Comments regarding Burgess Seed

I had a great experience with Burgess. I didn't make an extremely large order, but everything arrived in good condition (and I have the WORST mail carrier in the USA). The packaging wasn't the sturdiest, but even after she dug it from the bottom of the stack in the back of her car, the trees still had blooms and nothing else was damaged. I especially love the hosta's I ordered. They are opening up beautifully!!

We ordered almost $200 worth of plants from Burgess. The hosta we ordered was bare root and rotten. Everything else except 2 peach trees was alive, but so small they looked like twigs. The 3 year blueberries are about a foot tall as was everything else. Severely disappointed in the size of the plants. Sending the dead ones back was such a hassle we didn't even bother with it. We have learned our lesson though and will not buy from again. We liked their cheap prices and I guess it showed in the quality of plants they sent us. I would much rather pay more and get my money's worth. Definately wouldn't recommend them.

"

A d-mail was sent to this customer on April 13, 2006. The customer does NOT need to return any plants in order to receive replacements. We request only that the Original Shipping Label be returned along with a note letting us know how many of which item has died so that we will be able to process the replacement correctly.
Since the majority of the order seems to be living, we trust that given a little time and care the plants will develop appropriately.
"

All plant arrived and were very healthy. The bare root "Fruit Coctail" tree was definatly BRARE ROOT but it does have buds on it.

They may not communicate as promptly as some would desire,
because they are busily filling all our orders!

Order # 31749107 for $75.

I placed an order with this company in January for some vegetable items. I received my seeds in February and called to see when I would get my onions and seed potatoes. I was told we start shipping in the spring and based on your area is when we will send them. Great that doesn't tell me when.

I received my order on Friday March 17th. Onions and Shallots were fine. All 80 potatoes were rotten and practically disintigrated. I called the Company Monday. The customer care representative said to send a letter with my shipping label. Did that on the 20th. Told them that if they can not turn my order around right away to please do a refund so I could go somewhere else. Tried calling it was busy so I sent an email to find out if they received my letter they did. I asked them when my order was going to ship. They said that it will take 1 - 2 weeks to process and depending on orders and plant availablity my order will ship. That doesn't tell me anything and I need the potatoes to get them in the ground to stay on my planting schedule.

I emailed them back and asked for them to just go ahead and refund my money. They emailed me on the 3rd of April and said that because I didn't send the product back within the 14 days that I will not be able to get a refund. (Mind you we were at 11 business days on that email from the time I initially received the order) that they MIGHT be able to stop the order process and give me a merchandise voucher. I emailed them back my dissatisfaction of that comment and that they had said that I needed to send back a rotten mushy mess through the mail ( I believe the post office probably wouldn't even take it). I told them I would be more than happy to send back the rotten moldy mush (as I still have it) for a refund but since I can't get anyone on the phone (I've been hitting redial a lot for a lengthy period of time and it's always busy) I'm still waiting for a reply to my email as of this day and still calling them about 2 to 3 times an hour all day long.

First of all this company does not pack perishable items very well. They came just in a plastic bag nothing else. NO wonder they were rotten. 2nd beyond the first time I got someone the phone has been constantly busy no matter when I call. 3rd Customer Service does not want to help you they seem to just want to brush you off.

I will take my business elswhere but if they think I'm done until I get my refund and am satisfied they have another thing coming!

"

The customer's replacement request was received and processed 3/28/06. The customer emailed us on 4/3/06 and requested that the order be shipped right away. The order was shipped out via Priority Mail in order to expedite its arrival to the customer. We have not yet heard back from the customer, so we are assuming that it arrived to their satisfaction. "

This is a frustrating company to work with - never ever waste your money with this company!

Last year I made the mistake of ordering live plants from them - I was pulled in by their cheap prices and colorful pictures.

I ordered several items included the 'famed' yellow christmas cactus. When the plants arrived, the packaging was so poor that the tiny (and I mean tiny) plants were severely damaged and did not survive beyond a day. I contacted customer service and followed the frustrating instructions of retrieving the label from the box (no easy task - they must use gorilla glue) and mailing it with a letter explaining the problem.

To their credit, they did replace the plants and the second time they were packaged better (still tiny plants though). I waited with high hopes that I would finally have a yellow christmas cactus. It did bloom the following spring - not yellow flowers - but peach colored flowers. I could have bought that color at the local Walmart.

