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Bought three fargesia rufa bamboo plants from Hirt's on Amazon last June, and to my amazement, they arrived looking very healthy. After extricating them from the accursed styrofoam peanuts that seems to be the company's signature, I planted them in a semi-sunny spot after amending the soil with compost and watering them in. I had also purchased a larger specimen locally, so I planted it a few feet away from the other three. So far so good.
And then the Hirt's bamboo began to die. I watered some more, put some extra mulch around them, but nothing did any good. By winter they were dead, but the larger one just a few feet away sailed through winter with no problems and is thriving now. They obviously were shipped with some kind of disease. I ordered them because they were cheap, just asking for yet another lesson in "you get what you pay for." And I got it. That'll be the last time I order from Hirt's, and I will spread the word among my gardening friends to stay away.
On May 25, 2013, rugbycrumpet Sharon, MA (Zone 6a) wrote:
Posted on February 28, 2013, updated May 25, 2013
I have purchased many herb & perennial plants from Hirt's over the years and have been very pleased each time. The plants are always healthy and reasonably priced. This is one of my favorite online nurseries.
On May 25th, 2013, rugbycrumpet changed the rating from positive to negative and added the following:
I don't know what's been going on there at Hirts. In the past, I have nothing but great things to say about this company. But my past 2 recent transactions have been very disappointing. Both related to shipping.
I received a shipping confirmation (but no tracking number)for my last purchase, then it went into limbo for 2 weeks. I did not receive the package so I contacted Hirts. They apologized and said there was a screw-up and they will ship the package again. Well, when I received the package another week later, the plants were all yellow and nearly dead. It appeared that they didn't attempt to check the contents before reshipping the package. These plants have been in transit for the past 3 weeks.
I have ordered over 100 plants from various etailers. Hirt's Gardens has to be the worst. I ordered an unusual butterfly bush from Hirt's and when I received it I was amazed. It was a single twig with some scraggly root hairs hanging from it in about 2 ounces of dirt as poorly packaged as I have ever seen. I immediately contacted Hirt's via EBay email and reported the condition of the plant and the packaging. I told them I would try to make it grow. I created a "safe" environment for it to no avail. I'm now trying to get a refund. Hirt's is giving me the runaround. If you can buy your plant somewhere else, DO IT! I should have heeded all the "negatives". ALAS!
On May 3, 2013, NadaName Cedar Rapids United States wrote:
I ordered four epazote "plants" from Hirt's Gardens off Amazon. I was sent four pots of germinated seeds. The tops of the pots were sealed with masking tape. During shipping, the germinated seeds stuck to the tape. Hirt's Gardens misrepresented his product with a photo of a plant on Amazon. I requested a credit. Hirt's replied that I would receive the credit if I removed the negative comment regarding the seller off Amazon. After the credit was issued, Hirt's sent me three e-mails in one day demanding that I remove the comment. I am not going to bullied or harassed by a company. This man needs to learn to conduct his business honestly and ethically. He has changed his name on Amazon from "Hirt's Gardens" to "Hirt's Herbs." I wish I had seen this site prior to my purchase and read the other 104 other negative experiences with Hirt's Gardens!
On Apr 24, 2013, Isvlives2 Huntersville, NC wrote:
Posted on March 21, 2013, updated April 24, 2013
I ordered a new variety of winterberry by Proven Winners, "Berry Poppins" and "Mr Poppins" in 4" pots. Hirt's had the best price and availability though Amazon. They were in their dormant state. In one shipment the box was to small and the stems were broken in half. These are small plants already so it didn't leave much left. I contacted Hirt's with pictures and requested replacement plants. Mr. Hirt chose to refund and said I could reorder. As time progressed the remaining plants started to put out leaves except for three. Contacted Hirt's and requested replacement plants. Again, he chose to refund with no explanation. In both boxes there were no planting instructions although the invoice mentioned "follow enclosed planting instructions". I will say Mr. Hirt was very prompt in responding to my email, in most cases same day. Also, each time issued a refund right away through Amazon. He even sent me the Proven Winners tags when they came in. The quantity I ordered was for a landscape design. With the plants being a new variety they are hard to find. So, I am left short plants for the design but do not feel comfortable ordering from Hirt's again. I wish I knew why they didn't want to send replacement plants in both cases.
