Gardening Express Reviews

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

1.2 Rating 1,702 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend Gardening Express

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,702 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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Gardening Express 1 star review on 28th October 2024

Mark Ramsden

Gardening Express 1 star review on 2nd September 2024

Olga

Gardening Express 1 star review on 2nd August 2024

Anonymous

623

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

“If I could leave zero stars then I would. Placed an order for multiple items for over £100. After a 10 days I received less than half of my order and one tree was dead. I received an email to say 2 of the items were to follow (in reality it was 6 items that were not delivered) I sent an email to complain about half the order being not received and the dead tree on 11th June. I have received no reply other than an automated email to say to use the live chat facility. I have tried this 4 times. Nobody responds to you. I waited 3 hours and then once i gave up, i noticed someone responded to say your items will follow in 48 hours. It's been 2 more weeks and nothing has arrived. Ive tried the chat again today and asked for a refund. I sat waiting for 2 hours and the same thing happened. Once I gave up and they could see I was inactive on the chat, they replied and said your items will follow. Its completely horrendous customer service, they take your money and do not deliver your items.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Ordered a standard flaming bush £59.99 on Sunday. received a confirmation and receipt of said order within minutes. By the following Friday had heard nothing re my order. Checked online and discovered my order was no further advanced. then read various reviews on this company. So decided to cancel my order. Then found out there is no way to contact this company by phone. Then had to use their online chat support. I've attached a copied transcript of said chat to let you make your own mind up re this company's modus operandi. Just hope I live long enough to get a refund. Gardening Express Bot • Great! Please enter this now and we will connect you to an Agent as soon as possible. • 601042878 View 20/06/2021 Processing • I wish to cancel the order and have my card refuned • as there has been no contact since the order and your site said that the item was in stock on the day it was ordered. • have since looked at your reviews and profile and am not very impressed Donna • Regretfully we are unable to make the requested cancellation to your order as you have asked as your order has reached a stage where it has been processed as outlined in your customer account. Our orders are all processed through a fully automated system which processes orders 24 hours a day, our team also bulk pick and pack the thousands of orders we receive on a daily basis, this therefore makes it impossible and can cause disruption and delays in the processing of your order. We receive hundreds and thousands of orders on a daily basis during our busy season and are doing our very best to ensure we fulfil our lead time obligations to our customers. We would like to thank you for your understanding and we look forward to the packing and the dispatch of your order. Please do bear in mind that we offer a full no quibble refund within 14 days of delivery. So please do feel free to return any unwanted plants to us once you have received them. Our returns and refunds policy can be found on our website here. • you look forward to the picking and dispatch of my order but cannot advise me as to when that might be even though you have had my order since sunday last (it is now friday) • you will forgive me if your response doesn't fill me with confidence. • screen shots taken btw Donna • Our average dispatch dates are 5 working days but in our business periods can be between 7-10 working days. • I do see you are no longer active and online to speak with me and therefore I will close this chat. Please do rest assured my message is here waiting for you should you return. Please do come back to us if you require further assistance. • so when can i reasonably expecd delivery of the product i ordered from you? Donna • Your order should start to be prepared for packing early part of next week. As soon as it has been dispatched, you will receive your tracking information. • I do see you are no longer active and online to speak with me and therefore I will close this chat. Please do rest assured my message is here waiting for you should you return. Please do come back to us if you require further assistance. • Quite obviously unlike Elvis, said product has not yet left the building. So in effect you have just sat on my order for a product that according to your website was in stock at the time of ordering, for the last five days. • you are still replying with Vagaries that leave me no further ahead and that is why i wish to cancel the order. if as you say i am able to cancel my order on delivery, with as you say, my right to a "no quibble refund". i am just trying to save you the cost of the carriage. I think I would be better advised to seek a refund via my bank. Samantha • Hello with regret we are unable to cancel your order at this stage , please do decline the delivery if you wish and we will process a refund once we have received the plants back with