Comments regarding Breck's Bulbs

I haven't ordered from Breck's since the mid-1990's. At that time, they weren't any better or any worse than any other company. What's stopped my patronage is Breck's prices: Even with coupons and discounts, they simply charge too much for what they offer.

I ordered about $25 worth of a combination of alliums and daffodils through Breck's Bulbs. Boy was that a mistake!!!! When the bulbs arrived, half of the alliums were missing in the sealed package and the daffodils were much smaller than I would have expected. The alliums that did arrive were of sub-par quality. Some have rotted and totally dried out. So I was left with 15 good alliums to plant. Mind you, I ordered 50 of them. ANYONE ORDERING FROM BRECK'S SHOULD BE CAUTIONED. You will do so much better by going to a local Home Depot or Lowe's and buy better quality bulbs than ordering from Breck's.

I ordered a vast array of bulbs,etc. All arrived in excellent condition. All were healthy and well packaged. I would definitely recommend them and will surely order from them again.

I ordered approximately 500 bulbs from Brecks for a little garden club I have at work. They were delivered when expected and were all nice healthy bulbs except one particular type of tulip which was a little moldy and soft. I called the company (they were easy to reach) and they agreed to ship out replacements, no hassle. I will definitely buy again from Brecks.

Ordered a bunch of tulips and daffodils using coupons received by email. All of the bulbs arrived in good shape. Sizes match the stated sizes in the catalog. Customer service by email was pretty good, receiving replies within two or three days. Web site order tracking needs major overhaul -- a cancelled order continues to show up as "processing".

I ordered after receiving a free coupon before I found the Garden Watchdog on DG. The comments here concerned me and I emailed the company. The response I got was a bit slow (it took about a week for them to write back) and generic but it was polite. A reply email with further questions didn't receive a response.

I then phoned the company. I spoke with a nice representative who let me know when my product shipped and gave me assurances about the quality guarantee. At this point it was wait and see. The customer service I received was polite, but reactive rather than proactive. I didn't receive any shipping notices etc.

My bulbs did all arrive. The order was correct, the bulbs were in good condition and the appropriate size and I will see how they bloom next year. I am not expecting problems from what I have seen.

They arrived a bit later than I expected but not excessively so. I had read the shipping schedule and wasn't expecting the order till mid October. I got the product the end of October.

Breck's does seem to be quite a bit more expensive than some of the other companies. I wish that I had known that beforehand but I can't fault Breck's. The prices are clearly listed and I choose to buy. Shame on me for not being a more savvy shopper. In the future I think I will probably stick with other suppliers. There seem to be much better prices for the same product elsewhere for at least the same level of quality and service.

Be aware that this company does not refund postage even if the product they send is unusable. I received some bearded Iris and they arrived completely dessicated. I called the company and they immediately said that, of course, they would send replacements right away. Unfortunately, the Iris were not sent and it is too late to plant them now. I wrote them again and asked for a refund, which they were willing to give me, BUT they were NOT willing to refund postage even though the plants had not been usable from the beginning. The policy should be more clearly stated since it seems unusual and not in the interest of the consumer.

I have done a lot of business with Breck's over the last 2 years. I have done a lot of business with other bulb suppliers, too. Breck's definitely has higher prices, but some of their bulbs seem to be better quality. On the other hand, some of their bulbs never grow and others grow very small. Sometimes I get a shipment with a moldy bulb or two, but I've read elsewhere that it shouldn't matter as it will go away after the bulbs are planted. I've had "mixed" bulbs that turned out to not be much of a mix at all. I even ordered something marked for my zone which I have since discovered isn't hardy in this zone after all. I think I received some free lily bulbs in a shipment one time, I guess for being a good customer. I don't think Breck's is either good or bad. I just shop around and see who has the majority of the bulbs that I want to buy and buy just those bulbs from just one place to save on shipping. Sometimes that place is Breck's. Sometimes it's not.

