Comments regarding House of Wesley

I also have had a bad experience with the House of wesley i placed my order inFebuary and I am still waiting on my order to arrive

I purchases a Walking stick and it was sent dead. I have etried to e-mail, then called and I have to jump through hoops to get my money returned. I not even sure that I will and no one has contacted me. Buyer beware

I ordered 24 three-foot-tall Siberian Elm trees. In about four weeks, I received 24 three-foot-tall Siberian Elm trees.

Yes, they were dormant root stock and yes, I put them directly into a bucket of water in a shady spot on my deck. In about a week, all of the seedlings had sprouted leaves.

I just planted them this week, and they are happily thriving. This is better luck than I have had with National Arbor Day Foundation stock (although NABF is very responsive about replacing dead stuff immediately.)

I agree with a couple of the comments here that remind customers not to expect plants and shrubs that look just like the catalogue pictures. The company states clearly in its literature that it delivers dormant root stock, and that is exactly what they send.

I have had great success with ordering trees and shrubs mail order (as my neighbors will attest). You just have to be patient, plant when the ground is warm enough, and over-water.

No complaints on House of Wesley from
Dave in Maryland

In April I ordered red sedum in the amount of $19.00. When I received it the crowns and roots were rotten with white mold on it. It was useless. I then found your web site and realized I had put faith in a company without any integrity .I had planned to order other items but now I'll check with "Garden Watchdog" first. Thank You for this service. Naive

I placed an $80 order with House of Wesley on April 1, 2004, then I discovered this site and was very concerned. Although I don't doubt the negative reviews, in all fairness my experience has been good. I ordered via internet and checked my order status on April 6th, I recieved a prompt reply and then recieved my order on April 13th.
Every item I recieved was exactly what I ordered and expected. This is a "bargain" priced company, and the items are in fact "bare root" dormant, which is what I expected. My mother has ordered from them in the past with good results. If you are expecting to see plants which look like the ones at the garden center, then I would suggest you not order from House of Wesley or any of its other names/versions. Because the plants are dormant, small, and bare root, and they may be mishandled in shipping (a distinct possibility) it is easy to understand some of the horror stories on this site.

As an experienced gardener I was excited and pleased when I recieved my plants yesterday. They are what I expected, and I will take care with handling and planting. They all look viable to me, and at a fair bargain.

My recommendation is to examine your expectations and if you want garden center, more mature plants, then only order from the more "high end" mail order companys. Be honest do you really expect to get what is in the brochure picture delivered throught the mail, come on! Maybe Santa can deliver it down the chimney.

I'm going to go with Neutral for right now.
I live in Wisconsin were the winters are very cold. I ordered three plants from House of Wesley in the winter of '04, One 3-in-1 Dwarf Citrus Tree and Two Paw Paw trees. The order cam in when the weather was nice, in late March. My Dwarf Citrus Tree was very Dwarf, about 4 inches tall. It had many leaves and buds on it and was packaged nicely. But my Paw Paw trees cam in this big green bag that did not protect the trees from the elements at all! I took out the two trees and they looked dead, broken branches, not an ounce of life to them. I reda the directions and they said that they would be dormant to reduce stress on the plants. So I planted them and gave them some Tender Love and Care, 3 weeks later, there is still no sign of life. About 1.5 weeks ago I ordered again, thinking that the Paw paws would still be coming around, from a catologe that came. I ordered a Daisy Tree, Magnolia Tree, Bleeding Heart Bush, 6-in-1 Fruit Tree, 8 Rose of Sharon Hedges, and got a free Hydrandia Tree with my order. The order didn't cokme in yet, but I'm not too worried just so soon. But just finding this site I'm a little worried. I'll see what happens.

