Gardening ExpressReviews 594

I ordered 17 April, arrived 29 June. Emailed several times to cancel order as most of the plants now out of season. There was no response other than automated replies blaming COVID. Plants arrived either dead, very badly damaged or totally out of season. I raised several tickets, absolutely no response. I have been asking for a refund. There is no way of speaking to anyone at this business, it's very frustrating. Unless you want to give away your money for dead plants, DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY!

It took almost 3 months for my plants to arrive and they were poor specimens either in terms of they were broken, or barely even alive, or tiny! Like everyone else i have complained and had radio silence. This is immoral and no way to run a small business. I just hope people read this in time and dont waste money like it looks like loads of us have. Absolutely disgraceful way to treat people especially during a global pandemic when people are strugglling financially.

I first ordered from Gardening Express during the first lockdown and they took almost two months to deliver - in fact by the time they delivered all the garden centres had reopened, so I would have liked to cancel my order, but they didn't give me that option. I could have got much better plants much cheaper from my local B&M at the same time they finally sent my order. Against my better judgement, I gave them another chance this year as there were a few specific plants that I wanted and they were not available in my local garden centre. The plants they sent me are barely alive - I doubt they will ever recover. I've just wasted 50 quid - again! But I've learned my very expensive lesson now - I've wasted my money so you don't have to - don't get fooled by their swanky website - the plants they send you look nothing like the ones they advertise - nobody would ever pay for these if they had seen them in real life! Looks like something they retrieved from the scrapheap because they ran out of stock of the good stuff. Gardening Express should be reported to Trading Standards for false advertising! How are they still in business? Update: I have now added some photos of the plants they sent me. Would you pay £10 each for these in a Garden Centre? Of course not! It would be ridiculous!

My plants took 11 weeks from point of order to arrive. Customer services and communication were shocking throughout with no one responding to help tickets and no other available method of making contact. Despite advertising at the time of order that stock was put aside and the plants that I had ordered were definitely available, one item was missing from my delivery, with no communication as to why, or when I might hope to receive it. One of my plants, an acer, when delivered had obviously been neglected at the nursery during the hot weather, and as a result has blackened, shrivelled leaves showing drought or wind damage. Plants not worth the money, customer services not worth the 1 star rating
Frankly, when they received the amount of orders that they did over the month of April, they SHOULD have shut their order book to allow them to fulfil the orders they already had. It is highly objectionable that they continued to take money from customers, despite knowing full well they were unable to fulfil them within a reasonable time frame. This behaviour makes them no better than greedy crooks. Avoid. Avoid. Avoid. I will never buy from them again.

Absolutely appalling company that should not be allowed to trade. I accepted a delivery wait of up to 15 days as stated at time of ordering. Ended up waiting five weeks with no way of being able to contact them as all form of contact has been shut down. I tried leaving update requests on their Facebook page, but the kept deleting them rather than provide me with delivery updates.

Plants finally arrived, looking like they had been picked from a graveyard bin.
They used a box that was far too shallow, bending my plants in half to enable the box to close.

I returned the plants, recorded and signed for and have now been waiting over 30 days for a refund. This company is an absolute con. Be warned.

Ordered a couple of plants which arrived after a looong delay. Kept on getting emails saying to keep calm but no sight of any timely delivery. Then when I asked for cancellation and refund of my money, they wake up and tell that the order has already been dispatched.the plants get delivered to a wrong address. And in such a bad shape that it was unbelievable.
Repeated emails to them about the bad quality of plants has go me no response.
They have cheated me out of my money. I sent a message to the owner on his LinkedIn account but that too fell on deaf ears.

I reviewed this Mail Order several weeks ago. I would like to update it.

My Order was placed on the 16th April 2020. I waited, i sent email enquiries, but only got standard replies saying how hard everyone was working. I gave up asking in the end. Finally my plants arrived on the 20th June 2020. Over 2 months after I placed the order. They were quick enough to take my cash, but whilst I wanted to cancel my Order it wasn't possible. I dare say I would have had to jump through hoops to get my refund. The plants are ok. A bit straggly but will probably survive. They also sent a free gift of bulbs, probably as a piece offering. Thank you but no clue as to what they were or planting guidance. Nothing. This is the worst mail order experience I have ever had. Please think carefully before placing any order.

**UPDATE**

FOLLOWING ON FROM MY REVIEW I ORDERED A BLACKBERRY NIP ROSE MONTHS AGO. WHEN IT FINALLY ARRIVED IT HAD WILTED AND ALL OF THE BUDS HAD BEEN CUT OFF. HAVING NO JOY CONTACTING GARDENING EXPRESS AS THEY DON'T ANSWER, I PLANTED IT TO FIND THAT WHEN IT FINALLY STARTED TO GROW IT WAS A PINK MINIATURE ROSE (DEFINITELY NOT PURPLE) AND EACH FLOWER DIES 12 HOURS AFTER IT COMES OUT. SURPRISE SURPRISE MY MESSAGES CONTINUE TO GO UNANSWERED. THIS WAS FOR MY PARENT'S ANNIVERSARY AND WAS VERY EMBARRASSING.
THEY EVEN PUT AN ORDER SLIP IN WITH BLACKBERRY NIP TYPED ON IT! NEEDLESS TO SAY ITS NOW SHOWING AS OUT OF STOCK ON THEIR WEBSITE!
PLEASE DON'T BUY FROM THIS COMPANY. THEY ARE A DISGRACE!

