Comments regarding Burgess Seed

Burgess Seed Co. is a rip-off and why the Better Business Bureau and Mayor or anyone is not taking action?
They should also be held acountable, what are they their for?
I ordered over $86.00 from the catalog.
I recently moved to Upstate N.Y.,have 0 to show for the order.
I don't care how cheap something is in a catalog, they are responsible for putting it out there.
The positive rating's probably just keep them in business, b/c I smell a rat.
Consumer's should be able to get help from these crook's?
Somehow somewhere, who is held accountable while they steal your money and mine?
I was told I could not get a tracking order until after 30 day's.
O.K. everyone who does not work for the Postal Service would fall for this, like I did until I talked to a friend who work's for the Post-Office. She called them and demanded a tracking # for my shipment which they somehow cannot come up with. She was livid and said " Any reputable business in the U.S.A. has a tracking # the minute it is sent out, and I will track it." The one girl actually yelled "We don't track until 30 day's, in a panic." Load of B.S., unless your order is coming by horse and buggy.
You cannot get in touch with the "parent Co.," and they don't take call's from the customer's. Hmmmmm, more and more shady.
I am mad at the people in office who are PAID to protect and help the "poor consumer" also.
Don't ever blame a customer for going for a deal.
Also they re-ship your order so they cannot track it again after 30 day's. They make sure your order is not sent until after 60 day's so disputing this on your credit card is also to late.
Expect to see me on the new's picketing at Burgess if I am not reimbursed. I'm so mad I am serious!
bye!

Order came without an invoice. Five of 12 lupines had rotting roots. The order was incomplete. Bare root trees had no root protection and were dried out. A very shoddy experience.

I waited 8 weeks for my order of forscthia and privet hedge. In that time the only contact from Burgess was to send me another catalog.
When my order arrived it was dried out with no sign of moisture.I live in the neighboring state of Missouri. The forscythia were not there but something called Moc Orange.No refund, no chance to accept or reject their offer of a substitue, nothing. They promptly charged my credit card.

They have a catalog full of things that may or may not be available. Read it carefully. Little wonder this company has such a bad reputation.

Read Grannie Annies comments about Burgess. I strongly suggest she buy a lottery ticket for luck is truely on her side.

Hi
On 4-9-4 I sent an order off to Burgess seed. Then I ran across this site. It is safe to say it scared the peewaddins out of me for several reasons. I feared for my money everyday after that.
Then yesterday-exactly 1 mo. after I sent in my order-it arrived.
Yes, there was the green shipping bag I dreaded.
I opened it.
Horror of horrors....EVERYTHING was PERFECT!
How can this be, I ask? SOMEONE has made a mistake. It wasn't me. It wasn't Burgess.
So could it have been the disgruntled fear-mongers who delight in being negative & spreading hate & discontent?
I don't know. But I do know I am impatiently awaiting my new catalogue & intend to order something else asap.
Thankyou

March 15, 2004 I ordered the "Lavender Angel Trumpets". On March 25, 2004 I called for a status. I was told that it was too cold in the trucks and they could not ship until it warmed up. On April 14 I called again for a status. I was told it would ship very soon. On April 21 I called for a status and was told they were sold out and if I wanted my money back I would have to write a letter requesting it. I wrote a letter that day. On May 5 I call for a status of my refund check. I was told there would be no refund check because they had shipped me a substitution. I received the substitution that was almost dead and was a lesser value than what I had orginally ordered. I was told I had to return the product at my expense and write another letter requesting a refund. I was told that the "supervisors" do not speak with the public, they are only there for the phone answerers to ask questions of. Today is May 6 and I have returnd the product via Fedex, signature requested, and filed a complaint the with Better Busness Burear in Illinois. The process of filing a complaint was easy, just go to http://www.bbb.com. I'm waiting to hear something. I WILL NEVER USE THIS COMPANY AGAIN. The last person I talked to at Burgess told me their business was thriving!!! Ha!

i just ordered $200+ in plants from burgess and direct gardening. i went in to look for their website from a computer other than my home one, and when i did the search on google, i came up with this site to look at! how i wish i had known about your site before i apparently wasted all that money! there is something i would like to add that i don't see in the remarks here. since our orders online are by credit card, there are certain guarantees that go along with that. as far as i know, if you are not happy with the goods when and if they arrive, you can deny the charges to your credit card. after all, these businesses offer a year guarantee on their plants--let's make them live up to that! if these businesses, which are all a part of one parent one, it sounds like, are so bad, why has the state not put them out of business? thanx.

