"No response from them on missing order. Gave up after several months "
"DO NOT GIVE THIS COMPANY YOUR MONEY.
I made a $100 purchase in 2021 for flowers, which never arrived. I pursued the company for a refund, and was told that since they were being sold to another company, my refund could not be processed and could only be refunded by the new owners.
The new owners refuse to return my money. I filed a complaint with Tyra Lee at the Indiana Attorney General office, which was an absolute waste of time. The company will not refund my money, even though I have receipts, correspondence, and proof of the theft.
Gardens Alive is the scum of the earth. Take your business elsewhere. Do not give these bottom feeders one red cent."
"I ordered plants last year from a company that has now joined Gardens alive! Many of the plants were dead on arrival and all but one died within the month. They sent replacements, all of which died. Now Gardens alive has stopped responding to my emails and seems to have no intention of honoring their guarantee. Terrible company."
"I ordered and paid for a Contender Reachables Peach Tree, deluxe version, from Gurney's Seed and Nursery back on 11/01/21 and the stated expected delivery was to be between 02/28/22 and 03/14/22. But it didn't arrive until, 05/21/22, and was smashed to pieces, with the trunk sticking OUT of the completely intact box and was broken in three places. FedEx was not at fault, but instead this was due to incompetent packing. Inside the box was the remainder of the totally mangled tree, a lot of torn up white paper, ripped off leaves, loose dirt and a couple of loose air pillows. What a heartbreak. I immediately called Gurney's and was told they were out of stock for the year and that I could ONLY have a store credit, which infuriated me. After threatening to write multiple horrible postings about Gurney's, the CSR said for "one time only" she would grant me a credit back to my major credit card even though they had had my full payment for nearly seven months. This total fiasco is not directly the fault of Gurney's Seed & Nursery, but it is definitely the fault of their third-party shipper, Gardens Alive in Fairfield, Ohio. Be aware plant lovers, this horrible company ships for many other nurseries as posted on their website: Michigan Bulb Co., K. van Bourgondien, Spring Hill Nurseries, Weeks Roses, Breck's (Holland bulbs), Iseli Nursery, and Breck's Gifts. Gardens Alive deserves MINUS five stars."
"They 'acquired' the company I used to order with, and rather than fulfilling the order, they've dragged it out for over two months, refuse to refund me, only issuing a credit. With it taking so long for them to fulfill orders, it's now long past when I could safely plant those items in my zone, meaning they're essentially shipping me plants for the sole purpose of them dying and me getting to request a credit. Of course, prices will go higher now, so what bought 20 plants will only buy 15 by the time I get to use that merchandise credit. Will never be ordering from ANY Gardens Alive nursery again, and I've spent thousands across their various brands. Take care of your customers, if that means refunding some orders when you can't ship - that means eating that cost. "
"Wish I had seen these reviews before ordering! Ordered bulb baskets - they are made of flimsy plastic so I called to return them. Was told by customer service rep that they don’t do returns even though my packing slip contained “merchandise return form”. Tried escalating to a supervisor but was told he/she wasn’t available and to try using the online chat. The online chat bot doesn’t give option to ask about returns. So I’m waiting to hear back from supervisor but based on these reviews seems like Gardens Alive isn’t interested in providing good customer service. If you are thinking of ordering from Gardens Alive then don’t. There are plenty of other gardening supply stores providing much better selection and customer service."
"I ordered a Meyer Lemon Tree from Garden's Alive on March 14, 2022, using a replacement certificate from last year. I did not receive the lemon tree until yesterday, May 17, 2022. When I opened the package, I found most of the leaves had dropped. Garden's Alive needs to take instruction from its sister firm, Springhill Nursery. I ordered a Mexican Keylime Tree from them this year using a replacement certificate. It arrived in early April with only one leaf lost upon arrival. It is now thriving. I hope the Meyer Lemon Tree will survive.
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"Contacted Company about 3 weeks ago getting my order on 5/5. Also requested the refund policy. Was told that I would get my order by the 5th. It is now the 18th and no email, no product, no response. And, there is a no refund policy here, just store credit. I won't do business with them again."
"Zero stars.. This business should get renamed to Gardens Dead. 2 separate shipments of strawberry plants.. both had dried out roots and yet moldy dead tops! How can they box these in good conscience? I got refunded but not for shipping. "
"I should have read reviews before making my purchase. The 6 tomato plants arrived scraggly with dead leaves. One was just a stem. I have written to complain, but I don't expect any satisfaction. Do NOT BUY from this company. "
"Ordered 20 Charlotte strawberry crowns on 4/18. They arrived at FedEx on 4/20 and I received them 4/28.