IF I COULD GIVE THIS COMPANY A 0 RATING I WOULD.
I ORDERED A ROSE FOR A GIFT 3 WEEKS AGO, IT WAS SHOWING IN STOCK, APPARENTLY DELAYS WITH DELIVERY DUE TO COVID, EVEN THOUGH I'VE HAD NO DELAY WITH ANYTHING ELSE THAT I HAVE ORDERED.
3 WEEKS ON HOWEVER THE ITEM IS NOW SHOWING OUT OF STOCK, THEY WONT REFUND MY MONEY, WON'T TAKE CALLS, SEND AUTOMATED MESSAGES FOBBING ME OFF, TOLD ME I WOULD RECEIVE IT IN THE NEXT FEW DAYS AS IT WAS BEING PREPARED (EVEN THOUGH IT'S NOW OUT OF STOCK) BUT I STILL HAVEN'T RECEIVED IT.
PLEASE READ THESE REVIEWS AND TAKE YOUR BUSINESS ELSEWHERE. THEY ARE AN ABSOLUTELY AWFUL COMPANY, THEY KEEP YOUR MONEY AND DON'T DELIVER.

Plants arrived months after they said they would and weeks after being cancelled 7 times by emails
Chat/phone and emails not working or just ignored
False legal statements given out that you cant cancel and yet the consumer rights act says you can
Plants are appalling for the money paid(and again I cancelled these 7 times and they still sent them to rob you of your money!) they want you to send them back at your own cost (more money!)
Absolutely rubbish company, DO NOT USE EVER DESCRIPTIONS OF THEIR SERVICE AND THEIR PRODUCTS DO NOT LIVE UP TO THEIR WEBSITE and you cannot cancel which is ILLEGAL!
MILLIONS OF US ARE SO ANGRY!

Read all the reviews here before you part with your hard earned money!
The description of the plants on their website doesn't live up to what you actually receive. I'll give you an example of what happened to me!
I ordered the following plants...
Pair of Cordyline Pink Passion - Stunning Hardy Torbay Palms Normally £59.95... LOL Now £29.95. I ordered them on the 3rd June and they turned up on the 24th June.

The description on the website reads as follows.

Pack of two individual plants, each supplied in approx 2-3 Litre containers at an overall height of around 50-60cms tall, these are great value for the size and will make an instant dramatic impact in your garden.

They are in fact 38cm and 40cm. Now this may not seem a lot of difference but they are very small and DEFIANTLY don't make an instant impact.

I contacted their "customer service" team on the same day by raising a ticket. Antony advised me he will pass this on to their Head of Horticulture for comment. Two days later and no reply from Antony despite me sending him another email.

I will be reporting this to Trading Standards as they are clearly deceiving people by false descriptions on their website. My advice to you is AVOID these scammers and go to your local Garden Center.

I placed an order with Gardening Express on 20/04, £ 100 worth, today is 25/06, and no order, nor any communication about when my order will be delivered.

I contacted the company multiple times asking for a delivery date, occasionally I received a copy-paste response that they have 2-4 week delay. For someone waiting 10 weeks, it's an insult.

I have requested a refund today, and I will claim it as fraud with my credit card company, should I not receive a refund.

I have been patient and understanding, but their attitude to the customers, appalling customer service and lack of communication made me think they are a scammers.

Plus, they continue to lie to their future customers, stating that the max delivery time is 4 weeks. Disgraceful behaviour.

If I could leave no stars I would.
I ordered plants at the start of lockdown. They took 9 weeks and 5 days to arrive.
In that time I requested a refund twice - due to the fact that it was an excessive length of time and garden centres were now opening- both requests were completely ignored.
I received an email to say my order was being prepared 18 days before it was eventually dispatched.
I kept optimistic as facebook comments were suggesting the plants were worth the wait despite the delay, and I do appreciate it is a difficult time, but nearly ten weeks was far too long. It also seems that it's only positive comments that are showing on Facebook.
The plants arrived in a terrible state - some dead, some dying. I emailed pictures and requested a refund only to be told that is how they would expect them to look and if I wanted a refund I would need to pay a courier to return the dead and dying plants! I replied to question how they would possibly expect me to pay to return dead plants to them and again requested a refund, but have had no response.
Shocking service, terrible communication, awful product. Could not be more disappointed and frustrated with them and will never use again!

9 wYour order #*******
Placed on 23 April 2020 10:04:31 BST

Item Sku Qty Subtotal
Phyllostachys Bissetii - Green Bamboo B******* 1 £24.99
Subtotal £24.99
Shipping & Handling £5.99
Grand Total £30.98
BILL TO:
Mr Randal Foster
16 Castle Gardens,
Wood Street
Geddington, Northamptonshire, NN14 1AE
United Kingdom
T: *******7828

SHIP TO:
Mr Randal Foster
16 Castle Gardens,
Wood Street
Geddington, Northamptonshire, NN14 1AE
United Kingdom
T: *******7828

SHIPPING METHOD:
Standard Delivery - Standard Delivery

PAYMENT METHOD:
Debit / Credit Card
Dispatch is 3-5 working days for all items in stock/season, in busy periods this may extend up to 10-15 working days. Please refer to our delivery information page for more information. Eeks and still no delivery. No way to det hold of them except by Snail Mail or a Ticket System that does not work.

I really can't give this company any stars at all. I placed an order of over £100 over 7 weeks ago and I have recieved nothing. As we are in the middle of a pandemic I allowed for my order to take longer than the 2 weeks that they advised but 7 weeks is ridiculous. I have ordered from other nurseries after I placed this order and recieved all of them in good condition and within the time frame they advised it would take and they are now all planted. I have emailed requesting my money back as I have had to go out and but more plants as I haven't recieved these but have not heard back from them. I'd never order from this company again.