Brecks is the first mail order company I have used for ordering bulbs. I was excited about the $25 dollar coupon. I placed my order mid-September and received my order mid-October. I was dissapointed when I opened the box and could immediately smell mold. Many of the bulbs in the order were moldy. I called the company (they need a toll-free number) and the customer service representative was very kind, and stated they would rush another order out. She said to either dispose of the bulbs I currently have or I could plant them to see if they would grow. Now I'll just wait and see how long it takes to get the replacement order and also hope they are in good condition.

Just want to say 'Thanks' for the free bulbs. I used the $ 25 free products coupon with no charge. The replete daffodils bulbs arrived in the right time and they looks amazing. Big and healthy. They also has some 'extras' bulbs around them so I got more that what I ordered. The nicest bulbs I got so far.
Thanks. Saviera & Tim Goslin

Used Breck's $25 'no strings attached' gift certificate. Received three 'Nerone' Asiatic liy bulbs free of charge as the order came to less than $25. Bulbs are big, fat and healthy. Order arrived on time for planting. I'm very satisfied with Breck's. Will definitely order again.

Is this the worst experience with Breck's yet? They OVER charged my credit card by $155.09! I ordered $50.83 in merchandise then used a $25 online coupon. My total should've been $25.82 - I was charged $180.91. My e-mail order confirmation states this total. I am waiting to see a positive resoloution to this. (Luckily, I have a good credit card company that I should be able to work out a charge back with.)

The bulbs take a really long time to arrive. This time around, they seem small. I've been able to find most of the bulbs I am interested in at local stores around me and for less money. (Tulips don't grow well in my area, so I like to stick to the Daffs, Crocuses, and Irises.)

I ordered Anemones, Tulips and Crocuses using their enticing coupon for free goodies (Buy $25 and get $25 worth free). I ordered in May, they cashed my check and mailed me a card saying to expect my bulbs Sept 8-Oct 8. Today is Oct 15 and I have seen neither hide nor hair of my order. I emailed them and they said they have to come from Holland and pass through customs, blah, blah, blah. They added that they have til Oct 31st to deliver my order. Seeing how they KNEW all this PRIOR to accepting my order and cashing my check, WHY did they wait sooooooo long to send for my order!!! I will NEVER order from this company again. It is yet to be seen if I will actually get my order or not and/or how much difficulty I will have getting a refund for my non-received order!! This is to me the same as Direct Gardening--they offer and promise a LOT and deliver very LITTLE!! I recently ordered with a group of people all over the nation from Brent & Becky's Bulbs and even though I had to wait for the person who ordered (lives in Tx-I in SC) to ship[ them on to me I have received those and planted them!! I am VERY happy with Brent & Becky's Bulbs and WILL order again!! In fact, I have a new order all ready to go when I have the funds!!!

Like many others, I took advantage of Breck's coupon offer to give me the "most for my buck". At the same time, I placed orders with several other companies with similar offers. Then my orders started to arrive. I was pretty exicted, but my Brecks order hadn't arrived yet. I was going over my credit card statement and noticed that along with the other companies, Brecks had already billed my CC. This would have been ok if it had just happened, but their billing was at the same time as the other companies, the ones whos stuff I had already gotten. I called thier customer service line (at my own expense, come on guys, where is your 800 number?) to find out what the deal was and where my order was! After some major confusion about my account number, they tried to track my order from my credit card. Even that had some major confusion. The CSR eventually located my order (to my relief) and then told me that of the 8 items I ordered, 4 had been substituted. I was pretty upset, especially since I had ordered about 2 months prior, not exactly end of season pickings... When trying to figure out what I was getting, we relized that the online product numbers were different than the catalog product numbers and I was still getting everything I had originally ordered. This made me feel better, but not over the top customer service here. Then it was back to my original question, "Where's my stuff?" The CSR checked some tracking number and told me it had just been unloaded from the cargo ship from Holland and that was as far as she could track it, but it should be on its way and to give it at least another week. I told myself if it hadn't arrived by the next weekend, I was calling my CC to hold payment until the order arrived (this is why I ALWAYS use a credit card to order online!). Just 2 days after talking to Breck's, my order arrived. Everything looked ok, even though the USPS decided to try and shove the box into my mailbox. I opened the box to go through everything and the bulbs looked fine. Being a newbie to gardening, I can't vouch for size, but they all seemed comparable to everything else I ordered. Actually, many of the tulips bulbs have a second large bulb slightly attached to them, hopefully giving me two flowers instead of one! Would I order from this company again, I am undecided. I will continue to get their cataglog, for the displays are great and it give me some ideas, but I might search other companies to buy from instead. I will update about quality of the plants in the spring, when we see if everything grows and blooms.

