Comments regarding Autumn Ridge Nursery (aka autumnridgenursery.com)

I ordered 25 plants ($109) on 5.10.07. They were shipped on 5/25 and arrived on 6/1. Only 7 plants appeared to be alive or show green bark when scratched near dirt line when they arrived and 6 days later. I called Autumn Ridge on 6/1 and told them that only 7 plants had any signs of life and requested replacement plants. They told me that since I didn't call them on the day the plants arrived I would only receive 50% credit on re-ordering the plants, and would have to pay shipping costs. This was not made clear on their "3-Way Guarantee" on their website, which says "notify us immediately"; I thought that calling them within 1 week would qualify for "immediately" and give the plants a chance to respond to good care. They said they would have to mail me a form to order replacement plants; I couldn't get this form from their website and they wouldn't fax it to me. I filled out the form and asked them to replace the dead plants, since I had notified them "immediately", and sent them a check for shipping costs. They emailed me back "We received your replacement order today. We wanted to let you know that we discarded the check as it was not sufficient payment to replace the order. Below is a copy of the second guarantee.

SECOND GUARANTEE
The reason we make this strong guarantee is because there is no reason any of the plants should die. However, if any fail to live within 12 months from the date of delivery, we will replace for one-half of the original purchase price, plus $2.50 for shipping and handling. NO RETURN OF DEAD PLANTS NECESSARY."

As of 7.3.07 only one blueberry plant shows any signs of life - has a green stem but no leaves - the rest of the plants appear totally dead and scraped bark near the dirt line is brown, not green or white. I think it would be totally foolish to send them any money for more dead replacement plants. I have unsuccessfully tried to resolved this with the company, and would strongly discourage anyone else from ever ordering from this company.

Maczoo (Asheville, NC)

disgrace!!! I called b4 ordering. I wanted hostas and lots of them. they advised me 8 inch leaves. I ordered 117 worth of plants and first off, they never showed. I called several times, and finally after 6 weeks, they reshipped them. When by box arrived i was so excited, I opened it, and to my DISGUIST-- they sent a SANDWICH BAG (LITERALLY) filled with roots!! seriously, r u kidding me? 100 bucks for a sandwich bag. I sent them back and requested a full refund. They refused. They told me they would reship to me, 4 months from now if I wanted. I again requested a full refund and the guy chuckled and said its not our policy. SO NOW, they have my $$ and my plants and are refusing a refund. I had to call 12 times just for them to tell me they wont refund my plants.

The following is a copy of an e-mail I sent to Autumn Ridge today, with some information omitted.

Dear Sir/Madam:

I am writing to cancel my order, number ######, dated May 18, 2007, in the amount of $###.##. In my order, I made a specific request that I should be notified if the plants would NOT arrive by May 25, but May 25th came and went without my receiving any plants, nor any notification from your company. I e-mailed your company on May 29th to inquire on the status of my order, but did not receive a reply until May 31, when you sent me an e-mail indicating my plants were shipped on May 31. By June 4, when I had not received anything from you, it became clear to me that I would not receive my order within a reasonable time frame, so I made my first attempt to cancel this order when I spoke to one of your customer service representatives on June 4.

I was told that I could not cancel the order, despite the fact that I had not, by June 4, received any of the 33 plants I ordered, even though you provided a check box on your web order form (which I filled in) to have my order shipped within 72 hours. Once I learned that you would be shipping the order via U.S. mail, it was clear that if I did ever receive any plants, chances are they would not be in good condition, which I was NEVER told prior to my calling to complain about not receiving my order. I indicated to your service rep that you should NOT send me anything, and that I just wanted to cancel the order, as I would just refuse delivery from the post office anyway. She still refused to cancel the order.

The only package I have received, which was delivered by the U.S. Postal Services on June 22, SIX weeks after I placed my order, is one tube with an approximate diameter of 12 inches, and a length of approximately 36 inches. I don't know what the contents of the tube were, as I did not open the package, and refused delivery. You can expect to receive that package via U.S. Postal Service in the near future. I will also refuse delivery on all other packages you send me in the future.

I have disputed the charge with my credit card company, I am also going to report your company to the Better Business Bureau. I am completely disgusted with your service, blatant lies about my order, as well as your uncooperative staff. Based on other negative comments I found posted on the web, it's obvious that your bad reputation is well-deserved and accurate.

Add me to the list of unsatisfied Autumn Ridge customers. I ordered a seedless grape vine. I was impressed with the actual size of the vine when it arrived, but that's about all I can say that was positive. It has been planted now for a little over two months and it looks dried up and dead with no new growth anywhere. (and yes, I took good care of it.) How do I know this? Because I have another seedless grape vine that's the same type that I bought elsewhere and planted the same day a few feet away. That grape vine is starting to "grab" my fence and is sprouting small "tendrils".

I will not order from this company again.

