"Absolute junk Christmas Tree.

In October 2016 I purchased a Balsam hill tree (order 811591.) I admit a beautiful tree but ... the lighting has stank after the first year. Out of the box everything worked great. In 2017 after about 1 hour I got all the lights on. Last year I spent about 6 hours troubleshooting and this year well I give up ... I have never got every light on and invariably as I get close another spot dies. because of the way the lights are wired it is impossible to step through the lights and find a problem. Looking on line this is a common problem although not well represented by Balsam hill site reviews – probably because they are out of box reviews. My friend and I are both engineers with similar trees his is taller but he has the exact same problem.

The price of these trees implies a premium tree. My previous Walmart tree actually looked better because the lights worked and never more than 30 minutes to get them working. In short it looks real … real crappy because the lights do not work. By Christmas I expect it will be dark.
"

"Ordered the tree last year, (2018) recv’d it after Christmas. So this year was the 1st time I was setting it up. I have huge gaps, have replaced 8 bulbs. I have taken it apart twice to try to fluff it out as they show in video, did not work. Called customer service to see if they could replace bottom section, was told they couldn’t help me because the tree only had a 60 day warranty on it since it was a clearance item. Didn’t see that anywhere when I purchased it. Funny thing is they are still selling the same exact tree. Asked if they had just some branches that I could buy, to fill in the gaps, of course they didn’t. The rep was very rude said I should of ckd it out when I recv’d it after Christmas in 2018. Just a horrible experience all the way around. Will never purchase another balsam hill product again. Better looking trees at Local store"

"Unbelievably Bad Customer Service.
I never thought I would deal with a company with service as bad as this one, but it indeed has happened. One year after I placed my order I still do not have a functioning tree, and nobody at Balsam Hill is either authorized to or cares to help. I can honestly say that every negative review on this company must be true, as my experience has been filled with lies, deception, an attempted bait and switch, and customer service reps simply saying they cannot help. Balsam Hill's warranty is an absolute false promise, and I have today been informed (after 80 minutes on the phone -- following up on dozens of hours previously spent over the past year on the phone with BH customer reps) that because my defective tree was made in 2018, they do not yet have the exact replacement tree in stock yet. Naturally, they will never again have new 2018 trees in stock, yet I was just told to wait until Dec. 6 to call back and see if they have the 2018 version back in stock. What they do have in stock is the same tree, by the same name (Centennial Fir) with the same height. They refuse to replace my tree with that same tree because they are now selling that tree for a higher price. Bear in mind, I paid $1,200 for this tree. One would expect some decent level of customer service for that price.
Though I was promised a replacement back in February, I was just read the fine print of that message that the "confirmation of replacement product" e-mail does not "guarantee inventory replenishment." I would have never dreamed that a company -- not operating in a third-world country -- would twist this language to deny a replacement based on the year in which the item was produced. Since they cannot manufacture 2018 trees now that it is 2019, they refuse to provide a replacement of the same tree in 2019.
Everyone should beware of this company. I spent years trying to convince my wife to agree to having a high-quality, artificial tree instead of a real tree for Christmas. Balsam Hill has made this the most time-consuming, unsatisfying, and frustrating customer experience I have had in 46 years on this earth. You may be lucky enough to get a tree that works from Day 1, but if you don't, this company most definitely will NOT stand behind their product and will go out of their way to NOT make the customer whole. If you do have a problem with a tree from this company, I would recommend stopping your credit card payment immediately -- because after dozens of promises and customer service rep discussions over the course of the last year, I am out $1,200 and still do not have a working tree. I honestly do not know how a company with such awful customer service can be in business today, and they choose to ruin people's holidays rather than just provide good (and normal) customer service.
"

"Customer service at this company is a joke. Staffed by people in a foreign country that have no authority to make things right. Trees I bought were nothing special and overpriced. Spend your money elsewhere. "

"We purchased the Balsam Fir tree unlit 7.5' tall because it said that it was very realistic and had pretty good reviews. However, after it arrived my wife quickly set it up, after coming home from work I looked at it and was very disappointed. This tree looked more fake than any artificial tree I have ever seen, it looks like its made of plastic. The branches and needles are all the same color, further inside the tree the branches have some brown color but that can't be seen. The tree does not look full like its supposed to, it says it has over 5,000 tips and I doubt it does, it looks cheap and not worth the money so we are paying $50 to return it, yes, they say $25 return fee but as it turns out it is $25 per box.. DO NOT BUY!"

