Comments regarding Gurney's Seed & Nursery

Their packing is terrible. I ordered two grape vines, and two high-bush blueberries. They arrived in a box about a foot on a side and 4 feet high, with an apple tree which I had not ordered -- all of them just thrown in the box so they shook around here and there during their journey. The roots weren't even bagged, they were totally loose. Branches were broken; it was a mess.

One of the grape vines didn't leaf out, so I thought it was dead, and repeated emails to them produced no result. I finally dropped the matter after a month, figuring I was the better for the deal because of the "free" apple tree. As it turned out, the grape leafed after a month and a half.

My negative experience with Gurney's started when I placed an order on 2/15/05 for an American Linden tree. The plant was expensive, but the $25 coupon made it more affordable.
When the large package arrived on 2/25 I was horrified to find the tree broken in half!! I called the company that day to complain and the service rep. took the order for replacement and said it would arrive 1 week later via UPS. She tried to blame the damage on the mail service. That is however impossible since the package was in perfect shape with not a scratch or dent upon it. I have to assume a packer took the tree, which was nearly 5 foot tall and simply BROKE it in half to fit into the smaller cardboard box!!

When the replacement didn't arrive, I called back on 3/15 and was told the tree would be shipped.

On 3/24 I called back to see what the problem was and was informed that the plant was still in stock and would be sent out soon. Jean assured me she'd give this matter her personal attention.

Personal attention nonewithstanding, the order still had not arrived by 3/30/05. I called to complain to a supervisor, having tired of being lied to by several service reps and was informed that Gurney's does not let customers talk to supervisors anymore, but I could leave a comment on their website.

I cancelled my order and received a refund. I will never, ever order from this company or it's subsidiary again. Not only was my merchandise willfully damaged, but I - the paying customer - was disrespected and lied to, for no particular reason as far as I can see. The last time I called the plant was in stock and no explanation was ever given why the replacement had never shipped out. Beware of this company and it's so-called service reps! And the worst part of this truly annoying experience was that the original tree was an absolutely beautiful specimen, a stunning healthy tree which would have been a wonderful addition to my landscape! Shame on Gurney's!!

I ordered 5 rose bushes from this company & was very pleased with the results, I received them when they promised & they were very healthy plants & were loaded with flowers this year. I also ordered seeds & received them in a timly fashion . I will order from them again.

I ordered some seeds in late August and received them promptly. I day later I got a letter explaining that my credit card charge had not gone through but they had decided to send my order anyway and would I please contact them. I called on Labor Day and got through immediately to a very pleasant person who helped me find the problem. (I had incorrectly entered my expiration date). I was very impressed with their service and will definitely order from them again.

Ordered 5 items May 23rd. Web site said live plants ship till mid-June, and no indication online they would not ship quickly. Not long after this, however, I received an email saying they were backed up and to expect a couple of weeks delay. I was very miffed - not so much at the delay itself, but at receiving this information AFTER I placed the order. It would take all of five minutes to put this information on the online shipping schedule page, and any truly customer-centric company would do so as a matter of course. Is it that Gurney's doesn't have a clue about customer service or that they were afraid of losing orders if customers were aware of the delays up front? Neither is a good thing, and the latter, if that is the case, is flat out misleading people - the shipping information given on the site was simply false.

In truth I would not have placed the order had I known of the delay, so Gurney's got my order because the delay information was withheld. If that was in fact their motive for withholding it, though, it isn't very smart, because I won't order from them again if they can't bother to be clear about what kind of service they can provide, which I am paying for. So they may have avoided losing my May order, but the price is losing all the future orders I might have placed.

Yes, I could have cancelled the order but I still expected everything to ship by mid-June, there was nothing in the delay notice to suggest otherwise, so I let it be. One item shipped three days after order placement, and another about two weeks later. Since then I've received three postcards on separate occasions. Two of the remaining items were cancelled and the third won't ship until late August to early September (no shipments July and August.)

My impression of Gurney's is that they really do not understand customer service - which is a culture within a company from top to bottom, not just a department answering phones - and consequently they neither act nor organize out of a real customer focus. I believe that's the underlying reason that out of a couple of hundred people giving feedback here, almost half of it is negative - which is an alarmingly high percentage. Hopefully they can put the feedback to good use.

