The scoop on 'Gardener's Choice'

Company Profile   Gardener's Choice Mailing Address: P.O. Box 8000 Hartford, Michigan 49057-8000 (United States) Phone: (269) 621-2481 » E-Mail them » Visit their website Recent reviews: Past month Past 6 Months Past 12 Months Positive 1 6 6 Neutral 1 3 3 Negative 6 35 42 This company is affiliated with Lipenwald Inc. This company is affiliated with 3 companies: Spring River Nurseries Inc TomatoGiant.com GardeningTouch.com (Giant Tomatoes) This company offers a variety of plants.

Feedback History and Summary   30 positives 39 neutrals 266 negatives

Comments:

Rating Author Content Negative mellcomm (1 review) On June 22, 2009, mellcomm Porterfield, WI wrote: Below is a copy of the email I sent tonight to GC. These folks should be taken to court for cruelty to plant life. They obviously care less for their plants than they do for the customers. To be fair, I will also post their reply and action to remedy. Seriously, be careful if you order from these folks, their plants are not fit to compost. Steve ========================================== Dear Gardener's Choice: First let me say that I have never seen such poor condition of shipped plants in my life. But after some TLC and patience most of the scrawny tomato specimens survived. The "trees" you sent were not so lucky, I'm sure the spray paint you sprayed on the little twigs for ID did not help them much either. I am very dissatisfied with the condition these plants arrived in, however I can only take issue with the 2 trees that were dead on arrival. The weeping Japanese maple and the golden chain tree are both dead, and they need to be replaced or the money refunded. If you would like them returned or need pictures please let me know. If you decide to replace them, place include a little moisture for their bare little roots so they may live until they get here. Please let me know how to proceed. Thank you, Steve Negative mlsisneros (1 review) On June 12, 2009, mlsisneros Tacoma, WA wrote: I mistakenly duplicated my order by hitting the back button. I called within 5 minutes and was told that nothing could be done until the order was in their system, approximately 24 hours. This was at 6:20 PM. I called at 8:30 the next morning (yesterday) and they said there was nothing could be done because the orders had already shipped. I should receive it in a couple of days. Later I received an aknowledgement email stating that I would receive it in 2-3 weeks. I called again this morning and they said I should receive it in 6-8 weeks. I don't know what to believe. Today I was billed $2.48 on my credit card for keydiscount1.com, never heard of it. It must have been hidden somewhere on their site and I didn't see it. I went to their keydiscount1.com and saw that they are one of those places that offers 50% discounts at different merchants. Not that I signed up for it but their trial membership is $1.48. Apparently this was duplicated too. If I ever do receive the product I am going to refuse delivery and dispute all of the charges. There is no way it should take 6 weeks for delivery. I can only believe that they told me it was already shipped so that they could collect shipping twice and charge me to return it. What a racket. A shipping charge of $13.90 for a 2 pound package is ridiculous to begin with. I should know that when shipping charges are more than the product it's not a good deal. Positive needjacks (2 reviews) On June 10, 2009, needjacks Denver, CO wrote: Ordered 2 empress trees form Gardner's Choice and to my surprise got them pretty quick and even more surprising they were alive and well. I ordered one from summerstone and to date they have sent me a locust Tree and four dead sticks. I am very pleased with my order from garners choice. The lady I talked to on the phone was quite pleasant (unlike the rotten lady I talked to at summerstone) and every thing that she said worked out perfect. Ill order from them again next year and I would have to say it was a pleasure doing business with Gardner's choice after the night mare of dealing with summerstone. That's it Negative broomist (1 review) On June 10, 2009, broomist Orland Park, IL wrote: Cannot even express my rage that this company is allowed to do business. I (thankfully) only ordered three small trees, but they are WEEKS past due now, and every time I call I get a different answer..... their customer service reps are uniformly rude and slow, and they just (flat out) lie in an effort to end the call. When that doesn't work, they just hang up. There is never any "supervisor" one can escalate to, and if you ask to speak to a different department (like shipping or accounting) they will say "they're all gone for the day" (even at 2:30 on a Wednesday... they will tell you there is no more stock on the same day you received an email from them