Comments regarding Summerstone Nursery

First time ordering anything online. I ordered three apple trees with "72 Hours Shipping" meaning they'd ship in three days. They emailed saying it shipped - BUT 10 DAYS LATER!! Here it is 13 days after I ordered and I still don't have my order! The lady said "shipping must've ran out of one of my items and we're REAL busy"!!

Don't buy from these people!

DO NOT BUY FROM THIS SITE. IT IS A SCAM. I ordered $350 dollars worth of trees. The website said the order didn't go through, so I ordered again. The next day, I checked my email. Turns out both orders, in fact, DID go through, putting me in the hole $700 dollars. I tried calling them all day, emailed them, but no response. I found another number to them, and still, no response. This website is a joke. Do not order from it. I do not know why these criminals have not been arrested.

Shipping was quick, bushes looked great. I e mailed a question on when to water and it was answered quickly. It was a great purchase.

Posted on February 17, 2010, updated February 24, 2010
I placed an order with them about a week ago. Just got in touch with them by calling the autum nursery number. The lady was very nice and explained that my order was delayed because of the snow storm and also told me that they had just recieved the roses friday of last week so they would still be good and fresh because they are coming as bareroot. We will see when the order gets here and I will repost on how the trees look. Since they are in a dormant state, I imagine they will look pretty pitiful. I hope that they are the roses I requested, but only time will tell and I have bought bareroot roses from my local flower nurseries only to find out later that they were not the correct rose. So, we shall see. I wish I would have found this website before I placed the order, but then again, for 9$ a rose bush, I don't think it is a total bust considering that I have paid up to 30$ a peice for them only to have them die or be the wrong ones.

Just a horrible company! They sent me old seeds obviously taken from several dollar store bargain bins which arrived damp and moldy along with a free gift (Pampas grass) which had mold growing on the roots. Tried several e-mails but they refuse to answer back or send me new seeds. One of the true ripoffs in the seed buisness. I learned my lesson and hope no one else orders from these scam artists.

I can only speak on my experience here. I was pleased, I even messed up ordering and got charged twice (which was my fault), they called and let me know and then got my card number and monitired it and when the second charge went through (which took a couple days) they refunded me. Shipped in 72 hours also. My order looked good, the free pecan was sad looking, but it was free so I wasn't worried about it. Good service, will probably shop here again.

I placed two orders with Summerstone and requested 72 hour delivery. I recieved a telephone call staing 72 hour was no longer available. My order would be shipped on Thursday the 17th of December 2009. As of today I have reieved my orders and contacting Summerstone has been unsucessful. I wish I had found this site befre I ordered. Do not order from this Company.

Posted on December 21, 2009, updated December 22, 2009
My experience with these people was the same as most everyone's--dried, dead sticks, offer of replacement but no refund, replacements never come, continued dragging out and delaying via email or phone with a woman who was obviously just wasting time to get me to go away as she already had my $100.95. BUT--in this process, she made the mistake of letting me have her cel phone number, SO--if you want to call Melinda Womback about the money she has cheated you out of, call [deleted]. As well, it appears her private email is [deleted]. No matter how many times these crooks change the name of their ripoff operation, they are cheating people and deserve to be hounded to the brink of insanity.

After reading all of the negative on this site I still decided to roll the dice and ordered 1 tree from them just to see for myself. I ordered a rainer cherry tree. it was 10 bucks. They sent a walnut tree with the order. all together with shipping it was $16.45. As soon as I hit order I logged onto my bank and they had already placed a charge for it. No email saying they received the order or anything. Never any email. I was pretty sure I had been ripped off but one week later I had a box on my doorstep. I opened it up and had two trees in there wrapped up in black plastic and wet newspaper that were alot bigger than expected, 3 feet root to tip. Each tree had a flag on it marking which was which. I popped a bud back to see underneath and it was still green and the roots looked a little rough but not too bad. I put them both in a pitcher of pond water overnight and when I got home from work the next day I planted them in containers to see if they make it before I go digging a hole. I'm not an expert but I've got 32 fruit trees and I couldn't tell where the graft was on this one. Could be there. Either way. For 10 bucks. If it grows up to be a cherry tree and can at least pollinate the others it'll work. I'll be let down and annoyed if it isn't a rainer but I'll be happy with watching it grow from this little stick into a tree anyway. I could end up with a one of a kind sweet cherry. So far I am pleased with the product. bumped down to neutral because of the poor communication or at least the complete absence of.

