Comments regarding Four Seasons Nursery

I SENT ORDER OF NEARLY $100.00 FIRST OF APRIL. HAVE HAD NO CONTACT SINCE THEN. THE ONE PHONE NUMBER THAT THEY LIST HAS NOTHING BUT A BUSY SIGNAL, ( WELL OVER 50 TRIES ) ORDER FOR ALL PERENIALS AND AM SURE THAT THE PROPER TIME TO PLANT IN CROMWELL,IOWA HAS PASSED. OVER A MONTH AND A HALF HAVE PASSED AND SOON WILL BE TOO DRY AND WARM TO BE PLANTING. I HAVE ALSO E-MAILED THE COMPANY AND HAVE HAD NO RESPONSE. I WOULD LIKE TO FIND THE "FRIEND" THAT GAVE THEM MY NAME TO SEND CATALOG. THEY CERTAINLY MUST HATE ME. WISH I HAD LOOKED FOR THIS SITE BEFORE I ORDERED.

Well,the second part of my two-part order arrived today.A month late and dead(of course).Wish I had checked their rating before ordering.

My experience with 4 Seasons Nurseries echos those already listed. I placed my order on April 14, 2002 and my credit card was charged on April 24, 2002. I contacted them on May 8 to check on the shipping status of my order. The first response I received was a vague comment that orders take 2 to 3 weeks to process the order and then the mail would take another 2 weeks.

I responded to that message asking if my order had been shipped. They replied that they needed the name and shipping address and all the messages on this transaction before they could answer my inquiry. I sent that information and attached the messages (even though my order number was listed in the subject area of all my email to them). They replied that they don't open attachments, still not answering if my initial question on if my order had been shipped.

I replied that they obviously didn't believe in customer service either and that I just wanted to know if my order had been shipped. Their latest reply, "how can I help you?" I'm sorry I didn't check here before ever ordering anything from them.

I also wish I had known about this rating before placing my order. I mean nothing died on me yet knowck on wood, I know the plants wouldn't be huge but come on my Yuccas I grew from seed are bigger then the ones they sent me.
I have called them repeatedly and I too got busy signals and if you call after hours you get a machine but you can't leave a message.
I ordered from them in the beginning of March recieved 2 of 3 packages middle of April the other package is missing in action.
I have emailed them 2 times once they told me the 3rd package would be mailed out in days (3 weeks ago) and again tonight. It even takes them days to answer there emails.
I willl never order from them again!!
Oh well a lesson learned
Kim

I also ordered from them. I placed my order 4/17, they said
everything would be shipped in April. Ok maybe the last day of Apr. and it will be here tomorrow. I hope. Want to get the plants in the ground. I also wish I had found this site before ordering.

I made an order over 10 days ago, to date I have received no communication from this company. Repeated phone calls resulted in busy signals. Exremely poor customer relations.

I just received an order of Cushion Mums from Four Seasons Nursery in Bloomington IL. The plants are mushy and rotten and have a terrible rotten smell. Now on this site I see I am not alone in dealing with a bad situation.

These people seem to have several names for the same horrible company! Exciting Nurseries, Four Seasons Nurseries, Richard Owen, etc. They send you TRASH! They are proficient at cashing your checks and nothing more! Save you time and money and buy from Wal-Mart (or any where else), you'll get far better quality!

I, too have been trying to get a refund from FOUR SEASONS since the fall Of 2001.I placed an order on September 6,2001 after being assured on the phone that I would receive them in time to plant in N.H. When I had not received my plants by October 15th, I called to cancel my order as we had had a frost but was told that my request had to be made in writing, which I did immediately. On October 31,2001 the plants arrived -- I called to inform them and was told to return them for refund. I followed the return instructions on the guarantee to the letter and mailed the plants back on November l, 2001 and received a conformation from the Post Office that they were received on November 10,2001 @ 8:31 A.M. To date (May 30,2002) I have written, called, sent copies of letters, labels etc. and still have not received my refund of $79.62.I have learned a lesson from this e4xperience -- NEVER send a check for mail order -- use a credit card because the credit card co. usually gets action and the refund is forthcoming.

On Jan 30, 2002 I ordered 2 Nikko blue hydrangeas, 25 strawberry plants, bulbs, One rose. They arrived in March or April and everything was doing fine except one hydrangea. I gave it some time and finally wrote for a replacement. It came & was a foot tall with numerous leaves. Both plants are doing equally fine. Upon arrival my first hydrangea looked like a twig with a couple of leaves (the good one). I thought if I gave it a chance it would do fine. It was a plant I really wanted & hadn't seen in my local Nurseries. I will order from them again. I was pleased to find this review site. I find it very interesting & I use it as a catalogue index. It's an easy way to choose a variety of sites to explore. It's on my favorites list.

