Comments regarding Michigan Bulb

I am another person on Michigan Bulb Co. growing list of suckers But, not any more!

I have also been real unhappy with Michigan Bulb Company. I have been trying to call them on the phone for weeks about an order. They keep their phone off of the hook for some reason. I wonder why. I've had nothing but bad news from Michigan Bulb Company. I have found that your local Wal-Mart has a lot of the same plants that I ordered and they are bigger, and cost less.

I was looking for a toll-free for Michigan Bulb when I found this site. And it makes me wonder about the items my wife has ordered this year. My wife recently got a mailing saying "ten" bright yellow envelopes had been randomly inserted into a sweepstakes entry info/order form. It said that depending on how many were returned, she would share in a $5000 prize. Thus since she had received 1 of the 10, she would receive a prize which would be a minimum of $500 to a max of $5000. But in the rules, it states that if due to an error and more than 10 of the envelopes were returned, a drawing would be held among those returned. My feeling after receiving other similar contest entries, is there is a "planned error" in their mailings. And their intention is to get orders through deceptive advertising practices. I hope that is not the case.

Well, I ordered about $60 dollars worth of stuff last year, and only half came up. The 12 Irises still have not made an appearance, only half the daffodils came up, (and of those, half never bloomed but shriveled up immediately) the 6 primrose never came up, the 12 creeping phlox arrived in poor condition and only 2 SMALL branches (not even whole plants) survived. The only thing that did well were the tulips and crocus. My advice, steer clear of this company, there are LOTS more around! (thanks to you for making them so accessible!)

Approx. 10 weeks ago I placed an order for some hedges and trees with this company, and put it on my charge card (the charge showed up on the next billing cycle). When I received my last bill from the credit card company I had received a partial credit from Michigan Bulb on my order. I have not received any notification (from Michigan Bulb) as to why my order was being modified or canceled nor have I (not) received any products. When I contacted the credit card company, they were unable to find a phone number for Michigan Bulb either (as was mentioned by earlier complaints there is no number in the catalog). At this time I had the credit card company stop payment on the order. I have heard good things about this company and my family has dealt with them for many years, but after this I doubt that they will receive any business from any of us in the future. At the very least a quick note explaining the situation would not have been to much trouble for them to send out.

A few months ago I ordered a bay tree from Michigan Bulb. My check has cleared and I even received an order confirmation (about a month ago) but still no tree. I have been calling for days and am unable to get any response. I even called the Better Business Bureau to complain but they informed me I had to contact the company before I could file a complaint with them. Sigh. Never again. Now I am extremely angry and just want to be able to talk to a customer service rep. I want my plants or I want my money back.

I received my order from Michigan Bulb Co. around April 15. I planted the "dormant" Hybrid Poplar trees as per instructions. To-date, the dormant trees appear like "dead sticks" in the ground. It seems impossible to call this company. Call them at prime telephone rates and you get put on indefinite hold. I wrote them, but don't think I'll get a response. Catalog looks great, but never deal with an outfit that doesn't have an 800 number.

I'm going to try (calling them) tomorrow in an attempt to find out why they've cashed my check--eight weeks ago-but haven't satisfied my order for the Lemon Grass plants.

I ordered well over a hundred dollars of plants, bulbs, and bare root. By the time they shipped to me everything, (a little here, a little there) there was an inch of snow on the ground! Some of the daffodils and tulips managed to survive, and I am seeing part of the irises and lilies that may bloom this year. What a disappointment to try to plant biennials after all if they don't survive they won't get the growth for the following year's bloom. My plants also were delivered wilted half dead or broken off. Nothing but bad from this company. I called them this spring and told them how poor the planting results were and they promised to give me credit for all that didn't grow. Unfortunately it's only good for MBC. Which means more undesirable results.

I placed an order with Michigan Bulb company back in mid February. To date, I have not received my order…They were real quick to sent me additional sweepstake entry's but not my order.

Everything I ordered from them died too. *sigh* I called them and they replaced everything, except the iris. Because the iris is a fall catalog item I have to send them an "order replacement voucher" later this fall to get the iris replace. We'll see if the replacements flourish.

I too, wish I had come across your web page before ordering from Michigan Bulb Company. I have ordered three times from them, and have experienced short shipments, (which in fairness they refunded and replaced with double-hardy English primroses), substitutions galore, and dead, mildewed stock, to say nothing of the bare root Monarda which I couldn't even tell how to plant since they neglected to send a guide with that partial shipment.I have no bias against bare root stock, but usually you can tell how it should go in the ground by its appearance. Not so this time. As for the substitutions, they aren't anywhere close. I ordered ground cover daylilies for a specific application and received daylilies for naturalizing-these grow 2-3 feet tall-not the low growing item I needed. Also the tubers were tiny and the greenery half dead-they improved when I put them in elsewhere, but I don't think I'll see any blooms for a year or two. They substitute on their freebies also-I've received more blazing star Liatris than I know what to do with! However, that doesn't elicit calls from me to their customer service department since freebies are gravy…Lately, the substitutes have been of lesser value than what I ordered, too. I must admit that I was suckered by the cheap prices and contest come-ons (I currently have 3 Olan Mills portrait certificates.) I am currently waiting for approximately $30 of refunds due me and once I receive them I'm running the other way! I have to dismiss Mr. Chester Frick's letter as that of someone who is operating on the principle of defending his wife's gainful employment. I should have listened to my gardener sister who told me that when I was small my mother ordered what were supposed to be foundation evergreens from Michigan Bulb, which should grow only 3 feet tall. When my parents wanted to sell the house 30 years later, those trees were over 35 feet tall and had to come down to repair water damage that the trees had caused by not allowing the house to dry out behind their bulk. Caveat emptor!

