Balsam Hill
Reviews and Complaints

The master bulbIs not working in my tree and every time I put a new one the fuse burns out. I wanted to order new ones and there's no place that I can order them. I do not want to have to rewire this tree. What is another option to purchase the master bulb. Because it doesn't make any sense that you can purchase replacement lights but not to replace that master bulb. So I would either like the replacement master bulbs or another option so I don't have to rewire the tree. Because it is only about three years old. And for the price that you pay for one of these trees you should be able to pay for bulb replacements and not having to pay for an entirely new tree.

I ordered a 36" led battery light Christmas Wreath from this company, and when it arrived it was 26" on a stretched out good day. They would not give me a full refund, and said I must pay $10 for return shipping as there policy states, " For a return fee to be waived, the item received should be damaged, /flawed, /defective. To keep this short, I can only say, look up the definition of flawed, and defective, then think twice about ordering anything from this company... Godspeed.

In Oct 2018 I purchase two Balsam Hill garlands with lights. Having used them for only two years they have already started having problems with the middle sections of both having problems with the lights - on one the lights don't work at all, the other the lights can be barely seen. They have only been used for around 7 weeks and on a timer, so not even on full time.

Having specifically invested in what are promoted as being premium products, I was shocked for find out that any non-tree product only has a 30 day warranty. While this shows a staggering lack of confidence in the quality of their own products I'm not convinced it is legally a reasonable expectation of product life, considering the price paid. I got the impression from the customer service assistant that this is a common problem and there was nothing they could do. So I'm left with a faulty product with no redress from the company.

On Nov 4 2020 I purchased a 9' Sugar frosted light up Christmas tree from Balsam Hill for $822.83, I set up the tree the day of delivery and section#3 did not light up. It was down hill with customer service from there!
I immediately called BH the day of delivery and reported the damaged tree and asked if I could exchange for a fuller tree with more lights that cost more.
I was told I needed to wait to be contacted by customer service in the next 48 hours.
I was not contacted and did not receive any emails. So I called back and was told I would be contacted in 24 hrs. After 24 hrs with no contact I called back and asked for a return label so I could return the damaged tree for a full refund. I was told a replacement tree had already been shipped out. I asked if they could make an exchange for a fuller tree that would work better in my setting. I was told to try out the replacement tree and see if it looked fuller in my house and if not I could exchange for another tree since one was already on the way and would be delivered on 11/14.
On 11/14 I stayed home to receive the tree and not have it stolen by a porch pirate. The tree was not delivered on 11/14.
On 11/15 the next day I called BH to report that I did not receive the replacement tree they promised to deliver the day before. I asked for a replacement tree for my damaged tree to be sent to me and if they would credit me the $200 price difference that I paid and the cost of the tree now on sale, they said no. I asked if they would credit my 40% off coupon I used on my defective tree. To my replacement tree that cost $500 more. They said NO that the 40% off coupon could not be used since the price of the tree was now on sale. I asked if they could accommodate me for my trouble. 5 phone called on a defective tree, setting up/ taking down, repacking and sending back a defective tree, no phone call or email communication for 4 days after I called in a defective tree. They offered me $30 off the replacement and didn't mind if they lost my business on the $1100 tree I wanted to make an exchange for. They sent me a label to return both trees and would not go any further to accommodate my request to replace the tree. I asked BH for the $25 return fee to be removed. The online Balsam Hill return policy both will give you a refund credit with in so many days if your tree goes on sale and will allow for a tree to be replaced with another tree of choice. I was not given the option of the printed online return/exchange policy from Balsam Hill. Chris was the second manager I have talked to at Balsam Hill that could not make a new customer happy! I will send back both trees on Monday and feel my purchase and experiencing with Balsam Hill was a huge hassle!

Spent $1100 on Christmas tree in 2015 (used 3 Christmases). This year in 2019 the plastic thing that holds the wires for lights broke making the tree only usable without the lights. When speaking to representative at Balsam Hill, she could not help in telling me where I could buy a replacement for it. Totally wrong. Go with a company that is either willing to sell or replacement parts or tell you where to buy them (They refused on both counts).

