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

“The oleaster limelight that I ordered arrived on the due date. However, it is extremely small and a good part of the plant has already reverted, i.e. bears just green leaves, when it should be gold and green. This reversion should have already been cut back and a decent green and gold plant sent as a priority. I have bought plants online before and never been disappointed but I will not be using this company again”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“I have had awful trouble dealing with this company regarding a plant, not what it said on the website' You cannot phone them they will not reply to a request to phone me, so beware keep as far away as you can from this company we received two sticks and a cane see pic”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY! I ordered a Large Acer tree that had been grafted to form a willow shape. I didn’t expect it to look like the fully nature version illustrated on their website but they showed some younger trees that would resemble the 4yr old tree I was purchasing. When it arrived it had 3 twigs on it, I was massively disappointed. It took customer service (and I use that term very loosely) a week to respond after I’d chased them. There’s no phone number so you can’t actually rationalise the situation with anybody. I was told the tree would grow, but I’d paid a premium for a mature tree so that’s besides the point. Don’t waste your time and money dealing with this company. I honestly don’t know how there still allowed to trade!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Very poor customer service. Plant arrived with the stem snapped. Was advertised at 80cm but was barely 10cm after it was snapped. Even if it wasn't snapped it would have barely 40cm. Customer service team told me that they measure from the base of the pot and to allow 20% tolerance to the size stated in the ad. They also said the plant would probably grow, which is not really the point as I had paid for a larger more mature plant. They said I could return the item but at my cost, which is I wasn't happy with as either they or their shipping company broke it. I'd recommend to avoid and go to a company that cares about their customers”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Different excuses with standard replies”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“I was disappointed with the quality of the Michelia Magnolia Fairy White which had obviously had it's main stem snapped off before dispatch, had few leaves for an evergreen on a straggly bare stem with a some sickly yellowish/green leaves on the end, some of which had insect damage.. Very poor quality for £14.97 and no one would have bought it at a garden centre. Their response to my complaint? "I can assure you that your Magnolia is very much alive...." so being alive is their plant quality standard! Avoid.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Appalling company to deal with. Don’t believe positive reviews. I didn’t loose out to much by the value of the dead plants that i ordered. I would never fall for this again.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“Some exceptional prices on bulbs in the winter sales. I've ordered plenty to stock up. A couple of items were missing from the first order but that was swiftly resolved, with a second order. I would buy again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“I wish I could say something positive, but all the negative reviews below, have been confirmed. I ordered a big quantity of their special sale items. I was all excited to open the boxes when they arrived 9 days later (it took 2 days for similar items to arrive from Netherlands with free delivery! go figure). Just by lifting them I understood there was something wrong, they were too light. Unfortunately the main bulk of my order was missing. I opened a support ticket (no phone number to call, big red flag I ignored) and it was resolved after 48 hours saying my order had been delivered, whoever handles the complaint section (clearly not a full time dedicated person for this) didn't even bother reading the problem or even worse sneakily pretended not to understand. All I can say is if you really want to buy from this company, go and VISIT THEM DIRECTLY at least you'll see what you get. I forgot to say, the items that were actually in the boxes delivered smelled so much of mould I had to take the boxes out of the house as soon as I opened them, maybe it was a one OFF, no pun intended but some of the items had gone off.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Awful company, had been sent not only some wrong items, the plants I had ordered were damaged and very unhealthy, I sent photos of the damaged parcel and they wouldn’t except the photos (you can clearly see the plants upside down and smashed up in the box in the photographs provided) Terrible products & customer service”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Bought 2 Venus fly traps and 2 Pitcher plant fly traps. All 4 plants came well packaged and was as described in description. Excellent price. This is the 2nd time I’ve bought from gardening express and both times had no issues, will use again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“After placing an order, I immediately noticed it defaulted to my old address and emailed immediately. Then the saga starts, notifications of attempted deliveries at my old Address, bearing in mind Gardening Express had delivered to my new address. There is no telephone number for Gardening Express, it's a live chat, they told me to get in touch with the delivery company Hermes and washed their hands of me. There is no way of contacting Hermes. All I wanted was my parcel diverting, that is all. So now I have lost nearly £40.00. Hermes have had my parcel since 7th December today is the 20th. I have never written a bad review about any company. I shall continue to do so with this company. This is Customer Service at its worst”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“This is an appalling, dishonest company. See photos of the plants they sent me. Customer Service said there is nothing wrong with them. They look nothing like the photos and are not like the descriptions, very small, misshapen and unhealthy. The web description says the heather should be healthy, bushy, white and festive through the winter. These are all brown and look sick and sad. The Premium Quality Festive Holly Bushes are misshapen and straggly. Won't be festive for a year. The healthy cyclamens meant to be in bud or in flower have not one flower on 6 plants and not one bud. And are tiny and straggly. The whole shipments was a disaster. If you had seen these plants you would not have bought. To make it worse they said I have to ship back at my cost, including the trees which I can't even box! They know I can't return them and not accepting they have sold me damaged, unfit goods. They say they have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee but this is meaningless as they know it is difficult for you to ship back. I will update what happens once they receive the plants I am able to ship back. Impossible to send back the trees so do not buy large plants from them especially.