In late February and early March (2002), I sent a three-part order to Four Seasons Nursery. I expected delivery in April and was surprised when nothing came until May. The items that I ordered were in three parts. I paid the $6.95 shipping and handling on each of the three parts. The quality of the items that Four Seasons sent me ranged from poor to good. Two of the cherry trees seemed poorly rooted. Both of my almond trees had one broken branch each, which might have happened during shipping. Nothing arrived dead.Four Seasons shorted me 1 spruce (sending 59) and 2 hazelnuts (sending 2). The missing Colorado blue spruce could have been an honest miscount, and I've discovered that my plans called for only 54 spruce, so I had 5 extras anyway and am not hurting there. However, it's hard to see how Four Seasons could write "4 hazelnut" on the shipping label and include only 2 hazelnuts inside the package, by accident. On the other hand, by what I've been reading on the complaints page, I gather that I've been relatively fortunate. I will be more cautious with my orders to Four Seasons in the future. I don't intend to take them to court over one spruce and two hazelnuts, as the bother of hiring the attorney and fighting a legal battle in Indiana would involve too much of my time.

I received everything I ordered in a timely fashion. For the ultra low price I did not expect huge plants. I expected a risk I was willing to take. My mock orange is developng leaves after being in the ground 1 week, the hibiscus is budding, the beauty berry arrived alive in a 3"pot and is still growing. I have some cherry trees from them froma few years ago. They too, were small when they came, but continue to thrive in my yard. I'd order again.

I WISH I WOULD HAVE SEEM THIS BEFORE, I JUST PLACED AN ORDER WITH THEM AND I HAVEN'T RECEIVED ANYTHING AS OF YET. IT IS SPRING AND I SHOULD BE PLANTING THE PERIENNALS THAT I ORDERED. I WILL KEEP MY FINGERS CROSSED AND LET YOU KNOW HOW I MAKE OUT.

My husband and I bought about $98.00 worth of beautiful flowers and plants from 4 seasons, and yes 6 months later still not plants, nor can I get them on the phone, the number on their catalogue is always busy, the fax, the same busy and now after I have already been charged and paid for all the plants cant seem to get any one ever on the phone.

My husband and I placed two separate orders; one over the internet and one through the catalog. We received the internet (credit card) shipment but the 12 red maples that were supposed to be 3 year old stock (not seedlings) were tiny little sticks that you can hardly see. Unfortunately for us, the two black walnuts and the two pecans were even smaller. We have yet to receive the mailed-in order. It has been several weeks and we have not received this second order as yet. We did plant the red maples but I do not expect them to live. They didn't look like they were alive when we planted them, except for the fact that they did have a single root line on them. They were inexpensive and I do not expect much from them. I will be very surprised if they make it through the summer.

Do not buy from this scam company. They are affiliated as a "franchisee" with many other nurseries located in Illinois. We ordered $300 worth of plants in March 2001, and they never arrived. After calling them, they said they would reship. NOTHING arrived. Another call told me that I couldn't get shipment because IT'S TOO LATE FOR MY AREA. I cancelled credit card charge and my card refunded me. NO explanation. This year I re-ordered the same order in March 2002. Again no delivery or charge. Several long distance calls to their number (located on the bottom of some of the pages yielded NO ORDER on file. The rep offered to take the order today, only to tell me that it takes 10 days to process the credit card again, and they 5 weeks to ship. This puts me past the time to plant. So to heck with it. I have thrown out all of their catalogs, including Burgess, Owens and any other Illinois catalog I receive.

I placed an order on March 28th for some water lilies and two mole traps, now I am wondering if I will receive anything, since reading all the complaints, I will not order from them again regardless of how and when my order arrives. Also, I will take note of one of the complaints and do all my correspondence by certified mail. I thought it was against the law to charge your credit card before the articles were shipped.

I just made an order and now have come upon these negative comments. I am tempted to cancel the order but will try to give it a go. I will let you know what my experience is. I have ordered hosta (regal blue),angels trumpet,pampas grass, and Harry Lauders walking stick (corylus contorta) ACE

I have to agree with the first comment all the trees I ordered came way too late and all died and then when they replaced them they still did not sent then at a proper planting time and they died too- I gave up and wrote it off as a learning experience and vowed never to order from then or any of there associates

Well, I guess I'm very lucky. I've ordered from four seasons several times And have been very happy with the size and quality of their product. The Redbud trees I ordered four years ago are about 15 feet tall and just completed blooming beautifully. I've placed a new order today.