Needless to say, I did not save the label the second time and therefore customer service refused to refund or replace the plant.

What a monumental waste of my time and money.

"

On March 17, we contacted the customer via d-mail and offered an adjustment."

I had an overall frustrating experience, and will not order again from them, but to be fair they did make some effort to resolve my complaints, even though they were hard to work with. If they would offer better service and healthy plants in the first place, they would save themselves and their customers time, money and frustration.
I ordered a Blue Moon Rose, Strazzberries, Elberta peach tree, and Giant Robinson Strawberries. A lot of the strawberries didn't live and seemed to have disease... possibly my own inexperience at fault. They were replaced. The Strazzberries do NOT taste like raspberries...just tart strawberries. The peach seemed healthy but didn't make it the first year, and was replaced.
My real frustration was with the Blue Moon Rose (the reason I ordered from their catalouge). I knew that the closest most roses get to blue is usually lavender, but they claimed to have a real blue rose, and the pictures were stunning! The first one sent had a great deal of mold on the biggest root. It didn't even sprout leaves. I called and was told a new one would be sent me the following Spring. Late in Fall a bag shows up on my door step with a completely black, dead rose bush (and a peach tree). Even if the bush had been in good condition (which it obviously wasn't), it wouldn't have had time to establish roots to survive the winter. I called and was told that I would have to CALL BACK in Spring...they couldn't put the order for a reshipment in the computer until then. I told them that I no longer had the original shipping label because I had already sent it in when I made my original request for a replacement. (You have to make your request in writing and mail in the shipping label from your plants). She said that would be no problem because they had that information in the computer. I decided to keep the shipping label from the replacement anyway. Come Spring I called again. I had misplaced the label, but thought it shouldn't be a problem according to what I had been told. They informed me that nobody would ever have told me that, and that without a label I was out of luck; though they would replace the strawberries for me, because they had the original shipping label and the strawberries hadn't been replaced yet. Eventually I found the label, wrote a note explaining everything, and was finally sent a healthy rose bush (try number 3)! As the first buds appeared on the bush, I thought that perhaps all this headache and frustration had been worth it...until the roses opened up bright mauve pink instead of BLUE! They did fade to a kind of purplish color...definetely not blue, though...nothing like the picture in the catalouge.

"

On March 15, we sent a d-mail to the customer offering an adjustment. To date, we have yet to receive a response."

I purchased 4 hybrid poplar trees. Received them extremely dry after 3 weeks. 2 of 4 have survived so far, the other 2 were replaced once and after another 3 week delay in receiving the new trees, they arrived as dead sticks. I sent the label back and asked for a refund, but received a certificate for money off any other purchase I would like to make. The problem is, if it takes 3 weeks to get plants here, nothing will survive. Why waste the money. I would rather have had my money back. I will not utilize anyone affiliated with this group again. I can't believe any one would send plants by the cheapest route of snail mail knowing how long it takes.

I lost over half of a really large order, mainly because all (with a few exceptions) of the plants had inferior roots. A plant will rarely grow without them...and they had been stored for far too long to form root systems, as cuttings will. I would have had more luck with cuttings! Even things that are really tough (russian olives) failed to grow. I did receive replacements half-way through the summer, but by the end of summer, I had lost several more, so I will have to do business with them again to fill out the hedge I planted...and replanted...and now, replanted again. Never again! A bargain is a bargain, but CHEAP is no bargain!

I ordered many plants from burgess in 2000. All the trees they sent the first time were dead sticks. Some of the other plants were either too dry or too mushy. They substituted the 10 hybrid willows I bought with 5 hybrid poplars I did not want. When called about this, they said they would send the hybrid willows out fall '00. Instead they sent them out in the middle of summer and I found a hot green bag on the porch. I soaked the willows for a day and planted them. They are still living to this day. Also, another vigorous species, the vinca is still living, too. But everything else did nothing. I contacted them many times and they do nothing. I'm guessing they take their plants out of the dumpsters of other nurseries and resale for "theoritacally" lower prices.

I just called the Royal Dutch customer service dept to find out the approximate shipping date of my order. I was told it would not ship for a year until fall 2006! When asked why it does not say that in the catalog or in my email confirmation, the customer service person stated that her supervisor told her it was in there. Well, I just looked and it's not. The website states, "If you order an item that will not be available until Fall 2006 (ex. some daylilies, iris, bulbs, etc.), you will receive written notice from us." I never received a written notice.

