The scoop on 'Honeycreek Nurseries'

I have had a negative experience with this company as well. I ordered two apricot trees for my mother as a gift that lives in Kentucky, which is very close to the nursery in Illinois so I am not sure why it took about 4-5 weeks to process my order for two trees in March. I emailed inquiring about my order twice. I received finally two responses saying the same thing. My mother did finally receive her order about 6 weeks after I ordered them. They were delivered by DHL to the wrong place even though the correct address was clearly on the package. Both of the trees were approximately 16 inches long including the roots that were shipped bare. My mother said that they look like they might be already dead. She hopes they make it. They were a gift for her so she will do all she can to keep them alive. I am very dissatisfied with this company’s customer service. I contacted them and explained the situation with no satisfaction. So I hope this website can help other stay away from this company so they don’t waist their hard earned money.

Good luck to everyone

Tracie Boyd
Houston, TX

I planted my plants as soon as they arrived and TOSSED out the shipping label with the other dunnage that came with the plants. I ordered 3 white and 3 pink pompas grass, and 6 flame grass. Five of the pompas grass came up. The rest never did. The flame grass arrived in a lot of sawdust or what ever they pack it in and it was so dead it was hard to find a stem. I planted the whole thing. Nothing came up. I wrote the company and got the same response the rest of the poster got. They wanted my name and address. I sent it to them and then they wrote me back with a copy of their policy that I needed my shipping label. I wrote back with the confirmation e-mail and told them it had all the information they needed to replace the 6 plants that were dead to start with. I did not ask for a replacement for the pompas grass that didn't grow. Seems like a scam to me. I will be placing a dispute with the credit card company.

I knew it was too good to be true.

Thankfully, we have DavesGarden.com looking out for us!

The sound you are hearing?

Honeycreek Nursery's catalog fluttering into my trash can!

I made an order to Honeycreek in March of 2007. It is now Sept 2007. I have no plants, no refund, no credit from this low customer-service company. Up until today, I have handled numerous communications with the company via email. I never received promised follow-up action for one email I sent. Finially, I was given the name Susan Phelps in the last email response. I decided to call and was told that Susan Phelps did not take phone calls and was finally given to a superviser named Kevin who was rude, talked over me, made me wrong and shut me down. I could not believe it. I took effort to remain civil to this fellow. Not only am I out $30, I am offended as well. How do these people stay in business?

I, too had trouble with Honeycreek. Same story, no shipping label, no refund or replacement. I wrote letters and e-mails explaining that no other mail order place had these crazy requirements. After many tries, they finally sent me replacements for my plants. They too, have since died. The quality of their plants are horrible. Everyone should know not to do business with this company. I'm accepting the loss and counting it as an experience I will never repeat. I now do very little business with mail order catalogs. The best luck I have had has been with Michigan Bulb. They have been great to work with.

I ordered elephant ears from them because they were cheaper then other companies. You get what you pay for. The
blubs never grew. I wrote them for a replacement. I included a copy of their bill. They sent a letter back saying I needed the original shipping label. They shipped the two very small blubs in a little box with a label on the same box. I threw out the small box. So I lost $25.90. I will never do business with them again.

Honeycreek/Fourseasons/Plantron/Burgess is a sad and shameful example of the gardening industry in this country. If you want to be a REAL service to America's gardeners, take some action to close this scam operation down. Afterall, what good is a toothless watchdog?

I lost $62.50 and my order on April 02, 2007. My order was shipped to another State by DHL and delivered to an address that contained "non-applicable" as a street address. My efforts to trace the package or receive a refund were unsuccessful.

I have had a horrible experience with this company. I wish I had found your website before I placed an order with them! I placed an order way back in April and it still hasn't arrived. Here is my correspondence with their "customer care"

( I had redacted all the company & order info because I posted this to my blog - it's all Honeycreek though)

—–Original Message—–
From: CustomerCare@redacted
Sent: Friday, April 27, 2007 11:39 AM
To: me
Subject: Order #3218xxxx
Thank you for shopping at redacted!

This email confirms receipt of your order request 3218xxxx. A summary appears below. We suggest you save this email for any future inquiries.

To assist us in providing you with the best customer service, please include your order number on all correspondence.
———————

From: me
Sent: Sunday, May 20, 2007 11:23 PM
To: CustomerCare@redacted
Subject: RE: reacted Order #3218xxxx

Hello,

I placed this order almost a month ago. My card has been charged, but I haven’t heard anything about the items being shipped. Can you let me know when I can expect them? I am anxious to get them planted.

Thanks!

————

Sent: Monday, May 21, 2007 4:53 PM
To: me
Subject: RE: Order #3218xxxx

Thank you for your email regarding your order. We have checked on your order and found that it is currently in our shipping department and scheduled to ship at any time. Please allow some time for delivery once the order has been shipped.

