Gardening Express

Waited so many weeks for my plant, I almost forgot I'd ordered it. The plant wasn't the evergreen variety I'd paid for, had no proper label, was poor quality and diseased. There is no way of having any dialogue with this company and you simply lose your money. Can't believe they get away with it.

The prices are cheap but the plants and trees that I have recently received have either died after a couple of months or never grown at all. I received a flat NO when I asked for a replacement of an order.

I have ordered from gardening express and contacted them about a plant they provided as it was not showing any signs of growth. They refused any replacement plant and any further help. A totally lack of customer care and a 5 year guarantee is a load of CRAP.

Wished I had seen the comments on this company. I too purchased two plants. Didnt spend a huge amount of money (£20 including postage) but they arrived and the box was in a terrible state. The plants inside where almost dead and the compost was emptied into the box, presumably in transit. I have sent two messages via Facebook messenger, where they say someone will contact me very soon. I have also sent messages via their ticket system. No contact from either source. Shocking customer care and the plants are horrendous, so bad, I will bin them. PLEASE, PLEASE dont purchase from this company.

Obtaining plants from Gardening Express is like interfacing with a nonempathetic robot. I ordered online and status didn't change to 'Processing' until I complained after no change after 10 days. I had to complain via their dub chatbot and no phone number is offered by the internet only policy. Finally received my four roses which were OK. Customer service was non-existent and apology was never forgiven. The service is certainly not an express one. Its a garden service operated by a nerd.

Not worth even the one star. I ordered £120 of plants from them end of April. Most of them arrived in various stages of neglect - from damaged to rotten. I made various attempts to get my money back with no success and now they have closed the complaint. Wonder if the poor NHS worker who was trying to get her money back ever heard back from them either?

I dont know how this is possible. In the UK, in 2018. This is absolute fraud. Paid 80 pounds for a 6ft wisteria. 80! Never received it. No answer to my calls, emails or messenger texts. All automated replies. Its a joke. Will report to trading standards.

Absolutely shocking, product and service! Avoid at all cost. I would rather have given my £50 to a charity had I known what I would be delivered. Contacted humpteen times to complain and never got back to me, the email they say to use does not work. There is never anyone on line to deal with chat. I have several screenshots of my communication to them and not once have they replied to try and resolve. I ordered what should have been a beautiful shrub, I know it has to flourish but I genuinely got twigs. Please go to a reputable garden centre unless you want to waste your money, be aware the after sales is non existent and product I got absolutely sub-standard for what I paid. I am so upset that I am raising a complaint through Resolver. They simply do not care about their customers. Also, the delivery took weeks, I chased and chased and could not get any response.

I ordered 2 rose trees, they arrived late as usual from gardening express, and instead of beautiful yellow rose lollipop trees i received 2 sticks.

Both now dead and Gardening Express say return them at your own cost.

CRAP

Wont buy from these ever again and i urge everyone to shop elsewhere

Purchased a Campsis Indian Summer - Large Specimen Trumpet Vine
Arrived Dead cannot contact them via emails or telephone just a stupid ticket system.
Had no reply off them.
Ive bought plants off them over the last 6 years never had no problems
But for some reason its all gone terribly wrong. I'll never buy again from gardening express+++++++++++++++++++++++++
If this is the way i'm going to be treated.

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.

The photos show two supposedly identical Daphnes: one is healthy (but disappointingly small), the other was dead on arrival - and you can see from the root system just why. Death did not occur in the four day period from picking to delivery. They also sent me a dead Sambucus. It is almost impossible to get a response from this company but the glib and inappropriately informal message I did get asked me for more pictures. This is so they can assess the plant! I sense that they are unwilling to refund my money; I also believe I have enough evidence to succeed in recouping my losses via the Small Claims Court. I will never order from Gardening Express again and I hope this review saves others from disappointment and financial loss.

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!

