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

“Two weeks I ordered 3 poinsettias and clicked the option to include the pots for them. They arrived and looked nothing like what was advertised and all 3 plants were dead. I sent them photos and they said happened in transit but that just isn't possible. The soil wasn't dried out but all the red leaves just dead and fell off within a day. All now in the bin. I asked for a refund and they just refunded the plants and not the pots they arrived in nor the postage. They said I could return the pots and pay for the postage to return them and that they would not refund the original postage even if I returned the pots. So I have 3 pots that are tiny and I have no use for them other than the plants they came in and they want me to remove the plants from the pots and spend more money to post them back to get a refund for them. They want me to pay more money for the privilege of being sent dead plants. Worst customer service I have ever come across. I won't be buying anything from them again. There are much better online companies who deal with customers fairly when things go wrong. I have reported them to Trading Standards following Citizens Advice Bureau help and I suggest others do the same. When things go wrong I expect a Customer Service department to resolve the issue and not expect customers to be out of pocket for the arrival of dead plants that I have now replaced through another company. I even asked for replacements and was told they didn't have any left but they are still for sale on their website.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 18th December 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Got a mixed bag of plants when I ordered two small cyclamens, a miniature Christmas tree, and two poinsettias - prices seemed to be reasonable and the photos and descriptions on the website were glowing. Unfortunately, due to shipping constraints at the moment, they arrived slightly late, but within the time I needed them (Christmas) so this was not too much of an issue. However, when they arrived all of the plants were significantly undersized, the cyclamens were non-flowering, the poinsettias had signs of fungal infection with some frost scorching, and the top third of the miniature Christmas tree was withered, brown, and shrunken. I was a little disappointed but was hopeful that customer service would resolve the issue. I was asked to provide detailed photos (which I did), they then said that they were "glad to see that my plants had arrived safely and in good condition". I was then informed that if I still had issues I could return my plants with no promise of replacement or refund; to be assessed in person at my expense. If you do choose to buy from Gardening Express, please be cautious - you will likely not receive a refund regardless of the quality of your plants, and that their online descriptions may be totally inaccurate. (though from other reviews I seem to be lucky to have received the plants I ordered) So, if you are self-isolating and want some fancy plants to cheer up your Christmas, look elsewhere. Merry Christmas.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Only half the order was delivered. Impossible to find out from the company when, or if the non-delivered items will be sent. No prospect of a refund.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“Received 6 @ £1 red soggy wet poinsettias, didn’t expect much, for £1 but expected them to have red flowers. As they were for the graves at cemetery and crematorium. I could imagine what they say to me if I’d put them on their resting places. Also I paid £18.00 for Luxury pink poinsettia, but more rotten wet soggy leaves, 5 flowers on it, but one stem was broken, another stem stuck in pot no roots on it so presumed broken off and just stuck back into the dirt, so down to 3 flowers, of which all had rotten decaying leaves, looked liked they had been squashed to get it into the packing, so luxury poinsettia was no good. Also got 5 tea berry bushes, yea, wet rotted leaves again berries on all five were either on the bottom of box or rotted on bush, with exception of two which I could use, if I turned rotten part to wall. So after 4 days of trying to get someone to answer on their auto Bot, I managed to send Autumn photos of what I received, along with how they look now. Then Had a reply from Tia - nothing wrong with plants, they were dry and thirsty from their delivery! Did she not read Soggy Wet rotten leaves, they were too wet! They will pick up after a few days! I’d already Sent photos from arrival and the days after! But they are poinsettias this is their season, so I have to wait for them to get better and pick up! I wanted them for Christmas not Easter!!! But if I post them back within 14 days at my expense ( it’s took me 5 days to get through to a person, or was it a person?) So if they think I’m going to pay return postage to get plants back to them, for them to say, they are living plants so will revive given time. So you cannot have a Refund - I’m not a gardener, hence why I bought flowering plants from them! I’m not going to waste more good money on anything else from this company. But it could probably an automated message again, about plants and no refund, otherwise why would anyone with any amount of common sense tell me the plants were dry and thirsty from the packing and delivery journey, when I’d said all the way thru, the plants were wet soggy rotten/rotted leaves and flowers. Yes they may pick up, and have some resemblance of a plant, but not in time for Christmas. So I’m advising all my friends and family to never shop with GardeningExpress. I’d rather give my money to charity. As for their customer support, it was. Auto Bot, who then put you thru to next available assistant, but then it seemed to go to auto again after sending photos. My actual questions I was asking didn’t get answered, when I said Autumn are you there? Have you got the photos? So I think the service person is there but as soon as you start loading photos they go to someone else get them to auto input photos, I signed off it after wait 16 minutes with no reply from anyone. After trying to get thru again I notice a red circle with a number on it by the chat purple button. That’s when I got message from Tia saying plants alive no refund, if I don’t like answer I can send them back at my expense etc. so still not actually spoke to a person who answered a direct question. Straight back to me.”

