Comments regarding Michigan Bulb

I've ordered live plants from this company twice and had good results with quick shipping at the correct planting time. I've dealt with customer service twice amending an order and checking on ship date and was handled great both times. I wasn't aware of their past problems, but my experience has been very positive and they'll get more of my business. And you can't beat the prices.

I have ordered on occasion, and some things have died due to my own negligence. I requested replacements 2 years later, not knowing that a bankruptcy had occured. I recieved a gift certificate that was equal to what I bought. I think their plants are what you pay for, but then I don't like to pay regular nursery prices.

VERY NEGATIVE!! BEWARE OF Michigan Bulb Company!!
I ordered from Michigan Bulb Company (and never received it) several, well...... probably close to 10 years ago. It was a minimal order, but nonetheless, my check WAS cashed and they are outright crooks! Keep in mind this was before wide-spread internet access and there was no response to a complaint letter I had written. I had that automated 800 telephone # that wouldn't let you talk to a human. BUT..........I seem to recall looking for another phone # in Grand Rapids, MI.? Is this correct? When did they move? I read they're out of Indiana on this site? AnYwAy~ I can't believe I read found this site and read this tonight. Talk about digging up bad old memories!
PLEASE DON'T ORDER ANYTHING FROM THESE CROOKS!

I've had worse experience from companies, so I've bought a second and third time from them since they restarted. So far my difficulties have been being charged a higher price on the web than in the catalog (at that time received within the recent few days). I contacted someone who indicated she had made the correction. I just received the order. One price was corrected; the other wasn't. I have sent a message to their customer service to let them know.

My experience with their plants is okay. I lost a couple from my spring order, but I can't blame them because St. Louis had a wickedly hot, dry summer and it really hit when we were on vacation--and I don't know how thoroughly our house sitters watered.

Gary

I ordered a bareroot dogwood package on line late last January. I was told they would arrive at the time appropriate to my area which would be late February or early March at the latest. When they did not arrive, I called and sent emails and was told that they had trouble with their supplier because they were in a colder climate and the plants would freeze if sent out at that time. I did not receive them until late April. Unfortunately we were already having our first heat wave--way too warm for a bare root plant trying to come out of dormancy. Needless to say, they died. When I sent in the return, they did not give me a refund. Instead they sent new plants out--late April by now and even hotter. They died. I complained and sent in letters and paperwork three different times over this past year even telling them I would never use their company again. They have all been ignored. Plus, I was overcharged by three dollars, not even counting the two shipping charges back to them.

I tested the waters with these folks after keeping away from them for 2 years based on a previous order, half of which arrived DOA. This time I ordered crocosmia bulbs and blue flax plants on a 2 for 1 special. I received an email the next day after placing the order stating that my order would be shipped within a few days. After 10 days past the ship date nothing had arrived. I sent an email expressing my concern for live plants being in the mail that long. I got a form response back that did not address the issue. Eventually the package arrived. The Flax plants looked pretty bad. I tried untangling them to try save the ones that showed some sign of life. They died shortly. The bulbs were very dried out but I planted them; 3 of the ten came up. Fortunately I only gambled $25. I won't waste anymore money with them again.

I have ordered from this company in the past and everything I received was looking good. After planting them they all died. I contacted the company but never received a response. Now tonight in the mail I received a collection letter stating that I owe them $21.72. I've paid them every time I've ordered. I will never use this company again.

Since they have a new owner I decided to try placing an order. All the plants came in good condition, though tiny (which seemed reasonable considering the low prices) but of the three bulbs I ordered, two were rotten and the third was broken in half. They gave me a refund for the bulbs, but the rotten ones looked too awful for them to have been healthy when they were sent, like the packers just grabbed what was needed and didn't check it. I'd order plants from them again, but not bulbs.

I placed a huge order with this company in late April 2002. The first shipment I received was the rose bushes and vine I had ordered, all of which were received in great condition. They have begun to sprout already. The bulk of my order was backordered. My only complaint is that you have to call them frequently to get a status on your order and when shipment is expected. I wouldn't have known that most things were backordered if I hadn't called them. But the rest of the entire order has now been received, and again, everything looks very healthy and was packaged superbly. I do think the new owners of this company are trying hard to win back trust from their customers. I would definately order from them again.

My mother was also one of the people who lost money when they went bankrupt before sending purchased goods. I contacted them on her behalf this spring, but wasn't sure what they'd do since we'd missed filing in the class action lawsuit against them.

What they did was promise to send a double-your-money coupon (you have to spend money to save it, in other words) and a new catalog. It's been well over a month, and still no catalog.

Also, when I wrote them again last week to inquire about the status of this coupon mailing, I received an autoresponder saying this, in part:

"In honor of Memorial Day, we have extended the holiday weekend to our Michigan Bulb''s employees. Therefore, emails sent 05/25-05/27 will not be received by our Customer Service Email Staff. Please feel free to submit your email after Memorial Day."

