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I have made out my order for Golden Stargazer Lily bulbs . I copied the info from a magazine in my doctors office yesterday.
The article I read in Woman's Day appealed to me as I love Start Gazers. The WD magazine was an old one but I figured the nursery was still up and running.
Before I mailed my check I decided to Google for a little information of the company, to be sure they still exist.
Boy, I'm glad I did, I found this place as well as your comments. I read ALL of the reviews presented in this forum before tearing up my check.
I am new to gardening and was given the "bug" to start by our next door neighbor: he has the most beautiful garden with the heady scents of honeysuckle and lavender among others. He had not heard of SRN. I saw the ad and since I've been wanting to plant lavender (I love anything purple) thought about ordering. Thank heaven I found this sight; it was the first site mentioned when I did a search for SRN. Reading the comments here has made me think twice about ordering. Thank you, all of you, for your input.
Wow! I guess I was one of the lucky ones that received my order in a timely manner. I planted my Iris's as directed and have beautiful results! They just started blooming within the last few weeks. They are breathtaking. For those that want to know, I did order these from an advertisment in the Woman's Day magazine.
I came across this site as I was looking for the Spring River site and this watchdog site came up. I felt compelled to read about other experiences and now feel so genuinely lucky to have had a good experience with this company. To think I was going to order some day lilies from them. Now I have second thoughts!
I ordered a dozen russian lavendar plants. They arrived - I planted them - they died immediately. I called customer service they said they would replace them or send me back my money. I wanted the plants, so they reshipped them. I planted them, they died within 2 days. I waited to see if any life would return to either of the shipments. Nothing - dead.
(The plant order did take awhile to arrive both times.)
I called customer service & was told they had reshipped once & that was all they could do. I asked about their customer satisfaction guarantee & I Was Not a Happy Customer and wanted my money back as guaranteed. She said the company only reshipped once & would not replace or refund my money. I guess this is a better experience than some customers had - but do not think they are living up to their "No Risk Guarantee" Nancy
I am so shocked to hear that this co, is a scam.
I also ordered Lavender march 2005 my check was cashed and no plants have arrived.
What can we all do to get to these people ??????
I ordered my plants in April 2005 and after reading all the comments, was sure I would not get them. However, today I came home to my plants in the mail, so it took less than 1 month to get them. So there is hope. Keep your chin up!
I just received another flyer in the mail from Spring River. I have ordered lavender from them before and it was somewhat positive experience. Well, I just called there 'Customer Service' number not only to ask a question about my dying Lavender but possibly make another order. Well, the CS rep was so rude. She said 'she does not take orders over the phone' and then couldn't answer my questions!!!! Yikes! Please, please, avoid doing business with this company.
I was very disappointed when I came across this website. I ordered 16 Hardy Lavender plants on February 22, 2005 from an ad found in the Sunday "Parade Magazine" and have waited patiently for my plants. After viewing the feedback, I doubt I will receive my purchase. My check has been cashed and I have tried to email the company, but the email was returned with an insufficient address. The email address I used was posted on their website and I used the copy and paste keys to eliminate the possibility of error. I too wonder why this company is allowed to continue it's advertising in the Parade or any magazine for that matter.
Well add my mother to the list! She ordered 12 lavender plants as a hedge for her fence, she is on a fixed income and I HATE the fact this happened to her and feel powerless! Her check for $22.95 has been cashed, yeah big surprise there! I have contacted the company via email but after reading the other posts I do not anticipate a reply. If everyone has been contacted the local Attorney Generals and Better Business offices then why is this still happening. Where do we go from here? There has to be someway to get everyone's money back as it is illegal to take money from people and promise them a product in return and then not deliver! I want my name out there for the record so maybe after enough complaints we can get an Attorney General to listen to us!!!!
I have been scammed. I sent in an order for Hearty Lavender to Spring River Nurseries; the check for $13.85 cashed over a month ago (today is 4/18/05). I called them and talked to a woman who claims they handle customer service for both that company and Michigan Bulb Company (where I also placed an order they are telling me will arrive "soon"). She gave me the name of Angie Smith and the fax number to send a "copy of the check." The fax number is bogus. Why isn't the Michigan Attorney General's office doing something about this company? Better yet, why does Parade Magazine, other Sunday magazines and Woman's Day continue to accept their advertising? A boycott of these magazines should begin. They are knowingly scamming the public by running these ads.
