"The 500 ground cover I ordered all came dead. And the 5 "free" items were not all included in the package. I immediately returned the plants and started the process for the return. I have called about 100 times. The line is always busy and when you do get to someone, she is not helpful. She cannot help you out of the refund, transfer to anyone, there is no other line to call, and the "manager" only accepts letters by mail and does not take calls. I have sent multiple emails with nothing in return after I have given all the information for them. This has been a complete hassle. I would not recommend ordering from this company, EVER. I am in the process of disputing the transaction now. Just wanted to warn everyone!"

"I bought a tree peony and dogwood and they shipped it in a plastic bag. By the time I got it, all the buds on the tree peony had fallen off in the bag (about a dozen of them were loose in the bag) and the dogwood’s branched was snapped off. No response from the company. Next step is for me to file a bank chargeback. The poor plants got thrown around during transit with no protection. It’s not like these were bulbs or seeds. These were branched tree seedlings. They don’t care about the plants. "

"This company has terrible customer service. I ordered hellebores, a beautiful shade garden plant, for a friend in another state. A completely different, sun-loving plant, was substituted. Not just a different type of hellebore, but a plant which won’t grow in the location. They require the plants to be returned, or a label sent in, or a bank statement showing that I paid for them in order to get the proper plant. This is not the service I get from the other, major online nurseries. Do not expect them to stand behind their work. I will never order from them again. "

"Terrible company! I tried to cancel my order when I had a question after placing it and could never get anyone on the phone or via email. They replied to send them my name and shipping address so they could look up my account, but I had already done that as well as giving them the order number. They never responded. In the meantime, I ended up getting the merchandise anyway, which turned out to be crap. I returned it the next day with the purchase order just as they say to do on their satisfaction guarantee steps for returns. Tried again and again to check on refund and finally said the same thing about needing my name and address. I sent it again, and they FINALLY came back and said they didn't receive the package because it was refused by the post office. This would delay my refund IF they ever receive the package. It has been going on 4 months and I am still trying for my refund. I am disputing it through the credit card company now. Don't make the same mistake I have!! "

"Ordered hisbiscus plants which were supposed to be plants & got bareroot twigs, ordered gladiola bulbs & got the smallest corms I ever saw, not sure if they will grow, ordered 6 daylilies that were actually okay, & ordered eggplant seeds they didin't sent & argued about them instead of just sending what they forgot to send. Over & over again I emailed about them sending a tracking code that worked & they refused to supply it & now they refuse to send the packet of seeds. Never again will I order from Direct Gardening!!! It's not the 99 cent seeds, it's their bad attitude in customer service!!! And not sending exactly what they stated in ads."

"If I can give them "zero" star, then I will!
On Wed, May 23, 2018, 7:37 AM, I was place an order with direct gardening for Angel's trump 3 in 1 (3 color in 1 plant Angel Trumpets are shipped in a 2 1/4 inch pot, about 6 inches tall), with warranty 1 year.
Jan 2019 the plant has flower, but only 1 Peach color (I already have this color), so I contact them with the picture, email back and forth for 2 weeks, then they agree replace (or store credit???) with another plant, but I have to use the label they was send out 8 months ago to send a return item???? IS THIS A JOKE???"

"Received my order of 16 green thujas, less than half the size expected, and stated on website. Was told no warranty, this was the size they are. Never again."

"I ordered a North Start Dwarf Cheery tree from Direct Gardening. It arrived dead, not dormant. Brittle branches, loosing roots and dead buds are not signs of a dormant plant.

It indeed was a dwaft. It measured a little over a foot. Their website stated the tree was 3-4 feet tall. The tree was delivered by the USPS in my standard size mailbox. How do you fit a 3-4 foot tree in a standard size mailbox (mine is about 20 inches deep)? You can't. Total misrepresentation and in my opinion fraudulent.

The tree was shipped in a plastic bag and not a box. Customer Service is slow. Took them 4 days to get back with me on first email to them. Still have not heard from them in regards to my second email. They are not very responsive and timely which makes me question their motives (14 days to sent the tree back for a refund)

I tried to keep an open mind about this company and give them a chance to make things right. Bottom line, there is NOTHING I can say that is good about this company. In my professional experience (over 40 years), these type companies ultimately fail and end up in bankruptcy court.
"

"My mother ordered some plants from House of Wesley. After reading all the negative reviews about them, I figured we'd wait forever, get dead plants, and have a huge hassle dealing with the company.

The company does take quite a long time to do anything, whether it's fill an order or issue a refund. That's the only negative about them.