I started reading these ratings before a I received my plants, but after I made the purchase, so I expected to come back with negative feedback of my own. To my own surprise, I am leaving neutral feedback.

Maybe its the new growth on my dogwood that has me in a generous mood =D. Funny what can make your day.. lol

Ok... so my experience with ARN went as follows....

1. Emails.. never returned or acknowledged.

2. Phone calls, always answered however the change I made to my order (which was done well in advance of the shipment) was never made, and was met with a lot of hesitancy and resistance.

3. Delivery time took 11 days from the day they shipped. I placed the order... May 27, They were shipped June 8, and I received them on the 19th of June.

4. I am admitted a novice a bareroot planting, so I took the extra time to read up. So when I received the package, I immediately deposited it in a huge bucket of water and let it sit for several hours while I purchased potting soil and pots.

Results:
The roses.. I planted directly in my garden. They aren't looking so good. They had a green base when they were planted.. but now look dried out. They are watered every morning, and every evening.. I don't hold much hope for them =(

Dogwood tree
New growth as mentioned earlier

Persian Lilac
Lots of new growth very happy plant

Hydrangeas
Little new growth.. but still hopeful

Pear Tree
Lots of new growth

There are three little sticks with little to no new growth.. and the lables have come off... I can't remember what they are.. but one should be an old fashioned lilac. Maybe two plum trees?

Note to Autumn Ridge: Get water proof labels!! Paper ones come off too easily. You tout low shipping costs... however I am sure that most of your customers would rather pay a little extra for priority shipping option... if it meant getting healthier plants in the end.

IN APRIL 2007, I ORDERED $131.00 OF EVERGREENS. 25 CANADIAN HEMLOCK, 25 WHITE PINE & 6 FREE BLUE SPRUCE. I WISH I FOUND THIS SITE BEFORE I ORDERED. ONLY 2 WHITE PINE, 1 HEMLOCK & 3 BLUE SPRUCE SURVIVED. I CALLED THE CO & THEY OFFERED TO REPLACE AT 1/2 PRICE. THEY SHOULD REFUND MY MONEY OR GIVE ME 23 WHITE PINE, 3 BLUE SPRUCE & 24 HEMLOCK.I AM NOT GOING TO PAY $65.00 FOR MORE DEAD TWIGS. I SHOULD OF ORDERED FROM MICHIGAN BULB.TEN YEARS AGO , I ORDERED 6 POPOLARS & 1 DIED. THEY SENT A REPLACEMENT.
GREAT COMPANY.

My experience with Autumn Ridge has not been great. Iwaited four weeks in May for my herb seeds.I also added two of their Sunday Special white dogwood trees and chose an American Redbud as a bonus. I e-mailed them due to their tardiness in delivering my order and was reassured that my order was on its way and their packing methods would keep my little trees healthy. When I did receive my order, there was no way those trees were alive when Autumn Ridge sent them out. I paid close to ten dollars for sticks with mold on them. Now they want to wait until October to send more quality trees to replace them. I want my credit card reimbursed-nothing more.

On July 27th my husband ordered 6 plants and checked the 72 hours shipping box. One week later I called and was told there was such a backlog they would ship my order as soon as they could. After another week my husband called and he was told the same thing. He asked how they could advertise shipping within 72 hrs. when they don't even have the plants. The next day we received an email that our order had been shipped. Yesterday May 19th I called the number I found on the replies to other unhappy customers on this site and was told that my order had been shipped on July 11th and the plants were sent by USPS and that would take between 7 and 10 days. I asked if they would still be alive and the lady said she thought they would be. As the old saying goes, "If it sound to good to be true..." I will be in touch with the BBB inMcMinnville, TN.

I ordered three trees (scarlet oak, tulip poplar, sunburst honey locust) and chose a hydrangea p.g. bush as my free gift. I did email them twice once within three hours of my order and once three days later with no response (I wanted to not get the scarlet oak because I found out they do very poorly in this area plus difficult to transplant, my fault sigh).

On the 8th of June I got an email stating that my order had been sent...not reflecting the change(s) I had made, but meh, that had been my fault.

Ten days later I recieved my order...they should have arrived at least five days earlier, I do a lot of mail ordering and I know when things should arrive...but after reading these posts, I was feeling fortunate for recieving them at all.

They were packed okay, however there was mold growing and I could tell right away that some rot had occured. It was quite hot out so this did not surprise me all that much either. I immediately scratched all the barks, and the locust was green (mostly had some die back), the tulip poplar had barely any green, the hydrangea bush has some slight green near the roots but was soggy and rotten up above it so I don't know if it will make, and the scarlet oak was obviously mailed to me dead as a doornail. Brown frown. Blech. I immediately called the company and told them that I thought three of four were dead or about to. I also told them that I didn't want them to send any replacements until fall since the weather had gotten so unbelievably hot. They had no problems with that, and the customer service -on the phone anyways- was impeccable hence I have given them a neutral. I will admit, all of them do look like dead twigs. I have ordered bare root stock before and have done well, so we shall see. I have planted the tulip poplar, the hydrangea (in a pot), locust, -the scarlet oak I'm going to stick in a pot too since I believe it has no hope whatsoever.

