Podington Garden Centre - www.podington.co.uk

Visited this garden centre which is was clearly still being refurbished last week.What on earth has happened ? The cafe looks like a rather mucky canteen. It is even more expensive than I remember in all departments. The tills were not working and I was served at a counter by two ladies who clearly are not happy in their jobs. Another elderly lady in a Wyevale uniform was yawning loudly and I overheard two other staff members having a moan about a colleague. Nobody smiled (mind you that is nothing new in this area) Won't be back.

Visited cherry tree cafe with my wife first time since upgrade. Astounded to find the price of food has doubled for exactly the same. Used to go there specifically to eat as it was excellent value shant be going anymore. Still I expect Wyevale has to pay for the refurbishment somehow.

Since being taken over by Whyvale I am really disappointed, the quality of the plants were terrible, double the price half the quality. My begonias have all rotted, my geraniums have less flowers, I spent over £80 on bedding plants and they are nothing like last years. The choice was restricted, bought what were labelled as hanging basket plants, no way a very poor display.

Petunias grew on one spinderly stem, never bushed out.

Sorry I will not be buying any of your plants again, I have been a customer of Podingtons for over 30 years and have always been pleased with their plants, what's happened?

Since Wyvale took control of this garden centre the contact number advertised on the site is an 0844 one for which my provider charges the earth to use. I have until now contacted them on their old number but am now greeted with a message advising that they do not open until 9am. Despite ringing long after 9am I am greeted with the same message and wonder if this is a cynical way of trying get me to use the 0844 number. Trying to send emails is equally frustrating as the code required to transmit (bottom of email form) is invariably unreadable and if incorrectly input,the email text is lost. I tried three times to email today and was kicked out three times. Not sure if my fourth attempt was successful as no message on screen to confirm. I have been a loyal customer for years but feel led to go elsewhere in frustration. The garden centre and it's staff have always been the best in the area but this has been sullied in my opinion due to the difficulty in contacting them. Wyvale need to provide customer friendly phone numbers or they will lose more customers.

So much easier to buy what I wanted - i.e. packs of five instead of individual tube. It is more expensive to buy individual item than a pack of five.

Many thanks for your help

Very fast and efficient. Delighted.

GOOD FARST SERVICE GOOD PRODUCT

Excellent service, parcel delivered promptly and safely

Highly delighted with your service, especially as I am a new customer.

Very pleased with the packaging too. No broken items.

I would definately recommend to family and friends, infact I already have done.

Found the item I was looking for from the internet and this vendor had some in stock. I ordered and paid for standard delivery and the items wer e with me within 3 days. Very pleased with items - exactly as described - well packaged so no damage and precisely what I wanted. Very plesed with overall service and so this site has gone into my favourites for future reference.