BUYER BEWARE! I ordered a tree, glass ornaments and 2 sets of "crystal and pearl beaded garlands". (3 garlands/set). My order was pushing $800 total and since it was over $699 I received a $50 discount. When they arrived, the garland strands were complete junk. Cheaply made and both sets of 3 wouldn't decorate a small house plant. I contacted the company to get a return label to send them back. I was informed it would cost me $10 to return them. I wasn't happy about that as the items were sold at $49 each ($98 for both) and I expected much better quality. Had they been better made, I wouldn't have sent them back. After my return shipment was processed, I received an email saying my credit card would be credited $38. Of course I called and asked where the rest of my refund was...I was told I would only get $38 because my order received a $50 coupon for being over $699, so I lose the $50 credit. So I paid this company $60 for air. This is the worst customer service I have ever received. This could have been handled so many different ways. Had I known I was going to be OUT $60, I would have exchanged the garlands for more glass ornaments OR maybe they could have given us the current coupon discount and not taken away all $50. Orders over $499 was a $35 discount. I feel completely ripped off and no company should be able to steal cash from you if you are not satisfied with the quality of a product priced as a high end product.

I ordered a wreath for my door in December of 2017. The website page never showed a cord, and I thought I was purchasing a wreath with battery operated lights. I mean who wants a plug running up their door? When I got it, It had a regular plug. I had always heard good things about this company and how artificial foliage was their specialty so I didn't think I would have a hard time exchanging it for the correct one. Then disaster hits and I had to have emergency neck surgery so it sat by my front door until today. I call them and even offer to pay the return shipping to get what I need for next year. Only to hear from them that I called 30 days too late and they don't even have the item. What? I thought this company was a stable, year round company. I asked for a supervisor and was told since it was OFF Season, no one else was available. What a crock. They acted like one of these fly-by-night companies that only open at Christmas. I will always buy from a local store now, with REAL products, and with real people who have a heart.

I ordered an Aspen Silver Fir Christmas tree at the beginning of November knowing how websites may work. Didn't know anything about this one, but I thought that ordering ahead of time would be a great idea.
Well, yes, actually, it is, but not on this website.
It looks great, by the way. Makes you feel how close the main holiday is. But the problem is that they haven't shipped the tree yet. I am very worried. 26 days till christmas, not sure it will arrive on time :(

Ordered a 4.5 ft prelit Christmas tree for my 82 yr old mother last year. I was feeling guilty since we had just moved her out of her house and into a 55+ apartment. I wanted to get her a high quality Christmas tree to try and make the new place feel more like home.

Tree worked fine last holiday season, but this year I go to set it up the second weekend in November and guess what, no lights. I called their Customer Service number and spoke to a very nice guy named Jeff who helped diagnose the issue as a faulty receiver box. He helps me troubleshoot the issue and says that he will request a new receiver box be sent out under warranty and it should be received in 3-5 days. 2 days later I receive a canned email stating that the receiver box is out of stock but i will receive an email when it's ready to ship.

I've sent multiple emails to their Customer service department which is basically outsourced to the Philippines and i've received no information other than the fact that the "receiver box" is still out of stock. I guess it's fine to expect my 82 yr old mother to crawl around on the floor and over furniture to plug in an extension cord to have 1/2 of the lights work.

I was a sucker and spend $350 on a 4.5 ft tree. My first purchase from Balsam Hill and definitely my last. I'll buy a clearance tree at Target or Walmart this year and it will probably perform better for a fraction of the cost.

