Frequently Asked Questions
Questions
- What do I need to do before I can order from Sprout Online?
- How do I place an order?
- When can I place an order with you?
- How can I pay for my order?
- When will my order be delivered?
- Do I have to be at home when my order is delivered?
- I don't live in Townsville, can you send orders to other centres?
- Do you sell any products that are not certified organic?
- I have a gluten intolerance and can only eat gluen free foods. Do you have gluten free products?
- What can I do if I am not happy with something I receive from you?
- There appears to be a mistake on my invoice, what should I do?
- I received some fruit that was too green to eat, what should I do?
- I ordered a number of items but they were not delivered. The invoice said "not supplied". Why did this happen?
- Can I pay for my order now rather than wait for delivery?
- Do you ever substitute conventional products if certified organic products are not available?
Answers
- What do I need to do before I can order from Sprout Online?
- Register your details with us. ( Registration Form.)
- Check the Faq page and the How to: pages on our web site to find out more about how we operate.
- Contact us with your credit card details before you place your first order.
- Go to the order form page to browse through our list of products and place your order.
- How do I place an order?
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New customers, please complete your Registration Details (click here) and then contact us to give your credit card details by phone or email.
Check the status of ordering on the right --------->>>>>
If ordering is open, Click here to go to the order form web page to place your order
If ordering is closed for this week, you can still go to the order form page to see the list of products ( Click here ), but you will not be able to place an order.
Complete the Name, Delivery Address, Deivery Day, and Delivery Instruction sections at the top of the form. Nominate "YES" for credit card payment if you are choosing this method, or "NO" if you will be paying cash on delivery (COD available for Townsville/Thuringowa deliveries only)
Complete your order by putting the number of each item you want in the boxes on the left.
Submit your order to us.
(Make sure that you receive a confirmation page telling you the time at which you order was received. If you don't get this page, please contact us to check if your order was received.)- When can I place an order with you?
- How can I pay for my order?
- When will my order be delivered?
- Do I have to be at home when my order is delivered?
- I don't live in Townsville, can you send orders to other centres?
Ingham
Tully
Malanda
Atherton
Kuranda
Cairns
Port Douglas
Ayr and Home Hill
Mackay
Hughenden
Magnetic Island
Bushland Beach
Bluewater
Rupertswood
Alligator Creek
- Do you sell any products that are not certified organic?
- I have a gluten intolerance and can only eat gluen free foods. Do you have gluten free products?
- Over 40 lines from the Orgran range of specialty low allergen products that include pastas, sweet biscuits, crispbreads, cake mixes, etc...
- Pirhana Vegie chips
- Frozen bakery products from Gluten Free Bakery including many varieties of beef and chicken pies, sweets including lamingtons, apple pies, danishes and eclairs, pizza, etc....
- Brookfarm Muslei
- gluten free beef sausages
- Well and Good gluten free cake and bread mixes
- What can i do if I am not happy with something I receive from you?
- You were charged for something you did not receive
- You received something that you were not charged for
- You were charged an incorrect price for something
- Small blemishes seldom detract significantly from the usability of a fruit or vegetable. In organic agriculture, no pesticides can be used to stop insect damage so small blemishes are almost unavoidable.
- Your fruit and vegetables are usually sourced from a very short supply and so may not have had time to fully ripen before you receive them. A few days out of the refrigerator, preferable in a paper bag with a piece of ripe fruit will bring most things to peak ripeness.
- There appears to be a mistake on my invoice, what should I do?
- You were charged for something you did not receive
- You received something that you were not charged for
- You were charged an incorrect price for something
- I received some fruit that was too green to eat, what should I do?
- I ordered a number of items but they were not delivered. The invoice said "not supplied". Why did this happen?
- Can I pay for my order now rather than wait for delivery?
- Do you ever substitute conventional products if certified organic products are not available?
All you have to do before you can order from Sprout Online is:
We will hold your credit card details so that we can charge your credit card for subseqent orders, if you tell us to. We prefer if you contact us by telephone on 4771 3111 with your credit card details, rather than putting them in an email. We require your credit card details, even if you intend to usually pay COD.
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All ordering from Sprout is online...