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We had contacted this customer on July 8 asking for all of their account information so we could take care of the problems with their order. As of today we have still not received a reply."

I ordered strawberry plants and asparagus crowns. The strawberry plants arrived but not the asparagus, which was canceled with no notice to me. I'm not faulting Gurney for running short -- that happens -- but I cannot forgive no notice. They then pulled the trick that others have mentioned of sending me a $4 check to cover pro-rated shipping charged to my credit card. When the shipment is split they should also split the shipping and only charge that portion of the shipping to the credit card. Yes, I could have gotten a $9 credit on another order instead of depositing the $4 check, but the shipping would have wiped out the incremental credit.

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On July 5 we contacted this customer to help resolve the problems with their order, as of today we have not received a reply."

I will never buy from Gurneys. They have ben sending me e-mails for sales and I receive their catalogs regularly. I got an e-mail from Gurney's on June 8th describing their 75% off sale on small fruits. I ordered some grapes and some raspberries on June 9th. I received an e-mail minutes after my order was placed online confirming my order and had a link to click on to check order status. I waited until June 27th, and after hearing nothing from Gurneys I went to their website to check on my order. It said I have not ordered anything from them. I called their customer service number (not toll free) and talked to a woman with a less than helpful attitude who checked my order number and told me that order was after season, they were out of stock. I asked what does this mean? Backordered? She said that they were out of grapes and raspberries and my order was cancelled. Why didn't they notify me? She said the computer should have sent me an e-mail saying my order had been cancelled. If I hadn't called them myself and pushed the order status I would have been waiting forever and got nothing. When I get my credit card statement Gurneys better not be on it.

I ordered some blackberrry bushes and a blueberry bush. They came quickly, bushes were good sized, very good root systems. I was pleased with the order and will order again in the future.

I had a $25 off when you purchase $50 coupon. The keycode didn't work on their website so customer service told me to make a note in the comments box. So as I got my orders, I added up how much it was costing me and some lesser discount was being applied. It took me over a month of emailing customer service to get my money back. Much frustration and much time lost. I will never order from them again.

In late winter I ordered some plants from Gurney's. I used the $25 coupon to try out the company. My order was less then $25 so I owed them nothing. I received a bill for the amount of the order and they said that they didn't have any record of me sending a coupon along with my order. I called customer service and explained that I didn't owe them anything, because I had used a coupon. The customer service rep said "it would be taken care of". The next month I received another bill for the amount and a $10 late fee attached to it. I again called the company and a customer service rep said that "it would be taken care of. Disregard the notice". Today I got another bill saying I owed them $35 and if I don't pay it, they will turn it over to a national collection agency. I will NEVER order from Gurney's again. It is a very disorganized company who doesn't take care of accounting matters like they say they will. And the plants aren't doing so well either.

I made a good sized order back in early spring late winter with Gurney's, everything went well and was shipped as they told me it would be. I had trouble with a root and blueberry plant in which they promptly reshipped. They were out of the blueberry plant that I ordered, so to make up for it, they shipped a larger plant of a different name.
All in all, their employee's and company seem to care, great job guys.

I ordered onion sets, garlic bulbs, rhubarb and Jerusalem artichoke tubers from Gurney's. Everything was OK except for the two rhubarb roots. Each was the size of my small finger and dried out and brittle. I planted them anyway but they just rotted in the soil. I emailed Gurney's and they replied back in 4 days saying they would be sending me a "replacement" certificate which I guess means that I can spend it at Gurney's on something else (too late for rhubarb?). But I wanted rhubarb pie!

I almost feel guilty, but I've never had a problem with Gurney's. I was hesitant since the buyout, but I had the $25 off with $50 purchase coupon. I used it to buy a bunch of berries. The arrived promptly and were in good shape.

