vendor Pepper Joe

mrz1988

mrz1988

I ordered my first season's seeds from pepper joe a while back. He has a small selection that he grows out each year. He will send you seeds in little coin envelopes and always sends some free varieties with each order. I had excellent germination rates from all of his seed with the exception of one variety that I ordered. Considering how it was my first season and I was germinating OUTDOORS in soil (dumb dumb dumb) I was very pleased with the germ rates and I assume most of my problem seed was due to poor growing skills in my first season. I also germinated two more of his seeds the next season that had been stored in a drawer for a year, and both germinated.

I will say that he has a higher rate of hybrids than most growers. I'm not sure how he isolates his plants if at all but I've gotten hybrids from him. I also reallllly wish he would post more pictures of his pods because it's really hard to tell what you're going to get. My Bhut Jolokia seeds that I got from him didn't get a chance to fruit the first year, but the second year the plant I grew out ended up not being a true Bhut. I'm not sure if it was a hybrid or what, because it had a pointed shape that looks like a lot of the smaller bhuts I see on the web and definitely had C. chinenses genetics, but it was nothing like the large, wrinkled, superhots you see coming out of the NMCPI. Also probably around hab heat or slightly above, not superhot. I'll post pics on request.

Overall I'd say he's a good source for novice growers but I wouldn't recommend him if you're trying to get superhots and such. There are more reputable sources out there. Overall probably a C+/B-
 
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Ordered my last batch of seeds From this vendor. It's one thing to defend your business. But to argue with consumers is another. There will always be unsatisfied consumers. Just move on. No need talk smack. People are entitled to doubt what was sold to them. Be professional is all in asking. You in my opinion and eyes have not. Mods feel free to remove this post if ie done wrong. Btw. I LOVED the free Serrano and jalapeños seeds with both orders.
 
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Happy New Years to our Friends and Customers at THP!!

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Oh Yea, Penny wants equal time and sez Happy New Year too!
:P

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I have never gotten what I ordered from Pepper Joe, but have always quietly returned as a shopper due to customer service. Even though all 3 of my past orders have been messed up, and there seems to be a high number of orders in general that are messed up, these issues seemed to get resolved easily. That doesn't seem to be the case now.

To sum it up, 3 packs of seed (tobasco, hot cherry, puria) germinated with rates less than 40%. I also bought some giant syrian tomato seeds, but several of the seeds produced plants that aren't giant syrian. So I sent an email, confident that this would be resolved with no problems. This time someone named Sylvia responded to me and said that they would replace the ones with poor germination, but completely omitted the fact that I purchased giant syrian seeds and was sold something else. I wrote back, stating that I was really interested in the tomato seeds because I had a quota I was trying to meet, and don't worry about the rest of them. Again, I was trying to be nice thinking that surely I would be given all of those seeds anyway, but that wasn't the case either. In the end I was sent a replacement pack of giant syrians, and a catalog for Tomato Growers Supply, a completely different company. That could be interpreted a few different ways, but I'll leave that to you.

In conclusion, Pepper Joe's first felt it was acceptable to give me the wrong tomato seeds, then felt it was ok to all but stiff me on 3 packs of seeds (as a business owner, if I sold somebody 3 items that didn't work I would reimburse them in some way, especially if I was sending something in the mail to them anyway), then sent me a competitor's catalog rather than fix the problem themselves).

I never expect my orders from Pepper Joe's to be correct, but I do expect good customer service. Based off of this, and the portion of this thread I hadn't read before, I will not be purchasing from Pepper Joe's again. Sometimes we outgrow our britches and forget what got us to where we are in the first place. I hope you get your priorities in line and pull yourself out of this mess, best of luck to you.
 
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Hi VS Tryant.
I'm sorry to hear of your poor service issues and apologize for this.
There is no excuse and we'll just fix it.
We typically get great feedback on germination rates...but it's YOUR order that is important to us.
Please email me with your order number at pepperjoe@sc.rr.com
I'll certainly replace your Tabasco, Hot Cherry and Purira seeds.
Plus we'll toss in several more goodies as well.
We'll try hard to earn your trust back as a customer.
Pepper Joe
 
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I really like Myco and Soil Blast :) I wanted to order more but Silvia says they are having trouble getting them across the border even though I have ordered them before....(maybe repackage them or try FedEx?)
"Hi Tyler, we do not ship the myco & soil combo outside of USA. Customs has
Been stopping them.. sorry.
silvia "

VS Tyrant said:
See, that's what I'm talking about right there. How do I argue with that?
Click to expand...
Pepper Joe/Silvia have been great any problem they send you a replacement no questions asked I would recommend Pepper Joe to anyone.
 
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Tyler, email me your Myco and soil Blast order to pepperjoe@sc.rr.com and I'll make an exception for you. Canada and Europe have been murder to ship to....taking up to 4 weeks or more. But we have many customers in Canada so we're trying to figure it out...it's an issue with customs. I'm adding a Kelp fertilizer and a Myco Tea Foliar spray at the same low price in a month or two. These two items have been flying out due to the reasonable price and stellar results.
Thanks,
Pepper Joe
 
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Small mistake on my last order, but it was easily fixed with a couple of emails. Many of the packets contained 10 seeds exactly, but all of the habanero packets were packed to the gills. They're all in the ground and I'm eagerly awaiting germination.

Edit: I checked my notes and wanted to add that the Fatalis, Scotch Bonnets, and the Habaneros were all very generous in seed amounts.
 
