Comments regarding Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee)

I ordered tomato plants from Burpee this year with some trepidation, as I have had mixed "luck" in the past. In the last 2 or 3 years, I've gotten some plants that are only about 4 inches tall, broken, and half (or more) dead. One year I called about my dead tomato plants and was offered a refund, but I was left disappointed because there were no more of the heirloom tomato plants that I had wanted.

Another problem has been untimely delivery. With our last frost date at approximately Mother's Day, my garden was ready and waiting for the tomatoes to arrive but I did not receive them until the very end of May. I was told that the orders are sent out not only by zone, but by the date that the order was placed.

With this in mind, I ordered tomato plants in mid-February this year. I was delighted to see my plants arrive, just on time, in mid-May. I was even more ecstatic when I opened the box. The cardboard packing system inside has been replaced by clear plastic cases, each holding 2 tomato plants, with the pots and soil pretty much intact. The plants were all of reasonable size. None were broken or bent, and all were perfectly healthy.

This is a significant improvement in service. I will not hesitate to order again next year

With burpee you don't get what you pay for. I bought some sunflowers last year (don't remember the name) they were supposed to be 4-5' tall & dark red. They turned out to be 10' tall & yellow. I bought some rudbeckia goldsturm this spring & have been babying it for months. This was going to be my first blackeyed susan. They just bloomed today at 4" high & its a stupid purple verbena! NEVER again!

I ordered 3 Dahlia showtime plants. When the order arrived, the plants were broken, overwatered and brown. I called for a replacement and when those arrived yesterday all three of the plants were dead or dying and two had been completely broken off where the stems joined the potting soil. I've never received such poor quality plants in any mail order gardening! And these three cost $15.95! I will not order from Burpee again.

I ordered from Burpee for the first time this year. The first part of the order arrived, an astilbe for $10.50 and a Broadway Lights Shasta daisy for $9.95. The astilbe was the smallest plant I have ever received by mail order, and I've ordered by mail for 20 years. I received another astilbe from Bluestone Perennials a few weeks ago, lower price, much, much bigger plant already budded out. The Burpee daisy was battered, but eventually recovered enough to plant. Again, though, I had ordered the same plant from Garden Crossings a couple of years ago and it came as a much larger plant already budded out. I complained to Burpee. They responded appropriately by refunding my money, although it took a few days to hear back.

However, the second part of the order came today, a flat of impatiens. As somebody else said, some of them were in great shape, but most looked like cooked spinach after being in a blender. Even if they refund my money I'll not order from Burpee again, too iffy. I could have bought impatiens locally or from some other mail order plant house and had them planted by now. Now it's back to the drawing board with that part of my planting.

I'm really disappointed, and will be asking them not to send me a catalog next year. The catalog is seductive, but the plants -- not so much.

After years of dealing with Burpee, I happily placed my order in early January of 2009. I was miffed at the tacked-on 'fuel surcharge' which they hadn't rescinded even though fuel prices had bottomed out at around $1.75 a gallon. Ok, I'll give them that one. My initial reaction after waiting 3 1/2 weeks was, where's my order? I'd received no communication from them, and checking their website for status is an exercise in futility. Another 1 1/2 weeks went by, and I received part of my order. As with other comments here recently, the balance dribbled in 1 and 2 packets at a time. As planting time arrived, I was surprised to find that many packets labeled '50 seeds' contained, in fact, 20-25 seeds. What's up with that? In all fairness, I have to give them kudos for the asparagas roots - though pricey, they were huge, clean and worth the price. Even so, I've definately crossed Burpee off my list of future seed suppliers!

I have been buying seeds and seed-starting formula from Burpee for 25 years and have never had any problem with any of their products. I am especially appreciative of their tomato seeds. I have bought tomato seeds from a broad range of companies over the years, but always find that good old Burpee's comes through best, especially for disease resistance. The information provided in their catalog is thorough and clear. I also recommend their cucumber seeds "Burpee pickler" which always provide a bumper crop.

