Gardening Express

A nice website, but:

- Took more than two weeks to arrive (not a problem, but far from 'express')
- Delivered by the dreaded Hermes
- Plant was severely damaged
- The cardboard packaging was completely inadequate
- The "classic white display pot" was a cheap plastic planter.

Some plants broken in transit, some 'bare roots' not in packet eg 2 instead of 3 or 1 instead of 3... poor customer service.

Do video your unpacking... do not know how else to prove an issue...

We are a private members club, we have had people come to us in error, this is not garden express! We are the Estuary club limited. Please avoid this company if you want to avoid being disappointed.

I ordered over £200 of plants of these guys on 03/04/2020 still haven't got the delivery. Have tried to cancel them and they don't answer any queries and won't refund the monies stay clear of them.

One of the plant they sent me dead. Contacted them on fb but no response however they actively post on their wall but NOT respond to their customers complaint. Very bad business

I bought two Daphne plants (on sale) from Gardening Express which were described by them on their website as being "predominantly evergreen, lustrous and dark green to add structure and form to the garden through the year." What arrived a few days later, were two totally YELLOW leaved plants, with many leaves already shed and lying in the box. Since then further leaves have fallen off. There were no care instructions whatsoever in the box or indeed any paperwork at all. The only thing sharing the space with the Daphnes was a tied black plastic bag with a label reading "free gift gladioli". The bag contained between 150/200 shrivelled, mouldy, sweating corms of presumably, gladioli. I presume they were included to provide a wedge to stop the Daphnes falling over. When I complained to Gardening Express about the poor, totally unacceptable quality of these plants, I was informed repeatedly, I should send the plants back at my own non-refundable expense and they might refund me the cost of the plants. The cost of returning the plants will exceed what the plants cost in the first place so I will be out of pocket twice, if I return them. I have reported this to my bank who I am hopeful will get further than I have managed to do. I will NEVER buy from this company again. I am amazed they are able to trade in this way.
Here are photos of what I ordered and what I received judge for yourselves and be warned!

I ordered 3 plants on 11 April and I am still waiting. I have asked them to cancel my order and issue a refund but they have ignored me and have said they are processing my order. They took my money on 13 April but still no goods. The Competition Markets Authority will confirm you cannot charge for a service or product not delivered.
STAY AWAY EVERYONE DO NOT USE THEM!

AWFUL service. AVOID THIS COMPANY. They say 3 to 5 days for delivery, but watch out for the "can take a little longer" After 12 working days (2 weeks), they still cannot say when it will be dispatched. That is not my issue however, it is firstly they have no phone to call, no email to write and no live chat. Nightmare to contact. When I managed to get through all the Q&As and used their messenger - it took an hour to get a response. When I asked them to either postpone dispatch or cancel order because we are away in a couple of days, they said no and told me to ask a neighbour to accept. As I have no one I can ask to accept plants and look after them for a week, they said that is their policy and nothing they can do. Apparently their automated systems do not allow changes after 24 hours and assuming the plants survive while we are away, will deduct 25% of the value of the order for Admin if return is change of mind! Plus I assume I have to pay the courier! A nightmare company and one to avoid

This is a large plant
A fully hardy evergreen plant that does not die back in winter
This is what £30 will get you with gardenenin express
Customer service is appauling there is no phone number no email contact, just one of those irritating live chat things that only opperates fir a couple of hours a day When you do manage to leave a message it takes them 24hours plus to get back and they just brush you off

Absolute rubbish company to deal with. Been trying to get my order or a refund from them for almost 3 months now and no success. It takes them 4 weeks to reply to your email and then its a load of rubbish they reply with.
JUST DON'T BUY FROM THEM AND SHOP ELSEWHERE... YOU'VE BEEN WARNED

I ordered 3 pots of 2-3 liter hydrangeas I got 3 tiny 9cm pots of twigs I $#*! you not!
£65 for it to be sent with yodel on the 18th of April & arrived today 24th! Dry as a bone & no water suppy or pads nothing!

Trees arrived dead, phoned then, Returned items at my expense, No refund no phone call, Please be warned, and read the very poor reviews, and spend your money elsewhere.

