Sells diseased trees and gaslights customers who complain
I bought several juvenile fruit trees from Frank P. Matthews a year ago. Most of them are fine, but the peach tree (Peregrine) showed signs of peach leaf curl. I removed the leaves last year, but it has returned with a vengeance this year, despite the dry spring weather. As I do not want the disease to spread to the almond and apricot I also bought, I wrote to the company advising of the situation, saying I was going to have to destroy the tree, and asking for a refund -- the tree was clearly sold to me diseased, as I live in the countryside where no-one for miles around has anything other than apples and pears. My complaint has not been taken seriously by Lilly, the member of the sales team whom it has been my misfortune to deal with. I am afraid she either does not understand the disease or has been attempting to mislead me in order to fob me off. First she said that peach leaf curl was "purely a cosmetic issue", attempting to minimise it in a way that suggests many of their trees have the disease. Then, when I provided evidence to the contrary from numerous websites (it weakens and can kill a tree), she said that it is "spread through the rain so wouldn’t have carried from our site due to it being fungal not bacterial" (again, wrong: the fungal spores are airborne, and the fungus overwinters in the bark and buds). And she doubled down on the idea that it has no impact on the tree. In other words, Frank P Matthews sees no issue in selling diseased trees, or in gaslighting customers who contact them with complaints. Avoid this company!
12. mai 2025
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