DirectGardeningReviews 399

Do not order from this company, you will regret it. I placed an order early this year... they were weeks behind so the product would not have arrived during the optimal planting season. I tried to cancel multiple times before the product shipped. They would not cancel the order and eventually shipped it anyway when it was too hot. Over $1000 of product arrived with over half of it being dead. I told them not to ship and that I would decline the charge on my credit card. They still shipped me dead product and now sent me a letter indicating that they are going to sue me for the cost. They sent a letter in July that said they were going to charge my credit card and at this point I just wanted it over with and was willing to pay for dead $#*! to be done with the company. They never charged my card like the letter indicated. Now I receive another letter that says they are taking legal action... YET, the letter provides no contact information to be able to respond to this person.

This company goes by 8 other names as well.

Do not ever, ever, **ever** order from this company, ever. They don't ship plants, they lie; they ship roots. If you do end up with a plant or I should say barely a sprout, it will die.

I ordered in April, they took my payment in May, and I got a tiny bag in mid-June. Half of everything arrived dead. I shipped back, at my expense, half of the order and they have not issued a refund. The rest of my order? Died.

In fact, they're claiming I didn't pay them at all which is utterly absurd as I have the bank statement showing paid. Now they're threatening me with legal and police action, harassing me, trying to extort money I already had paid them. Half of which they still have not refunded.

They do not answer their phones. They reply by email so slowly and never with any actual useful information. These people are total scammers and I do not know how they sleep at night knowing what they do to people.

Reported to BBB and will report them other places. They need to be shut down.

Avoid at all costs.

I ordered two pear trees on August 8th. FedEx delivered them to me with sticks sticking out of delivery bag, broken in pieces September 7. I sent the shipping label back the next day as I was told to do. I was told FedEx tried to redeliver them again on October 5th, that I refused them. I was home, FedEx never came to door. It takes this company way to long to get things right. I was told no refund. Now it's October 19th. No trees. Call back in two weeks they say. 3 months is too long to wait for two trees. This is still on going. I'll update in two weeks.

Had great luck with this company. I ordered, then saw reviews, and was skeptical. I considered cancelling, but decided to take the $50 gamble. I'm glad I did. I potted the plants immediately after they arrived Out of about 12 plants, one arrived with dry roots. I thought I'd lose it. But it is doing well along with all the other plants. The order did take awhile. But since they are bare root better to plant in the fall anyways. Not sure if they ship based on best planting times.
Maybe not everyone understands that a bare root plant, that didn't get light for a week or so, does not arrive looking good. After potting them, I slowly acclimated them to light. After potting I put them all in the shade. After a couple of days I placed them in part shade. Then eventually placed them in the correct light requirement for the type of plant it is.
I ordered from Direct Gardening again hoping for the same results.
I debated on giving a 4 or a 5 as a rating. The 4 would be for one plant arriving with dry roots. The 5 would be for the good prices this company offers. So I'll settle for a 4.5 rating.

They are all the same company ripping people off under these three names. After receiving dead twigs, rotted mushy bulbs, and other worthless crap from Burgess Plant and Seeds, I discovered that I had an order with a company that had the same address as Burgess. I have called and sent several e-mails to have my ordered cancelled. The customer service is horrible.

Royal Dutch Gardens1804 E. Hamilton Rd.
Bloomington, IL *******-9609

Direct Gardening1804 E. Hamilton Rd.
Bloomington, IL *******

Burgess Seed & Plant Co
1804 E. Hamilton Rd
Bloomington, IL *******-9609

I waited 8+ weeks and after many calls my items arrived. When I opened the bag the items looked dead to me but instructions said plants are dormant. Directions told me to plant them and wait 6 weeks. Well nothing came up. I called after many attempts ( I think they keep the phone off hook) and told her I want my money back and they refused to reimburse me for dead plants they sent me. The company knew they were dead when they sent them to me. I followed the instructions apparently directions are bogus too.
It's a scam! Do not purchase anything from them.

So, I gave them the benefit of the doubt because they seemed to be the only ones to have plants in stock during the early months of the Pandemic. I bought. I waited and waited. They arrived. They looked like they were barely clinging to life. Blue-green mold all over the "free" plant roots (no leaves). Spoiled, green-blackish, wet foliage on the other plants that did have leaves. Plants are tough. I'm a Master Gardener so I tried to resuscitate them all. Nothing grew except one plant, and that one only for about a week before it gave up the ghost. They were too far gone on arrival. The whole order such a waste of money.

Avoid these people. They are a joke if it is more than one guy in a basement. They have crazy low pricing for a reason, they send dead twigs to you. They then want the label of the box, the invoice, and payment mailed to them and other items to just try and get a replacement. They have no internal account, bookkeeping, or order system. They have no way to look up orders and make the dead things they sent, right. I bought a few cheap priced trees from them. They came looking like a prank. After 3 weeks, they are still dead twigs. They will do nothing to help. Do yourselves a favor, there many great nurseries that stand behind their plants and trees. They actually have a service department and ethics. Go to Nature Hills, Michigan Bulb Co, Gurneys, and others out there.

There should be an option to assign negative stars for DirectGardening. One star is a gift to this so called company. I attempted to order a plant for my sister's birthday several months ago. I've attempted to contact DirectGardening to determine status but have been ignored and blown off. Today, September 1,2020, they send me an email saying they shipped a plant to my sister! At this point I don't have a clue what I ordered and when I log in and look for orders the numbers don't match. Thankfully, I used my AmEx when I tried to order the plant and rest assured I will definitely contest and charge that shows up from DirectGardening. There are so many REPUTABLE companies on the internet so do your homework before you attempt to order from a company and stay away from DirectGardening!

Wish I had read the reviews! It has been nearly 2 months since I placed my order. I received on email in response to my questions about my order. I was a carefully crafted email about the woes of COVID and how hard they were working in the nursery to fill orders: and grow new stock", and that many of that plant would have to wait til the next season, Spring 2020. Meanwhile they get to hold my $100. You cannot reach anyone by phone.
I assume after reading all these disastrous reviews that I have been scammed. I have just recently sent them a "a communicate with me or else" email and gave them 3 days to respond. I may not wait now I've seen these other reviews. I will call my bank and Better Business Bureau.
I hope at this point they haven't shipped anything from what I have heard about what others have received. I will attempt to cancel immediately.