The scoop on 'Royal Dutch'

I have ordered from this company several times in the last few years. I have about half of the plants I order die, but I still say my experiences with them are positive. They are true to their word, just sent the packing label with a letter and they replace your items. It is a pain to have to do so much work for plants that you'll have to re-start, but at least with me they honored their guarantee without any sort of grumbling. Of course I never spoke to anyone on the phone, I just corrosponded by mail. I still plan on ordering from them in the future because you just can't beat their prices!

As a professional horticulturist and having ordered garden plants from many different companies, including from Holland exporters (Dutch) the products that I recieved are the smallest, poor condition items that I have ever recieved. In addition, plant were broken, there were items not recieved and my expection are that a majority will never survive planting, no matter what I do. Having spend 30 years as a college professor in horticulture, I am totally surprised that this company is in business. If I were anyone receving their merchandise I would immediately request a refund, rather than waiting and getting a credit to which you will never use.
Hopefully, I reveive a positive response to not only the posting but my request for replacement of the items that were damaged and not shipped. If not, the entire order will be sent back for a refund.

DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!!!
How I wish I had seen this as well before placing an order with them. After weeks of trying to get some data - tracking information - anything at all... I am still getting run around and no plants - now they tell me they are "done shipping" for the season and I might get my plants next year!!! I just filed a complaint with the BBB - I felt I had to - even if I never get a resolution I am happy with, other consumers need to be protected from such horrible business practices and theft.

I ordered items on 9-2-07 - the company charged my card and never delivered anything except one item. It has been 2 months and I still have no tracking information or plants and it is now past planting season. I want refund and they are telling me they will ship my items in 2008 which is unacceptable. Items were not received and I want my funds returned. I am filing with my credit card company as well but this appears to be a regular method of "doing business" for this company and I would be errant to let it go unaddressed and allow them to victimize other consumers. Total Charge $55.58

I placed an order with Royal Dutch in August of 2006 to the tune of around $45.00. Well, come spring 3/4 of the mdse did not grow. I contacted the company and sent them my shipping label ~~ thank GOD I made a copy of the shipping label. I never did receive the mdse to replace the things that did not grow. After making another long distance phone call ~~ Now I find they have issued a credit. There is no way that I can get my money returned. I could not agree more with the posts that I have seen about customer service. Before I had placed the order ~~ I wish I had read the comments that other people had written.
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Please Do Not Purchase Anything From This Company

The following is what I wrote to this company dated April 15, 2006

AS PER THE SHIPPING LABEL, (attached) I ORDERED 20 PINK GIANT DAFFODILS #01295 YOU SENT REGULAR YELLOW AND WHITE DAFFODILS. (See pictures of what you actually sent on the other side of this letter) THIS IS VERY FUSTRATING AS I PLANTED THESE WHEN RECEIVED IN THE FALL IN 2005, I ANXIOUSLY WAITED UNTIL THIS SPRING TO SEE THE DAFFODILS I ORDERED, AND WHAT DO I GET? A VERY BIG DISAPPOINTMENT. WILL YOU PLEASE SEND THE DAFFODILS I ORDERED? (PINK GIANT DAFFODILS) OR RETURN MY MONEY. I’LL JUST HAVE TO KEEP MY FINGERS CROSSED AND WAIT UNTIL NEXT YEAR AND JUST MAYBE YOU WILL SEND WHAT I ORDERED.
Sincerely, DISAPPOINTED

Well, I followed there procedures, sent the label and pictures as noted and in return, they sent this card stating they well send a replacement during the proper time period sometime in early fall 2006. I thought, "OK, that's find, I'll wait " Sure enough my replacement finally came in. While hurriedly planting the bulbs, I was so excited thinking I'm really going to have some beautiful Giant Pink Daffodils in my front yard come next spring. So I waited and waited all through this horrible winter until Spring finally came. (bout time!)