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Hi Sudostahp,
I stress to our packers to put 12 seeds in the SuperHots so folks get a tiny bit more than they expect. Send me your address and I'll send some more. I'm glad the Habaneros were 'packed to the gills'.
When I see a nice review like yours it makes it all worth while.
Great Gardening,
Pepper Joe
 
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Update!

As I mentioned previously, there was a small mistake a on previous order. A pack of seeds was left off, but I received them today along with a pack of free seeds. I don't particularly need more seeds, but I think it also takes any sting out of the situation. I think it's also something unique about the pepper seed trade.

There's an expectation of getting more seeds than advertised, and getting free seeds on top of your order. (I'm guilty) Most vendors and individuals I've acquired seeds from seem to treat it as the norm. Down here we'd refer to it as "lagniappe" -- a little bit extra for good measure. Sure, a packet of seeds here or there isn't a great expense, but I can only imagine what it amounts to when multiplied tens of thousands of times. Businesses that give away seeds take a hit to sunk costs and opportunity cost every time a packet is sent out. There's definitely an aspect of marketing and customer experience involved, but it's still good service.

Back on track. Pepper Joe's got a lot of fans and a lot of critics. I'd go so far as to say that he enjoys being center stage and that's made him a lightning rod for drama. He sells a lot of seeds and mistakes are bound to happen, but it's good to know that he's willing to put customer satisfaction above profit margins when it comes to making things right.

Joe, if you read this, you ought to consider implementing receipts and order tracking. Also, you should do an AMA on Reddit.

Edit: Until I figure out how to resize pictures that I'm embedding, I'm going to continue posting absurdly large ones.

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Following up on a post I made to this thread a few months ago...

The Moruga Trinidad Scorpion seeds I bought from Pepper Joe have grown and begun producing pods. Germination rates were very good and plants appear to be what they're supposed to be. Below is a picture of what I harvested a today from a half-dozen plants. I give Pepper Joe high marks and I won't hesitate to order from him again.

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Pepper Joe strikes again. On my first post I noted that several of the packs advertised as "10+" had exactly 10 seeds. I typically like to plant six-cell columns with two seeds per, so it's nice to have at least twelve in a pack. That's my preference, but Joe sent me a PM and said that his packers are instructed to add a few more for good measure. He wanted to make sure I was happy with what I got so he said he'd send some extra seeds. Great! I expected a pack or two of some fun stuff to add to the collection. Nope! Got five.

I've placed one order this season, and he's spent at least $5 on extra shipping costs and half a dozen packs of seeds. I can't think of any other company I've worked with that's given half as many :censored: to earn my loyalty. I spend three times the amount of the order on wireless from Verizon every month, and I'm lucky if I can get them to honor the warranty I pay for.

- White 7 Pot
- White Habanero
- Jalapeno
- Scotch Bonnet
- Chocolate Habanero


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Bonus cotyledon shots from Joe's Bhuts & Naga Morich.

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Ok, so i ship seeds a lot so i know what it cost to ship and how long it takes to get to various places in US and elsewhere. I live in Chattanooga, TN and pepper Joe ships from myrtle beach, SC..so...about 2 days via usps..took over 7 days..first strike. Secondly, he charged almost $6 shipping costs from a package that costs less than $1...strike 2...lastly, when i open the package that's"supposed" to be 10+ seeds turned out to be EXACTLY 10 seeds and couple of them look like duds. Strike 3..i understand that some folks try to make a living selling chili products however you have to be generous and always give surprises. I just hope i get good germination rates from my seeds or i well be pissed!!
 
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Omega, we are turning orders very quickly. Typically in 3 to 4 business days. With many post offices closed on Saturdays or with hour cut backs, it could certainly take that long. We use padded envelopes that cost much more and add to the postage costs. We don't want seeds arriving broken, and rarely get that complaint. I just did a large study last quarter and found our shipping costs were among the lowest in the seed industry, some other companies actually START at $7.95 or $8.95 regarless of how many packs you order. I won't do that....it forces the grower that just wants one or two packs out of the market. They are usually an older demographic that order like that and we don't want to alienate them. We did impliment a small increase in shipping for this year, due to high overhead costs. My catalog alone with design, printing, stapling, tabbing, labeling, processing and shipping is over $1. Then we pay some catalog companies like Catalog.com for clicks.....that can add another $1 cost. That's a $2 cost of catalogs alone....and we ordered 60,000 catalogs so far...on an item that we give away for free. So you can't compare our shipping cost to a hobby grower, smaller company, etc.
Send me your order number, type of pepper seed and mailing address and I'll send you another pack of seeds.
 
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Joe, I understand you have a lot of costs and overhead., but you shouldn't take that out of the consumer. That's part of you're business. as a seed seller myself, i know all about shipping costs, shipping times all over the country. I've never had a shipping time exceed one week, and that makes Canada a well. If you ship via regular envelope with bubble wrap, you will never damage you're seeds domestically. If I'm shipping large orders,i usually get the post office to do a hand cancel so they don't run it through the sorter. all I'm saying is that you could save the trouble like jayt said and treat people right.. If someone buys 10 seeds from you, give them at last 10% more just in case some don't sprout. It's like buying a desk from staples and they only give you exactly the correct amount of screws.. Doesn't that piss you off just a little. Think about that. Treat you're customers right and they will come back for more. that's all I'm saying.
 
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