us • I do see you are no longer active and online to speak with me and therefore I will close this chat down. Please do rest assured my message is here waiting for you should you return. Please do come back to us if you need further assistance. • Hello, are you there? • Hi Samantha Samantha • Hello • yes i'm still here • the other lady informed me that it would not be either picked or dispatched till early next week so i really don't see the problem Samantha • with regret as outlined on you account you can only cancel your order within 24 hours, this has now gone through our processing system so we are unable to cancel this at this stage • even though the product has neither been picked or dispatched Samantha • please do accept mt apologies for any inconvenience caused if you wish to decline the delivery please do so • i can just imagine how long it would take to get a refund out of you guys which is why i will be taking it up with the bank 10 minutes ago S Samantha • once again please do accept my apologies if you wish to decline the delivery please do advise us once you have done so and we will process a refund, please rest assured if I was able to cancel the order I of course would • i have saved the screen shots of these conversations to forward to my bank to back up my claim Samantha • I am sorry I was unable to assist you today thank you for chatting • not at all Samatha i know your only doing your job as was the other lady Samantha • thank you , please do have a lovely weekend • you too i feel like i've found a couple of pen friends lol bye”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Do not buy from this company!! Plants arrived half the size they were meant to be. Customer services is almost non existent. No phone they only communicate through text message and just tell you they can’t help. Never buy from this company again!! If I could give it zero stars I would have!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I am so disappointed that I didn’t read these reviews before making a purchase! I would not even rate this company one star but have to in order to leave a review! DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY they have taken my reviews off of their website!! Shocking! I have added a photo of what I expected and what I got!”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 24th June 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“13 WORKING DAYS and still not even a message about dispatch!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Appalling company. On Monday I received my gardenia plant which had been purchased as a gift. It arrived with dead and browning leaves that I’ve already had to pick off but more importantly only half a plant. Half had been trimmed away before shipping to presumably get rid of the dead. According to the description it was supposed to arrive in bud ready to bloom. I’ll be lucky if it blooms next year! It’s taken 3 days of constant Tweeting, messaging and using their chat facility to come up with being told plant it in the ground for a month to see if it survives. They didn’t take into account that it was a gift that had been purchased and what was I supposed to do, give them half a gardenia with browning leaves and say gardening express say plant it in the ground for a month and see if it survives. They even tried to insult my intelligence by saying that I’d left it still in the nursery pot. Of course I had I’d been waiting for a response for 3 days as to know what I’d got to do with it!!! Appalling customer care however it seems I’m not alone. There are a few people on Twitter which have been delivered a half dead or even in some cases a fully dead plant and Gardening Express have refused to do anything to rectify the situation. Please think twice before using this company. If your plants arrive in poor condition and not as described they don’t care and won’t give a refund or replacement!”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 23rd June 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Do not buy from this company- they are a shambles! Supplied a dead plant no replacement or refund!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Really feel I need to give Gardening Express a positive review! I'm very pleased with my plant. After reading countless negative reviews I was expecting the worse. Ok..it did take a few weeks to arrive but Garden Express did stress this may happen due to high demand through the pandemic and updated me with emails of the progress of my delivery. I am now in possession of a very pretty Clemetis. Very happy me.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“like previous customers unable to contact order not complete .If you are thinking of buying from this company my advise DON'T”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I have tried to chat on there help and nothing. I have been held on waiting for over an hour and a half when they say reply in under 40 minutes. The pictures below are of the standard three coloured Hibiscus I bought. Its been planted for a month now, and not signs of any growth. The after sales service from this company is abysmal to say the least.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Oh my goodness what a scam! Ordered 2 French Lavender plants as a gift for my daughter. The condition is terrible…..the pots are broken and plants little more than dried weeds! Took almost a week to be delivered! DO NOT BUY ANY PLANTS FROM THIS SITE.”

