Comments regarding Four Seasons Nursery

This is the worst company I have ever dealt with, bar none. Most of the plants were pitiful beyond description. And the trees were just ridiculous. The weeds in my field are bigger than those Dwarf Cherry Trees. The fruit cocktail tree arrived broken and dead and I had to pay the shipping to return it! I went ahead and planted everything else and most of those plants died within a week. But in order to get a refund, I have to dig them up and send them back. So how do you dig up a plant that died so completely that there is nothing to send back? Send a spoonful of dirt back for each plant, wasting money on postage in the process?

I tried calling and was told to send an email to find out how to get my shipping back for the dead tree and what to do about the dead plants I can't even find. The reply I received was that I had already been refunded for the product (the tree, not the other dead plants and not my postage). Reading comprehension is right down there with their customer service and plant quality.

I will use 4 Season's Nurseries catalogs to start my fire pit BBQ with. That's all they're good for. Run, don't walk, away from this company.

"On Jan 4, 2012 10:12 AM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

We are sorry to hear of the problems with the tree. Our guarantee is clearly posted on the website as well as in all catalogs, and we do stand behind this guarantee. We were able to contact this customer via dmail concerning her $120.00+ order. The customer had taken advantage of our guarantee and received a refund for the tree totaling $19.95. As requested, a replacement order was also issued for the remaining $19.18 worth of plants that died.


"

Posted on May 9, 2011, updated May 9, 2011
Irresponsible company, worst customer service ever. Never got my order after almost a month, now it's too late to plant. PLEASE AVOID 4SEASONSNURSERIES!!! Prices seem great (too god to be true!), but this is a scam company, please read other comments from other users. Avoid this company at all costs! They'll charge your card and you wait and wait and wait (I'm still waiting.)
I just requested my order to be cancelled and my money to be refunded after the horror stories I've read here and in other blogs and websites.
DO YOURSELVES A FAVOR AND AVOID 4SEASONSNURSERIES!
Due to them, I missed my spring planting, do you want that to happen to you?
Now I have to wait 'till next year! And this is from someone who was happy to be able to finally have enough land and happens to be disabled!
They ruined my chance for this spring!

"On Jan 4, 2012 10:14 AM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

As stated on our website, at that time of the year, orders were taking up to two weeks for processing and then scheduled to ship based on availability and weather. This order was placed on 4/18 and canceled/refunded per customer’s request. We would like to point out that the postings on this site have been accumulated during the last 16 years, and represent an extremely small portion of our customers. The majority of our customers are happy as our business thrives on repeat customers.


"

Posted on May 2, 2011, updated May 6, 2011
I routinely place orders with online and brick-and-mortar nurseries throughout the country and naturally get a ton of catalogs. Well, decided to give 4seasonsnurseries a try and ordered about 70.00 worth of bulbs, shrubs and flowers at the end of March. Three weeks later gave them a call to see if the order has shipped and was told no and the reason was the cold night temps of my locale - mid to upper 40s a month ago. I told them that my HZ was 6 and most plants on order are zones 4-9. They told me to call back in a week. I did, and the same run around. Called again in two weeks - it hasn't shipped yet. By this time my orders with 3 other nurseries (placed at the same time as 4SN) all came in and were planted. After three weeks I was told my order is in shipping dept., but won't ship for another 2-3 weeks. WHAT?? I asked to cancel my order, but you apparently can't do that over the phone - you need to email them. Your email then gets sent to wherever and takes up to 2 weeks to process. This has got to be most idiotic way to handle customer correspondence in this day and age, unless of course it's to their benefit. I filed a claim with CC and will never deal with them again. I'd rather be gardening than wasting my time on this nonsense.

My order included about 10 items. The plants and bulbs arrived at the correct planting time in Chicago, looking good. By the day after their arrival they were all perking up their heads in a late April rain. Very pleased with my 1st order.