I did receive the tomato plants that I ordered from you at Burpee's. They are lovely! And I want to say that
I am extremely impressed with the green plastic containers that they
were enclosed in. They were well from the shipment due to the
containers. Who ever thought of that idea for shipping deserves a medal.
Thanks again, I am honored to do business with Burpee.
Suzanne Hendrix

Received order of peach fusion impatients that were securely boxed and delivered by UPS. Plants are in fantastic condition, far better than any I've seen in local nurseries.I ordered annuals in 2008 that thrived so I had no qualms about ordering again this year.I will continue to order annuals from Burpee in the future as they guarantee your satisfaction unlike local box store garden department.If a person has a
problem they should contact Burpee rather than leave negative comments.

I ordered some seed and Perilla plants from Burpee. Everything arrived as promised and the perilla plants were packed well and looked great. I have been ordering from them for 35 years and never had a problem.

Ordered a package of pole beans from Burpee shortly before I left for a two week vacation. On my return, I discovered that they had sent me a hellebore, Kingston Cardinal that I DID NOT ORDER. If I had, I would have alerted the lady who helps me in my yard -even while I am gone-
to be expecting it. As I only ordered the seeds, I did not feel it was necessary to tell her about it.

When I called Customer service, I was told that I had ordered the hellebore. I kept telling her that I did not do so as I was going out of state and would be gone for two weeks. I would never order a plant and expect it to do well after setting so long in the box inside my home. She told me that I must have ordered it. I said NO WAY. I had just bought five lovely gallon size hellebores at one of our "local big box" stores. I did not need anymore. My shade space is almost full. I got no where with CS. This is not the first time I have experienced such poor service from a company Burpee owns. I had very bad luck with Heronswood this year. Was sent three plants of grass (Purple love grass) which someone in Alexandria VA ordered.
Three years ago, I was called a lier even though I had the paperwork and tag that said Corydalis, Blue Heron. The lady I spoke with said that they did not have such a plant. Seems that as long as your order is what you wanted, you are ok in ordering from Burpee , Heronswood and one other company that I am not familiar with.

As for me, this is the last time I will ordered anything, including seeds, from Burpee. To much frustration, won't get your order straight, call you a lier when you tell your side of the story, etc. Not worth it to me.
Goodbye anything and anyone associated with Burpee.

I have used Burpee most of my 50 years of gardening. Last year I ordered 3 ferns from them, they came and were dead. I called and was told they were dormant...in early fall? They said they would replace them...so far they have not. I put the three pots into the heated greenhouse for the winter and one teeny little sprout did come up, about two weeks after that. The other two must still be "dormant". Later this spring I remembered I had not ordered one variety of Marigold I wanted. I had ordered all of my other seed from another company. I got the seed, planted it, put it on the heat like I do all of my seeds...not ONE marigold came up. Other marigolds from another company came up 100%. I was a professional nurseryman for years and know how to plant a marigold seed! In talking to other people on another garden site they all had horror stories to tell about this company in the last two years. This will be the very last time I order from them and according to a lot of my friends it is their last time too. I spend too much money on plants and seeds in a year to mess with a company that doesn't believe in quality and customer service.

I ordered several tomato plants as well as a few peppers from burpee. They arrived 3 days before the shipping date for my zone, and the plants looked very healthy. Instructions for planting were included. My plants are in the ground and off to a great start.

I JUST WANTED TO LEAVE A COMMENT....I BOUGHT TWO PACKS OF BURPEE PETUNIA SEEDS
ONE PACK SAID 50 PELLETED SEEDS......I GOT 34
SECOND PACK WAS 15 PELLETED SEEDS.....1 GOT 4 FOR A $1.50 PRETTY EXPENCIVE SEEDS.....

I SENT BURPEE AN E-MAIL BUT NO COMMENT ......I DIDN'T ASK FOR MY MONEY BACK JUST WANTED THEM TO KNOW.

Burpee was the first mail-order garden company I was introduced to when I first developed an interest in gardening some years ago. Over the years I have ordered seeds and seed starting supplies from the company, which were always promptly delivered. I have had good luck with varieties of tomatoes, cucumbers and basil from seed. I have also ordered basil plants which were very healthy and had great root systems. As a beginner, this company was a great place to start out.

