Sher
AGA Farmer
Posts: 7,025
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Post by Sher on Jan 2, 2021 18:37:07 GMT -5
I am glad they finally contacted you. Sad about the delay, though.
I never saw anything but the contact page when I looked, either. And yes, I think the contact form is just email.
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,267 
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Post by Shawn on Jan 3, 2021 6:59:50 GMT -5
I think because of the pandemic and working remotely, the chat feature may not be working at this time.
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Post by a on Jan 3, 2021 8:54:42 GMT -5
The email I received recommended using the feature, which is the weird part. It may have been an outdated canned response, but since they didn't mention phone support, I thought it might be more recent.
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,267
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Post by Shawn on Jan 3, 2021 9:33:57 GMT -5
Unless the chat button (while just filling out a form) is sent differently then email. Maybe this week I will try to figure that one out.
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Post by Deleted on Jan 3, 2021 10:56:42 GMT -5
It is just a matter of patience during the Pandemic. My bro had an issue with a bad adapter for a brand new machine and the only way he could get in contact was via email. The reply took a long time and the mailing of the part has been over a month. The staff seems to be working away from the company location.
Deliveries and responses are slow all around. I ordered things ..simple things like gift cards...during the first week of the month and I am still waiting for them to be delivered to my state USPS location, never mind the city location!
Hang in there.
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Post by a on Jan 3, 2021 22:59:54 GMT -5
Yes of course, I totally understand things are complicated right now. Having worked an at-home phone support job, I'm kind of surprised that this whole past year, they haven't set up the phone support for work from home as well. I also wonder how many workers may have been entirely laid off instead of moved to working from home, which could also be contributing to delays. Just speculation as I don't know the inner workings of the company. Happy with the support I am receiving on this so far, even if it's going to take a while.
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,267
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Post by Shawn on Jan 4, 2021 4:53:32 GMT -5
Just a little tidbit about AG. They are a small company. They only employ about 80 people in total. Half of that is CS. I think they are doing not to bad with that amount.
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Post by a on Feb 6, 2021 13:03:32 GMT -5
Oh my goodness this whole replacement process has been such a disaster. They finally sent it out, but they sent it to the wrong address. I can not receive USPS mail at my street address (too rural), but I can receive FedEx. Anything sent via USPS needs to go to my PO Box. I let them know about this from the beginning, but somehow it still got mixed up. I was watching the tracking constantly because sometimes if I can go in there on the day it arrives to the local post office, I can intercept it before it returns to sender, but the tracking did not update yesterday (and hadn't updated for a couple days), and now today it says it was returned to sender yesterday, so too late to go get it from them. It's been over a month now, I just wanna start my Farm!
There is still a huge delay in customer service email replies, so I'm guessing it'll be another week before they even set up an order for a new one. They keep saying they have a chat on their website during business hours, but I've never seen it. I would really love if I could just talk to someone on the phone and sort this out.
Sorry for the rant, just figured I should update on the situation.
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Feb 6, 2021 14:51:17 GMT -5
There is still a huge delay in customer service email replies, so I'm guessing it'll be another week before they even set up an order for a new one. They keep saying they have a chat on their website during business hours, but I've never seen it. I would really love if I could just talk to someone on the phone and sort this out. Sorry for the rant, just figured I should update on the situation. Sorry for your pain, I too felt the same.. This apparently was not the case prior to 2020. A coworker's wife got me interested in AG and raved about their CS. I ordered a Bounty and then had a questions about something, forget now, but when I could not get phone support, chat support and only form email, I did a search and found many current compilates at the BBB, so I canceled the order.. Of course only half the order was actually canceled as it took them 3 days to read the mail that said to cancel the order. Which was sent 2 hours after placing the order. Hope you get your parts soon and hope they get the CSR situation corrected soon.. Working from home is not an excuse for bad service. |
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Post by a on Feb 6, 2021 15:18:55 GMT -5
I'm feeling like at this rate I could've just built my own system! It definitely wouldn't have been as pretty, but at least maybe I'd have some more plants by now. This was a good introduction at least, but I think for future garden expansions I will look to DIY projects, potentially with some aquaponics involved.
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Feb 6, 2021 17:02:56 GMT -5
I'm feeling like at this rate I could've just built my own system! Well that is the route I am taking and I can tell you it takes time and is not a lot cheaper than buying the AG. I do have a fairly larger outdoor garden during the growing season but wife wants Herbs and had interest in lettuce.. well till I told her I had read it does not get crunchy unless you blow it with a fan to toughen it up.. Here is my build thread.. getting ready to fill it and plant my own seeds in AG grow pods.. No clue if it will work but one thing I have found over the years of growing things outside.. Light, water food and things just grow.. Especially Weeds! (plants you don't want)  DIY 8 pod Bounty |
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Post by a on Feb 6, 2021 19:41:12 GMT -5
That's great! I was looking into some of the larger DIY systems that use rocks, clay, or some other medium like that. I'm in Alaska, so the growing season is definitely pretty short here. I'll bookmark that thread to see how it goes.
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airscapes
AGA Bounty
Lettuce eat Cake!
Posts: 642
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Post by airscapes on Feb 6, 2021 23:40:21 GMT -5
I am in Philadelphia PA. we are about to get another 4-8" of snow.. I also have Fairbanks Alaska as a city on my weather app.. makes me feel good most times I look to see what the temp is there, -6 right now!  |
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Post by a on Feb 10, 2021 1:20:10 GMT -5
It's in the -30s today!
