Comments regarding Spring Hill Nursery (aka SpringHillNursery.com)

I placed my intial order with Spring Hill in January so obviously I did not expect shipment until the Spring. The plants arrived when I would have expected and are doing well.

I placed another larger order with this company in mid-May and like many others saw the delivery date change on a daily basis with some of the plants showing delivery in mid- to late July. I was concerned initially but, as I'm sure has happened to others, was lured in by the great coupons they send. This week I finally started checking online and saw all the negative reviews on this site, with many people voicing the same concerns I had.

Fortunately, I was able to call up and cancel my order with no problems. I went to a local nursery and paid about twice as much for the plants I got but (1) I have no doubt they are much larger that what I would have received from Spring Hill based on my previous order with them and (2) now I actually have the plants.

I would not order from this company again. Especially when another on-line company I buy from regularly has already delivered an order I placed only three days ago. Don't fall for the coupons and discounts from Spring Hill!

Like many, I ordered plants MONTHS AGO (3/1/08 to be exact) and to date, I have received no plants, nor have they shipped. I waited patiently at first and didn't call until early May, when I started to get nervous that the plants wouldn't arrive until the heat of summer set in. I was told part of the order was on back order but was assured the plants would arrive in time for SPRING planting! I waited some more, called 5/27, was told the plants were slated to be received between 6/3 and 6/17 and I would receive an email when they shipped. Really wanting the plants we ordered, I decided to wait a bit longer. Regina had assured me I could monitor online and could cancel at anytime if the order hadn't shipped. Today (6/6), I called to cancel as SUMMER weather is here and it's really too late to be thinking about planting tiny tender plants.

Today I was told I couldn't cancel the order as it had "printed" and was at the warehouse to be packed. And yet, Chuck couldn't tell me when the order would ship, or give any additional information about when the shipment would arrive. Each of the other times I called I was told the plants would soon ship too, and like I said, we're in SUMMER weather now.

That wasn't all, I had also purchased a membership to Garden Solutions, thinking I would be satisfied with the product and service and would be ordering more. (but all based on the assumption that I would be satisfied!) The membership was $14.95, but my card had been charged by "Spring Hill Nursery" $32.97 on 3/5... so what was the additional 18.02? They charged my card for the shipping of the entire order and tax on the $14.95. WHAT? They've had the shipping money since day one, but they've never shipped any plants! When I asked Spring Hill to refund the cost of the "membership", they balked. They said they could refund the shipping/tax but not the cost of the membership. For that refund, I had to call Garden Solutions directly, of which they are a member and when Spring Hill sold the membership. I did call Garden Solutions and was told they would send a check in 4-6 weeks for the $14.95 membership, but I have to wait 4-6 weeks for that. I will be watching to see if Spring Hill credits the tax and shipping and if I receive the check from Garden Solutions.

I never thought I would fall prey to some shady practices. Spring Hill has great offers but has failed to deliver (both plants, and good customer service). This is not a company I intend to do business with in the future.

Below is how I've been treated by Spring Hill Nursery. Three months of waiting for my plants - - one month spend planning for my plants - - and now empty flower beds left for the weeds to grow in! I have now canceled my order with this company and hope that anyone reading this will think twice about ordering from this company.

Side note: Sorry for the length of this, but I feel that the length is necesarry to see the whole story. Also, I am not one to wright negative reviews - - however this horrible customer service has pushed me over the edge!


May 27, 2008 – Last E-mail sent by Me to Spring Hill
Good Afternoon,
The following is a string of E-mail messages I have had with Dave, Anthony, Ben, Iris, Rose, Carol, & Gracy in Customer Service. I placed an order on 4/8/08. Reading below you will soon find out that I have been told many wonderful things, however to this date I still have no plants in my possession nor do I have any guarantee as to them being shipped. I have apologies, which are nice, however after 3 months of information constantly changing, as to when I will receive my flowers, I am left to only think of those apologies as half-hearted.

I am very disappointed in the lack of customer service I have received. If my flowers are not going to be available, then it would have been only fair business practice to let me as the customer know so that I would be able to make other arrangements. Through all of the explaining to the seven different customer service people I have never been offered to be told the TRUTH about my order. i.e. where it truly is? From research online it seem that order fulfillment is an issue right now with Spring Hill - - and you have made a contract with each of your customers to deliver flowers to them. It seems that a high number of people who placed orders around the time I did have had the same problems receiving their orders in a timely manor.

I expect this issue to be resolved in a upstanding business like manor within 24 hours or I will be contacting the Better Business Bureau.

-M


I also tried to call Spring Hill on May 27. The customer service representative had no information for me and said that my order should ship out the end of this week(May30th). So far, no tracking number has appeared on the order confirmation website.

Previous e-mail from me sent via Spring Hills website requested when the order would be shipped.

April 15, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. I really apologize for the inconvenience. I
have reviewed your account and see that double your money offer coupon
has already been applied to your order. I am enclosing a coy of
invoice for your review.

If we can be of further assistance please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Cherry
Customer Service
April 15, 2008
Hello,
Yes, I know the a double my money coupon had been applied. I'm a bit confused, because my question had to do with when my order will arrive?? Can you tell me when I might see my flowers??

Thanks,
M

Apr 15, 2008:
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. I really apologize for the inconvenience. I
have reviewed your account and see that double your money offer coupon
has already been applied to your order. I am enclosing a coy of
invoice for your review.