They did not have my blueberry, and I wish they'd figured it out a lot sooner. My orginal order was a couple of months ago, and I just got the notice today. The notice said that they couldn't meet the demand, and that they hadn't charged my credit card for the item, but had charged the full shipping charges. The check was for the prorated amount of the shipping (Why didn't they just credit my card? No clue.). They gave me the option of returning the check with my next order for an additional $5 credit. Not a terrible deal. A little arcane, but it works.

In terms of the shipping charges: I noticed that someone commented that the extra shipping was a "deceptive practice." Well, it's almost universal. You pay the shipping for everything you order, whether you pay for the items or not. They're offering the item for free, not the shipping charges. I don't love it either, but I don't think it's deceptive. Interestingly, they didn't require me to buy $50 worth of merchandise, which is unusual. I ordered about $45 worth + about $10 shipping, and they subtracted the $25 from the full amount. I like that. And 9 berries for 30 bucks is *not* a bad deal!

I ordered my seed potatoes well over two months ago. I inquired at the beginning of April as to where they might be (soil was warm enough then to plant in zone 5b). They told me potato ship date was 4/3 with 10 day delivery schedule. I inquired again on 4/17 and received a curt reply that they would be shipped 'soon'. It's now 4/30 and still no potatoes. I will not order from Gurneys again no matter how appealing that $25 coupon is...

I placed an order with this company when I got a catalog in the mail with a $25 dollar coupon. The order total was $33. I paid the difference after deducting the coupon. I received my order a month later and it was fine, however, the company said I owed them $25, that I didn't send enough money. I called their customer service line(which isn't free by the way) and they told me I had to spend $50 to get the $25 off. I argued with them because it said nowhere on the coupon that there was a $50 dollar minimum order. They finally agreed to dismiss the bill. Two weeks later I get another bill in the mail for $25. I call customer service again, only to be told again, that they would take care of it. That was 3 weeks ago. Well, yesterday I get another bill in the mail, this time for $l8, a completely different total and a threat of a $l0 dollar late fee if I do not send this amount in. I wrote them a nice letter that I do not intend to pay this and that their customer service better get its act together. I will not bother to purchase with them again. They are no longer the respected company I used to order from before they moved to Indiana.

i was nervous about ordering (having read this site!), but bit the bullet...

(i should say 'positive thus far', as everything has not quite shown up yet- i'm still waiting on a lilac & a football mum- they were the only ones with two of the colors i needed, so that's why i ordered from them.)

my one football mum that already arrived was pretty beaten up & puny (esp compared to its brethren from bluestone), but seems to be recovering ok. the seedless concord grape was DEEPLY into dormancy; if i had not had 3/4 dead grapes spring back into life i might have been more disgruntled. we'll see. :)

my thornless boysenberries are beautiful & brimming with health; anybody would be pleased with them, no holds barred.

when i called them about not recieving a confirmation notice (mea culpa, i looked at the wrong account), they were pleasant & helpful. i asked what they meant by 'back-ordered', and they said 'a couple of weeks'. the things that have arrived so far have been well within that limit, & it's too soon to get pissy about the other stuff i'm still waiting on (i ordered very late in the season.)

so, my qualified 'positive' (if my lilac is dead or doesn't come, i may have to amend this, of course after dealing with the customer service- even top-rated companies here have sent me dead items or have things back-ordered i have yet to recieve- the question is how is it handled; timely & politely, or 'screw you!'? so far i am optimistic, & i am glad this company seems to be trying to turn it's bad rep around (i have been happy with 'gardens alive' in the past- i still have mantises & ladybugs in my gardens breeding from an order 10 years ago- and their connection gave me hope.)

suse

ordered nine thornless, upright blackberries- arapaho, navaho and apache. plants arrived in 3 weeks and were healthy and look good. they were on sale. but still cost me 35.00

I placed an order for potato eyes, asparagus, and russian sage. Communication went very well. They quickly replied to emails sent and were very attentive. I received two boxes of product each on a different date. Everything was packaged very good, and the plants (russian sage) arrived in very good condition. Will certainly order from them again.

I just thought this needed to said. I recently had a really bad run in with a company called Michigan Bulb Co. I thought at the time it was the company I was having such a problem with until I got Gurney's catalog in the mail. When I went to go call them, I noticed the phone number looks familar. I looked up the number from Michigan Bulb and they are one in the same.