Also, just as a reminder, be sure to hold onto the original shipping label that will come on the outside of the package for your one year guarantee.

Thank you and Happy Gardening!

Thank you,

Customer Care Department

(I have to applaud this as one of the most meaningless replies to a customer inquiry ever! It contains NO information at all! Just none! Amazing!)

————–

From: me
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 6:26 AM
To: customercare@redacted
Subject: RE: Order #3218xxxx

Thanks for your reply, do you have any more specific information? I am a bit surprised that you charged my card before you shipped my order. Also, if my plants are sitting in your shipping department all this time, I can’t imagine it’s very good for them.

Thanks,

———–

From: Customer Care
Sent: Friday, May 25, 2007 1:31 PM
To: me
Subject: Order #3218xxxx

We do mean that the information for your order is currently in the shipping department. As soon as the plants are prepared the order should ship. Thank you,

Customer Care Department

——-

From: me
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 7:29 AM
To: customercare@
Subject: RE: Order #3218xxxx

Can you please give me a firm shipping date on this order? If not, I would like to cancel it.

Thank you.

—–Original Message—–
From: Customer Care
Sent: Wednesday, May 30, 2007 5:14 PM
To: me
Subject: RE: Order #3218xxxx

We are currently waiting for more plants to arrive from the supplier. Upon receipt, the plants will be prepared and the order should be shipped. We do apologize, but we would not have an exact ship date until the order has been shipped.

Thank you, Customer Care Department

———
At this point I wrote and told them to cancel my order and refund my money. Surprise! Now my order has shipped and they can't cancel it! I called last week to get a tracking number, and the guy on the phone (who seemed to be snickering when I was talking to him) said that they don't use tracking numbers because everything goes out US mail. He said my order shipped on May 30th. (the date on which they told me they were still waiting for more plants to arrive) It's now June 7th. If my plants have been boxed and sitting in post offices and post office delivery jeeps for 7 days, I think they're probably in sad shape right about now. However I am not convinced that they ever shipped. I never heard of a package taking 7 days to get from Illinois to Missouri unless someone is walking it here. I am prepared to do a charge-back on my order with my credit card company, and report them to the BBB. This is ridiculous.

I have now filed complaints with the BBB of central Illinois, the attorney general's office in IL, and contacted a local tv station in Bloomington, IL that handles consumer complaints.

This company is so unethical, so unprofessional that it saddens me that this is taking place in the garden industry and in a town that I have such high regard for. How do these people sleep at night? I've never spoke with more rude, nasty people in my life. Do they understand what customer service means?

This company needs to be fined or go out of business.

Major major scam.

I ordered 3 hibiscus from HoneyCreek Nurseries on May1st, 2006. What I received were 3 dead sticks. Two of them did not even have roots on them. It looked like they had just broke them off a main plant and shipped me a dead stem. I was very disappointed. I will not ever do business again!

A dmail was sent to this customer on 6/24/06, but we have not yet had a response. Our perennial hibiscus are shipped out as dormant root systems. Hibiscus roots do resemble tuber roots and look like pieces of roots. They typically do not have, by nature, the more typically appearance and shape that one might associate with a normal root system like you would find on strawberries, for example. A representive picture and planting instructions would be found in the planting handbook included in the order. We also informed the customer of both our refund and replacement guarantees and hopes he takes advantage of one of these if necessary.

we deal with alot of different nurseries and spend alot of money on our gardens every year. this has been my first time dealing with this company and find their customer service is much to be desired. first of all i Do understand that items will NOT be shipped unitl it is safe to plant, but they say to expect three weeks just to PROCESS and order. this in itself is ridiculous. i also am not satisfied with the fact that there is no where on their site to check on an order status. i had to send them three emails before finding out any information. i finally received an email yesterday stating that a PARTIAL order has been sent, but they DID NOT specify WHAT was shipped. i sure hope that the QUALITY of their items is better than their service or they will definitely be losing a valuable customer in the future.

This customer placed 2 separate orders with our company. The first order was placed on 4/6. The charge card used on this order was declined and therefore the order was canceled. An email was sent to the customer on 4/19 letting him know that the charge card had been declined and the order canceled.

The second order was placed on 4/11 using a different credit card. This order was processed and shipped in 2 packages on 4/22 & 4/26.

When the customer contacted us by email and posted on this site on 4/27, we though he was refering to this second order which was the only order we had on file (the first one having been canceled and deleted and notification already sent to him). It had just recently shipped and information was sent to him both by d-mail and e-mail letting him know this.

When he contacted us later in May, we realized he was refering to the first order, we explained the information above. While we are sorry that the customer's credit card was declined, we unfortunately do not have any control over how his bank processes his account.