I have had similar experiences with this company and some of its affiliates, after getting the run-around from them I decided to contact the Illinois States Attorney and file a fraud complaint. Please, I invite the rest of you to do so.
Thank you.
Ordered 6 lavendar plants, sent a cheek for $13.85 on 3-3-05. They cashed the check but have never recieved the plants. Cliped their ad out of the Sunday paper.
On Apr 9, 2005, tylerose Tyler, TX (Zone 7a) wrote:
Well I ordered the Limelight Hydrangeas out of the Woman's Day magazine in Jan. '05. Today is April 9 '05 and I have yet to receive any plants much less the "call backs" I was to receive from Spring River once I finally got their number. I have spoken w/Woman's Day at several different numbers then they finally gave me the phone number to Spring River. Twice I have called them and was told they would call me back.
I have reported them to the BBB in Michigan.
One day I will find some limelight hydrangeas but it will NOT be thru Woman's Day magazine or Spring River.
I want to thank everyone for their feedback on Spring River Nursery. I am not a very good gardener (although I try), and I often struggle with what plants to purchase and garden with. When I saw the ad for SRN I was pleased that my geographical location would not kill this "Hardy Lavender" and was about to place a large order. I wanted to order online, and my Google search landed me here first. Thanks for the insite, I can certainly say that I will NOT order from this "company".
I just prepared an order to Spring River Nurseries for over $84.00. I planned a lavender hedge. I decided to see if they had a website and your watchdog site popped up first. I can not thank you enough for providing this service. I would be out a considerable amount of money.
I was very pleased to find the Garden Watchdog before I spend my hard earned monies on such a scam. I truely appreicate all of you who have left your unfortunate experience with this so called nursery. You have saved me a great deal of aggrivation.
Thanks to all of you, I will be the only one with a positive experience.
By chance, I typed in "Spring River Nurseries Hardy Lavender" into my yahoo search. You'll be happy to know this website was the first one to pop up, exposing these folks for the obvious crooks they are. If there actually is such a thing as Hardy Lavender, I certainly will forget their name when ordering. And I have all of you to thank!
The only question I have is this: Today is March 14, 2005 and many of your letters were written months and months ago. If all of you indeed contacted the Michigan Attorney General's Office, why are theyre ads even still appearing?
Even though it appears many others are gonna lose 10 or 20 bucks, take satisfaction that at least one of us didnt. Thanks again.
I too have been trying on my mom's behalf to get her money back. She ordered $22. worth of the lavendar plants back on April 10,2004. Her check was cashed over two months ago and still no plants. I'm afraid she is out of her money and has taught me a lesson on trying to help my mom as a senior citizen from being scammed by an unscrupulous business like Spring River Nurseries. However I have sent a complaint to my homestate Attorney General office as well as the Michigan Attorney General office. I am also sending a complaint to the Parade magazine which the ad was placed as well as other publications that I see any ads for Spring River Nurseries. I noticed on this website that the complaints have been coming in steady for over two years so everyone that reads this should be VERY vocal in telling everyone to stay away from this company
On July 13th, 2004, DKH changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:
It is now July 13th and the lavendar plants we ordered on April 20th have arrived. They are small but healthy looking so we are happy about that. I do wish that Spring River Nurseries would have acknowledged my repeated attempts to find out why my order was not coming however. I do find it very unusual that they cashed my check in early May. Most legitimate businesses will not charge your credit card or cash your check until they send you your order. I guess we were one of the lucky ones to finally get our order. I do not believe I will do business with them again.
I am also feeling scammed. I mailed my credit card info along with their coupon ordering 12 "hardy lavender plants" back in April. Mid-May my account was charged for $22.95. As of today (June 24, 2004), I have not received my plants. I have also called them and left messages. Thus far, I have not heard from them. I contacted my credit card company. They are returning the charges as insufficent and crediting my credit card. I am also going to file complaints with the MI Attorney General's office and US Post Office (and anyone else I can find!).
