You know, I feel guilty about doing that, because their shipping is so cheap and their prices so reasonable! Of course that does not entitle them to sell somewhat defective packages.

Guilty?? What for?? The company made an error. They want you to be happy and order from them again. So they'll be happy to send a new one. Businesses are used to customer service. Customer input helps them do better.

You know, I am going to get on the blower and deal with this forthwith. Thanks for encouraging me.

In answer to the original question, yes, I have encountered commercial seed that was poor in quality - usually beans or peas. Most often this is physical damage, possibly caused by seed processing, or by mail handling (in which case I would just request replacement)... but rarely, I do receive shrunken or discolored seed.

While seed companies should cull their seed as part of their processing, not all of them do so. My concern for such companies would be that if they do not cull for quality, perhaps they would not cull for insects or diseases either. I have received weevils in commercial bean seed, so I always quarantine new seed until it has proven to be uninfected.

How do you "quarantine" seed? Anyway, I think that Johnny's Selected Seeds is probably a pretty reliable company, but they have gone full bore commercial and there's not a lot of choice for those wanting heirloom seeds.

I agree with you re: Johnny's. Good quality seed, and pretty good service; but since the employees bought out the company, they have drifted closer to the mainstream, and further from heirloom / open pollinated seeds. Too bad, they were once one of my favorite seed companies. They are still one of the better sources for cover crops and seed saving supplies, I buy my row cover from them in bulk.

"How do you "quarantine" seed?"

When I receive new seed (whether from swaps or commercial sources) I place seed from that source into a zippered freezer bag, and store it in a different location from my main seed storage. I generally will keep the seed isolated that way until I plant it, freeze it, or detect signs of insect activity. If bugs are found, freezing at about 0 degrees F. for a couple days will kill weevils & their eggs. Note that you will probably need a stand alone freezer to reach 0 degrees, most ice boxes attached to a refrigerator will not get cold enough.

I've only had "buggy" seed twice in 40+ years of gardening, once from a commercial source (which has frequently had other seed issues), once from a swap. In my experience, beans & peas from swaps are less likely to have problems with bugs or defective seed... most people who save & share seed devote a lot of attention to seed quality. Crosses, though, are more likely to be found in swapped seed than in commercial seed - but rarely in beans.

Wow, you sure do go thru a fair bit of trouble to ensure your seeds are uncontaminated! I sprout just about everything before seeding (except scallions, maybe) and I don't know if that has the same effect as to insect activity. I do like to store my seeds in a chest freezer, so I guess I am unwittingly doing the right thing.

I think that crosses can occur in beans. I've done some business over the years with Salt Spring Seeds and it seems there's almost always some unexpected surprise. I guess they don't have a seed technologist there. Once I ordered bean seeds, can't recall the name except that it was not well known, something the owner developed himself, and all of those seeds looked the same, but lo & behold, I got some strange looking beans in with the ones that looked like they were advertised to be. Have you ever heard of such a thing.

Blue_skink, as a large collector, I need to be cautious... can't risk contaminating my entire collection, or passing on contaminated seed to others. I have no weevils here, and intend to keep it that way. I am just as cautious in preventing rodents from getting into my seed storage.

Regarding bean crosses... yes, they happen. I've received several crossed beans over the years; the worst case was a variety over 50% crossed, I couldn't even identify what the real variety was supposed to look like! Fortunately, such a high degree of crossing is rare in beans. I've had crosses appear in my own saved seed, but use procedures that keep crossing down to 1% or less... only one observed last year (out of ~200 plants), one in 2016, and none in 2015. There are several threads on this forum regarding beans crossing, with some claiming that beans don't cross... but there is no denying the evidence that they can.

While I've had bean crosses appear in commercial seed - only once over 10% - the standards for commercial seed growers generally make bean crosses unlikely. It does seem, though, that those involved in heirloom preservation are more
likely to have some seed issues - probably because many of them are "mom
& pop" operations, with limited resources.

Sorry to hear that you had trouble with Salt Spring, I have a lot of respect for Dan (the founder) and his heirloom preservation efforts. (I still grow Britta's Foot Long, originally introduced by Salt Spring, and it is one of my favorite beans.) I'm sure if you contact the company, they will make things right... and they may not even be aware of the problem. I received crossed squash seed from a company several years ago; they thanked me for informing them, and disposed of the entire seed lot.

@Susan from NY. I contacted them and they said they'd send me another pkg or refund if I wishes. So I chose a new package. Thanks for your help! - Blue Skink.

@Zeedman. Tks for your long and most interesting and informative comments. About your crossed squash seed - I think that is more to be expected with squash. From what little I know, it would seem easier for crossing to take place. Much easier. I was not put out in any way, really, by receiving unexpected seeds from Salt Spring. Just mentioning it as I'd never experienced anything other than true-to-type beans from all suppliers.

While I have your attention, are you familiar with Nez Perce beans? I found some apparently old ones in my "collection" that I don't know where they came from, I had to go on the WWW to find out what they even were - I had never grown them, the jar was unlabelled - but that is one perfect little bean for where I live and what is more, they are not as tall as so many pole beans. Good for a short woman when picking time comes.

"While I have your attention, are you familiar with Nez Perce beans?"

Haven't grown them personally, but I see several listings in the SSE Yearbook - including a grower from Alberta. Some describe it as "early maturing", but others list the DTM as 100 days... which to me, is not really early. All growers describe it as a productive dry bean, though.

Re Nez Perce. DTM for me was less than 100 days. Way less. I couldn't believe it. Depends I guess on just where you live. We have much sunlight here and good hot weather.