I like another customer found this site after my horried experience with House of Wesley. I too received what was called "dormant" plants with the exception of a rose bush. To me they looked dead and nothing survived. They shriveled up within days of being planted. The rose bush which was touted as a Blue Moon and was shown blue in the catalogue bloomed pink. I did contact them 3 times to receive money back. At first I was sent a credit. Now why would I want that when everything died and my experience was so awful. Did they honestly think I would order again? The 3rd letter asked for a complete refund and was never answered. So the rose cost me a whole lot more than if I went to the local nursery. I also asked to be taken off their mailing list and that has not been done. I cringe every time a catalogue arrives. I would never do business with them nor recommend them. I get garden catalogues now and I check to make sure they are not connected in any way to House of Wesley. Sure would like the name of a reputable company.

Today I received the first part of my order : in a green plastic bag in my mailbox..I opened it with great astonishment and I found the smallest tiniest bit of stick with a leaf. I planted it immediately and it says it will grow till 4-6 meters this year...*smile*..from what?

I then tried to find the people I ordered also lavender from (I am very new in the USA (from France) and I did not know that my money was going to be taken and nothing I would get in return. When I logged on the internet, I found this website and to my great worry I see so many of you have the same experience!

These people have already taken the money from my creditcard, 2 months ago, and I am still waiting for the lavender. I do not even have an order number, because they did not give me that when I had called them.

I truly hope that the other plants I ordered, arrive but if they dont, I know for sure that this company is a very bad example of a mailorder company and they should be stopped by your government.

I think I shall buy some plants at HomeDepot, right now.

Au revoir,

Iseult

I am leaving a neutral rating because I have not attempted to contact the company in regards to my order. I take partial responsibility because I should have better researched the company instead of ordering from them on faith (though that's what mailorder is all about, isn't it?) Also, none of my items were clearly dead or rotten. What I did get ($50 worth) was crammed into my mailbox in a single plastic envelope. What was inside was laughable. To say I felt ripped off was an understatement. The twelve daylillies I ordered were teeny little 3-bulb rootlets that will take years to produce anything worthwhile, should they live. The three pink pampas grass were crumpled in the envelope (in the mailbox!), but did have a healthy root system. Some would say that what you get is fair for the price, but I would disagree. If I had spent the $11 (for Wesley's "three" pink pampas grass) at the local nursery, I could have gotten a 1-gallon pot with a big, tall, well-rooted plant and could have divided it to make 6 or 8 of the "Wesley" sized version (and would have money leftover). Same with the shasta daisies. I think that their version of a "plant" is more what we would consider a very stingy perennial division. There is something rather shady about the fact that this company has so many names... trying to avoid the "bad press" being attached to a single name? I can't say what their reasoning is, but it makes one wonder. The bottom line: I had lowered expectations because of how cheap some of the stuff was, but the itsy bitsy "plants" that you get don't justify even the itsy bitsy prices! And, just in comparison, I received a daylily order from Gilbert H. Wild the same day and the daylillies that cost me less from them were four times as big and healthy as the Wesley version. Don't be lured by the prices: these are no bargains. These folks give mailorder a bad name.

I ordered four Royal Japanese Cherry Trees from this company and recieved four dead sticks. Judging from the previous responses, I will not even bother to waste my time trying to get replacements. Throw thier catalogs away!!!!

The plants I received arrived dry with very little dirt on their roots. The packaging was poor but I was still optimistic. After planting my hostas, clematis and tomato plants I was disappointed in their growth. I contacted the House of Wesley about money back for the clematis (which never did make it) and was treated rudely. I went to the store in person and found a group of workers who knew next to nothing about horticulture. I am an easy to please person but this group of employees were very rude. I would NEVER GO BACK AGAIN...

This is a copy of the letter I sent to MailOrderGardening. com which lists House of Wesley as a member. They also say that their purpose is "The ultimate goal of the MGA is to provide the finest gardening products, information, and service through the catalogs and magazines of its members."

To MailorderGardening.Com:

Along with a Thompson-Morgan order, I received a postcard touting your site.

In order for your site to be truly valuable, you have to provide a way for consumers to critique your members.

