Burgess

I ordered in january. I live in northern Michigan where if you plant tomatoes you need to get plants started indoors at the beginning of April. In spite of emails telling them that all they did was tell me they were expediting my order then delaying it more.i received my order the 1st week of May, too late. I have had a garden for more than 40 years this is the first year I will get no cucumbers, carrots or parsnips because their seeds just would not germinate.

This website is a re-branding of DirectGardening.com and is the same company with the same policies. While not 100% a scam, very draconian company that sells you dormant plants that may not last, and has long lead times and horrible customer service. See the full review at https://youtu.be/mlu45c2VbCU

I ordered from this company for two years, the second year only because I had so much in credit from the first year. They take anywhere from 1.5-2 months to ship, usually only part of the order. I ordered strawberries early in the year. The season here is in March. I did not get the plants until July and they were either all dried up or rotten. Planted anyway, none took. Lavendar - plants covered in soil and all leaves dry. Planted - nothing survived. Packaging seems to be inappropriate for shipping as plants have too much moisture and rot before they arrive. I've had many other problems. I hear they merged with another company. Good luck with that!

Burgess Plant and Seed/Gurney/EBurgess should not be in business. THE most unprofessional company I have ever dealt with.

On 5-21-23, I looked at the online catalog for Burgess Plant and Seed. I found a Crimson Rose and a Yellow Rose that I wanted. The catalog showed that both roses were in stock and ready for shipment.
I immediately ordered both and paid with my credit card. The order number for this purchase was #*******900. Burgess advised at that time, that the items would arrive at my home between 6-5-23 and 6-9-23.

On 6-10-23, I got on the Burgess website and checked my order. My order said that the items were available for shipping with an estimated shipping date between 6-12-23 and 6-17-23. I went onto my credit card account and saw that Burgess had debited my account for $58.18 on 5-23-23.

On 6-12-23, I got on the Burgess website and found that the items were still available but the shipping date had changed. The new estimated shipping date was 6-13-23 to 6-18-23.

On 6-13-23, I checked the website again and found that the items were still available with an estimated shipping date of 6-14-23 to 6-19-23.

At this time, I called their phone number *******761) listed on their website and talked to a customer service representative (I did not get his name). After a few minutes, I asked to speak to his supervisor and was transferred to "Robin".

Robin offered to refund the shipping on the order since it had been an extended period of time. He them said that it would take another 2 to 3 days for the roses to ship. I asked Robin if he had a supervisor and he told me that he had several supervisors. I asked him if I could speak to his supervisor and he transferred me to "Latasha" in Tennessee.

Latasha began by telling me about how great Burgess/Gurney was and that they had very few complaints. She then said that it is company policy that plants are not shipped until it is planting time for them. I told her that the roses I ordered showed that they were in stock and ready for shipping. She then told me that the order couldn't be shipped for 2 to 3 days.

After talking with Latasha, I went back on to the Burgess website and look on their catalog for the roses I had ordered on 5-21-23. I found that both roses were now out of stock. I did know if it meant no further orders would be accepted or if my order would not be sent.

On 6-16-23, I thought I'd check my order status on the Burgess website and was surprised. The order number (#*******900s) didn't show the roses on the order. The only thing on the order was "Sweet Corn Honey 'N' Pearl Hybrid Kit" and it had been cancelled.

I immediately called their phone number *******761) and was connected to a CSR name Ria. She had a very thick accent and I was unable to understand her. I asked where her call center was and she told me that it was in the Philippines. I told her that I was having a hard time understanding her and if she could transfer me to her supervisor. She put me on hold for a few minutes, then returned and told me no one was available.

I tried to get information on why the shipment was cancelled and why I was not notified by email. Since I was unable to communicate with Ria, I was not able to get that information.

It shows a severe lack of customer service to tell a customer that an item will be shipped and never ship it and ultimately cancel the order without telling to customer.

At this time, my credit card has not been refunded.

