Comments regarding Michigan Bulb

I placed an online order with Michigan Bulb for 2 Rose of Sharon, 2 Dwarf Burning Bush and a Rose Trio. I immediately sent an email regarding the order as it hadn't allowed me to have the plants shipped to my home address rather than my mailing address. It took the company over three weeks just to answer the email! Nowhere on the site did it tell me that any of the plants were out of stock but after not receiving them for more than a month and having two separate holds put no my credit card, I called. Was informed that the Rose of Sharons had been shipped and that the Dwarf Burning Bush were out of stock and would not be shipped. Was also told that the Rose Trio would be shipped on Friday of that week. The two Rose of Sharon arrived with one looking very sickly due to lack of soil around the roots. There was no loose soil in the box so I have to assume it was packed that way. Finally called the company again and was informed that the Rose Trio was also out of stock and would not be shipped. I now have a front yard that is totally dug up and nothing to put in it but two scrawny plants. If I hadn't made the phone calls I would still be waiting for plants that will never arrive. Will never buy from this company or any of its affiiates again! So glad to have found this web site so I can check businesses out before ordering.

Ordered from them on early March this year arrived more than 6 weeks later. They arrived small but alive. As I expected. I nurtured them to healthy & happy plant.
Some I asked for store credit & one I asked for refund because they couldn't ship the item anymore this season all done with no problems. The customer people are pretty nice & apolagetic. Recieved the store credit pretty fast.
One of the tri-color Hydrangea has flower bud already.
The Japanese Irises came with big root stalks. I planted them inside in the pot for awhile until the spiky leaves came out. Now one of them has flower bud already. I'm so happy (it's my first Japanese Iris).
Over all I have a positive experience with this company and I think they try hard enough to make the customer happy and be a better company.

I ordered a Chrysler Imperial Rose bush, 3 Burgundy Gaillardia, and a Peony Collection on 4/7/04. My rose bush came a week later, with no notification. It was in very good condition. I planted it and if I hadn't taken the time to research on growing roses in North Dakota and instead followed their instructions it would be dead. It is growing now. The peonies and gallardia are another story. I did receive notification of shipment for these. Two of the three Peonies are coming up and only one of the gallardia is showing signs of life. They say that the peonies will have two to three eyes but only one had two and one had none. The gallardia roots were very dry. I am going to give them some more time to see what happens.

I placed a few orders over the years from Michigan Bulb. One of the orders was for privet hedge plants. Its amazing how they started as small twigs sticking up from the ground and now they are a beautiful huge hedge! Almost all my landscaping plants came from them and are doing wonderful! I've never had any problems and I just want to thank Michigan Bulb for helping me make such a beautiful yard. We recently sold the house, and it was so difficult leaving behind the plants I had nurtured for so long from such a miniscule start. I'm now landscaping our new home, and was really surprised to see how the Michigan Bulb prices had risen.

That "Michigan Bulb" is ACTUALLY in INDIANA should have been my first clue - they are probably runing from the law and irate customers, and did that to throw them off their scent! I got (perfectly, 100-per-cent) DEAD plants. Badly packaged, but (from the looks of them) they went INTO the box LONG dead. I contacted them immediately, they took their own sweet time about answering, and then offered me a replacement OR refund. I opted for a replacement, that was LONG ago, and everytime I contact them I get an "It went out yesterday, UPS!" response. They refuse to give me a tracking number so I can verify shipment (probably because it was NOT sent, and they have NO intention of sending it), and that is (I'm afraid) going to be THAT. I'd encourage everyone cheated by this company to contact the Indiana Better Business Bureau, and the Interstate/Internet Fraud Commission. Stick it to them before they stick it to someone ELSE!

I ordered 4 items, and half of my order was good. The Astilbe was healthy, & the Echinops Ritro was also fairly decent. They gave me 4 Astilbe and 3 Echinops. The Black Magic Caladium was extremely small... I had expected a much larger bulb. The 3 Crocosmias were very small, too. I guess the quality just depends on the specific plant.

I have placed a few separate orders with Michigan Bulb this spring, and so far have been displeased with the packaging method for shipping potted plants, thus resulting in battered foliage and roots totally out of the soil.... Their paper packaging is not structure enough to keep plants protected from the UPS roller coaster.

They did arrange for a second shipment when all 6 of my asters arrived this way yesterday - we will see if they arrive with less harm when they reship....

This is the first year I have ever ordered perennials from catalogues, and I prefer Spring Hill plants, packaging methods, and service more than Michigan Bulb....

I ordered Pampas Grass on March 18, 2004 and it has not been delivered (today's date 4/23/2004). The company has not responded to my requests for the status of my order.