Wellllllll!! that's right! you guessed it! The same old yellow and white daffodils! That replacement this so-called company sent the fall of 2006 Ladies and Gentleman, two years I have waited for the right product from this company and they simply can't get it right! This is now early Spring 2007 I'll send there label back along with a nasty letter in which I hate doing this necessary evil but what else is there to do? Now I'll have to wait another year THIS IS CRAZY! Can't this company see the importance of QUAILTY ASSURANCE? Sincerely, I hope this helps somebody. don't be fooled by there beautiful annual sales brochures or online advertisements. This Company has serious issues and I would not recommend anyone purchasing anything from this Company
Sincerely Disappointed AGAIN,

We think this customer may have confused our company with a different one. The item # he lists above is not our item # for pink daffodils or any other item that we carry. In addition, we are not aware of any complaints regarding the pink daffodils being the wrong color. We did plant a large selection of the pink daffodil mixture ourselves last year and they made a beautiful display this spring.

DO NOT ORDER anything from this company!!! Rude customer service, given the run-around, my order took 3 months to recieve. After the 1st order was "lost" (after I had to wait a rediculous amount of time to even claim that something was wrong with my order and "call back then") they finally sent out a new batch of plants that arrived a month later. Needless to say, everything was dead. Due to such punk customer service, I gave up and took the loss.

I purchased plants from Royal Dutch last Spring. I had a very Horrible experience in the fact that I had a very disappointing experience with them. My climbing 9 climbing rose bushes were a disapppoint. Only 4 of 9 grew. I only got 1 rose out of the bunch. I asked for and was given a merchandise credit. You have to send them the original shipping label and send a letter with it to ge t proper credit.
I ordered all my Tulip bulbs for next year and, lo and behold, they sent some really nice bulbs!! I also ordered their Hosta Garden and they look okay. I will update this posting next spring. Even though Customer Service is not that BRIGHT (MORE TRAINING NEEDED), at least, with a LOT of nagging and demanding, this company does come through. We'll see next spring.

I ordered 24 Sand Cherry Hedge plants and 24 periwinkle plants, six weeks later I received the order, the plants were smaller than advertised and dead looking. I was optimistic, so I plant them. 20 of the Sand Cherry plants are dead and 21 of the Periwinkles are dead. I contacted Royal Dutch and was told that I would have to return the shipping label and then it would take 6 weeks to process my claim and another 6 weeks before shipping. I asked them why they needed my shipping label, they generated it so they must have of copy of it. To make a long story short, after a whole lot of discussion, I was constantly reminded of their policies.
This company is an affiliate of the House of Wesley and they do business under numerous names (I now understand why)
I registered a complaint with the Bloomington, IL BBB, they were very familiar with them. I also called my credit card issuer and disputed the charge . The charge has been credited.
My advice, be tenacious, don't accept no for an answer. They obviously knew they were wrong since they didn't dispute the chargeback. They are dealing in numbers, but they dealt with the wrong this time
Regards,
[e-mail:billfunk35@yahoo.com]

Our guarantee clearly states that for a replacement the original shipping label simply needs to be returned to us along with a note explaining how many of each item died within one year of receipt for a free replacement on our merchandise. This policy was clearly explained to the customer and he acknowledged that while he was in possession of the labels, he refused to comply. The customer did contact the BBB regarding the situation. When we explained our position to them they responsed that we "had made a reasonable effort in an attempt to resolve this issue; therefore we are closing the case at this time." In addition, we did dispute the chargeback and it was reversed.

My expereince with Royal Dutch was horrible at best. I ordered 71.06 worth of plants. When they did not arrive after 4 weeks I began calling their very rude customer service associates who are not trained properly. I got the run around and they waved their gaurentee all over the place but their gurantee isn't worth the paper it's printed on. My plants finally arrived DEAD or mushy (bulbs). I called yet again and was given the "dormant" line and how I should give it a try and plant them but save that packing label! I called again when nothing came up and was told wait some more they may need more time. I then found this website and IMMEDIATELY called my credit card company who dishonored their charge. I gave them this website as proof of this compnaies dishonest business practices and I am pleased I got my money back but not after spending tons on ld phonecalls to this AWFUL company. STAY AWAY. I've never had a company be so slimey before and I think it is deplorable they way they treat their customer's. If the planting season has passed, how is replacement plants going to help and shipping them by mail is STUPID! ONe of the rude cs people told me point blank what do you expect we're a discount bulb company! YOu get what you pay for which isn't much. Well said, and they can't pay well either as management probably is making all the money us poor smucks give them! PLEASE, PLEASE stay away.