saying they are OVERSTOCKED..... their "shyster-ness" just knows no limits, trust me! On June 10th, 2009, broomist added the following: P.S. EVERYONE who is scammed by this company should at least send an e-mail to the president of the Hartford Chamber of Commerce at: eholland39@hotmail.com and make sure he is aware of what is going on! Negative Goosebumps (1 review) On June 10, 2009, Goosebumps Duvall, WA wrote: I ordered and received a hummingbird vine from Gardener's choice but the item was delivered dead. I have contacted the customer service department twice without a response. This is not an expensive item but I will never do business again with a company that doesn't have time to even answer a simple email! Negative GMurph50 (1 review) On June 10, 2009, GMurph50 Orlando, FL wrote: I like a few other people that fell for these thieves ordered one tomatoe plant that was about $9.99 , and was charged $61.85 , I have went to my bank , and will have to wait for 45 days ,but I guess that is better than nothing. I should have known better. Neutral deadmeatpuppet (1 review) On June 09, 2009, deadmeatpuppet Memphis, TN wrote: my mother and I ordered the giant tree tomato pack ( it said live plants but all we got where peat pots and seeds) . We only wanted to try them out ,so to avoid any stupid website mistakes we ordered over the automated phone service they have. well like a lot of people here , it screwed up , we ended up with over 300 dollars in charges ( we got a lot of pots lol) , just wanted 12 giants and the special ( 12 early tomatoes ) got 48 of each (omg) called them for a refund of the order and they said we would have to what for the order to arrive then call . The order got here in about 2 weeks but then when we tried to call them back we could never get a hold of anyone ( I guess they where busy getting more complaints) . as far as the plants go , I started 12 giants and 12 earlys and all but 1 giant germinated . in fact , in each peat pot ( which seemed to use jiffy seed mix or something close to it ) I had numerous plants come up. its now been 2 1/2 months and my giants are 3-4 foot tall and the earlys are around 3 ' tall . all of them are starting to flower , but at the least gardeners choice needs to fix their ordering service , and the postage was way more than normal , the box my 96 pots came in barely weighed 1.3lbs so why did i get charged 69 dollars for shipping? on the plus side my store bought squash and peppers are already producing , and I have 2 cherry tomato plants already 3' tall that I started from seed at the same time . If I really do get a lot of tomatoes from the giants that might make up for my loses but I would advice most people to do a lot of research before ordering from this company , they do seem to be scamming on their ordering process. Negative FBecht (1 review) On June 07, 2009, FBecht Elmhurst, IL wrote: These guys are scam artists! I didn't place my first online order, so they emailed me with an offer for a $10.00 WalMart card. I bit... Ooops! On the last page I noticed that the shipping charge had more than doubled! Too late, their scammy site does not have a confirm button, when you see the total, you bought the farm! I immediately emailed them that I wanted my order cancelled. Three(!) days later I got a reply saying... Sorry! Anyway, I am disputing it with the CC, and am complaining to the Michigan Attorney General as well. I should have been more wary. Back to my local vendors, and Burpee, etc. No more TV ads... when will I learn? Negative Lucky253 (2 reviews) On June 03, 2009, Lucky253 Asheville, NC wrote: I ordered 3 different kinds of plants from Garderner's Choice. All of them pretty much looked dead on arrival. I planted the vinca several weeks ago and it does not look like more than 3 plants out of 50 might live. The butterfly bushes were just sticks and show no signs of life since planting several weeks ago. Pretty much a waste of money. I did not pursue a refund - too much trouble to deal with for the money. Would not order anything from them ever again. Negative misler (1 review) On June 02, 2009, misler Vienna, VA wrote: I wish that I had researched Gardeners' Choice before I ordered from them, and I have registered as a user here just so I can add my voice to the other negative reviews. AVOID THIS COMPANY AT ALL COSTS! I placed an order on May 10, and my credit card was charged on May 13. When I did not receive anything by May 20, I called customer service and found out that my order would be shipped in another 2-3 weeks. I asked them to cancel my order on the phone with customer service, and via e-mail through their website. Imagine my surprise when the plants arrived today (June 2)! I have never seen a sadder display of vegetation in my life--the six tomato plants were already dead; the "giant" blueberry bush