I placed an order with Burgess and a month later, I sent an email to them asking where my plants were. Two days later, I got a response telling me my order was shipped and that it would be 7-14 days before I would receive it.
The first package I got was two Queen's Tears and get this ... 3 blades of Japanese Blood Grass. I only have one blade left now. I paid $5 for 3 blades of grass. What a rip off!
The next package contained the rest of my plants. They were all in plastic bags and all brown and dry. The Hops vine had mold on it. I did not get my Forsythia; I got something that looked like it was in the dried flower section of Michael's Craft Store! It was a substitute. I think my half dead Walk-on Me plants have a little bit of green left. I planted them just in case they decide to come back from the dead!
I have not emailed or tried to tell the company they suck. I will just tell everyone else that! I have saved all my shipping labels and could send my plants back, but I would rather not go through all the hassle$. I will just never do business with them again. I wish I would have found this web site before I purchased anything from Burgess.
In the time it took me to get my plants, my husband ordered several plants from other companies and got them all before I got mine. And his were all healthy plants. I guess I will take some tips from him on internet shopping!

I ordered several plants and bulbs from Burgess, anticipating a wonderful garden this year. The freesia bulbs I got were in a plastic baggie with no holes, so the bulbs were moldy. I planted several in a pot, hoping to get at least a few going...ONE came up out of a package of 25. I received three sticks they called "dormant" wisteria. ONE survived, and the only reason it did, was because I soaked them for a couple days in a bucket of water, and I have a large pickle jar that I put over it. It's too bad I only have the one jar. The other two are sticks. I ordered two clematis that arrived bone dry . The soil that was around it had gathered in the corner, not even protecting the root system. The only items that have flourished were the two blue moon roses that I purchased. Again, I soaked them for a couple days in a bucket of water. I am thuroughly disappointed in Burgess. I will not try to get a refund or replacements. Judging from the responses on this website, it would be a futile attempt. I just wish that I knew about Garden Watchdog BEFORE I ordered!

I recently ordered several bushes, daylilies, and shrubs from Burgess on the internet. My order was acknowledged, and a question emailed to the company was also promptly answered. The package arrived approximately two weeks after the order was placed. When I opened the plastic bag, the aroma was pure nursery and greenhouse, earthy! The plants were in great condition with strong healthy root systems. Would I order from Burgess again? Yes! Yes!

Service and company suck! I placed two orders. One order arrived almost two months after it was placed and came with missing items and the second never came. The one that came was left outside my home (I have a porch) and was rained on so I was not able to save the packing slip which was stuck on the box. I called back to see what happened to the other order and to tell them items were missing. I was given the run around on both issues. I then sent them an e-mail and they basically told me to go "stuff it" since I did not have the labels from the boxes. They wanted me to track down my credit card statements and send to them showing that I paid for the product. Would you not think that they know the product has been paid for? This is the worse I have seen and I will tell EVERYONE I know who gardens to stay away from them as well as putting a site up to further warn people. They still owe me product so I told them to send me what they have not and that they can pass on the product that they sent me that was dead on arrival. Bottom line is that I have a plant that was Dead on Arrival, one that they claimed was sent to me that I never got and five that died after I planted them. This company stinks and ought to be put out of business since they are skimming the line of ethical business practices. If they wanted customers to keep packing or shipping labels, they would have those documents enclosed in a packet attached to the shipping box to make sure they do not get wet or damaged. Have any of you tried to fully remove one of the labels from a wet shipping box? I feel they do this on purpose to make it more difficult for customers to get refunds. The State Attorney General needs to start looking at these people. Take a look at their ratings and you will see they are overwhelmingly NEGATIVE.