i am taking the time out to post this warning do not waste your time ordering from summerstone. i order my plants 3 monts ago didnt recieve them call and the rude lady said they will shipped the first week of nov on a thurs tues has gone by called them again she said it takes a week to get to me....sure but i was thinking wont they die by then. i have never recieved my order so i called my credit card co and had the charge reverse because i didnt recieved my product. i found daves garden was horrified by all the complaints. i sent them a very nasty email disgusted how they could take money and not even contacted me about my product or even care if i got them i got a answer back saying i must be a foreigner and a rude little girl. i dont know how this company is staying in bussiness by riping off peoples money. dont waste your time will dealing with this company

Sent me the wrong plants (my new landscaping contractor confirmed). I ordered a special type of plant (bushing) in a particular color and they sent climbers in a totally different color instead. They are impossible to reach but I found a number by looking up their former name "Autumn Ridge" and finally got someone. The answered the phone generically as "nursery." They say they will replace the plants with the correct ones - we'll see. I will report if they do. They just seem shady all around. Wish I had seen this website prior to spending so much money with them!

October 29: No answer on the phone.
I attempted a call in July to let them know that their products never made it beyond sticks. I opened a dispute on the credit card. They told credit card company they did not credit back. I spoke in July to a very rude gentleman, who finally said if I sent back the DEAD PLANTS, he would replace them. I did as he requested (at my expense). The package was clearly marked with the order number. It is now October 29 and no resolution. Do not do business with this company.

DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY;
I lost over $200 with this company this Spring. Knowing we have cold wet springs I used the option to request a certain delivery time frame. The plants arrived almost a month early. It was in the 30's & raining. I tried to call at that time but got no response so I kept the plants in my garage till better weather. As soon as the weather broke I started planting. Some of the packaged plants had started to rot & other looked almost dead but I planted them anyway.
The Japanese Iris were the 1st to pop us, as Hostas!! I called ,they said they would send replacements. I mentioned that all the plants had arrived too early. I was told they were sent because according to their schedule it was time to plant in my zone & since they were dormant I could've planted them anyway. (Remember the weather?) Well the replacement Iris came up as Dahlias & it was now late Spring & only a few other plants had popped up. BTW the pkgs were marked as Japanese Iris, I checked.
I called again & asked for a refund since I no longer trusted their plants.. They refused, offering a replacement next Spring. I explained the circumstances and mentioned that I was not a novice that I had been gardening for 40 yrs. The "gentleman" (a term used loosely) replied that he "didn't care how long I had been gardening, what did I want"!! And it went downhill from there.
I reported them to the BBB & that is when I saw the prior complaints, both on this company & on the Autumn Ridge name (Same company, different name). They still refused a refund & I refused to deal with them so it is listed as an unresolved case. BTW a few more things showed up in the ground later in the summer but none were anything I had ordered.

I signed up with Dave's Garden today mainly to leave a review for Summerstone!
Seeing a Clematis for the first time last year, I rushed on-line and ordered 4 varieties from Summerstone Nursery(4/26/08). Blue Angel,Ville De Lyon,Will Goodwin & Wisely.
For seven months I babied them. They died(so I thought) in late November so I cut the dead leaves off and moved the containers to the backyard. This spring(09) they popped up and with glee, I put them in a new spot. Mid-spring the leaves were looking Beautiful!! Summer came and all the leaves started loosing their color and I still had No sign of a vine. I called a friend over for advice and she told me I need to move all my HOSTAS to the shade!!!

I bought $86.00 worth of rose plants from this summerstone nursery online. The next day I've got email saying the plants are being shipped and I will get it within 72hours..It took 13 days before it arrives and the plants were all so dried.

I called them and they instructed me to soak them in water for 24hours before planting them. Weeks past only 2 plants thrived and I was so disappointed most when the flowers came out because they were not the ones I've expected and paid for. The label attached were totally different from the outcome.

I called them and they will replace the dead plants but I have to pay 50% of the cost I've paid before and I have to pay for the shipment too.
This nursery is completely a fraud and ripping off the customers pocket. Their adds and pics in their website were all good to be true but a real fraud.
I have called the Agriculture Dept. of Tennessee and reported them for further investigation to protect the consumers and I'm looking forward that there will be something to be done.

I also (like everyone that has dealt with this company) got a large order of dried up twigs from them.I tried unsucessfully to contact them. They do not have and email box that works and I have never gotten them to answer thier listed phone number.Everything I got from them arrived looking dead and has stayed that way.With wonderful care and lots of rain here I should have gotten great trees!DO NOT BUY FROM THEM.If I could do more to ruin them I would.Iwish I knew about this site beforehand. I will be posting everywhere and anywhere I can to let people know in advance about this company.My trees were ordered may 6th and arrived may 22nd.Nothing lived.

