Balsam Hill Reviews

Name: Balsam Hill
Rating: 1.26

1.3 Rating 450 Reviews

4 %

of reviewers recommend Balsam Hill

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1.3

Based on 450 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
Average Delivery Time	Within 5 Days
On-time Delivery	Greater than 66%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 52%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Returns & Refunds
Returns Process	Could Be Better

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Balsam Hill 1 star review on 1st January 2025

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

“2nd year setting up top of tree would not light. After trying everything in manual, check/replacing fuses and checking plugs I called customer service all they did is read back instructions from manual. Finally added my own string to top. This year only one string of white on bottom section will light. Out goes the tree. Second Balsam Hill tree I have thrown out after just 2 years use. Should have learned the first time. DO NOT waste your money with this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“This is one of the most unprofessional companies I've ever bought stuff from! I have ordered door decorations (3 garlands and 1 wreath), and tracking info for the garlands said it will arrive in 2 days. Then on the day of the alleged delivery the delivery date changed 3 days. Then to 4 days, etc, until the delivery date became completely unacceptable and pointless, because I needed the decorations to arrive earlier. Contacted customer service, talked to the person signed as Anarlyn H, she was trying to get rid of me in 625 different ways and kept circling me back to the "solutions" which I didn't accept in the first place. They charge ridiculously high prices for decorations and one would expect to get at least somewhat professional service for the money paid, but instead all you get is blatant unprofessionalism and incompetence, lying to you as a customer and attempts to get rid of you to cover their incompetence... DO NOT BUY ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I bought the Noble Fir Christmas Tree after debating several years. I'm so disappointed. It cost a fortune compared to the others on the market but I thought that you get what you pay for. Not true with Balsm Hill. The branches are so smashed together it takes forever to separate. The branch material is not the same. On the lower branches, the inner 1/3 is so fake it looks worse than the fake silver trees from 1960's. The top part of the tree has about 1/2 of the material ugly fake.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“The same shipping issue that you see being posted recently happened to me. I had to fight to get my refund as they continued to try claiming the tree had shipped even though there was never a received scan for a week. I had to file a Paypal claim to get my $ back to try again. I figured they over-sold the tree and didn't want to admit it or refund my money for their error. The review below regarding the email stating the tree was out of stock after waiting confirms it. I am a US customer ordering from the US. That excuse of "shipping over borders" will not fly. They were literally holding people's money and Christmas hostage. LOL. Unbelievable. Its all very strange because I have ordered from them before - twice I got my trees without problem and the third I recieved a crooked tree. The refund process was smooth then. If they were honest and told customers the delay and actual issue many probably would have waited. Instead they drive customers away with this avoidance and refusal of a refund. Something terrible has happened to them and they need to revisit their approach to business and customers. I had wondered if this was just my luck, but I see its happened to many people.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“So my wife and I purchased a beautiful balsam tree about 3 years ago and we spent a pretty penny on it. We bought it because of the warranty and how realistic the tree looked. This year the bulbs did not light up on the base unit. I called the customer service and they told me that the warranty is only 3 years and they can't help me out. I said I thought there was a 10-year warranty and they said the tenure warranties only on the treat itself it's not on anything with the lights. That's very discouraging I will never ever purchase anything from them again!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Purchased our tree in 2016. Last year the top third color lights did not work unless the"all lights" button was on. Customer service was trying to be helpful, but we never got it to work properly. After awhile they just ignored us. This year, 2021, the middle third is not working properly. We have tested the fuses and the lights to no avail. They offered to send a strand of lights this year, have still not received them. I had posted a complaint on Instagram. We have not spoken to anyone this year. $800.00 is an outrageous amount to pay for a tree that only lasts three years. I would never buy another tree from them. "You get what you pay for," does not apply to Balsam!