This customer placed her order 3/2/06. The majority of her order shipped 3/14. Two tender plants were shipped in April when the weather for delivery transit was safe for them. The package sent to her on 3/14 was sent through APX, the largest mail consolidator in the U.S. at the time and more than twice as large as its next closest competitor. We had used APX for 2 years (after it purchased the company we were formerly using) without incident. We would venture to say that every mail order company of any size uses a mail consolidator. Unfortunately without warning, APX contacted us on 3/15 saying that they were filing for bankruptcy and would no longer accept packages. As you can imagine, this left us (as well as many other mail order companies) in a scramble for a new shipping company that could handle our number of packages. While we had initially been assured that all of our packages that APX had taken in their last few days of regular operation would be handled normally, it became apparent weeks later that delivery of these packages had been significantly delayed.

We are sorry that the customer chose not utilize our guarantee. It certainly would have been fine to plant the items later in the season. We would also like to say that we do consider ourselves to be a discount bulb company--passing along product at money-saving prices to our customer. Despite the low prices, all of our product is guaranteed.

Well I'm putting a neutral at this time because, after spending over 300 on plants and bulbs the majority of them came a mess and I still planted them, no survivors. And several of them that appeared they were going to survive (one peony tree had a teeny green leaf on the stem after a year), have since died since I returned the shipping labels. Since it was such a large order I started checking around and found this site and I've just contacted them via email from this site and sincerely hope that I don't experience what a lot of others have. Should I receive my replacement plants I will definitely be saving the dead/dying ones for refund. This was my first order with this company, hope it's not my last!!

This has to be the worst company I have ever dealt with.

My plants were 4 weeks late - and arrived brown and dead.

The company customer service is hostile at best and they wanted me to wait 6 weeks or to send everything back at my expense.

They are scammers and porr business people.
I will never spend another cent there again - but they do not seem to care that they have lost a potential customer, not at all.

My advice is to stay away from this company.

Our guarantee is clearly stated in all of our catalogs and on our website:

If any item you purchased from us does not live, for a FREE REPLACEMENT just RETURN THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL along with your written request within 1 year of receipt. Replacement guarantee is VOID unless the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL is returned. For a REFUND of the purchase price, RETURN THE ITEM AND THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL, with correct postage affixed, within 14 days of receipt.

We will be happy to make an adjustment on the customer's order under our guarantee.

No response to a missing order of mine. Placed order on 4/27/06. Cleared my bank on 5/3/06 and they have apparently "lost the order".

I won't be a return customer!!

A d-mail was sent to this customer requesting information regarding the "missing order." The customer replied with the name and address the order was shipping to and the items that were ordered. We responded that we had no record of the order, nor do we carry the items that were ordered. We have not yet received a response from the cusotmer and believe the order was placed with a different company.

Last fall, ignoring the warnings here, I ordered, planted and mulched 20 daylilies. While the plants seemed in poor condition, I assumed it was the dormant state. However, not one of them survived the relatively mild winter. When I contacted the company, they did offer to send replacements, but I did not want to plant another 20 daylilies! That was the last I heard from them.

We are sorry that the customer does not want us to send a replacement to her as per our guarantee. We could also send a different item of her choosing for the credit of the daylily if she wishes.

i ordered 18 robinhood roses 50 lillies hybrid willows and the astilbe sampler not only were they a great deal money wise but they were huge the astilbes were large healthy root systems the roses all have survived and are doing well thw willows wow are the best everything they said they are and more I'll definitely buy again. this is my fourth order from these people then I found this site. cannot be the same people i have had great luck everytime my yard looks fab!!!