was a 2 inch twig in a ziplock bag with a tablespoon of soil; and the strawberry plants were a tangled mass of roots in a plastic bag. I want my money back but the phone system is down! Negative mcamny (1 review) On May 30, 2009, mcamny West Harrison, NY wrote: I ordered 2 blueberry "plants" from Little Giant Blueberries online through an offer that promised a third plant free for a total of $10 plus $8.90 postage and handling For the next two weeks, I kept finding missed calls on my cell phone (which I gave as a contact #) from an out of state number that I didn't recognize. When I finally was able to answer one of the calls, it was a representative calling to confirm my order. After confirming, the rep fell into this monotone indecipherable tone. I told her I couldn't understand what she was saying. She replied that she was explaining special offers to which I was entitled. I told her that I didn't want to join anything that required cancellation or a monthly payment, and she answered that she was just describing offers I would receive with delivery. A few days later, before I received my order, my credit card was charged $2.48 for a "shopping club" - I disputed the charge. The next day I received mail from the shopping club and a dining club thanking me for my membership. I called the customer service #, and they replayed the tape of my call where you hear me declining any offers. The rep credited my account the other $2.48 that I was charged. When my blueberry plants arrived, they were three twigs (2-3 inches in height with one 1/4" sprout of leaves each) in a small clump of dirt in a plastic baggie in a cardboard box that showed postage costing 79 cents. I emailed the company to ask where my other two "plants" were and also complained about my other experience. They said they would send two more plants to me, which I have yet to receive. To add insult to injury, I realized when I planted my original "plant," it was actually three separate twigs - so apparently those were my three plants. Hardly worth $18.90! And now mysterious charges have appeared on my phone bill for some monthly telecharge fee which I've no doubt is somehow related to this whole mess. Anyone considering ordering from this company should be very, very careful. I've never had any problems like the ones I've encountered related to this order. Negative hate2wait (1 review) On May 28, 2009, hate2wait Iona, ID wrote: I too ordered from Gardener's choice. I ordered the Tomatoe Tree on line. The site looks to be a quality site. I went to check out and a offer popped up asking if I wanted a particular plant in addition to my order. I pressed no, and another one popped up. "No", and still another, and so-on. After no, no, no, no, a pop up came on that said free seeds. Just click and you will receive them with your order. Ok ok, just get me to check out. What do you know? It was time to check out, however, no total. I continued to check out, and after I entered my creadit card number, and clicked continue, the sale came up with "$15.00 shipping for the tomatoe tree, and $15.00 S&H for the "free" seeds. $40.00 for a lousy tomatoe tree. I immediately called the so-called customer service line, and spent 25 minutes on hold, and never spoke to anyone. I lost my pacience, and emailed them stating to cancel my order. Today I received a box in the mail from them. All seeds. No plants. The web page specifically says plants will be shipped when seasonally appropriate. News flash! Seeds don't have to be shipped when seasonally appropriate. Lies, lies, lies. I called my creadit card company and challanged the charge. They are going to pull the payment back. I have returned the shipment registered mail so I have documentation that htey have received them. Negative txq45 (1 review) On May 27, 2009, txq45 Plano, TX wrote: Orderd Tomatoe tree ,, received them in about two weeks... Just like the other comments poorly wraped ,, but they did come up.. and haven't grown since the first week..over a month now.. Ordered hybrid grass a month ago and have not received them nor have I received any notice as to why they have not sent them Negative JennaM4 (1 review) On May 25, 2009, JennaM4 Troy, NY wrote: I ordered 10 Royal Paulownia trees. They are supposed to grow so fast you need a yardstick to measure it's growth in feet from week to week. What a joke! Plants arrived shrink wrapped and dry as a bone. They are supposed to be trees but are a green stem and only 4 to 6 inches high if that. I planted them right away in good soil. Within three days 7 of them turned black and were dead. They don't answer their e-mail and you can't get through to customer service. It's either busy or you just get disconnected when you push the "0" for help. Everyone need to report them the the BBB. They are ripping people off with false claims and not