Gardening ExpressReviews 594

I ordered a snake plant on the 8th of Feb and received it via Hermes courier around 12 today. Compared to the photo online, regardless of whether or not the plant shown there is "at its peak", the quality of the plant I received is absolutely shocking.

Expecting a beautiful Sansevieria, I was dismayed upon seeing a battered, roots-upturned mess of a plant. The box it was delivered in was of a ridiculous size compared to the relatively small plant and pot. No care was taken in protecting the roots and soil, apart from the use of a plastic bag wrapped around it that had come open. Soil was all over the box, all over the outside of the pot and the roots were visible. Not only this, the leaves of the plant were near enough shredded and very dull in colour. The soil itself was soggy, almost dripping wet, also and the plant itself was hanging on a slant because of its poor health.

Upset by the fact I now have to return this plant, I've called customer service around 8 times, only to be put on hold and never be answered.

Calling yourselves the 'No 1' in the UK is laughable. Your customer service is sub-standard, and the way in which you care for your plants is a shambles. Sort yourselves out before anyone else has to deal with a mess like this! I expect a full refund.

I ordered 3 x black bamboo at a cost of £30 each, which they described as being between 1.2 and 1.5 metres tall. Gardening Express described them as 'mature plants'. In reality, they were anything but, being more like saplings or at the best yearlings rather than mature plants.

I tried to contact Gardening Express by telephone, which cost 8p a minute, but gave up after half an hour because no one answered. I believe Gardening Express are also running a phone line scam, along with their gardening scam.

I have repeatedly sent emails yet received no reply. They clearly do not want any contact.

What I have done, is contact my credit card company to facilitate 'chargeback', so I can get my money back. My CC company has asked me to take photographs of my plants as evidence. This I have done.

If Gardening Express refuse to engage with them (which is very likely) they have the power to take the money directly from their account and refund me that way. I suggest everybody try this course of action

This is a rogue trader, give a wide berth.

Very disappointed by the arrival of my snowdrops which I have ordered in memory of a friend who died and whose favorite flowers were snowdrops. The company obviously sells with an oblivion poor quality flowers which will not survive and I will not waste my time and money (I paid 5 quid for a poor courier service too!) to return them. My 2 pots of 5 bulbs (in each one) snowdrops arrived in a huge box which was crushed and turned upside down several times as the soil of the pots was outside everywhere in the box. I had to carefully collect it and put back the bulbs inside. The soil was very dry, like dust, the pots were too small for the bulbs and the bulbs were not moistened. No one cared to water them before shipping. Apart from that, out of 10, only 2 were fully grown snowdrops and they did not smell at all! They looked like tiny plastic hybrids. Will never ever use this company again, nor I would recommend them and My Hermes courier service too! Next time, shall I need flowers, I'll take my time and visit a few gardening centres.

Clumping Umbrella Bamboo 1 x £39.95
Phyllostachys nigra Henonis 1 x £59.95
Pair Goldcrest Lollipop Trees with Tuscany Planters 1 x £59.99

Subtotal £159.89
Shipping & Handling £4.99
Grand Total £164.88

Placed the above order on the 11th January. Finally received something on the 23rd January. However, only the 2 lemon lollipop trees turned up. Arrived in a damaged box and inside were 2 rather sad 50cm plants without the tuscany planters. Their site said a height of 90cm, the box they used only had a height of 70cm. Not worth anywhere near £60.

I've emailed numerous times, opened tickets and rang with no reply and still awaiting my 2 bamboo which cost £100.

Would not use again and definitely not recommend.

I'll be getting in touch with the bank tomorrow/proceed with small claims if required.

I took advantage of the £1 sale of Christmas plants on offer. Items marked as dispatched took 8 days to turn up. Delivered via a courier company and obvious on opening the box that the plants had been packed wrong way to the signage arrows on the box so had been stored either on the side or upside down. Plants were bone dry as they only have water for 3 days and were badly damaged with cracked pots, broken and crushed leaves and blooms and soil all over the box. 3 plants damaged beyond reviving despite TLC. Customer services in the form of "Marina" have procrastinated and won't acknowledge the cheap and shoddy service offered by repeat asks for more and more photographs of the dead plants which I cannot supply as they were dead, brown and had to be composted. I just wanted them to say sorry. I didn't ask or expect financial compensation but it seems this is beyond the company's ability. Business model seems to be sell cheap, package cheap, dispatch cheap and then move on to next customer. Repeat business doesn't seem high on their list of priorities. There are absolutely NO contact details on their website (should have realised communication was not high on their agenda) and had to go through facebook. Wont ever recommend or but through them again. AVOID. You have been warned!