You list of House of Wesley as one of your members. This company -and the 10 or so companies owned by the same people- is an absolute disgrace to the industry.

Go to Gardenwatchdog.com and read some of the overwhelmingly negative comments consumers have listed for DirectGardening.com/House of Wesley.com. They have absolutely the worst records in every category, and on Gardenwatchdog.com they have the greatest number of negatives (by far) of any of the 2,000+ companies on the site.

My own experieces are noted there as well. My letters to the owner have gone unanswered. Their plant products are tantamount to mulch, and their fulfillment process borders on the criminal.

I am going to list your website on Gardenwatchdog.com and recommend that others share their thoughts with you as well. DUMP THEM!

Regards
Bob Marino

THIS IS THE REPLY I RECEIVED:

Dear Mr. Marino,
It is unfortunate that you have had a negative experience with House of Wesley. For every bad experience, there are many good ones. I am sorry that you had a bad one.

A trade association such as ours cannot legally be an enforcement agency. The law doesn't allow it. The purpose of our organization is to educate businesses and to encourage them to follow a code of business ethics.

A trade association cannot kick out a dues paying member unless they have conducted proven illegal activities.

We frown upon those companies who may not provide the quality of product and service that we encourage however there are many companies that do an "excellent" job. You will always find criticism, however, there are many consumers who have had positive, fruitful experiences with other gardening mailorder firms.

Our site is meant to be a resource for the gardener to find rare, unsual and hard to find plant products and hardgoods.
I cannot speak for the House of Wesley and its ownership but I can say that there are many companies who invest in our education programs, participate in our surveys and strive to excel in customer service.

I am sorry for your misfortune and hope that you will try some of the other companies listed on our website.
Sincerely,
Camille Cimino, Executive Director, MGA


CHECK http://WWW.MAILORDERGARDENING.COM FOR THE LATEST INFORMATION ON MGA PROGRAMS AND CONFERENCES!

Mailorder Gardening Association
5836 Rockburn Woods Way
Elkridge, MD 21075
410-540-9830
Fax 410-540-9827

MY COMMENTS: Most trade and marketing associations have a Code of Ethics that would allow members to be ousted for failing to meet association standards. It is antithetical to promote the organization as having lofty goals while simultanesouly claiming an inability to police said members.

We must all use all resources (BBB, trade associations, news outlets, etc.) to let them know how House of Wesley and its many off-shoots (Direct Gardening, et al) mislead and deceive consumers.

I ordered plants from Direct Gardening, they gave the order to the House of Wesley. The first was a poorly rooted cutting. It is advertized as Mounds of Snow hydrengea. The cutting stickes out of the dirt about three inches and has four leaves. $5.95

I ordered 12 lavender plants from the House of Wesley in the early spring. When I still hadn't received the plants by early summer, I had to remind the House of Wesley to ship my lavender order. When the lavender arrived, the plants were very small and looked wilted. The planting directions said the lavender plants were shipped dormant, so I thought I would reserve judgement until a later date. 6 plants died right off, but 6 seemed to rally for a time. Over the summer 5 more plants died despite tender care. 1 lavender plant is still alive, but is looking poorly and I don't expect it to live. (I call it my $20 lavender!) I can't help but think the plants might have stood a chance if they had been shipped in the spring. In the end, I had to replace my dead lavender plants with healthy lavender plants bought locally. I would certainly not recommend buying lavender from this company. Don't let the low price hook you!

I have to say, I was worried because I found this site after I had ordered. I ordered 40 Rose of Sharon to form 2 hedges down the sides of my backyard. They arrived quite quickly, within 2 weeks or so, wrapped in bunches of 5, each in a small bag with moisture, and all of them in a huge green bag. OUr mailman left them on our porch. I soaked them in water overnight, planted them (they were very dirty, but not moldy, and were very dormant). Within 1 week, we had buds on about 1/2 of them. Within 2 weeks, we had buds on all of them (even the one we broke while planting), and now, 6 weeks later, they are filling out, and have grown about 6 inches. I don't know if I will order from them again based on everyone's reviews, but on this one order, I did have a great experience. Maybe because I am in Illinois, like they are...I don't know. And they are very cheap. 40-2 foot bushes were $35...you can't beat that.

