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In March I placed an order for 2 Top Hat Blueberry plants & paid for my order via cheque. That cheque cleared my bank May 21st. A letter was sent to me dated June 13th stating there had been a crop failure & a refund would be sent. I am still waiting for that refund (almost 9 wks now) & have been told by Spring Garden that a cheque has been issued to me, however the cheque was sent to head office for signing 6 WEEKS AGO & hasn't been returned yet for them to mail to me. THIS IS RIDICULOUS! Most reputable mail order companies do not cash your cheque until they have the order ready to ship; however this is not the case with Spring Garden. My cheque cleared the bank May 21st & the letter indicating crop failure is dated June 13th - did they not know at that time there was a crop failure? Other mail order companies I've dealt with under similar circumstances have sent a refund WITH the letter, or within a few days, but again Spring Garden chose not to do this. I spoke directly with Aaron, their Customer Relations head person. He told me that as soon as the cheque was signed it would be sent back to them & they would send it on to me & there was no way to hurry up the process & there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it there. I'm beginning to wonder how solvent this company is. I know I won't be ordering from them again & will be telling everyone I know about it.
On Jul 30, 2009, 33libra Winnipeg, MB (Zone 3a) wrote:
In 2008, I ordered 2 daylilies. By the time they bloomed, they were not what I had ordered. I sent an email and never received a reply. I thought I would give them the benefit of the doubt because I thought they were restructuring the business.
So I put in another order in March for 4 snail vines. I ordered from Spring Garden only because they seemed to be the only place that had them. The 4 arrived - 2 were beautiful and healthy and 2 almost dead. I emailed them on June 5th - no reply. Soon after babying the 2 vines, they died. I then emailed them on June 29th - still no reply.
That was my final order with Spring Garden Canada - I will never order from them again.
On Jun 30, 2009, clematiscottage Quadra Island, BC (Zone 7b) wrote:
I placed an order with these people way back in December but the plants never arrived. For the last few weeks, I have attempted to reach them by e-mail but never received so much as an acknowledgement. I have also tried over a dozen times to telephone them with an equal lack of success. I had also placed orders with their "sister" companies, Brecks and Henry Fields. Brecks order arrived but plants were in poor shape and failed to grow. From Henry Fields, I received only two plants. I have tried also to contact these other companies with no luck whatsoever. I have e-mailed asking them to cancel my orders and will never, never, never order from any of them again. I have requested the promised refund from Brecks but probably shouldn't hold my breath waiting for it to arrive. I will be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau as, in my opinion, the whole thing is a huge scam. At least, after reading the other reviews, I now know that I am not alone - this seems to be their preferred method of doing business. Buyer beware!!!
On Jun 2, 2009, tokyokaren Roberts Creek Canada wrote:
I placed an order early in the spring for 6 maximillian sunflowers and a bargain bag of 8 hostas. I received the sunflowers looking entirely dried up and dead in dry sawdust and they only sent ONE tiny one-eyed hosta instead of 8.
Like the others, I've tried their 1-800-917-2822 toll-free line dozens of times and it's always busy. I've sent two customer complaint emails through their web site and have yet to hear anything. I was heartened to hear that one man got through when he tried very early in the morning. Maybe I'll try that next. Until then, SCAM ALERT!
On May 29, 2009, jardinomane Gatineau Canada wrote:
I have been trying to get them to honnor their so-called no-risk guarantee for over a month. They have not replied to the 4 or 5 e-mails I have sent them. I can't seem to get anyone through their phone number since it is either busy or I get a message saying their voice mail is full. One of the problems I am trying to get a refund for is the Lace Hankerchief Iris wich they also identify as "iris tectorum variegata" (zone 4 to 9) wich is, in fact iris japonica variegata, ont hardy below zone 7... I though I was buying a perennial, not something that would die during its first Quebec winter. And I paid full price for 4 of these babies... I am fuming! As I am getting to know them better, I am convinced that this is intentionnaly misleading information. Grrrr...
On May 15, 2009, BuckskinAnnie Williams Lake, B.C. Canada wrote:
Phoned order to Spring Garden early April. Gentlemen on other end of the line was grumpy. I thought he was having a bad day. No order arriving well into May. On the 11th I tried phoning at different times of day. Line always busy. Same on the 12th, same on the 13th, same on the 14th. Finally I phoned at 6:00 am our time on the 15th and got an answer after the 12th try. I was informed my order was held up as they were waiting for a plant. I asked from where do they get their plants. I was informed from all over the U.S.and Canada. I asked why no one contacted me to ask if it should be left out of order and the rest shipped. The lady said it is all done by computer and no one knows if an order is not shipped unless it is pulled up on the computer. Does this mean that at the end of the shipping period someone looks on the computer finally and says "Oh Dear" , I guess this order was never shipped"!! I asked her how it is supposed to be pulled up on the computer when customers cannot even access them on their 800 number. On the 14th I even tried Canada 411, other websites, etc. to find a direct line to try to reach them. All I ended up with was speaking to some person in India from one of their Spring Garden websites. My order which was being held up is now cancelled. I will never order from Spring Garden, Brecks, Henry Fields, or Bits and Pieces who are all associated. Bits and Pieces is a knick knack type catalogue that comes out prior to Christmas. I had problems with an order with them. That is how I found out they are owned by the same person that owns Brecks.