Its not the nurseries we are talking to but a customer service answering service. Now it all makes sense. I had to cancel my order with Michigan becuase of the lies I had been told from day one. I plan on contacting the nurseries themselves and let them know the problems I have with their customer service answering service. I would suggest all who have a problem becuase of the customer service, contact the company itself.

If I can order straight from the company Ill do that but I wont go through the answering service any more.

I placed an order online for seeds only. According to their website, seed-only orders would ship "immediately". I receieved an email NINE DAYS later telling me that my seeds had just shipped. (Apparently 9 days later is "immediately" to Gurneys.)

Five days after my seeds allegedly shipped, nothing had arrived. (Gurney's is a neighboring state, shipping should be very quick no matter how they were sent). The tracking number Gurney's provided was invalid.

I emailed Gurneys about this and received a worthless form letter. I emailed them again, demanding to know the whereabouts of my seeds and a refund of my shipping fees, as we were well past 2 weeks now on an order that was supposed to ship "immediately".

I have not, to date, received any other email replies from them, nor my seeds, nor a refund, nor any explanation. I had no choice but to dispute the charges with my credit card company.

Further, when I placed my order online, I used a 10% off discount code that came with my catalog. However, when I added the code to my shopping cart, the 10% came off, but my shipping fees went from $4.85 to $5.95 for the same merchandise! (I added no other merchandise, but the shipping rate went up after using the discount code!) Nice deceptive business practice there, Gurneys! I contacted them about this too with the same response - NONE!

In January I ordered a bunch of blueberry and raspberry bushes, as well as some seeds. Everything arrived at the correct time and in good shape. The germination rate on the seeds was very good, close to 100%. The blueberry bushes were healthy, but a bit puny. I'm sure they will be ok, though.

I have ordered a good number of items from Gurney's, mostly seeds, bulbs, and gardening implements. About the only thing even slightly "negative" (not!) that I can say about these transactions is that, once, they offered me a free mouse pad (I already one just like it), then substituted a huge bag of garden pea seeds as a replacement freebie because they'd run out of mousepads.

Gurney's has been patient with my "hanging by my fingernails month-to-month" ordering behavior, too. I'm on low fixed income, so I'm often down to nothing in the bank before the 3rd. I'm pretty good at keeping my budget straight as long as too much time does not go by before a standing order is processed and shipped, but after three or more months (not uncommon with live-plant orders that I put in months out of season) I lose track. Several times this year Gurney's processed a standing order when the money wasn't there, and they sent the items anyway and asked me rather nicely to please pay up soon. (It knocked me out that they did that, because it was my fault, not theirs.)

I WAS disappointed with my order of four hardy kiwi plants that died within two days. They were rather small for what they cost, little more than rooted cuttings, and I would not order them again. They were stressed from a longish shipping time, too, judging by the online order tracking info. But customer service at Gurney's was fantastic; when I called them to say the order was jinxed, the plants had died, and I wanted to just cancel the order rather than have them ship replacements, they did so without blinking an eye and were very nice about it.

So I have to give Gurney's a positive overall rating. For live plants, though, I think Raintree or a local nursery is the way I'll go in the future.

When deciding what companies to order from this year, Gurney's was the only one that had everything I wanted. But when I read what people wrote on here, I was very nervous to order from them. I finally decided that the company seemed like it was trying to turn over a new leaf, and I decided to give them a chance. Especially because the gift certificate was too good to pass up. I mailed in my order (too many people wrote about having problems with the website) and I was surprised at how fast my first shipment came. It was just the nonperishables and seeds, but it was all correct. Then yesterday I got my bareroot rose, in as good of shape as they've come from Jackson & Perkins. The only thing left from my order are some strawberry plants, but I'm not worried about them-- even if they never send them I still haven't been cheated because of the gift certificate. I am relieved that I have got this far with my Gurney's order without any problems and I think that the company is trying hard to gain back people's trust.

I have ordered from Gurneys on several occasions in the past few years. Everything that I have ordered arrived in good condition, and thrived (except the dwarf trees, my fault - not theirs). Even the bareroot, always tricky to ship, was in good/fair condition. I love that they email me to let me know what is on its way. I will continue to order from them.