I have dealt with many garden mail order companies,and Burgess has been the worst.My problems with them began with some fruit trees that needed replacement.They did honor their warranty,but only after several long distance calls,several letters(they require you to write your complaint),and finally after a few months of this,I contacted the Better Business Bureau of Peoria,Il.Once the BBB was involved, everything was resolved.My replacement arrived ,just as bad as the first one I ordered.It never did root or leaf out.
Do yourself a favor,leave this company alone.

Yet another horror story. I wish I had read about them on this web-site first. I will definitely be more careful from now on.

A co-worker and I placed a sizeable plant order (which, luckily, I charged on my credit card rather than pay by cheque or cash) with Burgess Seed and Plant Co. on February 26th, 2004. My Credit card was charged on March 3rd, 2004. On March 9th, 2004, while doing some web surfing I came across this GardenWatchdog page for Burgess Seed and Plant Co.. After reading all of the negative comments and experiences I immediately became alarmed. I called the company to cancel my order within minutes of reading all the poor reviews. The customer service representative that I spoke with told me that if I wanted to cancel an order, I needed to send a written letter to them stating so. She also told me that one package of seeds from the order had already been sent.

That same day I mailed a certified letter to them asking that my order be cancelled and that the full amount of my order be re-credited to my card. I mentioned that I would return the seeds that had already shipped. The letter was delivered to their address on March 12th, 2004, but was not picked up by them until March 18th, 2004. Between March 15th, 2004 and March 19st, 2004, all but one of the items included in my order were delivered to my house. Much like the other customers on the Garden Watchdog site had described, the "plants" arrived in plastic bags and were nothing more than tiny, dried up twigs or plastic bags of rotting slime. On March 19th, 2004, I again called the company to see what was going on and to see why my order still hadn’t been canceled. I was told that it took several weeks for correspondence to get up to customer service so they hadn’t seen my first letter yet, and that I just had to return the items I had received and once received the order amount would be refunded to my card. I was also told that the last item to be shipped would be several more weeks until shipped, and I shouldn’t worry about it being shipped before the whole situation was resolved.

On March 22nd, 2004, I bundled all of the items into a cardboard box and, at my expense, shipped them back to Burgess Seed and Plant Co. by certified mail. I included copies of the first letter I had sent them asking for my order to be canceled and refunded as well as a new explaining what this shipment was and again that I wanted a refund and to cancel any remaining items still remaining to be shipped. The package was received at Burgess Seed and Plant Co. on March 25th, 2004.

On April 7th, 2004, I received in the mail, the final shipment from my original order. I called them on April 8th, 2004 to see why my order still hadn’t been cancelled and why no refund had been issued yet. I was told that somehow they had been unable to stop the shipment of this final item, and that to get a complete refund on my order I simply needed to return the item, and that it could take at least 30 days before any refund would be issued.

Yesterday I returned the final plant to Burgess Seed and Plant Co. (again on my dollar) by certified mail along with a third letter asking them to cancel my order and refund my card. I also placed a charge dispute with my credit card company. Happily my credit union responded immediately and within an hour of my faxing the details had refunded the full amount of the order to my card along with the cost of shipping the items back. (Yay First Tech Credit Union!).

I cannot believe that this company has been allowed to stay in business for so long. Now, any time I receive another one of their cheaply printed catalogues (or an identical one with a new cover from any of their other affiliated companies), I am reminded of how I was sucked in. I can’t help but feel angry towards them and embarrassed that I didn’t do my homework first. My feelings of humiliation will fade over time, but I know that other unsuspecting gardeners will fall prey to these crooks. Hopefully more people will find this site and word will spread.