I ordered the mixed hibiscus last fall and none of them came back this spring. When I looked on the internet for a phone number or email address to contact them, I was directed to the garden watchdog site. There was an email address for [e-mail:yvette@honeycreeknurseries.com]. I emailed her and within a couple days she had emailed me back and requested my mailing address to reship the hibiscus. They should be coming in a couple weeks. Thank You!

I ordered a bunch of items in the early spring. There were about 10 plants, which were not packaged appropriately. They were in small, flimsy, plastic containers surrounded by small cardboard, and stuffed in a plastic envelope. After going through the mail, when they got here they were all flat. Needless to say, none of those plants survived even after planting and tender care. I bought a bare root Peony tree, and it never rooted, it just rotted. I had a mixture of other bare root plants that have not survived. The only thing growing is my bare root hybrid tea rose, and it is struggling. Honeycreek’s warranty lasts for a year, but after 30 days (not enough time to see if the plant will do something), they will only reimburse you with replacement plants. I do not wish to go through all the work of planting all that again, just to have nothing grow. I never use this company again.

We sent the following D-mail to the customer on 8/22/05 and have yet to hear a response, but hope we will soon.

"Thank you for your recent posting on Garden Watchdog. We do wish that you would consider using our guarantee.

Our guarantee reads as follows:
1. Free Replacement! 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.
2. Money Back! For a refund of the purchase price return the item and the original shipping label, with correct postage affixed, within 14 days of receipt.

If you do not wish to receive replacements of the same plants, you may request a merchandise credit to be used on a future purchase. Or if you know what alternative items you might wish to try, you can just let us know that as well when you send in your label and apply the credit directly yourself.

In other words, you don't have to get replacements of the same exact plants, we can give you equal credit of different plants of your choice!

We hate to hear that you had a problem with any of our plants. And more so, we hate to hear that you won't give us a chance to make good on the transaction!

By and large, the vast majority of orders that we ship out every year arrive in good condition and are successfully transplanted by the customer. We do not feel that your experience is representative of most of our customers and wish that you would give us another chance.

At any rate, we appreciate your comments, and hope that you have a wonderful season of gardening!"

On February 4, 2005 I ordered 27 of the Handful of MIXED Hosta from Honeycreek Nurseries. 11 of them never came up. I sent a detailed letter to Honeycreek on July 16, 2005 asking that my 11 Hosta be replaced. I also included the original shipping label as required by Honeycreek. I also advised that of the 16 that did come up, all 16 were green - NOT MIXED. As of September 14, 2005 I have heard nothing from Honeycreek. I also asked to have the 11 that did not come up replaced with MIXED HOSTA as advertized in your ad placed in the Sunday Parade. After reading Garden Watchdog and other sights that place complaints against your company, it looks as though you have over 50% negative feedback. All I am asking is that you replace my 11 Hosta that did not come up or sent me a letter advising that these 11 would be sent next Spring. It is getting late in the year and these need to be placed in the ground ASAP in order for the roots to establish before winter. At least acknowledge that you are going to do something! Thank you. Sherrie Hanes, 1905 West Adams Street, Herrin, IL 62948

We have contacted the customer to let her know that her replacement request was received and the replacments have been shipped.

Quite simply, we do stand behind our plants and our guarantee. The replacement was shipped on 8/15 in response to her initial letter. We are pleased to hear that she is happy with the replacement hosta received.

I purchased the Giant Mixed Hibiscus from Honeycreek Nurseries and none of them came up. I wrote and asked for a refund but the letter was returned saying, "No such address". I double checked it with the invoice and it was correct. I'll not order from them again. When I deal from now on, I will stay with Michigan Bulb and Breck who have not once refused to refund my money or give me credit.

If the address used was the one listed above, we do not understand why the post office would have returned the letter to the customer. We have emailed the customer and encouraged him to try to send us the request again. Even the good folks at the post office can sometimes make a mistake!

I have ordered the 27 hosta plants offered ...arrived, .7 short in the order and so far 13 dead. I have called the representative, I got her name and extension number....I was told to only tell them what was dead and short in the order...with original packing label...which I will be doing.
I will keep you posted as to the results.
I hope they honor their word....other nurseries have been just dreadful...so I hope they do correct the problem.

Half of the plants arrived dead, and I recieved no planting instructions. I am sending them back in hopes of a refund.

I ordered the mixed hibiscus by mail and within 2 weeks had my bare root plants. The plants are growing and showing new growth. I am very happy with my order and will do business with this company again.

I recently placed a phone order with this company. Although the person I spoke to was courteous - she seemed very confused - prices from internet site did not match her prices. Will let you know regarding quality of plants.