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Appalling customer service. I have been told different things from every single person I have spoken to. Very disappointing considering the price. Will never order anything again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Absolute garbage! Never worked properly. Supposed to stay lit if a bulb is out bs ! Have one strand on entire tree that works and I paid like 800.00 for this junk ! Stay away ! Useless customer service sent me a strand of lights and a few bulbs told me figure it out assholes !”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Purchased a Balsam Hill tree in 2017 ($1,000+ for 9 ft. Frasier "flip" Tree). It worked beautifully for 3 years. On the fourth year, several strands didn't work once the tree was set up. The tree is just past their warranty. They don't offer matching lights. None of their 'troubleshooting' tips addressed the issue. Their final suggestion: cut off all the existing lights and completely rewire the tree. What an incredible waste of money, but (more importantly) time. Never again. Will discourage anyone from purchasing from this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“The trees are very life-like but the lights suck. This is my 2nd balsam hill tree - purchased 2 years ago. An entire strand of clear lights are out. We replaced ALL of the master bulbs and fuses but no luck. We found that the unlit strand has 2 master bulbs. Tons of bulbs out in other sections. After 5 hours and 6 phone calls getting conflicting info I’m told we are getting a new tree. Waiting for a phone call from their warranty area - I’m skeptical. Not sure I would buy another balsam hill tree but if I do I’m not wasting my $$ on a prelit tree. I’ll string the lights myself. I also bought some cute hanging jack-o-lanterns with solar powered fairy lights a year ago - the seal around the solar pack is faulty and every time it rained water got into the battery area - unknown to us until this year when the lights didn’t work. Removed the cover to the battery area and the connections are all rusted. Nothing works. Obviously a design flaw but BH won’t do anything about it. Lesson learned. - stay away from their lights. The only reason why I gave 2 stars for customer service is because the last agent we spoke to was very helpful.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“The tree’s aesthetics are great. Unfortunately, the electrical is pathetic. Light sections started failing year one when one strand failed. I wasn’t concerned about it until the next year when a forth of the tree was out. I was sent several strands of lights. By year 4 , one month out of warranty all but one strand was out and when trying to replace the master bulbs the bulb would flash and burn out indicating a short. Customer service was no help. It seems to me that when you have numerous people stating the same problem you might want to correct it. We had a frontgate tree for at least 15 years and never lost a light, I wish we had kept it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Horrible customer service. Only received half of the tree I ordered and they cannot find the other box. They won’t replace the tree with the same one since it’s sold out. One supervisor said they would replace with a similar tree and another said they would not replace (actually she flat out told me they were busy and didn’t have anymore trees). All they could offer was to pay for the shipping of the tree back to the company. Never mind, the box is super heavy and I have a bad back from working as a nurse. The supervisor, named Amy, said I had to figure out how to ship it back and they would only offer the labels. This is not the first time Balsam Hill has dropped the ball before Christmas. Two years ago, after decorating a different brand new balsam tree, the lights stopped working. Again, they would not replace it or offer a similar replacement. Customer service just said they were sorry and made no attempts to replace with a similar tree.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“We ordered a tree for the kids Christmas and got an email on Nov 23rd confirming the tree was shipped. Check the status on Nov 30th at 5pm after my husband became concerned. Called Balsam Hill, the agent could explain why the shipment was not showing any movements since the label was created. He asked me to call Fedex, I did and was told the label was created but the package was never shipped. Called Balsam Hill a second time to speak with someone regarding finding, and expediting my shipment because I paid almost $100CA for delivery. And the kids really want to decorate their tree. Order #H019009884 Spoke to the nastiest agent, He was very rude and dismissive about our concerns. Asking why am I calling the USA? You are from Canada. Why are you calling us? That was his very first question. As if I was lost! I informed him I paid for the shipment in USD and the tracking number confirmed what Fedex told me the shipment 514409910728642 was in Indianapolis, IN US and was never sent out. I asked to speak with someone else who could help me save Christmas for the kids. The agent refused and started telling me how shipping across the border works and he is not in the shipping industry. I will be going online and reviewing your company. The level of nonprofessional and lack of empathy is alarming. You are to be sending Christmas cheers and making the lives of people brighter, not becoming grinch and taking away the joy of Christmas especially for my very sick twin babies.