Carolee H.
1/5
Zero out of 10 for Customer Service. When I first came to Falkâs several years ago, I thought it was a charming family owned place. It has since lost its small town charm. The workers behind the counter seem to know nothing about plants, colour or how to treat customers. They ask if you need help with anything but any question you ask them, unless you get one of the Falk family, is answered with âI donât know.â I spent five minutes with Jeremy saying âI donât knowâ to every question about a variety of trees, perennial, and annuals. If he was new, I would have assumed it was because he hadnât learned about the plants properly yet but since he has been there for the past two years, that cannot be the case.
When I asked about colours he again said I donât know or gave me an answer completely different to the colour that the annual came out with.
One plant I wanted to purchase had a tag with one picture, a name that gave a completely different picture on the internet and a sale picture on the shelf that had yet a different picture. When I asked which was correct they said to go with the tag. Ya, but which one?! I didnât purchase bc no one knew.
Last year, I bought a peony there that not only was the wrong colour but the wrong petal count and styling. When I emailed them about that they said that that was the colour/ peony they had gotten too so that was right. That was not the answer I was expecting when literally the tag on the peony and the internet description of said peony were a completely different variety from the plant I bought. It was not a plant I would ever have bought if I had known what it would look like.
They have a reward system of every $15 you spend equals a step towards a $25 or less free plant. This does not mean that they will take $25 off of a plant that you want and almost all of their plants that are $25 or less have few leaves, are spindly or sold out. The attendant did tell me they would make an exception for $25.99 plants as a free plant but they had none available. When my bill was up the total before taxes gave me one stamp less even though with taxes, it would have been a full card.
I will grant that they have good weekly sales (the only reason I go and bc itâs close) but the plants that they have sales on, at least this year have been sad and spindly and as usual, the workers knew nothing about them. Ironically, when they had hail damage, instead of having a hail sale they kept everything the same price and just put up signs that the plants were damaged but the roots were good. In June I am not buying a smashed plant for the same price as a full one somewhere else in the hopes that it will improve!
These little things along with the attitude of the workers just make the place seem less friendly and less of the Mom and Pop shop that made it endearing.
I realize that the âwarrantyâ doesnât cover anything annual or most small perennials but itâs the spirit of the thing, especially with repeat customers, rather than the cost. Exceptions could be made to create loyalty. Help could also be offered or just given instead of watching me struggle with the 55 lb dusty bag of fertilizer onto my cart and then my car.
I would recommend checking out Falkâs sales, buying by the flyer, and perhaps as a nursery- they have good deals. If you need help ask for Ryan or Sheldon or someone with actual dirt on their hands. But for cheaper perennials or fuller looking plants and certainly for friendlier service and knowledge- Green Valley Garden centre, Aubin Nursery, Morden Nursery and Van der Veens are worth the extra drive.