Ordered the Burpee Money Garden collection. Received it just fine, except that when I went to figure out when and how to plant the tomatoes and peppers, found there were no sowing instructions whatsoever in the packet or on the seed envelopes. Went online to look for instructions there and could find nothing. Went to customer service to contact them and found they're not open on weekends (pretty crappy policy for a garden company, I think -- I garden mostly on weekends since I work during the week).

I managed to send them an email about getting sowing instructions for the Money Garden. More than a week later, I received a response from Burpee -- was told that the sowing instructions were on the seed packet and gave me a link to a webpage with sowing instructions for the Money Garden. Since I am neither blind nor illiterate, I assumed that the woman from customer service who answered my email didn't bother to check the product and I wrote her back and told her so, cc'ing the woman in charge of Public Relations at Burpee (they don't list anyone in charge of customer service), explaining that 1) the instructions are NOT on the seed packets for the Money Garden and 2) I don't use the Internet in the garden and 3) I can't print out the instructions and 4) I've been a Burpee customer for 25+ years and don't appreciate being treated like an idiot.

I received an email back from the same customer service woman saying the instructions are included in the Money Garden package and if I like, she'll mail them to me. Duh. Hopefully I'll get them before autumn.

The woman from PR did call me to get the story and allegedly will try to figure out what went wrong here. She apologized for my confusion. I told her I wasn't confused -- I was ticked off.

It took entirely too much time and energy to get instructions for planting my tomatoes from seed -- what a waste of time.

"On Apr 7, 2009 10:17 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We are very sorry for the error and for the inconvenience caused.

The instructions for the Money Garden are being inserted with the seed packets. The web link for instructions is: http://www.burpee.com/contentarticle.do?itemID=100126

Our phone hours for Customer Service and Ordering are:
January - May: Mon-Sat 9am to 5pm ET
June -December: Mon-Fri 9am to 5pm ET

Customer Service Department
W. Atlee Burpee & Co."

I ordered the ultimate growing system and some tomatos and peppers, along with beans & lettuce. All of the items were shipped quickly. The growing system was easy to setup and kind of neat to watch the little pellets expand after adding water. The tomatos and peppers germinated very well with Burpee's system. The bottom of the tray holds extra water, so you don't need to worry about the soil drying out. Nice indoor seed sowing system. Had a good experience with this company - will order again.

Similar to someone below, I placed an order for seeds in late January and when they arrived one packet of seeds was packed for 2008. I sent a complaint via e-mail. Customer service very quickly apologized and said they would send a new packet of seeds. When these arrived over 2 weeks later, the replacement seeds also were packed for 2008. Spending several dollars more for a packet of seeds directly from Burpee rather than at retail, one would expect the seeds to at least be fresh. The reason this is neutral rather than negative is because their customer service seems to be quite good trying to rectify their error. They definitely fell from my order first list to order only if I can't find it elsewhere list though.

I've done two orders this year with Burpee and both were professional and came with no errors. I'd have no reservations about ordering with them again.

My family and I have ordered from Burpee since time immemorial without any negative or neutral experiences. For this year's planting, I ordered several vegetable seeds and, as usual, they arrived very quickly. Burpee always tends to put full labeling on their seed packets which can eliminate a lot of note-taking or re-researching when it comes time to remember what needs to be started indoors or not as well as where, when and how seeds need to be prepared and planted. I have always had very good germination with them and don't foresee anything different this year. Likewise -- perhaps because Burpee is so big -- I don't ever remember receiving any substitutions or being told something I ordered was out of stock.

This was my first and LAST order with Burpee. First of all I took advantage of their coupon for $5 off a $30 order. I placed an order in the amount of $35.30 BEFORE SHIPPING. An item in the amount of $9.95 was out of stock (and I was never notified). Needless to say, they took away the $5 discount. Had they contacted me I could have added something else to my order. I made the mistake of being lured by the glitzy catalog. The seed packets are very skimpy compared to other mail order seed houses, and twice as expensive. How big of them to include a new $5.00 coupon good on my "next" $30.00 order. Well, there won't be a "next" order. Burpee products are so much cheaper in the retail stores. W. Atlee Burpee would be very disheartened if he knew how today's customers are being treated. What a fool I am to have actually paid $8.95 to have 5 packets of seeds mailed to me!