We ordered 25 strawberry plants from House of Wesley this spring. Plants arrived in good condition and at a good time for planting. All have lived and are doing well as of July.

All these complaints are the same as mine. One order I had
that took me 2 months to finally get told that the crops
had failed and would not be available until spring of 2004!
When I asked them to cancel the order, I was told also to
put it in writing. I contacted my credit card company. All
I had to say is that they would not remove the charges for
product that they can't fill and don't know when it will ship. I had a credit on my card 2 days later. And no matter what they tell you about pre billing your card for approval,
that is not true!! Think about when you go to the store. They have approval in minutes. As far as I am concered, they are the most fraudulant company I have ever dealt with.

these are the worst companies ever. I've ordered from Direct Gardening and House of WEsley and I have to agree to every single negative statement on this page. Flowers are rotten or dead or in a very, very poor condition. Some of my ordered items were missing.
No response, no service!!!!! I will now send them the dead flowers back and see what happens!!!!
I will report them as well. Those people need to be stopped.

FBI internet fraud: //www.ifccfbi.gov/contactus.asp

I placed an order probably at the end of feb, thinking it would arrive just in time for spring planting. ( you know 4 to 6 weeks ship time). I have just gotten thier order in mid may. Part of the problem they say was the postal service for not bringing the package to the building, and for placing a 6" thick Grainger catalog on top of it... This is still the nurseries fault also, as there were no markings on the outside of the package to say fragile, live plants, or anything. but any way the package was a big paper envelope. The plants were individually wrapped in plastic bags w/ no air holes and then placed all in the same plastice outer bag and then shoved in an envelope. All of the plants except for the freebie daylillies are dead, mostly mush and mold. I sent them a three page letter explaining the condition of my order and how it arrived. i included the origingal shipping label (still attached to the entire envelope. They sent back my letter and label telling me that in order for them to help me i would have to send in the label for package two also. For one I have not gotten a package 2 nor was there any problems with it except that i dont have it. I would like to know where most of you are finding phone numbers for these people because i came here looking for the number thinking it was part of the nursery. they dont publish it in the catalog nor is it included in the shipment just in case you need to call. (i was unaware this wonderfull site was here.) I wished i had checked here first.
I will never shop from them agian. i guess if i ever receive #2 i may get a new shipment of plants. oh well ... you live and learn... package 2 will probaly arrive in the middle of august , and any of you southerners know what that means for plants-- immediate death because of the usual water restrictions and all that heat and humidity..

I placed an order on 3/31/03 via their web site. After waiting 4 weeks and not receiving anything, I sent a follow up email asking the status of the order. I did not receive a correspondence until 5/1/03 saying the order had been shipped and I should receive it in 7-14 days. I have never received the order and called their customer service at the end of May asking for a status update. Their computer system was down and nobody could determine anything for 2 days! When I called back 2 days later, they still had no information on the status of the order. I finally received a postcard on 6/16 that says they cannot supply the order until 2004! If I had known they had NO IDEA that they could supply the items, I would have ordered from another company! They also require me to send a follow up letter requesting them to credit my visa card. I essentially gave them a 2 ½ month loan. I will NEVER order another item from them. This company is completely incompetent! AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE!

My order came in and all my trees came in healthy and very good shape.I have planted all the trees and all are doing very well.
I bought 3 Blue Spruces,3Red maple,and many others {$40.00 worth}.
I would buy from this company again.
And the customer service people are very nice to talk to.

I wish I knew about this site before I placed my order with House Of Wesley on April 6th 2003! I received 1/2 of the order last week ..primrose was crushed,altho I planted them anyways, they're not doin well. The cherry bells were saturated and rotted out in a day or two...Still waiting to see what the periwinkle and dutch Iris are going to look like if I ever receive them.. I will never do business with this company again.

