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

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“Ich bin begeistert”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Further to my previous review and the overwhelming negative reviews on this site I have real concerns over the average score this company has been given on another well known review site it leads me to believe that some of the reviews are fake.”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Quite honestly - just DO NOT BUY FROM THEM!!!!! Ordered Magnolia, cost me almost £26 and received no more than a twig with diseased leaves - oh! all 5 of them !!!!! Absolutely no customer service- return at your own cost - not even worth spending more money to return !”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 13th June 2022

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Posted 2 years ago

“I received an order from Gardening Express yesterday and I am extremely dissapointed with the plants that arrived they are very small and not worth the price that I paid for them also one of the plants which is a magnolia which has been grafted onto a rootstock is dead over the years I have spent thousands of pounds on plants from many different suppliers and Gardening Express is by far the worst the plants in know way represent what is expected.As you can see by the pictures the stem of the Magnolia is dead .”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 12th June 2022

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Posted 2 years ago

“Do not buy from them, the reviews are 100% fake, if you check you will see they all have similar contents, but no pictures provided for showing how amazing they are. The plants looks dead and unwell, we message when we first received them the customer service said give them couple of weeks to grow they will be fine, however they are not, they just bad quality they not going to get any better, now it's over a month we changed to a better soil and used magic grow to water, they still looks dead, the new leaves on the top are floppy. The whole thing just looks like a disaster for me. I tried to leave reviews on there site couple of weeks ago, now I checked they not there, I tried again, it still not showing on the site, This company is a scam.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 7th June 2022

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Posted 2 years ago

“If I could give zero stars I would - am trying to claim for a replacement under the 5 year guarantee for a tree that has died. Apparently I have to dig it up and send it back! It’s 1 meter high by about one meter wide. No other gardening company I buy from requires this, photo evidence is sufficient”

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Posted 2 years ago

“3 off my plants dead on arrival and as it has passed 14 days they said hard luck. One regular customer lost”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Appalling company to deal with -only able to communicate via online chat which takes ages. In a nutshell I bought 2pairs of white standard roses in March for my daughter's wedding in July-they were bare sticks but I have been tenderly nurturing them and now to my dismay they are pink and not just blush -puce. They have offered to refund the pink ones -initially 2 but sadly now 3 and a measly £5 voucher to spend with them ! They said they had no replacements but are still advertising these roses !”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Very disappointed in the Clematis Armandii plant I received today at £79 I expected a flourishing plant instead I received a tall plant with not much fullness and dried leaves and a broken branch. The worst issue is their customer service, you cannot speak to anyone it’s all done via their”online chat” and they are not forthcoming with an apology for your dissatisfaction, they are quick to dismiss any issues you may have and quick to let you know if you want an exchange or a refund that you have to organise this at your own cost and once the plant is received then they will assess the plant and see if it’s worthy of any action. The good versus bad reviews on trust pilot are equal which should have been a red flag but unfortunately I didn’t visit trust pilot before my latest purchase. Absolutely appalling service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Do not order from this company. They are complete con artists. I ordered 2 plants each costing £49.99. The website showed an example of the plant in a pot with a label just like the one I received which clearly shows the consumer what to expect. A 5 litre pot should be an indication of size but what arrived was a plant no more than 6 inches tall and barely any leaves. It was dwarfed by the pot it was in. The only form of communication is via their webchat. They clearly just copy and paste a standard response. When I pushed I was transferred to another member of the team who repeated the same standard response and then ended the call. In all the years I have bought anything online I have never dealt with such an appalling company and the way they conduct their business. I am going to pursue this via the trade descriptions as they cannot be allowed to mislead customers and then refuse to accept a refund without the customer having to pay to send the items back”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Buy From Gardening Express at your Own Risk. Gardening Express do not publish a phone number and they make contact as difficult as they can when you eventually work out their deliberately difficult "Chat". When a complaint is raised, in this case regarding two very substandard Oak leaf Hydrangea plants they require a photo. Then having got the photo which should tell them all they need to know they then ask you to return the useless things in the box that of course you have destroyed getting the plants out. They then state that they do not collect and that return carriage is at the expense of the customer. Remember that they already have the photo proving the plants are sub standard. At this stage they give a disclaimer that photos are of mature plants, not resembling the plants you are spending £30 a pop on or anything like it. In this case these were leggy, spindly things with a bit of growth on top which will never mature to a good looking plant being completely bare at the bottom which is apparant in the photo. Gardening Express are not above sending out rubbish and are deliberately non cooperative, making it virtually impossible to get recompense for something that should if the company was half way reputable not happen. I had the same experience last year with four trees that were very disappointing but I didn't complain, finding it just too difficult and thinking they might survive but they didn't of course. So this is not a one off, this is habitual misrepresentation. Not at all surprising that Gardening Express has way more seriously negative reviews here than positive. their bad reputation is well earned and Customer service is ZERO.”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Extremely bad service”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 27th May 2022