I would like to say that I think Burgess is a good company. They have a really good Replacement Warrenty. I mean they are willing to replace your dead items for free as many times as needed in the duration of your 1 yr replacement warrenty. The only thing they require you do is send back that ORIGINAL SHIPPING LABEL which most ppl think is crazy but I dont. I was more than happy to send in the shipping label with a note attached to it saying what I oreded and what had died. And they replaced it for free for me with Great quality merchandise. They are more than happy to help you out in any way when it comes to you plants. And the Customer Service ppl are as nice as can be. I have talk to several of them and they have all been so nice and extremely helpful. I am not much of a gardner and when I called with questions they answered them all and gave me great infromation for me to help me on my way to become a gardner. Ya know ppl who have the negative feedback on the website call these ppl and start yelling at them when it is not their fault. You ppl have to realize that they are representatives of the company and are there to help you. You dont need to be rude to them and yell at them and hang up on them. All of them are there to help you out in the best way that they can. They are only following the Company rules. You may not be happy with some rules that are set but you shouldnt take it out on those who work in Customer Service. When I received my items in the mail I was more than satisfied with everything that I received. IT even came a little earlier than I had expected. They told me 3 to 4 weeks and it came in almost 2. I was quite shocked. I knew that it had to be processed and then shipped out. When they said 7 to 14 days for delivery I was a little worried but my post office thank the lord is great. They are pretty good when it comes to delivering plants. At first gotta say I was worried cause I know how some post offices will throw things around step on them run them over. For the ppl who receive damaged plants you have to realize it wasnt Burgess that sent them out bad it was the post office that damaged it.. And I should know I have a relative that works for them. And they told me that they dont care about the plants when they get them. They get pretty much beat to death when they have them and I was told they really dont see them as a high priority on their list. So that is why I was leary of the post office delivering it but thankfully I have the sweetest postman in the world. He even left the plants on my door step and not shoved in my mail box. So to those who have negative comments I say Boo on you. Cause it is not Burgess who is ruining your plants it is the post office. Burgess sends out live plants and its not their fault that the post office doesnt give a rats a$$ about the plants when they are handling them . I HIGHLY RECCOMEND BUYING FROM THIS COMPANY!!!!!!! They are all so nice and will be more than willing to help you out in any situation that they can!

I ordered $50 worth of plants from Burgess and then found this website, so I was worried. My order came in yesterday (Michigan) and I am thrilled. The packaging was pretty bad-just a pile of plants in the bottom of a plastic bag-but the plants all look good now that I've sorted them out. I cetainly got more than I paid for. The roses were 3 for $10, and they look like number one plants to me. The magnolias ($1.50 each!) have little leaves already, and the climbing hydrangea is the cutest little plant I have ever seen. Everything else is good, and if a little small, was very cheap. I hope this company can be more consistant so that everyone can be as pleased as I am.

I was scared when I found this site because I had just made and order with Burgess. I placed my order March 15th and I waited. During that time I read about everyones horror stories. I had also placed an order with direct marketing at the same time. On March 29th my order arrived. Everything looked dormant or had some green on them. I ordered many things from Burgess and some came in. My entire order from Direct came in and it all looked good. There were dried roots on my Lilac bushes but I just soaked them and My bulbs came in looking good. I ordered over 100 bulbs from Burgess. I only had 4 Iris bulbs that were a little squishy. I ordered a Rhondoderdron Evergreen and it came in Green! I just soaked everything and and planning on planting it in 2 days. I look forward to the rest of my order from Burgess since they sent me a partial order. The prices were attractive and the selection is really good. I hate it that some people have had a bad experience. I will be ordering from these companies again. I guess to only have a few bad experiences when you have thousands of orders is pretty good. Not too many people will let you know when they are happy. I live in Alabama so maybe I just lucked out with the shipping time table. I know I am happy. I will follow up in a few months with a report on how well things grow.