Bought on 12/27/14.
Stored unopened for 2 years. Opened recently for Xmas now that we have a home. Product had inner branches and gaps . The inner branches were cheap substitute you would never even see on a Walmart tree for 1/3 the price. Cheap substitutes that don't look anything like a Blue Spruce.
The tree was in mint condition because I had just opened it, yet after contacting the company with pictures, the sent me a reply with how to properly store a tree . There was absolutely nothing about addressing the problem I wrote about. Just what others have gotten, double talk.
Here is what I wrote:
Dear Customer service,
Concerning order placed on
11/15/2014
Order#: 414911
Shipping to: Joel Martin

Not the quality one would expect form all the hype as being the most realistic.
This is NOT! Very avg tree for a lot of money. Bought in 2014 and never opened until yesterday because of all our moving and health problems. Was really excited to see this tree. Very disappointed. Some of the inner branches were filled in with cheap branches that were not a match for the Blue Spruce evergreen at all! I mean really?
The only positives were ease of putting up. That's all!
So, what can you do for me?
Thank you for your consideration
Joel Martin

If only I had researched this company before ordering. Although having said that, yesterday they deleted all the negative comments that so, so many people had made on their Facebook page.

Ordering fro them, really has been one of the worse customer service experience ever. They do NOT answer their phones. They do NOT answer any messages, DM via Twitter, PM via Facebook, emails etc.

I have never received a confirmation email or any communication from them regarding my order. Although, they were quick to take my money.

I still have no tree.

If you still decide to use this company, then pay by Pay Pal or Credit Card. At least you might get your money back.

I have ordered a Christmas tree from this website www.balsamhill.com because I saw many positive reviews about this seller, but I guess most of them were fake! I had a terrible experience with Balsam Hill and my order arrived completely damaged. I contacted them and asked for a refund and they said they need some time to decide what to do in my case. They said they will not refund me and promised to think of something else. How unprofessional, don't deal with them!

Paid a lot of money for this tree and when it arrived it was defective and looked nothing like the tree we ordered. All the company did was send us lights and told us to fix it ourselves. The 1st photo is from the web site the second is the one we received. This is a Fraser Fir.

By far, the worst, most unbelievable consumer experience of my 50 years of life!
Ordered the tree and paid expedited freight so it would arrive in time to enjoy it for two-three weeks prior to holiday.
Upon arrival and setup, I discovered the whole bottom section of the white lights didn't work
Hours on phone while they had me check wiring of this pre-lit tree
The informed me they would send me strands of lights to wire onto the section myself.
Given that it was a 1200.00 "pre-lit" tree with colored lights AND white lights, I wasn't keen on having to wire yet more lights on a tree that is supposed to be pre-lit, while the broken lights remain on the tree for it's life.
I asked for replacement section or we would like to return the tree. They went to research and said they would call back. Never did. I called when we returned from Holiday and they then said it was too late to return the tree since it needed to be returned prior to Dec 25th. They didn't care that they failed to deliver a working product, or failed to return the call (which they acknowledged they didn't do), and the replacement section was scheduled for arrival in August. (yes, august). I was not interested. However, was required to pay to freight it back and had to absorb a 20-25% restock fee. Which thankfully AMEX took care of.

Strongly encourage people to avoid this company.

I bought a tree on the last day of a "Sale", ending on a Monday in early October at midnight. I went back to the website a couple of days later, only to discover that the same "Sale" was running but under a different name. Having looked at the website on numerous occasions since, I have not found a day when the 40% off "Sale" was not running. In my rush to take advantage of the "Sale" I did not do a web search for reviews: my mistake! There are several consumer websites (this is one) with dozens of complaints from customers unhappy about shoddy goods, appalling customer service, failure to honour warranties etc, etc.

On the face of it this appears to be a UK company. However, despite the .co.UK web address and a UK phone number this company is incorporated in the US, with a UK distribution centre.
I have spoken to the Trading Standards Office (UK), who have confirmed that their advertising (a continuous "Sale") and their terms and conditions do not comply with UK law but also that they cannot act against a US incorporated company trading in the UK. If you have a bum tree or the lights blow within the "warrantee" period, or the tree falls apart within the 10 year "foliage warrantee", the law cannot help you and Balsam Hill will not. If, however, you bought a tree costing £100+ and paid by credit ( not debit) card then your card issuer is jointly liable for the defective goods.