On April 24th, 2013, Isvlives2 changed the rating from neutral to negative and added the following:
I am changing my rating to a Negative. All the plants I ordered, ten total, were in a domant stage when purchased. All but one remained dead. The only plant to survive was the "sugar baby" forsythia. I just contacted Matt about a grass, "burgandy bunny" that never survived. He was quick to respond. I requested a new plant and he issued a refund with no explantion why a new plant could not be sent. Between poor packing and dead plants I will not order from this company again.
Didn't see an E-mail link to the company, so...
Cheers for the speedy delivery of two kiwi vines and a banana plant: Ordered on Wednesday; received on Saturday.
Jeers for using plastic popcorn and overstuffing three plants into a USPS shipping box. The kiwis are fine; the banana has two broken leaves/stems and looks less than stellar. Will not order from them again as long as they use popcorn. There are a multitude of shipping options other than Styrofoam which are far friendlier to the environment and kinder to the plants.
I had an experience like the posting dated Apr 4th, 2013 on this web page. I had received my shipment the first week in March. The poor wrapping was the same. The calls were unanswered. I my case there were a few additional items that I had to deal with. One being aphids. I opened my box of plants from Hirts and a swarm of aphids flew out of the box and unfortunately all over my other plants that had just been delivered from other responsible companies. Further, after calling Hirts and speaking with two different people (who were not friendly and did not sound concerned about my new bug problem which their company had caused) and calling and emailing with pictures 5 times. I gave up. I do not recommend this company at all. Anita L.
I ordered several plants from Hirt's and they arrived in tatters. The packaging was so bad, I do not even know what to say. They were stuffed into USPS boxes with packaging peanuts and masking tape to keep some of the soil in the planters. Of the two dozen plants that I ordered, half were damaged or dead.
Silly me, I called Hirt's to try and work out a solution and I was met by ummm.. not a friendly or helpful person. The conversation continued in e-mails with customer service where eventually instead of being offered a refund or replacement, the company just decided to stop responding.
Don't bother wasting your money.. their prices are very cheap relative to burpee or gurneys or the other big guys. There is a reason why... the product is inferior and customer service is a joke.
I discovered a few days ago that Hirt's Gardens web site was displaying one of my copyright-protected photos on their web site, without my permission, to promote the sale of a specific variety of rose. Upon further investigation, the same photo was being displayed on their eBay store and their Amazon store al well. I sent them an email (no answer when I phoned) to request payment for the usage of my photo. I got an email back stating that the photo had been removed (although it is still on eBay's servers) and there wasn't a hint of an apology in the message I got, nor any sense that they cared at all, let alone an offer to pay me for having used my photo for who knows how long.
It is worth noting that they had manipulated the photo by flipping it horizontally (mirror image, flipped left to right) and cropped off my embedded copyright statement, in order to disguise the fact that they had stolen copyright protected work! Unscrupulous, to say the least. I wonder if this is a reflection of their overall customer service?
On Sep 5, 2012, springlakenj Spring Lake NJ United States wrote:
I ordered a live plant from Hirt's Gardens on ebay. After the shipping date and estimated arrival date, via tracking # provided by Hirt's, had passed, I emailed them several times to request an update, as I was going to be away from home and was concerned for a live plant to be left in a box. All Hirt's had to do was contact me and advise that they were out of the plant, or to postpopne shipping and there would have been no problem.
No response from Hirt's.
Finally, I contacted Paypal, who requested info from Hirt's. Hirt's provided them the same tracking #, which indicated that the plant had not shipped!
After more than a month, Paypal did refund my money. To date, I have never received any replies or been contacted by Hirt's. I will not do business with them again.
On Jun 9, 2012, laughingraccoon Camp Creek, WV wrote:
I ordered 4 tansy plants from Hirts. (Yes, I know tansy can be invasive, but if it will protect my squash this year, I don't care, lol. I have them in pots near my squash.) Anyway, the plants arrived quickly but they were so bedraggled. They had sealed the soil off so it wouldn't spill out which was good, but they had used packing peanuts to "protect" the plants. The moisture from the plants caused the peanuts to fuse together into these big globs, and those globs beat those poor plants nearly to death. All of them had most of their leaves beaten/broken off. I managed to salvage them with a lot of TLC, and they are doing fine now, but it was touch and go for awhile. Thankfully tansy is pretty hardy. A more delicate plant would have never survived such an ordeal. I sent them an email suggesting they not use the peanuts and why, and telling them about what a pitiful state they arrived in. I got an email response from Matt Hirt saying:
"Thanks for the email.