I contacted gardens alive on 4/27 concerned with the long transit time. FedEx had pushed the delivery date back twice incurring an additional 3 days of transit.
They said just soak and plant as usual they are packed for 10 day transits.
I opened and soaked and planted same day they arrived on 4/28.
All 20 has already sprouted light green leggy leaves.
I planted them anyways.
I waited 5 days. I called customer service as I had planted 75 crowns from stark brothers previously weeks before and those crowns showed life within 3 days.
Gardens alive said give them 1-2 weeks...
I waited until day 7 and called on 5/5 for a refund as none had any signs of reddening, leafing, anything.
They only issued a credit and I immediately placed my order online for replacements. Luckily they were still on sale.
The new order total was identical to the first and the credit issued.
The webpage said they were in stock and I received a confirmation.
Days go by and I call them on 5/11 to ask about the order. Their webpage was down and couldn't check order status.
The customer service agent said I owed them $1.85 for tax and the order hasn't been processed yet. I received no email or call regarding this issue in 5 days. More so, the credit they issued covered the sales tax to the penny because it was the exact same order.
She says she'll forward it to billing and that they would ship out some time between 5/12-5/20....
Today 5/13 I get an email stating they are out of stock and asking if I wanted to substitute for the only thing they apparently have left in stock, ozark beauty's which I did not want to try. I specifically wanted Charlotte strawberry crowns as I heard Charlotte's have an incredible taste over the majority of the readily available varieties.
I call and said I didn't want to substitute and would wait for the Charlottes if they were coming back in stock in the next month.
The rep said they wouldn't be available until next spring so I asked for my money back which he agreed to (as writing this I haven't officially received a refund yet but it's only been a few hours).
If anyone else had these on offer I would have bought them elsewhere.
I will never order another product from them and tell everyone I know and in my towns Facebook gardening page to stay away.
The original shipment of crowns that I received doa were tiny anyways compared to what stark brothers have sent me several times now. They must have a very different idea of what a 1 year old crown looks like. Most of the crowns received looked like recently rooted runners.
I strongly suggest ordering elsewhere unless you live close to their location and have no sense of urgency when planning or planting your beds.
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"I ordered 3 tomato plants in February! I received them today, May 10 and they were all three 2 inches tall and they were all dead. I paid $24 for three dead plants! Nice job, Gardensalive but I believe you should change your name to Dead or barely alive! What a joke! Buyer beware! Save your money! "
"Received two packs of strawberries and one pack of potatoes, everything was packed well and even though FedEx had it in their system for twelve days everything in the box was still alive and viable. Received as a gift. Happy with my plants."
"I have been purchasing from this company for over 30 years. I give products and gift certificates as gifts, the products have always been from good to great. But, I have noticed this year that the company and service have started treating customers unfairly. I belong to the garden club which give you 10% off and free shipping. I renewed with my last order on-line and it worked fine. So yesterday I tried to put in another order on-line. When I go to pay, it says I am not a member of the garden club and if I was I would save $67. I try to figure out the problem, but I can't, I ask to chat, I am told they are busy to try later. I try later, still busy. So I keep my cart and try today. The person tells me I have to call to place my order, I am busy. So I try again today, same thing in the chat, we are busy, try again later. I try again later and am told I have to call to place my order. So, I call. The person tells me I am not a garden club member, I give her the date and the order where I renewed on March 7, 2022, She tells me no, it is expired, I asked how could it exprie in 10 days, it is for a year. Finally, she agrees to give me the member benfits, asks for my credit card. I give it to her, and then she says she made a mistake I owe about $12 more. I ask why ? I have my cart open and it says a different amount if due. She says that it cost more to call in an order than to do it online. I explain, I tried for two days to do it online, but it won't give me the garden club benifits. I have now been on the phone for 15 minutes with her. She asks me to hold. She comes back 10 minutes later and says, "our policy has changed and if you order on the phone this is what you pay." I ask her to cancel my order. She asks me to stay on line and see what she can do. It is now 30 minutes on the phone with her. She eventually comes back and says, there is nothing that can be done, I have to pay the extra because ordering on the phone is does not give the same benefits. I tell her this makes no sense, but she insists that she is "sorry," but that is the way it is. I had her cancel my order. I am sad to loose the products, but I should not have to pay more for calling when it is the only way to get the benefits I paid for. "
"Rude, inconsiderate, seems customers serve the employees!. "