But the MOST annoying part of this experience is that even though my order isn't shipping for A YEAR the customer service rep would/could not cancel my order because "it has already been a couple days since I placed the order and it is in process" so she can't cancel it. She told me I have to write a letter to notify the proper department that I want it cancelled. What? Sounds like a scam to me. They'll take my money fast as can be but I have to write a letter to notify the proper department of my desire to cancel!? She wouldn't let me speak with the proper department either.

I was very happy with the products I received through the company last fall and was looking forward to receiving more. Unfortunately with these kind of practices, I can no longer order from them.

I can't say enough bad things about this company, in fact the only redeeming quality they have is that if you are persistent enough you can just about get your moneys worth. I bought the roses and other things in Spring of 2004. When they arrived half the order was rotted and the seeds were dumped in the bottom and therefore wet. I dried the seeds and they did grow. I sent their label and started working on replacements. Several of the roses never grew and to this day the ones we got growing are of inferior quality. The Chrismas and lenten rose did not grow and dispite several replacements never grew. They might have grown had they not been either rotted or dried to dust when they arrived. They did their last replacement spring of this year 2005 when they first sent something I hadn't ordered--half of which was dead then finally sent the replacement roses. They refused from the beginning to replace the peace rose because that was a free gift. That was also what got us to order the roses from them. I took the two robinhood roses sent by mistake this spring and gave up. At least they grew. This is not a company I would be willing to use ever again.

I ordered more than $80 of Canadian Hemlock -- some of their larger plants and some of the smaller ones -- not one plant lived. Unfortunately, I did not keep the packing label so I lost the money -- and they lost another customer.

Wow! Lots of bad vibes on this company! I have had fine results with the plants and seeds and when I have had to contact customer service they got the job done.

Well, I guess the old adage, "You get what you pay for..." is true. However, it doesn't figure in the time contacting them about my dead/ mildewed order, or the painstaking attempt to remove the shipping label from the box so it could go back in a "regular envelop" , and moe contacts about why even as not it has not been replaced (1 month later).
Never again. Not even when lured by cheap prices.

I ordered many items from Burgess. They all arrived in excellent condition. The Plants were young and small, but they have grown very well this year. I only had one or two bulbs that did not come up and that is to be expected when you garden??!! I did not even contact them as everything else has performed wonderfully! They also have the BEST prices. I can afford to wait for them to mature,as I garden to watch things grow. And thanks to their low prices,I can afford to watch MORE grow. Thanks, Burgess!

My tress arrived in a plastic bag and were broken and moldy. I returned them the next day and asked for my money back. I did get a refund, but it took several weeks. The seeds I got from there were ok, but I probably won't order there again.

Dead plants and rotten bulbs.... I was lucky and got some of my money back. Don't waste your time with this company.

After reading all of the negative comments posted here, I was EXTREMELY nervous about ordering from Burgess. However, my husband wanted very much to order some Canadian Hemlock seedlings, and he didn't want to pay a lot of money for them, so we decided to place a small order and give it a try. They arrived last week, rather poorly packaged; they were mailed in a sealed plastic bag with no support of any kind. (Luckily, they were quite flexible, since our mail carrier bent the package in half to get it into our mailbox!) But I have to say that they looked very healthy, and we planted them this past weekend. My husband says that if they continue to grow and look as good as they do now, we will be placing another, larger order from Burgess in the future.

I live in northern MN and placed an order with Burgess even after reading all of the negative feedback. Maybe I am lucky, but my experience was absolutely wonderful. Everything I ordered came, and looks great. I ordered varigated weigalas, red maples, tree hydrangeas, hardy fucshia, double fucshia, strazzberries, russian olive, purple leaf plum hedges, passion flower, weeping willow, weeping cherry willow, sweet cherry, mounds of snow hydrangea, red bud trees, red dawnwood(maybe dawn redwood). Anyway, I got all of this at a fraction of what it would have cost elsewhere. Most came bareroot and dormant, but all had new buds. All in all my experience was good, except for worrying about what this site had to say. I will order from them again and again.

TOTAL RIP-OFF.

Moldy and dried-out plants. Undersized plants, i.e., little sticks about 6" long. Barely rooted cuttings, not "trees."