My complete order this spring arrived in beautiful condition. I was quite impressed with the quality of my new Nearly Black Rose. Thank you.

I ordered $98 of plants from Michigan bulbs in October of 2003. Delivery was a little slow but the plants and bulbs all arrived in very good shape. We were excited this spring to see several of the plants appearing to thrive. However, over half the plants have not shown any life. We have sent an email to their customer service requesting replacement or refund and will advise the results.

Like others, I had already placed an order with Michigan Bulb before I learned about Garden Watchdog. After reading all the negative comments, I kept my fingers crossed that I would be an exception to the rule...WRONG!!! Fortunately, since it was my first experience with this company, I did not spend a lot of money and I'm very glad of that. I ordered about 10 hemlock hedges and 2 butterfly bushes. The hemlock hedges arrived in a decent amount of time, although a few of them were pretty close to dead when I got them but I didn't consider this to be a big deal. The butterfly bushes however, were on back order. When they did arrive, these 2 little plants came in a HUGE box with nothing to keep them tightly tucked in - what IDIOT packs like this??? As a result, when I opened the box, one of the bushes was already dead and because they were not packed properly (to say the least!) they were both flopping around inside this big box with all the dirt spilled out at the bottom. When I called to complain, the operator was nice enough and apologized profusely, so I decided to give them another chance and agreed to let them send me another shipment. Three weeks passed and no bushes...so I call again this morning, only to find that for whatever reason, they've never been sent. This time I requested a refund. God knows how these people stay in business, but I can guarantee you that any more catalogs I receive from Michigan Bulb are going straight to the trash!! I wouldn't spend one more penny of my money on them. How can so many negative reviews be wrong?

I was very unhappy with my order with Michigan Bulb. I ordered last fall using the buy 20.00 worth get 20.00 worth for free. The order was sent out very late for my planting area, and everything was very small. The iris that I purchased was very tiny and dried out and didn't make it through the winter. The crocus blooms are smaller than a dime, rather than approx. an inch in diameter as they are supposed to be, my only guess is that they must be bulbets rather than bulbs. All in all I did not feel the money (even with it basically being half price with the coupon) spent was worth it for the quality received. I definately will not be ordering from them again.

The prices are cheap so the plants are small. If you can deal with that, I've found this company has been fine to work with and the plants do grow. I placed my fall bulb order on the web and they had a problem with the buy 1 get 1 free function so I only got the ones I bought, not the free ones. One call to MB and the rest of the order was promptly sent out. It's unfortunate that they don't have an 800 number, but I've found customer service to be very responsive both in email and on the phone. I was out of town and missed a sale on coneflowers and emailed requesting to still receive the sale price one day after the sale had ended. They returned the email within a day or two and accomodated my request. Some of the plants look like heck, but I plant it all and am usually surprised and pleased with the results. I was frustrated with some website features, like order tracking. Your best bet is to call the customer service number. They stopped shipping for Fall and apparently moved my order to Spring delivery. No big deal to me, but it would have been nice to know.

I originally bought from Michigan Bulb way back in 1998. The prices were cheap and we were moving into a new house. Ordered almost $200 worth of products from perennials to bulbs to shrubs and bushes. I diligently planted the bare brown sticks that arrived and as of this weekend on a visit to my old house, they are doing great! The poplars (now 6 years old) are well over 25 feet tall and looks like all the shrubs are doing well too. (Not really the time to assess to spring bulbs and plantings). Again - you get what you pay for. You can pay a lot more to have bigger plants but if they don't grow you won't be getting any refund on those.

I ordered from Michigan Bulb after checking this website. I noted that someone said you received good value for the money and I agreed after browsing the catalog. I ordered 30 plants or roots for a total of $39.70, including shipping. The plants were smaller than the $3-$4 perennials at better-rated companies but they were green and after planting have sprouted more leaves. I had six Black-eyed Susan that arrived as roots with crowns. The roots were larger than I expected and they have all grown a circle of leaves since planting. The company made a mistake and did not send three plants that were a buy 1-get 1 deal. I sent back the form for problems and received a postcard that my three plants would be shipped. They arrived promptly. My only complaint is that they put the three-packs of potted perennials in a white box. In two cases, the box was upside down and the plants had fallen from the pot. They are fortunately growing at this time. I will order again if the prices stay low.