"We purchased the 7.5 foot California Baby Redwood with easy-plug color and clear lights in 2015 and we have been pleased until this year. It's a big consideration to spend so much money on a tree but we knew that if it's a quality item the value for use year after year would be worth it. We read a lot of reviews online before purchasing and noticed a lot of negative feedback regarding warranty issues, but in fairness to Balsam Hill we know that readers don't always know both sides of the story so we were not deterred and have been very happy until now. This year, (Oct 2019) we pulled out the tree to do a pre-check of the lighting and find that a partial strand in one of the sections is not lighting. We have spent a lot of time looking for broken bulbs and individually swapping out each unlit bulb with a replacement hoping we can bring the section back to life. Nothing worked. Today I called Balsam Hill to inquire about options to repair or replace the lights or even replace that entire section. Before I called I knew we are out of warranty on the lights and I was looking only for resources available to us at our own expense so we can continue to use this beautiful tree. I was surprised and shocked to find out that Balsam Hill will no longer sell replacement light strands for their trees (individual bulbs yes, but not strands), nor will they sell us a replacement tree section even though they have the sections available. They said if that section of our tree had a foliage defect they would send a replacement section at no cost as we are still within the timeframe for the foliage warranty. However there was no way they would consider selling us that same replacement section to solve our lights issue. We expected to be able to use, maintain and repair this tree after warranty. Not forever, but more than this. To have zero resources available to customers after a warranty period ends is beyond disappointing. I wish we had known, so I'm sharing to enlighten others."

"I have ordered a Christmas Tree, a Holiday Wreath and a fake flower arrangement and LOVE each piece! I always get complements on my flower arrangement and a few people have stopped to try to smell the flowers (if that is not a testament to good quality what is?!). My Christmas tree has been used 4 Christmases already and it looks as good as the first year. I would recommend Balsam Hill to everyone (and even got my MIL to buy a few things). Items aren't cheap, but the quality is SO WORTH IT!. "

"After much internal debate, I decided to take the plunge and order myself an expensive faux wreath from Balsam Hill. In the past, I've always used real greenery, but my fiancé has terrible tree pollen allergies, so I didn't want to take a risk with his health.

I had very high expectations...and Balsam Hill did not disappoint! The wreath is incredibly realistic and just gorgeous. I've gotten compliments from so many people, including my mom, who is notoriously picky with Christmas decor! I'm so glad I decided to get this wreath, and I can see it being a focal point of my Christmas decor for years to come. Most of all, I'm just glad it looks so real! "

"We've stocked up on a lot of items from Balsam Hill over the past few years. I think we started with something small (a Luminara candle, which is very realistic) and have added all sorts of decorations. Everything we've purchased is over-the-top high-quality. The fabrics are plush, the ornaments are sturdy, the lights have worked every year we bring them out after months of storage, and the trees look like they are alive. Whenever I want quality for a specific item, I start with them first."

"We ordered the Heritage Spice Wreath from Balsam Hill and were very happy with how it turned out. One thing to note: make sure you shape these products before you display them. If you forget to do that, the wreath will not look as full or as natural. Otherwise, I thought the product looked great, and the batteries lasted for several weeks. "

"
My story is too long to even take my time to write. But suffice it to say that my $1500 9 ft tree arrived damaged in a mostly obliterated box. The lights on five of the bottom branches didn't work. Balsam Hill initially told me that they would take back the bottom tree section and send me a new one. After MANY phone calls to customer service over the last 4 months, and many errors in the process, they are now telling me that I have to come up with a HUGE box to send the tree back, since the other one is unusable. Their best advice is to troll Lowes or Home Depot for refrigerator boxes. REALLY?? They can't send me a box in which to send back their tree? I've now given up on ever sending the tree back, and getting a new one. This company is run so poorly. I don't know how they stay in business. If you order a tree from Balsam Hill, you better hope nothing is wrong with it or you are SOL."

"Avoid using Balsam Hill. This company is all about the slick marketing with no customer service to back the product. These are very expensive trees. Our tree arrived in a wet box that can no longer be used for storage. The bag to store the tree is too small and ripped. A wheel on our flip tree version broke on first use with the ball bearing dropping all over the floor. Customer service has not resolved any of these problems. They want to send me the parts to rebuild the defective tree they sent me. I was told I would receive a returned call to resolve. No one ever called. Save yourself a lot of hassle and expense and buy your tree from Costco."

"(This review is in regard to Case #00681518; Ticket #589158).