The order was late to arrive, but, I received potted plants, not bare rooted. The plant looked healthy, much better then the barerooted I received from another nursery last year. Thank you FOUR SEASONS

Im not one to drag a company through the mud but my experience was so bad that I feel obligated to share. I ordered $160 worth of stuff from these people in Feb. It is nearly May and I still havent gotten it. I keep getting the run around from them saying its too cold here to ship. Hello? Its almost too hot here in TN to plant it. They also say that they will ship it out and a week later they still havent. This is the worst nursery I have ever dealt with. They act totally clueless and do not help their customers. So I finally decided to request a total refund and they said they needed it in writing. So we will see what happens,

"On Jan 4, 2012 10:16 AM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

We did receive this order on 02-23-11. The order did contain tender perennials that do not typically begin shipping until April due to the cold weather. At the time of this posting the order had already been shipped. We are assuming the order was received in good condition as we have tried to contact this customer via Dmail but have received no response. "

On 3/20/2011 I placed a order for almost $200.00 I was told at that time it would take 1-2 weeks for them to ship, its now been almost a month and I have still not received my order. I emailed customer service and was told that it would take 1-2 weeks. I have called and was told it would take 2-4 weeks and I would receive them by the end of the month. Called today and was told still not shipped and they dont know when it will. I advised I wanted to cancel they advised there is no guarantee it will cancel. They sure didn't take their time in getting paid, that was done immediately. I will be filing with BBB, and contacting the attorney general. I would not recommend to any one.

"On Jan 4, 2012 10:13 AM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

We did receive an order from this customer on 03-21-11. Our website does state to allow up to 2 weeks for processing and the order is then scheduled to ship based upon availability. We were able to cancel the order before shipping occurred and a refund was issued.


"

Four Seasons catalog sells low priced plants and it is expected that you get small size. I returned the label when plants didn't grow and they were replace no charge. I take advantage of sales and I am very pleased with the $2.50 each 2 yr old Mulberry(Alba) which I am using as root stocks. The roots were long, thick and uncut. The grafts are all now pushing buds.

Posted on May 8, 2010, updated March 16, 2011
I received a confirmation email from this company upon completing my online order, but no other communication, even when they shipped. After 3 weeks, I called for an update and got a busy signal all afternoon before a man answered. He said processing takes 1-2 weeks and shipping takes another 1-2 weeks. I asked if my order had therefore been shipped and he said no.

I then discovered DG’s not-so-happy review page on 4 Seasons and felt certain that I’d never see my plants! I decided I’d call again on day 30, and if my order still hadn’t shipped, I’d request a refund.

Well, on day 27, I received my 20 dry root Hybrid Willow trees, and I must say I’m very pleased. The price was so phenomenal at less than $1.50 each with free shipping, that after discovering what a disaster this company can be, I was expecting just sticks with no roots. Not so. All 20 trees arrived with well established roots, were beginning to bud, and were within the promised 2-3’ height.

So, my first experience with 4 Seasons was worrisome for a couple of weeks but ended with a bag of plants that would be a steal at twice the price (I also got some ground cover which look healthy too). In fact, I plan to order more willows this weekend, despite knowing now that this company is very slow to ship.

Of interest may be a list of 4 Season’s “affiliates” as it appeared in one of their partner company’s spam emails to me: Direct Gardening, House Of Wesley, Burgess Seed & Plant Co., Richard Owen Nursery, Farmer Seed & Nursery, Inter-State Nurseries, Kelly Nurseries, Royal Dutch, and Honeycreek Nurseries.

The first mishap was a couple of years ago when I received trees and plants other than what I had ordered. The most aggrevating of which was receiving a Bradford pear instead of Bartlett. I know they "reserve the right to substitute..." but an ornamental for a fruit, REALLY??!! Not only were they the wrong plants, but every single plant had some sort of fungus on their woody parts.

The second was this year. I figured I would give them a chance with a non-living order. I ordered 200 pep start pills because I have 100 fine berry plants to plant and must saving the composted cow and chicken manure for the garden. I figure by the time the plants bear fully it will all be gone. Well, they ran my card and took my money the day I ordered, which was last week. I called them today and they informed me that it may be four weeks before I receive my order.

They should be called More Treasons Nursery, because obviously I am not among the minority with my complaint.