I highly recommend not ordering from this company. Unfortunately, I had already ordered a few items from Michigan Bulb before I found the Garden Watchdog site and saw all the negative reviews. I had ordered some bulbs from Michigan Bulb about 10 years ago and they were fine and I actually still have most of them even after moving to a couple different residences. This year I am very unhappy with my order. Everything is very small. When you order 3 of something it means you get one small bareroot and 2 very, very small roots. The daylily I ordered had rotten spots. Plus it was such a huge shock after having ordered daylilies from Oakes and Paradise Garden. What an incredible difference in quality!!! The bulbs I ordered were either broken or had rotten spots. The only thing that looks halfway decent is the lilac bush. I'm going to try to get a credit or replacement for the worst of it and I"ll post the results.

I haven't order from them last year, because of previous negative experience. Very, very poor quality! Things arrive poorly packed, rotten or dry, and I finally got sick of planting-replanting replacements which were as dead as the originals. Plus all those sweepstakes! So much junk mail you get from them! They waste all these paper instead of putting energy into increasing the quality of their stuff. Very dissapointing and draining experience. Stay away, and don't trust those greedy thoughts when you see their tempting low prices. It is just not worth it!

Last year I ordered the re-blooming iris collection, the bigger one of 9 plants. Of the nine, three looked okay on arrival but croaked shortly after.

I called Michigan Bulb and was delighted when they told me that they would send me this years same collection (the ENTIRE collection) (their idea) in the Fall when it was available again. They e-mailed me a letter putting it in writing and I was a very happy camper.

THEN I got this "thing" in the mail. Dated 6/24/2003 they are calling this "thing" a "Replacement Certificate".

It shows my order date as 3/31/2003 for item 06428 REBLOOMER WORLD CLASS COLLECTION for $19.43. It then goes on to say:

"We are sorry to hear that you have had a problem with the item(s) ordered from us. Although we do our best to maintain a high level of quality control, occasionally some plants do not thrive.

As stated in our catalog, we do offer a lifetime guarantee on our plants. We are happy to honor your request for replacement. However, due to the seasonal nature of these item(s), we cannot reship the item(s) for you at this time. Therefore, we are sending you the enclosed Replacement Certificate for $24.29 which is 25% more because of the inconvenience.

You may use this Replacement Certificate to order the same plant(s) or any other item(s) we offer in our catalog of equal or lesser value. This Replacement Certificate can be redeemed on mail orders only.

As soon as it becomes available, we will be sending you the next issue of our catalog.

Thank you for your continued patronage."

THEN THERE IS A CUT OUT CERTIFICATE WHICH SAYS:

"This certificate is redeemable for any merchandise ordered for sale by Michigan Bulb for the value shown above. Redeemable by mai-in order only. No Expiration Date."

Well guess what....

1) My original order cost me $26.00 and change... they are not giving me even my money back, let alone 25% more!

2) I sent this Replacement Certificate in to them 2 to 3 weeks ago and they say they never got it!! Surprise!

3) They e-mail me back and forth, but never solve the problem!

4) After dealing with them since JUNE going around and around about this REPLACEMENT CERTIFICATE I AM SICK OF THEM!

UNFORTUNATELY, I got greedy and went and ordered a whole bunch of other stuff from them after they soothed me via
e-mail and before they shafted me with this replacement certificate nonsense!

Is Michigan Bulb really trying harder... or are they just trying harder to look like they are trying harder!!!!?

DISGUSTED IN VALZWORLD

I ordered a dozen rugosa roses and mini roses from Michigan Bulb in May 2003. Their replacement rugosas arrived in June and came in excellent condition and are now all blooming beautifully.
Their mini rose arrived one month later and in excellemtn packaging. However, due to unusal hot weather during shipping (120F in California), were mostly dead on arrival. I emailed their customer service and inquired on the mini-rose. Within one day, they sent me an email telling me the charges for mini-rose was already credited to my credit card.
Compared to other mail order companies, I say the new Michigan Bulb has one of the best customer service, one of the best packaging, and very fair price. I will definitely buy from them again!

In May I ordered 6 balloon flowers and 20 liatris bulbs and 3 coreopsis roses. Of this order only 1 plant died and they immediately credited my account. My liatris are just thriving all over my yard and I am very pleased with their products. In fact I just placed a large order for fall delivery. I would suggest sticking with their "bulbs" as this seems to be their speciality but as I said, when I told them something died they immediately credited my account so I highly recommend them.

This company has plants offered at very inexpensive prices and yes, they are small. But, for a small price I get to enjoy many different plants that I couldn't have afforded otherwise.