Like many of you, my mother sent for lavender plants from this company over 2 months ago. Her check has long since been cashed and, of course, she has no plants.
I called today (6/23/04, 7:00am PDT) and left a message on Spring River's voice mail - no doubt they are so busy answering complaint calls I was unable to reach a live body. I advised them I will be reporting the theft to their state Attorney General and the US Post Office if the shipment does not arrive by close of business tomorrow (isn't FedEx great?).
Thanks to everyone for taking the time to report these unscrupulous scum. It helps to know we're not the only ones who were suckered in by their ad. Also - you saved me the delay and expense of having to make a number of non-toll-free phone calls and waiting for a response we’re now sure will never come.
I'll update on Friday if the plants arrive tomorrow!
On June 25th, 2004, blueyonc added the following:
06/25/04 - no word from the illustrious folk at Spring River. Next stops - Michigan Attorney General, US Post Office, Grand Rapids Better Business Bureau (http://www.grandrapids.bbb.org/). Good luck to you all.
Add my name to the list of those apparently scammed by Spring River Nurseries. I sent a check on May 12th and have not received any plants. I typed in their name and did a Google search which introduced me to Garden Watchdog. The check for $22.95 would have gotten me a Thank You from the Salvation Army. I will send my complaints to the Michigan Attorney General's Office as well as my local newspaper which sold them the space for their fraudulent ad. It is nice to have this forum to air our complaints but it would be better if we could publish this somewhere with more "visibility to the general public" which could prevent others from having the same bad experience.
I ordered six lavender plants in mid-April with my personal check and the check was cashed ten days later. They were really efficient in cashing checks and making sure they got the money before their customers found out what they really were! Well, the lavender plants I ordered are still no where in sight. I don't think they will ever send me the plants. And by reading through the other comments on the board, I am not looking forward to receiving a bunch of poor growing plants should they decide to send them.
I wish I had looked up Spring River Nursery on the Internet before I ordered...
On May 31, 2004, amandasmith911 Moores Hill, IN wrote:
i guess i am a lucky one.i finally recieved 12 very tiny,but very much alive and healthy looking lavender plants.given everyone else's reviews i do not plan on ordering from them again.
After not recieving the Lavender plants that I ordered I logged on to try and get the phone number for Spring River Nursery. I was shocked to find that many others had not recieved the plants they ordered! I also am out $22.95, my check was cashed 3 weeks ago. I will contact the Michigan Attorney General and the Better Business Bureau to file complaints. And I will use The Garden Watchdog if and when I order plants by mail again, I wish I had known about the site before. Along with many unsatisfied customers I am very angry with the Spring River Nursery!!!!!!!!!
In February, I ordered 12 English Lavender plants which arrived in March. Because my mail does not come until late, I had to wait until the next day to plant them. The plants seemed to do okay at first, but now only 4 plants are still alive. I have tried to call the number listed on the website, but it is disconnected. I have also e-mailed the company, but have had no response. I am extremely displeased with this. All I want is for Spring River Nurseries to compare to their competition and replace the 8 plants that died, but because it is so difficult to get in touch with them, it is likely not to happen! Needless to say, if this problem is not resolved, I will not order from them again, and I will tell everyone I know not to order from this company. It is a shame that this is the way it has to happen, but I really want my plants or my money, and this company is not working iwth me to resolve this issue. However, if the problem is resolved, I would be more than happy to repost, and take back the complaint, but if that does not happen, I will begin telling everyone I know to not order from Spring River Nurseries, and recommend companies like Spring Hill Nurseries and Michigan Bulb, because they stand behind their plants and guarantee the satisfaction of their customers. If only Spring River Nurseries would meet that satisfaction, it would be grand!
On 3/30/2004, we ordered the beautiful "Hardy Lavender" from Spring River Nursery, which had appeared in a newspaper insert from Billings, Montana. Our check was cashed, but no product arrived. The company has not responded to our e-mail requests. We are most certainly disappointed and feel taken advantage of. Glennda, Miles City, Montana
On May 24, 2004, NatureWalker New York & Terrell, TX (Zone 8b) wrote:
I too saw the newspaper ad & it inspired me to order; they looked so lush that photo. I've aways wanted some Lavender plants but I was always too poor & on the move; so I stayed with my succulents.