Four Seasons nursery is the worst nursery i have ever dealt with. bought 6 fruit trees that looked like twigs someone picked up in their yard. Only one lived and after 10 years it has not produced a single apple. I am going to cut it down this year because it is a waste of time and space. I have bought other trees at Walmart that produce fruit in less time. Also the tree that survived was grafted upside down so the branches grow downward. This nursery is garbage!

The plants that I ordered were not even close to being what I expected. Everything arrived looking quite dead. I did not have any success with any of the plants. Nothing survived and I will not order from this company again. I did not send the plants back because I had a feeling that it was going to be a huge waste of time and now after reading reviews on this company, I'm glad I didn't waste additional money on shipping. I will stick with my neighborhood nurseries from now on.

I have to admit that when I saw their prices that I didn't expect much. I figured if half my plants survived, I would be doing better that with the last mail order company I used (SpringHill...same plants, higher prices). EVERY single plant survived and grew - 74 of them. Yes, they were small and some looked like they were dead, but I planted them anyway. Gave everybody a handful of good soil in each hole and finished them off with MiracleGro Quick Start. WOW!!! The rhubarb has caught up with the nursery-grown one I bought at triple the price, the trumpet vines went from 6 inch sticks to 18 and multi-branched, and the carpet phlox (which were maybe 2 inch long pieces) are now 8 inch circles which bloomed both spring and fall. Several things were very slow, but my husband wouldn't let me dig them up...and he was right.....they grew,too. Yes, I will order from them again....at those prices I can get a lot of ground covered as long as I give the plants a little TLC.

Ordered 40 privets and 1 Dawn Redwood. Package arrived and I immediately started to plant them out. (I'm a professional tree farmer and have authored a book on the topic).

The condition of the plants were terrible. A few were so under sized that I didn't even find all of them until I rinsed out the shipping bag.

All of the plants had a white mold growing on them. Most all of the privets had the bark/cambian layer completely missing on the main stems thus making it impossible for the the plant to grow.

I contacted the "service" department and informed them of the problems. They did reply after a couple of tries and even agreed that if the bark was "girdled/ringed" that the plants would not grow.

To document my claim, I took several close-up pictures of the plants and put a description on the pictures and emailed them to the customer service department... they replied that "THEY DON'T OPEN ATTACHMENTS"............ what BS!!!!!!!! I requested a refund and they require me to return the plants... but I have to pay the return postage...

This is the last time I will ever order from Four Seasons or from any of the Plantron companies.

A company that treats their customer base like they do, does not deserve to be in business.

Posted on July 13, 2010, updated August 3, 2010
Well, like many people here, we've also been scammed by this shifty company.
My girlfriend ordered from them, the order wasn't coming, a month later, she canceled the order.
Two weeks later, she calls again because the credit still wasn't on her account so she calls again - the person she talks to claims they were shipped - after the order was canceled.
And of course they do not pay for return shipping.
I plan to 1). refuse to accept delivery if I can, then they will have to pay for the return shipping and 2). call the bank and dispute the charge. I may lose, but at least they will have to work for it.
Total scam operation.
Actually, even though they're not from my state (NY), doing business here, and doing this kind of shady business here, makes it something I can complain to state agencies about - and I will!
It wasn't a lot of money - only 40., but it is just SO wrong what they are doing.

Posted on July 19, 2010, updated July 19, 2010
Ordered some plants about May 10; after 3 weeks I tried--several times--to cancel the order. They refused to cancel, and as of today, July 19, the plants have arrived.

This nursery seems to be a scam operation. There are plenty of good ones around, so stay away from 4 Seasons.

Occasionally I will receive a bare root plant that doesn't survive, but I have never received an order like this. 9 blue spruces looked like they were bagged two years ago, covered with mold. Within a couple of days all of the needles fell off, and they are all dead. Some not inexpensive groundcover I ordered arrived dry, It never recovered. Their "guarantee" requires that you write to them within a year and include the orginal shipping label. not a copy. What is with that? Once you exercise the guarantee, you can no longer use it if something else dies?

All-in-all a bad experience, and a waste of $60.

i have had a lot of the complaints others have. Was going to place asizeable order but Breck's or Spring Hill will get my business.

