Fast Growing Trees review: Items sold not as described / Merchant refuses to accept return and refuses to refund charges 58

Just remembered I had this on me.
Here's the sad clone you can expect to get.
Keep in mind clones are sterile, and no where are you told your getting a clone and not an actual tree.
There is a difference.

Most much to say here except buyer beware. I received the same as everyone else is describing a few days.
You should not get a 5 foot tree with almost no roots. Unfortunately I was so upset I forgot to take a photo of what little roots it had outside the wet construction paper.

We have added a new feature “Live Chat” to the site to help customers get immediate help with things like replacements. We try to answer emails in the order they are received and should be replying to Jim’s request shortly. I have emailed Jim personally through this board and given my phone #, so I can quickly assist him with replacements.

In the terms of service it states:
Tree Sizes:
Most trees are measured from the base of the tree (ground level) to the top. Heights of deciduous trees taller than 5 ft., and evergreens taller than 4 ft., include pot size (if potted). All bare root measurements include the roots of your tree.

I will also be emailing Wild2001 to see what assistance I can offer.

Shipping time two weeks ago was noted on the order confirmation at 1-3 weeks. It varies through the season. We are very close to being able to ship within a week’s time since the spring planting season is coming to an end.

Buyer Beware! I recently ordered plants from Fast Growing Trees.com. What a waste of money. The plants took two weeks to arrive and then they were pitiful. There are a lot of dead branches and the leaves are brown spotted. These were not things that resulted from being packaged and shipped. I contacted the company, but they failed to make any comment let alone any compensation. I entered a review on their website, but I'm sure that they won't post it. I too wish I had known before I ordered.

I ordered 3 trees from Fast-Growing-Trees.com in Fall of 2008. They waited until the trees were dormant before shipping them to me (which was fine), so I received what looked like dead sticks. I planted them, waited all through the Winter, and when Spring came, only 2 of the trees were alive - one had died.

After numerous attempts at contacting them to get a replacement, I've given up. They never responded to one of my emails. So the only satisfaction that I'm going to get is writing this note.

Do not buy from Fast-Growing-Trees.com

Jim
Rochester, NY

P.S. And they sure have a weird way of measuring trees. I ordered a 5 to 7 foot Autumn Blaze Maple tree. The only way that tree was 5 to 7 feet tall is if you measured from the top of the tree all the way down to an out stretched root.

My overall impression of this company is they maybe shouldn't be trying to do business at a national level with the (apparent) inadequate staff size. I recently ordered 5 Crape Myrtle trees online. I had to call after no order confirmation for several days to verify the order had entered processing. Next communication was email confirmation of FedEx shipment. I'm in CA but didn't have any problem with shipping time. I did have a problem with only receiving 4 trees, though packing slips had all been initialed as including 5. I tried calling a couple of different times only to be advised by the recording that emailing their support site is the best way to address all concerns. I reluctantly did so, and was told there should be a response within 2 business days. A week later, I tried the phone number again and got right through to a very pleasant representative named Allison. She apologized for the error and said she would add another tree to my order at no charge, but there were no trees ready to ship immediately. Depending on how long this stage of limbo lasts, my next step may be to obtain a partial refund for the tree I never received.

A note about the trees themselves: the less-than-4-foot size means what I received definitely appears more shrub-like than tree-like, at least at the moment. Given that, plus the less-than-stellar experience with the company so far, I think we'll probably go with a local grower next time in order to know what we're getting from start to finish.

FastGrowingTrees.com
GREAT website BUT very slow delivery and be prepared for a tiny tree!
I bought the red maple (5-7ft) and paid well over $150. When it arrived it was MAYBE 4ft. After doing some research at some local nursuries- it looks like you will pay abouyt 75% more at FastGrowingTrees.com for the SAME tree. Of course the convienience of shipping to your door is great, but NOT worth the high prices they charge.
Save your money and get in the car.

Glad I read this! I was about to order 30 trees!

We will gladly send customers replacments as long as we are notified the tree is dead with-in 90 days and the customer pays the reshipping fee.

As with any online order if there is a problem upon recieving the order please contact the vendor withing 24-48 hours.

Wendy Sea
Customer Service Manager
[protected]
[protected]

Fast Growing Tree Guarantee

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Replacement Guarantee

Fast Growing Trees Nursery carries advanced tree varieties. We generally look for improved stock that not only grows quickly, but is hardier, better formed, more colorful or has longer lasting blooms. Our goal is to provide you with a low maintenance tree that will give you greater enjoyment.