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“My correspondence with this company should tell you enough but in addition to this I was told by two different people on the phone my order had shipped and left their warehouse. One of them finally admitted in the phone that he the order had not in fact shipped. Balsam Hill Customer Service To: Hi David, Thank you for contacting Balsam Hill. We greatly appreciate your recent purchase with us and that you have chosen our products to celebrate this beautiful holiday season. We understand that you wanted to follow up on your order status. Upon checking, your order has been shipped and details on its movement will be available once the package arrives at the FedEx facility. Tracking numbers may take up to 48 hours to display movement after the label has been created. For our Standard Shipping, those orders placed after 12pm ET will ship within 2 business days and items typically take 3-7 business days to arrive. To know more about our shipping and orders, you may visit this link. You can also track your order status through this link using your order number and email address. We hope for your continued patience and understanding on this matter. Sincerely, Ma.Manilyn Show original message Please refer to Case Number 01209035 when contacting Customer Service ds….,,,@yahoo.com To:Balsam Hill Customer Service Wed, Dec 1 at 6:11 PM Do you use a separate shipping service to send it to Fedex because if not the fedex tracking whould at least show it has left your facility. Right now it is just showing ready to ship. I ship with fed ex quite frequently and the status updates for every single step. Sent from my iPhone Show original message ds…@yahoo.com To:Balsam Hill Customer Service Wed, Dec 1 at 7:13 PM I have been following the tracking on fedex. Fed ex is only showing that a label was created. My concern is that this shipment has never even left your facility. If it did fed ex would show that it has. Can you confirm this has left your facilty and is in route. If so please provide a screen shot of the fed ex shipping status because when i go on fed ex it just shows a label was created with no movement whatsover. Sent from my iPhone Show original message Balsam Hill Customer Service To:ds…,,@yahoo.com Wed, Dec 1 at 7:26 PM Hi David, Thank you for getting back to us. We appreciate you for making us be part of your holidays and we understand your concern on your order H019235879 still showing no movement when tracked. We apologize for the confusion on our previous email saying your order will be arriving today. Unfortunately, our warehouses weren't fully operational and our shipping partner FedEx were on modified service hours since the weekend causing some delays. Know that your package may not show movement for a couple of days as the ground deliveries are resuming. Rest assured that we are working closely with our partners to deliver your package as soon as possible. Your patience and understanding is greatly appreciated. Sincerely, Angel John Show original message Hi David, We hope this email finds you well. ? We wanted to let you know that the 7.5' Mariana Spruce with Clear LED Light you ordered has been in high demand and is now out of stock. While we do our absolute best to keep inventory levels up-to-date, it can happen on occasion that an item sells out before we have the chance to update the inventory on our website. We know that this is a frustrating situation and sincerely apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. ? A refund of $637.94 for this unfulfilled item was issued to your original form of payment on December 1, 2021 with the transaction ID 5gaq83jc. Please note that it can take up to 30 days for you to see the credit on your financial statement. We thank you for understanding and please feel free to browse our website again for an alternative product.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I have bought several products from Balsam Hill over the years and the quality and durability are exceptional! I have now experienced your customer service and product, follow-up care and I couldn't be happier. Your staff are very helpful and friendly, and the range of products i've bought, at different addresses were logged on the system, making it was easy to locate the parts needed and see if they were still covered by the purchase warranty. Thank you for sending me a replacement tree stand and key so swiftly.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I’ve had a Balsam Hill tree since 2013. For the last 3 years, the lights have been more and more unpredictable to get going. This year we had significant sections of lights that wouldn’t light up so I ordered a new tree. Within a few hours we were able to manipulate the boughs and got most lights working. I called to cancel (within about 2 hours) and was told my order was cancelled. Three days later I got notice that the tree was being shipped, but probably delayed. When I called again to remind them the order was cancelled, they said I’d have to pay $50 for the return. Not fair.