If we can be of further assistance please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Cherry
Customer Service


April 15, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your recent email. Your order will ship at the proper
time for spring planting in your area. Our shipping schedule shows
that your area will begin shipping late April.

Processing can take up to two weeks depending on availability. After
processing, shipping can take up to two weeks.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Rose
Customer Service

April 15, 2008
I know what dates are listed on my order status, but it seems that thoses dates change daily. I'm going on vacation the begining of May and I don't want my order left on the front porch while I am away. If it is to me before this month is through, then great! But, if it shipps and doesn't arive until the first week in May I'm affraid the flowers will die sitting on my porch!

Thanks,
M

April 15, 2008
Dear Gardening Friend,

Thank you for contacting Spring Hill Nurseries. Your questions and comments are very important to us. Rest assured one of our Customer Care Representatives will respond to you as quickly as possible. As always, we pride ourselves on our world class customer service and we back all of our plants with a lifetime guarantee.

Frequently Asked Questions:
What is my Hardiness Zone?
When will my order ship?
What should I do when my plants arrive?
How do I cancel an item from my order?
How do I process a return?
How do I subscribe or unsubscribe from the Spring Hill Newsletter?

Please visit SpringHillNursery.com often for the latest news from Abigail Merriweather, as well as, tips for your garden!

Sincerely,
Spring Hill Nursery
Customer Care Team

April 22, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. I have changed the shipping date of your
order and now the the order will ship late May.

If we can be of further assistance please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Dave
Customer Service

April 22, 2008
I hope this isn't an inconvinence, but could that shipping date instead of being late May...just be so that the items will be delivered to me no earlier than May 9? I will be back from vacation on that day.

Thanks,
M

April 22, 2008
Dear M,

Thank you for your email. I apologize for the inconvenience.
Unfortunately, we are unable to change the shipping dates to the
previous date. However, we can only delay the shipping. Your order
will ship at the proper time for spring planting in your area. Our
shipping schedule shows that your area will begin shipping late May.
Processing can take up to two weeks depending on availability. After
processing, shipping can take up to two weeks.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Anthony
Customer Service

April 23, 2008
I'm so confused. Last I knew Spring started in March and ended at the beginning of June. Every day since I placed my order my shipping dates have changed daily. I expected to be able to plant my plants before the real heat hit my area. Now, I'll just have planted my plants and the heat will come...and because of this my plants will suffer! I NEVER requested that my plants not ship until the end of May. I simply requested that they not be shipped during one week at the beginning of May due to my vacation. That means they could have been shipped before, like I expected them to - - due to the original shipping dates I was given. Or, they could have been shipped right after...not the ideal. This is a very LARGE order and because of it I wanted to avoid having dead plants sitting on my porch while I was on vacation.

Is there absolutely nothing you can do fix the shipping date on this?? If I need to speak to your supervisor about changing the date please let me know. Each time I have addressed this issue I have ended up having a different Customer Service person replying. So far I've had 5 different people...it is very frustrating, because I don't know what the current customer service person knows or doesn't know. Besides this email I've exchanged others with different customer service people.

Thanks for your assistance in this matter,
M




April 25, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. Please accept our sincere apology for any
inconvenience this may have caused. The shipping date on your order
#8099xxxxxxx has been adjusted according to your day of return from
the vacation (9th May). We expect to ship your items in early May and
you will receive them after 9th May. We assure you that this confusion
has been straightened out. Once again, please accept our apology for
the inconveniences.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Ben
Customer Service

April 25, 2008
Thank you so much for adjusting the shipping date, I will look for the plants after I return from vacation!
-M

April 25, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. You're very welcome! Please know that we
are always available to assist you in whatever your needs are. Happy
Gardening!

Sincerely,

Iris
Customer Service

May 19, 2008
Hello,
I had been told that my order would arrive shortly after I came back from vacation (May 11, 2008). It's been a week now and I'm wondering when my flowers will arrive?? My order number is 8099xxxxxxxx.

Thanks,
M :)

May 19, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. I have reviewed your account and see that
your order should ship by the beginning of June. I apologize for any
inconvenience this may cause.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Rose
Customer Service

May 19, 2008
Is there any way this order can be shipped sooner? I placed my order on April 8 and by the time it actually get's to me it will have been two months!!! In that time frame I may as well have just bought my plants from a local nursery. I placed an order, prior to this order, and it came in a very timely fasion - - I don't understand why this one should take two months to get to me?

M

May 19, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. I apologize for the inconvenience. We ship
the plants according to the zone opening date and the availability.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Carol
Customer Service

May 19, 2008
Which according to the website says plants shipped to zone 7 (which I am) will be shipped earliest March 30 to latest June 13. Having placed my order in April that would make one assume that the plants would arrive more toward the front of the shipping dates. I believe that when I originally placed my order my shipping date was around the end of April. That date has changed constantly on a daily basis - - and when I asked for my order not to be shipped during one week that I was on vacation the date of my shipment was moved off until like June. So then I asked for it to be moved back to a more appropriate date for when I returned from vacation. I thought it was done, but since it's been a week since my vacation ended and I haven't seen any plants I assume that it wasn't corrected appropriately!

I appreciate the apologize I've received - - however at this point I have explained my situation to more than 10 people in customer service and I have yet to receive a good solution for my plants not arriving. I am tired of getting the run around about my plants not being shipped and this is getting to the point where I am about ready to cancel my order and go else where!

