Gardening Express
Reviews and Complaints

I placed an order on 1st May 2019 for Helleborus "Winter Bells" order number [protected] total value including p&p £15.94. I received my order on 16th May 2019. When I unpacked the plant I very pretty disappointed with it but thought it had just flowered so it will pick up shortly, anyway it now looks pretty grim and I honestly think it will struggle to survive.

I realise that the plant was at a reduced price, I assume due to fact that it had finished flowering.

I am sending a photo of the plant which is still in the original pot.

I await your reply.

Thank you for your attention to this notification of dissatisfaction.

Muriel Thornthwaite
Grapes Barn
Caldbeck
Wigton
Cumbria
CA7 8DP

So when my order arrived, the first box was full of 2 different types of slugs 🐌, & the plants were covered in bird 💩
These were really huge slugs 🐌 on really immature tiny plants.
So when GE try to tell you here on trust pilot, that they hand pick and hand clean each plant what a load of bull, how did they miss these 3 large slugs & of 2 different varieties?!

Obviously I was furious, as I had just treat my garden with nemoslug. I was told to pick the slugs off and quarantine the plants & to trim the leaves! What leaves, the plants were immature already & the slugs had eaten half the leaves so there is nothing really left on the 4 plants they had for dinner & never mind that the slugs 🐌 could of laid eggs in the box plants, it's totally disgraceful.

When my other 2 parcels arrived all from the same order, this was a five day delay, they were stuck in a warehouse they looked like they had been kicked around everywhere. The courier actually delivered them with an awfully rude attitude.

4 plants were dead. One plant was flapping about in a 2 litre pot, it was really bad, you could see where it was an initial cutting started bag, where it had then potted very poorly rooted into a 7cm pot, then thrown into a 2 litre pot for dispatch out to customers, it hadn't even rooted properly in the starter bag let alone the 7cm pot, so I had a 2 litre pot of mud sent out with a tiny unrooted cutting.

Amazing after 5 days delay, I did actually have a few live plants in these 2 remaking boxes.

One plants had severe chlorosis. I had order 3 of these plants in this order, 2 arrived healthy and green and this one was completely YELLOW.

Marina advised me during a phone call that the nursery manager had advise her, that the leaves were yellow and not green because it was the old growth?! The plant is question is deciduous, so it actually looses all its leaves for winter. 🤷‍♂️
I received this plant in May, so obviously it only had NEW growth on it, as was the start of its annual growth, so yet another load of bull from the nursery manager.

I was advised to plant the yellow plant out & treat it myself😡
Obviously, one doesn't expect to get a new plant and have to treat it themselves for severe iron deficiency on arrival.

I like others initial went through the ticket process & I then rang them on the following number: 🔴01245 442511🔴
This is a LIVE phone number, I believe that it is there head office number.
I must say that you do have to keep ringing this above number, but eventually it's does gets answered by a real person 😉

I spoke to a customer service manager on the above number.

Initially the customer service manager was helpful during our few phone calls, then she ghosted 👻 me & refused to reply for nearly 3 weeks, despite me sending regularly emails.

After speaking to customer service manager on the 01245 442511 number, I did manage to get a refund for the 4 dead plants & the refund for these dead plants did arrived within I believe was 3-5 days.

I was told all the above regarding the plants that arrived with slugs, I was told there was nothing wrong with the plant with chlorosis and the plant flapping around in its starter bag that was not rooted in the 2litre pot all via email & was advised as they had refunded me for 4 dead plants my complaint was resolved.

I emailed them back & reactivated my ticket on support @ gardening express . freshdesk . Com & I advised that I was not happy with the response from the nursery manager.

My ticket & complaint was still active & it wasn't replied to again for 3 weeks, then they decided to email me to advise that them cancel my complaint & said that if I was not happy to send the plants back to them within 14 days and to send plants back in a sellable condition?!

Gardening Express were the ones who actually kept the ticket open for longer than the 14 days return period as they failed to respond to me further & I could hardly send the plants back to them in a sellable condition, as these remaining complaint plants WERE NOT ACTUALLY SENT OUT TO ME in a sellable condition, they were full of 🐌, half eaten, chlorotic, and not even rooted in there pots.

If you have any complaints you should report Gardening express to trading standards and watchdog.

This is my own personal, honestly review of my experience with Gardening express.