It goes on to say they value family and all that good stuff. But can you believe this? They couldn't even keep e-mail inquiries in *queue* for handling upon the employees' return to work following the holiday? This just reeked of customer disservice to me. It certainly isn't the way for them to regain any trust from their customers.

In early April I placed an order from Michigan Bulbs. A few weeks later I stumbled across this website and read all the horror stories...boy did I get worried.

Anyways, a week after Mother's Day (perfect planting time for me) I got the first bunch of plants... bare root roses. The roses were packaged well enough and looked healthy. By now they are already prospering.

Yesterday I received the rest of my order: several live plants, grasses, flowers, and vegetables. They were packed *superbly* and all look alive and very healthy.

And one other bonus, Michigan Bulb only billed my credit card for what I had received, even though my order had to be broken up for different planting times. In fact, in both situations I received the plants before being billed...so their arrival totally suprised me.

I have no idea who took over Michigan Bulb, but I really like the results so far.

I had ordered some plant from Michigan Bulb about a year ago and never received them. When I got to looking for an e-mail address to contact them I run across all the complaints posted on the web. I had spent close to $50.00 on plants I ordered from them and filed a claim through the Altman Group. This weekend I was talking to my Aunt when she told me she had just ordered some things from Michigan Bulb. I was very surprised to here that they are still sending out e-mails to get people to order from them. I can't believe they are still selling plants when they have taken so many peoples money.

A few years ago my wife and I ordered from MBC some strawberry plants, bearded iris, etc. After several months, like everyone else, we got partial shipments and substitutions. The iris bulbs looked moldy and never grew. The substitutions were soft and really helped my weeds grow great! We also never got replacements and I continued to use their sweepstakes entries as ground up fertilizer food for the "substitutions."

Last Sept.I ordered approx. $40 worth of bulbs which I never received but they charged my debit account. Only now did I find out they went bankrupt. $40 isn't worth the hassle of trying to get my money back but a valuable lesson was learned.

I ordered something from Gardens Alive this week and the customer service person told me that Gardens Alive has purchased Michigan Bulb. Gardens Alive! has a great reputation and one of the Fruit Orchard companies they bought is very reputable, so maybe they'll be able to do something to improve Michigan Bulb.

I really am shocked at all the negative about this co. I ordered flowers, bulbs, and plants. I NEVER had a problem. If you follow the directions on how to plant and care for the products you would have had no problem.

July of last year (2001) ordered reblooming iris bulbs from this wonderful company.....needless to say I NEVER got them.
2 days ago I recieved a NEW catalog from them with their NEW PHONE NUMBER. It's a working phone # with actual live people answering. Was informed that they didn't give refunds but that they would send me a "double the amount of the check from last year" gift certificate that was a mail in only gift certificate. Anyway, just in case someone would like their phone # here it is PHONE- 1-812-539-2494
FAX # 1-812-537-5946

I ordered about $50 worth of plants from them last year and everything I ordered was either half dead or all the way dead. The plants and bulbs were in terrible condition. I tried to call their number but never got anyone. I also tried to email and never got anything but an automated response.

I would discourage anyone from ordering from Michigan Bulb.

I ordered from the Michigan Bulb Co. and after waiting for an eternity for my order to arrive, I was missing one of my grape plants and the strawberries were moldy. The grapes on the plants looked like the wild grapes that we have around here in New York, except that the wild grapes eventually do form. With the MBC grapes, they never fully form. They develop some sort of fungus or something and wither. I keep hoping they will be better each season and I keep being disappointed each year. I'm going to rip them all up this year and throw them out!

Michigan Bulb has never sent anything that can live for more than a week and when trying to contact them you can't get through.

I got on michiganbulb.com to check into an order my mother sent for last year and never received. I received a reply back that they had undergone bankruptcy and were under new ownership. They said they couldn't offer refunds, but if you sent in your name, address, phone number, and the amount of money you lost, they would send a certificate for twice that amount back. I gave it a try and I'll see what happens.

I have to admit that the plants I receive from Michigan Bulb Company have been horrible looking. BUT...for the price, I have learned to order them early, pot them up, and let them grown in pots until planting time. Most DO live, and by planting time, I have nice sized, healthy plants for a pittance of what I would pay at even Wal-Mart.

I ordered something from Gardens Alive! this week and the customer service person told me that Gardens Alive! has purchased Michigan Bulb. Gardens Alive! has a great reputation and one of the fruit orchard companies they bought is very reputable, so maybe they'll be able to do something to improve Michigan Bulb.

I will refrain from giving the same story everyone else has experienced; I too have lost money and not been shipped anything at all. What I thought most would be interested in, though, is that Michigan Bulb is apparently reopening itself. It is currently leeching customers through Gurney's site (they are from the same parent company), and have been persistant in their mass e-mails for "great bargains." For those unable to contact them before, this may be your chance. This is apparently their new e-mail address. Michiganbulb@gurneys.com.
-Lindi W., PA

Excellent results with bulbs. All bulbs, including the little "freebies" you get. Gorgeous Asiatic lilies have bloomed for me for 4 or 5 years. One time they substituted seeds for bulb order, and I had the best scatter garden ever. Some wallflowers have naturalized.