We will take your suggestions into consideration.
Thanks"
That is the entire email. I thought he could have at least apologized for the plants arriving in poor shape, or apologize for having to put out such an effort to get them to survive, but no. I have certainly learned my lesson. I will NEVER order from these folks again.
On May 6, 2012, muskymojo Columbia Heights, MN wrote:
I ordered Bhut Jolokia (ghost pepper) seedlings from them 2 years ago. All 4 plants turned out to be some sort of red habanero. When I contacted them they insisted that what I had were Bhut Jolokia instead of admitting their mistake. They are still doing the same bait and switch today. I'm a member of several gardening forums, and NOBODY has anything good to say about Hirt's Gardens.
On Apr 19, 2012, proudfoot99 East Hampton, CT wrote:
I had two transactions with them this yr. Both ended badly. First I ordered 12 Lavender plants. They arrived looking nice but within a few days they started to die off. By the end of the week they were all dead. I tried calling them about 100 times in one week...not an exaggeration. They NEVER answer their phone. Finally after trying to email and call them repeatedly I had to file a complaint with Paypal. As soon as I filed that complaint I got a response through email regarding my dead plants. I had to send them a picture of the dead items and my money was refunded. While my initial order of the lavender was in transit before that transaction went bad I made the mistake of ordering a second order from Hirts. I bought 25 hibiscus plants from them and they shipped 17. I was given a refund of 11.00 however I was charged 20.55 when I bought 25 plants. I was sent 17 plants and was still charged 20.55. The hibiscus are spindly with 1 or 2 leaves per plant. Not worth the money I paid. Once again I tried contacting Hirt's to ask them why I was sent a partial order of hibiscus when they are still selling sets of 25 on ebay and to discuss why I was charged the full price for shipping when I was sent a partial order but guess what....THEY NEVER ANSWER THEIR DAMN PHONE!! I would never ever consider buying another item from this company. I have purchased many items from online nurseries and dealing with Hirts Gardens has been the worst experience I have ever had and I would never buy from them again
I ordered two carnivourous plants from Hirt's. They arrived in completely bedraggled condition. One was out of the pot and had been tossed around until every leaf was broken. The other was dried up and bedraggled and completely distressed. When I contacted them they did respond quickly, however were completely uninterested in replacing the plants. I was basically told to "give them proper care and they will thrive." I have been a gardener for 30 years and had I seen plants in this condition in a nursery I would not buy them. I understand the limitations of shipping live plants, but if they can't do it properly, they should not try. Now seeing the large number of negative reviews on this site I am surprised they can stay in business. Instead they continue to take peoples money, offer a poor product and refuse to rectify the situation.
From Hirt's, I bought 4 Giant "Flamenco Queen" amaryllis bulbs, size 34-36cm. I bought them on Ebay. Hirt's sent bulbs that were much smaller, only size 26-28cm. When I called them and told them that they had sent the incorrect size, they told me that they had sent the correct item, that it was the same but smaller, and that they would not pay my shipping cost to return the items. They wanted me to believe that the fact that they had not sent me Giant bulbs, as advertised, but had sent me much smaller bulbs instead was not their problem. They said if I was unhappy with the bulbs that that was my problem and that I, therefore, had to pay for the shipping to return the bulbs. They are refusing to honor their agreement and they are profiting from their mistake.
I purchased two dwarf Blueberry plants from Hirt's on Amazon. I laughed when they arrived because they gave new meaning to the concept of "dwarf" variety. They were beyond tiny for the price. The Tophat's leaves were dead on one third of the plant. The Pink Lemonade arrived with the most significant growth on the branches broken in half. I wrote to request two new plants. They asked for pictures. I obliged. They wrote back that in both cases, this was normal "stress" from shipping! I argued that in that case, the plant being broken at the base of the plant would also meet that criteria. Again, I requested a new plant. They did refund the Pink Lemonade, but when I left feedback about the experience with Amazon, I began to get what I considered abusive emails from this vendor. Just horrible business practice, and of course, I will never buy from them again.