Ekie

Do NOT BUY from Four Seasons. Their products are awful, take the time to go to local greenhouse and buy from them instead of thinking your getting a deal with this company. There products do not arrive like you think they will, they are all shrivled and dry. We purchased our plants on April 21 and were charged the next day. Our purchase did not start arriving until May 20th when we received a 2x2x6 inch box with two of the plants ordered in it. On June 4 we received the rest of the order that smelled rotten and thus far have not produced.

The pictures in their magazine make the product look great, but you will be sorry when you receive the plants. DO NOT BUY from this company.

Sorry I didn't check the internet before purchasing from Four Seasons Nursery! Ordered on April 27, 2010, they charged $60 to my card that day. I called on May 27 to find out about my order which had NOT arrived in 1-2 wks. They said they were waiting for one of the plants to be added, huh? 6 wks later, June 9,2010, with the exception of a raspberry and a blackberry plant, the rest of of the plants, in plastic bags, were mush.
Now I am returning the mush and hoping to get a refund in 1-2 wks as stated by a phone agent at 4 Seasons.
I can not believe the horror stories I have read. And that the company which operates under 11 different names is still allowed to do business. I will be writing letters.
Hopefully I will not have to return here and say I can't get a refund.

My story is the same as many others, Ordered, 6 weeks later still no plants, so i called to cancel my order was was told I could not. I would never do business with these guys again. Please stay away from them, and their parent company plantronics.

"On Sep 21, 2010 10:47 AM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

A dmail was sent to this customer, but we have not received a reply."

These people are liars and idiots. I bought some trees and plants on 5-9-10. I got tired of waiting for my order and called 6-4-10. They said they didnt have the order in their system, so i asked for a refund to my credit card. All of the sudden they found it had been shipped 5-28-10. I told person on phone i had already bought the items at a local nursery and i didnt need them. She insisted that i had to wait for order and then send them back and get my refund then. i reminded her of the 7-14day shipping that had expired but no resulls...I hung up on her. These people take orders for stuff they dont have and expexct you to wait months untill they trade there stock back and forth with the many greenhouses in area states. They are liars and crooks. Now i have to pay for the plants to be shipped back IF they show up and will never be reinburssed.

"On Oct 4, 2010 12:34 PM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

Our website (on the home page and order confirmation) stated at the time this customer's order was placed to allow 1-2 weeks for processing and then orders would be shipped according to plant availability and weather. As the cusotmer states, this order was placed 5/9 and shipped 5/28 which was within the correct tiem frame. Since the order had already shipped, we would not have been able to cancel it. However, we do have a refund guarantee by which the customer could return the product within 14 days of receipt for a refund."

Every plant I have ordered from this company has been fine, but-
This company slow to process orders.
If you do not live within 300-500 miles from Bloomington, Illinois, you may consider finding plants from a closer location.
I have ordered trees & plants from locations across the US and I believe the criteria for success is getting the plants out of the packages and back into the soil within 24 to 48 hours.

These people are CROOKS OR IDIOTS OR BOTH!
We foolishly ordered from this company in Mid March 2010. We had non-refundable tickets for a vacation across the country in last half April so our order specified "ship to arrive before April 15, 2010". On or about April 17 we received part of our order with an advice that the rest would "ship shortly". We imediately contacted them to advise we would be out of town, do NOT ship. They then offered to ship "after May 1", We said OK. We returned from vacation on the night of April 29 and on the morning of April 30 went to the post office to pick up our mail and our DEAD TOMATO PLANTS!
They had been sitting at the post office the entire time we were gone. They told us to ship back the tomato plants which we did. They have refunded what they charged us on the tomatos but not the cost of the return shipping. It was their arrogance or stupidity that killed the tomatoes they should have paid for the return shipping. Oh and 5 ot of the 6 raspberry plants we ordered were DOA.
These people are CROOKS OR IDIOTS OR BOTH, do not order from them unless you like dealing with Charlatans or like losing your money. We regret that we did not find Daves Gardening before we ordered. PAY ATTENTION TO THE NEGATIVE RATINGS

There has not been one problem with any of the flowers that I ordered. Everything was wonderful packaged along with great planting instructions. I did not expect to see growth so quickly.

I am also seeing growth in all of the fun free things that I received!

