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

“Terrible - I'll never use them again. Plants were badly damaged in transit and half the size described. Customer service has been almost completely unresponsive - there's no number to call, the chat facility has been removed and the support ticket process has been completely ignored by staff. I've lost £40. Will you?”

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Posted 4 years ago

“Ordered in May, got a refund via cashback from bank in Sept, now GE are disputing it and trying to steal my money back! Utterly unbelievable. I have sent evidence to the bank for them to argue my case, no way are they stealing my money back again, total thieves!!”

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Posted 4 years ago

“As all the other negative reviews have stated the customer service is appalling. I complained about a sub standard plant I had received and after 2 weeks of not hearing anything I checked the status of my ticket - it had disappeared without being resolved. I have raised another ticket and 4 weeks later still no response. I will never buy from this company again and strongly advised you do not. Do not be fooled by glossy website photos. The reality is very different. My order was for 4 x Ilex topiary balls. I received 3 x Ilex balls and one mis-shapen thing. At £32 per plant not acceptable. I will now pursue a 'charge back' with my credit card company.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“Do not buy from this company. I received rotten plants and most of then died. My complain with photos was simply ignored and after few weeks my tickets vanished. So no plants and no refund. Do not waisted your money.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 18th October 2020

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Posted 4 years ago

“I can't believe the reviews I've just read. I've ordered from this company twice and received beautiful shrubs and plants. The shrubs seem very healthy and delivery was very quick. I planted them immediately and so far so good. I do hope I'm not disappointed later.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“It's anything but express as it's almost a month since I placed my order and I'm still waiting for the bulk of it to arrive. Initially they were apologetic and assured me it was on it's way however I'm still waiting. They promised to be in touch soon with a resolution but that was over a week ago and still no response and they've ignored the latest ticket communication requesting a refund. I ordered from them trusting in their glowing reviews on their website however had I read all of the appalling independent reviews I would never have used this company. It's the first and last time I will use Gardening Express.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“I have had the most disappointing after sales experience with Gardening Express. I have been in contact with them 3 times since i ordered back in July and although i have had 2 responses both have just said they are looking into the issue and will respond. The last time was 2 weeks ago and still no response. I am disgusted with their lack of care and customer service. I could certainly not get away with this poor service in my business. A number of my plants arrived broken and of very poor quality.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 17th October 2020

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Posted 4 years ago

“I've had 2 orders this with company, the first plant died and when I raised a ticket, I received a holding response and then nothing else. I since found out that they closed the ticket without resolving it despite plants supposed to have a 5 year guarantee. I stupidly placed a second order for another plant and this arrived wrong - it was the wrong plant and it wasn't a true tree, it was a grafted rootstock but there was no mention of these trees being rootstocks. All in all they're a very poor business and I still haven't had a response from them and I'm not holding out much hope either. Avoid like the plague.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“I ordered a collection of 12 sempervivums having seen the illustration on the website which showed a good selection of shapes, sizes and colours. What eventually arrived was a poorly packed box containing 9 plants of an identical variety - small and green- plus three others. Two pots were empty of their contents and the rest were covered in compost and broken off pieces. Raising a ticket only produces a standard acknowledgement and weeks of waiting in vain. I shall not use this company again and would certainly not recommend it to others.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 15th October 2020

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Posted 4 years ago

“Cheap plants. Sometimes dead. Live complaint without response or resolution for over 6 months. Horrendous communications. Avoid.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“If I could give this sham company a minus rating, I would. Delivered dead plants, so I raised a ticket - as they ask you to on their website. The ticket was ignored for a month despite me chasing on Twitter. Finally I checked in on my account and the ticket had been cleared but they had never contacted me and there had been no resolution. Raised another ticket, that also got ignored for a month. Tweeted, emailed and did everything I could but they still ignore me. Finally I got through to them on chat, was already frustrated at having been ignored for two months. There was two pictures in the ticket of the two dead plants I had been sent. They claimed that as they were two separate pictures there wasn't "enough photographic evidence" that it wasn't the same plants so they refused to refund me for both of them. They then suggest that if it "really was" both plants I could go and take a picture of the pair in one picture. I explained that I don't tend to keep dead plants for two months ... so they again said there wasn't "enough evidence," because apparently it's court and not a couple of dead dianthus plants... Had they got back to me in the first place I could have gone and taken more pictures, but they were also not bothered whatsoever by the fact that it had taken them 2 months to respond to me. They're unbelievably rude, unethical and they're looking for a way to swindle you out of your money. The plants are dead or dying, the customer service is disgraceful and they're rude beyond belief. Please don't let them rob you like they do everyone else.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 14th October 2020

