Comments regarding Michigan Bulb

I'm delighted to have found your site. I was looking for info on Michigan Bulb, and certainly wish I'd found it a lot sooner.I sent in a $75 order at the end of March and haven't received anything yet. My check was cashed promptly, however. I found their phone number and was delighted to see that it wasn't an 800 number. But since all I got were busy signals, I am sending them a letter demanding my money back for only 32 cents.Last year I ordered from them; because I ordered in mid-April, I didn't think it unreasonable that they were out of some of the things I'd ordered. They included "credit slips" for those items that I submitted this year as part of my order. I would have preferred a realreimbursement instead of having to send them in to get one. I thought that was mildly sleazy. The stuff it did get was ok, however the 52 "free" bulbs they promised turned out to be multiple packets of dill, gourd and flower seeds. I was counting on the bulbs and, by the time I got the seeds, it was too late to plant them. So much for their "free" offer. I also found the sweepstakes junk mail highly annoying. I my journey to this site, I noticed that the Ct. Attorney General is suing Michigan Bulb as part of their sweepstakes crackdown. Now that's interesting.

I ordered a package from Michigan Bulb Co. in May of '96. With the $9.95 payment I was promised to received 10 hardy, GUARANTEED, gladiolus bulbs. Instead, I got 10 iris bulbs of which but 2 bloomed this year. Would it be asking too much of them to send my GUARANTEED money back? They can have these "fruitless" irises back!!!

In mid-March 1997, I placed an order with this gang. As an afterthought, I added some additional items to the order and in the process miscalculated the amount due by $3.00. After what I consider an unusually long time had passed and still no order, I began trying to locate a phone number. I could find no listing for Michigan Bulb in the 800 directory. Finally some correspondence came in the mail. I was advised that my order would be shipped when they received the $3.00. Because of seasonal constraints…I knew Michigan Bulb Co. would never get my order to me in time for planting. I canceled my order, asked for an immediate refund, and demanded that I be removed from their mailing list. I sent a second demand for refund on 05/13/97 - still no response. Today I received some sort of come-on flyer. Two things are obvious: Michigan Bulb Co. does not intend to return my money, and no one there can read and understand a demand to be removed from the mailing list. From now on I will buy locally regardless of price.

I found a fax number for the Michigan Bulb Company. Maybe people can get hold of them this way. I ordered from MBC 4 months ago; my check's been cashed, but still no plants. I won't make the mistake of ordering from MBC again!

With Michigan Bulb I ordered some strawberries and some rose bushes. I received the strawberries about two weeks later. I have not yet received the rose bushes and it has been a month and a half. I am starting to doubt if I will ever receive them. If you manage to track down their number on the internet as I did (since they do not publish it in their catalogue) you either get a busy signal or you get a message stating that you will be on hold for a very long time "because they are helping other customers just like you" and since it is not a 1-800 number you end up paying for a very long long distance call.

I like your website. I wish I'd seen it before I ordered from Michigan Bulb, although I did get a nice bay leaf "twig" from them.

The saying "a day late" definitely applies here. But it is more like 4 weeks late. If I had found your site before ordering from MBC, I would never had placed 3 orders from them. I have ordered about 20 items from them, and only received two, so far. Every once in a while one of them is stuffed in my mailbox, but nothing for the past two weeks. They say they ship when it right for planting time, yet everything I ordered is already available at local nurseries, and my neighbors already have the same items,purchased and in the ground ! I am no novice to gardening, and it is a passion with me. I have several hundred perennials in my greenhouse right now that I am hardening up to plant as we speak. I ordered plants from MBC that I do not have, and the few that I have gotten so far are terrible. Maybe I should go into the mailorder plant business, mine are far better! Remember when if you had a quality product and sold it at a reasonable price, you were successful? Everyone please remember: As consumers, we have rights, too! Companies such as MBC that resort to trickery and playing with words will no longer get my hard earned money. BUYER BEWARE!