I ordered roses from Summerstone, many I was already familiar with. The ones that have bloomed all look the same--some tiny pink multiflora rose nothing like the various tea roses ordered.
Now that I've seen so many negative reviews I wish I'd done more research before ordering. I have contacted the company but have not had a reply yet. Very disappointing.

I ordered 18 American Red Cedars from Summerstone Nursery and picked the 72 hour option. Upon getting May's bank statement I seen my check was cashed on 5/7/09, plants arrived on 6/15/09. Maybe they got days and hours confused on their flyer. Of the 18 plants, 4 of which are in fact White Pines, all are either dead or in the process of dying. Furthermore, I put them in a potting soil mix the day they arrived and took care of them as best as possible, obviously died at the post office hub due to cheap bulk rate mail. In closing, I have over a hundred annual flowers that I started from seed this year, so apparently I know what I am doing when it comes to gardening, I should because I grew up on my grandparents 46 acre farm and learned all the aspects of farming and gardening from a young age.

Well, in April I ordered 18 rose bushes all were solid color. Now in June as they all have bloomed (I guess I got lucky in that respect) only one is even close to a color that I ordered. Most are striped pink and white or red and white. I sent an email to customer service and I sure would like to hope that Sam & Melinda Womack (the BBB registered owners) will do the right thing. I am not holding my breath since they seem to have switched the name once to hide their previous nursery, Autumn Ridge Nursery, from the bad BBB reports. If nothing else I hope this prevents others from making the same mistake I did.
Joe

I ordered 2 roses. one was called angel face and the other barbara strasand, They were both to be purple. They came and were some of the worst roses I have seen, but i babied them and got them to live. They finally bloomed and both are pink! I am so dissappointed.Also received a free red maple , that with the best of care, has never budded out. Its been watered, and has the best of potting soil. I have tried to call and the phone just rings and rings,I have also tried to email them at the address on this website, and have received no response. I will never order from this company again. I wish I had found this website before i ordered from summerstone nursery.

May 14, 2009 I purchased 133.00 worth of trees, shrubs and a few plants from SummerStone Nursery. I was excited. About 2 weeks later I received via US Mail all of my order in a 3 foot long tube, I was worried. I opened it up and all I saw was small scraggly dried up dead roots! The only thing alive were the plant roots that were wrapped in baggies.

I was so discouraged but I called a gardener to come and dig the holes and help me plant my trees and shrubs since I'm a disabled veteran I can't do it alone. That was an additional 60.00 and a near heat stroke because I had to get them in the ground the day they arrived because I wanted so desperately to try and save them.

It was no use, they are all dead except for a Fire and Ice hosta. That was weird because I bought that plant due to the nickname me and my partner had in Desert Storm was "Fire and Ice".

I called the nursery and was told that they were sorry and would send me a complete new order! They were going to replace everything! Well I got a letter from them a few days later and it stated that they would replace my dead trees and shrubs at 50% the original cost plus 2.50 shipping! I was so mad. I couldn't believe that a company could get away with such practice.

I've been in contact with an attorney general here in NC and in TN. I'm going to take this as far as the nursery wants to go because this is fraudulent practices and just plain out ripping people off. Other nurseries need to try and get this company put out of business because it will make them lose money also, why would anyone want to trust another mail order nursery after hearing about this company?

I will go back to paying 40.00 a tree at my local nursery because I can take these back right to their door if they fail to thrive. Here is my order number if proof of purchase is needed: Order Number: 6178-2969-0585-7994.

A friend ordered 3 roses and a crab apple tree sent to my address May 17th. It's June 10th with no sign of growth or even that they are still alive. I tried calling the phone number from the box several times with no answer. The phone kept ringing each time.
I finally found your site, and then found the Better Business Bureau where I was going to report them.
The BBB site had their correct phone number and 7 complaints that have been resolved.
I called the company and they informed me the plants are "dormant" and I would have to wait at least 5 weeks before the plants would show anything. They said the plants are guarantee for replacement for a year.
I have decided to wait that time and if not resolved, I will be filing a report with the Better Business Bureau to get it resolved. If enough persons file a report (it can be done online), My hope is that the problems will be resolved faster since anyone that has filed has gotten it resolved. I will not be ordering again from them, but I do want what was paid for honored under their warranty.