I ordered from this company; Spring River Nurseries, on April 5th, 2004. I bought & sent a US Postal Money Order for the ammount of $7.94 which was for 3 Laverder _Plants_ plus shipping & handling.
Two weeks later I 'found' _Garden Watchdog_. I looked up Spring River Nurseries, & the comments about what previous people who had ordered were saying about them. Well I was really at the end of a rope on that!
So I gave up any hope of ever seeing _anything_ at all from them and chalked it up. I was seriously considering bringing a 'Class Action Lawsuit' against them for mail fraud via the newspaper & the United States Post Office. Even my boyfriend was angry! It wasn't the ammount of money involved; it was that I had to save for it, because money was very tight.
My boyfriend then ordered some Lavender Plants from a different online company.
Then Lo & behold, out of no where 2 months after I had ordered, and 2 weeks after I received the other Lavender; a package arrived from Spring River Nurseries containing '3' _very tiny_ Lavender 'Sprouts'! Some _plants_, huh?!
Out of the 3 of them one was so small it didn't make it & the other 2 look like the size right now, that I would buy at a local supermarket or gardening center as a 'starter' seedling. I'm trying very hard to keep them alive; and I'm really not too satisfied with their 'choice' of what constitutes a plant _or_ seedling.
Early this past Feb. which is the very deep winter here in the Northeast I was reading my Sunday paper one very cold gray morning when I saw the ad from Spring River Nurseries for the most beautiful Hardy Lavender. The depicted lavender just "hit the spot" giving me such a feeling of summer beauty. I immediately made up my mind that I was going to order it so on Feb. 8, 2004 I made out my check in the amt. of $22.95 and sent it off to Spring River Nurseries. My check was processed for payment on Feb. 18, 2004 - I have yet to receive the ordered lavender (it is now 5/23/04) and have had not one bit of correspondence from Spring River Nurseries regarding my placed order.
I did a search via the internet for the email addy of the company and I found Spring River Nurseries on the very top of the page with a huge NEGATIVE rating at the Garden Watchdog site. I was in shocked disbelief - if only, if only I had check this site before I sent my check out to Spring River Nurseries.
I have learned my lesson and I will always check the Garden Watchdog site before placing any further nursery orders with mail order companies I am unfamiliar with.
It is such a shame that Spring River Nurseries continues to practice in this manner it leaves a very skepticle feeling in the mind of the consumer toward other reputable mail order nurseries.
I am still awaiting a response from Spring River Nurseries to the email that I submitted to them or the UPS truck showing up with my ordered lavender - and yes, possibly an apology from Spring River Nurseries for the delay and lack of communication to me from them stating a reason for the delay.
On June 19th, 2004, galahad added the following:
June 18, 2004 is the current date. I guess taking the time to research where I needed to send my complaint to and use the correct addresses for all concerned paid off - about a week and a bit ago I did receive the 12 lavender plants from Spring River Nurseries, I would not consider them to be healthy specimens but I did plant them and have attempted to nuture them along, to date most have died. Then in today's mail I found a refund check from Spring River Nurseries in the full amount of my original check - $22.95. I guess it pays to send complaints to the correct authorities. It is too bad business was conducted in such a poor fashion by Spring River Nurseries. Although I do have their check in hand (yet to be cashed) I will never do business with them again!
I too was taken with the lovely picture of the Hardy Lavendar in my Ladies Home Journal. SRN's double guarantee and urging to order early because of "limited supplies" made me hasten to place an order. Well it is one month later and still no plants but of course the check has been cashed. I finally found a phone # for SRN but the phone rang busy all day (until of course 4:30, which is closing time, when a recorded message came on advising me of business hours and to call back during that time.) I wish I had seen the Garden Watchdog site before!! This company is obviously duping & cheating people. How can they get away with it?? I guess I'm out the $22.95 but I am taking one of the other ladies advise and placing a complaint with the Michigan Attorney General and quite possibly the better business bureau. Buyer beware of this unscrupulous company!