This is an email sent to Royal Dutch 4/26/06. I copied the Mailorder Gardening Association (they are members) and the BBB of Central Illinois (bbb@heart.net).

In the spring of 2005, well within the 1 year warranty period, we returned the original label for replacement of the stock, all of which was of inferior quality. First we got a phone call from your customer service department. They asked my wife what had died, and she said "all of it." Apparently the woman didn't believe her, because next the label was returned to us with a note asking what had died, instructing us to specify and return the shipping label--again. By this time, the warranty period had expired, but I assumed you had kept records of when the label was originally submitted. So after the holidays, on January 8, 2006, I sent the label back with a note telling exactly what had died, and after 3 months passed with no word from you, I emailed customer service on April 20th and got the reply below. (saying the guarantee expired in 8/05)

You obviously have lost the shipping label and any record of when it was originally returned. All this seems like stalling tactics designed to make the warranty period expire, which it now has. You basically have taken our $59.09, sent us unhealthy plants, then refused to honor your warranty. What kind of business are you running? By the way, have you seen the customer comments at Davesgarden.com? Your company has developed quite a bad reputation.

This customer's order was originally placed 7/8/04 and shipped in August of 2004. The warranty extended to August 2005. In July of 2005, the customer wrote to us requesting replacements, but did not specify what needed to be replaced. We wrote back to the customer in July 2005 for further clarification. We never phoned his household as he states. In January 2006, six months later, the customer responded. If the customer had responded within a reasonable length of time, even a couple of months, the fact that the warranty had expired in between would not have been an issue. However, the warranty cannot be extended indefinitely.

We do stand behind our printed guarantee. This guarantee is printed in all of our advertisements as well as posted on the home page of our website. One year is more than enough time to know if items will survive transplanting.

We monitor Garden Watchdog in an attempt to service customers who might have complaints we can help resolve. We are certainly are not concerned that the customer contacted the BBB and look forward to the chance to explain our position to them.

I received supposedly live plants that had absolutely no packaging; they were placed loose in an oversized shiping container with no protection whatsoever (e.g. no pots, no plastic bags, no packing/stuffing, etc.). Needless to say, the plants were dried out and broken beyond recognition when they finally arrived (did I mention my order was shipped well after the promised date?). I called customer sdervice immediately and was reminded that the return policy required that I ship the defective order back. I argued that it was stupid to make me pay shipping when it was their poor processes that caused the problem in the first place. The customer service rep agreed and told me to send a letter describing the incident (and include the shipping labels) and that they would replace the plants. Imagine my surprise when I received a credit off my next order for the value of the plants minus shipping! The company's letter derided me for not sending the plants back in in conflict with what I was told to do by their customer service. I called customer service several times but the lack of responsiveness was overwhelming.

My order included all manner of plants, bulbs, etc. I would describe the entire order as worthless, undersized, unhealthy, poorly packaged junk. I feel I was screwed; I doubt I will even bother to utilize my credit as the trouble is just not worth it. My advice? Stay away and make your orders from companies that are proven to provide quality for your $$$, e.g. Wild Seed Farms, Oakes Daylilies, etc.

A D-mail was sent to this customer via Garden Watchdog on 2/14, but the customer has not responded to date. Unfortunately when dealing with perishable items and shipping, problems can happen. This is however covered by our guarantee. For a refund of the plants, the customer would have needed to return the plants as is explained in our guarantee, but the voucher was for the full amount of the items ordered and may be used to purchase ANY item we carry. Shipping, packing and processing will not be charged on the replacement order when the voucher is used. (This is also explained on the voucher itself.) We hope the customer will use the voucher and receive the free replacements they are entitled to under our guarantee.

I wish I'd found this resource earlier. I got burned by Royal Dutch too.