I purchased nine spruce trees. They arrived three weeks later and were either dead or dying - none lived. I sent the items back for a refund and somehow the original shipping invoice which was firmly attached to the bag became lost (the invoice is necessary for the refund). My request for a refund was then rejected because of lack of proper paperwork and I was out the cost of the trees plus postage. Poor quality merchandise and a worthless guarantee.

I ordered red-twig dogwoods from them. They did not look worth while when they arrived, but they all lived and grew, just slowly. I would say the same for the tree bargains I ordered.

I ordered from Four Seasons Nursery and half of my plants did not survive, some arrived did, did not bloom, or just plain died after transplanting. My hobby is gardening and landscaping so I don't think it was me. I wrote to the company because I did not have my shipping label, they e-mailed me back and told me to send in a copy of my cancelled check. This I did, and I got a letter stating I needed my shipping label. I feel like I'm going in circles and now I can't find them on the web to e-mail them again. This has to be the worst experience I have ever had from a mail order company. This is not customer service. I offered to take pictures of the plants next to my own healthy plants to prove of their failure to thrive. Beats me.

Fed up! Four Seasons from Bloomington, IL is the company.

I too place an order with is company and after waiting 2 months received the stick trees, the mushy, moldy, dead plants this company sends in a baggie. What a rip- got me for $70. The only way I got a response from them was to send a complaint via e-mail to the Better Business Bureau in Peoria, Illinois. BUYER BEWARE. You can check the FAQ's on any one of these companies and the complaints are all the same. I WOULD HAVE GOTTEN MORE ENJOYMENT WATCHING MY MONEY BURN. Guess there's one born every minute. Don't know how they sleep at night, but I bet they laugh all the way to the bank.

DO NOT ORDER ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY I wish I had checked this company before ordering anything from them. Buyer Beware. Copies of letters sent to Plantron trying to get some sort of response: 6/26/01 Last year we ordered some stock from your company early in the spring and requested that it be sent at a delayed date as we would be out of the area until that time. When we arrived, the plants were already here, for how long we have no idea. The "sticks" we planted had no identifying characteristics as to root or leaf end, but we planted them anyhow and cared for them as any of our plants. At the end of two weeks there was not only no growth noted, but we couldn't even find the plantings. We notified you that we wanted a refund and it was denied due to your two week rule. It was not our fault that you sent them prior to our request. Your company did send a replacement certificate, number 005880, which we attempted to use on May 23rd of this year. On June 18th we called, wondering where our order was and were told that there was no evidence that we existed anywhere in your database, even after providing the above certificate number. The next call on June 22nd, we talked to Heather Clerk #08, who informed us that our order had JUST been received on the20th. Sounds kind of fishy to me. By now, our plans do not allow for time to receive the stock and get them planted and viable prior to our departure for an extended period of time. After some discussion, Heather suggested that a supervisor could be contacted Monday morning as it was after four and they were gone for the weekend. Monday morning I called and talked, rather heatedly, with Mimi Clerk #34-1, who informed me that there were no supervisors, there was no way to talk to anyone in the company, and all communications except placing an order had to be done by mail. Perhaps the order could be stopped, but she had to send a letter to the nursery, because there was no way to communicate with them to stop it and she couldn't promise that the letter would get there before the order was shipped. Still no way to talk to anyone in the company. What a way to run a business! At this point we would just like a refund of our money. It's just too much trouble and expensive trying to receive any satisfaction from your company. I know that it's against your policy to refund money but exceptions can be made. In lieu of a refund, if your phone number could be provided to facilitate our next order, another replacement certificate good till next spring might be acceptable. 8/02/01 I can't understand what kind of business you have there in Bloomington. I have tried several times to get some satisfaction for the order we placed last year, and I'm still very unhappy and now I'm getting mad. Let me summarize: An order was placed in the spring of 2000 and I requested that it be mailed to arrive at a specific date. It arrived sooner than requestedand the plants were not viable. When the plants did not survive, their remains could not be located and you refused me a refund, sending instead a replacement only coupon. When reordering I again specified a date beyond which we would not be able to plant the flowers. The order arrived five days prior to our departure. We will not be back to Missouri until the later part of September. I have no idea if this stuff will grow or not. This part of the country does not receive much rain during this season and it's also very hot. Without proper care I doubt that they will survive.Why can't I just get a refund? Why can't you send the product to arrive when I request? Why don't you have a phone where you can be reached to settle problems like this? Why can't you be courteous enough to answer my letters? Why did I even bother to order anything from your company? The only conclusion I can come to is that all you really want is my money and you don't care what kind of product you are providing.