Despite the feedback on this list, I bought from Four Seasons Nursery because the prices are outrageously cheap. I desperately needed to plant 30 Lombardy Poplars to quickly block my view of the teenage gangsters who sit on their roof glaring into my backyard. I also needed the added security of the beautiful (and ruthless) rosa rugosa along my perimeter fencing. This would have cost me a fortune - if I had one. So when my long awaited package came, it was, indeed, a dried-up bunch of bareroot sticks in one smallish package. I unpacked them immediately into buckets of water and to my surprise, they budded within days - before I could even plant them all. And they are all doing beautifully; for the tiniest fraction of what I would have paid elsewhere. I couldn't be happier and I will definitely order again!

This is not the best, nor the worst, online nursery I have dealt with. I have placed three orders with them in the past year. I ordered many things from them including Asimina Triloba (Paw Paw), Lilies, Grapes, Tree Hydrangeas, Pie Cherries, and Sand Cherries. A few points;

The prices are very low.

The stock is bare-root, with some exceptions, and typically ships in a green bag fastened with staples. The shipping could be better but the plants did not seem overly damaged by their method. All bare-root stock requires TLC and looks like dead sticks (If the plants are green and have leaves on them and they are bare-root then the plant has come out of dormancy before you planted it-- this tends to lower the overall plants chances of survival- especially if you don't soak the roots prior to planting ). Paw Paw, especially by bare-root, requires a tremendous amount of TLC including the erection of a temporary shade barrier the first year if it is going to eventually be left in full sun or planted in partial shade(Will reduce overall production of fruit) . The stock quality for all the trees is similar to what I could get from my state's Conservation Department ran nursery or the National Arbor Day Foundation. The difference is, unlike the state that has a minimum order of 25 plants per species ordered, I can order just 1 or 2, and they offer plants that the Arbor Day Tree Store does not . The packaging isn't great but the stock tends to have relatively well developed roots.

I planted my items in April and everything but the grapes and 1/3 of the PawPaw (I ordered 6 knowing before hand that many of them would not make it... ) have leafed. The bulbs, unlike the local store-bought ones that I also purchased this year, are already growing into Lillies and most are about to bloom.

They do charge at the time of purchase and then ship later. It has been my experience that most mail-order/online nurseries do this, including my state nursery.

This year it has taken 3-3.5 weeks from the time I placed the order until I received it.

There is no way to track the status of your order online and they don't give a good estimate on when they expect to ship your order. Even when given additional instructions to email when the plants ship-they do not. They do not give a definite firm time when the plants will ship even by phone, unless they have already shipped... You have to contact them by phone to find out if they did ship.

When contacting them by phone the line is typically busy the first or second time you attempt to get a hold of a live customer service agent. If you are persistent and call back 3-4 times in an hour I have found that you can talk to a live person. The agents themselves were polite and pleasant and helpful in determining if your order had shipped yet.

With that said there are worst online nurseries out there.

Posted on May 14, 2010, updated May 14, 2010
Ordered 6 red maples on April 2nd, 2010. I paid $14 for the entire order and they charged my card immediately. May 15th, 2010 is when I finally received my order.

What I received: 6 completely dead red maple trees. The trees are not dormant nor showing any signs of life. I have bought many bare root trees and had great success from my local DNR Conservation office so I do indeed know what I am doing. The trees I bought were pathetic. I will never buy from here again and will consider my $14 a learning expense since all I get is a busy signal when I call them.

DO NOT BUY FROM HERE!

You best option is to buy from your local DNR Conservation office. The prices are very cheap like 4 seasons with the exception that you can actually see what you are buying.

Good luck and buyer beware.

Mike
Marlette, MI

"On Oct 4, 2010 12:44 PM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

This customer placed an order via the internet on 4/8 for 6 red maples at $1.33 each. The order shipped on 5/7. We are sorry to hear that the red maples did not survive and a refund was issued per the customer's request."