On Sep 16, 2011, shootingstar13 Hillsboro, OR wrote:
We ordered five varieties of carrots from them--purple dragon, atomic red, white, yellow, and orange. They barely grew at all (they are supposed to be 90 days to harvest and we gave them over 145), and most of the seed turned out to be yellow and white. Not a single purple dragon or red!a
We also bought huckleberry seed, but whatever plant sprouted, it was most certainly not huckleberry/ The berries were utterly unbearable to eat, and I fear, completely poisonous.
Not a single variety of tomato I bought from them sprouted. NEVER EVER BUY FROM THEM!
I ordered three potentilla from Hirt's through Amazon.com and shipping took place very quickly. The plants arrived today in appalling condition -- dried out, spindly, with many yellowed leaves, and lots of roots growing out of the bottom of the containers. In every way, these plants are in deplorable condition. One more day and they would have arrived DOA. I have ordered many plants online over the span of many years, and these plants are some of the worst I have ever encountered. For a cost of nearly $10 each, plus shipping, they were vastly overpriced, even if they had arrived in excellent condition. Plants of this size typically cost around $3.99 in nearly any nursery I have shopped at, even those nurseries whose prices surpass most other places. Instead of covering the soil of the containers with plastic in order to conserve moisture, these plants were shipped with some masking tape applied to the edges of the containers, leaving most of the soil bare. This worthless tape was applied in a sloppy manner -- kind of just stuck here and there along the edges. Why Hirt's bothered to use masking tape is baffling; it served no purpose whatsoever. It was obvious to me that these plants had not been watered prior to shipping and care had not been taken to ensure that they would not be dried out upon receipt of the order. I have no intention of ever ordering another thing from this substandard nursery.
On Aug 4, 2011, ocimum_nate American Fork, UT (Zone 5a) wrote:
Posted on January 15, 2011, updated August 4, 2011
I am really irritated because these guys are using pictures that I have taken scrubbed my name off and never bothered to ask permission to use them. I put up a fuss and they pulled it off of Ebay but I was just looking around and noticed that they are currently using it on amazon.com
Here is the proof.
My picture on flickr /photos/natesplants/4738201871/in/pool-bamboo
Their sales page on amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YMT7V4/ref=s9_simh_gw_p...
On August 4th, 2011, ocimum_nate added the following:
They are also using the picture on their own website as well.
I am really irritated because these guys are using pictures that I have taken scrubbed my name off and never bothered to ask permission to use them. I put up a fuss and they pulled it off of Ebay but I was just looking around and noticed that they are currently using it on amazon.com
Here is the proof.
My picture on flickr
/photos/natesplants/4738201871/in/pool-bamboo
Their sales page on amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003YMT7V4
/ref=s9_simh_gw_p....
They are also using the picture on their own website as well. http://hirts-gardens.hostedbywebstore.com/Green-Panda-Bamboo...
On Jul 26, 2011, astroknot JAMAICA PLAIN, MA wrote:
I ordered several small plants via eBay this year, and while they looked OK in the box, about half of them died soon thereafter. They've also stolen many photos from other gardeners around the web, and refuse to answer questions about their plants on eBay. They have some terrible reviews on Amazon too, detailing incorrect orders, unhealthy plants, and slow shipping.
Even worse than their plants dying has been their attitude and customer service. They wanted me to take photos of the dead plants, the surrounding area, and send detailed reports of how/when I planted them. While I understand they have to assume that some plants die due to gardener error (or just weather and bad luck), when about 50% of them die -- some of them right next to perfectly healthy versions -- there is something else wrong. They were extremely rude in email and refused to answer the phone when I tried to call. Will never use them again and urge others to bypass this ebay "superseller".
Really fast shipping and totally wrong order: Romanesco broccoli seeds not as pictured and not what I ordered. Completely different, not even sure what has grown from the seeds! Can't seem to get them to answer the phone. Obviously, can't return the product--it was planted. Also, can't get this growing season back either. About the most costly buck-and-a-half plus shipping, but overall, a really cheap lesson: I won't buy there again, based on personal experience and all the other negative feedbacks. I should have checked here first!!!