About a month ago I ordered 25 strawberry plants and 3 different grapes...I have had success with 20 of the strawberries and 2 of the grapes. I called today and asked for a replacement on the grape that did not survive. I got a rude answer of send it back on my dime and I'll get a replacement in NOVEMBER! Or I could have them send me one now for half price...didn't make sence to me...if you can send me one at half price now, why not be able to replace it til november???

I also had to call them after 6 days of placing my order asking about the 72 hour shipping and they said something about it being a busy tme, so it's not gaurenteed...

When talking with this 'lady' today, I told her no wonder you guys get so many bad reviews...then she hung up on me. I do not recommend this company when there are so many other nurserys out there that are much much better.

I placed two orders with Summerstone Nursery.
Then I found "Dave's Garden" and all the bad reviews.
All but one of the trees that I ordered are growing great.
The one tree that has not made it yet was munched on by gophers.
All trees showed new growth inside 7 days.

Sorry folks, but I am impressed with the items I just got from Summerstone. i bought 7 grape varities, raspberries, gooseberries, boysenberries, and black berries. All have EXTENSIVE root systems and came wrapped in wet newspaper with a gelaton to help retain moisture, then wrapped in a good layer of plastic. I was VERY nervouse last night after reading all your negative posts but was very happy when I opened the package today. Total time from order to delivery was just over 2 weeks and I DID NOT request the 72 hour schedule so many of you have had problems with. Maybe I just got lucky, but I give a big POSITIVE

GRIZZ

Ordered a Empress tree through Summerstone and got a free fountain grass. The empress tree turned out to be a locust tree which I have been trying to eradicate from my yard for the past three years and the little fountain grass looks to have been dead for quite a while before they sent it to me. I called the number and reported how disappointed I was and she cheerfully said they would send the right tree and a new fountain grass. got the replacement pretty quick and to my surprise it was a dead stick with no root system to speak of and the fountain grass was worse then the first it was either invisible ot not there at all I'm going with not there. Called them back to ask what's with the dead stick and she said I had to send the dead stick back to them on my dime (OR MORE) kind of like Russian roulette with trees. Instead ill take the beating and learn my lesson. also Ill be reporting them to the Better Business Bureau.

never, I repeat, never never use summerstone nursey. I ordered 20 rugosa rose hedge at a price of 3.25 each and 7.50 for S&H for a total of 72.50. when I received them I was dismayed of what I found. I receive 19 DEAD sticks and one plant. On the free hibiscus, It was a package of nothing. I had to discard the hold order into the trash. The major problem was that I could not get my money back. I wasted 72.50 on this company. I have found out after the fact that SUMMERSTONE NURSEY is a scam. They should be closed and sued for fraud.

I received my five roses 3 weeks ago, they were nothing but sticks, one cane. I planted them anyway and there is no sign of life whatsoever. I tried emailing the company, only to find their email address is incorrect on my statement.

Thankfully, I found this site and see others have had the same luck and was provided their correct email address.

Now to see if they make this right.

Summer Stone Nursery is awful. I placed an order on May 5th with the option of the 72 hours shipping. I ordered the Eternal Flame Rose Bush in honor of my Grandmother who had just passed away...for my Mother for Mother's Day. The order didn't even ship until May 15th!!! My Mother did not receive the memorial rose bush....or anything else on Mother's Day! They offered virtually no explanation or apology. DO NOT ORDER THROUGH SUMMER STONE NURSERY!

I spent nearly $70 at Summerstone Nursery, the bottom line is:
In future I will buy plants somewhere else.

Reasons:
Among 8 plants delivered (including 5 rose bushes) 5 were dead.
Packaging was unacceptable.

Also, I never received the rest of my order. Contacts by e-mail were useless, no one answered.

I just received my Sunsprite rosebush. Thank GOD I only ordered one plant from this place. I didn't research enough and tonight as I sat down to email Summerstone about the DEAD rosebush I received today (and this too, was supposed to be 72 hour shipping -- which turned out to be11 day shipping!) I saw all this negative feedback.

I will contact the BBB too, and maybe my bank to see if they can do anything to get my money back.

Five of the six roses I received early in April are doing well, as is the Fireball Hibiscus I received as one of two premiums. A sixth rose was at best a #2 in size and quality and has shown no sign of life to date. The Flowering pear tree was a joke: three broken, and dead, twigs, with no sign of roots or life.
My e-mails were returned and I received busy signals on the phone. I finally tried calling an affiliated nursery, Autumn Ridge, and after several tries, a lady answered and instructed me to return the dead plants to them for replacement, at my expense. I should have read the evaluations of the nursery before ordering my plants.

March, 2009.