It's all true, this company is scandalous in its approach. I placed an order on Mar16. Part of it arrived in 3 weeks, not good quality, but I decided to keep it rather than pay to ship it back. I then cancelled the rest of the order totalling $130. I filed a dispute with my credit card company and 4 Seasons sent me an email that they would try to cancel the order. Lo and behold, yesterday, I received the order 30 DAYS AFTER CANCELLING. I was told that I would have to pay to ship it back, which was very expensive, but I think they do stuff like this on purpose thinking people will just keep the stuff rather than hassling with returns. The quality of everything was poor and I do not want plants that have mold that will spread to other plants. Big Problem Company.

I should have listened to all the negative reviews before ordering from this company. It has been 6 weeks, YES 6 weeks since I placed my order with them. I have been calling almost every other day, and every person I have spoken to has a different date on which my plants we suppose to be shipped. It ranges from 2 weeks ago, with as recently as today, but I have not recived anything yet. Finally today I told the rep that I just wanted my order cancelled, she told me that since it was in "shipping status" that I could not do that, but I could ship the items back to them when I recieve them, and as long as they receive them and they are not dead, they "may" refund my money.

THIS COMPANY IS A COMPLETE JOKE IN EVERY WAY! I filled a complaint today with the BBB, companies like this need to be known about so they will stop scamming people the way they have everyone else.

It's going on five weeks and no plants yet. I called my credit card company and they are going to refund my money. This company has a call center that has no way of contacting the shipping dept. What a foolish business practice.

I ordered a similar order from Michigan Bulb and got an immediate email of confirmation. Three days later I got an email saying my plants had been shipped. What a difference. I sure learned my lesson.

"On Oct 4, 2010 12:54 PM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

This customer placed their order on 4/5 via the internet. At the time the order was placed, our home page as well as the order confirmation stated to allow 1-2 weeks for processing and then orders would be shipped based on plant availability and weather. April and May are our 2 busiest shipping months. The order shipped 5/4 and shows delivered 5/8/10. We have not heard from the customer since the order was delivered."

I have NEVER, in my entire life, experienced a more pathetic business than Four Seasons Nusery. I placed my order April 4, 2010. After I placed the order I emailed thier "customer care" dept. to ask them when my plants would arrive (I ordered from). They emailed me back stating it may take two weeks to get my order, but they couldn't guarenteee this. I emailed back (the day after I placed my orders), and stated I wanted to cancel my orders since they couldn't give me any kind of guarentee as to when I'd receive them and wanted a full refund of my $100+ orders. I got a really bad gut feeling about them. For the past 3+ weeks I've emailed them several times and all I get back is "your email will be forwarded to the appropriate dept". I kept asking for thier phone #, but I got a busy signal every time I called the # they gave me. I finally got a hold of someone today - Judy who is a supervisor at the call center. She said some of the plants shipped out and if I want to ship them back (I have to pay), they will refund my money which will take 12 days. Are you kidding me???? I can't even get a person to tell me they canceled my order and they want me to wait another 12 days to "maybe" get my money back??? I am BOILING mad! She said 3 boxes shipped and one box hasn't shipped, it included 6 plants. When I asked to be refunded for the 6 plants that had not gone out yet, she just gave me the run around. She said "we don't have any way to talk to the shipping dept". I understand companies get busy, and get in over thier heads - but there is no reason to steal and lie to people. As I told Judy - bad news travels fast and it's websites like this that can make a company SINK! I just really wish I would have read all of this feedback before I placed my order : ( This is a JOKE of a company - beware!!!! They are crooks and thiefs and I really don't know how they sleep at night knowing they steal money from innocent people, then try to justify it by lying! You have no idea how many lies this woman was telling me! DON'T SPEND A PENNY HERE PEOPLE!

Boy do I wish I had read all these reviews before I ordered from this company. They are awful.. The prices were really low and that is why I ordered from them. BIG mistake. Just like everyone else, I placed my order and after 3 1/2 weeks, and I still waiting. I have emailed them twice and get their generic email back, about 1-2 weeks for processing and that they will start sending plants to the warmest areas the 1st of April. I live in Florida, can't get much warmer than that. This is April 22, still no plants. I tried calling, but like the others, just get a busy signal. I just wrote again asking for them to credit my charge card. I would never recommend this company to anyone.

"On Oct 4, 2010 3:18 PM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

This customer's order shipped 4/20/10. An email was sent to them on 4/24 in response to their inquiry."