I received a catalog from Brecks this past April, and thinking I was ordering bulbs that I would receive within a couple of weeks, put in about a $40 order for bulbs. Well, it wasn't until well into spring I realized that the order wasn't going to get here until AFTER August - so much for the lilies I wanted to plant this summer.

In mid September, I emailed their customer service asking where my order was, they replied that I could expect my shipment anytime between mid October and mid December. Here in zone 5 I like to get bulbs in no later than mid October because you never know when you're going to get snow. I emailed customer service back and said that if I didn't receive the shipment by mid October, then they could cancel it.

Well, I received the shipment of bulbs the first week in October. The bulbs were packaged OK, but I many were small and I noticed a number of bulbs with bruises and with the paperskin falling off - they certainly didn't live up to the advertised description. I planted all of them immediately. Well see if they come up next year.

Would I order from Brecks again? Probably not - unless they had something I REALLY had to have and couldn't find it anywhere else. I don't feel the product lives up to it's advertisement, and having been in business for myself - their customer service needs a lot of work.

I ordered this year with a $20-off coupon, and received my bulbs (allium and ipheion) on October 6. The bulbs look fine, and are the size advertised. However, I consider Breck's to be severely overpriced without the coupon - I can get bulbs of this size/quality or better from at least two other bulb companies, at a much lower price.

Like another member I too ordered OL with a credit card, ordering in early August with expected ship date of Sept 20th 2004 to coincide with other plants coming in- with bulbs to be underplanted. Lo and behold, after 2 e-mails, find out that the bulbs haven't even shipped and now it's October 1st and being told cannot cancel order and will be 3-8 weeks before delivery! No where do they warn "customers" of the delivery calendar. I will NEVER order from these people again and strongly encourage others NOT to BUY from them. In seeing their opening statement- kinda fits the pattern- had terrible response to e-mails, poor shipments (some plants arrived out of their pots; others arrived not as advertised) and now have dead plantings from Springhill and Michigan Bulb- so much for their customer service and of course they can offer 100% guarantee on their plants- they don't respond to compliants!

I just received 100 bulbs (mainly Allium) and they all looked good. Some of them were very tiny, despite their claims that they send BIG bulbs ?!? But I liked the ventilated packaging because it was well labeled. Of course we'll see how they bloom next year. I'll let you know.

I ordered 12 lily bulbs somethime in June. Some bulbs were smaller than others, but all were acceptable size. All the bulbs arrived well packaged and in excellent condition. The bulbs were shipped when the company claimed they would be shipped (I received them late September). If the price is right I will order from them again.

About 15 years ago I dealt with this company when I lived in another state and received satisfactory service. Boy, have they changed. I order some bulbs for fall planting on August 29, 2004. I ordered online using a credit card. I figured I would get them faster that way. So this week I emailed them and asked when to expect delivery. Well, they said not for 8 to 10 weeks. That puts the bulbs here sometime mid-November. Too late to plant. Ground will be frozen by them. No luck with customer service. I told Customer service they should tell their customers that it will take FOREVER to get the bulbs. I am on a fixed income and have little money to spend on bulbs and now won't have any for spring flowering.

I place two orders with Breck's this spring and experienced difficulty with both of them. They were having problems pulling orders off of the internet and processing them, so my bulbs came late after I made a phone call. They were polite and gave me a discount after we figured out what was going wrong.
I gave them the benefit of the doubt and place another order for summer bulbs. That was a mistake. Half of the begonias I ordered turned out to be duds, they sent me the wrong dahlias, and two dinnerplate dahlia bulbs were shriveled upon arrival. They quickly refunded some of my money after I placed a call and customer service was polite, but I won't be placing orders with them following these inconveniences.

