Gardening Express Reviews

Name: Gardening Express
Address: Gardening Express, Chelmsford, Essex
Rating: 1.17

1.2 Rating 1,711 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend Gardening Express

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,711 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
Average Delivery Time	Over A Month
On-time Delivery	Greater than 16%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 31%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Live Chat, Telephone
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

Phone:

08448 044 253

Location:

Gardening Express, Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 4UA

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Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Sort by: Most Recent Most Recent Highest Rated Filter: None None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“Gardening express sent me three plants eaten by insects (remains of lave still stuck to the remaining leaves) - their web site says 'and they’re regularly inspected by DEFRA too to ensure they are pest and disease free when they leave us.' this is patently not true in my case. They also sent me three pathetically small plants that were clearly much smaller than those on their web site - I sent two emails to Gardening Express, one to the person I was liaising with regarding the delivery the second via their web site - neither were replied to. Avoid, avoid, avoid. They may be cheaper than the rest but the plants they sent had been eaten to bits or were tiny. Exceptionally poor value and their customer service is not existent - order at your peril ....”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 8th July 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“When I opened the packaging I found a lot of the soil was actually in the container and not in the pot. The plant was lying loose and crooked in the pot with roots exposed. I sent them pictures and did not ask for a refund but rather a small amount of soil to replace that which was missing to be able to fix the plant securely. They rejected my claim and have not since replied to me. Very disappointing.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Similar to the other tales of dead and diseased plants and the same response. I spent around £250 on plants and all of them were rotting and small. I got my bank to return the money I paid and reported them as a scam, which from the amount of people they con, I believe they are. So get in touch with your bank and say you have been scammed and hopefully you will get your money back too.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Truly appalled by the exceptionally… Truly appalled by the exceptionally poor service received. In 2023 I added some hydrangeas to a large border in my garden and this year decided to add more, 2 months ago I ordered exactly the same colour and variety and it arrived 2 weeks later and was subsequently planted. I decided 3 weeks ago to add 1 more- same colour and variety of hydrangea at a cost of £39.99, as well as ordering other items. The plant arrived yesterday, rather than being a dark ruby red it was pink, the leaves were also a different colour to my other hydrangeas, when I looked at the pot there was no label and the pot was different to the one my previous labelled hydrangea came in. I immediately contacted the company, sending photos of planted bed, last months order and yesterdays received order and both pots. Either the person in CS doesn't bother to read complaints or can't understand English. They have said there is nothing wrong as the pot photo shows the correct item....durrr... obviously not bothered to read, and they have sent me a form to fill in to return the plant at MY EXPENSE... This year alone I have seen around £600 with GE and only today noticed there is no telephone number to call to discuss Date of experience: 05 July 2024”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“2stars for previous orders which were good but sent peach tree which was dead gave it three weeks as per their suggestion replaced without problem and I was impressed but the replacement had only a couple of leaves and after a month to allow plenty of time to develop nothing so notified them to be told outside 14 day guarantee period so basically tough. They have lost a regular customer”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Plants arrived my clematis was broken and leaves dead on one side , my rose bush is completely dead , I emailed them told to do a bark test which shows its brown under so dead too , really not very happy these plants I will not be using them again and will go back to garden centers instead”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“The plant they delivered was in poor shape and smaller than they advertised (even the label on it showed it was a smaller specimen) - apparently that label is for convenience and they are allowed +-20% on claimed sizes. I also ordered two bags of their famous compost on an offer, only one arrived and their fictitious customer service lady is refusing to reply to any of my chasing emails. They are at best incompetent but at worst its a con company selling plants that no good gardening centre would display. Never use them!!”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 3rd July 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Flamingo tree arrived dead and crushed. Other plants was all snapped and broken but also look like weeds. Rubbish customer service. Rude and dismissive when I contacted them. They blame post but clearly the tree was not healthy when posted. They send you rubbish via post and blame the post. I will Never recommend or buy from again. Be very careful ordering from this rubbish scam company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Awful customer service. I'm convinced they don't even have one”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“I bought a walnut tree from you on the 23rd of May. I contacted you last week to say the tree is dead. It was dead on arrival by the look of it. It wasn’t delivered till the end of May so that makes it less than a month that I’ve had this tree, I’m told you can’t do anything for me. Basically you’re saying too bad we got your money and you’ve got it dead tree from us. I think it’s absolutely disgusting. Take peoples money. I’m sending them dead tree”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Sent out dead fruit trees. 1 out of 5 has shown any sign of life. Customer service don’t want to know even though their own bare root guarantee covers things like this. Proper rogue firm this one. Avoid!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“You sent a plant out that looks like it has been eaten by slugs. Sent you a photo. You replied it’s fine very bad customer service you don’t appear to care about a loyal customer. Just send out standard reply. Only complaint is about the plant placed on the paperwork”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 23rd June 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Will never buy from again. Terrible company - if you have a problem there is no way to contact them by phone. There is a web contact but it does not allow you to describe the problem, it simply asks you to send photos. I sent photos and they wrote back saying 'plants are fine'. I emailed back to say they are not, but received no acknowledgement. The problem is we bought 6 trees, they packed three in a box that should have held two. The third pot was jammed above and between the two lower trees forcing the tree trunks to lean out and weaken their attachment to their roots. We now have two trees with a lovely upright stance and four which lean quite strongly and will not stand up straight. I guess we will need to try and stake them but this should not have been needed and is far from ideal. Clearly they have a penny pinching culture which puts profit way ahead of the quality of their plants or the service they provide to their customers.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“As per other reviews, I received tiny plants. See picture attached. It measures 15cm and is advertised as 50-70cm with plants in the pictures 3 times bigger. Their website shows big plans and good reviews only. I left my bad reviews as others did and they are now shown. That’s so sad. please don’t buy from them, you may be disappointed.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Same as other folk, they show you a photograph of plants that look superb but what you get are scrawny specimens that would not sell at a quarter the price in a garden centre sell off.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“Terrible services!! Never received my order and money back !!”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“I order two Large Salix Flamingo plans at £39.90 plus £6.99 delivery What I expected was 2 full tall plants of 90 to 1.2m high, which was described in garden express’s website However when it arrived there were two 20cm Salix branches sitting on top of two plans sticks instead This is so disappointed and missed leading, I am buying the full plans and not a grafting cut of 20cm Also there’s some small branches that were broken And to return this I have to pay for shipping. I certainly will not order anymore from Garden Express and warn people to be careful of what they are buying before paying for it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 9 months ago