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“OMG I wish I had searched for reviews before ordering from this terribly and unfortunately named company! SEVEN WEEKS for my order to arrive in full. It’s a different season now! This seven weeks was accompanied by me spending AGES chasing them when after four weeks they sent only part of my order (when you order the ‘estimate’ for delivery try is 3-5 days), their customer support ticket system being a joke that never wanted to help only close the issue down, and, the plants... I mean, they were cheap, and they are alive? I think that’s the nicest I can put it! The plants certainly do not match the glowing website descriptions “covered in giant flowers” - I quote, for example, nope. Please avoid and learn from my and many others mistakes - there is NOTHING positive to say about this appalling, abysmal company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“OMG I wish I had searched for reviews before ordering from this terribly and unfortunately named company! SEVEN WEEKS for my order to arrive in full. It’s a different season now! This seven weeks was accompanied by me spending AGES chasing them when after four weeks they sent only part of my order. Their customer support ticket system being a joke that never wanted to help, just close the issue, and, the plants... I mean, they were cheap, and they are alive? I think that’s the nicest I can put it! The plants certainly do not match the glowing website descriptions “covered in giant flowers” I quote for example, nope. Please avoid and learn from my and many others mistakes - there is NOTHING positive to say about this appalling, abysmal company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Received a delivery with numerous plants. Some ok, some pretty dead and not as advertised. Started a dispute through the chat as they don't provide a phone number on the website. Talked to two people through chat and Marina the manager on the phone, got fobbed off, despite providing with clear evidence that the plants that I have received are not what is advertised (ornamental cabbages are advertised to be in 10-12cm pots 1l on the website, arrived in 6cm pots and less than 400ml, and some of the heathers were pretty dead). Got told that the plants are the right plants and there is no issue and if I want to return them for refund I need to cover the cost myself, which I have refused, given that I have received not what I have ordered based on the information provided online. When I have pointed out the difference in size of the ornamental cabbages both in the description and photos on the website, I got told that the measurements are approximate and the images for full grown plants. This was not mentioned on the product page. As for heathers, I got told that some of them are not in season and thus don't look great right now. Again, nowhere on the product page is mentioned that they are out of season. On contrary, it says 'Full of buds and bursting in to colour right now'. Again, when I pointed this out to Marina the manager, I got told that I should have done my homework (bear in mind the product page doesn't even mention what types are being sent!). All in all, the company is a scam and I would advise against shopping with them as you will waste your money and nerves talking to the customer support team.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Companies like these should cease trading, I am sorry I have to say this.But AVOID AT ANY COST, Companies like these should cease trading, I am sorry I have to say this.But AVOID AT ANY COST, go to your local gardening store, some plants need to be seen in reality. I complained about them to the Standard Trading Institute. In brief I purchased a pair of trees and what I got delivered it's an absolute joke! In reality the product did not match the one on the website and they are tempting customers with false misleading advertise: -the height was slightly smaller, the delivered products coloration is different, the leaves are three times longer than the pictures on the website, the amount of leaves and brunches is completely different from the photo on the website- (there are waayyy less leaves and brunches), the quality of the leaves is poor, leaves are dry and seem to be dying. I have returned the product paying from my own pocket £20 per delivery (they refused to send a courier to come pick up the plants, which I wouldn't have returned if the product was OK) plus initial £6 for delivery charges and it took them 10 days to deliver ("express is clearly not a reflection of their "speedy" service) Really not worth it considering the trees cost (£49)! They tempt customers with discounted prices however the quality of the plants desired is very poor, in my experience. Customer service, simply do nothing to rectify issues, copy pasting and churning out standard paragraphs about how to look after plants and stating that the plant advertised on the website it's just a picture to give us an idea about how these plants are going to look like over years! This is clearly a breach of trading standards.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Exochorda macrantha The Bride £15.95. So not a cheap plant but looking at a photo of this on the website I thought it would be well worth it. Oh dear - what I got was a bent stick. I did raise a complaint but all they said was that it was alive! Then closed the case. I am not happy at all. I will not be using Gardening Express again. First photo is from their website and the second photo is what I received. Goodbye from a long standing customer.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Ordered a pair of Tuscan Cypress trees. On unpacking one was damaged, in that the leader branch was broken. Immediately emailed Gardeningexpress with pictures, took a week for them to reply (after I chased them) to be told that there was no detrimental damage. Having stated that I was unhappy with this I was told to return them at my cost to get a refund, when all they had to do was send a replacement tree. Rest assured I will not use them again and would strongly advise against anyone else using them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“If you want1/2 dead plants, very poorly packed, but full price - then buy from here. Once bitten twice shy!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,702 reviews