Dobbies Garden Centres - Shenstone Avis 467

A lot of the vegetable plants where far from fresh, furniture in cafe really does need cleaning, and the waiting time for service in the cafe is far to long, a lovely place to visit but one which seems to need a bit more loving care

I re-registered for a Dobbies card during a visit, which became live at the end of April. Shenstone has been a really nice destination in the past for myself and my family, particularly the restaurant. My first revisit was with family and a baby. Honestly, the food was as good as I remember but the furniture is really very dirty and I really don’t understand why. The staining looks historical, not from the last 24 hours. I would definitely return for the food (if cleanliness is improved) but I really wouldn’t recommend the destination to anyone else at this point in time.

We had breakfast here for 2 adults and a 3 yr old child. It was £32. The food came out and it was cold. The baked beans looked like they had been cooked to death and were all mushy. None of us ended eating the food hardly. A member of staff approached us and told us we shouldn’t have asked for gluten free toast as it’s a separate part of the menu. We will not be coming back again

Went with my daughter and grandchildren to see Santa. Was difficult to see where the grotto was in the garden but found it eventually. We were a touch early but they said the children could go in. It said there was helping the penguins fish but after a couple of minutes we were quickly whisked away to Santa's sleigh which was a garden bench with a red cloth on with reins. Went to Rudolph which was a stuffed toy which didn't do anything, stroked some stuffed polar bears. Made reindeer food which was putting some glittered oats into a bag. Santa was just wonderful though. Presents from Santa were good. Expensive and disappointing

The place was dirty, plates etc not cleared away. Cobwebs everywhere and spent balloons in the ceiling!
The scampi was average, peas were like cannon balls and there was no vinegar or sauce for the chips. The saving grace was the lasagne which was hot and tasty and to be fair was served quickly.
The server gave me tea instead of a latte and didnt seem to know what he was doing.
Altogether a bad experience and we wont be returning.

Took my granddaughter on Friday as she had a training day at school.
Paid £15 each on food.
Very disappointing.My mushy peas were congealed,hard and cold.
The gravy was that thick you could not pour it.All food was cold.Spent over £50 and sat in a cold environment.
Needless to say will not be returning.
Nobody came over to us as I would have told them.☹️

We visited recently.. we come every month.. and it has slowly gotten worse.. always a massive que to order, one person on the till one making drinks.. i waited that long for my drinks my food came out before my drinks were made.. think it needs looking at going back to bringing your drinks to the table.. i stopped going gailey for this reason. But shenstone is getting the same

Staff helpful at Shenstone and my daughters favourite place to pop in to

I spent over £100 on plants and flowers recently at Shenstone and in less than a week one of plants the rhododendron started to die. I have rang for advice constantly over the last three days and it just rings out. No one bothers to answer the phone there. This is terrible customer service so beware!!!!

Phoned twice today and no one answered. Tried Grasmere garden centre and was sore red within minutes. Very disappointed with Dobbies in shenstone

Needed help at their Shenstone Store as my membership was not correct .. A lovely lady called Sharon spent ages with us sorting it out ..
Brilliantly excellent service by her ..

Whilst the food was good, the wait to order and to get got drinks took 25 minutes! A change in the system would make this a far quicker process, may be utilising online ordering or serving hot drinks as people queue to pay or order, this worked when it was a Wyevale garden centre.

Until recently my local Dobbies would have had a 6 star review - in other words they surpassed excellent but suddenly new local managers and there's no atmosphere, staff have virtually totally changed. No longer a very pleasant or friendly place to visit. I regret renewing my club card sadly.

Just visited shenstone store for the third time in a month to find more that half the carpark under water causing people to just drive off and go somewhere else.When you actually find someone to complain they just laugh your customer service is a joke.Then you want a drink in the restaurant you can’t because the card machine not working again

I have been a loyal customer of Dobbies for many many years including attending many events, hosting children's birthday parties and buying garden supplies. I can safely say that I will not be setting foot inside the place again after how customer services have treated me over the last few weeks. I book a grotto experience in December and to say it was a shambles is an understatement... it was frankly embarrassing and items advertised were not included. I kindly bought this to customer service's attention afterwards and except saying thanks for emailing, I've been ignored since.

Afternoon of 19th November 2024

Dobbies Shenstone

Shocking!

Lots of stock with no prices, and it's hard to ask staff, because we could not see anyone accept for the female on the till some distance away.

I am hard of hearing, but could still hear the huffs.

A very rude female staff member on the till, and who could do with some customer service guidance or taught about politeness/manners.

We felt like an inconvenience after being called to be next by her, although she had a customer waiting at the end of the till section still we were told to come forward, I had glass baubles in my hand and my husband an Xmas gift bag with Xmas gift rapping bits.

After placing the delicate glass baubles on the counter my husband then started to empty the gift bag we'd placed the other bits in so we could pay, HUFF she went, which threw me back, I thought was that just me or is she being rude. We bought our dog foods in pet corner who were lovely, and then bits in dobbies we spent £200+ in total, but all this lady served us to was 4 baubles and gift rapping, she really did not like it that we had more than just the glass baubles to pay for.

Anyway, after huffing and rolling her eyes, I was thinking was it me or is there a problem here. She then said I'm waiting to serve this customer (the one she'd left standing at the end of the till) and called us to be served.

I then paid and said, I'm sorry to the person waiting, and asked if there was anything I could pack the glass baubles in, she then pointed to the next till along and said there's tissue. So, I went to get some tissue to protect the glass baubles to then get huffs for my baubles still on the till area, so my husband grabbed the baubles, and we started to rap them (4) in tissue to get out of the way, and on the empty till that she had pointed to with the tissue. She then shouted at me in front of all the other customers .. and said DON'T USE ALL THE TISSUE, I said, excuse me?

I had only used 1 to 2 pieces and there were hundreds of pieces for rapping customer bits.

I found the whole experience totally discusting, rude and abrupt, she was very clearly having a bad day and there was only her serving.

I've been coming to pet corner and dobbies for years, but never ever been so rudely treated or spoken to like that, there was no need to roll her eyes or huff because I had more than 1 thing to pay for, and to be treated in such a rude embarrassing way as if we were an inconvenience to her, made to look like we we're taking all the tissue when all we did was securely rap glass baubles to keep them safe in 1 or 2 pieces so they didn't get damaged, and we did it out of the way ourselves as not to impose on her.

Rude, eye rolling and just simple horrible experience, we will not shop here again, and will take our business else where. For our 10+ years of going to dobbies Shenstone, a sad ending.

New system in place whereby no table service for drinks. Shortage of staff. Empty cake stands. This resulted in long queues and plenty of disgruntled customers. I waited over 15 minutes in queue to be served. Also the notice telling us about the new system said 'thank you for your patient' !!!! Should really have said 'patience'. Please make our future visits less stressful. Thank you.

Just here for lunch, ordered baguettes and portion of chips. Our first time here for lunch Not impressed with long queues to get served. Baguettes served, no chips, told a staff member, she said ok. Ate our baguettes, still no chips ! Had to wait in long queue again to get refund, really spoiled our first experience of lunch here .

Enjoying my experience. Friendly and helpful staff.

I received excellent support from Steve yesterday when I visited this branch.Steve was extremely helpful in me selecting plants .He was patient while my daughter and I selected what we wanted.He even showed us how to fit the 6 packs on the trolley.He was very polite added in with a sense of humour.All the plants were in superb condition.His service made our visit outstanding.