I ordered from Burgess a few weeks ago, and I just got it today. I ordered 2 Weeping Willows and the 50 piece bulb garden. My total order was under $15.00 including shipping. The trees looked great to me. At least 3 or 4 feet tall with nice healthy roots. The bulbs were also healthy looking. The only problem I had was the 1 free Stargazer Lily bulb was squishy feeling. But then it was free. lol. Other than that one minor problem, I am very happy with the quality of these plants. The 2 Weeping Willow trees were worth the $15.00 that I paid for the whole order. So I'm sure I will order from them again.

I found all the negative comments after placing a rather large order with this company. I was pleasantly surprised and relieved when my items were delivered in good condition and sooner than I was anticipating. The plants were packaged sufficiently, are all alive, and most are much larger than what I expected. I will order from this company again.

After comparing many similar catalogs, I found that Burgess offered the exact same items for much less. But what really influenced my decision was their shipping rate. One flat rate of just under 8$--no matter what the size or price of the order. HOW CAN YOU BEAT THAT? With the other catalogs, the shipping alone was about half of the purchase price.

I placed an order for various amounts of the following with Burgess:
blueberry bushes, current bushes, raspberry vines, poplar trees, dwarf hazelnut trees, birch trees, forcythia, lilac, dog wood, and lavender plants--all for around 100 dollars.

They arrived around march 10th--a few weeks after i placed my order. I received some free seeds and bulbs as a bonus.

Now while the plants ARE small--most are only 2 year old growth from cuttings--they are all healthy and alive. the poplar trees and current bushes are about 2.5 to 3 feet tall. Granted, the rest are small, but at these prices, I don't expect a developed 5 foot tree to arrive at my door!

I have already planted the blueberry bushes and raspberry canes and am looking forward to planting the rest as soon as it warms up a bit.

You can't expect large mature plants at these prices--anyone who does will be sadly disappointed, but that is just not a realistic expectation.

I have no regrets and for the price, i highly recommend this company. I look forward to watching my garden grow. And at these pricess, i can add more!

THIS IS THE WAY TO GO if you have a LIMITED BUDGET and are WILLING TO WAIT for the plants to develop.

Well folks, regardless of how NEGATIVE most of you were about orders from Burgess, the prices were worth chancing it. Afterall, I paid .50 or .75 for what Gurneys and other mail-order companies were charging $10-15. So even if HALF of what I ordered died I was getting a better deal. Anyways, yesterday I finished planting 20 shrubs and 25 Periwinkles I received last week and I am very pleased. These plants were the maximum sizes stated in the catalog and perfectly healthy looking. Forget the 'you get what you pay for' rule here. I am extremely happy about my order and will order again and again from them. Of course in doing so I expect sooner or later I will get a bad bunch of plants, but like I said, I've gotten more than my money's worth!

Although the plants (perinnels) offered are relatively cheap, they are so weak and small that you need to grow them in a protected environment, e.g. greenhouse , for another season before you should put them in the ground. I get better bargains from the local Walmart and HD. They do honor their refund policy by mail, but sluggishly.

WOW!! Now I'm scared. I recently ordered from House of Wesley ($26.62) and DirectGardening ($67.09) My debit card has already been charged. I was just about to spend another $100 when I came upon this site. All the negatives!! This is not looking good! I will wait and see what they send me. But I will contact the companies asap, to see what they have as a ship-date for my area. I ordered trees on ebay, and National Audubon, during this winter. The trees from ebay came as twigs (BUT THAT WAS OK, AS THEY WERE IN DORMANT) My trees are now blooming beautifully, in preparation for spring. So plants coming as twigs....aren't a problem, as long as they grow. My concern now, is that I ordered from House of Wesley and DirectGardening (affiliates of BURGESS)...and all the ship-date problems, refund and exchange problems, and wrong orders! I TOO, will WAIT~AND~SEE, will contact them immediately, and let you know what arrives! Gosh I wish I would have seen this site sooner! Gardening is my passion, and just bought a home with 2 acres I wanted to fill with my "dream garden". I have a fixed income....and my heart breaks for those of you that have been scammed in this way.