Plants? Roses? terrible results, but I never attempted to get money back or a new shipment. I am not going to order plants or roses again from any catalogue company, because I have good local sources.

5 years ago I delt with this company and recieved dead roots. I recieved a replacement credit from them which I never used due to the difficulty of dealing with them. 5 years almost to the date I decided to give them another try. The company went bankrupt giving me no notice of why my shrubs never arrived. I don't know that I could ever deal with this company again. The flowers in thier catologs are lovely. But this experience with their company has pretty much made me wary of all catolog companys.

The parent company (Foster & Gallaher) filed for bankruptcy and I can understand why. The quality of plants and customer service from Michigan Bulb, to me, has been the worst in the mail order plant industry.

I ordered over $200 worth of bulbs, shrubs and plants from them. Most of the order came in late and only after trying to contact them by phone (constantly busy) for over a month and then by 5 different e-mails to customer service. I never received a person to person reply or response. Once the bulk of the plants arrived the majority of them either did not grow or were dead upon receipt. I have given up on obtaining replacement plants or any reimbursement. Additionally, they never invoiced me for the plants. I thought I had paid for the entire amount and then I received a nasty letter from a collection agency. It's paid and I'm chalking this up to a lesson learned.

I lost over $150.00 before I learned my lesson!
I won their contest too/my share after it was divided $.34
I spent more than that in postage!

I ordered 12 roses that were to be high quality from Michigan Bulb and guess what they were dead the day I got this order. When I emailed and called them they said would issue me a credit as not available for remainder of season but ship the first order next season. Well next season came and I had to remind them of the problem graciously agreed to resend to me and I agreed to give them a chance to correct the problem. Well that order was just as dead, moldy and awful; still not replaced to this date. Guess I learned not to do business with them.

Not only did I get moldy, dried, and/or dead plants from them but THEY owed me 16.84 and sent me a note in the fall appealing to my greed to DOUBLE my order if I would "wait" for them to regroup in spring and place an order from their spring catalog. Anybody seen it? What charlatans! Honest people rarely expect to be lied to or suckered in because we don't deal with people that way...but we can learn to watch out for those who do. Thanks for this site...I was JUST going to make another mail order mistake.

I had been trying to use my replacement certificate to Michigan Bulb since summer of 2001. It had stated my certificate expired, November 04, 2001. I had previously spent $90.00 on plants and sent some back that had died. My credit was issued, $36.90, but I never received any response. I emailed, and called, and could never get through. Now I know what happened. I will never trust a mail order catalog like that again. I wish I could just use my replacement certificate, I am owed that!

I believe from all that I've seen, I am the only person that LOVED Michigan Bulb Company. If they ARE gone, I'll be devastated! I have been a gardener for over 30 years now, as a Military spouse, I always planted something everywhere we lived. Most of my plantings came from them, and I have always had good results! My neighbors would frequently ask me why I was planting dead "twigs". I had the last laugh when my Rose of Sharon, walls of China, bleeding hearts, Angel trumpets, and many others over the years bloomed profusely! I am now looking for a similar source but have had no luck. We have just bought our retirement home, and the yard is empty, and I had eagerly anticipated the catalog in the mail so I could start shopping.

I placed two orders back in Aug. and Sept. It is now the middle of Dec. 2001, I received a letter, on 12/11/01, explaining, they suffered bankruptcy and are now under new management. They didn't even have an 800-number to call, so now I'm left, with having to write them a letter.

Don't buy from them. I had a terrible experience more than once from them years ago. I heard they haven't changed their ways, either.

I ordered from them twice both times the things where very poor quality and the bulbs where really small. I stopped ordering from them.

I placed an order with Michigan bulb and out of 115 bulbs, bushes, etc., only ten came up. They would not send me a refund but sent me a check for the credit to purchase new items or replace the defective plants. I have called them, no answer, wrote them, no reply and have been trying to get them on their website--no luck. Finally 8 months later I find out that their parent company filed bankruptcy. Guess I am out $38.00.

Just wanted to add my 2 cents with all the rest. I received two different catalogs from Michigan Bulb Co this year, which would indicate that all was well and they were still in business. Well I sent in two different orders, the first order came in bits and drabs and half of the order never did arrive. I sent in a second order, still believing that the rest of the first order would arrive sooner or later. The second order was for roses (I guess I have to be hit over the head to believe that anyone would send out catalogs for orders and then not honor the orders.) I did receive the roses, but only one of them was alive ...all the rest were white with mold and of course never grew. I have tried to reach the customer service number to no avail and also tried to email them. They just have disappeared. The website has vanished also. I wish I had found this website before I had placed my orders with them. Does anyone know what kind of recourse we have in this? I am furious that they have my money and there is nothing that I can do about it.