Customers, be aware of who you are ordering from. I should have checked them out before getting excited over all the plant and bulb selections in the glossy catalogue.
On May 14, 2009, garmonbozia Frenchland Canada wrote:
I have made an order on March 20. Around early Spring (I think mid April), I send two customer service inquiries about the shipping date for my order. None of them were answered. I finally called, and perhaps about 10 tries I was able to connect to someone. The person over the phone told me that orders we'll be shipping them after April 27th. I waited to see if anything was shipped. Nothing. I know there is an climate element that I need to consider here, and I don't expect Spring Garden to ship items when the weather is inappropriate. This is understandable. What really bothers is me the complete disregard of my communication attempts and the lack of service. Meanwhile Spring Garden (and Brecks) continued to send me catalogues and spam almost every day of the week. I am not exaggerating this, believe me. One thing is to receive monthly catalogues from businesses, the other is finding a sales pitch in your mailbox every day. What was most bothersome to me is the fact that Brecks and Spring Garden started spamming me from my office address as well. I don't know how this even happened, but this was highly inappropriate and unprofessional (and embarrasing for me).
I called the company early May again, to ask to be removed from your mailing list. I was replied "our mailing lists only get updated every six months, so you'll be receiving more catalogues until they get updated again, later this year". I am sorry to be crude, but "ARE YOU KIDDING?". While I will wait for catalogue system to be updated, I will have to endure endless and embarrassing spam to my work address. This is unacceptable, and unprofessional. Meanwhile, there is no news about my order. There is a charge in my credit card account; but my plants have nowhere to be seen, nor an e-mail updating the status of the order.
On June 1st, 2009, garmonbozia added the following:
Update: My plants have yet to arrive. I have sent two e-mails and have been trying to reach them through phone. The phone is either busy, or directly goes to voice mail. Unfortunately, the mailbox is full. Scam much?On June 3rd, 2009, garmonbozia added the following:
I decided to take the issue to Better Business Bureau. I strongly suggests others do the same thing, since there is something wrong going on here.
On Sep 30, 2008, cloverdaleken Abbotsford BC Canada wrote:
This is the second mail order company I have ordered wisteria plants from and both have been complete failures. The 4" plants I received were undersized and loaded with insects. I chose Spring Garden Canada because I was so pleased with the dormant climbing roses they sent me last year. In fairness they have promised me a full refund (whenever they can get around to it). My experieince has been that wisteria are best bought grafted in 3-5 gallon containers from your local supplier. I paid 30.00 each for well established plants bought locally, twice Spring Garden Canada's price for 4" rooted cuttings but well worth it. From now on I'll only buy seeds and bulbs by mail order.
On Jul 23, 2007, careoline Port Elgin, Ontario Canada wrote:
I read Dave's Watchdog reports and called company because Added Touch is a successful reputable Oakville company store name known to be dealing in retail giftware. Anne Brookmeyer is not known to staff now. I ordered plants in May 2007. Plants were shipped when available from London warehouse. Over $250.00 plants arrived in June and all but $25.00 were promised refunded by credit note not to credit card but to offset future orders from next catalogue. Next catalogue is promised to be issued in August 2007. The store is closed till then. This summer my garden is bare waiting for fall planting and I will have to hope that planting occurs before frost. I don't want to wait to use credits till next year because this company may not be around long. I am in the north country with early frost. I will have to choose something that establishes quickly. I did ask for a statement of account to have proof of credits but have not received a statement in over a month. Charges were paid in May and I have no reconciliation in writing. It is now July 2007. Staff are very agreeable and polite and well organized. Obviously dead plants were received in large quantities and shipped to me anyway. Many plants that I received were shipped in sealed plastic bags and obviously rotted with mold. Japanese Tree Peonies were most disappointing. I am hopeful that I can rectify my decision to order next year. Ordering shipments from catalogues may not be worthwhile from out of province or from within province.
I cannot recommend ordering from this company to anyone.
- I ordered in March, asked for early shipment as I live in an area of Canada where spring comes quite early
- I called and emailed several times to find out the status of my order when it was clear it was not coming early and might not be coming at all
- No one could give me the same answer twice. I was told it had been shipped already but the rep couldn't give me a tracking number; I was told they'd have to check with the nurseries; I was told they weren't sure
- they charged me twice for the same order
- they didn't ship until mid-JUNE
- half of my order simply wasn't included as it was supposed to be - no word of explanation
- some plants dead on arrival - and clearly should never have been shipped in the first place
- some plants small and sickly
- I have yet to receive any sort of acknowledgment of the problems
- the company seems to have been taken over by another company which also owns The Added Touch and Images of Canada. It's so badly muddled that queries sent to the Spring Garden Canada web site are being answered by random reps using Added Touch or Images of Canada email addresses
- as of today (June 26) their online store is offline
Let's see so far I ordered a $200 order from Spring Garden and everytime I call for my shipment status they can't seem to tell me anything. My order is 3 weeks late and I called today and they lost my order. I ordered a whole perenial garden and they can't find it!! Here is is going into June and I already ordered all my top soil etc.. They told me if they can't locate my order they will ship me out another one , but then we are looking at another 7-10 days. My credit card has been billed for over a month now and still no garden has showed up. I had never recieved an order confirmation through e-mail or when I e-mail them on their site I still get no response. Beware of this company.