Helpful Report

Posted 2 years ago

“They broke my xmas!!!!! send me poor half dead blue spruce! Shoud be 120-150cm my was 95!!! I lost 80£. Very dissapointed! Keep away from this shop!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Item ordered and paid for. Never arrived. No phone number and 'live chat' is not live.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“In the past, I have been relatively pleased with the quality of plants and delivery from Gardening Express. My latest order was disappointing. Of four plants, one was a superb specimen, two were shrubs which were in extremely poor condition and the fourth and final plant was not what I had ordered, and was of absolutely no use to me. I accept that there has to be an element of chance when buying anything online. My real frustration is the difficulty communicating with the company. The primary function of the GE bot appears to be to keep you waiting (40 minutes and counting) until you give up and decide not to communicate your issues. Extremely disappointing.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I'm very disappointed. I ordered 3 lucky dip orchids as it was a photos of different colours. They managed to send me all three same colour. The plants looked neglected, came overwatered with wet damaged leaves, with lots of little holes on petals, which means bites of pests, found some on leaves too. I have over 30 orchids but I never had that poor quality plants like Gardening express sent to me. Horrible customer service, they didn't understand my problem, I was referred to another assistant which asked me to send the pictures of plants, after I attached my last picture the conversation was cut off. I will never ever buy from them again.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 11th December 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Almost impossible to contact them, as they offer neither email or phone details. You have to wade through Frequently Asked Questions on their website and finally reach an online chat where you wait a long time (30 mins in my case) before trying to explain in typing and send photos, only to get a message to say I had been unresponsive for a while and been cut off ... That was me struggling to get to grips with it all, not being unresponsive! Tried again, but no satisfaction because I a) immediately on their arrival sent an email and photo of one dead plant, and another nearly dead, to a wrong email address and then b) sent another email to yet another address which couldn't help me, so I was well outside the time for letting them know that a dead and a nearly dead plant had arrived! Not that it would have helped, as I should have evidently sent them back at my own expense for a replacement, I was told. Won't bother to post below the photo of a pot of earth with a few dead strands in it... Meanwhile had used Gardening Express again (part order has arrived and looks quite good) but after wading through Cassie's 'chat' messages today I will never, ever be tempted to use them again. What is wrong with giving Cassie, or someone more understanding, a phone with which to make pleasant, human contact. Plants are living things (or in one case dead!!) so why not encourage speaking in person to a living human being?! It was a small matter initially (just part of a special offer order and of no great monetary value) but has now led to this review due to their customer service.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Extremely terrible service, lost £75 off a £300 order due items not arriving on time and having to reject the delivery, there is a 25% fee to do so even though delivery was so late. PLEASE STAY AWAY, not worth the stress and loss of money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I ordered a Boston fern I,supposedly in white presentation pots and a cyclamen in a white presentation pot…I received a 6 inch cyclamen in a tiny pot and a malus appletini in stead of a Boston fern….I will never ever buy from this two penny bit company again….customers are getting done over again and again…not me anymore…if it wasn’t for I’ll health I would have gone to my local garden centre…”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I have wasted hours of my time trying to get a refund for the half dead plants I received from Gardening Express. I am kept waiting on the complaint site sending messages and photos to and fro, and then their site which is supposed to close at 4pm closes even though it NOT 4pm. Today it closed me down at 3.30 an I know the same thing will happen tomorrow as it has every day since I got the plants on 3rd December. Today is the 8th Dec.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 8th December 2021