I will come back and update this experience in the fall. They are supposed to send me a form to fill out asking for replacements in the fall. Maybe they will even let me choose something that will make here (in the place of the oak)....and hopefully the trees I recieved/ will recieve do make and they are the proper ones.

My advice to those thinking of ordering from this company....make your order early enough, do a lot of research on the types of plants you are ordering, and be sure that you are familiar with bare root plants. Do not get grandeur expectations from a tree that costs you 6.00. While I personally did not have problems with the co. answering the phone, do not expect return email.

Ordered some plants, trees and flowers about a month ago.
The credit card was billed immediately.
Tried to call them during their advertised working hours but nobody seems to answer the phone.
About 10 days ago we were lucky, somebody answered the phone.
The lady explained that shipment from TN to VA might take over two weeks via USPS (yeah right !!)
When we asked how the plants and trees would survive that long, she explained that every tree, plant or flower is wrapped in a special package so it can absorb water during transit ...???
10 days later, still no shipment.
We called over and over again but nobody answers their phone. We are also awaiting a reply via email.

A) This company has a long slate with the BBB
B) The Customers Service seems to be non-existing



Charging credit cards before shipment, or charging credit cards without shipping the merchandise is FRAUDE.

A complaint with the Federal Trade Commission is in the works .
//www.ftc.gov/bcp/conline/pubs/credit/billed.shtm

I was pleasantly surprised to find a company that had great prices on plants. I first came to this site to read the reviews on ARN before I decided to buy mid March. I saw some comments on how customers were sent twigs. I was ok with that. I have planted bare root plants in the past and been successful. I decided to buy 1 Ginkgo tree, 1 Little leaf Linden tree, 1 blue hydrangea and I got a free sugar maple tree. When I received my twigs labeled Ginkgo and Linden, I soaked them overnight and planted them. They did very well and soon started to send out new growth. I had done research on the trees I bought and knew what to expect when I saw the leaves. I did not see the beautiful fan shaped leaves of the Ginkgo or the heart shaped leaves of the linden tree. After researching the new growth on the trees, I realized that I received a Silk tree and an Ash tree.

I contacted the company as soon as I realized. They did not reply. I sent a second email, still nothing. Two weeks later I sent another saying that if they did not respond, I would contact the BBB. I did not get a response within 10 days so I decided to contact the BBB. I asked ARN to send the replacement trees only if they could be sure they would send my the correct items. After I filed my complaint, the company contacted the BBB and said they would send me replacement trees, at no cost to me, as I had asked.

When I received my trees, again labeled Ginkgo and Linden, I noticed the bark looked a lot like my "sugar maple" and my Silk tree. At this point I was quite angry. You would think ok, this might maybe happen once, but twice? The buds on these new trees also looked shriveled, not healthy like the previous trees they had sent. The roots smelled rotten on the "Ginkgo" and it was actually just one long root about 14". It did not have a good root system of fine roots. It did not have fine roots. I updated my BBB complaint and notified the person in charge of the complaint. She forwarded the company the information, but the company refused to give me my money back. It seems they are unwilling to work with me any further.

I had been reluctant to post any negative feedback because I really wanted to give them a chance, unfortunately, I do not think this company deserves it.

I would like to add that I am the type of person that says, oh well, it wasn't a big loss, but if we continue to say that, this company will get away with it, and that is just not fair to the next person that spends $600 or even $10. I'm sure that a lot of people have already said that. I'm also willing to bet there are a lot of people that might not realize they did not get what they ordered, until they see a bloom or fruit which might take time.

If you are curious, the blue hydrangea is another long story.

So far this doesn't look good. Wish I would have found this site before I spent over $200 for dead sticks. When my trees arrived the roots were almost completely dry. The redbud "trees" were so brittle they snapped with normal handling. Nevertheless, I took a day off and planted the trees anyway and have been watering them faithfully since. (Though I felt silly planting what appeared to be hopeless twigs, my reason was that I couldn't ask for a refund if I didn't give them a chance.) After several weeks in the ground, only two hardwoods show any signs of life as well as three of the spruce (they are clinging to life but I'm not optimistic). Even if these survive, five out of 50 isn't good if you ask me. I've made several calls to AR and have felt a bit put off. A manager, Chris, told me that my experience is very rare (maybe I should send him this link). I've requested a refund which was denied. Today I spoke with the owner, Sam, who promised to FedEx a replacement order and have it to me by Friday. Why do I have a bad feeling about this? We'll see what happens. I'll be sure to make a follow-up report.

