Gardening Express

I ordered fruit trees last year that was a nightmare trying to find out when they would be delivered, bearing in mind I live 10 mines from their nursery! They lied about them being sent then over 2 weeks later they turned up. They were in poor state, but I persevered and did as the instructions said. Last week I contacted them for a refund as they were all dead or should i say as i had received them! To be told im not covered by their so called 5 year guarantee but the shorter one that expired a few days before i asked for their refund and a snotty message back saying dont bother to try and contact us again about it as they wont do anything. Avoid, the majority of their reviews are horror stories like this. I have attached a picture of the sort of rubbish they are sending out

Only ordered twice from GE, first time spent over £150, half the plants /trees ordered were Ok but then found the guarantee involves returning plants at own expense for a refund. As some of my plants (hellebores) had just disintegrated this was not possible anyway. Second order placed (not realising it was same company) and was sent wrong plant along with some ropey looking bulbs. After sending two lots of photos and waiting four days asked why it took so long to resolve (had already waited a long time for the plants and just wanted to get on with planting in a scheme) was told the delay was my fault because I kept contacting them and every time I did it took away from the horticultural team to investigate. Given that only one email was extra to what they'd asked for, I thought it was incredibly unhelpful and rude! Will never order from GE again. Good companies go under, how do companies like this survive?

I ordered 2 plants. Cost of 74.00. One had eaten leaves looked like vine weevil had attacked it. The other was a poor spindly thing with yellow leaves. Dry as a bone and looks dead. Very disappointed.

Received one order that I was reasonably happy with. However I do not recommend the bare root plants as none of the plants established and were a complete wast of money. My main complaint is the terrible customer services - no telephone number and the website chat function is hopeless as no one responds for hours (waited over 3 hours and didn't get a response even then). At first they requested pictures (provided) and now three weeks later state I needed to report the issue within 14 days. I'm completely puzzled how you can tell if bare root plants will become established within 14 days.
I will NOT be using this company again and will NOT recommend.

I've bought twice from Gardening Express. I should have learnt the first time.
Order 1: korean fir and pomegranate. The fir arrived after 10 days in transit in very poor condition (it dies 6 month later) and the pomegranate never arrived at all, a refund was provided for the undelivered item. The 5 year guarantee is not seemingly valid as i still advent been refunded for the dead fir tree.

Order 2:2 x pomegranate and 1 bird of paradise. Again same problem with Hermes, plants were in transit for > 7 days and the trees arrived with dead branches at top and dropped leaves. Photos were sent immediately of damage requesting a replacement and return, 2 weeks later i was told it was "superfluous" and no replacement/refund/return would be made.

Please don't be tempted by the seemingly attractive prices. The plants seem ok, but using Hermes and taking 7-10 days to deliver boxed live plants is only going to end one way.

AVOID! The worst customer service I have experienced. 2 of my plants have still not arrived after a month. The (£50) plant that did arrive was damaged and in very poor condition. Appalling response time to emails. My tickets are still being investigated by the 'horticultural team' one month later!

Delivery arrived 26 days after order... Plants had been 10 days in transit. Some plants missing... Most of them dead!
Repeatedly emailed with photos... Customer service horrendous... Very rude.
They are going to refund for dead and missing plants... I won't hold my breath!
Not express and no garden!

Ordered a pair of Tuscan Cypress trees. On unpacking one was damaged, in that the leader branch was broken. Immediately emailed Gardeningexpress with pictures, took a week for them to reply (after I chased them) to be told that there was no detrimental damage. Having stated that I was unhappy with this I was told to return them at my cost to get a refund, when all they had to do was send a replacement tree. Rest assured I will not use them again and would strongly advise against anyone else using them.

Waited ages for this plant... then it was delivered to me dead. Kept emailing customer service via their ticket system with photos of damaged box and dead plant on arrival (they don't accept any other form of communication) and they just cancel the ticket with no refund or replacement or communication offered. This company should not be allowed to operate with how it treats its customers. Daylight robbery!