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Purchased a 7-1/2 Stratford Spruce this past October & paid $699. Normally I would have waited to purchase a Christmas tree closer to the holiday but due to supply chain shortages I placed the order earlier to be certain we could get this particular tree on time. Then after their 14 day lower price match policy they reduced the price by $200 to $499 and instead of working with me they offered no credit for the difference! I would have even accepted a store credit towards a purchase of additional items! To make matters worse, the stand was defective! They entered a new replacement order for the stand and then sent me an email update that some parts would not be delivered until September 2022! I ended up temporarily fixing the problem myself and then they sent me another update apologizing for the back order issue and the parts would now be delivered mid December! Never again will I order anything from this company again! You may have kept the $200 BH, but you lost allot more potential business from me as a potential life time customer versus your decision to turn me into a first and last time customer!”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Purchased a $600 plus pre lit tree four years ago. Tree had option of multi color or clear lights or both. First year it took hours on phone with customer service to get the remote to work. Third year the multi color lights wouldn’t work. Called customer service which only wanted to sell me new string of lights. Tree was out of warranty. This year couldn’t any of the lights to work. Tried everything. Replaced fuses checked for broken/missing lights. Nothing worked. Finally I ran an extension cord up through the tree and individually plugged each strand of lights in each section to the extension cord. Never could get clear lights on bottom third of tree to light. Tree is not worth the hours of aggravation.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“I have the same problem Ingrid did. Our tree was beautiful, prelit tree. Packed it up after first christmas, stored in climate controlled environment. Took it out next year and one section on the lower part of the tree did not light. Called customer service. They said all they could do was send a new set of lights for that section, because they didn't have that tree in stock right now. They said they might be able to send a new section later. I never heard from and just made do, putting the new lights over the old ones. If you have never "unstrung" a prelit Christmas tree, I would invite you to do so. Because the lights are clamped to and wrapped around the branches, it literally takes FOREVER AND DAMAGES YOUR EXPENSIVE TREE. So, because I'm use to the world being imperfect, I have kept making do with this for Christmas 2018, 2019 and 2020 and would have kept doing so, but when we set the tree up this year, guess what? That's right, there are now numerous areas of the tree not lit up. I have traced the wires, as I did before, and discovered that it is clearly a wiring problem, not a fuse problem, the sections that aren't lit up trace back to sections where the lights work, with no fuse in between. Called customer service. They at no point even attempted to suggest that I could fix this problem or tried to trouble shoot it, which clearly implies that they are aware of this problem being a defect. I'm pretty sure they knew it when I called in 2018. I've now been told that because it is out of warranty, they can't do anything but they MIGHT be able to send me 5 new strands of lights, IF a supervisor approves it, AND that IF I had called last year, they could have done something. SO now I have a very expensive tree that is half lit. AND I get to choose between giving it to Goodwill and buying another OR restringing the whole tree. And oh yes, I also can't decorate my tree. I really was silly enough to think that this company would treat me right because I was paying so much for their product. I have purchased several products from them, but no more. Have recommended their trees, but won't again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

“Okay so last year I purchased a Balsam Hill tree on an after Christmas sale. All good. I got the tree but it was broken. No big deal because Christmas 2020 was over. I called CS. They set up a case. I heard nothing throughout the year but figured I would have to deal sooner or later. To my surprise a new tree showed up sometime before thanksgiving. Thanks Balsam Hill. Overall I’m happy. Two caveats: please, please. Please! Put a friggin video on your CS site on how to put the lithium battery in the remote! Two, I noticed one branch on the top portion is not attached to the stem. Really love the tree but quality control??”

Helpful Report

Posted 3 years ago

Balsam Hill is rated 1.3 based on 450 reviews