On May 31, 2011, Thomasmcrae62 Marysville, WA wrote:
On 5/26/2011 I purchased lady bugs from Hirts Gardens. I had no other chooses but to choose overnight delivery. Now 5 days later, no bugs. I feel I was taken advantage of. They knowingly charged me for overnight delivery when they had NO intention of mailing it that way. They sent me an email on the 26th stating that my item has shipped. When the item did arrive, postage was not dated until the next day. They still refuse to address this.
Bought a Bhut Jolokia plant from Hirts this year and in a previous year what was suppose to be Carribean Red Habenaro's---------They just weren't the right plants . Will never buy from them again !!!!
On Sep 25, 2010, hammonds80 Middlefield, OH wrote:
I have ordered from them twice. Both times received plants that did not look good. Have now received an email telling me to remove my bad comments. If I do, they will replace a plant. The point is that I would like to receive nice looking plants. Good customer service f they offer to replace a plant but you still get poor marks for send poor plants in the first place. I get amazing shipments form Jade Point Succulents.
I made a huge mistake in not researching this company or reading this group of postings prior to purchasing my plants. I purchased 8 bhut jolokia/ghost chili plants from Hirts in the spring of 2010. All but one is doing great but that is not my complaint. THEY ARE NOT BHUT JOLOKIA/GHOST CHILI PLANTS. They are all habaneros and when I confronted them about it, they stood by their word that they were indeed bhut jolokias and that they get their seeds from and I quote 'one of the most respected seed houses in the USA'. This is obviously not the case at all because not only did I get the incorrect plants, so did a whole lot of other folks. Hopefully this will find others before they make the same mistake. There are plenty of other places to purchase REAL ghost chili plants and I strongly advise you, especially if you actually want what you buy, DO NOT BUY FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!
On Jun 20, 2010, lytkinedennis Staten Island, NY wrote:
On there ebay store i bought a yucca and an ensete. I made a big mistake. The plants i got came quickly but were both less than the size of a penny. These quickly rotted in my well draining soil because these came right out of tissue culture and had no roots.
I couldn't leave negative feedback or open a case because ebay protects these so called power sellers
On May 28, 2010, jleigh Ballston Lake, NY (Zone 5a) wrote:
Posted on July 6, 2008, updated May 28, 2010
Fool me once, shame on you... fool me twice, shame on me...
This month marked the third order I have placed with this company. After the first two I was a bit reluctant, but the seeds I ordered are quite difficult to find elsewhere and were on sale.
Shipping and Handling was close to five dollars for a $0.20 bubble mailer and not even $1 first class postage.
The quantity of seed offered is not worth the price they are charging. (But once again, there aren't a lot of sellers offering some of the peppers and perennials I have ordered.) In some cases I have received commercial packets of seed from Hirt's, where the MSRP was quite a bit lower than what I paid. Not to mention the relatively low germination rate on some of the vegetable seed.
I did receive my order in full and haven't had to contact customer service for any reason. However my second order was shipped nearly two weeks after they emailed me to tell me it was coming.
When I finally got it I found that they had included a note asking for "POSITIVE seller feedback". An entire packet of irish moss seeds didn't even germinate, but I'm letting it go because it would be more of a nightmare to talk to a representative than it would be to buy the seeds elsewhere.
All in all, I would only purchase seeds from this company if I couldn't find these seeds elsewhere. It may take longer to search for the items, but in the long run you'll have less of a headache.
On May 28th, 2010, jleigh added the following:
Like I stated previously, they have seeds and plants that are hard to get around here... and ship them (sometimes) quickly.
However the germination rates on my last order from them was almost laughable... if I hadn't spent $2.99 for a packet of 10 tomato seeds. Customer service is difficult to deal with, and the plants I received died before the end of the season. The tomatoes I ordered didn't even flower before kicking the bucket. (The other plants, hardy geraniums and coral bells aren't hard to keep alive and I have entire flower beds full of both... no fault here.)
I'd say if you are really wanting of a specific pepper/tomato plant (etc) than you can try Hirt's, just be aware you may be disappointed
Posted on April 10, 2003, updated May 4, 2010
I purchased a four pack of pepper plants from this company on ebay a few days ago. They arrived today. Very fast shipping and nice healthy plants. They were well packed in a tiny box with no damage to any of the young plants. The soil was still moist. I am very impressed. I've since ordered many more plants from them, both on ebay and at their online site. If the rest of my plants are as nice as the ones I received today, they have a new customer for life. I found their website to be addicting. They have a wonderful selection of common and not so common vegetable varieties. They definately get a "Thumbs Up" from me.