I fell for the photos of the beautiful plants and the grandfatherly gentleman on the cover with promise of convenient shopping and the money back guarantee!I ordered plant collections that are supposed to come with planting diagrams. I am not one of these wonderfully creative people who can plant flowers together so they will look their best, so I felt the collections were the way to go. Imagine my surprise when I started getting these brown paper bags in the mail with only a handful of bulbs in them. I must have gotten 20 bags, and not one of them specified which "collection" they were from or included the planting diagram! Adding insult to injury, I received a form letter from them saying because I was such a valued customer and they cared about me, they were taking out some sort of insurance policy in my name, yada, yada, yada. Can you believe it? It was one of their companies they sell namesto. I was outraged and wrote them regarding this, but have had no response.

After reading all the notes here I guess it's an exercise in futility to contact Michigan Bulb by phone or e-mail. I can understand why, the garbage I received was not even plantable. Bulbs damaged, roots dried, a plastic seed starter with 6 dead plants, items not received, items received that weren't ordered, promise of a diagram for planting a shade garden never appeared, tons of catalogues and sweepstakes junk mail - one with a guarantee of a check for $250 if I had an orange return label, which I did. Read all the fine print and even made copies of what I returned, including a "color" copy of the orange label. Don't hold my breath, I know. I am a Member Rep on Prodigy's Hometown Bulletin Board and plan to post a subject and see what replies I get. May just print them all off and mail to MBC

I would not recommend buying live plants from MBC, I have ordered more than a few dollars worth and I have received mostly dead plants. They did not die by my hand. They were DOA. I have managed to save only one poor Aster of all the live plants I have ordered. I also find it odd that MBO ran out of stock on a number of items I ordered. They sent me refund checks and I have not heard from them in 6 months.

My grandmother used Michigan Bulb Company and now, with my new garden spot, I've ordered from them. I haven't seen any results at all from my "delivered wilted" plants, however I refuse to let them die. I'm hoping for results, even with all the comments I've read however, now I'm convinced to never order from them again.I was extremely disappointed in my order of some potted plants. Bonsai's anyone? They show them to be a beautiful plant in a porcelain container--however they come dead looking (accompanied by a letter explaining they were in dormancy) in a plastic pot that was smaller than advertised. I ordered four of them, a wisteria--which IS DEAD, an azalea, which is currently showing new growth, a Japanese Maple-- questionable?, and of course the typical juniper--which is also DEAD. I've not tried to get a refund or replacement; probably won't. I just won't order anything else from them.I've learned that if my local nursery, which is great, can't supply it or order it for me--I don't need it.

In 1994 or 1995 I bought some bulbs, and other goodies from this company. The most important item was Burning Bushes. All the items came too late as we had an early permanent frost, and nothing could be planted until spring. I heeded all storage instructions, and was sure that I would at least get something out of this order. Nothing came up! The burning bush stalks started to turn green, and I thought sure I WAS ON MY WAYS. I WATERED, FERTILIZED VERY LIGHTLY--DID WHAT I WAS SUPPOSED TO! NOTHING CAME UP! I KEPT THEIR LABEL WITH THE SHIPMENT NUMBER ON IT AS THEY HAD TOLD ME TO DO. I RETURNED IT WITH THE BLANKS FILLED IN. They have never sent me anything for that order. I have subsequently ordered things from them, but never received the stuff that didn't make it.

It didn't take me long to realize that the plants I had ordered were inferior; therefore, I have stopped ordering. However, their sweepstakes mailings keep coming. My son insists that someone does win these sweepstakes. I have never paid any attention to such stuff coming in the mail, but, due to son's insistence, I did get started on this sweepstakes. It just does NOT seem to end! I am going broke with stamps!