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Order did not arrive. They have a Hermes tracking code that says that Hermes have not recieved the plants. Impossible to get them to investigate. I'll not repeat what everyone else is saying. Their 'office' appears to be a social club and Bonnetts Garden Village certainly dont have the stock they are selling on line. (same registered office. So if this is a legitimate company they don't act like one.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I bought two 'Premium Quality Topiary Buxus BALLS with stylish contemporary Flared BLACK Planters' - the plants arrived late but that wasn't the most dissapointing aspect - the 'stylish planters' are cheap plastic pots and the buxus balls are at the absoute minimum of the 'from' size they specified, and one buxus is very bare on one side. I measured them and they just made it into size category they'd stated, though I definitely wouldn't descibe them as premium, however I thought it was a competitive price because of their 'reduction' so I just hoped they grow. I'm annoyed with myself for not cross checking at my local garden centre (which is in the home counties and NOT cheap) because for £10 more I could have had two 30cm healthy buxus balls. I happened to spot some much larger specimens in Costco on a recent trip and they worked out at £15 more for a pair that are double the size of the Gardening Express ones (shown in the photo as a comparison) so do your homework and ignore their 'discounts' which are a joke. Having seen what poor value their specimens were I did write a review which then did prompt a response offering a 'no quibble refund' but sadly the effort and expense to return the buxus balls and the risk of the products being deemed to have been damaged by my courier means I'll just have to right the purchase off - please avoid, just check out the 47% negative reviews and make your own mind up.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 18th November 2021

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Posted 3 years ago

“I feel very short changed...... The 'Cypress trees' I received were extremely modest in size - far smaller than the minimum height that was stated and generally looked v weak.... I would have paid no more than £10 per tree MAXimum in a nursery, as opposed to £55 for the pair !! And the customer service via email (-obviously!) was very dismissive of my complaint. Lesson Learnt I will certainly will never purchase plants from Gardening Express again and would urge potential customers to visit their local garden centre/nursery & purchase plants there instead !”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Wish I had read reviews. 3 hellebores delivered were dreadful. Looked as if they had been crushed with yellow and brown leaves. One was barely a stem sticking out of the compost. An agent told me every plant was individual and had it’s own season so not much help. She closed the chat down. Similar plants ordered from another company were excellent with green healthy leaves. Told I could return but not prepared to pay postage. Will never use them again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Wow I wish i read the reviews. Unable to actually speak to a person. Ordered a 135cm to 160cm acer received a 110cm one. Apparently it is my responsibility to pay for and return an item i did not, did not order. Also the acer was really badly pruned - very lob sided.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Wrong Acer plant delivered, sent it straight back at a cost of £10.30 and now 4 days later they have delivered the same wrong plant AGAIN. If anyone from GEX reads this PLEASE answer your emails or your telephone and respond to your frustrated customers. Chris Bonnet DO Something!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“This company is awful. Do not believe the pictures on their website. They send out sub-standard plants and their customer service is appalling. They might be cheap, but do yourself a favour and go to a reputable garden centre where you will get value for money.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Please Stay Away! No circumstances that I recommend Gardening Express I bought 2 bare root magnolia trees from Gardening Express in late April and planted them following guidelines from several websites. In the intervening period the trees did not become established. I contacted Gardening Express to find out what could be done and effectively the 'customer services' agent Cassie pushed any responsibility back to me. I assumed that quality checks would have been done on the trees before they were shipped but apparently I should have been doing a bark test when the trees arrived to ensure they would awaken from dormancy. I was also meant to contact them within 14 days if I thought the trees would not establish. My understanding is that trees can take a few months to show any signs of growth, so again I was pushed back by their 14 day return policy. This is a good point to add that you are responsible for the costs for any returning 'faulty' plants. The great 5 year guarantee is not so great, it is only limited to certain plants, check the small print - of course the trees I purchased were not included So in short .... they put the onus on the customer to identify poor quality plants that they have sent out, don't give you sufficient time to complain and charge you for returns. There are no circumstances that I recommend Gardening Express. Please stay away!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,702 reviews