I ordered from Four Seasons nursery early 2001. I placed a sizeable order and received them at the perfect time to plant and have been extremely happy with their service. There were only 2 hostas that did not come up, and it was my fault that they did not grow. They have great prices and so far great service. I will definitely order from them again. As a matter of fact I will be placing a order in the next week.

If you order from four seasons don't order the 65,000 wildflower seeds. It comes in a 2 oz. Package. And there is no way…I got what I ordered.

Don't order from these people. They will most likely not send you the right order and if they do, your plants will be dead, rotted, or squashed. You will not be able to call them as the so-called customer service line will be busy for hours and hours. If you do get through they will only tell you that your order has/has not been shipped. If you want a refund or your bill fixed you will be asked to put it in writing. If you ask for a supervisor you will be given a fake name of a Mrs. Avery. You will spend more money long distance phone calls and certified mail. You will spend hours writing letters begging for what is yours and in the end....who knows. The DO NOT guarantee "Total Customer Satisfaction" as they say on their brochure. They do not guarantee their plants. I wish I had found this site before. They got my order wrong, cashed my check 5 weeks prior to sending my order but two minutes after receiving it, shorted me 12 plants, was told the same old thing by so called customer service.

I ordered 200 strawberry plants, 18 blue spruce, 2 red bud trees, 6 red maple and 2 weeping willows. All 18 blue spruce died, I received 175 of the 200 strawberry plants I ordered. I contacted them about the shortage on the strawberries 3 weeks ago. They said sorry, and they would take care of it. I never received the other 25! Let's see what happens when I send the 18 blue spruce back. I ordered from gurneys also and my order is doing great! Use extreme caution when ordering from Four Seasons.

I thought I was the only person being taken advantage of. I placed a very sizeable order with this company, $165.00 and had to pay for it on my credit card 6 weeks before my order was delivered, dead not dormant. Not only did I pay for all these dead plants, I did not get all the plants I ordered, and they sent some other plants instead of the plants ordered. I could not get my money back and I had to resend in my shipping labels to get them replaced. I saved the shipping labels and sent them back in this spring April 25, 2001 and I have just received two of the plants to date. I would not request this company to anyone. I enjoyed reading the letter from the past employee, I was told all of those lies and they were very rude. Thanks for sharing with us. I feel companies like this should have to be accountable for their mistakes.

Fall of 2000 I received the most horrid batch of plants from this company. My daylilies were rotten and smelly, shrubs looked like twigs, my 2 for 1 butterfly bushes contained one 8" twig and one so small that I actually lost it in the grass. I live near Minneapolis MN and I always receive my mail order plants too late, but these came in mid to late Oct. The ground was already freezing. Can't wait to see what comes up in the spring. If the plants don't live, I'll consider it a lesson learned and not get replacements from this place. I say run from this one.

Ordered from Four Seasons Nursery last fall and the order was to be delivered in the spring of this year. We were going back to Maine for the summer so I called and asked them to send the order the last of September of this year. Here it is November and we still have not received the order, and neither can I get them on the telephone. Last spring I had to spend 75 cents to get the number. Now all I get is the busy signal. Could it be that they take the phone off the hook.

I thought I was the only unlucky one. Early summer 2000 in Idaho received order, Smashed moldy boxes, Trees broken in half. Planted all same day as per instructions. Cared for as per instructions. 2 weeks past they were ALL dead. They cashed the check directly after receiving it and it took over 4 months to ship my order. Yes, My Spruce trees were what looked like frozen also, gray, moldy. Add me to your class action lawsuit if there is one. It is beyond me how so many complaints and problems can be listed and filed with no results. Latest Fall catalog does have a phone # . On the front page is says "FREE POSTAGE" on every order. Then on the order form it says $6.95 huh. They welcome phone calls during business hours but only if you are ordering by credit card. Internet address is not correct-unavailable. The 2nd catalog met its fate in the round file-trash.

I ordered about 20 plants from Four Seasons Nursery this past spring. Of the approximate 20 only 1 lived. All the rest when pulled from planters, planted in Miracle Gro, had these reddish/yellow grub insects all over the roots. I had saved all the packaging, so the 19 were returned with the grubs all over the roots in the same bag. I got a gift certificate for the balance of these 19 plants. The only surviving plant was a "Blue Moon" rose that turned out to be lavender and it took 6 weeks to show any growth. I must say that when it started growing, it ended up being over 6 feet tall with huge 2"+ blooms. I'm going to use my certificate since I actually paid for it already.