I was looking for a place to buy good quality plants at a price advertised, I do wish i would have found this site first. I would have not ordered from autumm ridge and waisted a year of growing season.I made an order from them buying over 600.00 I received mostly junk.I had spent three days digging nice holes for my new plant bought 60 bags of top soil as well as fertilzer when my order came I was never so disappointed. the little twigs were wraped in newspaper in a cardboard box about 7 inches by 30 i wonderded where this quality plants they had advertised were. i contacted them and as of yet have no responce from them, but am determined to have satisfaction.my advice dont order from autumn ridge unless you are willing to just throw your money and time away,and if you do then i have some slightly used dead nursey stock to sell at half price. thanks for your sight and sorry i didnt discover it sooner

I found this website too late. I ordered three sedum plants from Autumn Ridge not knowing any better. (First House and First Time) They arrived weeks after ordering, and instead of getting a sedum plant I received a yellow delicious apple tree twig. I called immediately upon opening the junk packaging and the phone rang and rang so I would hang up and call again. Finally I get this girl who dosn't even ask what I originaly ordered and told me to send it back to them and they would send me the correct order. I asked who was paying for shipping and she said to just write return to sender on the package. Then she promptly hung up on me. Well I got online and found this site, so I put a dispute charge on my credit card then I am going to return the package. After reading everyones post I know I'm not going to get what I wanted. Live and learn and never buy from this hole in the wall...

We ordered a mix of hemlock and spruce trees at a cost of approx. $70. Seedlings arrived in a carboard tube wrapped in wet newspaper at the root. Planted within a few days, and all were turning brown and dropping needles within a week. All trees eventually died. My wife called and was asked to check for green under the bark. She did, no green - the trees were dead, dry, and snapped easily. She was told she would be sent paperwork for replacement.

We dug up the dead twigs and threw them out, because my wife was told they would not be needed for replacement.

After a couple of weeks my wife called back asking for a status and was told someone would get back to her.

Weeks later and we have since received or heard nothing from Autumn Ridge.

In frustration we have put a stop on the credit card payment to Autumn Ridge and are in the process of filing a complaint with our credit card company. We have no interest in trying to plant more dead twigs from this company.

Order #284080. I ordered $98 worth of trees from this company and received some small dead looking sticks. I planted the material and nothing has grown or leafed out. I sent several emails to the customer service department with no reply. I called and spoke with three different people including the shipping manager. They were not willing to stand behind their product or offer a refund. Lousy company. Do not order from them.

I ordered 80 redbud trees on 4/11/07. I am chairperson of a 10th annual garden tour here in Buffalo, NY and we were going to give these trees to each garden participant as a gift this year. The trees arrived about a week after the order was placed. They were planted immediately into large pots. They have been watered and taken care of. The middle of May, the trees just looked like sticks in dirt. I took one tree to a local nursery to see if it was dead. The person at the nursery cut the tip off to see if it was green inside. No green. He said the trees are all dead. It is now May 30, a month away from our garden tour, and there is no sign that these trees are alive. 80 trees dead and $402.50, of a non-profit organization, wasted. I have e-mailed Autumn Ridge Nursery twice, 5/22 and 5/24, with no answer returned. This is a very bad experience. I won't order again from an online nursery.

I purchased four roses from Autumn Ridge on April 26. I was eligible for a free pink rhododendron. I am an experienced rose grower and purchased 5 other roses from Jackson Perkins the same day.

1) No shipment delivery time problems. Roses arrived when the company said they would. I was surprised by the shipping materials, however. Poorly packaged in a cardboard mailer.

2) I soaked both orders and planted all of the roses the same day a little over two weeks ago. My Jackson Perkins roses (shipped in a sturdy box) are all thriving, showing off 6"-12" of new growth on all canes of all of the roses. The ARN roses are still dormant (dead?) -- most of the canes are brown without a ghost of green to the bark when scratched.

3) I did not order these roses because of the price. I ordered them because I was unable to get these particular hybrid teas from Jackson Perkins at that time. I wasn't expecting much for the free rhododendron -- it's obviously dead and seemed that way when I got it. One thin twig with dead leaves.

4) When I called, a sweet young lady relayed the policy to me: 1) dig up, box, and return to them COD and they will replace free of charge; or, 2) they'll replace at half price if I don't do option 1. There are no other options. Can't take a picture, etc. etc.

After thinking about it, reviewing the USPS COD shipping rules, and reading ripoff reports and the feedback on this site, I have decided just to write off my $42 as a lesson learned, throw away the dead plants and reorder from Jackson Perkins. Wish I had checked here before ordering in the first place. If I return these, they might just send them to someone else.

I'll be sure to check here first should I decide to buy from another nursery with which I have no prior experience. And, frankly, I don't want to hear about how many "thousands of happy customers" this company has. I've seen enough and experienced my own disappointment. This is the first poor experience I have had in buying online or by mail order. I guess I was due.