This is the worst company I've ever dealt with. I spent over $1000 on an artificial tree. It was very complicated to set up, and I called customer support 3 times in the course of several hours to try to have them help me. Only one section of the lights would light up, but they gave me vague, generic answers such as "check the manual" and "look on our website for more detailed instructions". Do they think I would have called if I hadn't already looked at the instruction manual? After several frustrating hours I decided to return the tree. After it was boxed up and in my garage, only then did they decide they wanted to spend time troubleshooting with me before I could return it. I told them it was too late, I was not wasting any more time trying to get this tree to work, and I wanted them to pay the return shipping. I fought with them for weeks and got the run a round from everyone. Finally I spend $450 to return the tree! It was nearly half of what I paid for it. I never felt so ripped off and promised I would tell everyone what a terrible company they were and that nobody should buy their products. I have never done this before but I felt I had no option after all the wasted money and time. They actually had someone call me to tell me they couldn't refund me for shipping, but if I ever wanted to buy something from them again they would personally assist me. As if I would EVER buy anything from them! Please do not buy from this company, they are terrible and you will have nothing but aggravation and regret.

I placed an order on 12/6. Got no confirmation so I e-mailed on 12/7. Received response 12/8 verifying my order and saying that my order had been shipped on 12/7. I called on 12/13 to find out where my order was and was told that my order was cancelled and the item was out of stock! How does an order go from "shipped" to "you're not getting one"? Insult to injury: I never even got an apology from either of the two agents with whom I spoke. I've seen better customer service at the dollar store.

We noticed after about 5 hours of use that there were a strand of lights out...the $500 tree was likely Dead On Arrival and we just did not notice the broken lights earlier.

Customer Service (even my letters to the Found/CEO) refuses to pay for return shipping even after 5 phone calls and 2 emails to the CEO. They state only other option is to wait until their Warranty Service Department opens in February to get replacement parts! They want me to wait 60+ days for PARTS on a 5-hour used broken tree?! Then dig it out of the basement next summer, put it together with the new parts, test it, then box it back up in the basement, then open it again Christmas 2012 and see if it works still?! Moreover, they said I had to return it by Christmas 2011 (10 days from now) or I would not get a refund on my $500 tree purchase!

Writing Better Business Bureau and California Attorney General.

***Short of story: STAY AWAY FROM BALSAM HILL! ***

Google and read the other horror stories. There are even websites solely dedicated to Balsam Hill complaints!

This is the worst possible company you could ever consider doing business with regarding purchasing a Christmas tree. We are a very dissatisfied customer being added to the long list that seems to be growing with this company. There are numerous negative reviews, poor feedback and complaints about Balsam Hill

After spending almost $2000 on a Christmas tree at the www.balsamhill.com web site, it was put up for Christmas of 2009, just after New Years Day a complete set of several hundred bulbs went out. We called their customer support department and they suggested checking the fuses. We did that and found they had blown. Immediately upon replacing them they blew again. A third attempt, they blew again. It was obvious now that there was some kind of electrical defect in the light string.
We called Balsam Hill again and they said a member of customer services would call back. They never did. So we called them again and were then told they couldn’t do anything about it until February. We called again in February and were told somebody would call us back. They never did so we called our credit card company to file a chargeback. Balsam Hill responded to that by saying we should call them again. We did, only to be told that they may issue an RMA but it will take up to 3 weeks for somebody to get back to us to do that and only if they think it will be necessary.
It has now been over 3 weeks and we have heard nothing at all from Balsam Hill. Having called them today, only to get the run-around yet again. This time told that there is nobody available in customer services to answer and somebody would call back. Sure, we have heard that one before! It’s not going to happen. I asked if the person had ever seen all the negative reviews on the internet about Balsam Hill and of course she said she has never looked and when questioned, why not? She said she was a temporary worker. This company seems to have an answer for everything.
I would never recommend this company to anyone. They have zero customer service and just do not care. Their products and their company appear to be nothing other than a rip-off!