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Posted 2 years ago

“Ripped off on hellebores My experience has been bad. I wish I had come across this website before I engaged with them. My order #601306729 was placed on 10 May 2022 11:57:15 BST and arrived on 24 May 2022. I tried three times to put my review online. Two times the review vanished. The third time it said thank you for submitting, but it is not there and I put it up hours ago. I told them I would be going online to the website to give my feedback, and I wonder if they have blocked my email from adding anything. I don't know. Their RRP for Helleborus 'Double Ellen Flash' - Oriental Hellebore is £14.99 for a plant in a 1.5 litre pot. What I received was a fingerling, the size of a £1.00 tomato plant, in a pot that certainly did not measure up to 1.5 litres. I got it on sale (not clearance) and am entitled to expect a plant worth £14.99. I have of course taken photographs. Then, the Helleborus 'Double Ellen Pink' - Oriental Hellebore was also undersized. As for the Large Helleborus niger - White Hellebore, it was advertised at full price £12.99: 'Top Quality bushy plants are supplied in approx 1.5 Litre container'. What I got was a really small plant, albeit the largest of the three hellebores that I received. I wanted to have replacements sent to me, at their expense, since I had been undersold. I went to the website and after going round the block, tried the chat function. When I finally got to a human, the human kept giving me copy-and-paste answers. When I pressed to assert my legal rights as a consumer, the person asked for photographs, which I provided. The person then declared, about the hellebores, 'they are ok'. They were small because they were young plants. They are most definitely not ok, they are a rip off. These plants are very cheap items, probably rejects for being so small, being mis-sold for a huge markup. And it is not because the hellebores are out of season or anything of the sort. They just sent me miserable specimens, making a whopping profit out of me. The person on Chat copied and pasted several rounds of 'here is what to do to get a refund or replacement' - send the plant back AT YOUR OWN EXPENSE AND AT YOUR OWN RISK. So, I had to pay for this rip-off purchase to be delivered to me (it took them 14 days), and then I have to pay to return the items as well. This company obviously counts on people not being prepared to waste any more money on sending mis-sold items back. I do not think this is going to be a unique experience. I am sad to conclude that I have been ripped off by Gardening Express.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 26th May 2022

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Posted 2 years ago

“Absolutely rubbish COWBOYS All they want is to take your money by advertising stock they don't have it wouldn't surprise me that they get all there stock from B&Q once your order has gone in..I will never use this shower of SXxx ever again COWBOYS COWBOYS COWBOYS COWBOYS COWBOYS COWBOYS COWBOYS”

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Posted 2 years ago

“Disgusted. AVOID if you value your hard-earned money!! I've bought from G. Express in the past, but I NEVER will again. I've spent over £111 on a batch of grasses that were described in the product marketing as "amazing evergreen...Strong well established plants supplied in approx. 3 litre containers." This was NOT the case. The grasses were meagre shoots, just visible above the soil level. When I complained, I was told that they were "as expected" and that I would have to pay to return them. The goods supplied did NOT match the description, nor the sample photo shown at the point of purchase. They were neither fit for their price point (£15.95 per plant) nor of a satisfactory quality. Shocking customer experience and the agents I dealt with had no respect for my rights as a consumer. Disappointed and disgusted to say the very least.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 23rd May 2022

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I ordered a grass plant. It arrived but looked dead. I gave them the benefit of the doubt because I thought it might be dormant. I planted and cared for it, but no new growth arrived. I approached Garden Express for support but was told I should have reported this within two weeks so not their problem. Poor, poor customer service. I strongly recommend you avoid.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I rarely write reviews but felt obliged on this occasion. I have used Gardening Express twice. The first time the plants were dispatched during a very hot spell and took five days to reach me. Unsurprisingly they were almost dead. I was told that they would recover but after some correspondence was sent replacements. I have just received another order in a totally squashed box where all of the blossoms had fallen from the fuchsia bushes to the bottom of the box. Once again I was told they would recover. I might agree with this but is this really the point? I bought the plants as a present and must I wait until next year before I give them? I was given a 30% discount which is great, but once again really not the point. I purchased plants expecting them to look as per the advertisement and for use this year. It would seem that Gardening Express expect customers to purchase from them but after transportation the plants will not be as advertised until they recover for the next year. I will not use them again as it might be more expensive to go to the local garden centre but at least you will know what you are getting.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“I had a magnolia delivered about 10/4/22, it looked dead but I planted it to give it a chance and went on holiday. It still has not sprouted . I spent about half an hour getting into my account, going round in circles getting a new password. The returns process is so convoluted, of course I didn’t keep the box or the label as I expected the plant to grow. I’m not going to pay for 2 more lots of postage . I shall just check this up to experience and never buy from this company again.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 21st May 2022

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Posted 2 years ago

“The pair of bare root standard roses that I ordered arrived at the start of April. No care instructions provided, but as I own a variety of roses I knew to rehydrate the roots and get them planted asap. They were planted on the day I received them in pots with good quality compost with added slow release rose food and mycorrhizal fungi. They have been kept moist and inspected regularly for signs of shooting. I contacted Gardening Express today to inform them that one of the roses is definitely dead as it has turned brown. The other is attempting to shoot, but is struggling. I have never had this issue with bare root roses that I have purchased from well know rose suppliers. I provided photographic evidence, but I was told that they will not offer a refund/replacement because I waited longer than 14 days to contact them. I am unsure how I would know within 14 days if bare root roses without foliage are going to establish?! Aparently these standard roses are not covered in their 5 year guarantee either. Be careful when ordering from this company and check the T&Cs. They will make you jump through hoops when attempting to get a refund! This will be the last order I place with Gardening Express.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 17th May 2022

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Posted 2 years ago

“Absolutely horrendous customer service. If you have a problem expect rude treatment with Ts & Cs copied and pasted again and again. If you do need to buy from here my one advice would be to read the small print, they won't let you cancel an order after 24 hours regardless of ANY scenario - including them not delivering it! Even if an order is not processed for up to 28 days (despite the website saying 3-5). Let us down on a charity makeover project with no compassion. Disgraceful.”

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Posted 2 years ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,702 reviews