I made my first ever plants by mail purchase from Four Seasons Nursery by phone this May 2nd, ordering 100 Privet bushes for $29.95 and 20"ground cover" day lilies for $22.49. The telephone order taker said my order would ship in 2-3 weeks. I spent my spare time during the next couple of weeks preparing and mulching about 100 feet of bed for the privets, to make a "living fence" along the top edge of a retaining wall I'd had built this spring to give my "home on a hill" a decent size and flatter back yard.When my credit card statement arrived in mid-May I noticed that Four Seasons had entered a charge the day after I'd placed the order, and said to myself, "Good, the stuff must be on its way", foolishly expecting Four Seasons to follow rules like the ones in my own business' credit card merchant agreement with my bank, (i.e. don't enter the charge more than three days prior to the date the merchandise will ship. When the end of May came I became somewhat anal looking at the empty hedge bed and fantasizing about how much higher the hedge would grow this year if I could get the bushes in the ground as soon as possible. I started telephoning Four Seasons about my order every few days, and got a different shipping date each time. On my last call I reached a pleasant sounding guy. I gotta give him credit for creativity. When he gave me yet another ship date which was EARLIER than the one I'd received a few days before, I asked him if they used a random number generator for giving customers shipping dates. His reply was, "Well sometimes there is glare on the monitor screens and it's hard to read the shipping dates." My order did arrive in early June and all but two of the 60 odd Privet bushes I planted leafed out fine. Most of them had small white shoots poking out by the time I got them. I replaced the "permanently dormant" two with some of the "spares" I'd popped in the ground in a back corner of our lot. At this writing a month later they all seem to be doing great and I feel like I got quite a bargain.The lilies didn't come out quite so great..I planted anything that looked like it might be a lily and stuck tongue depressers with a shot of orange flourescent paint on them next to each planting. About half of them have sprouted green leaves which are a couple of inches tall, and in truth they do appear to be different varieties too. The other half don't really seem to be where I planted them anymore. I supposed they just went "dust to dust" or perhaps some critter with a stronger stomach than mine had a snack. At any event, even a 50% survival rate will still be a bargain, my local nursery charges $7-$10 each for lilies a few inches high, albeit in pots. All told, I think I think I got as much if not more than I had a right to receive for what I paid, and I'll probably give Four Seasons Nursery a shot again next year, now that I know what to expect. POSTSCRIPT (August, 2000)I sent Four Seasons Nursery the original packing slip/label and a letter explaining that the Privet plants did quite well but only 5 of the 20 Daylilies had made it. Within TWO WEEKS of mailing that letter I received a package with 15 replacement Daylilies, in much better shape than the first ones. At this writing, two weeks after planting them, they seem to be greening up nicely, If any don't make it, I won't hold it against Four Seasons Nursery.

I say buyers beware when ordering from any of the Plantron companies. My experience was very negative. I ordered a variety of things including trees and perennial gardening plants. My order was sizeable and a year later only have few surviving plants. When we received our plants beginning of August, too early for fall planting I immediately contacted the company. What I was told is shipping times are not guaranteed and I am stuck with them. When inspecting my shipment I determined that majority of the shipment was dead. My gardening abilities are above average and can determine what is dormant and what is dead. When contacting the company again I was informed that refund would not be considered for 6 weeks. In the mean time we attempted planting and my first suspicions were confirmed that the plants were dead. Refund eventually happened through me being persistence. I give Plantron company double thumbs down and a big buyers beware.

My elderly mother ordered plants in the amount of $165.43 and the check was cashed in April, 2000. Every single plant was black, mushy and dead when she got them, I saw them with my own eyes. We have tried every way possible to get her money back or at least the order replaced, no luck. They do not answer any type of request. [Update] January 7, 2001]As of today, they still have my mom's money.

I ordered from Michigan Bulb, and was so impressed with mail order plants that when I got the brochure in the mail from Four Season's Nursery, I got bolder and placed a larger order. The first thing I noticed, was the transaction immediately hitting my credit card, five weeks before anything arrived - this is a pet peeve ofmine and one that Michigan Bulb didn't do - they billed when each of the two shipments were sent. Anyhow I ignored this irritation and promptly planted everything. So far nothing has grown! The second shipment (mosquito plants) arrived and were in a disgusting state. They are still sitting in my kitchen reminding me of my annoyance. Unfortunately my husband didn't understand the importance of the 'mailing label' and inadvertently threw it away. So they refused to replace them. I am now obviously disappointed that all my labor in the garden came to nothing and will try and get some satisfaction from Four Season's. Although having just found this website (4 months too late), I won't hold my breath.