I ordered Canna bulbs from ARN. I was to get 72 hr. shipping. After 2 weeks I emailed an inquiry, the answer I got was " your order has been shipped. No indication as to when. I finally recieved , I only got part of my order. This time I called and was told the completed order woul go out that day. Over a week later I got it and again only half was there. When I called to complain, Chris told me they were out of Canna bulbs and he was sorry and would credit my account with half of an order, which was 3 dollars. There was no communication ever fromARN except to say my order was shipped. I belive they should have emailed me or called, or said something in the shipment to explain, but I got nothing
Paul Farris order nbr 298101

First of all, I am posting this on behalf of a coworker. I showed him this site after he had ordered from Autumn Ridge. He ordered over $100 worth of bare root and perennial plants. Autumn Ridge's website indicates, "Your order can now be shipped in 72 hours, if requested, at no additional charge provided it is in our normal shipping dates - please see our shipping date schedule." Well, even though 72 hour shipping was requested in this instance, the plants were not received for 3 weeks. They make a good show on the website of being customer service focused, "Hi, we're waiting on your order! Our goal is to give you 100% total satisfaction with our nursery products. Order with confidence knowing we always stand behind our products." On three separate occasions he called to ask when the plants were being shipped. All three times he got a different answer. When the plants finally arrived on 5/22/07, per his description, they were in great shape. As far as the quality of the plants and the cost, he is very pleased. The plants were packaged well, and arrived with plenty of moisture still in the packaging. All the plants were showing growth. Had Autumn Ridge been forthright and communicative about the delivery of the plants they would have had a very satisfied customer. As it is, the long wait, the wrong information from customer service to the point of wondering if he was being deliberately mislead, and the complete lack of any communication on the part of the company led to a negative rating.

"

We are glad that the plants arrived in good condition. We have shipped thousands of orders this spring. Our 72hr. shipping is that we try to ship the order out of our department within 72 hrs. It is not 72 hr. delivery. I do not know of a company that can ship 72 hr. delivery for $6.50. That is our charge for shipping and handling. Most companies charge much more for shipping and plants. We have heard from many this spring and we are so glad we can be the lowest price for their planting needs. We have a guarantee that the customer receives their order in good condition or we reship the order.
Thank you again for your post.
Customer Service/Melinda"

I placed a huge order from ARN. Actually it was three orders, they were placed in 3 consecutive days. One order came to me, two were gifts for my mother. I am neutral in my opinion of the nursery since I'm still hoping that I will get some growth out of my bulbs. I ordered 15 fairy lilies, none of them have any growth yet, I was sent only one bulb, and after calling customer service, they were happy to send me the missing bulbs, as well as send my mother the shrubs that were missing from her order. I have 30 iron cross bulbs with no growth at all: 12 rununculus, no growth yet.: 2 Hardy Orchids, no growth: and 50 pink ixia bulbs, 9 of them have come up. They have all been planted for 4-5 weeks now.

I also bought a bunch of shrubs that are all doing great. My 2 scarlet honey suckles have lots of new growth already, as well as my 2 barberries. My red weigela has leaf buds on it still, so I know it's alive, but it's not had any growth in the past 2 weeks, and it was suposed to be the fastest growing... up to 8 to 10 feet in the first year.

I ordered a yellow weeping willow that is covered in beautiful leaves and full of good growth, but my two white dogwoods that came free with my order came to me dead. They were in the middle of the bundle and when I opened them they were dried out and had leaf buds that were dried out. I planted them any way, in hopes of saving them, but they are gone. :(

I can't leave a negative feedback simply because they were great to deal with thus far. My order was processed quickly, and when I called about missing plants they were glad to send them out to me and my mother. I'm not sure what my mom's stuff will do.. I sure hope they do good for her since that was her 50'th birthday gift.

I hope it's not too late for me to call and get my "duds" replaced, but I wanted to wait to make sure that they weren't going to grow before I called to have them replaced.

"

Thank you for your comment. We do value you as a customer and also your patience with the growth. If you have any problems, please email me mwomack@autumnridgenursery.com or call 931-474-3386. "

I placed an order with Autumn Ridge Nursery Apr 28, 2007 in the amount of $57.80 worth of seeds and trees.
I thought, wow, free trees what a deal!

I received an email acknowledging my order that same day. On the 14th of May, I called them to ask where my order was, and they told me my order was set to ship out soon. Then I received an email the next day, stating my order was shipped. I sent them a stinging email about their service over the weekend, but have not heard from them yet.

As of May 21st of 07, I have not received my order yet! So I did some checking with the BBB, and found that Autumn Ridge Nursery has an extensive history of poor service, orders not received by their customers, etc. I will add that all complaints filed were resolved to customer satisfaction.

So I emailed Autumn Ridge nursery this morning (5/22/07) and threatened to file a complaint with the BBB if I do not receive my order by 5/24/07, and I demanded my money back.

I will respond back on this post if I get a response from ARN about this issue.