🔵my order number was [protected] placed on 17/05/19. I am more than happy to provide to trust pilot, all correspondence emails from GE, video pictures, should they wish to verify this honest review that I've given regarding my complaints.

I do hope that others find my review useful.

I placed an order on 10th May for 7 plants, my order was delivered on 20th May but 2 plants were missing on the delivery note it stated that they were "To Follow". I have tried to get in touch with Gardening Express by raising tickets and then by email but I still haven't had an explanation from them. They didn't mind taking my money for these plants but it is so difficult getting in touch with them, they are not on the phone so you can't actually speak to someone. My order number was [protected].

Ordered on 15th May, these turned up on 28th May half dead and in a completely destroyed box. The plants are not fit for purpose and don't look anything alike. I have tried to get them returned but I don't expect to have to pay for this and I can't get any sense out of their 'customer service' as it's all through email and there is no number. I really wish I'd read the reviews for this site before I purchased - as I basically wouldn't have done it. I am one in a long line of hacked off customers. AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS.

I wrote to you twice last week regarding a pair of lavender plants I have received that I am wholly unsatisfied with - they aren't a matching pair, are a lot smaller than advertised and not worth the money paid. I would like you to organise having these returned and a full refund. The box that they arrived in was all but destroyed by the courier but I could still package them up. Could you please respond to me to let me know this is possible.

I ordered some plants.order No: [protected] They were delivered in a battered box upside down & dying.
Contacted via their ticket system send photographs & was told they were looking very healthy & have dies within 2 days of delivery. I have sent FB messages, Twitter mesages. Messages through their wed site NO response.
I have never come accross a company with such disregard for customers. Trust Pillot has many complaints the same.
All i have asked for is a refund & i expect them to honor that.

I placed an order for plants and included delivery date details as I would not be at home for a 2 week period. The plants were delivered 10 days before I was due to return home, on opening not surprisingly they are mouldy and dead. I raised a customer ticket 7 days ago and to date have not received a reply.

Unable to find a telephone number for Customer Service. My first and last time dealing with this company.

I ordered my plants on 8th april. On the 15th april I had an email to sat they were being shipped by hermes. However hermes had no tracking info. By the 18th I was getting concerned where my plants were with a long hot bank holiday approaching. I emailed their customer support with no response. Today 23rd april they were delivered in a bashed about cardboard box in a very sorry state! Two were just mush in a pot starved of light and oxygen. The rest I don't think will survive. Again no response from customer service whatsoever.

Placed an order with gardening express on the 6th april, items were in stock paid for delivery, so I should of received my goods with in 5 days as promised, no goods received within the 5 days, so I emailed them, it is now the 19th april iv had no correspondence from them at all and still not received my goods, and they have taken my money straight away, this is not fair,

Placed order on 6 April.
Checked on 16 April - order had been dispatched
Checked again on 17 - no such order exists (order # [protected])
Tried to contact company via variety of means - no response at all
Complete radio silence
Checked the website - no direct means of contacting this company which in itself is very odd however if this is their standard tactic, it would make sense

I ordered these fern on 19th October and have still not received them, since your guarantee states
3 -5 working days, it has now been 10 working days. It takes far too long for replies to my emails. I was disgusted during last week that was told that you were out of stock. I would like to know if stocks have been replenished, and when I can receive them, if not I would like an immediate refund. If I am unable to receive a reply as soon as possible then I will get my bank to proceed in getting my money back.
Regards
Margaret Fitch

So I waited so excitedly for my new snake plant to arrive. When it arrive the box had been smashed up badly. Then when I looked inside the snake plant which wasn't in the best health anyway look like it had been eaten by something was snapped in places.. I was gutted... and then I opened the free gift. Well I nearly threw up when I opened the bag of mouldy moist bulbs. I have sent emails with no proper reply. All I wanted was a new plant in good condition sent out packaged properly. Now all I want is a refund. I've seen better condition from Homebase so will be purchasing new one from them.

Below is copies of emails sent and received between myself and Gardening Express. Absolutely appalling service.

Only asking for a refund for 1 plant out of all the plants ordered.

##- Please type your reply above this line

Your request (#141676) has been solved. To reopen this request, reply to this email or click the link below:
https://support.gardeningexpress.co.uk/hc/requests/141676

Lauren G
Lauren G (Gardening Express)

Sep 7, 14:41 BST

Hello,
Thank you for your further reply.

