Comments regarding Schreiner's Iris Gardens

After being a loyal customer of Schreiner's for years, I am pretty disappointed with my last order. I ordered only three iris varieties this year - Dracula's Kiss, High Desert and Snow Melt. All three rhizomes I received were pretty small, and Snow Melt was substituted with Clarence, which has a washed-out look (Snow Melt is a high-contrast amoena). Quality is just not there anymore and prices are way too high - $50 for three small plants, with one of them being a sub I don't like. This was last time I ordered from Schreiner's...

In past years, I have received good service from Schreiners, but not in summer 2023. On 7/24/23, I placed an order for $80 worth of bearded iris. When I didn't hear anything more from Schreiners, I emailed them on 8/10/23 and received an email back a couple days later saying the iris were being dug up and mailed out within the week and I would receive a tracking number. No news. No iris. On 8/20/23, almost a month after I ordered the iris, I sent an email to Schreiners that canceled the order because I would be traveling soon and no longer had time to plant. They promptly responded with an email saying they would refund all but the 3.5% "cancellation charge" (which had never been mentioned previously.) Outrageous. I will not use them again. Beware that if you order from them, you may or may not get an order, but they will take your money.

Be sure and COUNT what this company sends to you. I ordered 10 varieties and was really rather shocked that they left one out. I spread them out on the ground as soon as they arrived and counted and recounted and counted again. So after counting them all and matching to the count and the varieties ordered I called them and told them they did not include everything and told them the variety they left out. "Are you sure?" was the comment I got back. Well that was enough. "Ok , we'll send it out to you.". Well here I am 3 1/2 weeks later and I still don't have it. In the interim I emailed them and asked WHEN. "We don't have any of that variety now. We'll have to put it on the dig schedule. We still have humans working here and they make mistakes." Yes , you do. But you could have a better attitude about fixing your mistakes when you realize one is made. If I had cheated a customer (either on purpose or by mistake) and they caught it, I would be troubled and send someone out to get the missing item and ship it to the customer.

This place isn't cheap. And for the price, I expect decent customer service with a friendly attitude. I will not be ordering from them again even if they eventually ship the rhizome they left out.

Will not be using them again. Their customer service department is a bit rude and dismissive. They have gone up on their collection prices and their advertising is misleading.

I ordered from Schreiners and Superstition Iris Gardens. Had I not ordered from Superstition, I would not have realized the difference. Superstition's were anywhere from 50% to 100% larger, and MUCH fresher looking, with huge roots. I spoke with both companies about my experience and Schreiner's said that tall iris' would have a much larger rhizome; but I did not order ANY tall iris. Also, Schreiner's did not ship the correct quantities. Look up Superstition Iris Gardens. Their site is not as easy to navigate as Schreiner's, but you can get a catalog for $1.50 if you want, which is what I might do next time.

I ordered several iris august 15 online, and received an email confirmation. After waiting two weeks, I called today to check the status. They had received my order, but it was never filled. The person with whom I spoke did not know why. I cancelled the order because the next shipment was not until 9/6. As this was my first order, I have no idea of the quality of their iris.
If you decide to order, I suggest a followup call.

Schreiner's has the worst customer service. According to their web site the last day to ship to Wisconsin was Sept. 8th, and you had to post your order in advance a week prior. I posted my order on Sept. 1st. It took me quite awhile since I have only dial up service, and I did so after a long work day driving across state. I followed up with a call on the order the next day to make sure they received it even though the website said the order was successful. The next day when I spoke to the customer service representative, she was very rude. She told me that the cutoff was on Sept. 6th, and when I informed her that the website had a Sept 8th cutoff, it took me awhile to post the order, and it was my first time...etc, she said that the date was being "corrected" as we spoke! I could have the iris order, but no guarantee! But when she saw that I had an order amount for $107, she consulted someone else, and said that they would honor the order. I told her that I intended to pot up a couple of iris, she got rude again and told me point blank that I could not do that! I am a novice, I will admit, but on their webpage there is a large section on potting up iris, and informed her of that. I told her that I would think things over.
I did just that, and located some very reputable growers.
One large grower offered to dig iris out of their show gardens after hearing of my poor customer experience!
Schreiner's customer representative told me that I would probably get a letter in the mail explaining the reason they could not honor the order, but that was before she told me that they would honor the order afterall. I have not received a response from the company. No one has gotten back to me after another follow up call. In fact the order is still hanging out there. As far as I know it has not been posted to my credit card, since I did check. There are so many contradictions that this representative stated, that I can only hope for the company's sake that this is a single isolated incident and does not reflect on the company as a whole since they overall have a very positive rating. I just had bad luck, but it was bad enough to make me look elsewhere and find companies that are just as good if not better for my needs.

In late summer '95, I saw an ad for Schreiners in one of the gardening magazines. The iris were pretty, the price seemed reasonable. I wasn't familiar with the company but decided to take a chance and send in an order.What I got in return was a box of 20 or so slightly blemished iris AND hundreds and hundreds of lively, well-nourished APHIDS!I wanted to destroy the entire package before the livestock escaped! What I did first, though, was call the company and tell them what happened. I expected them to ship me new, aphid-free plants. WRONG! The woman answering the phone said I should rinse the irises in a bleach and water solution, then plant them. I said I wanted either replacement plants or a refund of my money. She said they'd send me a refund, but I had to return the irises, first.I called our County Cooperative Extension Service to see what they thought about the bleach idea. They pointed out that aphids can infect plants with disease, and suggested that I send the iris back and not deal with that company anymore. (The Extension Service also sent me some literature about diseases aphids can transmit to plants. Since the plants could have been diseased -- why take the chance???).It was a pain to pack up the iris and send them back. I sent them back c.o.d. and this meant I had to go to a "real" UPS office -- not one ofthe local stores that offers UPS service. The nearest place is about 30 miles from where I live.Schreiners sent me a refund and an apology. But, as the saying goes, "too little, too late". That was my first and last experience with Schreiners.