Terrible company, ordered 4 cypress pine trees. When they arrived they had been packed into a box that was too short, so in order to get them in the box they had bent the top 12 inches of each tree over. As a result each tree has now started to die. Have tried several times to contact the company but 7 days have gone by and still no response. BEWARE there is no contact number and they do not appear to respond to emails.

I ordered a duo pear tree that was described as 'established'. When it turned up as a gift, every leaf had been ravaged by insects and the info sheet attached to the stem was old, dirty and brittle (it broke off when being taken out of the box. The tree has clearly not been looked after in a nursery and was in no fit state to be sold and the customer services for Gardening Express have not responded. Based on this experience I DO NOT recommend this company.

This is the second time we have given Gardening Express a chance... never again.

The first delivery was poor standard of plants, we were disappointed but gave them a second order... but never again.

The item description reads: "Supplied in approx 5 litre containers, as a standard, with a bushy head on a stem", what was delivered is a trunk with 2 straggly twigs... absolutely not a bushy head.

This is the second time we have used Gardening Express, we should have known after the first poor experience that we were running a risk.

I expect a refund, but wont be holding my breath after reading other reviews here... more fool me that I gave them a second chance and didn't look at reviews on an independent site like this.

David Davies

I placed an order a month ago only some of the plants have arrived they are in a terrible state! I dread to think what state the second part of my delivery is going to be like!
There is no way of contacting this awful company! It's the worst company I have ever dealt with! Very frustrating when you try to contact them and they have closed all customer communication. Absolutely disgusting!

Plants arrived well packaged and on time but in a condition that should never have left the nursery. I have had no response to emails or to a letter sent to Chris Bonnet the owner and managing director. The semi evergreen climbing hydrangea at £39.99 is diseased and has little chance of surviving; the accompanying Acer appears to have been infected with the same rust and mildew.

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!

I would also like to add l posted the review 25/08/14 2 years later Garden Express contacted me to say they would return my postage when l explained it was just over 2 years go & l didn't have the return details as they refused too pay l was told sorry without that we can't refund you what a joke

As everyone else has said, this company says they will reply to a completed web form but they do not. Received unusable plants, very damaged and they don't give a hoot. Will never waste my money there again. Shocking and how they can trade like this is disappointing to say the least. Be very warned people, buy elsewhere, this company does not deserve your trade!

Box arrived damaged. Rose had a broken branch, there were diseased leaves in the bottom of the box and the remainder started falling from day one. Not an ounce of customer care either. Save your money!

Appalling customer service and incredibly difficult to contact. Can only communicate via VERY SLOW online chat and insist on multiple photographs.
I bought 4 standard white roses in March in order to have 2 for my daughter's wedding in July. They arrived mere sticks which I have nurtured. Two have started to flower -deep pink and now a third is deep pink- so disappointed

Do not waste your time with this company i placed my order which was father day gift and received it a week after the day. I opened the box to find my plant had burnt leaves and looked nothing like the picture online. I contacted gardening express immediately with pictures but have not heard anything from them yet. I opened a ticket with them and left several messages but still they ignore me. Customer service from this company is disgusting and i hope trading standards get involved and hope they stop trading so others don't get very poor plants and are ignored when question it. AVOID AVOID AVOID. Pic 1 what advertised online. Pic 2 is what I received.

I waited 6 weeks for my plants all have arrived in a horrible state. No reply from them, they have closed the ticket and ignored me. Please do not buy from them it's not coming up to 2 months of hell trying to solve this issue. I'm going to keep on until I get my money back. Just look at the state of them on the pictures.

Only received 7 of 8 plants ordered and paid for. Zero customer service. I sent a photo as asked but then none of my 4 or 5 emails have received a response. Effective theft combined with shocking regard for customer.

I placed my order in March and they arrived in June the plants were totally immature and despite putting them into intensive care they all died. The only replies i get from them are computerised. I do not expect any replacement plants as I expect that they will go out of business no one can survive this poor level of customer service.