I have been asked to contact you regarding the delivery of your recent order.

If you would like a full refund, you will need to please return the order to us within 14 days of receipt, please find the returns form here: https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/gardening-express-customer-returns-form.pdf. You will need to print and fill this in, then return it to us along with the unwanted plants.

Please be aware that we do not offer a collection service, nor do we cover the cost of returned items, unfortunately these are made at your own expense.

Please do not forget to include your Order number/ Voucher code, your address and postcode, your full name and telephone number. This will enable me to locate your order details.

Upon receipt and inspection of your returned plants we will issue you with a refund.

Kind regards
Lauren
The Customer Service Team

Kindest Regards

Plantstore Support

Whyattlouise

Sep 5, 22:14 BST

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for your email. I am not happy with your service. The largest plant which had clearly been upside down and the delivery driver confirmed this as he said he was given it upside down, is not in a fit state to plant in the garden therefore I believe is due a refund. The other plants have been planted and I am hoping will recover. I will not be returning the damaged plant unless you are willing to pay the return postage. This is NOT my fault and yet Gardening Express are doing all they can to get out of refunding a small amount of money. I am now out of pocket with a plant that is not in a fit for the purpose of planting. I have done everything you have asked sending photos yet you are still refusing to refund the amount for one plant. I cannot believe you are willing to lose customers over such a small amount of money.

I was hoping it wouldnt come to this but if you are unable to resolve this situation, i will have no other alrernative than to contact my bank to organise a chargeback claim.

Yours faithfully

Louise

louise whyatt

Gardening
Gardening Express (MB) (Gardening Express)

Sep 5, 14:27 BST

Hello,

Thank you for sending over the photographs of your recent delivery, I can only apologise your order has arrived and occurred some superfluous damage in transit, from reviewing your photographs I cannot see any evidence of any detrimental damage to the plants - they still look very vibrant and healthy, these require planting on, allowing time to settle in their new environment and please be assured will flourish very quickly.

If you remain dissatisfied and if you would like a full refund, you will need to please return the order to us within 14 days of receipt, please find the returns form here: https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/gardening-express-customer-returns-form.pdf. You will need to print and fill this in, then return it to us along with the unwanted plants.

Please be aware that we do not offer a collection service, nor do we cover the cost of returned items, unfortunately these are made at your own expense.

Please do not forget to include your Order number/ Voucher code, your address and postcode, your full name and telephone number. This will enable me to locate your order details.

Upon receipt and inspection of your returned plants we will issue you with a refund.

Kind regards
The Customer Service Team

Gardening Express (MB)

Hide quoted text
Whyattloui
Whyattlouise

Sep 3, 17:12 BST

Good Afternoon

Thank you for your email. I have looked at the photos and fail to see how you cannot assess the plants from the photo. I am unable to attached them again due to file size but they are attached to my previous email. The smaller plant is taken from the top of the plant showing every leaf just not the plant pot. Surely you do not assess a plant on the plant pot but on the leaves. The larger tall plant is shown from top to bottom, if you zoom in you can see leaves, stalk and pot. I cannot believe this is becoming such an issue. When the driver delivered the plants he even said when he collected this from the depot it was upside down!

I trust you will now resolve this issue and refund 2 of the plants delivered in bad condition, through no fault of my own.

Kind regards

Louise

louise whyatt

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Gardening
Gardening Express (MB) (Gardening Express)

Sep 3, 14:09 BST

Hello,

Thank you for sending us your photograph and I'm sorry to hear that there is a problem with the plants you have received.

Unfortunately we are unable to assess your plant using this photograph alone. Would you please be able to send us further photograph(s) showing the whole plants?

Can we please ask your plant/s is removed from its packaging, this will enable us to fully ascertain the condition of the plant/s received.

This will enable us to resolve your enquiry a little faster and also feedback on this case to relevant parties.

Thank you in advance and I look forward to helping you with this soon.

Kind regards
The Customer Service Team

Gardening Express (MB)

Whyattlouise

Aug 30, 15:27 BST

Gardening
Whyattloui
Whyattlouise

Aug 30, 15:27 BST

Gardening Express : Order # [protected]

Louise whyatt
10 Charles Melrose close Mildenhall Suffolk ip287ba

I have attached pictures of the damaged plants as requested.