Beware! Does not honor coupons listed on Web site. Ordered plants on 5/10 with a "$20 off coupon on any order" as listed on Web site. All the information was filled and order was confirmed. After several emails they tell me the coupon is not valid and I will have to reorder at full price and expect shipment next Spring. Never had the courtesy to contact me.

Order placed and received. Items in good condition. Planted and bloomed well. Would order from again.

DECOBUG

I wish I had found this website last year!! I first tried a grab bag of bulbs advertised on Gardens Alive, almost none of the tulips came - I thought maybe it was b/c it was a discount bag. So I gave them a second chance and placed a large order of dahlias, begonias & the geranium & mum collections this spring....it took weeks and weeks! It was a disaster keeping the spots weeded for the bulbs and mulching around everything. Like other people here I called (3 times) for information and was told they were shipped from Holland, but could get no information/confirmation. I never got an email that things were back-ordered. As a result many of the bulbs won't make it, it is mid-June and I am missing color in large parts of my garden. In fact they just shipped the mums in JUNE, >2 months after I ordered! Customer service was also not helpful and clearly doesn't know a thing about gardening!

I have read several of the other reviews for this company written by gardeners who also ordered bulbs around February 2004. I want to state that my experience with Brecks has been completely similar to the last reviewer's, in that the bulbs never arrived in the time frame specified, and the customer service people kept telling me that the bulbs were in transit from the Netherlands. I was corresponding with them via e-mail, as they do not have a toll-free customer service number, and the e-mails took over a week, and never seemed to clearly answer the questions I asked. I would then write back to clarify what they had told me, and wait another week for an answer almost as bad as the first e-mail. I finally received a phone call two weeks into May (too late to be receiving the bulbs), stating that they had misaddressed my package of Glads, and the post office had been unable to deliver them. I was very upset, and asked them if they could trace the package. I was told that I had only two option: a credit, or I could wait until 2005 for my Gladiola bulbs. I told the rep that neither of these was satisfatory, and that I wanted the bulbs I ordered now. I asked if there was a supervisor that I could speak to, but I was told there was not. I called back later to see if anyone else might provide better customer service. I spoke to a much more understanding rep, but she could do no more than tell me that there was no USPS tracking #, but she gave me the Brecks tracking # for the package, which of course did me no good. Brecks did not even know where my package was, and was not willing to re-ship it if it came back to them. A week later I received 1/2 of an order of iris which was supposed to have arrived in mid March. The bulbs had all sprouted, and there was no notification as to why only half the order was shipped. I sent an e-mail inquiring and two weeks later got half a reply. I will also never order from Brecks Bulbs after these experiences. And, when I told them so, they did not seemed very concerned.

I PURCHASED BULBS FROM BRECK'S BEFORE GARDENS ALIVE BOUGHT THE COMPANY. MY BULBS WERE LARGE, FRESH, AND BLOOMED BEYOND MY EXPECTATIONS. SO, I DECIDED TO ORDER FROM THEM AGAIN. I DIDN'T REALIZE THE COMPANY HAD BEEN SOLD AND I MUST ADMIT, MY SECOND ORDER WAS "OKAY"--CERTAINLY NOT UP TO PARR WITH MY FIRST ORDER. I DECIDED TO GIVE THEM ONE MORE TRY. I ORDERED IN FEB. OF 2004. MY ORDER WAS SUPPOSED TO ARRIVE ON OR AROUND 4/16 FOR EARLY SPRING PLANTING. MAY ARRIVED, WITH NO SIGN OF THE BULBS. I WROTE AN E-MAIL ASKING THE COMPANY NOT TO SEND THE BULBS AND TOLD THEM THEY DID NOT HAVE MY PERMISSION TO CHARGE MY CREDIT CARD. IT IS WAY TOO LATE TO PLANT SPRING BULBS IN MY ZONE. 2 DAYS LATER, THE BULBS ARRIVED--IN HORRID CONDITION. AT LEAST HALF OF THE BULBS WERE DISEASED OR MOLDY. NOT TO MENTION MOST OF THEM ARE EARLY SPRING AND SUMMER FLOWERING, SO I'M NOT EXPECTING MUCH OF A SHOW. THE COMPANY E-MAILED ME (AFTER I HAD RECIEVED MY PACKAGE) ASSURING ME MY ORDER SHIPPED 4/16, FROM THE NETHERLANDS AND HAD TO GO THROUGH US CUSTOMS AND THAT THE ORDER COULD TAKE UP TO FIVE TO SIX WEEKS TO SHIP. SO MUCH FOR THE "GARUNTEED TO ARRIVE JUST AT THE RIGHT PLANTING TIME". IT IS MUCH TOO LATE. THE ONLY REASON MY REVIEW WAS NOT NEGATIVE WAS BECAUSE I DID HAVE A POSITIVE 1ST ORDER, AND THE COMPANY E-MAILED ME BACK. BUT, I WARN THAT THIS COMPANY HAS DOWN-WARD SPIRALED SINCE GARDENS ALIVE TOOK OVER AND I WILL NEVER ORDER FROM THEM AGAIN, NOR RECCOMEND THEM TO ANYONE.