I've bought numerous plants and bulbs from Michigan Bulb Co. and I've always been disappointed. The price is good but the quality is poor and they only send a replacement "check" which you must use to purchase more plants. I will never deal with them again!

I ordered hedges and flowers from Michigan Bulb. After waiting for approximately three months, I called. Was advised a refund check would be mailed. Instead I received a "credit voucher." That was fine, I ordered tulips. After waiting and waiting and many calls I received 3 bulbs. More calls before I finally got a refund. Only one of the bulbs grew. I will never order from Michigan Bulb again.

I thought it was time for me to throw in my gardening gloves. I was foolish enough to place several orders with Michigan Bulb. The prices seemed so great. I could not believe the shape the plants and bulbs came in. I ordered a lilac bush that arrived as a single twig. I planted it anyway, but I doubt I'll see it bloom in this lifetime. Today I received dead daisies. What really gets me is that this is my second year gardening, I was really looking forward to a pretty landscape this time. I guess I'll have to get out to one of the local nurseries and buy some more plants.

Well I guess I may be as dumb as everyone else who has not read this page before ordering from Michigan Bulb. I sent for climbing roses about 2months ago, the only thing I received was a letter telling me they will ship when the weather is right for Michigan as well as Utah. My guess is that they never will ship.

I also ordered from this company. Their brochures sure do make the plants and the prices seem fantastic. I personally have had less then a 30% success rate. The plants look terrible on arrival but it comes with a note saying they are supposed to.

I ordered $28 worth of bulbs and perennials from Michigan Bulb Company, I am not exactly pleased. Out of 52 perennials none of them flourished. They arrived dry and wilted. The bulbs so far are doing fine.

I ordered for the first time from Michigan Bulb Co. this year. I am very unhappy and concerned with their tactics. I received pampas grass (dry and very wilting), 3 strawberry plants (dry and wilting), and a partial order of the 52 bulbs for free. I received approximately 42 and a pack of annual zinnia seeds to replace the missing 10 hardy glads! The cost of the seeds is about $.50 versus their hardy glads they advertise are worth $4.98. I can't wait until my roses arrive. This is the last order from this sucker!The only reason I looked up Michigan Bulb on the internet was to get their phone number. I had no idea this company was such a rip. Hate to say it but here's to another TRUTHFULLY ignorant comment. P.S. Why doesn't Mr. Crick have his wife take this letter to work with her and share it with whoever has credentials; maybe they can explain why there are so many bad lies about their lifetime guaranteed perfect products.

I'm greatly distressed that I too did not find this internet page before I placed three orders with Michigan Bulb. The first has arrived frozen, with half of the plants already dead. The lily bulbs look okay. I plan to attempt to take advantage of their return/exchange policy although I am not encouraged. My "First Round" prize was an 8 X 10 Olan Mills family portrait--just what I need. I think if Michigan Bulb were smart, they would personally answer all these complaints through outstanding customer service efforts. I always respond to companies that make an effort to correct their mistakes. Michigan Bulb, if you're reading this, here is your chance to make good. If you do, I'll sing your praises.

Agree with you on Michigan Bulb. Once you are on anyone's mailing list, Michigan Bulb keeps creeping in with their catalog. Can't get away from them. Once I ordered from them a large amount of plants, less then 10% of the plants made it, rest never came back to be seen, and I lived in California at that time, which is great for gardening.

I just sent off my first order to Michigan Bulb. Unfortunately I did not find this web site until after the fact. Fortunately I only invested about $25. They sent me a sweepstakes entry which allowed you to get a bonus of about 40 bulbs if you sent in an order early. I have ordered $25.00 worth of fruit from them, watermelon, blackberries, strawberries, garlic and blueberries. The free items were all bulb mixtures glads, tulips etc. I will let you know how they fare and how they compare to the other items I have planted from competitor catalogs. [update March 1996] My shipment from Michigan Bulb arrived this week and I was disappointed. It is hard to believe that Breck's, Stark's and Michigan Bulb are owned by the same company. I have ordered from all three. The Breck's and Stark's items were great. The Michigan Bulb items were very raggedy and tattered. In some cases I ordered the same or similar items. I received 6 gladious bulbs from Michigan bulb. Two of the 6 were average looking but not as nice as the Breck's, and the other 4 were tiny, dry, bruised and beaten.I received 25 free strawberry plants with my Stark's order that were healthy, fresh, moist and had green alive stems. I received 2 strawberry plants that I ordered from Michigan Bulb that had no green anywhere and were dry.To top it all off, I was supposed to received 52 free bulbs with my order but I got a little card that said due to the overwhelming response I was getting substitutions. I counted the bulbs and I only got about 48 so I they really didn't substitute everything. The free gift they promised turned out to be a packet of those cheap wildflower seeds. Some of the other bulbs they sent looked nasty and beaten to, but since I have never heard of anemones or some of the other bulbs I am not sure what they should look like. Also, they trick you into ordering to get into the sweepstakes, then after you order, they send you a new catalog page on a weekly basis saying that you can't win the big money unless you order again. Some trick eh?All I can say is that I will rely on other companies in the future. They may be more expensive but the quality will be better in the end.

