Comments regarding Gardener's Choice

I have never been "Taken" as bad from any other company as I have been by Gardeners Choice. I received dead trees in the mail that I couldn't even begin to revive. After reading all the bad comments on this company and seeing that the BBB & attorney general for Michigan have been notified I do not understand how they can stay in business. I guess if they "Take" everyone once, they make a small fortune, even without return business..

In March 2001 I order from Gardeners Choice. After five months of attempting to contact and getting the same run around others have expressed in this site, I finally contacted the local Consumer Help group at a local TV station. They actually got results. I received my money back and later even received three dead plants in the mail. Now 2 years later I received their cataloge in the mail unrequested. Whereas most seed companies put real pictures in the cataloge this outfit puts cartoon drawings. Looks like nothing has changed. DONT BUY ANYTHING.

Summer of 1999 I ordered two Paulownia trees, GC's "Hybrid" of five types of apples on one tree, and assorted tomatoes and shrubs. All were DOA except one Paulownia and the Apple tree. To date, none of the grafts on the apple tree took and the rest of it is a stunted mess. The Paulownia is big and beautiful. I emailed the Company repeatedly when the order was received and NEVER, NEVER, EVER received any kind of a response. I called twice and left messages and NEVER received a call back. This Company is junk. Sells junk. Will never ever again get business from me. 'Nuf said. Be warned.

I ordered multiple trees from this company, not knowing then what I know now. I ordered a total of 9 trees. I did receive all of them. But, they never came up! None of them grew. So, I contacted, via e-mail, Gardeners Choice. They swore they'd send me a refund. That was two weeks ago. The refund is STILL not here. I have sent them another e-mail tonight. Basically told them that they either need to send me a refund or I was reporting them to the Better Business Bureau, although I saw on here that some have reported them to the Michigan State Attorney General. That sounds good to me too! I paid by check each of the three times, each time, the checks were cashed.

Another victim of Gardeners Choice. I ordered the Paulownia trees in March 2002, and it is now August. I got the same response as a lot of others to my first e-mail ("where's my trees?"); namely, we're just overwhelmed and shipping as fast as we can. That was in May. No response to my most recent, threatening e-mail…

I ordered 4 of the Empress Paulownia trees, I think about 5 months ago. My check was cashed the same month and I had forgotten about this. Today (July 24, 2002) I received a letter from Gardeners Choice, unsigned by someone named Matt Cooper. There is a sob story about the demands exceeding their expectations and they will (IF I will wait until the trees are ready for shipment) send me, at no additional cost, the trees I ordered, one extra tree and fertilizer tablets, at the proper time...October!! They did give me a place to write to for a REFUND, which I guess I will try.

I ordered three trees from Gardener's choice. It took a year, no trees. I contacted them. I received a postcard telling me that they would send them when the "season" was right, and give me an extra. I received them about 6 months later, after another call. They promptly died. Have emailed them, and have still received no answer and that's been 8 months. Oh, and I ever received the promised "free" one.

Wow! I don't want to upset anyone, but I have had a great experience with these folks. Several key things to remember in dealing with this company:

1) Don't every call them on a Monday or Friday or any weekday afternoon (call Tues-Fri AM only)

2) Plants will only ship at certain times of the year

I sort of forgot that I had ordered and purchased my Royal Paulownia trees, and got a bit of a surprise in the mail in the fall.

Also, the key with these trees is to remember that they are native to Southeast Asia!!! Thus, if you live in the Northeast or Midwest US you probably won't do as well with them as if you lived in the swampy Gulf Coast or Southeast. We live in Southeast Texas and these trees do great here - they love lots and lots of water.

In the second year of growth, we've had up to 12 feet so far. The first year was a lot less, and don't expect any blossoms for the first few years (we've had none yet in two years). I will be ordering a few more of these tress this fall for planting during the dormant winter months.

I ordered two Empress Paulownia trees on May 7, 2002. I did not receive them for over 4 weeks. On June 10, 2002 I received two dead trees by normal mail delivery. I forgot that I ordered trees from this company a few years ago and I spent a year and a half making phone calls. In the end,I had no trees but my check had been cashed.
I will now call the states attorney general to report this company, in hopes of getting my money back. I think it is ridiculous that I have to pay 95 cents to leave this company a message because their phone is constantly busy.

I ordered several items (Paulownia trees and tree tomatoes) on April 1, 2002. I have received the cancelled checks but no products to date. After finding this site I sent an email with an inquiry on my order. I am sure that the Postal Inspection Service would be interested in hearing about this "business" it sure sounds like mail fraud to me! Go to http://www.usps.com and search for the Inspection Service to learn how to log your complaints. Good Luck.