Service at first was GREAT. But after they short shipped me one apple tree is went to hell in a hand basket quickly. I tried 11 phone calls to get in contact with a customer service person. Either the line was busy or would just ring and ring. I finally sent an email and she gave me all these excuses in her reply. Never once did she promise to send me my apple tree that they short shipped. They must only have on customer service person. There product was good, but they do not hold true to there guarantee. I need more trees, but will look and go elsewhere.

I wish I had read the terrible reviews about summerstone nusery before I ordered 109.78 worth of dead plants!!
I am on a tight garden budget and I usually order from Michigan Bulb with absolutely No Complaints. Their plants are beautiful and guarenteed FOR LIFE.
Summerstone sends dead plants.. you pay to send them back...and they won't reimburse you because the plants were dead when they received them. DA-AH
Stay away from Sumerstone ...PLEEEEZE.

ordered over $100 worth of plants & trees. my 72hr shipping turned into 11days. by the time my plants arrived all of the trees were dead, completely dried out I prayed for them, watered them & potted them. my dianthus were rotten. only the hibiscus are hopeful. i have a very tight gardening budget this year and am VERY disappointed as I have never had a bad experience like this before shopping online. I guess I should have known better if the price looks too good to be true it is just that, too good to be true.

I ordered 85.70 worth of plants 4/9/09, money taken out of account 4/9/09.The date is now 4/18/09 no feedback, no plants, no money,no correct email,72 hr delivery JOKE! J Lovett

Receiving my April 10, 2009 shipment from Summerstone was like being hit by a tornado (see below):

Ordered a fair sized order of 55 plants:

15 Gooseberries: Dead, dried-out sticks arrived with dried-on crusted mold on the roots. There was nothing wrapped around the plants to keep the moisture.
(cannot blame shipping time which was 5 days per FEDEX ground. These plants must have been dead when they went into the box.)

20 Concord: small, dried-out bareroot plants which may or may not survive, will post an addendum here if any of these will live. These had a one-layer sheet of newspaper wrapped around the roots which was as dry as the plants.

10 Persimmon: dried-out, no green on trunk when scratching with fingernail, roots broken off. These had been stuffed into the plastic bag without anything wrapped around the roots (Persimmon roots are brittle and need something wrapped around for protection for shipping).

10 Arctic Kiwi: 3 inch plants, alive, but buds and twigs broken off. These had been in pots, placed from the pots straight into plastic bags, 2 - 3 plants at a time. The bags were not padded or properly placed into the shipping box. Rather, these (very small) plastic bags had just been thrown into the FEDEX shipping container with the rest of the miserable, dehydrated bunch, migrating during shipping and breaking the plants.

Here are the POSITIVES:

1. Healthy bonus plants
While the main shipment was in a horrid state, the bonus plants (six 5" English Walnut stalks) were actually alive and the most healthy of them all.

2. Plant death with dignity
They placed their catalogue in the plastic bag with the plants. This catalogue had wicked away the few last drops of moisture from the (already practically dead) plants, therefore potentially helping the terminally ill plants to die faster.

3. Free composting material
That same catalogue, damp and torn, arrived ready for composting (some advise against composting color print materials so I won't).


I tried to reach the company. Hopeless. You just get a perpetual busy signal as if calling the IRS on tax day (not that I have tried that ....)


Now, with all these negative things being said, the same day my horrible shipment arrived, April 10, 2009, the village of Murfreesboro, TN was hit by a major tornado. Murfreesboro is only 40 miles from McMinnville, Tennessee, the village where Summerstone is supposedly located (www.maps.google.com).

If Summerstone's business was affected by this recent tornado or the tornado which went through in 2008, my heart goes out to the people who are trying to make a living there.

Tornadoes however do not explain the total lack of care in how the shipment was put together and the fact that they shipped already dead plants.

Stay clear of Summerstone nursery.

Oh no, I to have placed an order with them on 3/27 and have not received my order yet... maybe I should have done a little more research before placing my order. Ans like so many others I have been trying to contact them by phone and e-mail with no luck..

This company is a scam. I ordered a Sheila Rose bush to celebrate my neighbor beating her cancer. It's been 2 weeks since they said they sent the order, I still have not received it. I have like others, sent an email that comes back saying illegal host or domain. When you call the phone number on their site it is either busy or rings and you get a message saying your party is not answering please try your call again. I will be calling my credit card company and canceling this order and will report them to the BBB if that even helps. Obviously NOT! Since there are so many negative comments here. DO NOT PURCHASE FROM THESE SCAMMERS....