Posted on April 21, 2010, updated April 22, 2010
Posted on April 9, 2010, updated April 21, 2010
Posted on April 7, 2010, updated April 9, 2010
Have ordered several times from this company, understanding the condition & quality of plants I'd receive .... Always have had reasonable success & they readily send replacements.
With some tender loving care & a bit of expertise, even those dead looking things they send can show signs with proper care.

Four Seasons claims they need 1 - 2 weeks to process orders & then ship at the proper planting time based on plant availability.

In the past (2005, 2006, 2008, 2009), my CC has NEVER been charged more then a week prior to shipment & if they had to ship my order in 2 or 3 packages, they would charge my CC accordingly just prior to each shipment.

***APPARENT NEW BUSINESS PRACTICE!!!!!***

In March 2010 I placed an order.

My CC was charged 2 days later. It is now past 2 weeks without any sign of my order even though my CC was charged more then 2-weeks ago.

I contacted 4-Seasons & was advised that it takes 1 - 2 weeks to process the order & then the order will be shipped at the proper planting time, etc. etc. etc.

I informed them that per applicable law they had 45-days from the charge date to have my complete order in my hands or I would dispute the charge with my bank as well as file other civil/criminal actions as appropriate.

Four Seasons responded, ....1-2 weeks to process your order, including payment, then the orders are shipped at the proper planting based on availability......

FIRST: Base don availability? Excuse me? You just charged me for the goods. If thopse goods are not available then not only do you owe me a refund of purchase price but also interest!

SECOND: They insist that charging your credit card when you PLACE your order rather then at packaging or shipping is the most proficient way to ensure we receive the healthiest plants .... HA HA, who really believes that?

SORRY, but I do not conduct business with companies that charge my credit card without any specific time frame provided for shipping my order.

As yet, all Four Seasons will say is that my order will ship at the proper planting time based on plant availability ....

WATCH The Charge Dates & Amounts!

FILE DISPUTES with your bank if you have not received you full complete order or have other problems! Federal law gives you 60-days from the date you bank provided notice to you of the charge to file said dispute.

Some States & Other Federal Laws actually require that Goods & Services be provided within _____ days (generally 45-days) of making payment unless a different time frame has been specified.
The statement "....appropriate planting time based on plant availablity...." does not constitues a specified time frame!

HOLD FOUR SEASONS & ALL PLANTRON/DIRECT GARDENING MERCHANTS TO THE HIGHEST PRACTICAL STANDARDS OF THE MAIL ORDER NURSERY INDUSTRY!!!!

Okay... now I am scared. *sighs* I dealt with Burgess two years ago, and also received dead plants, and had no luck getting a refund. Luckily it was only a couple plants, so I just vowed to never do business with them again.

I received a catalog in the mail from 4SeasonsNursery and went online and placed a large order last month. That was on March 13th, 2010. I have tried calling them over the past week and always get a busy signal. It has been over a month since I placed my order, and my credit card was billed 2 days after the order. I was aware they said orders took 1-2 weeks for processing... so I have been trying to be patient... but with the timing of trying to do prep work to prepare for these plants when they arrive I was concerned about the delivery date.

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The following items were requested on 3/14/2010 3:47:54 PM:

Item # Description............................. Quantity Price

8692 Daisy, Red Painted 3 $2.95
6857 Hydrangea Tree 2 $2.01
6853 Freesia, Mixed 24 $3.99
3528 Hardy Boxwood 6 $18.99
6811 Periwinkle 100 $12.99
5859 Peony, Shirley Temple 1 $4.50
4113 Hardy Gladiola 20 $3.51
6828 Canadian Hemlock 24 $20.99
8596 Pep Start Pills 25 $4.99
5710 Lilac, Dwarf Josee 2 $16.99
5826 Prunella, Freelander Blue 12 $14.49


Sales Tax $0.00
Packing $10.49
Total Charge $116.89

--------------------------


Looks like I am going to have a headache over this one.

I will give them another week to deliver... if I have not received anything I will contact the State Attorney General.

*shopping around with the recommended companies here now* I should have checked here first.

Live and Learn.

