“****Edit: I showed my neighbour who is pretty hot on roses and she thinks it has “witches broom disease” which is from DA nursery as it hasn’t been in my garden and arrived like it. The new growth is all affected. Binned! UK customer.****
DO NOT buy online from D. Austin as the guarantee means nothing. They are much poorer quality than those supplied to the garden centres. Perhaps they sell the ones online that they couldn’t sell in a shop? Excellent marketing but lacking in everything else. I guess since the sons took over it’s more about insta promoters and posh catalogs than really quality and customer service.
After buying lots of DA roses over the years for myself and as presents for others. I’m annoyed because my parents got me Gertrude online as a gift and 35 quid isn’t cheap for them. Sent me a crispy and crinkly Gertrude with yellow and brown leaves that are oddly shaped and two of the three main stems growing against each other. I sent them pictures and they said if I plant it it will be fine in a few weeks. I won’t be waisting my time because bits keep falling off it and it hasn’t picked up with TLC.
Shame DA used to be a lovely quality English Company, took a few years for it to go right down hill. Condescending customer service, company living off D. Austin’s legacy.”
“I ordered 70 white roses before my gardener had dug the beds. I askes for them to be delivered in a week's time. They were delivered a day later. Not what I wanted! I had undered ordered. I needed more roses which I ordeded for ASAP. They sent them almost a week later with a Sarurday delivery. Not what I wanted again! This is very poor custumer service that dosen't listen to customer requests. High prices which I don't mind and high arrogance which I do mind!
David Austin Roses does not care about Customer Service .....just pretend care that has been automated.”
“2/22/2022
I had ordered two Winchester Cathedral rose bushes from David Austin Roses on 3/14/2021. I noticed that the roses were charged to my CC a couple of days later.
Believe-it-or-not, the roses arrived on 2/20/2022, almost one year after ordering them. Early on I had thought the delay might have been a minor one, however, never received any information regarding the order status. Eventually I had forgotten all about the order until they arrived which confused me as I thought the order should have been cancelled.
I have no use for these items at this late date so I notified David Austin Roses (via eMail), That there must have been some error on their part given the extended period of time between ordering and shipment. I was told that they would accept a return, however, (a)The cost of doing so would be mine. and (b)If the returned product was not salable, I would not receive a refund.
The went on to tell me that I was notified of the shipment on 3/2/2022, suggesting that I should have cancelled the order at that time. Note however the supposed date of notification was a future date. How can this be?
Nevertheless, I again notified them that inasmuch as the delay was not my fault and that this supposed ship notification has yet to happened, I felt obliged to insist them to arrange for the return with no recourse to me should the items returned were found to be non-saleable.
I might also note here that the charge to my CC was made shortly after the order was placed. Unlike the customary charge-on-delivery, which most retailers honor, leaving me with an additional issue with not being able to refute the charges against to my CC through the bank (sixty day limit on these things).
I might also note that the current cost for the Westchester Cathedral Roses is $32/each (plus T/S/H). I ordered two and my CC charge was over $90. (something I should have checked earlier).
Nevertheless, It's not about the money. Its about the shameless way the David Austin Roses folks do business. Failure to disclose, failure to deliver and of course failure to satisfy customer complaints post-sale.
If I could I would haven them a negative rating, however the worst I can do is give them one star (what a joke) let everyone know just how awful they are to do business with. BTW if you look up their reviews (which I should have done at the beginning) you will notice that more than 40% of the reviews are two-stars or less. Caveat Emptor everyone. Please, please please do NOT do business with this despicable organizations............Thanks”