What started as a positive experience with Royal Dutch/Burgess has ended up as an overwhelmingly negative experience.

Two years ago (2004) I placed an order for 20 Robin Hood Roses with them. I received what I ordered and all was well.

Last Spring (2005) I placed a larger order for Robin Hood Roses, et al, with them. Upon receipt, I promptly planted them according to instructions using good-quality commercial topsoil and manure/mulch.

Imagine my surprise when the flowers I planted last year (the half that lived) began blooming as an entirely different rose than I had ordered three months earlier! Three days’ worth of work, $15 dollars of soil and amendments, and an entire growing season wasted! I was not a happy camper. And of the 50 roses I ordered, only 3 survived the summer. And, again, they were the wrong kind.

When I called the company to report this error in filling my order, I was told that, as I no longer have the shipping label (and what rational person would 3 months after receipt?), that I had to obtain a copy of the credit card invoice to send to them (a 6-week process to get this from the CC company). Why they required this, I don’t know, as they clearly had much more information about this sale than the CC company did; the Royal Dutch telephone salesman was able, in precise detail, to recite my order back to me. I sent a copy of the invoice, samples of the blooms of the wrong flowers they sent (their requirement), and a letter detailing all of this to them last July (2005).

When I never received replacement flowers last year, I called and talked with a customer service rep. She claimed that they had never received my letter and flower samples, and that I would have to repeat the whole process all over again. (When was the last time you had a postal letter fail to arrive? It happens, but only rarely.)

Therefore, I sent the information again in Jan 2006. This time, I sent the information by certified letter so I had proof of delivery. So far, I've had absolutely no response.

I will never conduct business with this company, or it's affiliates, again.

I'd rather pay more for fewer plants and have something live (and good customer service), than pay less, have nothing live, and receive lousy service in the bargain.

An e-mail was sent to "WhiteSpruce" on 2/9/06, but we have not yet received a response. The posting indicates that the customer complied with our guarantee by returning the original shipping label. Therefore, we are assuming that a replacement has already been processed for Spring 2006 shipment, but are unable to verify since "WhiteSpruce" has not yet responded to our inquiries.

I ordered several items from Royal Dutch. They arrived way before they were expected, but I thought that was because I had ordered a Butterfly bush that needed to get going before the weather got cold. The product I received was dead looking and squishy, BUT I thought I could revive it. NO WAY.
The christmas rose looked like it might make it so I planted it in the perfect spot, only to see NOTHING after 4 weeks. I didn't expect to see much from the Clematis but I fear all is in vain.

When I opened the package, a terrible smell came out. The bulbs were all rotten! When I attempted to claim a refund, I got a spectacular run-around. Finally I gave up.

I ordered some bulbs and a couple plants from them this spring before I discovered this website--needless to say, I had the same experience many others have had as well. None of the bulbs grew, and although one of the plants was still alive when it arrived it didn't survive very long. I didn't bother contacting them to try and fix the situation because I had seen the comments here and figured it wasn't worth it.

Unfortunately, I came across this forum much, much too late. I too ordered "plants" from Royal Dutch. Well over half of the "dormant" plants did not survive. Many others are still struggling 5 months later. I did not try to request a replacement as the bareroot planting season in my area has long since past. It is much too hot now to try to plant anything bareroot. I spent over $200 on my order and patted myself on the back for getting such a good deal as I am trying to landscape a rather large area. So much for cutting costs! I still had to go out and buy replacement plants for the ones that didn't make it and I am now redesigning my landscape on the fly as the local nurseries don't have what I originally planned on using from Royal Dutch. Be assured I won't order from them again. If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is!

I've only ordered from them once, but the bulbs I received were immaculate and are blooming magnificently. I ordered tiger lilies, which came as beautiful, huge, firm bulbs and callas which again, were beautifully sized and firm. I appear to be the exception rather than the rule, but I do have to admit I'd be tempted to give them another try...Especially since what they sent me are doing so well.