I ordered 5 items from this company. The Columbines were large & healthy, & they gave me 3 of each variety. The Hardy Dutch Astilbe was also big & healthy. The catalog shows 4 Astilbe colors in the ad, but I received 2 plants. So I don't know what colors the Astilbe are! The Achimenes (three) & Lilafee Epimedium (one) were small & disappointing. I guess it just depends on the specific plant that you order from this company.

My boyfriend purchased almost $90 worth of bulbs from Brecks last year for our anniversary. The bulbs arrived
at the perfect time in the fall for planting in Idaho. They were in plastic bags with holes, (perfect for bulbs)and they were shipped in a cardboard box. I received a booklet outlining the proper care for the bulbs aswell. The flowers this spring are BEAUTIFUL!!! Every single one flourished. I have had many experiences with other mail order companies. I have received moldy bulbs that didn't do a darn thing.....not from Brecks though. Kudos for a job well done to the people at Brecks. I would highly recommend this company for quality bulbs.

There is no such thing as a free lunch. I used the $20 off coupon last fall and ordered an Amaryllis and Snow Crocus Bulbs. The $16 Amaryllis bloomed for Easter and will bloom again soon- it took much longer than my $4 Chain Store Amaryllis (that bloomed for Christmas). My snow crocus bulbs never bloomed or had leaves- I believe they were rotten. As a novice gardener, I could have been dissapointed by my unrealistic expectations, which is why I leave a neutral rating.

I never ordered from Breck's, but just looking at the catalog warns me. Some of the pictures are obviously messed with. Who has ever seen a pure pink, not salmon, daffodil? If you want good bulbs, try sellsonic, I work for the company that supplies to them

Took advantage of the $20 off coupon, and ordered several gladiolas bulbs, and 9 columbine. The columbine were all healthy root stock & appear to be growing well. I did not have a chance to plant the gladiolas bulbs until about a week after they arrived (they were stored in my garage in the meantime), and most had mold on the bulbs at that point. As I'm not sure that's how they arrived, I'm leaving neutral feedback instead of negative, but even with the $20 off coupon, I still feel the quality of merchandise was lacking & for most items, local retail supply chains offer better merchandise for cheaper prices. Some of the bulbs were very large, but there were also medium & small sized bulbs, and if they have mold on them, they probably won't come up anyway, so the size doesn't really matter anyway. I've ordered from this company on previous occasions, and afterwards I always feel there are much better places to order from. With the coupon, you can get a decent deal on some of the items, but its something of a gamble too.

Last year, I received an email with a coupon from Breck's. I roder four Peony for free. After a cold winter, all of them sprouted fine. Although it's not blooming time yet, I think they'll do fine. With this experience, I will definitely order form again in the future.