I'm scared now that I've found your website and discovered the substantial number of negative comments about Burgess Seed & Plant Co. Why am I scared? I'm a retiree that lives on just my pension and I have $182.56 order pending with Burgess. I mailed the order on 1/15/04 and my check cleared the bank on 1/29/04.

I have 27 trees, 1000 peat pellets, 20 asparagus crowns, and some seed on order.

I called them today (2/8/04) to see if my 1000 peat pellets were on the way as I need to get some plants started real soon. I was told that they don't start shipping nursery plants until after March 1st. I said that makes sense, but that these peat pellets weren't nursery plants. She said that there is no way for her to check on the status of an order that has already gone to shipping. She said to call back next week. I'm guardedly hopeful.

This is the first time I've ever ordered from this company. So I guess I'll take a wait'n see posture for right now. I hope I get the chance to come back here and upgrade my experience rating from Neutral to a real strong Positive. Burgess, here's your chance to shine!

This was a more positive than negative experience, so I'm giving them a positive.

Basically, you get what you pay for. This company is extremely inexpensive, and I feel that I got a good deal, even though the order didn't turn out perfectly.

I went in on an order with a friend. We collectively ordered a bunch of shrubs & trees & bulbs. The shipping took a while, but when it finally arrived in late June (sort-of late to be planting trees & shrubs here in Oregon) I got busy & planted everything. Because of my quick action, almost everything survived, except the "sale" Colorado Blue Spruce.
Interestingly, the "non-sale" Colorado Blue Spruce all survived. Hmmm.
A few shrubs were out of stock, so Burgess compensated by sending Rose Of Sharon replacements and some extras.

For people who think mail-order shopping is fun, and who realize that you get what you pay for, I think Burgess is an overall satisfactory experience.

any catalog that comes with the address: bloomington IL...burgess and all their sister company's....DON'T EVEN GO THERE!!!!!!!!!I had just started perennial gardens and ordered lots of stuff from them and all there other companies in Bloomington because i was ignorant and they were cheap....what didn't come dead; you needed a TWEEZER to pick them out of there packs; it was a joke from the start!!!!!i lost hundreds of dollars until i went to a garden club....and told them about the places i ordered from and they all said..."they got you too, they get everyone"...STAY AWAY FROM....unless you got money to throw away!!!!!!!!!!!!

I placed a mail order in Jan 2003 and paid by check, which has been cashed by Burgess. I only received one plant from this order, a Japanese Bloodgrass, which I planted but it never rooted. None of the other plants in my order ever arrived. I have, since Aug 2003, sent numerous emails to their cust service to have my order cancelled and my money refunded. They had no trouble canceling my order, but have yet to respond or refund. It's not worth my time or money to send further correspondence, and I hate the phone. Please don't send your hard earned money to BURGESS!!!! Illigitimi non carborundum.

I am really amazed at the comments here(and it makes me a little leary about ordering again). I ordered from them three times last spring. They came in those bags, bare root but looking pretty good. I planted them and the only thing that didn't grow was a paw paw. I sent the shipping label back and recieved my replacement paw paw just fine. I also got shallots instead of jerusalum artichokes. I wrote them and told them I had not recieved the jerusalum artichokes(I did not tell them they sent shallots because could not see any reason that I should pay to send them back). They sent me the jerusalum artichokes no problem. My trees, bushes etc. are stil growing fine except the manchurian apricots which grew for a while then died but I really think that was just from our climate here in GA. None of my orders took very long to come in but then again I sent them a money order.

This is the worst quality product I have ever received:
I made a large order which did not arrive until past the planting period for my zone. Half the order was wrong, with a note asking me to accept substitutes!
Optimistically, I planted the rotted shipment in protected areas. Nothing but 3 bulbs came up! I have 10,000 square feet of gardens and have never had such failure.
I will not order from their affilites again.