Recently I ordered several plants from Burpee and selected a ship date. The plants arrived in a timely basis and were in great condition. They were small but very healthy.

I ordered one packet of seeds. I called their 800# ten days after placing my order. I was told that my order was cancelled because they're out of seeds. No explanation as to when they might have contacted me. They never emailed nor have they changed the order status on the website. And the same item still says "In Stock" on their website! Poor customer service and on such a simple order.

Ordered some seeds and trellis netting from burpee.com on 2/28. On 3/17, I phoned in to see what the status of my order was and was told that only the seeds shipped. The netting apparently was out of stock with no restock date. When asked why their site still shows the netting as "in stock", and why I was never told even after more than two weeks that they were out of stock, they had no clue. My seeds finally arrived on 3/19 (7-10 business days....right.) and on my invoice it says "(netting) cancelled due to item not being in stock". Thanks burpee for sending me an $11 packet of seeds and wasting 3 weeks of my time while I waited for my trellis that was never in stock to begin with. To this day, their site still shows the netting as being "in stock". Ridiculous. I will never order anything from them again.

Burpee has a great variety of products, however I have been extremely disappointed by the shipping price and speed. After reluctantly paying $9.95 for shipping an order of seed packets (which is extremely high compared to other online merchants), I've been surprised to not receive any word about shipping status, order update, etc. since placing my order on March 8th (today is the 17th). I followed up with a phone call today and was told the order had been filled and that it would ship out "sometime this week"-- no more details.

I order everything online-- clothing, shoes, books, even some groceries. I can't think of the last time that it took an online merchant over a week to put the items in a box, and then a few more days to send it out... and all for a hefty shipping charge!

I won't be ordering from Burpee again. There are too many other options for online shopping that have a more streamlined process.

I purchased some Burpee tomato seeds at my local nursery, based on the description of the tomatoes produced. No where did the packet mention disease resistance, however. The nursery looked it up in all the Burpee literature they had, but could find no mention of this seed ("Burpee's Summer Choice"). I called Customer Service and spoke with a wonderful person who could not find the seed in her info, much less the disease resistance. She said she'd research if further and call me back, which she did (thank you), but she did not have the info. I researched it on DG--no one knew--so I emailed Customer Service.
I got a nice reply in a few days, saying they would turn the matter over to their "Research Dept." That was 9 days ago, with nary a word. So, customer service employees, GOOD. Selling a seed about which your own employees know virtually nothing-BAD. No comment on the elusive "Research Dept." Will I purchase anything from Burpee again? Highly unlikely.

I've been in the process of swapping over to heirloom veggies only so the sheer volume I order from Burpee is decreasing with time but it is sure no reflection on their service!

I've always received my orders, no matter how large or small, in super quick time. They are very responsive to feedback on the germination of their seeds, after all, hybrids can perform very differently by location and they do their research.

Good and fast service, intuitive website and a very nice selection if you're not entirely focused on heirlooms.

I receive their always-beautiful catalog in the mail this past January, went to order, and had filled out an online order form and was preparing to check out. To my chagrin, the shipping charge was WAY beyond what I had expected. I had been prepared to order about 20 packets of seeds, which would weigh, oh, maybe a few ounces. Since I've received orders from them in previous years via the US Postal Service, I figured that the shipping charges for my order shouldn't have exceeded a few dollars. When $10.95 was tacked on to my order for shipping, I immediately cancelled the order. (Those must be SOME heavy seeds!) Burpee's prices are high enough (too high IMHO), and to have that kind of shipping charge added to my order was beyond belief. If I need Burpee seeds in the future, I'll buy them at the seed kiosk in my local garden shop. There is no sense in endorsing such ridiculous shipping charges (and in many cases, exorbitant seed prices)!