I will never buy live plants from them again. Very poor quality and most of them died in shipment or shortly thereafter; bulbs were small in size but have not had a problem with them sprouting each year. I planted some tulips (about 5 or 6 dozen as well as a few dozen irises and glads) last fall and am awaiting the results this spring (if it ever arrives!!). I planted 150 narcissus 3 years ago and they are doing fine.

I have also bought perennials and roses from Michigan Bulb. I will NEVER make that mistake again. Besides the quality of the plant being extremely poor, the percentage of survival was small (I ordered probably $100 worth of perennials!? DUMB mistake).

I've bought numerous plants and bulbs from Michigan Bulb Co. and I've always been disappointed. The price is good but the quality is poor and they only send a replacement "check" which you must use to purchase more plants. I will never deal with them again!

I too ordered from this company because of their low prices. I received about 25 free bulbs with my order. That was nice, however, the bulbs were very small and moldy when they arrived. The 50-piece perennial set was actually 12 plants and 34 root fragments. I wrote to ask for my money back and received it in about 3 weeks. To get off their mailing list, write "Refused, Return to Sender" on everything you get and send it back to them.

My wife has had nothing but trouble with products from the Company. We recently were promised $250 cash by a so called contest they are having. I see from the comments, that we will have little to no success with this Company. Thanks for providing the info.

In October, my wife ordered plants to be sent as Christmas presents. We received a card late in November that some of the items were out of stock and would not be shipped. They did not say which items or give any further information. The long delay and lack of specific information made it impossible to make any changes at that time. We live in Minnesota and one order was to go to Nebraska and the other to New York. We found later that parts of the orders were received but there was no card enclosed or planting instructions plus the products received were in very poor condition. We have put their charge to our credit card in dispute. Their response was a form letter, which did not address the problem at all. A second letter was sent but there has been no response.

I tried them for three years, but never again. Their seeds are fine, but that is it. Bulbs (their hallmark) are pathetic at best. Further, they send you all these contest items that tend to drive you nuts. The live plants often are not. Stay away.

I wish I had read this FAQ page 3 weeks ago! I just received a confirmation from Michigan Bulb for about $30 worth of their plants. The check has already cleared the bank. If my order is not all A-OK I'll send it all right back.

My wife ordered a miniature citrus tree from them for a gift for me on our anniversary. Unfortunately, they chose to ship it in January and it arrived frozen. Never did recover. I wrote them twice and never heard from them with any credit or replacement. Never will order from them again.

Michigan Bulb got some of our business five years ago. Almost everything died, or was dead, soon after arrival. We won't make that mistake again.

I too have bad experiences (two) with Michigan Bulb Company. As a friend of mine put it, "how can they get away with it?" My guess is that there is always a new gardener ready to give them a try. It's amazing they are able to stay in business. If that's not bad enough, I am now on their sweepstakes mailing list. If only their plants were as tenacious as their junk mail and advertising!

Last year I ordered some things from them -- NEVER AGAIN! I even told my husband to remind me of the poor quality of their plants and bulbs if he even SEES me *looking* at one of their catalogs. None of the plants survived and only about half (maybe less) of the bulbs came up. The bulbs also seemed very small and I think I read somewhere that this is a sign that the bulbs have not matured enough to bloom. The prices seem to be good, but if you factor in the survival rate and time invested -- it's not a deal. I'm better off paying premium prices at my nursery for good quality plants and bulbs.

I've had nothing but bad news from Michigan Bulb. The plants were poor and didn't survive. They did replace them without question but my 40 creeping myrtle (6" evergreen ground cover) became 40 crape myrtle (a big bush and a lot more expensive). I needed ground cover not bushes. Except for the replacement of a 'Blue Girl' rose all the other replacements were not plantable.

Plants look really bad when you get them. Both my sister & I have had good luck w/them though. They are really inexpensive compared to other mail order places I have seen - so as long as they grow well -looks aren't as important. They were hardy enough to make it through the unexpected hail storm we had (First time we had *any* hail/snow/ice in the last 8 years (before that I lived elsewhere). You do get *lots* of mail from them. [update 6/30/1995]My blue columbine were many different colors. Pretty but not blue. My carpet bugle & bee balm didn't grow at all despite care. Glads, lupine grew fine & look nice; hence why I originally said they were okay. Order at your own risk.

I have ordered perennials from Michigan Bulb. The first year the blooms are not so big, but usually the second year it is bigger. If you plant them in a fertilized area the plants do a lot better. I was really pleased with it. I plan on getting a few more for some bare spots in my yard.