I understand that you may not be the person who can expedite the process of my plants being shipped, but if there is someone else I should be contacting please let me know.

Thanks,
M

May 19, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. I apologize for the inconvenience. We ship
the items according to the availability and in the order your order
was received for each zone. However, I have put a rush on your order
and it will ship on a priority basis.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,
Gracy
Customer Service



------
Today I received:


June 6, 2008
Dear M:

Thank you for your email. Orders are now shipped according to the
availability of mature plants. All orders will process by June 13.
Any items that are on backorder from the spring season will be
converted to a fall ship date, if possible. If the items are not able
to be converted to a fall ship date, or are not available at the end
of our fall shipping season, your order will be cancelled. If your
method of payment was by credit card, your card will not be charged.
However, if you paid by check a refund will be issued once the order
has been cancelled. I apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Ben
Customer Service

June 6, 2008
Ben,
Are you kidding me! You make me wait more than 3 months for a shipment of flowers - - and now you are telling me that you may not even have the flowers, and that your just going to cancel my order or ship them in the Fall (which does not do my garden any good for this summer!)

This is completely horrible customer service, and believe me I will be spreading the word about how your company has chosen to treat their customers!

-

Dear M:

Thank you for your email.


I apologize it is unlikely that the items on this order will be
shipped this season. We ship our orders in the order they are
received. When you moved back the ship dates for your order you put
yourself at the end of the line and many of the items on your order
are no longer available. We will conclude our shipping season the end
of next week. As Ben mentioned some of the items may be moved to a
Fall ship date if they are also available to ship out that season.


If we can be of further assistance, please feel free to contact us.

Sincerely,

Donna

Customer Service

I ordered from Spring Hill about 10 years ago and was impressed with their responses and timely replacement of plants. About 3 years ago I ordered a yellow lilac, 2 variegated wiegelas and several other plants, the names of which I don't recall. The lilac and one of the weigelas arrived in fair condition........the other plants were dead on arrive. I promptly e-mailed the company and requested replacements for the DOA plants, and just as promptly received their e-mail telling me they were investigating and the matter would be resolved shortly. About 2 weeks later, I sent an another e-mail in which I requested replacements for the dead plants.....same response back. Then it dawned on me it was a computer generated response and would probably go on forever. I decided it was a fairly cheap lesson learned, but I'll never order from this shyster outfit again. Oh yes.......the lilac bloomed for the first time this year....lovely shade of blue, one of the wiegelas has done quite well but the other plant died. I've told several of my friends about my problems with Spring Hill, one of whom thanked me because he was just about to place an order with them. I really don't know how they can stay in businees with the amount of negative publicity they've received.

This was my fist order with SpringHill Nursery. I ordered 50 strawberry plants. I've had really bad luck with all the strawberry orders I have placed this year and I have to say that SpringHill got it right!! All of the plants had nice strong roots and 95% of them were already sprouting healthy "baby" leaves. I've already planted them and they are doing strong. Shipping was average, but I did order strawberries a little late in the season for my zone. I have not ordered any flowers or plants from them. I would order from this company again.

Will update on how well the strawberry plants stand up.

Don't be lured in by the beautiful pictures in their catalog or on their website. Luckily I used their $25 off $50 offer for my order, but it still was not worth the money. I will say that their plants were packed very well and arrived in good condition. Unfortunately I ordered early and the plants arrived too early to plant outside. We still had 3-4 weeks of possible frosts. I held off outdoor planting as long as I could as the plants were not suited to sit too long in their containers. A week later, we had a frost. I covered them as best I could (I had a lot of plants) but lost a few to the cold. They did replace the 2 I called about, but even the plants that fared through the cold are languishing and many have died. I can't say it's my gardening ability as all plants I purchased from local nurseries and Lowes are doing very well.
The plants are ridiculously expensive for what you get. Not having bought plants in quite some time, I didn't know any better. I saw most of the same plants locally for a fraction of Spring Hill's prices. And the local plants were MUCH larger. My biggest disappointments are the 3 Harlequin Hydrangeas I bought for my parents... 3 for $50+ and only one is still struggling along. I also bought an expensive (tiny) Josee Lilac that is barely clinging to life. They replaced a Hydrangea, but even that one is on it's way out. I feel foolish having paid so much for such small plants that for the most part I could have waited and bought locally. I'd have gotten much larger plants at MUCH lower prices.
I'm waiting to see how the rest fare, but if I lose any more of the expensive ones, I'm calling them for refunds or replacements.
Don't bother with this company, you'll be very disappointed. Be patient and buy local, you'll do much better.

Mail ordering plants in the past was always satisfactory but I have decided to get plants only locally. It appears that Spring Hill is doing a lot of the postponing of deliveries. I ordered early, which used to mean faster delivery. Mine was slated to come this last week of May or early June which I found out by checking my order status on-line. That was very late but since we've had a lot of unusually cold weather I wasn't so concerned. Today I checked my order status again because here it is the middle of the first week it was due to be sent and I have seen how many people have trouble with setbacks of the shipment dates. Now they say shipment should be between June 5 and June 19 and for the Pee Gee Hydrangea, which I really, really wanted the date is expected to be June 26 to July 16! That is all entirely unacceptable for my area. I know they would not survive planting that late. I emailed them and cancelled the order and will wait to see if they honor that as I told them I will refuse the order if they send it. Now I will have to watch my credit card account to be sure they don't charge me. I have had it with mail ordering plants. It makes no difference if you order from the cheap ones or the higher priced. You're taking a chance to be among the few who get good service. I see that some folks were sent their plants within a few weeks and yet I ordered very early and am still waitng.