I received a catalog with a $20 coupon. I ordered seeds via the internet and got a confirmation right away. They also emailed when the seeds were shipped. I got everything I ordered promptly and was pleased my purchase.

Being new to Dave's Garden website, I figured I would share some information on past buys. In 2003, I ordered 2 apple trees from Gurneys. The trees arrived in a timely manner, in good condition, and the order didn't pinch my pocketbook. And they've done very well. In 2004, I ordered trumpet vines and hedges. All 4 of the trumpet vines did very well. 2 of the 4 hedges were dried up when they arrived. I called customer service and couldn't believe how nice the folks were. They promptly shipped 2 replacement hedges (no return necessary and no questions asked) and 2 other shrubs as a free gift. The replacement plants were in OK shape on arrival but once planted did very well. Gurneys is the old stand by company. I can remember my father ordering all his veggie seeds and plants from them when I was a kid. He never complained and the price was always right. Gurneys is certainly not the best quality, but I think its important to remember that you get what you pay for. For the penny pincher shopper, I think Gurneys is overall a good deal and I have had nothing but positive experiences with their customer service.

Ordered seeds, some tomato plants and a peach tree. Online shipping information said the order would come in late May to early June. This is well past our last frost date. I asked customer service to ship late April and was told they could do that. Days later I checked the scheduled ship date, it was set for March 1st. I can not store tomato plants and a peach tree for 2-1/2 months and expect them to live. I emailed to cancel the order. Next day, I was notified the seeds were going to ship. Then I got a second email that Gurney’s was going to cancel the rest of the order, but didn’t catch the seeds in time. They would credit my credit card and I could have the seeds “with their compliments”. Days later, the card was charged. I emailed to ask for the credit. I got some credit but when asked about the other amount, I was told that it was shipping and would not be refunded. This has gone on for about 3 weeks and I have paid more for shipping on 4 tiny packs of seed than I would for purchase of seeds in any local store. I will use my local garden stores and not use Gurney’s for anything.

Last year, I ordered 4 bareroot plants using a $20 certificate that came with the catalog. Only 2 of the 4 plants arrived living. Will not bother with this company again.

I've ordered from Gurney's several times, and overall, my experiences have been positive. My orders have arrive
reasonable promptly and with the correct items.
Some live plants haven't been in the greatest shape tho.

I called once for a replacement of a dead plant.
They took my name, etc. It was the middle of the summer.
After several weeks, when I didn't receive the replacement, I figured they had blown me off. But today i got a notice it was shipping!
I guess they were waiting til the spring to ship the replacement.
I was impressed that they remembered.

I almost took myself off the Gurney's catalog mailing list after seeing the comments here. My only problem was that I needed a particular disease-resistant apple tree to complete my orchard and this was the only retail establishment I could find that carried it. I ordered the tree last month and it arrived this weekend. I thought it would be too early to plant the tree (zone 7) since it is snowing today, but lo and behold, the ground was perfect planting consistency and since the tree is dormant, I anticipate good results. It is a large tree and nicely pruned. The price was excellent for what I received. I decided to stay on the mailing list for now.

I have been using Gurney's for about 8 years. My plants and seeds arrive in a timely manner, usually in excellent condition. The only plants I have ever had any problem with are the bare-root. On rare occasion they have been dried out (I live in the deep south and this is a problem I have with many companies), but were replaced promptly. Their customer service has always been courteous and easy to deal with. On the rare occasion I have to have a plant replaced (usually due to my planting error, not theirs), all I have to do is call them. They promptly send me a new one, no questions asked, no hassles, no returns. I will continue to order from Gurney's as long as I continue to get such good service.

I gave Gurneys one more chance to get their act together (again!) this year, and they really messed up. Last year it was the cancelled blueberry bush order with no notification that they couldn't fill it. The year before it was the raspberry bushes that never made it. This year their web site kept giving me error messages when submitting the order, and it ended up being placed in triplicate. I called the company and emailing customer service, and both times was told not to worry, they cancelled the extra orders. Guess what--they billed my card 3 times. Again I emailed, and this time AGAIN was told not to worry, and shown a form stating that the remaining order was cancelled (I ordered some plants too). But what about the part of the order already billed!? I had to resort to calling my credit card company.