honoring their "guarantee" Buyer BEWARE!!!!! Negative HannahR (1 review) On May 22, 2009, HannahR Brooklyn, NY wrote: Never waste your time with this company. I bought multiple plants to be shipped to my mother for mother's day. The website indicates that plants are shipped in accordance with their correct planting season. As it was a gift, I attempted to contact the company to see when my plants would be shipped so I could let my mother know. After sending MANY emails to their customer service department and getting no response, i was finally able to speak to someone on the phone after calling multiple times. The lady could see my order but could not confirm when it would be sent. She said it 'probably has already been sent' but said they kept no log of these things and refused to let me speak to the shipping department. She then hung up on me and said if my plants do not arrive in a week that they'll refund me my money. This company is clearly a scam. DO NOT BUY FROM THEM! My plants have still not arrived and it has been over 2 months since I made my purchase. This company needs to be reported (as I intend to do) to the BBB and closed down. Negative TiredOfRipOffs (1 review) On May 19, 2009, TiredOfRipOffs Norco, CA wrote: On March 22, 2009 I ordered 36 tomato trees from Gardner's Choice and I got them a couple weeks later...I opened a postal package with the 36 small cardboard containers (I thought I was getting growing trees, and I assumed that because of the high shipping cost), but was I ever wrong! ...The company charged me $25 for shipping and the postage was only $2.50....They were shrink wrapped...I immediately started watering them lightly every day and 7 of them started growing, but soon died, and NONE of the others ever started growing! I have sent emails and called them on the phone numerous times with absolutely NO response! In my opinion, they are a JOKE! They should be put out of business! Negative gardenermike (1 review) On May 18, 2009, gardenermike Dearborn, MI wrote: I placed orders in the past with them and most of the plants were dead on arrival ,never grow, I will never buy plants again from this place. Shame on them, people must go to US Post Office to see if they can file complaint for Mail Fraud. We do receive theirs catalogs by mail and all the product are guarantied by them. Negative sodymare (1 review) On May 16, 2009, sodymare Stephenson, MI wrote: I orderd the giant tomato tree by phone from an AUTOMATED line. It was so confusing, it kept asking over and over things to buy..."special offers" as they put it. I kept pushing the button for no, and it went on and on. When it was done, I never got a amount it would be or a chance to confirm my order etc. So I had no idea what was going to be charged to my checking acct. When my order came just 2 weeks later...I had 15 giant trees and 15 earl girl tomatoe plants! All it was were the little peat pots with the dirt falling out and who know how many seeds!For what I thought I ordered I figured about $40......My bank called to inform me I was overdrawn...I knew exactly why....this company charged me $79.95! Which caused me a $45 overdraft fee. So technically it has cost me $125 for what I thought was 2 orders. The instruction for planting we very poor...got no invoice to see how they came up with their price...not even a phone number. All I can say is I better have tomatoes coming out my ears! Will never do business with them agai or an automated system. Negative libmeister53 (1 review) On May 14, 2009, libmeister53 Ponca City, OK wrote: My plants arrived dead and dying. I emailed the company three times over a period of several weeks and got no response whatsoever. Today I filed a complaint with The Better Business Bureau. The BBB shows 708 complaints but still gives them an A+ rating because they DO respond to the Better Business Bureau. So folks, if you got ripped off like I did, complain to the BBB and you will most likely be offered some time of resolution. Negative Jenny72 (1 review) On May 13, 2009, Jenny72 Greenwood, IN wrote: I bought 4 lemon grass plants and 1 empress tree (which don't look like a tree looks like a weed) and ALL 4 were dead when they arrived in my mailbox They were in a box with baggies on them and looked pathetic for what I paid!!! I will NEVER shop with Gardner's Choice again!!! Negative m60webb (1 review) On May 09, 2009, m60webb Mount Clare, WV wrote: To begin with, I only ordered one set of tomato plants from an automated system and the company charged my Bank Account $61.85. I called and complained and the company told me that the order came through as 3 sets and that they had already been shipped. Ten days later the order came in my mail. There was 5 sets of tomatoes and they were only seeds in planter cups. For that price they should have been plants ready for the garden. I