Shipping Guarantee : Your order is carefully handled and shipped to ensure that you receive a healthy product. In the rare event that you receive a package from our carriers that is obviously damaged, please report this to us within 48 hours so we can resolve the issue for you.

90 Replacement Guarantee : If your tree dies within 90 days of receipt, we can offer you a one time replacement your tree. Any destruction of plants pursuant to weather, livestock, drought, insecticides or herbicides, fires, floods, etc., is not covered by this guarantee. Planting a tree outside of the recommended zones for that tree also voids this guarantee. Growth rates published on this site are estimates taken from reputable horticultural sources. We cannot guarantee your growth rate since it will depend entirely on care and conditions beyond our control. You’ve probably seen in your own yard or neighborhood, how plants of the same variety and age, can grow at dramatically different rates. An infinite number of variables can affect their health… water, soil, competing vegetation, animals, weather extremes, etc. However, we do provide easy to follow planting directions, including tips for faster growth. If you do qualify for a replacement tree, all you will be responsible for paying is a 25% shipping and packaging fee (minimum $10.00 dollars if the tree is under 0-4 ft. and minimum $40.00 if the tree is 5 ft. or taller). As a reminder, replacements are usually shipped out bare-root in the spring or fall. The process for receiving your tree is as follows:

Please do a scratch test on the tree. To perform a scratch test using either a small knife or your thumbnail scrape back the bark on the trunk of your plant about one or two inches above the soil. If the tissue appears green or white, the tree is alive and just needs more of the great care we are sure you are already giving it. If the tissue is brown or black, the plant has unfortunately died.
If the tree is in fact dead, please take some photographs of the tree and of the scratch test. We will need the photographs for our records.
Please send us an email with the photos attached. In the email we will also need your name, order number, the date you received your tree, and permission to charge the card we have on file for the shipping fee or another method of payment for the shipping charges. The email address is replacements@fast-growing-trees.com.

If by chance you do not have the ability to email photos you can send them via US Mail to:

Fast Growing Trees
Attn: Replacements
4475 Morris Park Drive
Suite J
Charlotte, NC 28227

Once we have all the information listed above, please be patient as we review your photos. Once we have reviewed your photos and determined that you do qualify for a replacement tree, we will set up a replacement order for you and ship the new tree out to you. We thank you very much for your cooperation and your business.

I, too, have ordered trees from Fast Growing Trees Nursery. This fall I ordered 1 Royal Empress, 1 Eucalytpus, and 6 Thuja Giants. The first tree to arrive was the Royal Empress (about 6 inches). I was a bit concerned, but decided to follow the instructions sent with the tree. Although it hasn't grown much, it appears to be healthy. The other trees (two additional shipments) look very healthy. All were packed extemely well and there was no damage during shipping. I was sorry to read the previous comments concerning this nursery. Of course, one might expect an occasional tree to be unhealthy regardless of the source of purchase. And, one might also expect some employees of companies to be uncooperative. My suggestion would be to call back to get someone else and to report the uncooperative employee to management. In terms of shipping fee on replacement trees, I agree the customer should not have to pay. However, this is not an uncommon practice of businesses. All in all, I was very pleased with my shipments of trees.

We were about to place a large order for some fruit trees. I'm so glad we saw this first.

Thanks for the heads up. I think we will stay local!

Do Not Order through fast-growing-trees! I've had a Terrible experience with them.

I have similar experience with fast-growing-tree nursery.

I've ordered a Royal Empress tree and a Eucaryptus tree.
First of all, they took like one week to send the trees after ordering online.
When I received the trees, Royal empress tree was so small. They advertise the tree size will be between 6 inch to 2 feet but it was cleary not even 6 inch. It was 4-5 inch with two little leaves. I couldn't believe how small the tree was and didn't even look like a tree.
But I figured since it's a fast growing tree, it should grow quickly. Therefore, I planted according to instruction.

Within a few days after being planted, the tree was cleary dying so I sent email to the nursery asking what I should do. I sent email to customerservice@fast-growing-trees.com. All I got was an auto-reply to notify me that they have received my email. Four days later, no response.

By that time, the tree was totally dead. It was actually a fast dying tree instead of a fast growing tree. So I took a pic of the tree and sent to the same email address again. Another four days, no response. Then I realized, they note that they don't respond to email that was send to wrong email address. They have four different email addresses, very confusing.

So I decided to send another email to all of their email address they provide. replacements@fast-growing-trees.com;customerservice@fast-growing-trees.com; billing@fast-growing-trees.com;status@fast-growing-trees.com This time asking for refund or replacement.
Customer service should take care of all issues or at least forward my email to the right department.