PAID FOR TREES ON FEB 28, 2002 AND CHECK WAS CASHED IN APRIL(15) AND HAVE HAD SEVERAL MESSAGES FROM THE COMPANY TO THE EFFECT THAT THE TREES WERE ON THE WAY, HAVE NOT SEEN TREES OR MY MONEY ....

Add me to the scam. I ordered three trees in Feb. 2002. They cashed my check, sent me a notice the trees would be shipped the week of May 20. To date, no trees.

They posted an ad in a Newspaper Insert (Parade Magazine in Sacramento Bee) for Giant Tomato Tree. All I got was a giant rip off! No tree after several emails and calls. Emails back, though they did respond, we stall tactics. I reported them to the Sacramento Bee and believe they should be looked at by the US Postal Service for mail fraud. In any such case, I give them the big thumbs down.

They did not ship when promised, did ship a couple of weeks after I had cancelled my order, and I cannot get them to respond to my requests for a credit for the material that I returned to them.

I guess I was taken, just like everyone else I read about! Had I seen these testimonies, prior to ordering my Empress Royal Paulownia tree, I never would of ordered anything from this company. I am now in the process of trying to get my order or get a refund.

I recently purchased three tomato trees from Gardner's Choice, and when I received them they were dead, I tried to contact the company by email and never was responded to, I also tried to call there service number and am unable to get threw I think there customer service department has a lot to be desired and I would not recommend them to anyone, and in fact I'm telling everyone I can their service stinks.

I ordered 6 Royal Paulownia trees from this company on April 13, 2002. My check for $24.27 has been long since cashed but, no trees.

Below is the correspondence because I asked about my shipment that I never received. I have never seen such poor customer service. Reply-to: From: customerservice@gardenerschoice.net | Block Address | Add to Address Book Fri, 31 May 2002 07:23:25 -0400 YOUR ORDER DIDN'T GO THROUGH THE COMPUTER SYSTEM. I HAVE PULLED ALL THE CUSTOMERS IN YOUR ZIP CODE AND FOUND NO ORDERS FOR YOUR LAST NAME I HAVE PULLED ALL CUSTOMERS WITH YOUR LAST NAME AND FOUND NO ORDER FOR YOUR ADDRESS. When the web site (East coast) downloads the web orders to our main/shipping computer (Michigan) our main computer will boot/delete any orders that have transposed any number anywhere in the order. card numbers, zip code, items numbers. It will also delete any orders, in areas that we are no longer are shipping to because it to late/hot to ship to that area.

I ordered several items from Gardeners' Choice on May 10, 2002. I just completed a phone call with them (12:05 p.m. May 31, 2001) and the representative said that they lost a lot of orders in May due to changing websites. I believe this is a shoddy way to run a business. If you call 1-616-621-2487 (listed on the site), you will continually get a busy signal. Calling the 888 number at the top of this page will give to correct number to call. Their current number is 1-616-621-2447, but be ready to wait to be connected, because this is a switchboard. If I had known what I now know, I could have attained many of these plants locally. At least my credit card wasn't charged.

I ordered 20 Paulownia trees and 8 tomato plants on March 22, 2002.
I have received nothing!!!
I ordered on the Internet based on an ad in a Michigan paper for this company that is supposedly in Hartford, Michigan.
I have been ripped off for about $80.00 initially, but have acrued other expenses in preparing to plant the trees and plants.
I have received many e-mails from them, including one today (it was sent four times from them). The e-mails are gibberish and what little is readable in the message is actually a request for order status from someone else.

I ordered 3 trees (Royal Paulownia) on 3-18-02 you cash my
check. Where are my trees. It's now the end of may. No trees. I work hard for my money. I hope you have a good time with my money. The only thing thats growing high is your bank account.

I orderred from this company at the same time I orderred from the Burgess seed co. and like them when i orderred thier quicklawn grass seed and trumpet vines the seed arrived and the vines had not still no word or plants from them and it's not looking good by the reading I've done on these companies.

I got a call from my father who is senior citizen
He asked for my help in contacting this company.

He ordered the five in one wonder tree. He wonders where the tree is and where his money went. Check cashed no tree.
If it seems to good to be true then sell it in a garden advertisment.

The Empress Paulawna tree is a joke.

Good luck getting this spindly seedling that looks like a pumpkin vine to grow into the lush, fast growing flowering tree in their ad.

Their idea of a tree is a 4-6 inch stick with no leaves and a (bad) root system. I planted my teeny tiny peach tree and almost ran it over with the lawn mower by mistake.

Their prices, like their plants, are too good to be true. In this case, you get what you pay for.

I ordered two trees on 4/ 15/02. as of 5/22/01, I do not have my trees. I have a cancled check,but no trees
marcos489.

6 weeks ago I ordered thelavender palnt and tomatoe plants a huming bird vine, and a tree from gardeners choice. Three days ago I recieved the lavender plant and now it is dead. i haven't recieved the other three products yet. They charged me $6.00 to ship these thing's, but the lavender only cost 50 cents to ship. If it says it's to good to be true, it usually is.