In 2004 I ordered a daylily assortment, and when the bulbs arrived, almost all were obviously rotting -- mushy and falling apart. Sure enough, none of them grew. I sent my shipping label, plus a letter, to Royal Dutch and in a few weeks received a full replacement. This time the bulbs were firm and appeared viable. Most of these did grow. While I must say that Royal Dutch honored their guarantee, they should never have shipped the original poor quality stock in the first place. I do not intend to purchase from them again.

Of course I didn’t listen to the warnings on here. I went ahead and ordered the daylilies because of the cheap prices. Most of my order looked OK except for 2 items that looked dead upon arrival. They were shriveled up in their packages. Why in the world would they send out something that looked dead for awhile. (They probably have packers that couldn't care less if something is dead or alive.)

I contacted them and I was pissed off. Of course they said replacements would be sent. I sent back the packing slip and a letter about the replacements and asked that they would confirm via email or phone. That was on April 6 and now it is May 6 and I have yet to hear anything from them.

For the prices, I did not expect huge plants, but I did expect them to be alive when they get here.

Probably will not order from them again.
Their customer service sucks and they don't seem to care so why should I do business with them.

I orderred Sedums and hybrid poplar. The bareroot Sedums were in mediocre to poor shape; time will tell if they grow. 75% of the poplars appeared to be in good condition (and I delayed planting longer than I should have), and are currently sending out nice shoots. 25% of the trees were either broken, or lacked roots, or looked obviously dead.

Cheap prices, poor packaging. I'm happy enough with the trees to give them a try once again.

While I'm glad for those who have had a positive experience with these companies, I have to say that my experience with the Plantron empire was horrible. I work in Bloomington, and one of my students worked in the fields for this greenhouse and was full of admiration for how knowledgeable her bosses were--so, despite all of the negative comments about this company, I drove on over, hoping that maybe the products and service would be better for a local who visited in person. Sadly, that was not the case. The service was rude and unhelpful, not one thing I purchased actually grew, and when I got home I discovered that they had not included any of the "free bulbs and plants" that were supposed to be included with every purchase (despite the fact that I reminded the salesman at least three times).

I didn't try to get get a refund, since I kind of felt like I knew what I was getting into before I bought anything from them, and I didn't spend enough there for it to be worth the hassle. But if it makes anyone feel better, I sneer in Royal Dutch Garden's general direction whenever I drive by.

For those who have found this website AFTER placing an order, I must make you feel better in noting that I have had 3 great experiences ordering first from four seasons, then direct gardening and finally royal dutch. Infact, I lost my magazine and could not remember the website so I typed in Royal Dutch and this complaint site popped up first. I feel aweful for everyone that had a bad experience and wish you the best of luck in fixing your order, but I must point out to those who are waiting on their order. The assortment and pricing is unbeatable. When people are content or happy with a product or service they don't normally seek out ways to give the company free marketing. It is only when one is very disappointed that you vent to everyone that will listen. Thus perhaps there are many people like myself that have only good things to say about their Royal Dutch experience. Best of luck...

I am feeling very fortunate as I purchased plants from this company prior to reading these reviews...I ordered a 24 pack of golden sedum, a silver leaf vine, a hardy fuschia bush, and a 3 pack of "walk on me" thyme.. The plants did in fact look very sad in their "dormant" state upon arrival however, after just three days in the ground at least 20 of the 24 sedum plugs have rosettes and the vine also had 5 new leaves (both arived with little to no green and the vine was yellowing) My vine is now twice the starting size and it's just been two weeks in the ground.. My fushcia has many new buds emerging (and it appeared to be a stick). Sadly the only plants that haven't shown any signs of life are my thyme ground cover... All in all I'm pleased. For the overall cost this has been a success for me although the investment was minimal. I will repeat that these plants all looked to be dead upon arrival and this in itself wasn't encouraging and they are small but once again -for the $...and the fact that they truely are alive...I am satisfied.