I could just slap myself....i always, always check for reviews before ordering online and have never had a bad experience. The first time I did not check online, was dealing with Spring Hill Nursery....website was great, prices were great...however I just had to cancel my entire order as they keep pushing back the shipping dates and the amounts ordered are not the same as they show on their order status. Trying to contact them by e-mail is like trying to get a root canal....I am not sure they even read their e-mails...I ask specific questions and all they keep replying is to check their FAQ page on their website which doesn't tell me anything.....I am so mad at myself for falling for this one and I was so looking forward to enjoying my garden this spring.....lesson learned...

I placed a first time order 6 weeks ago, was told it would be 3-4 weeks and hoped it would arrive for Mother's Day to my 85 year old Mother. 6 weeks later and a disappointed Mom and me. I called a week ago and when I finally got a person, there was none of the pleasant help as with the order. I was told they would mark it "Rush" and I should call several days later and see if it had gone out yet. Hello, is that rush? One week later, today I'm told it is printed up meaning it should go out in a few days and maybe get there in a week. I told her I didn't know if my Mom still wanted it and perhaps I would just cancel. I was told it was too late to cancel. Hello? So we will see what happens -after reading some of the negative comments, I just hope and pray they arrive healthy and soon. I am shocked at their "customer service" and especially some of the other comments. Never Never Never will I order anything from them or anyone else without checking out the comments. They have nice brochures. :)

"

D-mailed Customer on 6/16/08 asking for information so I could locate their account and offer a possible resolution/compensation. As of today, I have received no response."

As a first time buyer from SH, I placed two orders this spring. One for my home, and one as a mothers day gift. Due to timing I had to cancel the Mothers Day order. When I called I wasn't put on hold, and I was able to speak to someone immediately and had no problems cancelling the order.

I just received the order for my home last night. All of the plants look in fair to good condition considering they have been inside a box and on shipping trucks for the last week. I was impressed, especially after reading the reviews on this website I was a little concerned about what I might get in the mail.

Overall I am very pleased with the customer service, and the condition of the plants. And as far as timeliness goes, I recieved my plants on the first day of the estimated shipping date I recieved from Spring Hill when I first ordered the plants.

Very Happy, will order from them again and again.

Years ago, I ordered plants from Spring Hill. Plants were received in a timely manner, packaged securely, and thrived in my garden. Fast forward to 2008...I'm reading many negative reviews regarding orders never sent, poor packaging, and rude customer service. This certainly isn't the same company I ordered from in the 1990s. I don't know if they were bought out by someone else, but all I can say is
"What a shame!"

Shop here if you have lots of time to waste and lots of money to spend on products that might or might not arrive! I ordered an iris bulb, and when the iris bloomed, it was the wrong color. After several emails to their customer service department, I was told I would have to wait SEVEN MONTHS to receive the correct bulb. I asked in an email to speak with a manager, and no one ever called. I don't want a refund or an attitude, I just want the bulb I ordered and paid for LAST YEAR. I am still waiting. I will NEVER order from this company again.

"

Sent a D-Mail via this website to the Customer on 5/23/08 asking for their information so I could look up their account and maybe resolve the issue. Have not received a response from the Customer as of today."

Where do I start? Let's see, we had 2 $25.00 certificates from Springhill from several years ago when the roses that we purchased had blackspot blight and died (all of them died over about 3 months). Their guarantee (that's a laugh) stated to let them know and money would be cheerfully refunded. We received the refund in the form of certificates to be used from their company. We decided to give them anohther shot this year and to use the certificates. We called to confirm that the certificates could be used and were told they would happily honor the certificates, to just include them with our order - which we did. Weeks later we received several sickly monarda plants, a few other rather small and sickly looking specimens, and a note saying that the roses (the main reason for our order) were not in stock..... along with a bill.... even though we had sent them a check for the amount owed, minus the $50.00 credit that we were "assured" would be placed toward out order. Now, we don't have the roses that we wanted, and we do have a bill for more than we bargained for!!!!!!!!
Several long distance phone calls, several faxes, and many phone calls later we still have nothing but a bill for sick or dead plants that were received, a note from someone saying that they bought the Springhill Company from someone else and they don't have to honor the certificates, and perhaps the WORST CUSTOMER SERVICE I HAVE EVER ENCOUNTERED!

I've done an insane amount of business with this company as I, the new resident, attempt to revive 1/2 acre of long abandoned planting beds...bought several 'complete gardens', bargain bags and many, many individual items.

Many hundreds of dollars. Many, many plants.

I would give a positive rating except for the fact that some of the dormant bulk deals did not produce a living plant (several Coneflower (no root system visible, just dirt) and Columbine (never came up -- not the first order or the replacement - dormant without progressive growth, respectively)...I also lost a few Keys Of Heaven and a Mondara (because the soil was saturated before shipment) and that a partial replacement order was shipped to my billing address, not my mailing address, which was in my profile...so the replacement came close to needing yet another...

Communication by email is very slow.

However, the few replacements I have contacted them about were handled graciously and the packaging has assured every plant of getting here...the last order that came through UPS...the box was trashed/crushed/sat on and busted open - even the black shipment packing inside was crumpled, but the plants were all good - stem and root protected by the extra effort.