"

Thank you for your post. I do not think I have talked to you, but if you have any questions please let me know. We have over 300,000 customers and I work day and night to help them in any way I can. Please email me if you have any problems. We receive 700 emails a day and may fall behind during the last few weeks of shipping. We have 5 email address that we answer, but if you need faster assistance, call me at 931-474-3386. Thank you again for your post, we would not know of the problem! Customer Service/Melinda"

I ordered four rose bushes from ARN this past spring. The reason is they offered the specific colors I needed for my new rose garden, and their prices were resonable. I ordered a Tiffany (pink), a Tropicanna (sunset orange), a Chrysler Imperial (deep red), and a new variety called Strike it Rich (red and orange). All four of these roses came with the correct label on them, but I was extreamley dissapointed in the sick sticks I received! Each came with four tiny little canes. I planted them and waited....and waited.... As time went by I had to cut back three canes on each rose! I really thought they were all going to die, but they didn't! That one cane on each rose finally started leaving out and now I have a few blooms on each bush. But guess what? I ended up with THREE white roses and the Strike it Rich. They mislabled three of the roses. My new rose garden is ruined.
I will never order from them again. I have been growing roses for forty years and I know alot of rose people and they will all be warned and they will all warn others. You know what word of mouth can do.

"

Please email me at mwomack@autumnridgenursery.com. I would like to speak to you and make this right with your order. We regret your plants were not what you ordered and we do guarantee that you receive what you ordered. I await to hear from you and we do value our customers! Thank you/Customer Service/Melinda"

All plants arrived in poor condition. Spent over $80 and the only plants that survived at all were the free ones. I would reccommend this to no one ever. This is the worst scam I have ever seen. can't get any response from customer service either. They don't answer their phones during posted hours or espond to my email as of yet.

"

We are at the office from 8:00 until 8:00pm at night. Weekends etc. We have 10 operators taking calls. Are you sure you ordered from us? I am the customer service manager and I have not heard our phone go unanswered during working hours. You can reach me at the office and I will be glad to hear your complaint. Thank you/Melinda with Autumn Ridge Nursery"

I think I did better than most folks reporting here, but wow! what a company!

I ordered $45.85 from this place in December 2006, and did receive everything promptly. I ordered with a paper order form and check, so was surprised that no copy of the order or any kind of receipt came with the plants. Not sure how I could request any customer service, as I'm lacking documentation.

My order was for three fruit trees (a plum an apricot and a peach), 25 strawberry plants, a persian lilac, 6 daffodils, and a free raspberry plant. The plants had sick-on labels. I planted them the day they arrived (all seemed to be in OK condition).

This spring, the daffodils were lovely, but the wrong variety, the peach leafed out weakly then died, the plum never leafed out at all, the "apricot" leafed out with peach instead of apricot leaves (it's still alive), the lilac is not a lilac, (ridged instead of smooth leaves, not sure what it is yet), and the free raspberry never showed any signs of life.

The strawberries made it, about half bloomed and fruited- but wrong variety - and their "second guarantee" says "we guarantee our plants to be true to name and color. Anything that proves to be wrong color or variety, we will replace free."

I don't think that it's worth my fooling with replacement policies, as almost everything was wrong or dead or died. Kind of funny, in a way. Just too bad that all McMinnville nurseries will get a bad reputation from these people.

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We do have a guarantee and remain faithful to any customer who brings it to our attention. I have not talked to customers who does not want to make their order right. I am surprised you do not! We stand behind our guarantee and we have 300,000 customers. I am the manager and will talk to you if you have a complaint. We are proud of our reputation. We have shipped hundreds of thousands of orders since 2003, our first fall on line. I am very happy at work and most of the customers are very kind. I will be glad to talk to you if you want a replacement . Customer Service/Melinda"

First, I want to state that I have not placed an order with this company, but I spent some time browsing their website and can tell you that just based on what I saw there--even disregarding all the negative comments here--this is not a good nursery from which to order.

The first tip-off is the extremely low prices. You simply do not get quality trees and shrubs for under $5--even small ones--unless you are buying in bulk or possibly on eBay.

But the primary issue I have with the site is that plants are listed without proper information. Reputable nurseries will always give you the following:

1. Latin names in addition to common names (for instance, Cercis canadensis - Eastern Redbud), so that you know exactly what you're getting. This site has only the occasional Latin name, with most only listing the common name.

2. Hardiness Zone. This is probably the most important piece of information about a plant, and one which is nowhere to be found on their site. One can assume that the plants they sell are hardy to their own zone (in Tennessee, so I'm assuming Zone 6 or 7), but if you live in a cooler area, you have no idea if what you're buying is going to survive. There should always be an indication, by zone or by minimum temperature, of hardiness. I have never once dealt with a nursery that did not provide this info, so that's a huge red flag right there.