On April 20th, 2008, debles added the following:
I ordered many tomato and pepper plants from them this spring. All of them arrived healthy and strong.
I was amazed that they were all in great shape because of the way they were packed, but once again I was thrilled to get heirloom plants, shipped quickly and at a decent price. On May 4th, 2010, debles changed the rating from positive to negative and added the following:
Since I had good experiences in the past, I chose to order my pepper plants, some eggplant and one odd tomato plant from them this year through Ebay.
Still waiting for the pepper plants but not holding my breath.
The tiny eggplant seedlings and dead tomato plant arrived today. It was an orange purple smudge tomato that they charged just under $6 for plus shipping. It was lying completely dead in a box of styrofoam peanuts along with the 4-pack of eggplant seedlings.
After inquiring about the pepper plants, they've assured me that they will ship them today.
I ordered 4 pepper plants someplace else, just in case the ones from Hirts arrive dead like the tomato.
Don't plan to purchase from them again in the future. There are too many other providers who at least make an effort to fill orders properly and pack well for shipping.
They have stolen my bristlecone bonsai photo and used it without permission on two separate occasions on multiple sales websites each time! I have even asked them not to do so. Very dishonest! No company who commits intellectual property theft should be trusted.
We spent $86 before shipping totals and bought through their eBay store, last spring. Here are two pictues of what we recieved (you'll need to copy and paste the links in the address bar above): /photos/35954859@N03/4478463244/ /photos/35954859@N03/4478463230/
After fighting with paypal (Hirts refused to talk to us about it), we were told that nothing could be done.
The red hot pokers were fine, if tiny, but everything else died before the season was out (we have a lovely bed full of healthy plants - we were not to fault).
Would never even consider ordering from them again.
On Mar 23, 2010, manuretea Medina, OH (Zone 5b) wrote:
I ordered Dr. Earths Organic Citrus Fertilizer from their Hirts Garden site. After waiting two weeks I received Espoma Citrus with a Dr. Earth's UPC sticker over the Espoma one.
There wasn't any return info or invoice so I called Allan Hirt. He said they didn't do it and all fertilizers are chemicals. I have not been able to return the product for a refund and it seems Hirt's doesn't care! I live within ten miles of Hirts and had shopped there for two decades. I do not like their new irresponsible attitude and will not shop there again! I thought tampering with product labels was illegal.
On Mar 23, 2010, Hirt's Gardens (formerly Hirt's Greenhouse & Flowers) responded with:
"I have not worked for Hirt's Greenhouse & Flowers for over 6 years. The purchase she is referring to was actually purchased directly from Amazon.com and must be returned to them for the refund. She purchased the Espoma Citrus Food by mistake instead of the Dr. Earth Citrus Food.
On Mar 17, 2010, gilligansroomie Millsboro, DE wrote:
Buyer Beware- I wish I would have researched her before I purchased from them. There are so many other Honest and reliable companies to work with, why choose one that is about 50/50 with good and bad feedback? Is your garden and time worth a 50/50 shot? I ordered several tomato plants from Hirt's and selected a delivery date of May 1, so that I was able to plant them when it was time. March 2, I had a box arrive to me with the plants in them, 2 MONTHS early. I was offered a refund, but only if I PAID FOR SHIPPING the plants back to them. Not my fault, should not be at my expense. Did not respond to my emails, POOR Customer Service!!! Like I said there are so many other Honest and reliable companies to work with, why choose one that is about 50/50 with good and bad feedback? Is your garden and time worth a 50/50 shot? Mine isn't. Shop elsewhere.
I ordered several packages of seed from Hirt's - in particular, broccoli romanesco. When the seeds sprouted, I was skeptical about having the correct seed. Well, they had mislabled the seed and it grew out to be dinosaur kale! Of course, this is a much more common and less expensive seed. I contacted the company by e-mail, and got no response. I then checked Dave's Garden (which I should have done first) and saw all the negative responses. I believe all I got was a bait-and-switch routine and in my opinion this company is dishonest.
