please where possible use the contact form.
- The contact number on Paypal I am unable to answer as I am busy packing orders!
- There will be a 24/48hr delay in email replies as I want to get ALL orders out and dispatched before the end of APRIL. If I am replying to emails, I cannot do it, remember it is just me.
- On the note above remember our staff has dropped down from 3 to 1! THIS IS JUST ME. I understand you want your order but I also need time to pack and prepare it as well there are only so many hours in a day and I am working 18 of them!!
- Once again abuse will result in an instant refund. Payment disputes without prior contact will also result in a refund – I can’t help if you don’t contact me :)
We allocate X number of packets for sale per year and we pack stock to meet demand obviously demand has skyrocketed and our pre-packet stock has all been sold or allocated.
Packing into retail stock packets takes a little time. As always your order will arrive if it takes a little longer, I can assure you, your seed is fresh.
All single tomato & peppers orders will be dispatched before the end of the week!
Thanks again for your patience and understanding. I’m doing everything I can, and at this time I think it’s best to be as clear and honest as possible.
Stay safe
** WEEKEND NOTE IMPORTANT **
We are open. We have not closed. Orders are suspended to give me time to catch up and process orders. The store will be back open on the 27th of April.
I will not be replying to emails this weekend. I'm focusing on packing up stock and getting orders bagged. IF your order is missing and you have emailed me I am aware, I will replace.
Orders 26th - 31st Should be with you any time now.
April 1st - 7th is also being processed and some have dispatched.
Royal Mail tracking. I have seen that Royal Mail is having issues updating recorded deliveries. I can't do anything about that sorry you have to trust me that the tracking number is genuine I can't create them without a shipping label!
Please allow 14 working days FROM order for me to process your order. Delivery times are anything from 2 - 8 days depending on where you live and the situation in your area. Remember the post has to travel through the network, so although everything is fine where you are, the sorting depo on route to you may have staff shortages!!!
Stay safe.
** 16th April IMPORTANT **
Orders 26th - 30th are being packed and dispatched this week. We are noticing around a 4 day delivery time frame. One customer had to wait over 10 days so please allow time for delivery. Once it's in Royal Mails hands it's out of our hands unless it's lost. Expect deliveries any time from Today to - Wednesday.Orders are packed within 14 WORKING DAYS. That means if you ordered on the 26th it is day 13 now - remember we have had a double bank holiday - I may have been working but the postal system is not sadly! As always your order will arrive! Please stay with me, I have nothing to hide, We have stock. It's just down to me sadly your order will arrive I can't stress that enough.
It has to be said it's not just all. All of the seed companies are either suspending orders, taking phones off the hook, refusing to answer emails or just not helping. They have more staff than us at the moment!
I'm trying to do all jobs at once including emailing which takes time away from packing. I'm trying to fair and honest to everyone, I personally think I've been transparent about the whole thing, sadly some of you disagree.
** 15th April IMPORTANT **
We have tried to provide as much information as possible. Just to be clear:
• We cannot provide details on dispatch, tracking or estimated delivery times. Please do not contact us asking as such. Your order WILL arrive.
• On all orders we are asking customers to wait 14 working days for your order to be processed AS well as delivery time from Royal Mail.
• Once orders are handed over to Royal Mail, we have no control over the delivery.
• ONE AGAIN! Abuse & Threats will not be tolerated, and a refund will be provided.
• Screaming and shouting, calling at 5am, 6am, 7am, 6pm, 8pm, 9pm, 11pm will now result in an refund. If I'm on the phone I'm not packing sorry I have to say
• Please remember we are a SMALL family run business we have been impacted by this also and can only work so quickly to process orders.
• YES we do have stock unlike eBay sellers and everyone else, demand is very high so please let me process your order as quickly as possible!!!
• ORDERS have been suspended while I'll get the new orders processed, the website will be taking orders again around the 27th of April
** 7th April IMPORTANT **
• Abuse & Threats will not be tolerated, and a refund will be provided.
• Orders from UPTO the 25th March have all been dispatched. These should arrive this week.
• Orders from the 26th - 30th March are being processed this week. We are doing our best to get them out before the bank holiday however we can offer no guarantee.
• The limited new orders we have accepted these should be with you within 14 working days.
Stay safe everyone.
You may or may not be aware but everyone in the seed industry is affected not just us! Should you rather cancel your order and request a refund this can be arranged.
As mentioned this is just down to 1 person now to keep the Growseed family safe! I’m working flat our 18hrs a day, 7 days a week PLEASE be patient.
Well wishes to everyone.
** 3rd April **
We will open 9am - 12 noon every day for a limited time to accept new orders. There is no need to bulk or panic buy! There is plenty for everyone.
** 31st March **
A friendly update from me (Gerry) although based on my handwriting you can call me Gary, Guy or Carl ;)
We believe in transparency and as a small company I think we can do things better than the larger organisations so with that in mind this is where we are at:
Orders are dispatching on a daily basis. I’m trying to get through these as quickly as possible. Your order will arrive.
If you have ordered Pots & Trays these can arrive via courier and your seeds will be sent separately.
ALL plug plants and fruit bushes are set to dispatch for Mid to Late April.