Dead and unhealthy plants are no bargain even at bargain prices.

A complete waste of money.

I placed a very large order from this company last spring (over ($100). When the order came everything was small or dead. I returned some of it and demanded new merchandise;I got the same kind of dead plants. Now this spring, NOTHING has come up from all of the plants I ordered. I contacted them requesting my money back. They quoted me their guarantee and informed me that I could try to receive new merchandise if I sent the original label, but my 1 year guarantee was mostly gone now. I informed them that I did not have my original label becuase I had sent it back in the summer with the previoulsy dead plants and that I wanted my money back or I would contact the BBB. They told me that if I contacted the BBB, they would be turning my case over to their legal department!! I wish I had known about this company before wasting all the money I did. Please do not order anything from this company!

I ordered the Royal Empress Tree, 3 Cockspur Hawthorne, 5 Washington Hawthorne, and 2 Thuja Giant. They did not charge my credit card immediately: only when (presumably) the merchandise shipped. The plants arrived 2 weeks after the charges went through, in the third week of April. All plants arrived together in green plastic bag. Royal Empress dead, broken: planted pieces. Hawthornes tiny and dry: planted anyway. Thujas dry but green... planted those too. Three weeks later the Thujas are brown, and no signs of life on any of the plants... in contrast to the now-flowerin lilac bushes in the area. I called CS and was told that the deadline for a refund was 14 days... so I sent the shipping label with an explanatory letter requesting LIVE replacements. If the replacements come in a similar poor condition I will send them back and demand a refund. Or, if they are good, I'll call it a draw. I'll try to let you know how it turns out!

After reading a few of the many comments about Burgess seed company, I know that I am in "good" company, and unfortunately, will never be able to feel like my complaint is dealt with to my satisfaction. I ordered 5 items from Burgess, and got 3 separate mailings. One of the items came as a dormant root ball (actually 6 all tangled together) with no specific instructions as to how to plant for this specific plant, so I soaked it overnight in a weak solution of root stimulator then planted them. I was only able to resurrect two of the root balls, and one quickly succumbed. I also ordered a package of seeds that have been planted on 2 different occasions, of which none have germinated. I was unable to determine if the packaging I had left was what I needed to send in, so I mailed one from one of the three shipments. I only got back a terse note stating that I needed to "RETURN THE ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL" (caps theirs) and a comment that "my shipping lables will be kept on file". I think I know why they can guarantee their plants for one year--who out there saves a box for one year on the off chance a plant will die? Well, if my shipping label is on file, why do I need to send it back? Very clever to say they will replace something only when you can produce the original shipping label which can not be peeled from any package, and heaven forbid that they put in a packing slip like most companies. I did e-mail the BBB with the link provided by another angry customer, and gave them my sob story. I also gave the BBB a link back to the web page so that they could see I am not alone. I wish I had stumbled across this web site prior to ordering--you can bet now before I order anything from a new company (to me) I will be checking here. Thank you for those tried to provide links--those that worked were helpful, those that did not, well it was the thought that counts. Good luck to the rest you, and Happier Gardening without Burgess Seed Company.

I placed the order with this company back in January. In March, I received only half of the order. They sent the tiny dead plants. The first package contained 2 peony trees (@14.95 each) and 6 double hollyhocks. Only 3 hollyhocks lives. The rest died. Since the rest of my order had not been shipped, I thought I could cancel the rest of my order. No such luck. I received the second package in April after I threatened to sue them. Again, they sent very tiny tiny live plants. So, I guess I should be thankful that they did not sent dead twigs like the first shipment. I sent the dead peony twigs and hollyhocks back to them. It has been almost two weeks but I still have not received the free replacement. Had I known about this website, I would not order from this company. Please stay away from this company and its brother/sister companies.