And also, I ordered some perennials from Michigan Bulb. The big reason I ordered from them is that they're cheap. I started a bunch of annual seed beds just in case. I haven't received them yet, so we'll see, I guess. But it was after I put my check in the mail that I found out my Dad received their full size catalog and was informed that he was "one of their $100,000 winners"! Yeah, Michigan Bulb Co is in the Publisher's Clearinghouse business too, I guess. So what did his good daughter do? I sent in his prizewinning blue sticker and ordered him two forsythias for under three bucks; he's also supposed to get the "gift" of 52 spring bulbs (his catalog has the appropriate winning sticker for this, too. Yeah, right).So worst comes to worst, he gets two sickly forsythia twigs that cost me less than a good cappuccino, and in the best case, he gets two forsythias, one hundred thousand dollars, and fifty-two spring bulbs to stick in the ground somewhere.

I have ordered bulbs, plants, flowers etc. and for the most part things were fine there were only 2 things out of hundreds that did not grow and they issued me a credit on one (that's what I wanted) and a replacement on the other. I have a web site and in defense of Flower of the Month for every one positive comment a company gets there will be 40 negative comments. As a rule people just accept it when things are good; the old fashioned "Thank You" is not heard enough nowadays. But when things don't go so good most people waste no time in spreading the word. One final thought how many companies out there will send you a plant at what I think is a reasonable price and let you kill it then send you another?

January 1997, I too received a mailing from Michigan Bulb telling me I was one of ten people who definitely won $250. The rules state that if more than ten were mailed out by error they would have a random drawing. In my opinion, only a company trying to be deceptive would include this statement in their rules.I decided to send my "winning" ticket by return receipt mail. I now have the return receipt. They cannot say they never received my entry.I am so tired of companies trying to deceive us that I decided to gather information to forward to the attorney general's office. I feel this is deceptive advertising.The internet is going to make it hard for companies to deceive the public and word of mouth has always been one of the best advertising resources.The number of people who were dissatisfied with Michigan Bulb speaks volumes about a poorly run company. I was going to order from their catalog but fortunately a friend of mine was visiting and told me about the terrible service and dead bulbs she received. This prompted me to search the web, bringing me to this web site.Businesses who SERVE their customers with quality service and products will thrive through the internet.Businesses who DEPRIVE their customers of quality service and products will perish through the internet.

Every plant died except for the aloe. They arrived in all sorts of conditions, from broken off at the soil line to just plain dead. It is my opinion that they are more interested in building a mailing list and selling it, rather than having quality plants available for their customers. Since I ordered from Michigan Bulb I have received sweepstakes junk mail from numerous firms, whom I had never heard of previously. I am also curious: who is the best source for mail order raspberry and blackberry canes?

I visited your site today, of course just after I placed my order to Michigan Bulb, but with a different story. I can't be the only one who has used the company successfully.I have placed prior orders over four years ago, and I did receive the products I ordered and they did grow. Yes they were smaller than I expected, and after several years some did die. Mostly do to my fault for either killing them or throwing them out.In fact I started with about 25 glad bulbs about 10 years ago. In 1996 I had over 6,000 glads. In fact I still would have if I hadn't built an addition to my house over that big flowerbed. I gave about 1,000 away over the years and still have several hundred.I will let you know what happens with this order since I am now totally redoing my eight remaining flowerbeds, with a variety of different types of plants.Maybe I am just lucky or because I have such a long growing season.

Ditto the "I wish I would have found this page first" comments about Michigan Bulb Company. The plants arrived dead, the bulbs didn't grow, and the "prize" I had won in the sweepstakes was a note saying they were out of whatever prize I supposedly won and they'll send a substitute. I guess the substitute was **MORE JUNK MAIL**, because that's all I have received from them.

Michigan Bulb sent me partially rotten bulbs two months after I originally ordered them. I still have not received the remaining shipment! They also sent it to the wrong address. The only reason I received anything at all was because the person who mistakenly received my bulbs was kind enough to bring them to me. So don't be surprised if you don't even get a shipment from them. (Maybe that actually would be the lesser of the two evils.)

I too have ordered from Michigan Bulb. And I'm very displeased with the Company and the products. I have ordered well over a Hundred dollars of bulbs, tubers, and perennials. Which have still not flowered. Go figure.