On Apr 29, 2006, Ariesca Lillooet, BC (Zone 6b) wrote:
Spring Garden in Canada has a nice catalogue. I ordered basically because the prices seemed quite low. However, when the plants arrived they were VERY TINY and it was worrying as I didn't see how they would make it through the winter even at zone 6a. Sure enough, 90% of my order did not come up this spring. Lavandula, for example, 3 out of 6 survived. Scabioa - zilch. Other failures too. Even their free Promotion Plant has not survived!
I have requested a refund but have had no response. View this company with extreme caution.
A few years back we had the misfortune of placing an order with Spring Garden. We bought dwarf blue irises, irish moss, shasta daisies, a red hydrangea and some other plants. My mother in law bought some poker primroses and some cyclamen. Apart from the daisies, which are basically weeds that will thrive under nearly any condition, everything else was defective. There were no planting instructions with anything, either. The cyclamen and irises never did come up, the primroses were dissappointing and the hydrangea was completely without colour. Their flowers could only be described as 'beige.' Even the irish moss died! Everything was small and pitiful looking.
The money for our full order was refunded quickly, but just this week I received yet another catalogue from this company. I have asked now 3 times to be taken off of their mailing list, and they have yet to listen.
This has got to be the WORST mail order company ever!
NEWBIES to gardening Watch OUT! (I still recieve their catalogues even though they filed bankruptcy)
I recieved their catalogue about 4 yrs ago...everything looked so great! So being the newbie i was, I ordered one of their $100 complete gardens.
I recieved it in June & although they have great packaging...ALL the plants were very small in 2" pots. The soil smelt like rotten poop & most plants were slimy & gross.
I called to complain...they wouldn't offer a refund.
Please DO NOT order from this company.....THE WORST!
TWO YEARS AGO, I ORDERED EARLY IN THE YEAR AND DIDN'T RECIEVE IT UNTIL AFTER FATHERS DAY. MOST OF THE PLANTS WERE HALF AND SOME OF THEM WEREN'T EVEN WHAT I ORDERED. THEY DID REFUND MY MONEY. LAST YEAR I THOUGHT I WOULD TRY AGAIN. I WANTED TO BUY BULBS AND ASKED THEM WHEN THE EARLIEST THEY COULD SHIP THEM WAS AS I WANTED TO START THEM EARLY IN THE HOUSE. I WAS TOLD ONE WEEK. WEEKS WENT BY AND HEARD NOTHING. WHEN I CALLED THEM, THEY SAID THE ORDER WAS ON BACK-ORDER. I WILL NOT WASTE MY TIME AND MONEY WITH THEM AGAIN.
The mini rose collection I ordered from them was also a disappointment. They did send replacements for the dead ones. Unfortunately, the new ones turned out to be dying as well. I have one left this year from 10 plants ordered and you can hardly call it a rose bush at all it is so weak and poorly. It is growing next to a strong vigorous mini that I bought at my local hardware store for much less. I most definitely will not order from them again
I too have had a bad experience with Spring Garden. I ordered last year a mixed order of different perennials and blueberry plants to be sent at" the exact right planting time for your area" When everything else was planted in my garden and I still didn't have the order from them I called and was told it was coming soon a week later I called again and was told basically that they were busy and it would come when it came if I didn't like that I could just refuse the package when it came. Well that is what I did so I never saw the condition of the plants but the box looked real small for what I had ordered. I had to call again to get the charge removed from my credit card. Of course when I went to the local nursery in mid June to buy plants to replace those ordered there was practically nothing left.
I have a small gardening business and I order from approximately 20 mail order seed and plant supply companies. In all my years of gardening, over 25, I have never dealt with a company that I was so dissatisfied with. I went for the miniature rose collection 2 years ago and I will never order from them again.First off when I received my confirmation of my order, it had been doubled. The confirmation was for 2 collections. I looked for a phone number but there was none. I wrote to them and told them I only wanted 1 collection and at that time I sent them a cheque marked paid in full for 1 collection. That spring, I received 2 collections of miniature roses instead of 1. The poor roses were so sad, most were dead already and the rest were not far from dead. I was so disappointed, I had plans for using these in hanging baskets on contracts. I took pictures of the poor things and wrote to the company about my dissatisfaction. I received nothing from them except a bill telling me that I still owed them for 1 collection plus shipping and handling. It took until late fall after many letters until finally they expunged the outstanding debt. I never received a refund from them for the dead roses and out of 18 roses I did have 4 that survived though it was August before they looked decent at all. In my final letter to them I told them that they could keep sending me pretty pictures if they wanted to but I would never order from them again. They still send me the pretty pictures. These people are too dense to even take me off their mailing list. They don't deserve to be in business.