As an experienced gardener I was dismayed and disappointed to receive my order bone dry, loosely packaged, and broken plant "sticks". I did give the plant "sticks" the scratch test on the bark and there was NO green, only dry brittle beige. I wrote a detailed description of the condition in which I received them and was advised to plant and wait. I did so and 6 of the 25 or so plants I ordered did recover from their shipping trauma and grow, after being rescued by SuperThrive, a thorough soaking, and careful planting. The shipping bag was like a green florists plastic bag for wrapping delivery flowers in and was secured with 1 staple. I sent in the original shipping receipt as they requested with a long detailed letter and of course--with this company-- refund nothing seems to be their policy--they sent the shipping label back to me and said if they didn't grow in 6 weeks to send it back. I called their customer service extremely upset and got a very polite and considerate and I am sure "new" employee who advised rewriting them and detailing my experience. When I told him I already had done that and I could email him a copy he said not necessary--he was sure if I just resent it they would take care of it. Hah! Luckily, I only spent $11.00 on my order but you would think they would wait until at least the 2nd order to screw the customer... Reading all the other complaints convinces me this company is a total scam and needs a very close look at it by the Illinois attorney general.

I placed an on-line order with Burgess in June. They immediately charged my Visa account for the order so I expected to see it come within a few days. After about a month I sent an e-mail inquiring about the order. They said it was in shipping and should go out anyday.

After a few more weeks I called and was told they were very busy but that the order was in shipping. I told them that's what they told me a few weeks ago and that they had charged my account as soon as I placed the order. She said that's how they do business. I then told them to cancel my order and credit my Visa account in full. Well they couldn't do that over the phone I had to write to them to cancel the order.

But, lo and behold, a written cancelation didn't do it either. I also e-mailed them and told them to cancel it and refund the money. I never heard from them. Today the order came (3 months after the charge was placed on my VISA.) The plants were wrapped in cardboard and were completly soaked, rotted and no roots. The peonies look like they're dead, no eyes.

I called them and asked to speak to a supervisor and was told supervisors and managers don't take phone calls they only look at written letters (no e-mail). He then told me to ship the order back and they would re-send the order. I told him to issue a call tag but they don't do that. They expect you to send it back at your expense. I then insisted on speaking to a supervisor and was told again that they don't take calls. I'm going to contact the BBB in Ill and report this to them also and contact the credit card compay to see if they can do anything but don't expect that to happen as I think a charge has to be challenged in the month of the charge. That's probably why they do the charge immediatly and don't ship until several months later.

I have ordered on-line with a lot of companies and never had a bad experience like this one.

I will NEVER order anything from them again!!!

I ordered 2 butterfly plants, 2 Paw Paw trees, 20 hardy Glads and a 50 bulb variety package. Only the Liatris and Asiatic Lily grew from the 50 Bulb variety pack. Half of the Hardy glads grew, but they did not bloom. The Paw Paw trees and butterfly plants arrived in what I thought was a dormant state, I was told they were doramant and should grow within 6 weeks, but they never came out of dormancy, they were dead.

I ordered plants which were delivered very late. The material looked very bad but I "gave them a chance" by planting them anyway. They never lived but it was too late to get a refund. Replacements were sent during the heat of June. Several items were not viable, again. After sending the dead sticks back by UPS, I received all my paperwork back in the mail with no refund. I have spent so much money following their instructions that I can't afford to pursue it any longer. I am taking my loss but I won't order from them again. (Their instructions for dealing with unsatisfactory plants is ambiguous and keeps the customer going around in circles!)

I spent over $65.00 and many weeks later received dead sticks. I will never order from Burgess again. Too bad I didn't find your site first; I'd have saved lots of time, money, and most of all aggravation.

Hey folks, you get what you pay for! These guys, (and other plantron entities), are really cheap, but their customer service and quality of product matches their prices.

I'd only order very hardy plants, (daylilies, bearded iris), from these guys. Good deals to be had IF you select plants that can handle abuse.