Like most gardener's, I really look forward to those beautiful catalogs in the mail and trying to decide what I want to plant for the year. I have about an acre of flower beds so every seed is really important to me.

Having said that, I had a problem with some seeds that I ordered from Burpee. They just did not come up. The rest of the seeds I had going did just fine. I called Burpee, and Liz in customer service was so nice and friendly. She replaced the packet and assured me that they were on the way? WOW! No trouble, no hassle, just, " HOW CAN I HELP" Way to go Burpee, you have just earned a repeat customer!

I recently tried to order from Burpee because I wanted to try their Sweet Seedless Hybrid tomato. I noticed that their website wasn't set up for international orders, and emailed them as to what I could do to place the order, since I couldn't even enter my billing address correctly. I got a prompt email telling me what to do, and also informing that my card had been accepted. Good service. I needed to have the packet of seeds sent to my friend in NY, and then she out it in an envelope and sent it to me. The only reason I'm not giving this company a positive is the shipping cost. I ordered 1 packet of seed costing $4.95 and had to pay $6.95 shipping! (and not even to me in Italy, but my friend in NY). Perhaps they could work out another system for shipping small orders of SEEDS ONLY, otherwise it isn't fair. My friend put the packet in an envelope and it cost one first class forever stamp plus 84 cents (to send to Italy), and I had to pay $6.95 to have it sent to her in NY!

I ordered many vegetable and flower seeds from about 7 different companies this winter, all in mid to late December of 2008. I ordered a lot of seeds from Burpee.

Nearly all of the seeds that Burpee sent me were packed for 2008, and marked "sell by 12/08". Amongst ALL the other seeds from ALL the other companies I ordered from, all but ONE of those other seed packets were packed for 2009 and marked "sell by 12/09".

Burpee unloaded their old seed on me. The other companies sent me good fresh seed. Guess which companies I'll be looking at first, next time?

"

Please be assured that we only send out seed that meets our highest germination standards and that we test our seed frequently. Also, all of our seed is stored in climate-controlled facilities to ensure it stays at the optimal conditions for excellent germination. Further, W. Atlee Burpee offers a 100% satisfaction guarantee, so that if you are not satisfied with our product, we will either replace or refund your purchase price.

Happy Gardening.
"

This is the first year that I ordered plants from Burpee, previous years having ordered my seeds.

My seeds arrived more than early enough to start them indoors. I ordered their Tomato Hall of Fame which includes 9 of their best tomatoes, including the 4th of July variety, which bears fruit in 49 days!! The tomato plants arrived a little later than I would have liked, but right on time in regards to my hardiness zone. I can't blame them for not taking the chance that I would plant them too early!

8 of the 9 tomato plants arrived looking good, a little tired from their travels, but good. Of course they were a tad smaller than those growing in my local nurseries, but I knew they would catch up. The only problem was that one of my tomato plants didn't come at all. It was just an empty container with dirt and the identification tag. Sure enough it was my poor little 4th of July tomato, or what was supposed to be my 4th of July tomato.

I called Burpee's toll free number immediately and their response is the number one reason that I am rating them positively. They immediately sent me not one, but three replacements of the 4th of July tomato. They apologized and I got the replacement plants within a week.

They have great customer service. I would have been happy with just the one plant I had ordered, but sending me two extra guaranteed them my business for life.

Also, I must note, that I put my tomatoes in the ground and they shot right up. They already look much better than my neighbor's tomatoes which she bought at a local greenhouse and planted 2 weeks earlier than mine!

I will be ordering from Burpee again and again. Mostly because I know that if I have a problem they are easy and quick to resolve it.

Look if you're ordering seeds I suppose they are alright. But don't order potted plants from them! Why? Because they don't know the slightest thing about packing plants so they will arrive safe! I have placed several orders this year, and the coleus plants were all destroyed, so were the majority of the lisianthus, and some of the perillas. Amazingly bad, stay away! Breaks my heart too because I really want to have those beautiful plants in their catalog without the whole seed growing process.