I attempted to contact SRN after ordering and not receiving the "Hardy Lavender". My check has been cashed and no contact has been successful. I e-mailed the Michigan State Attorney General's office with a consumer complaint and topped THAT complaint off with a follow up e-mail to 20/20's John Stossel. SRN has been ripping people off for way too long. It may be a few dollars from me...but totaled, it's a bundle and it's a crime!! I challenge all other person's to channel your complaints in the appropriate direction, or people like this will just keep on doing business. Make sure to include all appropriate info
On June 16th, 2004, angel57 changed the rating from negative to neutral and added the following:
I was shocked when my husband brought the mail in on the 11th of June. There was my Hardy Lavender-3 plants-alive. I planted them right away, adding Miracle Grow and prayer. They look like preemies, but I'm a nurse, so I'm used to that! Maybe my complaints paid off after all! But...beware the look of the ads...suspicious looking ad going by GARDENER'S CHOICE, with a Hartford, MI address!!!! Promises gigantic tomatoes and super growing flowering shade tree!! Shame, shame, shame on this company!!!
I too have been ripped-off! I ordered the Hardy Lavender plants thinking that I was going to receive beautiful plants to put in my flower bed, instead I was taken by this company that calls themselves Spring River Nurseries. I found their article in the Sunday newspaper and thought it would neat to lavender so I wrote the check and mailed it out. I mailed the check back at the end of Febuary 2004 and it cleared my bank the 1st part of March, and I never received the lavender plants. I decided to email them, when I put their name into a search I found out I was taken! Guess this has tought me to check into companies before I mail order anything again!
Seems the Hardy Lavender add did an excellent job of selling the product, too bad Spring River just cashed the checks and forgot about shipping the plants. I too have had my check cashed (two months ago)and no plants to date. Very unhappy with this company.
My fiance and I recently purchased our first home and have been having a great time with the gardening that comes with having your own yard. I saw the advertisement for the Hardy Lavender's in the Virginia Pilot's Parade section and thought it would be an awesome addition to what we have already planted. Every day I would come home from work excited with hopes the Lavender's would be there ready for planting. Here I am 3 weeks later the check has been cashed, I even received an email indicating I would receive the plants within 3 business days, I am pretty much resigned to the fact I have wasted my money and excitement and been duped. I am glad I found this website now I will research these mail order companies before getting excited and stroking that check in hopes that a company is legitimate. Spring River is horrible, how many have they cheated???
I sent my order for 12 lavender plants at the end of February. Spring River Nurseries cashed my $22.95 check on 3/4/04. It is now 4/22/04, and I have not received anything!! I have been calling and calling their phone number, at all times of day, and it is always a busy signal. On their website homepage, I did not get a link to e-mail customer service. I'm glad I found this site, but wish I had seen it sooner!
As like every other complaint I too ordered the Lavender Plants in the mail. Yea what a JOKE! At least some of you have received your plants, I havnt received any of my plants yet they cashed my check.They wont return my e-mails and they never answer there phones! If this isnt a rip off company than I dont know what is! If your smart(Unlike me) dont EVER order from this company!!!!!!
I along with many others purchased the lavender plants from the newpaper ad. What a joke!!!! I planted them 1 week ago and so far 2 of the 3 have died. I have contacted the company. But guess what not response as of yet. Can't imagine.
In live in Michigan so I was so excited to find a nursery in my state. Yes, I was going to order the lavenders but according to the other comments, you will receive a box of dead wood. Thanks to you I will go back to my trusted standbys - Gurney's and Spring Hill Nursery. I have never been disappointed.
I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of my 12 "hardy lavender" plants when I found this web site. My check hadn't been cashed yet, so my husband and I stopped payment. At $12 plus an order, the company is probably hoping most consumers won't file a complaint. Considering the wide distribution of the periodicals their ads appear in, that's a nice hunk of change for them.
I have a "black thumb" at gardening anyway. I would have probably thought that I killed them myself just by placing my order!!