So to surmise - very pleased with the plants that are doing very well, and that would be most of them, but not so keen on the glitches.

Ordered in early April. Shipping date has been pushed back 4 times, by 3+ weeks now, into mid-June. Who tries to establish perennials in the heat of summer? I don't want to be watering every day! So I cancelled the order today. On the plus side, cancelling was very easy and they didn't try to talk me out of it. What an annoyance to order and anticipate and then give up. Never again.

I placed an order in early April 2008 with Spring Hill and it hasn't shipped. I checked my order status weekly to see where it was, since it's prime planting season here in Wisconsin. After contacting customer "service" numerous times, I heard conflicting stories ranging from "you should have ordered in February" to "your order will ship this week" to "your plants are on backorder until September." I canceled my order with them and will NEVER shop with them or their "partner" companies again.

"

D-Mailed Customer on 5/21/08 for possible resolution; have received no response as of today."

BEWARE! We spent $300+ with them. We got an incorrect email update, an incorrect listing on the order detail page. Than we ask to replace one plant before shipping ....no answer. We ask if they can ship soon ... no answer. Than we call, wait 20 minutes for a non-800 # ... and we get a very rude woman who made it seem like we were lucky to speak to her and pay them money weeks earlier for nothing. We explain the list that says is shipping (never got out than) is not the same as the list we ordered and that’s not the same as the email list they sent. She went over and said all will be OK, its just a glitch in their system. Forget that they also had erroneous duplicates listed. So today we get the order. One hour or so ago. To find out they shipped 10 of 19 plants. The plants were fine. Just where is this other box? Online it says they all were shipped. Do they usually fit 19 plants in one box? Well we call, 15 minutes waiting, than we get ALLEN. We taped the phone call after 5 minutes of nearly hysterical non-understanding and mumbling. Than we have to repeat 3 times the list of plants that did not come. He kept blaming their system is slow, not working. I said to him after 20 minutes of this ... well now what happens? He raises his voice and rudely starts "Sir ...." and than I realized this was how the woman was 2 weeks prior. Well than I said, well its obvious there is an issue. He says amazingly, we have no way of knowing whether you got the plants?!? I said so now you are telling me I'm a liar? All I wanted to do was know when the rest of my plants are coming. He started getting LOUD, aggressive and very rude. I said you have a problem with your system and I don't appreciate you raising your voice. Someone next to him (female) told him to calm down. I asked if he was an employee and how do you treat people like this ... he said take it up with management and this conversation is now meaningless. I told him I paid alot of money a month ago and all I get are errors, rudeness, 1/2 order and now I am yelled at and called a liar. I asked to speak to his boss. He started YELLING .... and HUNG UP!!!! I called back and waited the 10 or so minutes, it clicked in what usually is someone than went to another holding. They now wont answer my call to speak to a manager. Is this place run by inmates? How can they treat clients like this?!? BEWARE. Do not at all costs ... order from them.

"

The type of behavior the Customer describes above is NOT tolerated by our company; Agents will lose their job over Customer abuse! I did D-mail the Customer on 5/21 for their information; they did email back and ask for my personal email address (they didn't want to go through this site). I did email them back with my email address, but have not received a response as of today."

I just received my order for 6 lariope from SpringHill Nursery. I have seen their ads for many years and have always been tempted to order something. Their offer of just paying shipping on a $20 order seemed like a great time to try your company. I was amazed by the extremely small size of the plants I received. I didn't expect very large plants, but this is riduculous. I don't know how they stay in business --especially if they rely on repeat customers-- when this is the disappointly small size of plants you sell. I will definitely NOT be a return customer.

"

We do offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee on our plants. I did D-mail the Customer on 5/21/08 for a possible resolution, but as of today have received no response."

Spring hill customer service was attrocious (I am not the "complaining" type!) and I have been waiting 5 weeks for my 160$ order to ship! the dates keep getting pushed back and calling customer service is like having a root canal performed. I will never order from them again-too bad too because this is my first home and i have lots of gardening ideas!!

"

I D-mailed the Customer on 5/27 for possible resolution; no response as of today."

My Spring Hill order arrived quickly and the plants were healthy. I was short one plant, called Spring Hill and spoke with a pleasant customer service rep who appeared genuinely concerned about the missing item and maintaining me as a customer. Within one week my missing plant arrived.

I ordered from them last month and rec'd my plants in about 10 days. I've planted everything and so far it's all doing well. I've ordered from them once before and had the same positive experience.

I too used the $25 coupon and ordered the following items: a climbing shell plant, edelweiss, lily of the valley, a bleeding heart plant, and a set of three Heritage raspberry plants. All arrived in good shape, except one of the three raspberry plants that looked dead to me, and I put them all in the ground the next day. Everything quickly thrived, except the raspberry I thought had been dead in the first place (the other two had green buds on them, this one had no green at all-- bear in mind this is my first year really gardening, so I thought maybe I was a poor judge of quality) and the bleeding heart.

I waited a month and then called them to report the two problems. At first the customer rep seemed confused-- "So you want planting advice?" (for dead plants? Uh, no). I told them that I'd been very happy with the rest of my order but I wanted these two items replaced. Although they tried to schmooze me into adding on a few "specials," they immediately agreed to replace my dead plants without any additional costs or shipping. It took about ten days for them to get here, but arrive they did. Oddly, the bleeding heart bareroot plant was much larger than my original one. I was happy to see that although I'd specified only one raspberry was dead, they'd sent me another three-pack, all with green showing.