The order form lets you scroll quickly and easily through the entire product list, making your selections as you go. You can get a summary of your order at any time, and then return to add more items if you wish. An indicative cost of your order (excluding delivery) is maintained as you add items.
More details on using the order form can be found at the Ordering Tutorial (coming soon)
A new order form with updated product availability and prices is activated on the website each Monday morning and remains active until Friday noon.
You can place an order any time between Monday morning and Friday noon.
You can still view the order form at any time outside this period, but you may not be able to place an order(check the orderering status on the right). Your order will be delivered on the Wednesday and Thursday following the order close, as per the delivery schedule. You can view the delivery schedule by clicking here.
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You can pay for your order by either Cash on Delivery, or by credit card. COD is only available for Townsville/Thuringowa deliveries made by our own drivers as cash cannot be given to couriers and other transport.
We will need to obtain your credit card details prior to your first delivery. We will need your credit card details even if you wish to pay by COD, just in case unforseen circumstances prevent the arrangements to receive Cash on Delivery being met. We can accept Visa and Mastercard.
We will hold your details and charge your order to your credit card whenever you authorise us to by saying YES to the question on the order form. We put through the charge to the credit card after your order has been packed and the invoicing completed.
Because bag sizes may vary slightly from the nominal sizes, and because it is possible that you may not receive some items that you order, we cannot tell you your precise invoice total prior to you receiving your order.
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Townsville deliveries suspended until further notice
Townsville PICK UP OPTION -
One days notice generally required. Please contact us on (07) 47713111 prior to first order to discuss the best ordering and pickup times.
MAGNETIC ISLAND
Order by Tuesday early morning for Wednesday dispatch - delivery Wednesday afternoon
PALM ISLAND
order by Friday evening latest, for Monday dispatch for Tuesday arrival via Palm Island Barge Company.
CHARTERS TOWERS, HUGHENDEN, RICHMOND, JULIA CREEK, CLONCURRY, MOUNT ISA
Please call us on (07) 47713111 to discuss options
SOUTHERN destinations
Please call us on (07) 47713111 to discuss options
Dispatches to the Burdekin can leave Townsville by unrefrigerated Fastway courier on Thursday (which we will arrange for you) or you can nominate a refrigerated service if you know of one.
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You don't have to be at home to receive your order unless you have arranged to pay Cash On Delivery.
If you have any special delivery instructions for when you are not at home (for example, leave on back veranda), include these in the appropriate section on the order form when you place your order.
If you leave out an esky or styrofoam box, we will place any refrigerated and frozen products into that. We can supply you with a styrofoam box for you to keep and use when necessary if you don't have an esky.
[Back to the top]We regularly send orders to centres outside Townsville, including:-
We also can arrange delivery to outlying suburbs of Townsville, such as:-
Please contact us with your details and we can let you know of possible arrangements that may suit you.
Our Contact Details are:
Name: Sprout Online
Phone/Fax: 07 47713111
Email: Sprout Online
Snail Mail: Shop 1, 85 Ingham Road
West End, Townsville QLD 4810
Yes, we do sell some products that are not certified organic, but these are clearly marked on our order form as NC (Not Certified).
Most of our fresh fruit and vegetable lines are certified organic, but we do also have some local 'in season' produce that is not certified. These products are clearly marked as NC (Not Certified) on our order form.
We never substitute a conventionally grown product for a certified organic product that is unavailable.
We also supply an extensive range of specialty diet foods including a wide range of gluten free products, and many of these are not certified organic. The certification of all products is clearly marked on the order form, and those that are not certified organic as marked as NC (Not Certified).
And we also have a range of wholefoods and delicious gourmet lines and confectionary treats (such as choc coated fruits and nuts)which are not all certified organic, but we are always looking for any that are.
[Back to the top]We carry an extensive range of gluten free products including:-
And of course we also carry all the fresh fruit and vegetables, as well as many types of gluten free flour(rice flour, rye flour, potato flour).
We also have a range of spelt products and green wheat(Freekah) products that many people who are sensitive to gluten can still tolerate.
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We strive very hard to ensure that you are completely happy with the order you receive. However, if there is anything you are unhappy with, or if we have made an error, please let us know as soon as possible so that we have a chance to rectify it. Email your Name, Delivery Address, how best to contact you, and a description of the problem to email Sprout Online
If you have a billing problem,for example:-
then please email us a description of the error and how best to contact you. We will arrange with you to correct the problem as best we can. If you receive something you did not order, please hold this in good condition for us to collect at the time of your next delivery.