I ordered Parrot Tulips from this company last summer with a "20 Dollars off your order" coupon I received with the catalog. The catalog was beautiful and they really bragged about the size and quality of the bulbs so I decided to use the coupon and since the bulbs and the shipping were under 20 dollars I got them for free. I still feel ripped off. The bulbs were okay when received but to be honest I was a little dissappointed, I have gotten better bulbs at a discount chain. But again they were free so I figured maybe they would dazzle me come Spring. Wrong again. Out of the 15 bulbs only 4 have come up and they are about 6 inches tall with no signs of the other 10 following suit. I have made multiple attempts to contact Breck's with no response. They claim to have a "refund or replacement" policy but I don't seem to be privy to that. I wouldn't mind a replacement but at this point I wouldn't ever spend actual money with them. This was the first time I had purchased any bulbs or plants through the mail. I am a little jaded now. Maybe I should just stick with the garden centers and feed stores in my area.

Breck's is not a company that we've come to rely on for high quality bulbs despite their catalog claims. There are definitely better sources out there (Van Engelen & Brent and Becky's Bulbs for example).
We ordered daffodils & hyacinths during the summer of 2003 for shipment in the fall. When we received the bulbs, we discovered that the synonym for Hyacinth 'Red Rocket' which we presumed to be unique was actually the readily available and dead-common Hyacinth 'Jan Bos' (written in tiny script beneath the package label). Nowhere in their catalogs or websites did we find any reference to that fact. Had we known the truth, we would never have ordered these bulbs. Eight of the thirty daffodils we ordered were rotten which we were given credit for over the phone.
We've sent a letter to the company to ask them to either use the accepted cultivar name for Hyacinth 'Jan Bos' or make it clear in their catalogs & websites that Hyacinth 'Red Rocket' is a synonym for H. 'Jan Bos'.

I ordered from Breck's for the first time this year, and so far so good. I took advantage of their $25 off coupon. The bulbs did arrive kind of late, but fortunately I had a brief warm window in which to get them into the ground. The bulbs were very large in size (as promised), and none appeared to have any decay. My order was completed properly. Now it's just a matter of waiting a few more months to see how everything comes up! But at this point, I have no reason to believe it won't go very well.

In the summer of 2002 I ordered a variety of bulbs from Breck's. They arrived well after our ground was too frozen to plant and under 2' of snow. There was a problem with the order, and they sent an unacceptable substitute for one of the requests, which they admittedly compensated me for. However, the remaining bulbs were unable to be planted until the spring. Only 2 of about 100 bulbs came up, and only 1 flowered which turned out to be the wrong type. I contacted the company repeatedly and they sent gift certificates to use for the fall of 2003, which I did, making sure to send in the order very early. Above and beyond the certificates I owed them 58 cents, so I sent a check for that amount. They sent back a check for 58 cents and cancelled the order without telling me. After several attempts to contact them, they sent the complaint to Henry Fields, a company which has yet to respond to my last email in November 2003 explaining that I want a full refund for the certificates that got cancelled out of hand, not bulbs which would obviously arrive way beyond too late for planting another year.

I ordered from Breck's for the first time this past fall. The $20 coupon convinced me to at least give them a try. So far everything is good, bulbs were big and appeared healthy, but it's too soon to see how they come up. The neutral rating is just for now, I'll update once I see what comes up!

I placed a spring bulb order 7/03. Customer Service responded to e-mails promptly, and was very courteous. My order arrived on time, in 2 shipments, and was complete. My only complaint is that 3 of the Emerald City Tulip bulbs were moldy. Their guarantee clearly states that if the customer is not satisfied upon receipt, a replacement or refund will be issued. I e-mailed Customer Service and asked to be reimbursed for the 3 bulbs, since by the time the shipment would arrive, the season for planting spring bulbs would be over. The customer service rep replied "It is not uncommon for the bulbs to have storage mold on them" and I was advised to plant them. I planted all the bulbs after refrigerating them for 2 days. I will update my entry in the spring when they bloom.

Ordered a lot of daffodils this year, bulbs were a little late but all were great, large and solid. I used one of their $25 dollar off coupons and felt I got a great deal, would recomend this company to anyone. :)