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ellenrr_gw

beware burpee seeds

ellenrr
10 years ago

I am crushed!
i ordered 2 packets of Cal poppy. I just took Burpee, cuz I'd been spending hours online trying to get the best deal, shipping, etc.

I should have checked the reviews!

It cost me $15.00 for 2 packets. One packet said 350 seeds, if it had 150 that is being generous. The other said 100 seeds - this had 30 I know bec. I have a seed-spreader, and i counted every seed as it came out.

That's expensive, but more than the $, I am so disappointed. I had a vision of a big patch of ca. poppies

You can bet I'm going to call them tomorrow, but even if they make good, I'm another week or more behind in planting.

Comments (7)

  • caryltoo Z7/SE PA
    10 years ago

    Same thing happened to me with the super sauce tomatoes. They were more than $6 a pack and said there would be 25. I didn't count, but I know I planted 9, gave five to my brother, and have just three left. Even if I double seeded a few holes they came up short. And to top it off just five of the nine germinated, a far less than usual rate for me.

  • lizbest1
    10 years ago

    I've never ordered seeds from them but their seedlings sold online were practically dead when I got them in the mail, won't order from them again, either.

  • littleonefb
    10 years ago

    Call Burpee customer service first thing Monday morning. Tell them exactly what happened and they will make good on the seeds, always have, always will and they will send the seeds out to you ASAP.

    If you are looking for just plain california poppy seeds, the yellow/orange ones, you should be able to find them on the racks at a local Kmart or walmart. don't know about the walmart packets with the burpee name on them but the packets at Kmart are original bupree packets and I have always found them to have way, way more seeds than the on line catalog and paper one list, many times by more than 50-100 seeds.
    Oh and the packets at kmart are discounted by at least 25%

  • ellenrr
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    I just called them and they are sending out more.
    but here's the thing:
    1. My sowing is set back by 10 days by the time I get them.
    2. More importantly, as I told the person in customer service, this cannot be an anamoly. If 2 packets of seeds ordered by me, is SO low, not a few, but less than half as advertised - this must be their practice. And they count on people not complaining.

    I've had this experience with so many seed companies, and somewhere here there is a thread, where I asked people to recommend seed companies. And I was too in a hurry to check it.

    I'm aware there are seed companies that are very honest, but the number of companies that think it is ok to label a package as 100 seeds, and enclose 30, is staggering.

    what if you bought an pound of sugar and found out it contained 1/2 pound? wouldn't you be angry? Apparently people do not complain when they are cheated by seed companies, perhaps bec. they feel the relatively small amount of $ is not worth it.

    Thanks for the info about finding the seeds locally. that would have been my first choice, but I couldn't find them.

  • terrene
    10 years ago

    I agree Ellen, you should receive at least the number of seeds that are advertised, if not a pinch more for good measure! I resent not getting what I paid for also.

    I stopped buying seeds from Parks because one year I ordered some Black Prince Snapdragons from them and the packet had something like 100 seeds. Now Snap seeds are tiny, and 100 seeds was a little stingy, especially when I saw how many hundreds or even thousands of seeds are in each seed pod! (very similar to Foxglove)

    Ive noticed that some seed sellers advertise their packets by the weight, i.e. X number of grams of weight of seed, and that makes it even more confusing, because how many seeds is that? Also, who's going to weigh their packet to make sure it container .25 grams of seeds?

  • cogardener2675
    10 years ago

    I try to buy as much as I can from Everwilde Farms. Their seeds are reasonable ($2.50) and they send 1000 seeds! The packets are literally buldging with seeds.

  • ellenrr
    Original Author
    10 years ago

    Co- thanks for the rec. I'm going to add to my list of good seed companies (if I can find it. :)

    Terenne, I had a terrible experience with parks 2 years ago - will never buy from them.

    there is a watchdog site which posts good and bad reviews of seed companies, as well as other plant-selling companies.

    apparently I'm not allowed to mention the site, bec. they have been getting spammed, but if you think about where we plant our seeds + ---, you can hopefully find it via search engine.

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