Gardening Express
reviews and complaints

DO NOT BUY THESE TREES! BE VERY CAREFUL WHEN DEALING WITH THIS COMPANY!

The trees were delivered bare rooted (as expected) and I immediately planted/cared for them as instructed. Three months later (from June to August) there is still no growth whatsoever and when snipping a stem back, no green or sign of life. Upon contacting the farcical 'fast messaging service' (as this is the only way to get in contact) and waiting literally hours for a response, I am told that there is only a 14 day return policy (and you have to pay to return the plants yourself anyway too).

When the instructions say that there will be growth in a month or two, how the hell is anyone supposed to know that they are dead sticks before then; and return them.

The messaging agent was totally unhelpful and dismissive. These trees were not cheap, but forgetting about the money, the customer service from this company is point blank the worst I have ever experienced.

PURCHASE AT YOUR PERIL

I ordered a monstera plant on the 23rd July for my daughters birthday as she has just moved into her first property. The plant cost £30.96 inc £5.99 delivery

It is now Now on the 6th August I have not received the plant or any correspondence re delivery.

I contacted them on their webchat facility as instructed at 10.12am, it is now 15.11pm and have not received a response other that their automatic bot one. There is no alternative method of contact for me to query.

Dear Sir - Madam,

Ref order: [protected].

Part of the above order, placed March 2021, included the purchase of a Hydrangea varana plant. The plant looked dead when it arrived, yet I planted it hoping it would 'buck up'. The plant is in the same condition as when received and is dead.
I have tried 4 times to contact Gardening Express via there Web chat facility and each time, after waiting over 2:30 hours (each time) have received no response. There is no other way to contact this Company. In essence, I have paid for dead goods nd am unable to get a response due to zero contact from the Company as you are unable to contact them s no one answers the live chat facility. (screenshots added for this too).

I ordered my plants nearly 3 weeks ago, I have tried to make contact with gardening express vis their ' help bot' which never replies.

The company are not contactable in any way, including social media!

They have taken our funds and not delivered any goods. It appears this is a ongoing issue that they are getting away with.

I had ordered 3 orchid plants which arrived on Friday in a 6' tall box.
The orchid pots were tied together at the bottom and 7 flowers including a small branch had fallen off.
The plants are poor and not fresh. I have a lot of orchids and these were awful. One has now 2 flowers left.
Very poor packaging and stui8d packaging as they came via Hermes. Hermes deliver in their drivers' cars and there would
NOT be enough room to stand the box up. So they were bound to fail, even if they had been good plants.

I ordered an acer tree advertised as 90-110 cm the one I received is 50 cm including pot
I have tried numerous times on their chat sometimes waiting 6 hours
I sent a picture and they said I would receive a partial refund but still can't get through to find out when I will get it
I am getting fed up as the only way to get in touch with them is the'chat'
My order number is [protected]

DONT WASTE YOUR MONEY WITH GARDENING EXPRESS.
I have tried to contact Gardening Express via their chat system and as yet have had no reply.
. I contacted them on 15th June when my plants arrived and they are dismal to say the least the conifers are much smaller than the height described and the 'glorious' colours of heuchera are non existent, 6 of the plants had 1 leaf, the other two are very small and all are the same green colour.
I am extremely disappointed and feel totally ripped off. I work hard to earn my money and it feels like I have totally wasted my money along with my time trying to contact Gardening Express through the chat system and email.

Three potato plants ordered 6 June 2021. It's now 24 June and I've still not received them.

Did receive email stating that the order would be taking a bit longer than usual. I raised this with the company (chatbox only, with long delay in responding) - expressing my belief that this was a veiled way of saying that they would not be fulfilling my order, this growing season.

Eventual on-line chat with agent (Sam) led me to believe that the order would be fulfilled. (However, it has not.) I also offered to go and collect the items in person - given that their published address is relatively nearby. This offer was point-blank refused on grounds of "safety".

In summary, I can only conclude that this is a scam company - one of those which takes payment for items it does not have or cannot otherwise supply.

My order arrived late. When it did come, the lavenders were half dead and my quince tree showed no sign of life. I gave it 3 weeks in case it was dormant for some reason (should be in full leaf and flower at this time of year) but it it clearly dead. When i contacted gardenexpress via your chat facility i was told they could not help.
I would like a full refund for the damaged/dead plants.