If it sounds too good to be true; it usually is!! I was also swayed by the great prices. I placed an order on 2/21/05. I have emailed with no reply. Right now I would be happy with a response, even better a refund! (order # 31402938)

The Garden Watchdog is such a great resource, I should have checked here first.

I was very disappointed to see the flimsy packaging of my rather large fragile purchase (the rock bottom prices were enticing). I feared opening a bunch of crushed dead looking specimens, but things actually looked like they were in decent shape ("dormant", but the lavendar had some healthy sprouts). Sadly, I found this complaint page after receiving the order.

I can only hope that the company has taken customer complaints to heart and improved their offerings -- even if only as a result of legal force. I will hope for the best, but will bookmark this site and save the follow up contacts in my address book.

It's difficult to imagine how they make their money to stay in business unless their slim profit margin hinges such a large volume after settling complaints.

I had ordered from this company before I found your website, so I am petrified of what I will find when (and if) the order arrives. I'm going to try to cancel it.

I was wondering, though, about something I saw in the "thread" of conversation about this company. How can you know what a company's affiliations are? How can you know if a company keeps changing its "identity" to avoid people knowing who they are? How can you know what all the Richard Owens companies are, for instance?

I'm curious because I want to track down the affiliations of another company and I would like to know how to do it.

Thank you.

I received a catalog from Burgess/Royal Dutch of Bloomington, Illinois, claiming such great prices and quality. I purchased $105.15 of Siberian Elms, and sent my order form by mail back in December 2004. Finally, I received a charge on my credit card 012605 for the full amount, but no plants or mail received from the company, so I emailed them. I received an email back asking for my name and address so they could access my account. I replied back by email, with the information. No resonse has been received yet. I sent off another email today with the same response attached as before, and will wait and see. I advised them I will dispute this if I do not hear from them. (Boy, am I'm sorry I didn't find your site sooner!) I intend to dispute the charge as soon as my credit card bill comes in the mail, if my plants are not here in good condition. What I see is that I have 60 days to dispute with the credit card company once the charge shows. If I wait on Royal Dutch to play their back/forth games, the 60 day deadline may pass me by. I will dispute and cancel the dispute when and if I receive my plants. I don't think I would use this company again, due to the comments I read about it.

I ordered about $70 of assorted bulbs on July 1. I recieved them in a green plaastic bag, when the bag was open I was hit by a stench similar to rotted potatos.
I was told to send te original shipping label back and the bulbs would be replaced. I also sent an extra $9 for UPS shipping. I recieved the bulbs yesterday, when I opened them I recieved that familiar stench and sure enough most the bulbs had turned to a slime consistancy.
I called and asked for a reimbursement, to which I was told they couldnt do. I now have filed a dispute of payment with my credit card. If I were to follow the same directions again, by the time I got the bulbs,if they werent rotted, it would be too late to plant.
Within a 1 block radius of my house I've run into 2 other people that have had similar experience.
The customer service reps are rude and short, and leave you with no alternative but to keep sending shipping labels. Now they have my original (I took a copy) so if something else dosent come up Im just screwed.
STAY AWAY FROM THIS COMPANY!

I should have known better.... I ordered 18 robin hood roses from this company (bare root) in mid-July. They insisted that even though it was mid summer, I'd receive healthy dormant plants, and I'd have no problem with planting and with the results. I received 18 DEAD- I mean falling apart, stinking, DRIED OUT plants. My options? Repackage this mess and send it back (at MY cost) or plant them (yeah sure) and let them know how they do after 6 weeks. I guess I'll "plant them" and call them after 6 weeks. I'll report the results in 6 weeks.