Wendy in N. California

At the Michigan Bulb prices I don't expect HUGE plants. I've been ordering for years from this company. So far I've been happy with everything that I've received and I have had good results. I started ordering from Michigan Bulb before the bankruptcy of its parent company and I've ordered since the reorganization. I've had very positive results and have been pleased with the plants and the service ... Helen

I heard all the bad things about michigan bulb, but had had luck with them before. They emailed me as parts of my order were shipped, my live plants and bulbs were healthy and in good shape. I ordered a fernleaf bleeding heart which arrived as just a crown and a week later has stems and leaves. I just planted the lily bulbs so we'll have to wait and see how those do, but so far so good.

I ordered a few items form Michigan Bulb, including a "two for the price of one" special. Received a confirmation email with an order number, but heard nothing further from them for two weeks . I checked their web site several times. Two outcomes: occasionally I would get an "order in process" message: more often, the website returned a message saying there was no such order.

I finally phoned them and was told that the items I had ordered were not in stock, but that they were trying to procure them from their stockists before deciding to cancel the entire order. I was advised to wait another week and then phone again. When I pointed out I was losing planting time here, I was informed that even if they got the items in stock, it typically took two more weeks to actually ship the items. When I said that this seemed an inordinate amount of time compared with other companies, the staff member was quite snippy and said that mine was just "one of thousands of orders", as if that made the delay acceptable.

I cancelled the order, which apparently rather offended the telephone person. Overall, I'm disappointed in my experience with this company and doubt I'll try buying from them again.

I ordered several plants and bulbs from Michigan Bulb in a buy-one-get-one deal. My blue flax plants looked pathetic on arrival, but are picking up now that they're planted. The bulbs I ordered (peacock orchids) are small, but seemed healthy. I ordered ixia, which was out of stock, so I was sent mixed glads instead, which was a disappointment, but understandable. The maiden pinks I ordered bareroot are terrible! They came in two baggies, were hard to separate since they were just thrown in, and are pretty much DOA. So was the blue mist shrub I ordered. They were planted, but there's no coming back from where they were on arrival. I've sent two emails to Michigan Bulb wanting either a refund or a replacement, and I have yet to receive a reply. This is bothering me more than the dead plants. Why can't customer service actually include service?!? I was nothing but polite in my emails, and asked for their guidance (if I should send the plants right back or wait for their contact) and have yet to hear anything. I don't have time to call and sit on a phone, which is why emailing is the better option for me. I guess I'm going to have to find the time to call them and speak directly to someone, because so far, they don't reply within 24 hours like they claim. I doubt I'll buy from them again, and will probably just get a refund (if anyone ever contacts me!) for the dead plants.

I used to buy from Michigan Bulb a few years ago, before the bankruptcy. I never had problems with their plants. And their lifetime guarantee is wonderful! It sure beats a 1 year guarantee. I definitely plan to give them my business.

I sold merchandise for Michigan Bulb on my website and they were supposed to pay me a percentage of the sale price. Then I found out they were sending my money to someone else! They are taking their sweet time about 'investigating' this and in the meantime the theft continues.

If you can't get through to make a complaint, try this contact email address for Michigan Bulb :- lspencer@michiganbulb.com and if you feel inclined do tell Ms Lori Spencer exactly how you feel about thieves and her tolerance for them.

Of course now I know how useless this company is, I will no longer be inflicting them on my customers or risking my customer's credit cards with people so casual about financial propriety.

I got a catalog for Michigan Bulb in my recent Garden's Alive order. It had a 20.00 coupon in it for purchases over 40.00. I ordered 12 Snow-In-Summer and 12 Chameleon Plant (Houttytunia) for much less than I would have bought them for locally. After I placed the order, I found this web site and read some pretty bad reviews of Michigan Bulb so I waited to see what the plants would look like.

They arrived in a small box, and the Snow-In-Summer was pretty dried out and likely dead, the Houttytunia consisted of a couple of leaves more or less attached to a wet rootball. I called and told the customer service person that the order seemed dead for the most part. She asked whether I would like a replacement or a refund. I selected a refund and she said that would be fine. The transacation was very pleasant.

This was just a few days ago so I haven't seen my refund yet but I will go ahead and plant these in an isolated part of the garden anayway and see if they perk up. If they come back and wind up being OK, I'll send MB a check. They seem like they are willing to please the customers, but need a bit of work on the packing of live plants. Maybe bulbs is the way to go.

I ordered some pink daffodils and the flowers never grew. As I couldn't find a number to call, I wrote THREE letters to Michigan Bulb for a refund or even a credit or exchange. Not one letter was ever even responded to. My check was promptly cashed and I was totally ripped off. I will never recommend this company to anyone.

Wendy

May 9/03 Well I wish I had known of this site before. I had placed an order with Michigan Bulb at the end of April. The order has now been shipped and should be here early next week. As I know they have undergone new ownership by Gardens Alive (a reputable company), maybe they have got their act together. On two occasions when I called (they do not have an 800 number unfortunately) I did get to talk to live people and they were both very helpful and courteous. I will post an update once I get the plants. Thanks.

