Burgess

So, today I finally got the stuff I ordered from Burgess, including pawpaw trees, after waiting more than two months. I can't tell you how utterly disappointed I am. I knew they were going to be sending me dormant, bareroots. So, they sent two of them, right? One wasn't even a bareroot. One was a dead BRANCH. No, STICK. No roots whatsoever. BONE. DRY. I could play fetch with the neighborhood dog with this one.

What's even more crazy, to send it back, it'll cost me more than the damn plant. My apologies. Never been so frustrated. I continued to send them e-mail asking about the status of my order and they continued to claim they were getting "new" stock every day and my order would be sent at any time now. Seems to me that the "new" stock had been sitting in the warehouse drying up. What's more is they sent me four "replacement" cherries since the original one had "failed", but they sent them in no container. Yep. Bone. Dry. Roots. Not sure what to do other than to keep calling them. But, no answer. Most likely a fraudulent organization. JMO. And then, I'm calling them out. Tonight, I'm reporting them to the Better Business Bureau. Shoulda ordered from Gurneys. They're a little more expensive, but their customer reps actually talk to you on the phone And, I'm never ordering from Burgess again.

I ordered several hundred of dollars of plants including fruit trees, climbing roses, white pampas, grapes, blueberries, and catmint. I also bought several fruit trees from Stark Brothers at the same time. The Stark Brothers' trees came well packaged and healthy, and quite a bit larger for the same price. The Stark Brothers' trees all survived the winter and are doing wonderfully. I had several issues with Burgess' plants from the start. The majority of them arrived moldy or even dead. You can only get a refund for the first 14 days after receiving the plants, so if you are unsure whether they will do well, send them back immediately! They offer a credit or replacement plan up to 1 year. They do not care if all the plants die when the competitor's are growing great! I wanted a refund for the obviously poor plants that I had purchased and given the benefit of the doubt that maybe they would survive. I was faced with an incredibly uncaring and obviously less than enthused supervisor at Direct Gardening (a sister company to Burgess) who refused to budge about the refund policy and who became less cordial the more we spoke. They didn't care and told me that I should have sent them back when I first got them if I was unsatisfied (at my expense too!). Now, I am stuck with replanting all of the terrible things again with no guarantee that they will survive, all the time knowing that I could get a better quality plant for the same price elsewhere. Out of 82 plants/tress that I purchased from Burgess, 63 died. Out of 12 trees from Stark Brothers, 0 died. They are all in the same area, and they received exceptional care. Burgess and Direct Gardening will never have my business again. Please go to other companies. You will have a more enjoyable gardening experience for your effort, trust me. Stark Brothers and Great Garden Plants are two that I have dealt with regularly, and they are great!

I am currently at 6 weeks of wait time on my order (mainly bulbs and seeds) and cancelled today. Every email response I received said that my order was in processing which would take 1-2 weeks. 6 weeks later... still waiting... Unacceptable. I had never ordered from this company, but decided to try it out. Never again. I'll take my business (and my yearly $500 flower budget) back to Springhill. The prices are a bit higher, but well worth not dealing with vague and very neutral responses. They say 24 hours for a refund, but we'll see. If not, there is always the BBB option. Buyer beware!

To whom it may concern,

I placed an order as you see below.

Today the box came in the mail and was soaked. I opened the box and this is what I found inside ( see pictures)
I had to throw the box out since it was sticky stuff all over everything! There were two packs of herbs (sweet Fennel and kale) and the biodegradable planting cups. After trying to reach to pull the stuff out, I refused to touch anything because it had the sticky stuff that must have exploded from the cold being shipping). I was handed the box from the postal lady, so I did not keep it outside. This was caused by delivery. I did not get the rest of my order, so I am hoping it is safely on its travels. My fingers are irritated now because of the small amount that got on them when I opened the main box.

I called and spoke to the first woman she didn't even bring up my account or give me her name, and was unprofessional and demanding. I asked to speak with a supervisor (was again unprofessional & complaining I asked to speak with the supervisor) and was put on with Anna Clock #718. Anna as well told me of the policy of sending the shipping label back to the company along with a letter explaining the situation.