"

Hello,
Thanks for your feedback on your experience with Burpee. We are sorry that you have had a poor experience. We offer a 100% satisfaction guarantee. Please provide me with your name and we will refund your money. Thanks.
Paul
"

I have dealt with Burpee for several years. Even when I get seeds that don't germinate as expected, they have always sent me a replacement. I got live strawberry plants and Zavory Hot Pepper plants this year as well. Other than the apes at UPS shaking up the dirt to the pepper plants, I was able to transplant them and all is well. Burpee might want to modify their shipping to allow for this. The strawberry plants came up excellent. I have always received my packages on time with no problems. I am another satisfied customer and look to do business with them in many years to come.

This is my second year ordering annuals from Burpee. Last year I had no issues or complaints. My Lisianthus flowered into October. They were so beautiful and easy I ordered more this year. Half of the shipment was fine although they seemed smaller than I remembered. The other half were smaller with most of the plants were broken. Burpee told me they would refund the damaged plants.

The seeds I ordered last year were wonderful. I had left over seeds that I started this spring and while I was expecting them to not do very well I have been pleasantly surprised, 100 percent germination and strong healthy plants.

I ordered a mixture of plants and seeds from Burpee on April 14th. My comfirmation letter said it would be 7-10 days and listed both the plants and the seeds. I got confirmation from ups that my package would arrive on april 24th (10 days). When I got the package I was surprised it was so small and that my plants were not in the box. I figured that since I had ordered in April and the delivery for my area was supposed to be April that I would get my plants. So I looked in the box and there was a reciept for the seeds, but there was nothing to tell me when my plants were coming, just that they would be shipped seperately. I waited till May 12th to contact Burpee by email and didn't get a response that week, so I called them and waited on hold half an hour to be told my package wouldn't arrive until the first week of June and if my plants don't perform this summer then I can have my money back. A couple of days later I got an email response (7 days after I had sent the email) saying that my package would be there in early June. So, after ordering in April I should be finally getting my plants on June 9th. But from the other comments I guess I shouldn't be relying on that package for my garden. Good luck to whoever orders from them in the future.

I'm still a novice in online discussions ... just did not find a need to bother going through the posting steps (it turned out easy). Yet there was one point that Park Seeds really irritated me. So I posted a negative rating for them. Now, I'm into this related series of comments. I posted a positive one for Territorial Seeds.

I mention this because during a recent positive experience with Burpee's, I confirmed that all in all, gardeners truly love plants and can get sensitive/demanding/emotional/etc about them ... to the point that this has got to be one business where good customer service can make much difference. I believe gardeners are not out to maliciously try to get refunds or free replacements from businesses where they get their plant stuff. Gardeners just seem to have an expectation of sustained good feelings when they buy their seeds/plants. For them to take the time to communicate (complain) with the business means they really need to to sustain that good feeling and correct something that does not seem or feel right. Is it too much for these businesses to compromise or do a balancing act between losing a few dollars or so and maintaining goodwill with its customers?

For example, I ordered tomato plants from Burpee's. When they arrived, I was so excited opening my package of goodies. The plants all looked fine, but smaller than I thought. Instead of feeling let-down, I told myself, oh, I did not check the plant size on the catalog, I just assumed the plants will be bigger ... but no biggie ... if I put them in the ground at this time, they will quickly fill out. Then one day, I checked my tomato plants and two out of nine seemed fizzling out, getting ready to die. My thought, was no, oh no, especially not the Sungold! Then I remembered they were smaller than the others, so maybe they were prematurely included among plants that were shipped out. Perhaps they needed a week or two more in Burpee's cozy facilities, not boxed, shipped, and introduced into a different environment so soon.

Note that I did not think Burpee's intentionally meant to short-change its customers. They're in the business of moving fragile little things subject to weather and other factors beyond their control, so not everything can be perfected. Although I did not think negatively of the plants in 2"-pots they sent me, now that two of them looked unable to survive (I followed care instructions, by the way), I thought: "I want my money's worth, but most of all, I want to see my little babies go from this seedling to a tower of yummy tomatoes. I will really be sad if they do not make it. And I will miss the Sungold. Maybe I should go to the nurseries and see if they have Sungold. But I already spent the money for a nice future crop of Sungold. How about if I call Burpee's and ask them to replace what I got with a plant that would clearly have a chance to survive, or refund me so I can re-buy them from somewhere else? Then all will be back to normal and I will have Sungold tomatoes this summer and also taste what Health Kick is like."