I have ordered at least 3 times from Burgess. I already know before ordering that at least 1/3 of my plants will die. I have a greenhouse and am an experienced gardener and the loss of the plants is not due to neglect on my part. I've learnt that if you want to order from these type of companies that your best bet is to order bushes or trees. Perennials never hardly ever make it. I've received moldy strawberries and mushy plants and on one occasion had to fight with them for a replacement order which I eventually received. I have to admit that when I did receive it, they sent extra plants. My advice.....you get what you pay for. The reason I occasionally order from them is even at a 1/3 loss, they are still cheaper than the local retail center, plus I live in a rural area where the local nursery likes to stick you with large prices......my solution.....I started my own nursery. Now I can indulge myself in my love of plants and pass a great price onto my neighbors and friends and treat other gardeners like I would like to be treated....ha ha

Several months ago I made a purchase of Canadian Hemlocks from Burgess Plant and Seed Company as well as more hemlocks, forsythia, and rasberries from Spring Hill Nursery.
I was a bit surprised to find out that these two companies are in some way affiliated.
The plants arrived and I planted them in accordance with the instructions provided. Sadly, all of the rasberries and the majority of the hemlocks have since died. The forsythia seem to be okay, but then again who could kill forsythia anyway.
I did report the loss to Burgess, but to date haven't heard back from them. I am not particularly concerned as I am not sure I even want the replacements.
Since then I have replaced the dead plants with container grown nursery stock. In retrospect this is what I should have done in the first place.
I only wish that I had found out about your website earlier as I would be $170 richer today.
Robert

I have never been as disappointed in a company before!
On April 18, 2005 I received my 24 "Creeping Red Sedum" and my Climbing Blaze rose from Burgess Seed Company.
First off, in one bag marked "12 Creeping Red Sedum"- there were only nine plants. Some of the so called plants in this bag were so small, I couldn't figure out how to plant them! There were no roots on some of them! The other bag contained 12 MOLDY plants! After reading the other reports from customers of Burgess Seed, I see I am in good company for getting ripped off... I will warn everyone I know NOT to order from this company- only, I wish I knew the names of the other companies owned by Plantron!!!

I am an experienced gardener, but had not previously ordered anything by catalog mail. In January 2004, I ordered a total of 73 plants, which arrived in mid-May 2004. After planting and cultivating according to instructions, by August 2004 only 24 plants survived - a 78% failure rate - while my own garden stock flourished.

The whole fiasco was a total disaster. The stock was shipped loose in a plastic bag and arrived broken and dying, which should have tipped me off. Of course, they offered to issue their notorious "replacement certificate" when I asked for a refund, which I agreed to because what were my options? The value of the certificate was less than the stock loss, predictably. With my certificate I am forced to order only non-plant items in order to at least recoup some of my financial expenditure.

Also, they continue to advertise "the amazing yellow Christmas cactus" that, of course, is not yellow at all, but pale coral in color.

These people should be reported to the state attorney general for consumer fraud and put out of business.

When I received there catalog I was so excited, they had everything that I wanted for a fraction of the price that I would be paying for, and I would be ordering from one company instead of several. Then I looked them up on this sight and I couldnt beleive what I was reading! So I riped up my order. Needless to say I couldnt leave things alone ; ). I had made my orders to other company's and decided to place a small order with burgees just to try them out. I have a very limited budget so it was just to tempting, that way if it works out I have some more plants to show off, and if it didnt it was just a few bucks instead of my whole budget. I decided to order two rose bushes ( since I figure they are prety failproof ), and I thought I would take my chances with a queens tears. I placed my order late january and waited. In march I called for the stats on my order, the girl on the phone was helpful and nice. She told me that my order was being shipped in two shippments. I dont understand why since I only ordered 3 items and they were shipped only 4 days appart. My first package was shipped the day before I called. I received it one week later. I was shocked when I opened my door and my mailman asked me if I ordered some roses, then he pulled a plastic bag out of his mailbag and told me to be carefull. He must have gotten stuck from the thorns coming threw the bag! I have never known anyone to send plants in a bag before. I am just glad that they were not damaged in any way. Both roses were small but they were at least healthy, one is growing and the other is showing signs of growth. The queens tears took a couple of weeks to get here. I called them a second time asking about it since I should of received it a few days after the first package. The girl was helpfull and nice again. I had finally received it today, two days after I spoke to her, and I was glad to see that it came in a (small) box, but when I opened it, there was a SMALL plant in a little pot. All of its leaves were dried at the tips and faded. I think that it will come to full force with lots of TLC but I was expecting something bigger and healthier and greener. Over all, I'm glad that i got my plants and they seem to be doing well so far. I can definently say I wouldn't buy from them again. I would rather spend a couple extra bucks to get something bigger and better from someware else, even if it means buying less to get quality. Reading everyone elses experiences makes me feel bad for everyone that a company would just treat so many costomers so terribly and without care. I think its just so wrong! I have purchased from other companys on several occasions that have a negative rating and still got good service and great plants, which is why I still wanted to try burgees out, but I think that they take the cake when it comes to the the worst ratings and smallest plants that I have purchased anyware. I will not order anymore and hope that no one else will, just to save them selves any dissapointment that they might encounter, unless you don't mind takeing chances with small plants in plastic bags. I know I don't want to take anymore chances!