am disappointed with your advertising and will be surprised if I ever have a tomato. Negative JOHN_M (1 review) On May 07, 2009, JOHN_M Claymont, DE wrote: I was a fool fell for it back to back. Ordered the tomato trees and big earlys without realizing it was for the nursiery seed packs waste of over $60.00 for 30 half empty planters as half the dirt was in the bottom of the packageing. Poor packaging there fault not reading fine print my fault. Got there catalog with the wasted dirt and made sure i read live plants before ordering again for $115.00 for plants and tree's. Got the e mail with tracking # and 2 days later ups picked up the packages from gardeners choice. Tracked the packages and on friday found out they were only 50 miles from me but the delivery day would be the following Wedensday. So I called ups and they said they were shipped standard ground plus 2 days something I have never even heard of and I ship with ups eberyday for 20 years. But the plants and trees did arrive on Wedensday and the plants were all yellow and slimmy and wilted in there box, the tree's were all dried out roots and all in there box. plants egg tree best looking out of the bunch, big jim peppers fair for a week in a box, mammoth onions wilted and slimmy, zooming zucchini half were ok, watermellon bush 1 nice plant out of 6, 15 plant garden cabbage,broccoli,cauliflower they sent 3 extra plants but all were yellow and nasty. tri star strawberries very small but should make it next year if not this year. Box of tree's hotel giant blueberries 2 inch twigs, little giant blueberry again 2inch twig. Strawberry tree looks like a dead twig with no root system, cherry hedge row 2 12 inch twigs and 1 4 inch broken twig, black berries twigs again. grape vines drid out they once had buds but so dry when they arrived dont know if they will come back. Of all the tree's the only thing I have any hope for is the grape vines as they were the only thing that looked like it had buds in the last year everything else looks as they were pulled and packed for last years orders and just held over and shipped as kindling for fire starting this year. I also ordered Blueberries and Raspberries from Gurneys this year, from them got healthy 12 inch plants with leaves and flowers within 2 weeks raspberries with buds and leaves starting already, came packed with moist shrededd news paper to keep the moist for shipping. For now on will stay with gurneys and burpee seeds. Positive skropk1 (1 review) On May 07, 2009, skropk1 Westminster, MD wrote: Everything arrived as expected. Egg tree plant is large and green- strawberries all dry bare root which I expected. Came on time- was notified via email when plants shipped. Only complaint is that the box was not labeled as 'live plants this end up' and the ups guy put it up side down which bent my eggplant-- it didn't break it though and they look fairly healthy- some of the strawberries are even starting to leaf out just out of dormancy! Negative nursette (1 review) On April 30, 2009, nursette Tucson, AZ wrote: I ordered the tomato tree. It finally arrived and it was dead! I emailed the company and never heard back from them. I would never reccommend this company or use them ever again. Thank goodness I only lost around $15. Buyer beware! They are ripping off America! Neutral KMR_Cincy (1 review) On April 28, 2009, KMR_Cincy Cincinnati, OH wrote: I just recieved my plants yesterday - 3 lavendar plants, 3 tomato trees, 2 broccoli plants, 2 cauliflower plants, and 1 indoor strawberry hanging plant. Everything looked nearly dead if not dead except for 1 lavendar plant. I am posting this as neutral for now and give the plants some time survive. they did not look any better this morning, maybe to early to tell. i will comment back if i need to change this to positive or negative. Just like so many others, i saw this AFTER i ordered. what was i thinking, i usually do my research. Negative ifrcurrent (1 review) On April 28, 2009, ifrcurrent Coldspring, TX wrote: I ordered the basic $10 deal and when my credit card statement arrived the amount was $61.85. On a conference call with Gardener's Choice and the credit card dispute department, the gardener's choice rep agreed to cancel all charges if I refused the shipment. I refused the shipment but the post office trail shows no arrival at gardener's choice. I believe there is something dishonest going on. Gardener's choice may have been doing the scanning and discarded the shipment. I have the refusal receipt from the post office. I am complaining to: FTC USPS a US senator I went to high school with...Kay Bailey Hutchison multiple online complaint sites craig's list many many many blogs blogs I am retired and have plenty of time. Online I saw many complaints from people who got fouled up with the telephone order and was billed $60+ instead of $10. I want my $61.85 back! There are several complaints like mine. I wanted the $10 deal and got the price boosted to $61.85 Positive ljn68 (1 review) On April 21, 2009, ljn68 Tracy, CA wrote: I must admit, when I first found this site and read all of the negative comments about Gardener's Choice, I panicked because I had just completed an order with them! I called the customer service number and spoke with, admittedly, a person who clearly did not like their job and surely did not care one way or another if I was worried about my recent order. She was not rude, mind you, just not very helpful. At any rate, I had already made the purchase and really wanted to believe that I would soon have 10' tall tree tomatoes, producing 60 lbs of tomatoes annually. Wouldn't you? To my great pleasure, they were shipped within the week of my order! I was well on my way to tomato nirvana! Okay, it took a couple of weeks to finally receive my "plants". I did not realize that there was a slower method of shipping than USPS First Class but, I suppose I should have assumed the existence of a second and third class though, truly, my mind was overwhelmed at the thought of gargantuan tomato trees, bursting with delicious, sweet, juicy and firm tomatoes! It just never crossed my mind. So, 7-14 business days (seemed like a year!) after shipping, I got my order. I, like many of you leaving negative comments probably, expected to find a crate of spring-loaded little plants that, given only a few moments of sunlight and water, would burst forth in awe-inspiring growth and quickly start dropping me tomatoes! This was not the case my friends. I, instead, found little "nurseryman's pots", packed with soil and seed along with a single page of instructions. Once again, the expectations exceeded reality. Was I mad? No. Even when my wife, skeptical all along about these "wonder" tomato trees, giggled at my completely anti-climactic package (insert joke here), I kept a smile on my face. Why, you ask? Because I got exactly what I had ordered and I got it in exactly the time I was promised. It is true that the video of these products make them seem magical and wonderous but, if you read and look carefully, there is an abundance of fine print. Things like "your tree tomatoes will be shipped in ready-to-plant nurseryman's pots". They, indeed, are in those very pots! The kind of paper-pulp pots that can be planted directly in the earth, without disturbing the young roots. Yes, you have to germinate them first but, if they told you all the bad news in the loud voice that they use for the good aspects, would you still buy them? Next, please note the "please allow 4-6 weeks for delivery". I got my order in far less than 4 weeks, although it seemed like an eternity! Sometimes, an online nursery will hold your shipment until it is optimum planting time in your area, even if you are on the edge of your seat. They are just protecting us from ourselves and ensuring their plants have the best-possible chance at achieving a successful outcome for their customers while, at the same time, reducing the number of returns. Anyway, I am currently germinating my plants. I have 3 of the Giant Tree Tomatoes and two of the Big Early tomato plants ("free if you pay shipping" but really they're obligatory as they do not give you a choice.). I gave one of the Big Early plants to a friend to try. I will follow up on this review as the plants mature but, so far, I have gotten exactly what I was promised. I hope others will be encouraged to give this company another shot, we may all be surprised. And, if I forget to follow up and you are driving in Northern California and happen to glance out the window and swear you see a tomato tree the size of a telephone pole, you know my tomato dreams came true! On June 25th, 2009, ljn68 added the following: Okay, here it is, the end of June and I\'m updating with my progress. I have planted all three of my tree tomatoes. One in a container and two in the garden. I also planted two of the free Big Early tomatoes and both went in the garden. All are growing well. Each plant is about what you would buy at your local nursery in size and health. I am skeptical that they will mature in time but will reserve my judgement for later in the season. One of my Big Earlys died due to my poor planting technique. I am still as pleased as ever with my purchase. I will update.... Positive jborcii (1 review) On April 21, 2009, jborcii Oak Park, CA wrote: Ordered Tomato seeds from Gardeners Choice. Received shipment within 7-10 days. Read instructions. Planted seeds sprouted mutiple healthy plants in each pod within 7-10 days. I see most of the complaints have to do with dead plants and difficulty making contact with the company for refunds of the same. I can't imagine ordering a live plant through the mail - especially vulnerable young plants - sorry folks, not a good idea. Unless you want the thrill of germinating your plants from scratch, stick to your local nursery. JB from CA Positive MaggieA (4 reviews) On April 20, 2009, MaggieA Charleston, SC wrote: I originally placed a small order for six asparagus plants, while I was still hoping to get my full order from another source. The six turned out to be twelve beautiful crowns, and when I cancelled the Parks order I immediately ordered another 24 from Gardeners Choice. They came quickly and are absolutely gorgeous, large plants. I also got pepper plants which arrived well developed, healthy and at a very reasonable price. I will be giving this company the business I formerly gave to Parks. (at least till they let me down) Positive plantingman (3 reviews) On April 15, 2009, plantingman Yankton, SD wrote: I ordered trees....and had excellent results. They were low priced and small, but healthy. My "Cherry Hedge" prunus tomentosa...were very nice. I've ordered a few each year for the last 5 years and now have a beautiful and productive hedge. I've also received their Monroe peach trees and their "strawberry trees" which are cornus kousa. The ones I bought last year are budding out and look good. Negative JeanineEst (1 review) On April 14, 2009, JeanineEst Concord, NC wrote: My 85 year old father recently purchased $132. worth of tomato plants by check. We opened the box when they arrived to find poor root stock some with no leaves. In addition he was shorted 24 plants. My attempts like those of others to find anything that resembles customer service has been futile. Emails phone calls and no responses. I intend to file several complaints with the BBB and to contact the Attorney Generals office. This company is a rip off and should not be allowed to do business. Unfortunately they use UPS if they had used the Postal system complaints could put them out of mail order business for sure;. Negative irategardener (1 review) On April 14, 2009, irategardener Covington, VA wrote: This is the worst email order that I have ever made! The website is totally unfriendly. Making the order is a chore because of the poor website. Once the order is placed, you can't get in touch by phone or email. Finding the place called status of order is easy - but then you get nothing. You call the number and wait and wait and wait, and then you get a dial tone. After several weeks, you finally are allowed to actually see something that indicates the status of your order. It says your order has been shipped. Several weeks later, you get an email from UPS that says your order has just shipped,and then that it has been delivered. Guess where it was delivered - another address which turns out to be the post office. The only telephone prompt that will answer is the one to place an order. They will give you no information and tell you that you must call customer service who will not open for another 1 1/2 hours. We are about to go on vacation, and still do not have our plants. Getting in touch with this company is impossible - never again will I order from Gardener's Choice. Negative mrstireguy (1 review) On April 09, 2009, mrstireguy Black Canyon City, AZ wrote: The website to order from is confusing. They ask the same question many times and when you think you have ordered the $10 version a window pops up, thanks you for your order without a chance to confirm. Then you look at the total of the order and now it is $60. I emailed of the misunderstanding, no reply. I received the product in a timely fashion but soil was tossed about in each pkg. I went ahead and set them up as instructed. Several did not sprout at all, some shot a small sprout and died, and a few lasted a week longer and then died. I hcall the customer service number to try to get replacements and I am prompted to push numbers but when I do I am diconnected. Three emails later still no response from company. Negative YourSolution (1 review) On April 06, 2009, YourSolution West Richland, WA wrote: My grandmother ordered from this company and had similar complaints as many of you have listed. She tried to return the order and asked for a refund which never arrived. I helped my grandmother get her "refund" by doing the following: if you ordered with a credit card (even if it's just a debit card) call Visa or MasterCard (or which ever card you used) and tell them you want to file a claim. They will ask you what happened and you need to explain to them that you were not satisfied with the product and the company is not working with you to obtain a refund. They will likely send you paperwork to fill out and sign. When you return the paperwork to the credit card company, they will take steps to contact the company on your behalf, if the company does not comply, Visa, MasterCard, etc...will "take" the money