I received the House of Wesley catalog in a package ordered from another mail-order house. I leafed through it and saw several items of interest.
I live in Northern Arizona where the weather can be quite eratic, and successful gardening can be hit or miss. The catalog was quite specific about sending plants at proper planting time, and type of plants to be sent. The prices are fantastic, at the cost of maturity.
My plants have arrived as promised, at correct planting time and in the condition described in the catalog. I feel that I got what I paid for. These plants are one-third the size I can buy at the local nursery, but at about one-twentieth the cost.
My father always told me that if a deal seemed "too good to be true, it probably is." I may have proved him wrong.
Doug Lynch
Flagstaff,AZ

I kept hoping, but I'm afraid I must add my negative comment about House of Wesley. Last year I ordered $150 of perennials (Fountain Grass, Stargazer Lily, Butterfly Bush, Silver Lace Vine, Crazy Daisy, etc), and because I received them so late, I planted them into my vegetable garden to overwinter. I added compost and mulched them all. Not a one came back this spring. Let me rephrase that,,,5 of 24 Stargazer Lilies came up.

Today I've composed a letter and will send it, along with the ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL, in tomorrow's mail. For some reason I saved the labels,,which I normally do not do.

We'll see how they do.........

I recently ordered $70.00 worth of plants from the HOUSE OF WESLEY. That was 6 weeks ago. Ordering in March and now it is mid May I tried to get some positive answers to my questions concerning my order.I told them that if I did't receive my order in a timely manner I would contact my credit card company, and tell them that this was a fraudulant company. I didn't realize at the time that I ordered that there was a WATCHDOG WEB SITE. Still there was no answer and no plants. My only regret is that I didn't know about this web site before ordering.

I ordered a tree from them. They shipped it to me in the fall. Normally, trees do ok when planted in the fall, but not the kind that I ordered. Hence, it died. They should be familiar with what they sell and ship it when they are supposed to.

It's probably good that it died. The tree gets huge leaves. When the leaves drop off in the fall, it must be a nightmare dealing with them. If the leaves are as big as a nightmare as they seem to be (I don't think I've ever actually seen one of those trees), then the company shouldn't even be selling them. Most people plant trees in yards and they have to clean the leaves up. I assume that there are some people who plant trees in areas where the leaves don't need to be cleaned up, but I imagine that there aren't many of them ordering many trees from mail-order catalogs.

I ordered some 100 plants from this Company. So far all I have received is 1 pink pampas grass. When I sent email regarding my order, I was told that the rest of my order was coming in the next shipment. We ordered from this company because we have some major property line planting to do and it was the cheapest way to do it. We came in well prepared that all of the plants will not do well. But the plants that we order cost about 6 bux a piece in a local nursery and we were able to get 8 for 4 bux. So we can afford for some of them not to do well. I do have to say that my pampas grass was in good shape when it got here. So I guess that's a good sign. I will post again when the rest of my order gets here with the results.

Also if anyone knows a mail order that is reliable with reasonable prices, I would greatly be interested, just in case this doesn't work out. Please put in a post here with the company name so I may order a catalog.

I haven't received my order yet (getting a little nervous) but after reading this forum, after I had already ordered of course, I did email them and ask about return policy - this was the response, thought I would post it for those of you who are having the problem with returns:

To: CustomerService@directgardening.com
Sent: Thursday, April 10, 2003 10:15 AM
Subject: Just a Question


I haven't received my order from you yet, but I ran across this on your website and I was curious about what to do if I have a problem later.

If you have to send in your original shipping label for a replacement on one plant, what if you need the original shipping label later for a different plant?

"We will keep the shipping label on file in our office for the year the warranty is good for. In the event you need additional replacements for other items included on this label, simply write to us and indicate that we have the label on file due to a previous replacement and we will process your request.

Remember to always keep any label attached to a shipment.