Balsam Hill’s employees grossly misrepresented their commitment to providing exceptional customer service and quality products. The website says the lights are “long-lasting” with “premium commercial grade lights so that if one bulb burns out or is removed, the rest stay lit.” For $500, hundreds of lights from strands in all three sections of the tree should not have failed after less than three months of occasional use. It appears Balsam Hill does not keep an adequate stock of replacement parts to service the trees they sell. Our tree is as realistic as claimed, but the technical support and customer service is worse than I could have possibly anticipated. I strongly advise against buying anything that might require service from this company, especially the pre-lit Christmas trees. We wasted entirely too much time and money on ours: I hope that, in writing this review, I can at least save a few other families that hassle.

My son purchased a Balsam Hill tree with clear and multi-color lights on 11-6-15 for about $500 as a gift to my husband and me. I was present when he called on speakerphone to inquire about the trees; because the rep assured us that parts for both the tree and lights would be available, we agreed to buy a pre-lit tree.

When I assembled it on 12/17/18, less than three years and 1 week after receiving it, an entire section of multi-color lights in the top 1/3 part of the tree was out. I called technical support who instructed me to change the fuse bulb, but this did not solve the problem. Since my son has some knowledge of circuits and electronics, I asked him to call technical support, again on speakerphone; not only did the information he was given not solve the issue, it conflicted with what I was told earlier.

My son then asked to speak with a supervisor and requested that they go through a more thorough troubleshooting process. The supervisor refused, stating this had already been tried, the lights were out of warranty, and all he could offer was a replacement strand of multi-color lights. My son said he was concerned about damaging the tree or the intertwined clear lights in attempting the replacement; he also suspected that this light strand issue was a symptom of a larger problem, since so many lights had failed so suddenly. With this in mind, he inquired about the possibility of paying to replace the entire top part of the tree. The supervisor said this was impossible because the warranty had expired; he was increasingly rude and evasive, so we asked to speak with his supervisor; he told us there was “absolutely no one else” we could speak with.

This seemed unusual, so my son called customer service later that evening. We were told that, in fact, the company was totally out of replacement tree parts for our model—but, contrary to what the technical support supervisor claimed, the customer service rep. submitted a special request to a supervisor and suggested we follow up after Christmas. After exchanging a few emails, a customer service rep. agreed to send us replacement lights, but also to escalate the issue and get back to us, hopefully with a more comprehensive solution, after the busy holiday season.

Unfortunately, the replacement lights we received were clear, not multi-colored, so they were of no use. Furthermore, while waiting for the replacement lights, numerous additional large sections of multi-color lights (hundreds of bulbs) failed all over the tree. While trouble shooting this on his own, my son found what appears to be a manufacturing wiring defect in the fuse bulb base in the first section to go out (the attached pictures show a normal and an abnormal base). My son again reached out to technical support and customer service to share this new information, and also request that they send the proper multi-color replacement lights. They refused to offer any additional assistance since the warranty had expired.

Sincerely,

Patricia"

"I am so disappointed in the customer service, or lack thereof, that I received today. I bought a tree topper at the end of November, found it to be defective (the post was not adequately soldered to the tree topper) and since it is past 30 days, there is absolutely nothing Balsam Hill will do. I spoke with 2 customer service reps who repeated their policy. When I asked to speak with a supervisor, I was told the supervisor "doesn't take calls". A customer service manager doesn't provide customer service?? I'm appalled and just completely disappointed. Balsam Hill is supposed to provide high quality products and superior customer service and today, they completely missed the bar on both. Wow, not what I expected at all. Unfortunately, I also cannot post a review on the specific product because it is no longer for sale."

"I ordered a tree that was advertised as 'On Clearance' on Dec 26, 2018. The order indicated the tree would be delivered in 2-5 business days. I received a tracking number from Balsam Hill but the tree has not arrived as of this review. I have called Balsam Hill on multiple occasions and been told the tree was on its way, Finally, on Jan 14, I was told that the tree was in stock and another tree had been ordered and would be shipped on Jan 16 to arrive on Jan 18. I have not received the tracking number as promised by Jan 16, so I called Balsam Hill today. The Customer Service Supervisor told me that unfortunately, the tree is out of stock. I have missed every opportunity to purchase a 'after Christmas' clearance tree because I have been told this one was on its way. When I asked to speak to a Manager, I was told the Supervisor was the highest person I could talk to. Over the course of 3 weeks, I have been told on multiple occasions that the tree would be there by the end of the day. Their payment processed to my credit card immediately, but the tree has never arrived. Save your money and buy a tree elsewhere!"