“I contacted you about 2 plants with frost damage for which you refunded me! I had to contact you about 2 clematis Montana which looked dead I was told they needed to climatitize.!! They were planted out in fertile soil still dead no growth budding anything. Dont sell half dead plants these were not You would not replace or refund I will not be buying from you again or advising anyone else to either .”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“As I was happy with my first order of Ilex Crenata, I ordered a further 25 of them to continue the hedging. However they looked like a different variety to my first order so I queried this with them. Despite photos and evidence that the two orders were different varieties (ie labels on some of the pots) they would not accept this and told me I could return them for a refund, although I would have to pay the postage. I’m not really able to package up 25 plants and don’t see why the onus should be on me to do so, as it is clearly their error. There is no phone number so you can’t discuss your queries with a person and the email responses are very automated and slow, perhaps AI generated as they don’t respond to specific questions. Hopefully the reviews will stop unsuspecting potential customers.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

“Took longer than the estimated shipping time. One plant was definitely NOT as described. Made a complaint, sent photos and more photos when they requested, heard nothing else since then. Crappy and shoddy customer service from a company who wants your money but quite happy to illegally describe items (will be starting legal proceedings just to prove a point to them). End of the day, I'm an average Joe giving them my hard earned money and got taken for a fool. Try grasslands, crocus etc because it's worth giving genuine traders your money but these cowboys. No doubt they may reply to this review knowing I can't respond again, or ask for it to be removed but they won't rectify the issue!. Maybe they can take me to court for being liable although I've more evidence in my favor and then taking me to court will save me money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 10 months ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,711 reviews