Placed two orders first order placed 05/04/2019 arrived today supposed to be large hydrangea in bloom was nothing but a cutting in a large pot! Other order arrived quicker but was nothing like shown on their website. Wish I had checked the reviews before ordering from them! LESSON LEARNT NEVER AGAIN

Healthy bulbs my ar£e, support ticket. Is a joke, no reply, raised another support ticket. To complain that no response to first support ticket. Guess what no reply

Six weeks and still waiting. I just want a refund but they won't communicate. Order *******. Avoid and just go to your local garden centre, I only used this company due to the lockdown.

Plant died before being planted out, supposed customer service department refused to acknowledge responsibility. Guarantee not worth the paper it's written on

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.

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY. I have received 2 Phormium's@ £19.95 each, both arrived tiny, dead and withered - after sending photos with my complaint Gardening Express claimed the plants looked exactly as they would expect them to look! I also ordered a Cordyline which was described on their website as I quote a GIANT EXTRA LARGE SPECIMEN PALM and according to them RRP £139.99 (which now I have the plant is laughable), the Cordyline delivered was not mature, definitely not 'giant' and would have cost me around £30 at my local garden centre, I paid GE £39.99! The only reason to buy on line is to save money by getting better/bigger plants for the £ - this is the opposite with Gardening Express. The only way to get my money back now is to lose even more by paying to return the plants myself! I also doubt it's a coincidence that their contact links do not work on the website as I'm sure they would be inundated with complaints. Wish I could have rated them a minus star

Ordered 70 lily bulbs (pack of 20 and pack of 50) late in the season, having been advised that bulbs were still in cold storage. After two weeks a package arrived containing 140 bulbs ( 2 x 20 bulbs and 2 x 50 bulbs). Of these 140 only 4 had an unbroken flower stem, the remainder having broken stems ranging from 1mm in lenght to a few cms. Thus only a few flowers from the four intact bulbs, and of the remaining 136 bulbs most will probably die over winter due to inability to grow any stem roots.
The bulbs had obviously not been kept in cold storage but had been grwoing flower stems for many weeks and most weer then snapped of during packing. THESE PEOPLE LIE, AVOID.

AVOID THIS SCAM, FRAUDULENT OUTFIT LIKE THE PLAGUE!
My wife paid the princely sum of £28.96p for a GIANT Hydrangea. A TINY plant upside down in a GIANT and damaged box arrived via Hermes. We rejected the delivery and then discovered that this so-called reputable company doesn't provide any phone numbers at all for customer support and your only hope of obtaining any kind of post-sale communication or a refund is by jumping through a covoluted myriad number of hoops.
We then read countless negative and jaw-dropping reviews on Google.
We also discovered that Gardening Express has also been the subject of the BBC's Watchdog programme.
CAVEAT EMPTOR!

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.

Impossible to contact. All other garden companies have delivered during this crisis. I have heard nothing can't contact them and not received my plants ordered April5th... now May 19th.

Terrible company. Please avoid. Ordered some standard rose trees and some fuschias on the 1/7/21. The fuschias arrived last Wednesday looking very unhealthy with broken twigs and dead leaves. Have repotted these and they're still looking poorly.
Still waiting for the rest of the order 31 days on. When I try to used online chat I'm dismissed and they keep seeing my order will be sent with excuse after excuse. When I mentioned that the fuschias had arrived in poor condition the advisor completely ignored it and closed the chat without answering the question. Was was told the order has not even been picked yet for delivery. Will not use this company again and would advise others to order elsewhere! First I was told the order was coming from their main order that's why I received it before the rest, then the same advisor told me it actually came from their sister nursery, so given conflicting information
It seems the company only allow positive reviews on their website because I reviewed the fuschias as one star and this has not been submitted to their site. Tried to contact them through Facebook, hoping to get an answer as their online chat is awful on their website, and they blocked me from contacting them or from posting on their wall. Have since disputed the transaction with my bank as they're clearly a scam company. Also contacted BBC watchdog. Never had such poor customer service from an online retailer. Would give zero stars if I could.