Considering the $25 off a barely-$50 order I got, and the replacement plants, I'm sure I was not a profitable customer, and I appreciate the nice plants I got out of the deal. I found the customer service to be a bit odd, but ultimately they were perfectly helpful. I'll be cautious about reading the issues on this site, but my experience is that if you speak up, they'll come through for you.

I wish I would have checked here first. I just got the same runaround about late-shipping orders. I expected my shipment three weeks ago. Each time I check the online status, it is pushed back every day! I called several days ago to complain (my second call) and was told a "rush" would be placed on the order. I called today and was told it still wouldn't ship for a week (and then I don't believe them). I will have lost the entire month of May. I canceled my order. I hope they get that right (if not, I'll update here). I'm glad I found this website, though. I found it by googling "Springhill nurseries, bad, problems."

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D-mailed the Customer on 5/17/08 for possible resolution; to date have received no response."

I had the exact same experience as the previous person. I ordered almost $300 worth of plants and have not received anything.... information, updates, or plants!! Everytime I check the shipping status it gets pushed back another week. My husband and I scheduled a certain date to have our landscaping complete for entertaining purposes and now we will not meet our deadline.
I have ordered plants through the internet previously (with other companies) and had wonderful results. So I'm very disappointed.
I tried Springhill nursery so I could save a few $$... guess you get what you pay for!

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D-mailed the Customer on 5/21/08 for possible resolution; as of 6/26/08 no response has been received."

I decided I would plant my first ever garden this year. I received a catalog from Spring Hill with a $25 coupon attached, so I thought I would check them out. So in mid March I ordered their "everblooming perennial garden" because I thought it would be easier to do my first ever garden with a pre-panned layout and mix of plants. I also ordered some Toad Lillies because I thought they looked neat.

The published shipping schedule for my plants and my zone was for mid April, so I waited for the plants to come, and waited, and waited and waited. Finally, on May 15, 2008 I called Spring Hill to find out what happened to my plants. They told me my entire order was on "back order" and said that they could not give me a delivery date. I also checked the order status on-line, and it had an estimated delivery date between mid June and early July. I decided at that point to cancel the order, since the summer would be half over before the plants even arrived.

Through all of this, Spring Hill made no attempt to notify me that they were having problems filling my order. They just left me hanging for two months. If they'd notified me earlier I might have been able to get the plants elsewhere, but now it's probably too late.

My first garden ever may not actually happen at this point, because it's getting quite late in the season, and I suspect the local selection will be severly picked-over this late in the game. I'm extremely disappointed by all this, and the disappointment makes it hard to get motivated to get out and find the plants and do the work. My review on Spring Hill - certainly not good!

I had never ordered plants through a catalog before, and when they sent me a coupon for $25.00, I thought I would try it. I received my plants in less than 2 weeks after I placed my order, and they were in perfect condition. I ordered a lilac which never even wilted and the others were roots and are already a few inches tall. I've read other reviews but so far I only have good things to say about them. I would definitely buy from them again.

You definately get what you pay for with this company. I recommend DO NOT ORDER from Springhill Nursery. I purchased 2 mock orange shrubs and when I got them, they we sticks...literally. I took care of them, planted them and they died. Waste of time and money. My advice? Order from a local nursery so you can see what you're paying for!

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Because we have a 100% satisfaction guarantee, and Customer satisfaction is very important to us, the Customer was refunded for the purchase price on 5/21/08."

SPRINGHILL LIES ABOUT SHIPPING! We placed an order on April 20, 2008 and we were told that the order would ship soon. As of today, the dates have changed multiple times. The average daily temperatures AND the record temperatures are all above freezing at this point and yet we have no plants to plant, nor a defined shipping dates. Everyday, the shipping dates changes on their website and as of today, we may not see plants until June. No May flowers for us...only April showers!

I called and spoke with their customer service at 513.354.1509 and the woman on the other line insisted that my wait of a few weeks was not bad as we were at the end of there shipping season. I explained to her that we had waited nearly a month and she SCOLDED me, telling me that it had only been a few weeks. I think that 22 days is a bit closer to a month than it is a few weeks, but nonetheless, she fought with me about it. Where is the customer service here.
She also told me that some of the products were in stock and some were back ordered and that she could not give me a shipping date.

I decided to call back again and spoke to a customer service rep by the name of Daniel. I asked for a customer service manager and he immediately asked me why in a condescending tone. I explained that I wanted to cancel an order and he immediately asked if it were due to shipping issues. He knew the problem before I asked him!

Bottom Line: BEWARE of lies about shipping dates. Read the reviews and the BLOGS. This company has lost touch with their customers.

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D-mailed the Customer on 5/17/08 for possible resolution; have received no response as of today."

ok this was the 1st time i had ordered from springhill. i had 50% off my entire order, plus another 25 dollars off. i do have to agree with everyone about they lie about when they ship an item,plus they added additional shipping charges that were not on their chart in their catalog. i was told i would recieve my items in the middle of april. well when i didn't i called and the guy was a complete idiot. all he could say was that my order had been pushed back and he didn't know why. well i waited a couple weeks and called back and the lady was very helpful. she researched or atleast it sounded like she was researching why my order was pushed back. but she promised that it would be shipped the next week.. and it was. i received them the other day and i was very happy with everything. i orderd everything i normally can't find at the nurseries, so i guess i do not mind how small everything is.. but so far i am happy with them

This was my first time buying from SpringHill so I came here first to read the reviews. I was a bit worried with the negative experiences some people had. There was a special going on with 20 dollars of free plants. So I bought a Dwarf Citrus tree and hosta which came out to 20 dollars. I thought what do I have to loose with just paying shipping? I was very pleased when the plants that came in. Both were packaged nicely and were healthy. The citrus was well rooted and multi-branched little tree. The hosta tuber was already getting new growth. I now have them both planted and they are doing great!! I would buy from them again.