Contrary to other reviews, I found the company very easy to contact and to work with. Every time I called there, the phone was always answered immediately by a live person. The company always did everything they said they would, when (albeit slowly) they said they would do it.

After ordering the plants and waiting several weeks, maybe about a month, my mother got the order. After pondering for a couple weeks about what to do with them, she decided that planting them would be way beyond her means (she ordered a couple hundred plants), so she wanted to return them.

Again, based on all the negative reviews I read online, I figured we'd be unable to contact the company, and that they'd find some excuse to not refund her money. The timing was right at the end of the 30 day return period.

I called to see if I needed a RMA, expecting (based on reviews I'd read) to have a hard time reaching the company. Their phone was answered immediately by a helpful, pleasant customer service person who said no RMA needed; just send them back for a refund.

I sent the package back Priority Mail around the end of June. After a couple weeks, I called them to check on status of a refund, again expecting the worst, based on other reviews. Again, no busy signal, no auto-answer, no annoying phone maze; a live person answered the phone immediately. You sure can't beat that for customer service!

The customer service person said they'd gotten the return, that it was being processed, and that a refund would be processed and issued after that, in another week or two. Again, based on all the bad reviews, I still was dubious we'd ever get an actual refund.

By the end of July, my mother had her refund check in full.

So my experience with their customer service, as well as their returns policy, was nothing but outstanding: a lot better than many companies I have dealt with. The only reason my review is 4 stars instead of 5 is that they do move pretty slowly. It took about a month to get our order and about a month to get the refund. As long as you set your timing expectations accordingly, you'll be satisfied.

"

"Don't order from this company! If you are considering it - this is your warning. I ordered 6 yellow roses and some mosquito plants = $70.00
#1 - never knew when order was going to ship (to FL), I sent two emails asking...they DID NOT send me an email with tracking numbers. It finally showed up almost 2 months after placing the original order
#2 - plants were already half brown and looked like they were dying; I immediately sent them an email letting them know to contact me and the reason I was unhappy AND emailed photos of the plants to them
#3 - I asked for a refund but they stated their 14 day return policy ( but is that from initial order date or date received (I still have NO answer on that) if it was the latter - I was within the 14 day period to be able to get my money back.
#4 - I was told I had to have my original receipt and they could and would not look it up for me even though I had the order number from when I made the original purchase
#5 - They made me request IN WRITING via U.S. Mail with a copy of my bank debit (proving transaction of payment) - OH and they argued this with me via email that that was NOT enough proof.
#6 - I have received a letter back from them ( this included all of what I sent them via mail - my original envelop, letter and such) stating that they would not give me my money back and asked what plants I wanted in return ( MIND YOU THEY DO NOT HAVE THE ROSES OR MOSQUITO PLANTS I ORDERED LISTED ANYMORE)....they are also asking that I send ALL correspondence back with my reply via U.S. Mail...do you really think I am going to pay $2 to send all this paper back and forth when I placed an order ONLINE (not by U.S. Mail) in 2018 ??? My gosh, can someone not pick up a telephone or send an email and handle this already. This has been going on since March 2018!! I think it's time to step up customer service. This company wouldn't be in business without CUSTOMERS....but again, I suggest you NOT become one!"

"I ordered 24 Indian Current Coralberries, 2 Pink flowering almonds, and 24 burning bush from Direct Gardening. I soaked the roots in water and planted all of these as directed in July of 2017. I watered all of these plants every other day. I waited until May of 2018 to see any sign of life. I sent a registered letter to Direct Gardening on May 9th, 2018, first delivery attempt was refused, finally on May 17th, 2018 they accepted the letter requesting replacements for all of the above mentioned plants but 7 burning bushes. With the exception of the 8 bushes, all others did not show any sign of life in 2017 or in 2018. I have emailed them 3 times now to get a follow up on the request for replacements, no response. I have tired to call them 20 times since May 17th, 2018 and receive a busy signal. I have been gardening for 25 years and have experience with growing bare root plants. I am very surprised of the amount of plants that survived. 14% (7 of 50) plants showed any sign of life in 2017 and came back in 2018. This is a very low percentage of survival. I would not recommend Direct Gardening at this point, even if you are an experienced gardener."

"Ok, I read the reviews AFTER I placed a huge order, and started to get wicked nervous with all the bad reviews.
The biggest negative, was that it took 5+ weeks to get here because their hydrangeas were on back order. But WOW, was it worth the wait.
I received my order today, and am so happy!! Everything is ready to go, my bulbs and tubers are dry, smooth, and dormant, and all my roots are moist and ready to plant. Lots of green showing, lots of happy buds, healthy plants! My rose stalk is green and gorgeous and it's roots are healthy.
Online ordering is for patient planters, you're going to have to wait a little while for those gorgeous picture plants, you get roots and a few leaves on stems when you order online, I expected this.. What I didn't expect was for every one of my 30 privet bushes to have healthy, happy buds on them, THANK YOU!