I will be posting this message on each and every "Review" website I can find. Burgess/Gurney should not be in business with the work ethic they have.

On 27 Feb 2023 I ordered several perennials from Burgess. I noted that these should be shipped in the spring in my area, Central Florida, ZONE 10A. On 13 June 2023 I received the order. On that day the outside temperature was in the low 90s, the dew point was 80 and the heat index was over 100. HELLO! THIS IS SUMMER IN CENTRAL FLORIDA! The order information is given below.
#1. The $40 Med Olive was a 12 inch stick with NO leaves.
#2. The two Sweet Boxes were essentially bare root. All the "dirt", abouc a cupful, was loose and dry in the bottom of the boxes. Another $20 wasted.
#3. Part of this order was discounted because Burgess had shipped over $80 of dead plants in 2022.
Frankly, Burgess deserves all the negative comments it gets, AND MORE!

I ordered an Angel Trumpet plant from this company in March 2023. It was on back order so I knew it would be awhile before I received it. It arrived today, May 27.2023. The plant was in good condition, but a note was included that indicated they ran out of the lavender color so they sent me a pink one instead. I did not want pink! I called and they will only give you a store credit, which I will not use because I never intend on using this company again! Wish I had read the reviews before ordering, lesson learned!

Carolyn

I ordered Brandywine tomatoes along with three other varieties and received some kind of pepper plants instead. Anyone can make a mistake. I asked for a replacement for the mixup. Will type another review if they send me the right item this time or not.

Plants arrived very late, after planting season was over. Most of them looked barely alive and did not make it. Some had mold. I did talk to the customer service and received a company credit only, which is not ideal because after my bad experience with the quality I would not want to order from them again.

I just received an order that was made months ago. Why would they ship it to MN to arrive November 4th when we have had our first frost several weeks ago? Now I will need to try and keep the outdoor plants alive indoors and hope they make it through until Spring when we can again plant in mid or late May of 2023.
This is totally unacceptable, and irresponsible action and I will NEVER order from this company again! The only reason I ordered a second time is that they wouldn't issue a refund of the plants that died in shipping months earlier. They let you order plants that are not even available and on a long back-order.

Spent over 300$ this year, order came piecemeal only ONE tree grew! If I could give ZERO STARS, I would. Colorado.

I'm not sure what has happened to burgess as I had ordered in the past. Placed a $100 order April 28,2022. Called may 18 asking status. Received several little bags or something dead on June 25,2022 Both phone calls the reps tried to tell me my planting zone indicates we plant in June and July in our zone Michigan. It was 96 degrees when the very little bags or dust arrived. Got a credit. Was told to call two weeks prior to when I wanted them reshipped. Placed that call august 30. Was given a case number and told my shrubs would arrive in 14 days. They didn't arrive. September 30 was told the order was placed on a rush and would ship October 4-9. Well folks it's October 25th today and now I'm trying to cancel as the ground will soon be frozen here in the mitten state. Can't refund cause the order is packed to be shipped. When will it ship I ask. By November 4-8. Huh? Called 3 more times and think it has now been cancelled. Refund you may think. Nope they want to give me a merchandise credit. Really like I want to spend all next summer playing 'where's my plants' game. 4 calls later I think or at least they say I may or may not receive $60.89 of my $99 spent. At 67 years old this has been the absolute worse order/customer service I've ever experienced. I have several case numbers and several promises but in reality I don't believe I'll ever have a refund. When I asked to speak to someone who supervises the call center complaints I was told to call the same number back and push 2 again. Yeah - I may have been born at night but it was not last night. Someone needs to shut Burgess Seed down

Today I received notice that my order was on its way----actually the tail end of an order placed 6-7 months ago.
Qty Shipped Item Number Item Description
2 ******* BI-COLOR BUTTERFLY BUSH
4 ******* BLUE FESTUCA
This is very funny because we are in the middle of October and these plants were ordered in April of 2022. Everything I ordered arrived late, dead or just did not grow. How do you plant skyscraper sunflower seeds in late September when they should already be blooming? This place is a joke. Do not waste your money regardless of how pretty a picture may look. It's not real. I would post pictures if I had anything that grew but as noted, they basically stole my money.
My Proof of purchase:
Order History
View your previous orders from the last 36 months below.
Select an Order # for item and pricing details, package tracking and reordering
If you have additional questions about an order you placed, we're happy to help. Call *******761, email Customer Service or ask a question on the product page.