I ordered and waited a long time for a Photinia Pink Crispy, when it arrived it was the most pathetic example of a dying plant that you could imagine!
You cannot call them to complain, you have to send a silly message via the internet, I have now send 3 emails in a week without any reply.
My advise go to a reputable plant retailer, I have now read reviews on this company and they are mostly full of unhappy customers,
Nick Lawn. York

I recently ordered some tea berry plants. They originally said that my order would take 3-5 days to ship. I thought this to be reasonable. Then they said it could take 10 days, then 20 days. I tried to cancel my order, but they did not allow this, as you have to cancel within 24 hrs. Once more, you can no longer 'chat' with them; you have to fill out a 'ticket' e-mail.
So, I went to Cowell's Garden Center, in New Castle Upon Tyne, for the same order. They shipped my order and DELIVERED the NEXT DAY. They kept me abreast with my order every step of their shipping process -- including exact times of shipping/delivery, a pic of the delivery person, AND a pic of my package at its destination. Now that's service, which is everything!

Ordered two small lilac trees from them. Took Hermes 12 days to deliver them. When they arrived they were dead and I mean dead. All dried up and leaves all flaked off

I emailed them twice with photos of the trees attached. This was two weeks ago and they haven't replied

Correspondence is shocking. You can only try and contact them via email and then you will only hear from them if they decide to reply to you

They took my £31 and sold me sub standard goods. Shouldn't be allowed to continue operating. There is no way I can get my money back as they wont contact me. So angry

Lost the first order, forcibly sent it again even though i told them to cancel. Didn't update a new tracking number, blocked me on facebook. A lawyer is going to have to step on here, and it's not the money it's the principle.

Plants are half dead and look like they have been raised in a cellar: dead branches all over, severely lopsided and yellowing.
The packaging looks like the intent was indeed herbicide: the pots are badly misshapen, there is sticky tape running through the leaves and branches, pots stuck on top of each other bending poor greenies out of the way.
Wish I had read the review beforehand.

UPDATE - after 2 months I received 2 out of 3 plants. I presume that I am lucky to have received some relatively healthy plants and will have to write off the third plant to experience.

No plants received so far, but I did get one reply to my emails requesting a refund. This stated that they are unable to give refunds due to their automatic process! No further replies received to my emails, no refund & no plants 7 weeks after ordering. It certainly seems like a scam. I wish I had checked the company out before ordering. Should have know better.

Ordered three weeks ago and am still waiting. I also ordered back in the spring and the plants arrived in good condition and were good value for money. However one proved to be the wrong variety and I received a refund promptly. The wait this time is too long and inconvenient I will not be using them again.

Poor communication, even worse descriptions and diabolical customer service.
Plants delivered damaged or as just a pot of dirt. They do not cover expensive postage for returns

Ordered 50 lavender plants (stupid now, when I think of it) They arrived waterlogged, 30 of them rotted and covered in mould. They have been wrapped in black plastic so it was inevitable. Other companies manage to provide good transport for plants so these jokers either dont know how or dont care.
Customer care useless - took days to answer and here is their response
"Having reviewed the photographs you sent over of your Lavender plants I can confirm that (although they are dry and some of the foliage is wilted), they are alive and will perk up (once planted out and cared for as per instructions).

Live plants are always going to be a little thirsty on delivery after being transported in a carton for a couple of days but please rest assured that they are tougher than they look and will perk up within a few days of being planted out and watered well."
Utter nonsense.
AVOID AVOID AVOID!

Received 3 Foxglove plants purchased from this company total nearly £30 including postage they arrived in a tall box that was squashed and flattened the plants had all their stems broken and bent and the leaves crushed. Had to send photos and the reply was they are dry and some of the foliage is wilted they are alive and will perk up once they are planted. There is no phone number and although " you can always email the founder Chris Bonnetts office " but there is no email address. I told them to arrange a courier to collect the plants and a full refund to my card NO REPLY