I did not seriously want my $6.50 back, but I was disappointed and I wanted to do something about it so I can go back to feeling good during my gardening moments ... that of course include nurturing my tomatoes and imagining the joy during harvest time. It's all psychology. Gardening, after all, should be more pleasure than stress.

Well, Burpee's offered to refund my $6.50 since they cannot promise they could send replacements. Imagine, for $6.50, it made much difference to my psyche! I felt I was treated fairly, with goodwill, that I went ahead and ordered more from Burpee's. Just to make a gesture that, Burpee's, you may be out $6.50 now, but you are looking at a more-certainly lifelong customer. If in the future I will need to complain again, and a less "evolved" or less "aware" customer service person takes my case and messes it up, do you think I will turn around and hate Burpee's? No, because I will still give them credit for the past goodwill.

Customer Service is such a tricky area. As they say, one just cannot please everyone all the time, no matter what the business does to respond accordingly. But just the act of trying to be responsive to a complaint (not auto form letters or canned responses) is commendable enough. You lose some, but you win some. I believe most people are not chronic or malicious complainers who complain for the heck of it. There is no pleasing those rare cases. But, an unhappy customer just knowing that some effort is being made to try do something about a complaint is precious enough .... especially in the zen world of gardening.

For this one customer, Burpee's succeeded.

I had a mainly positive experience with Burpee. I ordered tomato blossom set spray, some fertilizer, and the tomato best of show collection. The spray and fertilizer got here in a timely manner, and my tomatoes came on time as well. One box of tomatoes was pretty smashed up, with broken stems and what not. But the other box on the top arrived beautifully. I don't, of course, blame them for the condition of those tomatoes, as the box they came in looked kind of beat up, and I know that has a lot more to do with being thrown around. My only concern is customer service.

Before my tomatoes arrived I sent them an e-mail asking a few questions, and it took two weeks to get a reply. Even before sending an e-mail, I had called customer service, and never got in touch with anyone. So, I just recently e-mailed them again asking if I could replace the broken-stemmed tomatoes I have or if there was anyway I could save them, and I'm afraid it will take weeks to get back to me again. I'll update and see how this goes.

Had a nightmare experience with these guys ordering tomato plants.

We waited until too far into the growing season to start plants from seed, so we decided to pay the substantial premium to have them ship us plants instead of seed packets. They assured me at the time I ordered that the plants I wanted were in stock and that they would ship them in 3-5 days for delivery in 7-10 days. Instead, three weeks went by without their shipping out the plants. Three weeks! I could have started my plants from seed in three weeks!! I'd ordered three different kinds of tomato plants. They didn't even ship one kind at all. Why? Because it was out of stock. What about the fact that they assured me it was in stock? Their first reponse was to say that I was wrong and no one there could have done that. Then, after I point out to them that this is silly, why would I make that up, they go, oh yeah, we'll we're very sorry that you had this experience. Another of the plants I ordered? They shipped me an empty pot. Not a pot with a little baby plant that died. No sir. An empty pot. The person who made up that package couldn't possibly have thought he was shipping me a plant. There was no plant. 3 weeks late they shipped me an empty pot. Yes, they offered immediately to refund that purchase price. But honestly, how ridiculous is this?? Why do I have to even go through the hassle of waiting on hold for 10 minutes to receive a refund for being shipped an empty pot? 3 weeks late?

Lesson learned.

Will always make sure to start plants from seed ourselves.

And will never ever buy from Burpee again.

I placed an order for Brandy Boy tomatoes and the hot Pepper Zavory. They were delivered last week and except for a bit of loose soil were in great condition. They've transplanted well and don't appear to have any transplant shock. Very happy with this transaction.