After I brought my new house I got 50% off coupon from Spinghill, so I ordered some roses, iris, mini roses and others. This year I ordered some hydrangeas and lilacs with $25 off coupon with min. $50 orders. The problem with them is they always ship too early to me. The plants are demaged by the cold weather after I planted them. Some will make it, some will never come back. They are happily replaced them for me. Just like the old saying you get what you pay for. Their plants are small like most mail-order nuseries. From my experience, from now on I only order bareroot, bulbs and winter dormant plants from them. I'm a strange person. As long as the plant still has live roots and a little bit green stem, I still plant them and water them, most of them come back to life which sometimes surprises me. A lot people complaints the plants are very small and don't gorw fast enough. Please, keep in mind that some plants, like lilac, take as long as10 years to mature.
In my opinions, since they much cheaper than my local nurseries and keep their promise: replace the dead plants I will still shop with them if I get some good deals.

I have mixed previous experience with the company. The customer service was always very nice, I never had any problems with refunds or replacements. However the last shipment 2-3 years ago was a mess: the packaging was awful, the soil all over the box and broken/moldy plants. I did get a refund, no problems, but it left a bitter taste and I stopped ordering online.

After reading reviews I decided to give another try and used $25 coupon in the beginning of April to order 4 plants I couldn’t get in the local nurseries. My plants came 2 days ago very well packaged! Alive, not moldy or broken! In fact, they look very healthy. Small but healthy! I would probably buy again but in small quantities and on sale.

I live in central IL. I saw the reviews here on Spring Hill Nursery before I ordered but I saw them as mixed and I hoped I would have one of the better experiences. I ordered 160 plants from Springhill by way of 5 of their preplanned gardens using the 50% coupon (I am new to gardening). Before I placed the order I emailed a question about dimensions of the garden plan to their customer service and they responded by email within 24 hours. I thought that was a good sign. I placed the order April 15. I was told my estimated ship dates for each of the 5 gardens were April 20-May 12. That sounded fine to me as I was still preparing the flower beds at our new house at that point anyway. However, due to what i had read on this site I checked the estimated delivery dates often (like 3 times a week) and I noticed that they kept getting moved back. Now is the point at which I will note that I am 7 months pregnant and am trying to get my flower beds planted before I have a newborn to take up all my time. I emailed maybe 4 times regarding my delivery dates being moved back. Almost every time I would explain my situation (needed to plant before I was too pregnant to physically be able) in the email. I don't remember ever getting a response to any of these, but usually about 24 hours later I would check and my ship dates would all have been moved back up to early/mid-May. But then a day or two later, the dates would be back out to June again. Sometime in the last few days of April I called and talked to someone who said she understood and that she'd put a rush on my order. When I checked my estimated ship dates on May 3 the majority of my order showed that it might come as late as June 20. As I will be 9 months pregnant at that point, I just called and cancelled the entire order. The guy I talked to didn't even ask why I was canceling. June 20 was at least a week past my Spring delivery season for my zone so when I saw that I was getting bumped out that far I knew there was likely no end in sight to the delays.
I ordered from Bluestone the same evening (May 3) about 120 plants via 2 of their preplanned peennial gardens and they shipped yesterday, May 6 via UPS. I should have just followed everyone's advice here and gone with them to begin with.

I have been gardening for several years, but rarely order from mail order catalogs. I used the "Dave's Garden" special price to get a few plants for the house I'm renting. I didn't want to get anything too pricey as I will leave them all behind when I move. I ordered two old-fashioned bleeding hearts (dicentra eximia), a pink coreopsis, and a wiegela. I am writing this review one month after placing the order.

The order arrived within about 10 days. There was a puzzling note inside that said, "We were unable to process your credit card. We went ahead and shipped your plants immediately because we know how important it is for gardeners to get them as soon as possible. Please pay using the enclosed form." I've never had a problem with my credit cards, and now I have to figure out which one I originally used and make sure I'm not being double-charged (a precaution I would take with any company, but a hassle I'd rather not have).

The plants were well packaged. I could not plant them for a week, but the delay didn't seem to affect them. The two dicentra are already sending up blooms and are about 8" high after being in the ground for two weeks - no problems there. The coreopsis is a bit slower to establish itself but appears healthy. The only disappointment was the wiegela. I guess I didn't conceptualize that "four-inch pot" means "four-inch shrub" (barely). I could have bought a gallon-size locally for what I paid SHN. Is that the fault of this company? Well, I've seen bigger shrubs in four-inch pots, but mostly I feel they shouldn't offer shrubs at this size, since it won't be useful in my landscaping for another two years. I stuck it in a larger nursery pot in the back to gain size before I try putting it out - otherwise I'll have a huge hole around what will eventually be a 5' plant.