Thanks

louise whyatt

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Gardening
Gardening Express (MB) (Gardening Express)

Aug 30, 08:51 BST

Hello,

Thank you for your earlier message.

Please accept our apologies for the delay in replying to you.

I am very sorry to hear that there is a problem with the plants you have received, and I am keen to see these myself so I may provide any advice necessary to resolve your query.

Please could you reply as soon as possible with some photographs of the plants in question attached?

Can we please ask you to ensure your plant/s are thoroughly unpacked and are removed from their packaging and importantly can you please photograph the whole plant, this will enable our team to fully assess the condition of the plant received and respond accordingly.

When replying please do ensure you include your full contact details (name, address and phone number) together with your original order number.

Please be advised the largest permitted size of any image or attachment is 20MB we politely ask if your file exceeds this, then multiple attachments be sent. Failure to comply with this may result in your photographs not being received, hence causing an unnecessary delay in resolving your issue.

Thank you in advance for sending these through, I look forward to helping you further soon.

If you are unable to or do not wish to send photographs at this time, please be reminded that you are able to return the order to us within 14 days of receipt for a no quibble. Please find the returns form here: http://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/gardening-express-customer-returns-form.pdf. You will need to print and fill this in, then return it to us along with the unwanted plants. Please be aware that we do not offer a collection service, nor do we cover the cost of returned items, unfortunately these are made at your own expense. Please do not forget to include your Order number/ Voucher code, your address and postcode, your full name and telephone number. This will enable me to locate your order details. Upon receipt and inspection of your returned plants we will issue you with a refund.

Kind regards
The Customer Service Team
Gardening Express (MB)

Whyattloui
Whyattlouise

Aug 24, 15:41 BST

I've received my delivery today and the tall grass is 50% brown and has clearly not done well in delivery. The 3 smaller grasses I think will recover as it thw amount of brown leaves are far less, but it has certainly not been kept upright in transit

I ordered on 21st July. It was shipped on 26th but tracking said it was damaged in transit on 28th and therefore didn't arrive. I contacted Gardening Express via their web form on the 28th, to say not to send it again as I was going away. They profess not to operate any customer service or phone line. Despite this, I managed to find a phone number for them, I called repeatedly but no one ever picked up. I also left a review on here (this review, which I have now edited to reflect the ongoing experience) with my order number saying please cancel it, no one responded. I've never ordered something from a company which is then completely uncontactable, it's very concerning. The idea that they "no longer operate a telephone ordering or customer support service. This is to ensure we are fully compliant with new data protection legislation that comes in to force in May 2018." is a complete nonsense. I have a good knowledge of GDPR and their statement (quoted above) really beggars belief! Also, they are not even GDPR compliant as I am receiving junk emails (special offers) by email and I never signed up for that.

I finally got a response to my web form message on August 3rd, this was via an email which I received 20 minutes after they sent me an email saying it had been re-dispatched. The message said it was too late to get a refund now due to this dispatch, how convenient!

The plants arrived today August 6th, luckily I just got back from holiday. The boxes were bashed around and most the pots were broken or squashed.

Hebe collection - most of the six were labelled with names, none of Hebes were the ones listed on their website for this item. Three of them were in good healthy condition, the other three were small and brown (the soil was moist so they hadn't dried out in transit). Two were the same, so I got 5 different types.

Hydrangea Glam Rock - Three small plants, somewhat dishevelled and brown leaves, one has a bud.

Nandina domestica Firepower - really brown and dishevelled, not sure this will survive

Clematis Taiga - small with mostly dry stem and brown curled leaves, unlikely to survive.

Photinia serratifolia Pink Crispy - This is a good size, most if not all of the leaves are heavily eaten by some creature.

Papaver orientale 'Victoria Louise' - Very small green plant, no bud, time will tell

Salix integra Flamingo - A good size but very dry leaves. When potting, the soil in the pot was soaking wet and covered in white mould.

Dahlia Melody Pink Allegro - A plastic bag full of dead dry brown tubers, three weeks after planting and no sign of life from any of them.

Dahlia Sweetheart - A plastic bag full of tubers, some sprouting. Put them in the ground and 2 weeks on some of them seem to be growing.