back and refund it to your card. It generally takes about 30 days, but the wait is better than not getting the refund! (Often times, when a company is contacted by the credit card company they rush to issue you a refund so they do not endanger their ability to accept credit cards.) Negative sharleentro (1 review) On April 06, 2009, sharleentro Wellsville, KS wrote: A couple of weeks ago my husband and I saw the info-mercial on TV and decided to get online and order the Giant Tomato Tree. So we got online and ordered the tomatos and some peppers. When all was said and done we ended up with 30-40 misc. items and an ending price of 67.00. We did not want this entire order and did not want to pay the price so the next morning I called and tried to cancel or make the order right. They told me that the order was already on the truck and would be here in 7-10 days. I was told that I could send the entire package back if I wanted my money back. So I waited for the order to come. When I saw the small box I couldn't believe how so many plants had fit inside. As I opened the box to my suprise there were tons of planters with only dirt inside. Where were the plants. We had just spent 67.00 on seeds. I called and wanted to know where my plants were. Everything said it would be plants(magazine, TV, web-site). When I told the man on the phone that I didn't receive plants he just said "that is how they come." So dealing with what I had I did what the instructions said and after two weeks there was nothing. We decided to dump a couple of them out and investigate. There was nothing!!!!!! but dirt. I packaged them up and decided on Monday to call and get my money back. I talked to a nice man who said he would refund my money to the credit card within 3-5 days. I wanted to know where to send the dirt filled containers back to and he said to keep them. If these were real seeds then wouldn't they want them back?? I guess we'll see if I get my money back. Negative simmiej (1 review) On April 02, 2009, simmiej Tuscola, IL wrote: Placed 2 orders each stating $7.95 shipping charges. Received one small item from each order(in 2 boxes) and was charged $9.95 shipping for one box and $14.95 for the other. Could not get through to cust serv on their web site(timed out repeatedly), was disconnected each time I pressed #2(cust serv) when calling them..Nor do they respond to emails. I have reported them to Consumer Reports. I agree with others that this company should not be in business. Negative playhardrabbit (1 review) On April 01, 2009, playhardrabbit Lakewood, WA wrote: no custumer serv and a rip off over charging and olny sending a small portion of order Negative 1rockymom1 (1 review) On March 31, 2009, 1rockymom1 Beavercreek, OR wrote: I have had a similar bad experience with Gardener's Choice as the other responders. I only wish I had read "Dave's" before I ordered from them. Their lack of availability either by website or phone is totally reprehensible and they should not be in business. Reporting them to BBB is probably useless. I thnk the idea of a class action suit may be the only solution. Does anyone out there have any idea how to go about this? Negative twinacres (1 review) On March 25, 2009, twinacres Desert Hot Springs, CA wrote: I ordered the tomato tree, and Topsy turvy tomato hanger. I received dirt in a box, crushed peat containers and couldn't find any seeds; and flower bag hangers. I called got hung up on, called back thinking at that time I might have gotten disconnected till I read the reports. The next person said it wasn't their department; and I would have to find the complaint department on my own; she could not transfer me or give me their number. After reading I am glad I only spent $34.50 I was tempted to buy more with economy being so bad so I could give food to my neighbors. This company is BAD NEWS. . . . . . . Any body know a good attorney; we all could have a class action suit. It is just being taken; this is almost as bad as AIG's CEO and their bonus with taxpayer money. Thanks Negative Nickolock (1 review) On March 23, 2009, Nickolock Tifton, GA wrote: I had tragic results ordering from Gardener's Choice. I ordered one tomato tree from their automated computer, but it sent 6 orders and hiked the price up to about $65!!! A huge rip off!!! Instead of plants they sent seeds in planters which looked about like two egg cartons partially crushed upon arrival. Very irresponsible. I called them and got very lackadaisical response after waiting 20 minutes or more. I put a dispute in on my credit card on them. Will contact BBB. Their TV Infomercial is a SCAM. Where's Uncle Sam?!? He should put them OUT OF BUSINESS!!! NOW!!!

Read the rest of the comments

Return to the Garden Watchdog homepage

Learn how to link to this page

Click here if you are a representative of this company