I ordered many trees and perrenniels from them this year and besides 1 tree all of them were in excellent shape. The order arrived in only 2 weeks as well. I spent $43.00 and it was well worth it. I will order from them and direct gardening again.

THIS IS A WARNING TO ALL WHO MAY CONSIDER PURCHASING FROM THIS COMPANY, which uses a variety of names, including Burgess Seed, Richard Owen Nursery, Interstate Nursery, and others, to confuse consumers and deflect scrutiny.

I once was among the ignorant and ordered some plants from this company. Nearly all of them were absurdly puny and dead on arrival. For example, two so-called pawpaw trees arrived with the roots torn off.

I join my name to the many, many others who have written complaints about this outfit's outrageous scam operation. Anyone who buys from Owen after reading these consumer reports is a fool. However, the operation continues to lure innocent, unsuspecting customers through the millions of catalogs it sends out.

It is astounding to me that this company continues to operate without the intercession of law-enforcement authorities.

Please note that many if not most of the relatively few "positive" posts were obviously written by Owen or his cronies themselves.

My experience with Burgess was last year; as with many who have commented here, I did not know about Dave's Garden Watchdog until after I had ordered.

I ordered about a dozen items for a total of around $68 including the shipping. My credit card was promptly charged for the full amount, even though I only received 2 items. When I enquired, I was told the rest of my order was being held up due to some item being out of stock. This seemed like a strange excuse considering they shipped each of the first 2 items separately!

One of the 2 items I did receive was a package of 12 Golden Sedum. I was appalled to see the material had been mailed in just a plastic bag, with no protection whatsoever. The little pieces of root were moldy but I planted them all. None of them came up. But, you say, Burgess has a guarantee and I could have returned them for a replacement. True, but think about it: This item cost about $4. I would have had to dig up all those rotting little pieces of root, if I could even find them at that point, and then package them and pay the return postage to send it back. Then I would have had to wait another few weeks to get the replacements, which judging from other reviews here would likely have also been moldy, so why waste the time? Don't get lulled into a false sense of security by a guarantee from a company like Burgess; for all practical purposes the guarantee doesn't mean much.

When it became clear that the rest of my order was not going to arrive before I had to leave on a flight I had booked, I called Burgess to ask them to cancel the rest of my order. I was told that they don't accept cancellations over the phone. Then I asked if they had a fax number; they said yes but they don't accept cancellations by fax either. Banks will accept instructions via signed fax, but Burgess will not! I was told the only way they will accept a cancellation is by a signed letter sent in the mail, and of course if the rest of the order is shipped in the meantime, the cancellation request will have been in vain. At this point it became clear to me that the people who answer when you phone Burgess are trained to always be polite and are very good at making excuses, but they are not able to do anything at all in the way of customer service.

The 3rd and final time I called Burgess to ask why the rest of my ordered hadn't arrived, the girl simply admitted that she "couldn't see any reason why my order was being held up." That admission was the only glimmer of integrity that I saw in my dealings with this company. I had to leave on a trip, and never did get around to mailing them a cancellation request.

The rest of my order never did arrive, and about a month later, I found that my credit card had been credited for the balance of the order. No part of the shipping charges were refunded. Note the contrast here with their promptness in charging my card for the full amount initially.

If you look on this Website under Garden Watchdog and click on the "who owns what" link, then scroll down to the parent company, Plantron Inc., you will see that this company operates under about 10 different names, of which Burgess is one. Why? Would an honest company that values its name and reputation do that? You will also see that, at the time of writing this at least, that Plantron companies collectively had a 92% negative feedback rating. I think this company is a disgrace to the nursery/garden trade, and I urge you to spend your garden dollars elsewhere.