Ordered nice looking creepers and moss. They arrived 6 weeks later (!) and dead. I called the company and was told they were "dormant" and I should plant them and wait 6 weeks for them to sprout up. I did that, using standard gardening practices for those plants. Two tried hard to make themselves live, but were not successful. I lost $47. When I called the company today, they told me their policy was that I could have replacement plants. I explained that it is too late and would like a refund. No-go. They said I can send in the labels for replacements (I was told this at least 15 times, in very pleasant tones.) I called Visa and was given my money back. A happy ending to a sad story. I'd never use Royal Dutch Gardens for anything ever again.

w0w- sure wish I'd seen this earlier- but i was one of the lucky ones- my order from Royal Dutch did not ship and did not ship and did not ship and they kept promising so on the 59th day, I filed a complaint with my credit card company and finally got the credit- BUT, stupid me, I'd also placed an order with Direct Gardening which did ship and everything was scuzzy, moldy and/or dead so I sealed everything backup and went down to the post office and mailed it back insured. And they said they didn't get it etc for nearly three months until I finally faxed them a copy of the insurance form from the USPS. I told them if I didn't get a credit in 5 days on my account, they could fight it out with the US government and... the credit was issued

Hi everyone. I guess I am pretty much in the same boat regarding Royal Dutch's bad business practices. I ordered hostas, snow on the mountain, vinca minor, three rose bushes and one climbing rose...the results? Well the vinca minor was nothing more than a mass of black slimy leaves and dead vines, the snow on the mountain was brown and *crackly*, only one rose bush is producing any leaves (Red Treasure), the other two are black and show no green when nicked, the climbing rose (Blaze) is dead as a doornail. This was the first time that I ever ordered from this company and it will be the last. I'm not a rich person, so I put a lot of thought into what I want to order each year- this year has been the pits. Thanks to Royal Dutch. I am sorry that everyone else had losses too. I hope your next ordering experience is much better.

Warm Regards,
elizabeth

I ordered from Royal Dutch twice last year and couldn't be more dissapointed. The shipping was fine and all my plants did arrive.

I ordered three types of tulips, two bushes, a lenten rose, snowdrops, feather hyacinths, and a Pride of Ireland Iris. But out of nine items, only three survived. The bushes looked ill from the start and promptly withered away to nothing despite having good care.

The feather hyacinths and snowdrops never came up, which is funny considering I raise over 300 bulbs and know what I'm doing. I should after a decade of gardening.

The iris rotted, which is also a first. But I'm not surprised as it arived slimy and foul-smelling.

The tulips survived and look healthy, but even there I was let down. The Miranda was shipped as ordered, but my Double Beauty of Apeldoorn are singles. And the Blue Lagoon tulips are fire engine red, with no hint of turning into true blue or even the purpilish blue the catalog showed.

As for the free bulbs I earned, they all either rotted in transit to me, or were empty husks at arrival. I'd love to believe the snowdrops and hyacinths will show up and surprise me, but even if they did, I'd still avoid this company.

So far, my only complaint is that my order arrived too early. I have mailorderd from many different companies and have always been sent the plants at a time when it was safe to plant them. There is still some snow on the ground here and night temperatures remain low. since the plants are packaged in plastic, I felt I had to get them out to prevent rot. I currently have them acclimating in a paper bag in the garage. There was no packing slip or invoice that I could find until I saw a list of contents on the outside of the big mailer bag. There was not specific planting guides or info on returns or warranties.
On the other hand, the bareroot plants look healthy enough and the jury is still out regarding dependability.

Royal Dutch is nothing but a scam. My card was charged in August (for stuff I didn't order) and I'm not sure how this company got my PERSONAL information. I have tried numerous times to tell these dingbats that I didn't order $198.01 worth of merchandise (stuff that looks dead, by the way), and they have refused to respond UNTIL I threated them with legal action. Here is their email to me:

"Our refund guarantee states that the Original shipping label, the items along with a letter requesting a refund need to be returned within 14 days of receipt. You will need to send the Original shipping label (s), the
items along with a letter requesting a refund for these items. Be sure to state in the letter that you did not order this and that someone else used your Debit Card without your knowledge. The shipping charges are
non-refundable, however, you can state in the letter that you are requesting that the shipping charges be refunded as well."

So now I have to spend MY hard-earned money to send back I didn't order to a shady company. BUYER BEWARE!!!!