They charged my Credit Card too. After 3 weeks they said they sent half of the order, 14 days later and still nothing. I asked for a refund; they said I had to send the product back. I asked how I could do that if I never got it. RUN-AROUND-CITY!!! Make it easy on yourself,, call your bank they usually have the money back in 48 hours then they have to prove they sent it and you received it. Tell everyone you know not to deal with them... I AM!

"On Oct 4, 2010 1:19 PM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

This customer placed their order via the internet on 3/11. At the time the order was placed, our website (home page and order confirmation) indicated to allow 2 weeks for processing and then the order would ship according to weather and plant availability. One package shipped 3/29, and we assume it was received shortly after this posting. The 2nd package was cancelled and a refund was issued."

Similar to others I was aware of the quality/size usually associated with anything emanating from any of these Plantron, Inc companies but usually it has been worth the gamble.

As pointed out by some other reviewers it appears the business practices of these companies has changed. I had a problem after completing an Online order as the Coupon Code for free shipping I had from their catalog hadn't been applied when I processed it. I called within 10 minutes of the ordering and was told the order had ALREADY been charged so there was nothing they could do. While I had them on the phone I asked them whether seeing as the charge had already gone through whether that meant the order was shipping immediately. I was told, yes it would ship within 7 days.

One month later nothing had been received and I sent an email to their customer service listing. Eventually I got a reply that stated that appears to be a stock reply given to anyone that it takes 1-2 weeks to process and orders ship to warmer climates first. Living in climate zone 8B/9 I think "warm" definitely qualifies here. I responded to the email and asked for a better estimate of shipping date as I would not be interested in receiving an order if it was still going to take weeks to get here. Again I received what appears to be a stock reply instructing me to save my label for a full replacement in case nothing grows.

I am now sitting here closing in on 45 days after being billed for items that I suspect haven't even begun to be shipped.

I would urge everyone to not just file complaints with the BBB as that hasn't seemed to have improved this company's customer service methods, but to start writing to the Illinois State Attorney General. Business practices of charging immediately and shipping 30-45 days later border on misrepresentation and fraud.

I recently received the first part of my shipment this week. The purple ice plants were mushy. The walk-on-me plants were something that reminded of a generic dry cooking herb, not a living plant. These really were pathetic. I work 12 hours a day as a nurse and have very few quality hours to mess around with this poor quality of plants. I am not new to gardening or mail ordering and am competent at getting plants to survive but it will take a miracle to see life in this shipment of plants. I worked alot of stressful overtime to obtain the means to spend on plants without feeling quilty. I will not order from this company again. I only hope the rest will at least show some viability.

I purchased several trees from this company the trees weren't in the best shape but I did manage to salvage 60% of them. I grow the trees to fruiting age to find out my bartlett pears were bradford pears and my fruit cocktail was a peach. I have been fighting a fungus on the peach since I got it and the branches keep dying more every year. I have tried everything. My garden center says I have put more in it then what its worth. She said cut it down. I contacted 4 seasons and was told to send the product back duh how do you send a 8-9 ft trees back. I then contacted them again the woman I spoke to said send pictures of the trees and original shipping label, and they would replace them so I did. Well I did and guess that was a mistake because I haven't heard from them since and its been almost a year. I was really hoping they were gonna work with me but after reading all the negative feed back I guess I need to just forget about hearing from them ever again. Next time I shop for plants and trees. I will rather pay a higher price for Them. Cheaper is not always better. The old saying you get what you pay for. I hate giving negative feed back I would rather give everyone a good review that's why it has taking me so long to write this review. I hope this helps the future buyers of this company. Good luck and happy gardening

"On Oct 4, 2010 2:52 PM, Four Seasons Nursery responded with:

This customer's order is from April 2003, 7 years ago. Our records indicate that she requested replacements in 2003 which were shipped in fall 2003 and spring 2004. We do not require the return of product to replace dead items as per our guarantee. Although the customer is out of warranty, we do not show receiving correspondance from her since 2003.

If the fruit cocktail tree only bore peaches, we are assuming that the rest of the grafts died and only the peach grafts survived.

We have not had any other complaints regarding bartlett pear turning out to be only a flowering pear. Perhaps there is an issue with the pear tree setting fruit after flowering. "