I bought a pack of Suttons 'Rapid Green' Grass Seed on 4 September 2018 from a local garden centre. Like many, my front lawn had gone to straw in the summer heatwave and although most had recovered there were bare patches with no grass at all.
So I decided to buy Suttons "Rapid Green" with a stated "Germination in 7 to 10 days" even though it was more expensive because I wanted it to germinate quickly and establish before the temperatures dropped.
I first used a lawn rake to take out the dead grass. Added Westland bagged topsoil to the bare patches to bring them level. Then added the grass seed as per Suttons instructions, raked the seed in and watered it in and then re watered every other day which cost me a fortune in water.
The first attempt was in the afternoon on 4 September. I tried again on the 20 September and as you can see from the photos the seed has failed. Not only have I wasted £9.99 buying the seed but also the cost of water, around £8 and a few hours of my time.
So I wrote to David Robinson e mail
David.Robinson@suttons.co.uk the managing director of Suttons seeds as I thought he should know about this issue. I even offered to return the pack to them with the remaining seed for analysis if they sent me a stamped addressed envelope!
At the very least I expected a garden centre voucher to cover the cost of the seed.
This is his reply:
Our Head of customer care was unaware of any recent complaints on Rapid Green but I have nonetheless also checked our complaints log and over the last 12 months I can confirm that we have indeed received none at all..
It has been a popular product for a number of years, both via garden centres and direct to Suttons own database of online customers, so if there was a problem with the formulation or quality of seed, it really would have been expected that we would have received further complaints beyond yours.
Whilst I can sympathise with your disappointment I’m afraid that your complaint really should be directed to the retailer of the product which in this case, is the garden centre from whom you bought it.
I’m sure that you will have done everything required and followed the instructions, however you will notice that the back of the pack states that germination should be within 7-10 days in ideal conditions, so it is still just possible that with adequate watering over the next few days you may still see the grass start to germinate. If not, then as I previously mentioned, please do speak to the retailer of the product.
Kindest regards
David
Well as of today it has now been 34 days and it is still not germinated. Just because no one else has taken the considerable time to complain about the seed, does not mean it perfect Mr Robertson.
I wholeheartedly suggest everyone boycotts Suttons seeds products!