If you receive something that is not in acceptable condition, please email us with a description of the problem. We make every endeavor to inspect all items before they are sent.
Our policy is that if an item is obviously in a state that makes more than a small portion of it unusable, then you should not have received it and we will replace or refund the cost of the item as appropriate. However, especially with fruit and vegetables, it is not always possible to tell from the outside if there is a problem. Our guide is that if you would have selected that item yourself in a self serve situation, then it is not appropriate for us to refund or replace it.
Also, please bear the following points in mind:-
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We strive very hard to ensure that you are completely happy with the order you receive. However, if there is anything you are unhappy with, or if we have made an error, please let us know as soon as possible so that we have a chance to rectify it. Email your Name, Delivery Address, how best to contact you, and a description of the problem to email Sprout Online
If you have a billing problem,for example:-
then please email us a description of the error and how best to contact you. We will arrange with you to correct the problem as best we can. If you receive something you did not order, please hold this in good condition for us to collect at the time of your next delivery.
[Back to the top]Almost all fruit are picked before they are ripe enough to eat. In some case such as Avocado and Kiwi Fruit, they do not ripen on the tree and need to be picked to commence the ripening process. In most other cases a fully ripe fruit is too delicate to be transported and so is picked green yet mature, kept in cold storage to retard ripening until it has reached its destination, and then removed from cold storage and allowed to ripen.
Because we order fruit and vegetables fresh each week to meet the orders you have placed, there is sometimes not enough time for the ripening process to be completed before your order reaches you. If you receive something that is not yet properly ripe, a day or two out of the fridge in a warm place will usually see most things perfect for eating. The ripening time can usually be shortened by putting the items in a paper bag together with a piece of ripe fruit or a banana skin. The ethylene gas given off by the ripe fruit will speed up ripening.
[Back to the top]We spend a considerable effort to update our order list each week to reflect only those items we are confident we can supply. However despite these efforts, our suppliers are sometimes unable to fill all our orders. The supply of organic products, especially fresh produce, dairy, and meats, is generally very tight and shortages are common. Organic wholesalers often have to ration supply or are unable to supply at all, and so we in turn may not be able to supply all items that you order. This is more common in the fresh products where we order specifically to meet your needs for each week. For longer life products we maintain stocks of most items to maximize our ability to reliably fill your order.
Many factors can affect the availability of products, including seasonality of crops, weather conditions, international transport logistics, supplier out of stocks, etc… The exceptionally cold winter of 2007 played havoc with the supply of fresh fruit and vegetables, with some growing districts losing entire crops through frosts, and other districts being devastated by floods. Droughts over the last few years have reduced the Australian grown supply of some products to zero. We are constantly searching for new sources of products that are in short supply, and have established an extensive network of suppliers that we regularly source from.
Please be assured that we are most disappointed when we are unable to fill your order completely.
[Back to the top]You can pay for your order by either Cash on Delivery, or by credit card. COD is only available for Townsville/Thuringowa deliveries made by our own drivers as cash cannot be given to couriers and other transport.
We will need to obtain your credit card details prior to your first delivery. We will need your credit card details even if you wish to pay by COD, just in case unforseen circumstances prevent the arrangements to receive Cash on Delivery being met. We can accept Visa and Mastercard.
We will hold your details and charge your order to your credit card whenever you authorise us to by saying YES to the question on the order form. We put through the charge to the credit card after your order has been packed and the invoicing completed.
Because bag sizes may vary slightly from the nominal sizes, and because it is possible that you may not receive some items that you order, we cannot tell you your precise invoice total prior to you receiving your order.
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We never substitute a conventionally grown product for a certified organic product that is unavailable.
We do sell some products that are not certified organic, but these are clearly marked on our order form as NC (Not Certified).
Almost all of our fresh fruit and vegetable lines are certified organic, the occasional exception being in season local produce that we have satisfied ourselves is grown organically, even though the grower is not certified. These products are clearly marked as NC (Not Certified) on our order form, and we usually include a note to the same effect in the product description.
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