I will most definitely be ordering from you guys again!!"

"I found Direct Gardening online, I liked their prices and selection (didn’t read the reviews first – huge mistake) so I told myself, how bad could it be? Well… This was the worst shopping experience EVER! Plants arrived rotten in a nylon bag. I’ve never seen anyone shipping plants in nylon bag unless it’s some amateur seller on eBay. Especially when it’s 90° F outside with 97% humidity. At first I thought it was some clothing I ordered for my kids. Plants were packed in a nylon bags with no holes no wonder most of them were rotten!

Lavender plants didn’t have roots at all. Bare root plant with no roots… Daises are half dead – dry roots covered with some mold. Hostas looked brown, mushy and had a disgusting smell.

I called customer service immediately after opening the package but they guy was not friendly, didn’t want to do anything to help, just kept repeating me the customer policy over and over again. He didn’t even apologize for the inconvenience. He didn’t even try to be nice. He gave me the feeling that I am the one who did something wrong.

Bottom line – this company doesn’t want your business. Save your money and time, don’t even bother ordering from this company! Go some reputable company instead. You’ll spend a little more but you will get great healthy plants and, most important, peace of mind and amazing customer service.
"

"Never trust a company without their own reviews page on their website
Doesnt even deserve 1 star.
Avoid ordering from this company. Poor customer service doesnt even begin to describe it. They ship thier products in plastic bags. Sometimes jammed full of plants. They do not send shipping notifications, so my plants were sitting outside in a cold package delivery box in March in Wisconsin for who knows how long before I discovered them. I was expecting this order for spring planting, but there was still snow on the ground here when they shipped. Also they shipped from Illinois, so I know they are aware of the northern weather. Needless to say, nothing grew after I had to keep them inside under grow lights for a month before I could plant them. I had ordered online, but they insist on conducting returns or exchanges by regular mail.
Then they mailed back my return request asking for which plants died, when I specifically told them NONE of the order survived. And I had to mail everything back again, with my replacement items attached. They mailed me a gift certificate and asked that I tell them what Items I wanted them to replace it with. So I had to mail the whole thing back Again!
When I finally got my replacement plants, all the "live" plants they shipped me were clearly already dead before shipping, and they insist I wait 6 weeks to get more replacements. I even emailed photos of the obviously dead plants. It is August and my original order arrived in March, so that is how long it takes to be thoroughly screwed by this company.
F this company for sure."

"Among other things, I ordered six standard-sized Moorpark apricot trees.

Received the other items, but didn't get the standard-sized Moorpark apricot trees. They sent me peach trees instead.

I contacted them immediately and they said I had to return the peach trees at my expense in order to receive a refund or replacement. I told them I'd return the trees as soon as I received a pre-paid mailer. I was not going to pay to return something I didn't order.

Went round and round with this company. They kept referencing their "guarantee" which ONLY comes into play if the items shipped do not live -- their guarantee states this clearly, explicitly, and emphatically. That was clearly NOT the case. Although the peach trees eventually died because they were never planted, that was not the problem. I order standard-sized Moorpark apricot trees and they shipped peach trees.

After several email rounds and two smail rounds, I was finally home from work early enough to call them during their extremely limited customer service phone hours. During this phone call, they repeatedly referenced their guarantee -- I repeatedly read their guarantee to them over the phone, including the part that says, without any equivocation, that the guarantee only applies if the items do not live. After considerable time on the phone, they finally mentioned their substitution policy. Apparently, the notice of their substitution policy is buried someplace on their website. It says, essentially, that they reserve the right to make substitutions. However, there is no mention of this policy anywhere in the ordering process. They certainly do not required that you agree to it before placing your order.

I'll draft a letter demanding a complete refund of my entire order as soon as I finish this review. The other items I purchased were inferior in both size and quality. I was willing to overlook this defect as long as there was some hope of receiving the standard-sized Moorpark apricot trees I ordered. However, because of the truly horrid experience I've had with this company, I'm no longer willing to accept the inferior products. I'm convinced that Direct Gardening buys the leftovers from plant wholesalers that other retailers do not want. The "free" gifts they include with nearly every order are so bad that even Direct Gardening wouldn't think of selling them -- which is really saying something."