I have been purchasing from many companies for the past 30 years and have never dealt with a company like yours.
In order to get a refund I have to Pay to ship back defected items, in order to get a replacement I have to touch a box soaked with chemicals so you can see the label that you sent me in the first place, refused to except a picture of the label, an email of my invoice and refused to take the word of a customer, and asking a customer to once again do something they do not feel comfortable doing just to get a replacement.

I really learned a valuable lesson today!
Keep away from eBurgess and stay with the other company that might charge a little more, but at least they have trust in their customers, go out of their way to make their customer happy, and has a fantastic customer service department.

I will pass on my experience with your company!

Thank you,
Lillian

I should have reviewed these, as after two weeks of one order called their customer no service site~ Lord they hire only RUDE people to answer phones. While it is their right to hire whoever they wish it is my right in the future to NEVER DO BUSINESS with them again. AM seriously glad that only ordered one product for less than 20 bucks. And if after 30 days have not received the product will contest the charges. As not received.

I honestly don't see how this company stays in business other than by not having repeat business.

Ordered four Pecan Trees in late Feb. They arrived March 10th. Dormant, but very much alive. If you can't tell if your plant is alive do the scratch test, if it reveals white or green bark the tree is very much alive. Placed plants to soak for 24 hours then transplanted to large containers until they have grown more, once they are bigger we will transplant to their final home. The shipping method of this company could be better, the plants did come in just a large green bag that was shoved into our mailbox, luckily we have a large mail box. I received my whole order, and got exactly what I was expecting. Their policy does say to give your plants/trees at least six months before requesting a replacement, I fear a lot of these horrible reviews are people who don't know what a dormant tree/plant looks like. The others have prob. Had truly poor service but I would give this company another chance, so far I'm pleased!

I was actually quite happy with burgess. I did not have to deal with their customer service, but their product was great. They say that they send dormant trees, and that is the case. The cherry and peoni trees we received looked 'dead', but a year later they are flourishing. We also got some ice plant that has taken over as a great ground cover should. The mosquito shoo geraniums got huge but didn't do a fantastic job with the Mosquitos. Our mixed pepper seeds ended up producing a gallon to two of peppers per week for about three months. The finally died after the third frost in late October.

I plan on buying a big shipment from the after I move into my new house.

Read the directions, and don't forget that they are shipping plants so expect them to take a while.

Ordered $170 worth of plants. The order took 9 days to get to my home after being shipped from Burgess. What arrived was of low to dead quality. After following their instructions prior to planting and then 16 days in the ground 5 of 10 roses are still dormant/dead, 5 of 6 raspberry bushes are dead, 3 of 4 blueberry bushes are dead, 4 of 5 Austrian pines are dead, and 4 of 4 Trumpet vines are dead. The only thing that survived was 16 of 16 forsythia are sprouting. I am tempted to make a complaint to my credit card to dispute the charge after the junk they sent. Stay away!

This is the email we left for their customer services...

We cannot express our disappointment when we received our order

1st we ordered Hemlock Bushes (8"-15") we have at least 5 "bushes" if that is what you call one sprig with roots attached. We have taken photo's of them root and all and they measure 5"-6" not 8" as your minimum suggest. We understand you measure them root to tip, but come on, this is a joke! You conveniently have no place for us to upload the photo's so I guess you already know you have sent products that don't measure up to your description. Again a sprig is not a bush, just because there are roots attached, does not make it a bush.

When the variety pack of trees arrived, all 6 were poplar trees. NO VARIETY 6 of the same tree, its not a variety pack when the trees are all the same. Not to mention none of the tress have soil or dirt it is a bare root in a plastic bag delivered on a warm humid raining day here in MI which made the bag expand and have nasty condensation on the inside of the bag on the "trees"

Unfortunately we have a new house, new lawn and a high school graduation party in June and were ready to have great products from your company to plant. We are truly disappointed in your products and will not recommend them to anyone else in the new neighborhood. We will also leave poor feedback on your products and services as it pertains to the products we purchased on sites that "review" your services.
Thank you for the disappointment! You truly delivered.