Gardening Express 4 star review on 21st June 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“diabolical experience. 2 dead plants arrived. Whole load of palaver with uploading photos and getting a response from their 'chat' facility. Hardly a 'chat' facility when you wait 2 hours for a response. Finally they agreed to refund one and asked me to wait a few weeks to see if the other revived. No refund arrived. 2nd plant still dead. No response to chasing, no response on 'chat'. Appalling customer service. No other means of contact which I expect is deliberate. Wish I'd looked on here first. I cannot understand how they are still operational. Truly a waste of time and left with a really sad looking corner of the garden - which I had hoped to transform with two statement plants!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“AVOID THIS SCAM, FRAUDULENT OUTFIT LIKE THE PLAGUE! My wife paid the princely sum of £28.96p for a GIANT Hydrangea. A TINY plant upside down in a GIANT and damaged box arrived via Hermes. We rejected the delivery and then discovered that this so-called reputable company doesn't provide any phone numbers at all for customer support and your only hope of obtaining any kind of post-sale communication or a refund is by jumping through a covoluted myriad number of hoops. We then read countless negative and jaw-dropping reviews on Google. We also discovered that Gardening Express has also been the subject of the BBC's Watchdog programme. CAVEAT EMPTOR!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I have placed 2 orders. One plant was dead from the first order, that I didn't pursue due to lockdown, but this time I a pursing a damaging half dead tree. Like others I have spent 3 days waiting for their chatbot to no avail. Will not buy from them again, and make a claim through chargeback.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Dreadful company. Customer services difficult to contact and when you do get through to complain via their only route - online chat (hours later) they have obviously had training in how to avoid any refund. Plants I received were much smaller (in 0.5L pots rather than the 1-2L pots advertised) so missold but no refund or part refund offered. Really disappointed, it will be 2 years before they reach the size advertised if they actually survive! Never buy from this company!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“My advice from personal experience DON'T purchase any plants from GardeningExpress. I only wish I had read previous reviews before purchasing from them. I paid £24.00 plus delivery for a pot of twigs. What I found most upsetting and frustrating was the almost impossible task of speaking with anyone about my complaint. I spent two days and hours waiting on the website to have a 'chat' and when I finally got to communicate with a member of the team I was advised that it wasn't the right time for Hydrangeas to be in bloom and to wait for up to two months to see if the plant grew! There was never any apology. I sent photos of what I was led to believe my plant would look like and what was actually delivered, they couldn't have been any different, again I was advised it was the wrong time to expect anything more, if you read the blurb on the sale of the plant it clearly states blooming June - September. Its an appalling way to treat customers. It has left me feeling not only cross and very frustrated but also so sad that any company would feel this is an acceptable way to behave and clearly not for the first time reading the reviews below.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 16th June 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“DO NOT touch this website. I paid £15.95 for a plant which is dead. I have tried to contact them but it is impossible. They are eager enough to take your money but will not allow you to complain. They don’t even deserve one star.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Shockingly bad plants, mostly dead. Paid £180 for 30 lavender, lucky if two survive. They were badly packaged in boxes that were not robust enough, took far too long to arrive and were piled up any old how in the Yodel delivery van. I have already had one bad experience with two half dead marguerite plants. They don’t respond to ‘Tickets’ being raised. Managed to get someone on chat finally but she said she couldn’t see my ticket or photos. Don’t know what else to do. I will just make sure I tell as many people as I can to avoid like the plague. I will have a go at contacting them again tomorrow but don’t think I’ll get anywhere. An absolutely shocking company.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 15th June 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Did not receive 2no. trees out of the 5nos ordered. Chased and after sending all the proof, the two trees were sent but half dead and much shorter than previous ones sent.. Not sure if the trees will survive. I wrote to complain about the conditioning the trees and never got a response. It is a total waste of £200 with Garden Express.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“After waiting nearly 3 weeks for my delivery for supposedly a pair of Marguerite Giant Daisy Trees. They arrived in a very poor condition, and nothing like the size or quality reflected. This is a clear example of product misrepresentation. I emailed Gardening Express immediately and included photos, I received an email reply referring to Damage via courier! it is difficult to navigate their system and receive any customer service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,702 reviews