Order Date Order # Name Status Order Total
04/21/*******1600 COREEN ONNEMBO $49.30

What they gave me was dead plants, missing items, and out of stock. They said they refund on card. Get outta here! Theif.

I ordered a bunch of pants and small trees and not only did it come almost 2 months late but most of the plants were dead or dried out. Tried to get customer service and waited a week before they even replied then they never gave me an address to where to return it to since they have 2 addresses... Called the phone number hundreds of times but no one answers or busy always... :( Finally got an address and sent back everything and they told me that the plants and small shrubs were fine... They were all dried out and dead! No leaves and very dry. Will not give me a total refund! Stay away unless you want to go through hell to get your money back and horrible plants, service and will never buy from here or recommend!

Burgess is the WORST plant/seed company. "Replacement Certificate #" for dead plants does not work. Chat with Bonnie unfortunately can't help. They charge your card immediately and to place a reorder comes back as "Invalid Certificate". AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

I wish I had seen these reviews before ordering. I ordered several items back in April 2022. The order has yet to be completely fulfilled. One of the few items that was shipped was an empty bag of mulch, no bulb at all. Nothing they sent me came up once planted. What I did notice was that when I got an "out of stock" notice on two items, they were actually still available on the website and showing inventory, but the price had gone up. As Burgess had already received payment for the items they were ethically obligated to honor my order, yet conveniently were "out of stock" when the price went up. This a garbage company with garbage customer service, get your bulbs & plants elsewhere. This is not a fake or plagiarized review, I also left this same review on the BBB site.

We ordered from Burgess over a year ago. When the plants finally arrived, many were dead and all but one of the rest died within a month or two. They sent us replacements, all of which died. Now they have stopped responding to my emails. They have not followed through with their guarantee. We have no replacements or refunds on their poor quality plants.

Last fall I got an unsolicited catalog from Burgess seed, having never before done business with them. They advertised and I bought a quantity of pink daffodils, one single bloom, one double. (Pink is two of my granddaughters' favorite colors, so I bought for them to plant.) In the spring, nice singles and nice double daffodils bloomed. ALL YELLOW. Not a hint of pink. (I already have thousands of yellow daffodils and certainly would not have bought more.) Recently, I messaged Burgess's customer service, asking how they would make the situation right. BURGESS DID NOT EVEN GIVE ME THE COURTESY OF A RESPONSE.
I will never waste another penny with Burgess and suggest you do not.

Last year in their 2021 spring catalog, part of my order was "fall gold raspberries" which to my surprise all ended up surviving and thriving despite how bad they looked on arrival. However I began to notice the plants looked nothing like any typical raspberry I knew of, being covered in sticky red hairs kinda reminding me of a sundew plant, amongst nasty thorns, worse than my black raspberries thorns. And did not fruit at the cane tops in fall like a typical everbearing raspberry. It wasn't until this season 2022 when the flowers began forming I realized what Burgess actually sent me were Wineberries! For those who don't know Wineberries are an invasive Asian species of raspberry. Now I live in MA so not only did Burgess send me the WRONG plants, but what they sent were a banned species in MA. Now they are ripening right now and are quite delicious, but I paid for fall gold raspberries, NOT wineberries. So long story short even if your mail ordered plants manage to survive, you might end up receiving a plant you did not pay for!

Burgess is a scam, they don't have a greenhouse, warehouse, or any supply. They go thru a third party and after 4 months of lies and excuses, I finally cancelled my order. Buy locally if you need something!