Sorry I got kind of long, but it really makes me mad and sad to see a great company like Gurneys from my youth ruined.

I had gotten a free $25 worth of "stuff" coupon about a year ago and ordered from the Gurney catalog their dwarf pomegranet and dwarf orange trees and some peat pots too for seeds i planned on starting in the spring. I planted them last march in small pots inside the house (the orange was about 3 inches tall with maybe 2 leaves on it and the pomegranet was maybe 1 inch tall with no leaves. ) Within 2 months I had to transplant them into bigger pots and in the fall I had blooms and buds on the pomegranet tree. My orange tree is now over a foot tall and is covered in glossy green foliage. I have now transplanted them again into bigger, nicer pots since i realize now these trees will be hanging around for awhile (i wasnt sure in the beginning).I do not have a green thumb and i just splash some water in their pots every week and leave them be and they are doing wonderfully. I am very pleased with both plants and though I realize there are quite a few negative comments on here about Gurneys I have had a great experience with their plants.

When ordering by mail, residents of Missouri, are not required to pay sales taxes on out of state orders. Gurney's will add taxes to all orders. When I called Gurneys, I got the run-around. The Cust. service rep stated, Gurneys had to collect sale tax because they had a company in Missouri. After I inquired as to the company in Missouri, again the run around. I was using a $25 dollar certificate with my order, which was over $100, the net qain after paying their 'sale tax' was $18 dollars. The so called company in Missouri doesn't seem to exist, at least I couldn't find one.

I ordered seeds last year, using their $20 no strings coupon. Had one big disappointment, in 'Caribbean Red' pepper seeds that were not true to type (grew out as unremarkable little red chile). Spoke with and then emailed customer service, noting that I didn't think I could complain overmuch about free seed, and yet I'd spent the time and so forth growing them out and was very disappointed. Expected that at most they would give me a couple of bucks (price of seed), but they sent me a certificate for $10.

I plan to take advantage of their "buy $40, get $20 back" offer this year and to spend my certificate, but I'm not ordering anything where I'll be terribly disappointed if the seed isn't true or doesn't germinate well. I'm hoping they've fixed the problems from last season!

I am planning on placing a SMALL order with this company this coming week due to 1) after an exhaustive on-line search, they are one of the only companies that carry seed of a vegetable variety I want, 2) I have had nothing but wonderful experiences ordering from their new owner - "Gardens Alive", & 3) my experience with Gurney's prior to their new ownership was wonderful. Seed germination was 100%, plus they threw in a free gift of a bareroot columbine, bagged & identified as to specific variety, which grew beautifully.

Will let you know how this new order goes & will change my rating accordingly.

This website is amazing!

I'm too new to gardening and ordering to have a strong opinion on the matter, but I ordered from Gurney's last year and some stuff I never got, some came way later than they estimated the appropriate planting time to be, and some of my stuff didn't grow very well.

But I'm new, so that growing thing could be my fault!

I received good things, too. My peppers did well, and my tomatoes.

Basically, while I find their coupons seductive, I might try other companies this time around.

I am so glad that i found this websait! After reading so many negative comments about Gurney's Co., i start to understand why my seeds never grow up. It has been more that to weeks since i planted them indoors. My husband recommended this company because his family had not too bad experience with them many years ago. But that was a long time ago!
I put a few orders with Gurney's recently. I won't even bother to try to get replacement for seeds. I will call and cancel all my orders tomorrow!!!!

I bought a large variety of seeds from several companies earlier this Spring. I had great success with all of them, except for Gurney's. Gurney's seeds had very poor germination rates. Of the seeds that did germinate, many did not flower or did not thrive like the seeds from the other companies. The seeds were all propagated in exactly the same manner as the seeds from the other companies. If you just want to experiment with growing plants from seeds without spending any money, then use their coupon and do just that. If you want a lush and productive flower garden, shop somewhere else.