Then I got reply from billing@fast-growing-trees.com (how do I know if I need to send my email to billing department while they have customer service and replacement email address?) saying they only have received one of two previous emails that I sent (I've got auto-reply mail from each email that I sent, so I know it reached them.) Lie!

I found out that they replace the tree for $10 fee and no refund. Why do I have to pay another $10 for replacement while other local nursery have 1-year guarantee for free?
But I asked if they can send bigger size tree (not like 5 inches), so that it won't die again.
They replied with me that they can replace the tree but no guarantee on sizes. It will be 6inch to 2 feet.
AND there is no future replacement. Basically, I don't have any choice. I can't ask them to send bigger size tree nor have option for future replacement nor refund. Very poor customer service.

So, they charged $10 for replacement and it's been a week since they placed for replacement.
The tree still hasn't been shipped yet.

It's been for three weeks since I initially requested for replacement.
I sent another email asking when the tree will be shipped and I'm not happy with their service.
The reply I got was, "Sorry you feel that way. Your replacement will ship on Monday. "
Just plain one line sentence. That was their reply.

I will have to wait another 5 days plus shipping time to get this little tree?
It doesn't even state why it is delaying or I'm not even sure which Monday.
At this point, I don't even know if they are going to send me replacement.

Fast-growing-tree nursery totally runs poor business and has poor customer service.
I'll never place order with them and don't order through Fast-growing-tree nursery.

"I sincerely wish consumers would read the terms of service before placing an order on any website"

- This comment is ludicrous. If you were sincere, perhaps you would modify the web site to bring more attention to your outrageous terms of service. 99% of e-tailers offer the option of a refund - or at the very least don't expect the consumer to pay for shipping for a shoddy product.

I have also ordered two trees which were each a total of 5 inches tall each and did not appear to be healthy. Within 10 days (after following all instructions to ease the plant into it's new environment) one tree had died. Unsatisfied with this 'high performing tree'; I attempted to return the tree for a refund only to find out that refunds are not an option. They will, however, let you pay a $10 shipping fee (for a package that weighs under 2 pounds) for a one-time replacement.

Don't waste your money, just go local.

I must say that I have not had the problems as listed previously. I have not tried to return a tree so I am unaware of those difficulties. I received my tree as promised in a short amount of time. It was in the 4 ft. range as expected.
What surprises me w/ these comments is that I called them today to discuss another tree. I got through w/in seconds. I am in a somewhat difficult climate and the rep recommended I wait until spring to order. She did not try to get the quick sale.

We are very sorry to hear you guys are unhappy with our products and customer service.

We do strive to provide better products and service.

I sincerely wish consumers would read the terms of service before placing an order on any website. Our policies are not that different from other in our industry. If you read the terms of service and are aware of certain polices it makes the whole experience much more manageable.

I hope when people read these complaints they take into consideration the volume of business we do vs. a handful of complaints.

FAST GROWING TREES.COM
Maybe they would grow fast IF THEY LIVED! These people are criminals. I am in total agreement. They promise a better product thus the extra cost and do not deliver at all. You will receive a "twig" and then it will DIE! You will ask for your money back and they will not give it to you. CRIMINALS! that is what they are.

Oh say Hi to JESS she's the one who will be sending you the obnoxious emails telling you "you agreed to our terms"
What terms? the terms of death
Well I'm sorry I misread the part where they said - give us your money in return for a twig and when the twig dies thats tough sh**! Too bad for you.

DO NOT BUY FROM THESE "PEOPLE" They are total jerks

This isn't the half of it. They sent me the wrong tree (in terrible condition by the way). When I told them about it after hours of trying to reach someone, they told me they didn't carry the tree they actually sent me and I must be mistaken, even after I provided pictures to them and pointed them to their website where they sell it. Fairly certain there will be no reconciliation as they are by far the rudest people I've ever talked to. Any email you get back is complete nonsense that is almost impossible to respond to. Seriously, it's like tying to reason with a two year old. Do not do business with this company. I never will again.

I wish I had read this comment before placing my order with Fast-growing-trees nursery. Their website states that trees will ship in 7-10 days. After 10 days, I started e-mailing and calling to find out when my order would be shipped. I wasn't in a rush, but I did want an estimated shipping date. I couldn't even get through over the phone and they refused to answer my question about when the trees would be shipped. Every e-mail reply was completely irrelevant to what I was asking and they refused to give me an estimated shipping date. This company has horrible customer service and I wouldn't reccommend them to anyone. I still haven't heard a thing about when my trees will ship and it's been over 2 weeks now. They also will not let you cancel your order without a "restocking" fee...which is completely outrageous.