I first bought from Michigan bulb a few years ago. Everything I ordered (except a few plants my husband pulled because he didn't know what they were) is still growing great! I think the key is to pay attention to their replacement policy, follow it exactly. Remember you are getting product cheaper than you normally would, so don't be impatient. If your not satisfied request replacements.
But the truth is several of the nurseries around where I live don't offer replacements. I have also found poor quality stuff. I see catalogs as my only real choice if I want any kind of variety. I also don't give up easy.

In the past year and a half that I have been gardening, I have purchased plants and bulbs from Michigan Bulb and although they do not have an extensive selection, they have better customer service than I have read in the past comments about them. From what I have learned, they are currently under new ownership. I purchased some bulbs last year and they did not flourish, the customer service didn't ask questions about why, but more what I wanted to do-get more of the same items or credit instead. I opted for the credit. The customer service is great as long as you treat them like the human beings they are. Michigan Bulb lives up to the lifetime guarantee. Also, they don't advertise falsely stating that you will be getting huge plants, after all, this is the mail order business. Have a little mercy on the customer service, not all of them are master gardeners!

I ordered honesty plants (money plant) from them at least two times in the 1990's. The plants did well. I called later to reorder, but they said that they didn't sell that plant anymore. The person I talked to on the phone was polite. I ordered something else from them too, which did well, but I don't remember what the plant(s) were.

Last fall I ordered from Michigan Bulb. Not a large order, mostly bulbs. The daffodils and crocus came up this spring and are looking good. I also ordered lily of the valley and an azalea. I'm not sure either of these are going to make it.

I think I might order more bulbs from them, but not plants.

I ordered a 5in1 fruit tree which was supposed to have peach, nectarine, plum , apricot. It was a very spindly little runt of a tree barely a foot high but I planted it and hoped for the best. It lived, but by the second year, I knew it was only going to be a 2 in 1 tree (basic apricot with two plum branchs grafted on). I was astounded that it actually produced apricots this year so at least it was self-pollinating. The bad part was that a bad freeze wiped the leaves and fruit off. I'll probably take an axe to it and get a basic apricot tree with a later season. Don't buy any 3in1 or 5in1 trees from these folks.

Before finding this website, I recieved an email offering me $25.00 off a $50.00 purchase. Having never purchased from them before, I checked out their website and placed a $55.00 order. I didnt hear anything from them for over 3 weeks, so I emailed them and was told the whole box was shipped on 3/18. I asked them how they put everything I ordered in 1 box, and if I could have a tracking number, and they emailed me back that they had no tracking number, and they didnt have an answer in the email as to how everything could fit in 1 box. I called customer service and was told that in fact the order did NOT ship out, they only had 1 of my items in stock, and that shipped out on 3/24....So I told her to xl the rest of the order, and fortunately I had placed the order on my cc, so if there is a problem after, I will deny payment...STAY FAR AWAY FROM THEM!!!!

I ordered a large assortment of bulbs, flowers and plants from this company and NOT ONE item lived!! Most appeared dead on arrival. I asked for repalcements and NONE of the replacements grew either! I am an experienced gardener and a Master Gardener, and I certainly suspect it was not a problem on my end. I asked for my money back and they said the guarantee time was past. DO NOT order from this company! You have been forwarned by me and many others.

NOT one of my REAL favs but it is ok. I have ordered in the
past 10 years and no problems. limited varities, if you
are looking for more specific things, look elsewhere.

On a 1-10 scale I rate them 7+

I'm really surprised at the amount of negative feedback Michigan Bulb has gotten. I've ordered from them for a few years, and even though the plants they send are usually pretty small they thrive once I plant them, and the prices can't be beat. My only problems have been with houseplants I've purchased from them, but that's due to my own neglect.

All of the bulbs I've bought from them are beautiful, and I've recommended them to my friends and family.

I was intrigued with the Michigan bulb catalog, three headed (colored) Rose-of-Sharon, multiple color butterly bushes, etc. Well, I ordered a faw items. When my package arrived, the size of a shoebox, I was disappointed in the size of the plants, packing was adequate. I would rather they had sent me the seeds to the plants I ordered than the miniscule sprig examples of what was sent. I had anticipated trees and plants, I received cuttings. You get what you pay for. The three colored Rose-of-Sharon was three sticks planted together and the Cornelian Cherry 'tree' was a toothpick! I repotted everything and will wait to offer a final judgement. Again, you get what you pay for....