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Gurney's has a rating of 1.1 stars from 214 reviews, indicating that most customers are generally dissatisfied with their purchases. Reviewers dissatisfied with Gurney's most frequently mention customer service, tomato plants and credit card. Gurney's ranks 93rd among Plants sites.
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I have called 3 times to find out why my order has not been shipped, each time getting promises that "it will ship in 3 days." The last time I canceled my order. I need to start my seeds! The service rep said he was "unable to cancel my order." I'm done with Gurneys!
I've been a customer for many years. This year, things changed. My order on 2/28/2017 has not yet been shipped on 3/26/2017 - holding for a single item. They have told me twice that they would put a "rush" on my order. As of today, 3/26/2017 they cannot commit to when my order will ship. Kurt Johnson, Urbandale, IA
I disregarded some of the negative reviews thinking they were just random complaining people--but don't make my mistake! Order elsewhere. The varieties here look so lovely and the price is right, but then YOU NEVER GET YOUR ORDER FOR MONTHS. Yet they charge your card immediately and don't allow you to cancel your order. I ordered over a month ago, and they keep sending me emails saying my order is processing and each time they push the expected delivery up. Now I have missed my planting window and will not be able to get anything started indoors, and STILL no seeds. (Last email says they may arrive in APRIL and I ordered in FEBRUARY.)
The website says they ship seeds immediately. It also says they ship live plants at a safe planting time for your zone. The tree (with bare sensitive rootstock) I ordered came right away--in early March when the ground is frozen here in MI!
Was told my order would be delivered on 3-2 to 3-4, it's now 3-8 and I called and someone who could barely speak english and certainly didn't understand it told me that my order should be shipped in a couple of days and I should receive an email on it. What! No reason as to why I haven't received it yet and couldn't explain anything. Very poor customer service.
It takes a month from the time you place an order of seeds until you get them. Piss poor service. Called customer service, another joke
Ordered Tiger mix Lily bulbs on October 18, was told delivery estimate was 11/08/16-11/13/16. It's now November 16 and still no bulbs... so I called to see what is wrong, and was told it is out of store. Why wasn't I informed of it? I can order from other company. But now Planting window lost... season lost. Horrible customer service!
I made 2 orders, May 3 and 4th. Spend $200, get $100 off. Too bad they charged me 158.00 and cancelled part of my order. I now have a strawberry pyramid for 50 plants, they sent 25 and are out of stock. Will not refund me until the last of my order ships in the fall, refuse to send different strawberries. I have to pay more $ and hope they send me strawberries. I am sent a email changing the ship date of my order at least once a week. Not to mention the customer service outsourcing to India, where they are rude and you cant understand them, upon asking to speak to someone without such an accent i was put on hold and promptly disconnected. Now i get to go through all my bank statements to see how much they really scammed me out of. I never did see a discount.
Several times I have called relative to orders and ended up in India or some such place where they barely speak English and have little knowledge about gardening. Extremely difficult to work with these people as they keep putting you on hold while they try to look up information.
Secondly a very miserable time trying to get a bill corrected with no luck after three calls. Last year onion sets arrived rotten and was told their fields had been flooded and no replacements but would send them this year. The sets arrived this year in good shape but was charged $19.98 due from what little I could understand a price increase. I tried to explain that a replacement order should not have any charges but had no success here. Fortunately there are other Seed Companies that will be glad to have my business.
Bill Flick
Livingston, Montana
I bought several tomato plants from them last spring. They arrived late and all dried out - very poorly packed in comparison to the burpee website. I have no connection to either. But I would not buy from gurney's again.
I buy my garden seeds every year from Gurneys. Their seeds are the best and I always have a beautiful productive garden. They carefully package and ship in a prompt manner. Plants are healthy and packaged to withstand the trip. They offer great deals and give good discounts to return customers. Their catalogue is free and beautiful, you can also buy it all online. Have used them over 5 years and love their products and service.
After placing my order I received tenativ shipping dates. Okay, no problem.
After several times of the ship date being moved I called. After breaking the language barrier, see the people from India do not speak/understand English well enough to get my point across, I was transferred to an American based supervisor.
Well guess what? Not only had they been pushing my ship date, they didn't inform me that some of my order was unavailable. I had ordered several apple trees that were suddenly unavailable. Main problem is that certain trees are needed to cross pollinate each other. So, not only do I have several holes in my yard for no reason, I have trees that are coming, some day I guess, that will be useless. No alternatives were offered. I really don't think they care. This was my first and DEFINITE last time ordering from them. Shop local.
They are however still accepting orders/money for the unavailable items.
If I could give them negative five stars I would!
I bought a 2 in 1 Asian pear and when I received it (as a bareroot which they don't tell you!) I planted it right away according to their (somewhat limited) planting instructions. The tree was super dirty, like it was buried in clay mud before being shipped. I took pictures which is why you can see the dirt still on it.
I called them right away to tell them my tree was NOT a 2 in 1 and it took forever to find someone to help me because I had to email several times. Then I was told that no, it was a 2 in 1. I sent pictures, they said oh see that tiny bump there? That's the graft. I squinted in disbelief but said well maybe it's a tiny graft, though it doesn't look like it. They said that bump by the tiny branch is the graft... Hmm...
They also said the tree would produce in a year or two. Well, my tree is three years old now and not a flower not a fruit nothing except the ONE tree it still is. No graft. Is it any wonder their warranty is only for one year. They too my money and laughed all the way to the bank.
FRIGGIN SCAMMERS!
I also bought seeds from them at the same time as the tree and well, none of them germinated. So yup, never buying from this place again!
It took 3 months to receive the tree I ordered. The web sight change my shipping date daily to 3 days forward, every day without fail for 3 months... I called the first month and was told it would probable arrive by the end of the month. When the tree eventually arrived it was half dead, and tiny.
Well I have ordered seed from them and plants. I can tell you about the seed right now. The seeds I bought were Kale along with several others. I will say I love the Kale seeds they are extremely easy to grow. We had very delicious Kale this past season. I planted artichoke and they just popped right up. I planted Beets oh my goodness I love pickled Beets... well they came up just fine also. I have had seeds that are mixed with other seeds for whatever reason. I don't really care why they are mixed but I don't like it. I like planting and growing the seeds that I ordered and not different varietys of that seed. So Gurney's well let me tell you what I have absolutely no problem with them. I did think they had forgot to ship some plants but they I looked at the order status and they ship them out when the window is good for your state and also when the season is right also. I like that too. I like getting the things I am suppose to grow in the proper season to plant them. I prefer getting citrus trees in the warmer months. Well you know what I mean. Anyway I love their customer service also they are extremely helpful when you need them.
Answer: Phone call the wait is moderate. However they just read from a script so are not helpful. I requested to speak to a manager. One wasnt available so the rep said one would call me by end oaf day. Of course I never got a call back from a manager.
Answer: It use to be a good company, now it seems like they don't care about quality.
Answer: Johnny's Selected Seeds is great for seeds. They are always tested for viability and the company is employee-owned. https://www.johnnyseeds.com/
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