All gardeners have just got to keep getting the word out about the junk that Michigan Bulb sells and the constant idiotic offers they bombard you with after you're foolish enough to order from them. Michigan Bulb is actually just a marketing company that happens to sell bulbs because the margins are so good on the inferior products they buy on the cheap. If there were higher margins on books they would be the Michigan Book Co. They are also a complete embarrassment to all the legitimate mail order gardening companies, because they tend to suck in new gardeners with their cheap product offers - the new gardeners get discouraged because the product never grows - and then the new gardeners never order by mail again. If all gardeners would tell everyone they knew to avoid these "snake oil salesmen" then maybe they would dry up and blow away (or pick on a different pastime to bamboozle.)

I've recently ordered (a small purchase thank goodness) from Michigan Bulb Company. After reading all the negative responses on the internet I hope I haven't made a mistake! I have been chosen to receive $250 in prize money. We'll see if it happens. [update] Thought you might find this amusing. On the average of twice a week I was receiving mailers from Michigan Bulb Co. saying I was in the final round of the sweepstakes, promising me anywhere from the original $250 to $500, and if I returned my entry...blah...blah. You get it. I printed the comments on internet about them and attached a fairly kind note about how I hoped their contest was real and not simply a scheme to get me to keep buying from them. Guess what? The mailers stopped coming! I guess that means I don't get any money. :(Footnote: As of December 30, 1996, JaLeen had received no prize money from Michigan Bulb Company.

I like Michigan Bulb…I am a VERY bad gardener, and about half to three-quarters of the stuff I try to grow dies in the first year. Now who I buy from doesn't matter. I have bought from local nurseries, assorted mail-order companies (at least 12) and stores. Most places don't care if it dies but Michigan Bulb at least gives you another plant to kill. I wrote and asked how to keep my plants alive and they sent a pamphlet about pre-preparing the bed. My success rate has improved! The bulbs they sent for naturalizing daffodils were all 1.5 to2 inches in diameter.

First, I was very disappointed with the way things came in the mail. I was amazed how well some plants grew. I ordered thirty Vinca minor plants for 2.95. I received a small envelope in the mail with a group of brownish, small plants. I planted them as I had planned, and they grew beautiful, healthy and large in just a few months. My lesson: you cannot always judge a plants quality by its appearance.

I ordered ten Rose Hedge crimson King from Michigan Bulb early this spring. Nine of the ten survived. Instructions were to plant in full sun. I did except for three, which are in the shade of a beach tree. All grew well and some bloomed except for the three that were in the shade. (They survived but are small.) I guess in defense of Michigan Bulb, I'd say they did well. I might also add that my wife and my daughter had good results from the products ordered from MBC this year

I planted about 100 of their bulbs last fall. About 4 grew.

You get what you pay for. Novices are not prepared for the free bulbs. If you do not research these selections, you do not realize that many of the free bulbs are tender and northern summers may not provide enough time for the bulb to bloom. MBC may send you perfectly good freesias but they don't tell you that in Michigan you'll never see a bloom on it outdoors. A few writers commented on tiny bulbs. Remember big is not always better. Look for the words `top size'. If it doesn't say that or give the size in cm, they're hiding something.

I wish I had read your reviews before I started ordering from MBC. In the last three years I've spent hundreds of dollars ordering from them. In the last year and a half a very poor survival rate is all I've gotten for my time and money. Last fall I planted a small fortune in perennials of which less than one quarter has actually even sprouted. I had been attributing this to the bad winter we had here in NJ this year, but now it seems that the problems go much deeper than the weather. Another thing about them that has got me fed up: they've been running some kind of sweepstakes promo for the last year or so. Personally, I've been finding it very annoying to get six identical catalogs a month, each with a different contest entry form, all telling me that I need to fill out the form and return it to them by such-and-such a date to be entered in the next round of the contest. Of course they say that no purchase is required but the back of the envelope still has to be marked if you're ordering or not. I'm tired of them trying to lure me into a purchase with a cash carrot. I think if their products were consistently better they'd have no need for sweepstakes gimmicks.I won't be ordering from them anymore.