"Neutral" rating because of the hassle with the payment and the shrimpy shrub. I learned my lesson and will only order fast-growing bulbs and annuals by mailorder in the future.

This posting is for all "newcomers" debating on whether or not to order from Spring Hill. Their prices are cheap b/c the plants are very small so you'll need even more patience when waiting for these plants to mature. I ordered my first ever mail-ordered plants from Spring Hill (and Michigan Bulb) in Fall '06. I ordered a 'kansas' peony, cyclamen bulbs, daylily 'pardon me' and lamium 'silver beacon' (<--though, that may have been purchased from MB.)

My daylily arrived w/ zero green leaves... just the roots. When it didn't sprout in the Spring of '07 I called and they sent a replacement (not much bigger), however that didn't arrive until the following Fall of '07. It's growing this year but given the size I started with, I don't expect to see flowers until next growing season :( The cyclamen also didn't show in the Spring so I called them. The customer service rep (each time I called) was as unfamiliar w/ perennials as I was at the time. I told them I'd wait a little longer b4 asking for replacements and good thing I did... these cyclamen don't appear until late summer early fall. 4-5 of the 6 bulbs ordered did grow. The lamium is doing well... still hasn't flowered or spread much... but it's there and alive. The peony sprouted one leaf stalk all of last year about 4-5" high and I babied it best I could. This year, I'm so happy to say it's about 20" high w/ 5 leafy stalks and I see 3 flower buds forming.

I'm happy about that, but I now know I could've had these results last year and practically fully matured plants this year had I paid a little more and bought from someplace that sold 2yr old plants.

One thing to remember too, is to check out your local nurseries and "big boxes" (lowes, home depot, etc) before going to your catalogs. Many common perennials can be found there for decent prices and more mature stock... and zero shipping charges! Happy Gardening! :)

I have been a customer of Springhill for several years. The last couple of years I have ordered more heavily. Occassionally I would ask for a replacement plant on the more expensive items that I had a problem with, mostly I did not, just figured it was something I had done wrong. The last couple of years I have ordered roses. I did request replacements for these items. Last year I ordered almost if not over 100 dollars worth of plants in addition to the request for replacements. Last year was a bad year, droughts in the summer and a harsh winter. I lost many plants both new and old. Last year they sent me a replacement certificate for only half the value of the plant. I just let it slide. This year They replaced several plants, actually more then I had requested, the whole set instead of just a few requested. On the large tea rose they issued a replacement certificate for only half the value. This time I emailed to ask if there was a reason for this. The letter I received in responce was horrid! They informed me that they had replaced over 80% of my order and that they would no longer accept orders from me, as well as not allowing orders from any of their sister companies. They also informed me they were cancelling any outstanding replacement shipments or replacement certificates. I took this as an insult and questioning my integrity! I had not asked for full replacements, only replacements for what had died!

Their website states they stand behind their plants for the lifetime you garden. If they don't mean this they should not state it as part of the guarantee. It also says a full replacement price not half. For many years I did not request replacements for plants I lost. I usually ordered additional plants as I did last year. Their letter implies that I was trying to cheat them out of free plants. I am sending a responce to Jaye Ash along with a disk containing pictures of all the dead roses. I have offered to send back the dead plants. I still have them.

I have always highly recommended Springhill to all of my gardening friends. I will not do so in the future. Since they are cancelling any outstanding replacements then they need to give me a full refund for those items and the certificates which they have stated they will not honor.

Shame on you Springhill!

I'm going to say that I am "skeptically positive" at this time. I ordered from them this Spring for the first time. I also ordered from 2 other very reputable Companies from Daves Watchdog lists. My order of several perenials for my new shade garden arrived in very good condition. Some of my plants were potted and a few were not -such as the old fashioned white bleeding hearts. Everything started growing immediately, except 1 bleeding heart. My order was missing 4 pink old fashioned bleeding hearts - they said they would be shipped for fall planting. This was confusing to me since they had sent the white versions. I emailed them - getting the automated reply that they would respond within 48 hours. About 72 hours later, I sent them an email saying it had been longer than 48 hours and I had not heard. They did email me back to explain that this was a busy time and my 4 bleeding hearts are only fall shipped. Oh well, it is possible I missed that notation with I ordered back in March. I did notice that their automated email does not say 48 hours response time on it anymore :-) I sent another email to them regarding the 1 bleeding heart that wasn't growing - they have issued a "reship" on that for me. So, as you can see, my order did not go off without a snag - but I am satisfied at this time with their response. The potted plants I received were packaged as nicely and arrived in as good of shape as the plants I ordered from the other 2 companies were.
I'll update by review as they continue to fulfill this order to completion.

It's just like everybody says.
You order from them, and then they don't want to send the product.
When you first order, they give you a shipping date of about a week. When you check the status, the date keeps getting pushed back.
When I cancelled, he said they had 3 million happy customers and the customers writing reviews on the internet were just a small minority. Yeah, right.
If you don't care if or when your plants might show up, order from them. If you are excited about getting your plants, ordering from them will be torture.
I happen to live in Indiana which is right next to Ohio so I thought I would get them promptly. The shipping date range was well over a month away.

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Contacted Customer on 4/29/08 for possible resolution; as of 5/27/08, have received no response."

I ordered from Spring Hill for a couple of years, until I figured out that the quality isn't so great.

Don't fall for the colorful pictures and coupons on their catalogs. You're better off going elsewhere.

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Customer was contacted and refunded for plants that were no longer available."