We ordered the Royal Pauiownia Trees back in March. They have since cashed our check, which was only for $12.50 and I have yet to receive the trees. I have been trying to contact the company with no much response. I will not be doing business again, since reading so many negative responses.

In early April I placed an order with Gardeners' Choice. I was surprised when I couldn't contact them and so I checked around the web and have found some pretty bad ratings on them. I originally charged the merchandise on my American Express and have noticed a second charge appearing yesterday from this company. When I read all the feedback here, and on other sites, I contacted the Michigan Attorney Generals office of consumer affairs. At the time there were 274 complaints against the company for failure to deliver and they were under investigation. The woman I spoke with did however state that the company was refunding the proper amounts and resolving each of the conflicts.

The telephone number to get a complaint form from the Attorney General and get your money back is 877-765-8388. Also, if they continue to charge your credit card, a call to the credit card company will ultimately get their merchant accounts terminated with Visa, Mastercard and Amex. It's important that everyone at least make a call to the card companies even though it is such a small amount.

Do not order ANYTHING from this company. I placed an order months ago, and have still not received anything from them. I have tried calling them, but their line is allways busy. They have basicaly stole my purchase of $50.00,and I have nothing to show for it. Its time to call the BBB and report them.

My complaint is unusual. I ordered something last year
and got it (it didn't grow.) Two days ago I received two
plants I DID NOT order and some free seeds, to the tune of about $18.00. I was originally just looking for their
phone number or email on the Web, but I found this site in my search and after reading these comments, I'm afraid that this company will just charge my credit card at random for these plants I did not order--and anything else they decide to send. Those of you who have dealt with them in the past need to watch your credit card activity, too!

I was going to return them, but now I'm really ticked off and will probably just keep them (and watch my credit card
activity for anything suspicious!)

I too ordered and received dead plants. I live 25 miles from Hartford, Michigan and am here to tell you the place does not even exist, at least physically. That Michigan address is a mail drop.

On February 23, 2002. I ordered 3 Royal Paulownia trees. The trees arrived April 17, 2002. Two trees were limp and lifeless. They were dead the next day. The third tree looked good. I carefully followed the directions and planted this one tree. Then I wrote a letter on April 19, 2002. I explained the condition of the two dead trees and asked that they send me two good trees. It has been 3 weeks and there hasn't been any response so far. The third tree only looked good for about 7 days and then it died. This doesn't give me any confidence in ordering from Gardener's Choice ever again. THIS IS A RIP OFF.

I ordered a Royal Paulownia tree on 3/29/02. My check for $9.47 was cashed within days, however I have not received my tree or had any contact from Gardener's Choice. THIS COMPANY IS A SCAM! I work in law enforcement and will pursue this.

We ordered tomato trees and asparagus in February 2002. Received notification from company that they had received our order and plants would be shipped in April. We received them in April and the plants were dormant (as they said they would be). We planted them after Easter. All plants received from this company are THRIVING. We are very pleased. Perhaps they have corrected their problems.

In Feb 2002 I ordered Siberian Sage plants. Needless to say I have not received them as of April 26. This company is in Hartford MI so I am going to try to find out where they are and turn them into the local Fox station who loves to visit "Scam" companies. Maybe this won't help all of us who have been scammed but, it will make me feel better. I'm suprised Parade Magazine isn't more careful about who they let advertise.

I wish I had done my research before ordering from Gardenerschoice.net website. I, too, have fall victim of this company as I have placed an order over 2 months ago and to date 4/25/02, have not heard from them. I have used their online inquiring form and no response. My next step is the FTC and the Postal Inspector. This is bad. No more dealings with them. And I am contacting my credit card company tomorrow to dispute the charges. Beware of this shady company.

My daughter ordered 3 Siberian Sage (Lavender) plants for her mother and paid by check. They arrived as expected and all three grew, made it through the winter and are growing well.

I placed an order on 12 March from parade magizine. My credit card was billed on March 18th. On April 10th I began to try to check on order, sent 3 E-mails with no response, sent E-mail canceling order, no response. tried calling Customer service # for 3 days, always "busy".
No where in the internet site is there an address listed for this company. the Amount was $54.09, which I think they believe people will not sue for and are right. so this company is another scam site on the internet.

I wish I had found this site before! I also ordered a few trees, lavender, chamomile and more over $60. Started to get worried after about 5 weeks of hearing nothing, so I emailed...they wouldn't return my emails, then after a nasty letter they replied saying it was on the way. I waited again for about 1 & 1/2weeks then asked for a routing number and they responded that there was never an order under my name! I sent them a copy of my records and asked them to cancel it, they said it was cancelled, but just 2 days ago I received something in the mail saying my order is on the way! They are a crackjacka__ operation.