Most of the daylilies I ordered were rotten and appeared to have been in cold storage for who knows how long. I have reordered 4 times in order to replace the plants that did not grow or survive. However, the replacement orders were free. I had to call information to get a toll telephone number. I still have a replacement credit on irises I planted last fall that did not grow. Only about 30% of the daffodils I planted from MBC came up. Credits are given and bulbs are replaced but what about my time? THE MOST ANNOYING THING IS THE REPEATED SWEEPSTAKES STUFF THEY KEEP SENDING!

Unfortunately like the rest of you I ordered several things from Michigan Bulb. My experience was really bad. Most of the plants were D.O.A. when I finally located a phone number on their refund page, I called them and they resent my min-rose. The replacement roses were also D.O.A. some things I ordered were never received and totally ignored by them. I will never order from them again or any of their other companies.

My experience has been all right. I ordered 3 roses and planted summer 1995. Two did not survive the winter but their free stuff I got all grew and I ordered a tree this summer, but was not allowed to water as much. I will see how hard to replace the tree and the roses. The roses were lovely last summer.

Add me to the list of very unsatisfied customers of the Michigan Bulb Company. Absolutely (one of) the worst two places to order any plants from.

I ordered wildflower seed from Michigan Bulb. What I got was 50% (if that) wildflower seeds and 50% grass seed, or some kind of plant that looked like grass and didn't have flowers.

I just wanted to say that this web site is a great idea to voice concerns and let people know what they may be getting into. I also have made some purchases from MBC and the products did not grow at all, I am writing a letter today to see if there is some sort of reimbursement available.

I have found that Michigan Bulb (and others) offer great opportunities to pick up collections for a good price. The trick is to learn to grow their kind of product that they send you. The bulbs need more care than those bought (locally), but they do just fine the second season around. Nonetheless, these companies are trying to make a profit while someone's trying to plant with their product. At the very least, they let an inexperienced gardener try to grow his/her green thumb and with as many retries as necessary to get it right. Why get mad at such a great agreement? Didn't we all agree to it when we signed our check? We expect a lot for very little for being consumers.

I have had a less than average experience with Michigan Bulb Co. But what really annoys me is that an employee (or employee's spouse) of the parent company has the nerve to respond to everyone's bad experiences and tell them they are "pretending to be informed"! I guess the plants (tubers, bulbs, and potted) just "pretended" to be dead! Granted, I am not the best gardener in the world and may never be, but to be insulted by someone who is himself "pretending to be informed" about the very people he is talking about is just another slap in the face from Michigan Bulb. By the way, he never once mentioned the quality and standards of Michigan Bulb itself, just the parent company, which may indeed have higher standards MBC.The only good thing MBC has offered to me is the interest in gardening, of which I was lacking previous to their "sweepstakes" mailings. I am now a better gardener because of this interest, and through reading books and gardening magazines know much more about garden plants than I did when ordering from MBC.By the way, even though I bought a 'Blue Girl' rose and it was a grade 2 rose, it is one of the few plants that is thriving and blooming from MBC. I presume this has to do with my obsession in learning about the care of roses, not in the quality of the rose, as all of my roses are doing well. I will not continue to do business with Michigan Bulb.

I must say, MOST of the Lily bulbs grew and are fairly well established after 3 years. However, everything else I have ordered has been replaced, sometimes more than once. I receive the wrong colors, I receive ALL WHITE when I order a "collection", and most plants are not dormant, but DOA. On and on. I will not reorder. I wonder what 'perennial' means to MI Bulb????

Last year I ordered a 'Nearly Black' hybrid tea rose from Michigan Bulb. The rose I got was a yellow climber (and practically DOA at that!). I was also supposed to receive some free plants, which never grew. I have also called Michigan Bulb and asked to be REMOVED from their mailing list, TWICE. It hasn't happened yet. A note to anyone considering buying from this company - DON'T!!