Thank you,
Customer Service"

I ordered some periwinkle plants as well as butterfly bushes and geraniums. Most arrived dead, were packed poorly and had a rotten odor.

I attempted to get replacements and followed procedures with the packing label. They sent me a letter asking why I wanted a replacement. I told them a second time that they were dead on arrival. I never received replacments.

I might also add that my order came in two shipments. Both were bad.

My advice os to stay away from this company.

We purchased quite of few Holiday Cactus from House of Wesley and some other plants from their interconnected associated companies. For the most part they arrived in acceptable packaging. However, most of our Holiday Cactus has died, some within 1 month the rest took 4 months and then died. We have contackted them and did send in the original mailing label, as stated in their guaranteed policy, and received those replacement plants. But then those replacement plants died and we are waiting for the 2 round to be received.
So, my rating for them would be Neutral at this point. They did follow thru the first time. We did have some BiColor Day Lilies that have not arrived but did receive a card from them just yesterday stating they need to send these in the Fall when the right time for their imparticular planting success would be. So we did hear from them and yes, they did cash the check so hope they don't shut their door before we receive all our "Replacements".

Please do not order anything from this company. They are the worst. We ordered 30 different plants, trees and shrubs and were only able to revive 5. They arrived either as dead sticks, or moldy and rotten. Their phone number is always busy and their fax is disconnected. The don't respond by email and they insist on you sending the original shipping label to get a refund or replacement.
BEWARE

Why am I not surprised to read all the negative comments. Their experiences are an exact duplicate of mine. I knew better. Thank goodness I didn't spend a lot of money with them. I went against all my beliefs about ordering from a catalog that refers to plants as "pink", "red", "purple," or "smokebush" rather than the botanical names and is printed on newsprint paper, rather than the more expensive catalogs. These companies think they are dealing with people who don't know the difference. They have little or nothing invested and can afford to displease because they have nothing to lose. So, why did I buy? Their prices were so cheap, I thought I might luck out. Greed is the major trait of all patsies. For my money, I felt lucky to get 4 out of 6 Japanese iris to put up shoots. For the sad vestiges of the other plants, (who knows, were plants ever really in those sacks?) I'll chalk it up to experience.

This is the worst company ever.
Warning to everyone,
DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY OR IT'S AFFILIATES !
I placed an order for over 20 plants, trees and shrubs. The order arrived in a small package that could fit in a mailbox. My shrubs consisted of small dead sticks that were only a few inches long.
I can't believe this company is stil in business ...

I have been trying to call this company for the last 3 weeks. All I get is a busy signal. The prices in the catalog seem really cheap. After reading some of the comments, now I know why. I think I will take my business some place else.

I wish I had done more research on this Company before I placed my order. I placed my order in April 2002, they didn't hesitate to cash my check and now have been waiting almost 2 months and still no plants!! Any suggestions??

I ordered strawberry plants and a couple of trees on May 1, 2002. Check has gone through bank but still no plants. emailed House of Wesley and no answer. I guess it is time for the better business to take hold.

Sorry to everyone who ordered including my sister. They cashed her check, order never came, she called her order was now backed ordered but would reach her in 3 weeks. Same story as everyone else: no order came.

We ordered several items, and had to laugh when we opened our order. Sandwich bags to say the least. My husband wanted kiwi vines, and we never got those. I've got my angel trumpets planted, and a few have leaves, but they are 4 inches high. If I can nurse them through our hot Summer, and save an angel trumpet I shall be delighted, but it is doubtful. As long as we are glutton for ads in magazines and newspapers, we are going to have businesses such as House of Wesley.

I had placed my order with House of Wesley about a week, before one of my friends told me about this site. I was wonderfully delighted when I received my order 3 weeks after I placed my order (which is what they tell you to expect). All of my hedge and trees (160 plants all together) looked wonderful, we followed the planting directions and had them in the ground as soon as possible. Two weeks later, I am already having to trim the hedges back. All of them have great leaves and growing fast.