My mother ordered Sedum and 3 Trees (approx $60 order). After some time, she called to check on the order and was told it was on it's way. The order arrived 7 weeks later with only the sedum. She called and was told that there was a crop failure with the trees. And according to their records they sent her a Hydrangea bush (1) as substitution for the 3 tress! When telling them she hadn't rec'd the shrub, and didn't want it anyway, they said she would have to mail the shipping label back to them and write a letter stating she wanted no substitutes. They claimed they couldn't take care of it over the phone.
Oh, and to top if off, the sedum was in bad shape and isn't growing so far.
#1. Why didn't they tell her of the crop failure when she called to check the status of the order?
#2. How can one hydrangea be a substitute for three trees??
#3. This 'hydrangea' never showed up anyway!
#4. Why does she (an older woman) have to bother with multiple phone calls, writing a letter and sending the shipping label back? Why can't they take care of problems on the phone?
#5. Why don't they have a toll-free number? Oh, I know, they don't want to pay for all of the customer complaint calls.
MeLani

I wouldn't wish this company on my worst enemy. I echo the comments by others that they ship when they see fit -- and I have received one order which has had only marginal success.

My issue is with their customer service department. I have been trying for several weeks to cancel an order, and they're trying every trick in the book to avoid letting me do that and to reverse the charge on my credit card.

Note for orderers, (which I hope there aren't any): When you order from them, they charge your credit card long before they ever ship to you -- so you can be charged in one month, and maybe receive product a month or two later, if then.

These are the nastiest, obstinate folks you'll ever deal with -- and I hope you don't get caught up with them like I did.

I'm glad this website is here, and very sad I didn't find it before ordering from this company. I've had the same problems frequently mentioned here. No shipment after 6 weeks, have received busy signals -- in fact have never gotten through to this company by phone, no response to email. I'm cancelling my order today.

My mom ordered me a rosebush from this company. It arrived in good shape for a rose (you know, dead-looking and twiggy), but a few months later, I discovered they'd sent THE WRONG ROSE TYPE. You can see it at: //www.florentine-persona.com/garden.html about midway down. I've figured out it's almost certainly a Tropical Sunset, but it was SUPPOSED to be a Blue Girl! GRUMBLE! Mom's going to see what she can get out of them, but till then, even if she gets her $7 back, I've got a 4' tall, non-winter-hardy orange/yellow rose instead of a fragrant lavender climber.

I have a green thumb and also sell in the winter dormant apple trees. I know a little (very little) about growing things.

I ordered

120 3' Lombardy Poplar trees for use along one side of my farm.
200 Allstar Strawberry plants for my personal garden
5 Horseradish Plants for my personal garden
6 Rhubarb Plants for my personal garden

My Credit Card was charged about 6 weeks prior to my shipment leaving their warehouse facility.

Their customer service lied to me about the shipping date, but they did ship about a week after their claimed shipping date. They also shipped via Bulk Rate which causes delay's in delivery by the USPS, not a good thing for living plants.

The Lombardy Poplar are all alive, and are one year old stock grown from short cuttings. They are all trimmed to about 2' from the graft, some shorter. I believe MOST will live if properly care for.

Strawberries are somewhat touchy (these were packaged in air tight sealed plastic bags), and I believe a good 80% of my order are dead from crown rot. The remaining 20% may make it, but also may not. I seriously doubt if I am going to get 10 good plants from the 200 total.

The 5 Rhubarb are terribly small, but are sprouting, and with very careful care will make it to be small plants by winter.

The 6 horseradish are very small 2 inch length by pencil diameter root pieces. None show sprouts or eyes and I do not know if I will get any reaction from them when planted.

The 5 gifts were not worth mentioning.

I now feel the pain many early settler's had when they tried to bring via wagon train their beloved plants and cuttings westward.

Ichi

On April 1, 2003, we ordered $66.23 worth of plants. As of today, May 13, we have received no plants. I talked to Customer Service (ha ha) today and they said the had trouble with one of the plants but that our order would be sent out in a couple of days. We'll see.

I wish I had found Garden Watchdog before I ordered.

JJ Dyer