Well they finally got back to me about the top. I can expect it to ship in another 4-6 weeks, even though this last shipment failed due to their mistake. I'm at the point where if they can't ship it this week, I just want to return the whole thing and build my own system. Kind of a bummer, but I've been trying to get this resolved since December. I feel like I've been very polite and patient with them, but they asked me to send back the original top a couple weeks ago, so I currently have a half assembled eye-sore in my living room and I'm just tired of looking at it.
What's funny is they recently had another sale on the 24XL, and I probably would've gotten that one sooner and had it up and running for several weeks before I can expect to see this new top.
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,267
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Post by Shawn on Feb 10, 2021 4:21:48 GMT -5
I am by no means sticking up for Aerogarden. I do not work there, I have no family there I do not even personally know anyone there. However in talking with certain people time and time again, I do know that while many think they are a huge operation. They are not. They MAYBE top out at 100 employees. That is for everyone including shipping, CS and upper level.
They are trying their best to get to everyone and get all orders shipped. They did not think that Aerogardens would boom during the pandemic. But they have and are doing their best to keep up with demand AND they are waiting for units and parts to be shipped (in which those suppliers are also back logged due to the pandemic) in so that they can get them to their customers waiting.
I know it is time consuming but again we are still in a pandemic. Things are slow all over. They are in the process of trying to get people back in the office (while others are in the shipping department)
As for that Chat option it is disabled at this time, hence emailing, Facebook Message at this time. Please be patient.
Thank you.
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Post by carinabean1 on Feb 21, 2021 16:56:58 GMT -5
This also happened to me! Right side as well.
I went on the Aerogarden website during help chat hours and filed my warrantee request with them. However, the Farm hoods are backordered until March, even though they say in stock online and also on Amazon.
I will be buying all of my Aerogarden things through Amazon from now on, where the shipping is 2-day and Amazon guarantees everything. I have been very disappointed with the Aerogarden customer service.
That said, I am keeping my broken hood until they send the replacement, and I have a crop of tomatoes and peppers starting in the left side. I will move some of the pods to the right side when the unit is fully-functional. Hopefully the hood comes before the little guys get too big and start crowding! It has only been 15 days so I just have little sprouts at the moment.
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Post by lizbleu on Mar 1, 2021 4:45:53 GMT -5
Wow- I hope I don’t run into this. My Farm is missing parts in the box, though I finally put it together, minus 2 screws. I just can’t get the left side of the “inside service compartment” in. The plastic part is in the way. I disassembled to try to adjust it, but 1 screw to the main frame and top part started to slide around, indicating the slot was already showing signs if stripping. So I left it as is, cross my fingers. I may be able to jerry rig something for the missing bar on the bottom. And the broken compartment door I got isn’t a huge deal. I only got 1 farm clip for the light wires. Not sure how that works but if its like I think, I can use a clothespin. Oh, I did get a cable that I have no clue what it’s for. Its not mentioned anywhere. It was in the plastic bag, about 32” long, with a plug on each end. I wrote about my issues but I expect it will be a while, if at all.
Looking at the BBB reviews, I don’t understand why, on the verge of the first anniversary of “15 days to slow the spread”, they haven’t figured something out. If I had seen any of this before buying, I would never have. I tried a couple of inexpensive ones and those were so easy that I got confidence to go up a level. Now I am concerned with the more “techy” Farm giving me issues that I need actual help with. I mean, buy some burner phones and call people. No excuse. Supply chain issues are 1 thing. Customer service is another. Shoot- use Skype or something. They are going to blow up their business like that. I wish someone here did know somebody there. Or maybe they read and/or post here as a consumer. Who knows. At least it looks like they respond to BBB complaints. I got rid of FB. I used to have that same rural delivery issue until I recently moved houses, so I understand your pain. I hope you get your package soon.
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Shawn
Administrator
Posts: 16,267
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Post by Shawn on Mar 1, 2021 6:11:40 GMT -5
The service compartment, the one on the top? We actually forgot to put ours in and it is fine. The missing bar? Are you talking the two that hold the basins? If so, make sure you check the box well. Depending on who boxes them up sometimes they are within a cardboard tube (or square) that looks like packaging but it is holding the bar. I had that with one of my units. The cable is part of the trellis system. I find that useless to be honest.
As for Aerogarden, you need to remember they are not a huge outfit. They employee under 80 people. They wait for their products to be shipped to them and with pandemic demand has grown more then they expected and are doing their best. They do plan to be back in the office soon. They will fix any issues you have. I along with a few others I know personally have had an issue of some sort and they came thru no problem. Please also send a message on FB as well as an email.
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Post by lizbleu on Mar 1, 2021 16:46:26 GMT -5
The model I got had instructions to screw in 2 screws on the inside of the storage compartment- 1 on each side of the top part. But its impossible to do 1 side. The door on 1 side is broken but I don’t care about that. I will give another look to the packaging- the boxes were empty but I will check that there isn’t anything tangled up somewhere. Since it stabilizes the bowl, I think I can put something underneath, maybe a piece of wood. No biggie. I was concerned about technical functionality. It apparently gets updates and I read some complaints about issues. I don’t use FB. I was so happy to find this forum- unrelated to FB, by the way. So my options are limited to email. I have no gripe against AG, more like gratitude. Its amazing having vegetables and herbs growing indoors and not have to take on the project of building something myself. Not my forte. I want them to keep succeeding and build more and more products. I would like to pass along some feedback to that end. Inspiring confidence in your product and service is hugely important. Thanks for your help!
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Post by lizbleu on Mar 1, 2021 16:48:04 GMT -5
The model I got had instructions to screw in 2 screws on the inside of the storage compartment- 1 on each side of the top part. But its impossible to do 1 side. That came out wrong. Its 2 screws on each side of the top part, within the storage compartments. |
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