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Posted 4 years ago

“If I could give this sham company a minus rating, I would. Delivered dead plants, so I raised a ticket - as they ask you to on their website. The ticket was ignored for a month despite me chasing on Twitter. Finally I checked in on my account and the ticket had been cleared but they had never contacted me and there had been no resolution. Raised another ticket, that also got ignored for a month. Tweeted, emailed and did everything I could but they still ignore me. Finally I got through to them on chat, was already frustrated at having been ignored for two months. There was two pictures in the ticket of the two dead plants I had been sent. They claimed that as they were two separate pictures there wasn't "enough photographic evidence" that it wasn't the same plants so they refused to refund me for both of them. They then suggest that if it "really was" both plants I could go and take a picture of the pair in one picture. I explained that I don't tend to keep dead plants for two months ... so they again said there wasn't "enough evidence," because apparently it's court and not a couple of dead dianthus plants... Had they got back to me in the first place I could have gone and taken more pictures, but they were also not bothered whatsoever by the fact that it had taken them 2 months to respond to me. They're unbelievably rude, unethical and they're looking for a way to swindle you out of your money. The plants are dead or dying, the customer service is disgraceful and they're rude beyond belief. Please don't let them rob you like they do everyone else.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“DO NOT BE FOOLED BY 5 STAR REVIEWS . THIS BUSINESS IS STRUCTURED AROUND SENDING OUT DEAD PLANTS AT TOP PRICES AND THEN AVOIDING ALL CONTACT WITH "CUSTOMERS". THIS BUSINESS CONTINUES TO OPERATE BECAUSE IT ALSO POSTS FALSIFIED "DELIGHTED REVIEWS". I'M £70 OUT OF POCKET 4 MONTHS ON , CASE CLOSED , NO COMMUNICATION AT ALL . A VERY SIMPLE AND LUCRATIVE FRAUDULENT BUSINESS MODEL”

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Posted 4 years ago

“Ordered during lockdown, waited 7 weeks for partial order and then raised several complaints and each time tickets were closed without response. Had to go through bank to obtain refund for half the order which never arrived. Would strongly advise avoiding. The plants which arrived were in poor condition.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“I ordered four plants, one arrived in poor condition and, though cared for, died. I contacted Gardening Express, they asked for photographs, I sent them and received an email saying my complaint had been referred to the appropriate person. Since then nothing, despite sending a number of emails. I intend to email them every day, if for no other reason than to cause inconvenience and waste their time. If anyone can tell me who I should report this company to I would be grateful. Don't buy anything from these people.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“This was my 2nd purchase in 6 months and both times everything has been absolutely fine, and the plants are excellent. After placing my recent order I checked reviews and was shocked to see how damning they were, & wrote off the money I’d just spent. Happily however everything has gone very well. Very perplexed & sorry to hear about how awful it’s been for so many others.”

Gardening Express 5 star review on 12th October 2020

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Posted 4 years ago

“I ordered during lockdown....waited several weeks for items to arrive. When the order arrived there were missing items, so I emailed immediately to notify of missing items. No response due to lockdown restrictions! Have been regularly emailing and have had a few responses stating that items would be sent, then refund would be given. I have contacted Trading Standards and sent a formal letter stating I would take the matter further and again no response. It is now October and I am still waiting for a refunded on the missing items!!!! I would not recommend Gardening Express and will certainly not be using again...!!!”

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Posted 4 years ago

“Scam company. This company took my money in April (6 months ago) and refuses to acknowledge my legally entitled refund requests. They have broken the Consumer Rights act and are a fraudulent scam company. Unless you want your money stolen from you, then avoid this scam company at all costs. They seem to thrive by stealing peoples money, and likely their data too.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“no plant, no refund, kept saying will be referred to management team but again nothing, terrible, the owner Chris Bonnett has re-opened his garden centre, Bonnetts Garden Village in Essex, probably is where all the money has gone.”

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Posted 4 years ago

“No communication, no order, no refund, tried emailing Bonnetts Garden Centre, as he owns that, still no joy, at least it's one way of trying to contact the owner.”

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Posted 4 years ago

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

Gardening Express Reviews