*Please think twice about ordering from Hirt's Seeds!!!*
I purchased a "P. lutea" from Hirts Greenhouse; I was very happy to receive it as I had lost my other plant to a fungal attack. I received that plant and it did indeed look to be P. lutea....until it flowered. The ping labeled as P. lutea is purple flowered which either means I have a super rare P. lutea (yeah right) or Hirts sent me a misidentified plant. I contacted hirts and was told to send my order and payment information along with an image of the ping in question. I submitted all the evidence and got such a short reply "Our grower assures us the plant is lutea" So fundamentally Hirts when presented with indisputable evidence will not do anything to resolve a mistake on their part. It is my suggestion all davesgardens members refrain from purchasing from Hirts. Matt Hirt is indeed a poor owner/grower/businessman and has no issues with committing what amounts to fraud - take this from someone in the Horticulture industry DO NOT buy from Hirts Greenhouse you might not get what you ordered and the quality of the plants you do receive is no where comparable to the price paid.
I am an experienced gardener. Ordered 100 saffron crocus bulbs. Received in fall 2008. Planted. Assured excellent drainage, etc. This year 2009, no bloom! I have other types of bulbs all over the property and in raised boxes, behind fences to keep pests away etc. These are all winners year after year. Crocus - nothing.
I had ordered a few GHOST PEPPER PLANTS online from HIRT'S. Paid with my credit card and got the plants. I had put a lot of time and effort in growing these pepper plants. A few months had gone by, my plants are starting to have peppers. But the bad thing is that I realize they were not as hot as I thought it should have been. Then I do some research and realize it was not ghost pepper they had sent me. I had called and the lady told me to send the pictures and my information straight to the owners email. Which I did. The owner respond to my email, stating that i need to send the plants back and my proof of purchase. So I reply to the email stating that i have no problem sending them there plants back but i don't have my proof of purchase because it have been at least 3-6 months long. I mean how was I suppose to know that they ship me the wrong plants and therefore I need to keep my receipt for 3 to 6 months. So i asked them if they keep there records for that long, if they think I should still have mine. In that case they should check their record for my purchase. They reply to me saying that they will not issue a refund if i don't have proof of purchase. These people are very bad business. DON'T BUY FROM THEM!!!!!!!
what is with the horrible service? when you ask a question, you are lucky to get an answer, and when you do, it is a short rude response. matt hirt should consider being a little more professional since he is representing his company with his succint and gruff replies!
On Aug 25, 2009, RebloominRose Holbrook, AZ wrote:
I bought six OSO easy roses from Hirt's. Two arrived dead--dried up!--and the others looked pretty roughed up. I contacted them and they said that I needed to take pictures. Well, I am behind the times and don't have a camera, particularly a digital one. They would not refund or make any other suggestions without pictures. I feel that their customer service really is awful. Basically they called me a liar. Never will I buy from them again!
On Aug 13, 2009, habanero500 Spring Valley, CA wrote:
I have many friends who like to grow chiles. This past growing season I have had 4 people contact me to identify their plants. All of the plants were not the species they were supposed to be. All of them were purchased from Hirts through E Bay. I already got the wrong plants from them myself this year. They sold me 4 Bonda Ma Jaques habanero plants that were not Bonda Ma Jaques. I did get a refund. But now I fear my 12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia plants are not what they are. I still have to wait to see pepper pods. My friend on the east Coast bought the same plants and they are all another species. I talked with a woman from Illinois who tried twice to get Scotch Bonnet and both times got the wrong plants. Another man from Ohio purchased Bhut Jolokia that is not Bhut Jolokia and my friend from LA also now has discovered she has the wrong plants. So far I am the only one that got a refund. Hirts refuses to give a refund to these others. They swear they have the correct seed. But what kind of nursery makes this many errors!!! I truly believe they do not have the correct chile pepper seed and know it. They count on the E Bay transaction being too old, because it will take awhile before your chile plants bear fruit. So if my 12 Chocolate Bhut Jolokia plants turn out to be something else I will sue them. I sell rare chiles for high dollar so I have the right to sue them for wasting my time. So if you are mad here is another thing you can do. Most states require Agricultural paperwork to ship live plants. Find out if this applies to your state. If so report them. The fines they will pay will be far more than the money they make by not making a refund!!!