Glam rock hydrangea arrived deheaded, dead, unable to to re grow.
Contact garden express with photos, order number.
No response

Order ref [protected] dated 31May 2021 for marigold plants from Gardening Express
Marked as dispatched by GE about 05 May.
Courier [Yodel] cannot trace via track code or delivery postcode
After 6 or more days in transit plants will be dead and useless

I have tried to contact this company their E-Mail address is incorrect and they do not respond to their online chat service also they cannot be reached by phone. this is an appalling situation. I am beginning to think the website is a scam. Plant arrived in a poor condition but put this down to the plant about to go into dormancy It has been cared for in the correct manner but unfortunately it has not put out any new shoots and appears dead.

Ordered plants from website based on the image that was shown. When the plants arrived, they were extremely small and in no way representative of what was shown on the website - please see website below:https://www.gardeningexpress.co.uk/deal16024-special-deal-hebe-emerald-green-globe-pack-of-three-plants
Have tried to complain and request a refund of both product and delivery charge. Garden express initiated a complaint 'ticket'. When I continued to try to correspond with Garden Express, they advised me that the 'ticket' was now closed and the issue resolved. In my opinion this was not resolved at all. Garden Express falsely advertised a product that was mis-represented in reality. As a business owner, I have access to financial statements via Companies House and have found that this company have profits in excess of £1/2m per year. I have also researched reviews and have found many from dis-satisfied customers, yet this company is still being allowed to trade and take advantage of unsuspecting customers - ignoring them when they complain. They are an absolute disgrace

Gardening express sent me dead plants that they wanted photos of and now want posting back at a cost that will be more than I paid. They arnt responding to any of my emails.

Order for 20 dahlia tubers on 22 nd May, but delivery Mid August was too late for successful planting.
They were made aware of issue before sending the plants!
Despite raising complaints on their website there has been no response.
Worse service possible!

Standard olive tree and large orange tree ordered 17 july. Never recieved. Numerous requests for updates, told lost in transit and then each time I asked for replacements or full refund of £50.93 after several days a stalling e-mail saying it will be referred to management. No way to phone of contact a real person. Appalling way to treat customers - using covid as an excuse for delay in replying. It would take very little time to issue a refund, but this has not happened. I am now considering small claims court on principle and have sent this message to them on yet another 'support ticket'.

I raised a complaint ticket via the website regarding some tress i purchased that were too small and not as described. My complaint has been completely ignored! No response at all after 2 weeks!
The order number was [protected]
I requested a partial refund, no reply.
Do not do business with this comany.

Order [laced 31st MArch, plants arrived mostly in a terrible condition - 16 chucked into one box, all broken and compost everywhere. Some that were salvageable were actually of such poor quality they would not have been accepted. Dead twig sold as a trumpet flower .

No way of contacting except ticket system . Had 2 generic we will help you but we are busy type replies. Sent all relevant photos about the state of the packaging and the poor plants. 6 weeks later someone asked for more photos but had to point out Id sent over everything and binned the dead plants so then that was it. I have been on to the ticket system regularly since then and we are now into 6th month. IT now says ticket is closed.

I have written to the company director in desperation as I am determined they are not going to fob me off and I am seeking a refund . It appears I am very much not alone in receiving terrible plants, terribly packaged and terrible customer service. This company needs to operate in a better fashion and listen to and respond to complaints. I dont know what else to do to get my money back from this rogue company.

Paid and ordered by debit card a Magnolia tree for £30 & a Daphne for £10 with £6 postage in March this year and after 2months wait the plants arrived in a torn sellotaped cardboard box which a Hermes courier dumped on my doorsteps uttering (this how we received it, all sellataped).
The Daphne was satisfactory but the Magnolia was only a pole with all the branches broken and withered.
Contacted Gardening Express by their system of raised tickets, expressing my dissatisfaction with corresponding photos only to get a response from someone called Zita that my complaint will be passed on to someone of the relevant team.
After another 2 months and several contacts I am still awaiting a response from this relevant team.
As I have paid by debit card I will now contact my bank to see if I can do anything with a chargeback.
To make matters worst this is my second purchase from this company, my first purchase was lost in the post (again Hermes), however they did reimburse the full amount.

I purchased 2 topiary plants in June 2020 and as yet have not received them. I managed to contact them and was told a refund would be made if the plants could not be sent. I was told that they were lost by the courier! It is now impossible to get in contact with them. What can I do? I have tried the ticket system but the security you have to go through does not work.