3. Preferred conditions. You need to know if the plant prefers sun or shade, moist or dry, acid or alkaline soil. Some nurseries aren't as thorough with this info as others, but ususally at least list basic sun or shade requirements; this one doesn't.

My recommendation to gardeners who are looking for modestly sized but healthy plants for a good price: check out Bluestone Perennials or Forestfarm. These are highly reputable nurseries with many reasonably priced plants. I've never received a smaller plant than what they advertised; if anything, they're often bigger.

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We ship thousands of orders a year and I am very pleased with all our customers. I could not understand someone making a comment that has not ordered from our company. I am also happy with the ratio on this bulletin "Dave's Garden". Compared to the ratio of customers that we have since 2003 - 07, I am proud we only have little negative comments. I do handle complaints with the BBB and compared to 300,000 customers, I am also proud. I have enjoyed talking to the customers that compained and realized they were kind and valuable to us! We work hard for customers and we do want to keep them. My email address at the office is mwomack@autumnridgenursery.com and will be happy to talk to you. You may call me at 931-474-3386. Thank you."

I ordered from ARN before finding Dave's. I was very nervous about the purchase because this was my first on-line nursery buy. I will admit that it took a little bit longer to receive than I wanted but that may have been my eagerness. When the plants arrived, I was not happy with the size and condition but planted them anyway. It's been about a month since I put them in the ground and I have beautiful thriving plants. I ordered peach blossom astilbe, several hostas, and gingerland caladiums and all are fine.

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Thank you so much for taking the time to post. We have hundreds of happy customers thru the years that have sent emails to me. I have a file cabinet of them. I have never asked one customer to post their positive comments on line, but I am happy that you did take the time to give the update on your plants. I do hope you return for all your plant needs and again thank you. Customer Service/Melinda"

I received my catalog from ARN and made my selections. In total I've spent about $50. I explained I needed them received b4 Mother's Day. I was told I would get them no later than 5/9. After placing the order I found this site. I'll admit to being a little nervous. I almost canceled my order. I decided to give it a go. I received my plants on 5/8. I was slightly disheartened when I saw them. For some reason I was expecting bigger and blooming. I'm a first time planter and very naive. My husband and I planted the shrubs and trees. I plan to keep a close eye on them. So far the service was pleasant and the delivery was prompt. I will concede that if some of my plants do not make it it could be due to operator error. We shall see. Also I took into consideration that people tend to complain more than they praise. It's human nature.

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Thank you so much for your post. I do want to know how your plants are doing in the future. We have worked hard these past years and always like to read emails of the many gardens we have supplied through the U.S. We get many pictures thru emails. I have been so fortunate to be able to talk to gardeners. I have learned so much. We have planted about 10,000 bulbs at our home and they are coming up so beautiful. I know our quality is the best. If you have any problems with your plants, feel free to call me at 931-474-3386. Thank you again for your comment. Customer Service/Melinda"

Wow, it is a really good thing I "Googled" this site to see Autum Ridge Nursery's reputation with prior customers and before I was about to put in a $240.00 order for Arborvitaes and Burning Bushes. Thank you everyone for the feedback. You probably saved me $240.00 and more so, my time and possible grief, which like Mastercard states, priceless!

It seems as though the only customer service representative willing to make amends, at best, of seemingly horrific experiences customers are having is CSR Melinda? I don't see any other representatives responding? Too bad.

Has anyone made complaints to the company's local Consumer Affairs (I assume this company is not registered with the Better Business Bureau).

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Yes, we do correspond with the BBB. We want to know if there is an unhappy customer. We have over 10 customer service agents which do handle problems or calls of very happy customers. We have been on line for four years and I have answered over 70,000 emails. During the last few weeks of shipping our 500 emails a day turns into appr. 700 and to answer these is PRICELESS. We have very committed reps. at Autumn Ridge Nursery and compared to the customers we have-we are proud of our rating on this site. This site is great and very helpful to us. I enjoy helping customers and hearing from them. Please call me 931-474-3386 or email me at mwomack@autumnridgenursery.com
Thank you/Customer Service/Melinda"

I ordered over $50.00 worth of shrubs and small trees which was only 14 plants. I recieved a package, long tube, that had all in a wet newspaper that was molded. Some of the plants looked ok, I proceeded to plant them all because I was told by ARN that they were dorminant at this time. None of which were growing, changing or doing anything at all. They were dead. I notified ARN by email, they replaced some of the order, which looked better when they arrived, they were bigger and some even showed some signs of life, but after planting them as instructed, 2 days later, they were crispy. I told them I could have gotten more from raking my yard and planting that. I requested a refund and am getting the run around. I will probably never see that. I would have loved to see this website before ordering. And there is definitely no reason why they should continue to send dead twig replacement orders to my house. Maybe I can use their order kennelng this fall camping. And I will say that their product is way over priced for dead twigs. If you are reading this, think twice before ordering from ARN.