What a terrible company! 2 plants arrived looking like they were dead. I immediately complained and sent 5 different emails with photos attached only for them to keep saying they never received the photos and the plants are in good condition. At the end of the summer I again asked for a refund, sending photos again of the plants looking so poor. I also sent a separate photo of the same plant which was purchased at my local garden centre which looked fab in full bloom. They refused a refund. Please be aware never buy from this company!

Not only did I have to chase up the company time and time again, as the plant was late. It arrived very sick looking and had obvious vine weevil damage (holes out of the leaves). I let them know straight away and they were not interested - I even sent them photos of the damage. The plant has since been stripped of its leaves and my other plants have now gone the same way. I have lost count of how many emails I sent - their customer care is appalling.
They also say they are cheaper than other suppliers - the reason being is that the plants are half the size of what the other companies are selling, infected with goodness knows what and of very poor quality. I have now got to totally clear and treat my borders with specialist vine weevil killer and replace my other plants - not to mention the loss of the plant I bought from the company. Steer well clear!

Honestly, i wish i checked google reviews beforehand, all 12 reviews gave a 1 star! I can see why now... I puchased 3 plants, stating they were between 2-3 litres (bare in mind they are £20 each). I waited a looong time for them to be delivered, i get there can be delays but this was a bit much. 2 of them were presents for my auntie who was staying with me and she had left by the time they came! I tried calling them many times to amend my order, possibly change the plants. Nothing. On one occasion, i was on hold for 1 HOUR! Like a mug! Plants finally arrived. I found them, thrown over my fence, upside down and all bashed up. I open the box, some pots are damaged. I didnt mind to much as i was looking to replant them. It was the size of them that i was shocked at. THEY WERE tiny. When you shop for plants, pot size makes a difference in price. The bigger the pot, the bigger the plant. No way were tgese plants worth £20! False advertising. Customer service afterwards continued to be frustrating, ignoring most my issues with tge product, saying "we can only apologise for the couriers" and "make sure you water your plants..." There is nothing express about this company. I promise there are loads of people that are dissatisfied with their service. I am honestly not one to complain and leave reviews but had to make the exception in this instance. If you want to save yourself time, money and aggravation?... Avoid Gardening Express. I'm off to return the plants. At my own expense of course. Take care

Received my plants 2 days ago which i ordered from Groupon, which were from gardening express,
11 red robin plants, all were infected and leaves eaten from vine weevil,
Is a disgrace how this company can even send them to customers, they are in an appalling state and could have contaminated my other plants,
Also i must mention the plants were supposed to be 60-90cm,
They were 10-30cm,
Vine weevil is a very difficult to control as their lavae eat all the roots and the bugs eat all the leaves,
I have them in a sealed place to keep as evidence and photos also and have asked pay pal to step in and help with refund

Ordered carpet roses 23/07/17 arrived 04/08/17, OK so far and other than wanting feedback on 01/08/2017 I had been kept up to date on progress of the order. Hermes did not deliver on the 3rd as advised, which was the first let down, the packaging was poor and the plants were not labelled. I was so disappointed to find they were old plants, one bush only had 3 stems one of these was deadwood, one was broken and the other we will see. The plants were not labelled and the hearts of the plants are full of dead wood, 20 year old plants in my mums garden have less dead wood. Have complained but GE will not accept there is a problem and it is to much hassle and cost to me to return, so will have to accept my loss. Cannot now plant these roses where intended in a feature site as they will let down the other roses purchased locally. Wish I had read the reviews first and waited until stock became available elsewhere, WILL NOT deal with GE again! Ordered carpet roses 23/07/17 arrived 04/08/17, OK so far and other than wanting feedback on 01/08/2017 I had been kept up to date on progress of the order. Hermes did not deliver on the 3rd as advised, which was the first let down, the packaging was poor and the plants were not labelled. I was so disappointed to find they were old plants, one bush only had 3 stems one of these was deadwood, one was broken and the other we will see. The hearts of the plants are full of dead wood, 20 year old plants in my mums garden have less dead wood. Have complained but GE will not accept there is a problem and it is to much hassle and cost to me to return, so will have to accept my loss. Cannot now plant these roses where intended in a feature site as they will let down the other roses purchased locally. Wish I had read the reviews first and waited until stock became available elsewhere, WILL NOT deal with GE again!

Sent from my iPad

There is no 0 stars.
They sent our order of 6 plants. Only 4 arrived, and those were in very poor shape. They sent the other two and they didn't arrive at all (Again). Then they sent an email saying that it would be best to cancel the order. Absolutely no questions or input from the customer. They just cancelled it, By this time I have a hole in the garden waiting for my plants. And no way of filling it...

Then to add insult to injury they sent me a customer service email asking me to rate them and supply feedback.

A BUNCH OF MUPPETS> Not even with someone elses barge pole.