I believe they are misrepresenting some of the products being sold. For example, you order some Dahlia flowers and what you get is a bag of brown tubers. They should be clear in the listing by writing "tubers"/bulbs in the title and description and by adding a photo of a tuber, so you know what you're actually getting! Few of the plants seem to be accompanied by an accurate picture or representation of what you're actually sent.

Overall I'm very disappointed, by both the complete lack of customer service and the quality of the plants. I don't think we can make the excuse that "it's cheap so what do you expect" because I ordered lots of small shrubs from another cheap online sellers and what turned up was great, in complete contrast to Gardening Express.

29th August I finally got a reply to the photos I sent of some of the dishevelled plants. I got what appeared to be a standard template response saying the plants were fine and fobbing me off. To get a refund you have to return all the plants within 14 days at your own expense. You'd be lucky to even get a response to an email you sent them within 14 days!

Re the above order which I placed 3/4 weeks ago. I had previously used your company to order and have delivered to my daughter some Gardenias and other plants to her address in the East End of London. For the above order i wanted the delivery to myself. This I very explained on the order form, filling in the new delivery address and also details of where to leave it should I not be home, details of which bell to ring, in fact every detail I could think of. After 2 weeks I received an email saying my delivery was on its way to the East End! I live in the South West of London, neither my daughter or myself have a car and there is no way of transporting two large pots of Grass from there to here. I subsequently emailed you not once but three times, each time with the stock reply i.e. your plants are on the way. The frustration and stress was ridiculous. There is no where to ring - just an eternal answerphone. Eventually the plants arrived in the East End. What are you going to do about this? You have my money two potted plants plus delivery charges, and I have no plants. Will you replace them please and send them to my correct address which must still be on my delivery form. If not I shall goto the Office of Fair Trading or take a claim to the Small Claims Court. I think the service of your company is diabolical and I shall make sure I let as many people as possible know that.

One of the palms delivered is in a sorry state and one of the banana plants is very damaged with all branches/leaves broken. There is another banana plant with one branch broken (see photos with plants still in their packaging). You state on your website "We believe that you won't find better quality plants at a lower price. If you think you can buy better, we'd like to hear from you." I do not want to return because of the awful 3 day experience of awaiting delivery and because 2 of the plants are absolutely fine. I would however like a pro-rata reimbursement on 3 of the plants and I will see if if I can revive them as I paid a significant amount for this order. PLEASE CAN SOMEONE RESPOND TO THIS EMAIL UNLIKE THE PREVIOUS 2 THAT I SENT REGARDING DELIVERY ISSUES

I ordered a box of summer plants for £15 and also a Eucalyptus plant which was £9.99 . Received the box of summer plants fine but no sign of the Eucalyptus plant. I have been chasing this up now for about 2 months and had 1 reply saying it would be with me soon, then another saying it had been delivered (It hadn't) and now I cant seem to get any responses! I feel like I have paid £9.99 for nothing and been robbed!

Ordered 3 plants, totalling £35.00. The clematis was the most expensive one at £15.00. The delivery took 3 weeks to arrive and the clematis was dead. The other plants were certainly not healthy either. They all looked like they had been bought from the end of season dead stock in a garden centre but the clematia was my main complaint. It was supposed to be a summer flowering plant supplied in a 5l pot. It was dead twigs and leaves and was certainly not in a 5l pot! No buds or blooms at all. Awful. I have sent the company 2 emails asking for a refund and have still not received any response. There are so many complaints about this company they are a con company and I don't understand how they are trading legally. Products are certainly not as advertised, customer service doesn't exist and they should be fined for mis selling!

We ordered about £50 worth of plants from Gardening Express in April and the clematis costing £9.99 was dead on arrival. I notified the company immediately but a replacement was never received even though they said they would replace it. Since then two of the four miniature fir trees have died but I've written those off. Any other company would have refunded or replaced the clematis so I would never buy from this company again and would advise others not to. It seems (reading the reviews) that many other people have had the same experience and I would like the company to be investigated as it isn't right that people are being swindled in this way.

Hi I ordered 3 x gerberas on the 22nd July, they arrived at the wrong address despite the correct address being input on the order, they arrived bone dry and now they are dead. I understand that you cannot gaurentee their life span but for them to arrive on the 28th July dry and to only last just over a week I think is poor. Please see pictures below. Order number: [protected]
Thank you.