I don't know how a company like this stays in business. This was the closest thing to a scam that I have ever experienced in all my online/mail order dealings. Worn-out cliches like "you get what you pay for" are no excuse for this type of business. I think the point many customers have made here is that with Burgess, you DON'T get what you pay for.

I realize that you get what you pay for, and I shouldn't have been surprized with what I received. I originally ordered the "Improved" red sedum (200+ plants), and got moldy stick stuff (AND couldn't figure out which end was supposed to go into the ground). Nothing lived. Luckily I had kept the original packaging and asked for replacements. Again, moldy stick stuff. Nothing lived. Requested that they replace with something more hardy. They sent me phlox. I planted again. Some of them lived and are very pretty. But, I sent back the packaging and requested that they replace 80 plants. I'll send back until the cows come home if I have to. The cost was negligible. The cost to my time and energy - priceless. I'm going out today to buy seed and start my own seedlings. Can't do any worse on my own. Right?

I too should have read this site before my order. I placed an order in early February. My credit card was charged on Feb. 17. I did at least receive a confirmation email about my order, but it's March 22 and still no plants. I understood they mail them at the correct planting time. But they have already charged me, and it is the correct planting time. I'd like to hope it will be a positive experience. I emailed them today asking about the status of my order.

I am currently rating my experience with Burgess as neutral because I have not yet received my order. I placed my order on March 5 and it is only March 12, 2005. Unfortunately, I did not find this website before placing my order. Had I had the opportunity to read the 100 negative comments prior to ordering, I definitely would not have taken a chance with my money. After reading the comments on this website I quickly e-mailed Burgess Customer Service to inquire about the status of my order. In my e-mail I explained that I had recently been made aware of several negative complaints made by past consumers. I explained that if there was any possibility that my order would not be sent promtly, healthy, and correctly I would like my order cancelled immediately. We will have to see what the response is, but I wish I had found this website earlier! I am going to try to be optimistic, but I am ready to contact the BBB in Illinois if there are any problems. It is a shame that I have to be so nervous about my order, I was looking forward to being a loyal, repeat customer.

Being new to Dave's Garden website, I thought I might post some information from previous buys. I ordered shrubs and hedges from Burgess in 2004.....or at least that's what I thought I was ordering. To say they were small is an understatement. 3 of the 4 hedges were DOA. The lilac bush was a dried up twig rolled up in a plastic bag and the shrubs... well ..lets just say I don't consider a 3 inch growth to be a shrub. Certainly NOT for the money I paid. I attempted to contact customer service and got no resolution. I'm not usually one to complain. I figure we always take a risk when we purchase plants online or thru mail order. But, when half of your order is dead when it arrives and the other half dies within a few weeks of planting, I do expect some sort of adjustment or compensation. And obviously, I expected too much. I got nothing, no plant exchange, no refund, not even an apology. GARDENERS BEWARE!! Steer clear of this company.

I have ordered from this company (and from some of the other Plantron companies) and it really is a crapshoot. Some plants have done well and were actually larger than I expected(bush cherries) while others were DOA. However, I would not chance it by ordering from them again.

My original order for 13 different kinds of plants (36 plants in all) was sent in on July 3. On July 30, I received 8 of the plants, 6 of which were DOA. The remainder of my order, except for three Wisteria plants which have still not arrived, straggled in after weekly e-mails and letters by Sept. 2. Most of the plants were either moldy, dried out, or so small they never stood a chance. The ones that were babied into life included 2 blueberry plants, 2 waterlilies, 2 Irish moss, and 3 lupines. Only one replacement plant has been sent, and I'm trying to keep it alive. The bill on my credit card arrived before the first plants were even shipped. Needless to say, this bill will not be paid until my entire order is complete or until the invoice has been adjusted to reflect live plants instead of compost material.

I recieved a catalog early last spring and sent my order out in April. Since I didn't have much to spend and wanted the most plants for my money I only ordered sale stuff. The end of may i recieved everything I ordered. I was a little disappointed at the magnolia trees. They were very small. Other than that I was suprised at how well the plants had done during shipping. Everything I recieved has lived and done extremely well, except for a tree that died due to getting uprooted by a dog, but even it was growing until then. Several of my shubs even bloomed this summer. I have recieved plants from other mail order places that have not done nearly as good. Also, I compared the prices of everything that i recieved with Henry Field prices, and I saved nearly $100 on my plants. I am very pleased with Burgess seed.