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Kimberly-I enjoyed talking to you today. Thank you for the email. Customer Service/Melinda"

I was just about to place a $100+ order this morning and realized I hadn't checked here.

Thanks everyone for your input, I think you saved me considerable money and hassle.

I order order 6 Appletrees from Autumn Ridge Nursery in mid Jan. 2007. I was alittle concern a few days later when I saw some of the negative feed back on this site. My trees arrived about 2 weeks later and like some of the post stated they did look dead. To top it off after I started planting the trees in flower pots, my rottweiler grabbed one and started chewing on it. About 2 weeks after planting the trees all 6 appletrees plus the 2 purpleleaf plumtree that I got free, started budding. Afew weeks later I transplanted the trees outside into the ground. The trees look remarkably good dispite the deer chewed the leaves off some them. Those trees have even grew new leaves I will order more from Autumn Ridge in the future

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Thank you for your post. I am so glad that they are growing well. I do enjoy hearing about the happenings during the growing process. We do value you as a customer and if you have any problems, please email me or call. Again, thank you for the update. Customer Service/Melinda mwomack@autumnridgenursery.com"

the rose trees had 1/2 in or larger visible grafts & only had canes on 1 side; most had 1 cane on 1 side only; i sent them back & advised they should not even attempt to sell these i had a total of 8 trees all were this way; very disappointed

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Please email me or call 931-474-3386. I would like to talk to you about this problem. Our roses are doing great all over the country. We have shipped 30,000. We will make this order right with you. Awaiting an email or call! mwomack@autumnridgenursery.com or 931-474-3386
Thank you so much/Melinda with Customer Service"

I just placed my first order with them two weeks ago. They DID manage to charge my credit card for the full amount right away AND without shipping any product. Yesterday, when I inquired about the seeds I ordered I got an email back that they are on back order and will ship "ASAP". When???
Plus the fact they take their money without shipping any product or just charging for the product they ship(?) makes me HIGHLY SUSPICOUS!

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Thank you for your post. We do charge the order before we ship. We also have a requested shipping date in which we do follow. We do not ship the order before we charge. We do regret the backorder. If you have any problems let me know. Thank you/Customer Service/Melinda 931-474-3386"

I purchased 500 Angelique tulips for my church garden. When tulips bloomed they are red??? not what I ordered. They agreed to replace next year. That does not help me now. I color coordinate the garden, does not look good. I may not want to use same color next year. How can I be sure they will be right next time??? I would prefered a replacement of something I could go ahead and use for summer. Will not order again. I really do not have $l60 or so to throw away.

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I did ennjoy talking to you. You seem like such a giver and I did enjoy hearing about your work with the church. I want to thank you for your post and if you need any future help or plants, please let me know.
Again thank you!
Melinda"

I ordered 13 trees from Autumn Ridge, including evergreens, fruit trees, and a walnut tree. Except for the evergreens, the trees arrived dormant. However the dormant trees were a nice, large size--at least three feet tall. I have now had the trees for several weeks, and true to their promise, the trees have budded and are putting out leaves. As someone else wrote, if you want larger, fully leafed trees, buy them from your local nursery for $25-$105 each. Autumn Ridge offers low prices and a greater variety than your local nursery, and that's the reason I buy there. If you have problems, Melinda, customer service director, is very helpful.

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I am so glad to read your post. I have a file cabinet full of happy emails and updates. I have not asked them to post on our behalf to make us look good! I value every customer and do want to keep them. If you need any plants in the future, let me know. Thank you again! Customer Service/Melinda"

The Plants I have received were much better than the plants you described. The were the right kind healthy and able to survive the long trip. The reason most of you may not be able to grow them is you do not understand how to grow from small cuttings or dormant bulbs with any patience. you must wait, not everything comes so quickly.

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Your thoughts are very true. I enjoyed reading your post and I want to thank you for posting. As you see, we get negatives, but I would like to talk to them first. I do thank you much for sharing these kind words! Customer Service/Melinda"

I ordered nearly 50 dollars of plants from autumn ridge, and did not realize they were all bare-root plants. I sent an email and they answered it the next day, saying they would cancel my order for me. I thought this was very agreeable of them, since it was my mistake and not theirs. They were very friendly on the phone, non-defensive and helpful. They agreed to cancel my order even after it had shipped. When I am ready to order bare root I will do business with them again, because I think their prices are reasonable. I would only say they need to specify online somewhere that they sell bare root plants, since that seems to be the complaint of most.

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Thank you so much for this post. I will pass this suggestion on. I am so glad you were happy with the way the order was taken care of. We do value every customer and do want to hear from them. Thank you again, Melinda with Customer Service"

I had ordered 200 gladiolus and they sent out to me sub standard bag of something that I cant even call bulbs. When I called to get an exchange they claimed these were gladiolus and wouldnt exchange them or give me a refund until I sent these back to them at my own cost. Horrible company not doing business with them ever.