However, should we experience further delays in the postal system i.e 3+ days for delivery then we may postpone that further to ensure a quality product on arrival. SHOULD you wish to risk delivery then you can request that closer to the time (after 10th April). Note IF your plant arrives dead or damaged, we will not replace the damaged / dead plant this risk will be your responsibility.
Stock Availability & Dispatch
At the moment we have plenty of stock. I am busy packing orders as well as packing new fresh seed.
We only pack a set number of seed packets per year based on what we expect to sell. However, the past 12 days has far exceeded this number so it’s taking a little bit longer to get some orders dispatched. If you have a large order, please be patient.
Please allow 14 working days from date of order for your order to arrive. I am aiming to have all orders dispatched and in your hands on or before the 10th of April. Most if not all orders should arrive by this date.
If you think your order has gone missing or is lost then please contact me. WE are aware of an issue with order notifications / status not updated, this has now been fixed. Also if you use Outlook or Hotmail please check your spam folder for any emails.
Refunds
Should you request a refund or wish to cancel your order – your refund will be processed on requests without delay (Monday – Friday 8am – 5pm)
I believe in trying to be as transparent and as honest as I can and thought I’d share with everyone what is going on here.
Final note
Lastly, thanks to everyone for your kind words, well wishes and your understanding.
It goes without saying, without you we have no business so thank you very much to all new and existing customers for your continued support.
Stay Safe,
Gerry & Growseed Family
**IMPORTANT CORONAVIRUS UPDATE**
Sorry – We have had to temporarily suspend accept new orders. We are experiencing unprecedent demand and to maintain our high levels of customers service we need time to catch up processing existing orders. We are working close to 24hrs a day 7 days a week to process existing orders.
We hope to be accepting new orders by the end of the week. Please be patient your order will arrive.
As of today we have no additional members of staff working at Growseed HQ.
We will continue working to answer any messages that come through to the website.
Only Gerry will continue to process orders but please be aware that there may be delays. Please allow upto 14 working days for delivery. We want to keep everyone active and gardening both new and old customers.
It is sad to report we have had to put up with some abuse. We are a SMALL family run business, not Amazon. If you can not wait for your order then a full refund is awaiting you.
We are still processing orders.
From today, If you place an order with us, please be aware that processing times are extended and it may take longer to arrive so please do not contact us asking for updates.
Your order will arrive :)
I'd like to assure all our customers that we are following all the government guidelines about coronavirus.
**NEW UPDATE** **March 26th **
We are currently experiencing very high demand, due to people wanting to grow their own whilst being at home. Orders are currently taking an additional 3-5 days to pack and dispatch as we have introduced new working zones to ensure staff safety.
Please bare with us your order WILL arrive it may just take a little longer than normal.
Currently Royal Mail are still posting orders. We are noticing a postal delay of 2-3 days once your order has been dispatched this is varying depending on your location.
All fruit & plug plants are dispatching within 6-8 weeks to ensure plants arrive in healthy condition.
** March 24th **
After last nights announcement we have told more of our team to stay at home.
We are still processing orders. It will take us longer to get these out as we are complying with the government guideline of safe distancing.
We really do appreciate you supporting us during these difficult times
We will continue to update you on a daily basis to let you know of any changes to our situation
Stay Safe
** March 23rd **
Just wanted to update you all on where we stand at Growseed on the ongoing situation.
We are doing as much as we can to keep ourselves ticking over..
Keeping your family and our family safe is our main priority during this time so processing times may be a little slower than usual.
If your order is a little slower getting to you please be patient and do not contact us for updates unless you think your order is lost in transit. We are working within the confines of Royal Mail and any restrictions that may have been placed upon them.
There maybe a delay in delivery due to staff isolation at Royal Mail so please be patient.
We will update you all if anything changes our end. Until that time we are doing are best to operate as normal.
Our Commitment to You.
Thank you so much for entrusting your order with Growseed. We take this responsibility very seriously, ensuring we deliver on our promise to you every day.
Given the current outbreak of COVID-19 and the impact the virus is having on our global communities, customers, employees and families, we would like to take a minute to share our Business Continuity plans with you.
We are a small family run business with customers all over Europe. Providing you with high quality seeds along with our ready available expertise for all your growing, harvesting and sowing questions. Despite the uncertainty of COVID-19, we expect to continue to deliver the same level of service excellence to our customers and have the following measures in place to ensure your success.
Availability of our Customer Service
We feel confident in our continued ability to serve your questions and provide friendly helpful advice regardless of our physical work locations.
Availability of our Products
Our website platform is fully automated. We will continue to process and dispatch orders where possible and for however long we are able to do so while Royal Mail network is active and still in place. Please be aware should there be a disruption to the postal system then your order may not be delivered in a timely fashion.
This applies to plug plants orders should delivery of postal orders become effected we will withhold delivery of all live plants to ensure that a fresh and quality product will arrive to you.
Limiting Transmission
All orders here at Growseed are packed and picked by hand. All employees will be washing hands on a regular basis as well as using anti-bacterial hand products & wearing masks to limit any kind of possible transmission. All of our seed packets are clean and preserved before packing. Please note there IS NO COVID-19 exposure here at Growseed HQ!
Thank you for entrusting your order with Growseed. We are very grateful for the role we play in your lives growing fresh, quality fruit and vegetables we remain as committed as ever to ensuring your success.
We wish you, your colleagues and families safety, wellness and positivity during these challenging times.
With gratitude,
Growseed Family