Comments regarding Brent & Becky's Bulbs

In 2018 I ordered 100 crocus bulbs from Brent and Becky's. None of them came up the following spring. Last fall I ordered 25 Tete-a-tete daffodils from them. Not one came up. I have never had this experience with bulbs from other companies and I've been gardening for four decades.

Brent & Becky have a no refund policy unless you report problems on receipt of the bulbs. In my case the advertised collection was not what what I received and this obviously was not apparent until the daffodils bloomed. Also, many of the bulbs did not come up.

I do not know what is going on with this company but I will never order from them again after my experience this year. I have ordered from them in the past and they have been great. I ordered some black elephant ears and decided to order a few caladiums to justify the shipping. This was March 3. They E-mailed me the next day and said they did not have the elephant ears but suggested a replacement which I did not want. I told them to just credit my card for the plants they did not have in stock. I heard nothing from them - no shipping or anything. So I re emailed them after a month thinking maybe they were confused about what I wanted. They shipped the caladiums about 6 weeks after I made my order but no refund.

They will not refund me for the plants they did not have. I have called them several times requesting them to credit my card and Emailed them 3 times. They will not communicate or refund my money. It is not a huge dollar amount - about $17 but it is still my money. I am never going to order again. What if it had been hundreds of dollars and they would not credit my card. I get that maybe they have been too busy to keep up with plant availability on their website and I was bummed that they did not have what I wanted but nobody should have to wait three months for a refund!

"On May 28, 2021 8:02 AM, Brent & Becky\'s Bulbs responded with:

Hi, Susan. "Shock" and "Dismay" are the words that come to mind. I actually thought, "She must have us confused with another company", because, as you know, this is not us AT ALL! So, I did some digging:

You did have an overpayment on your account for $16.20.  We have credited your credit card and sent a receipt showing the credit.  

We keep notes on some customers, and there are no notes in your account. We have searched our email, and we have not received anything from you.  The policy in the office is that if someone calls and requests a refund for an overpayment, it is credited within a day or two max, and notes are put into the account so we are all on the same page.  If someone calls the office and shares that they have asked for a refund previously, we refund that same day, almost immediately. This has been our procedure for years.

Would you mind sharing what email address you contacted? We need to see where your email may have gone and fix that today.

Thank you, and we appreciate your business. If you do decide to try again, we'd love the chance to make it up to you. If not, it will certainly be understood and we deeply apologize. "

I contacted them by phone on Sept 20 and then sent an email Sept 23. I had a question about the charges on my credit card and gave them all the info. Sept 25 I got an auto generated response that they received my email.
It is now Nov 13 and STILL no response.
I have ordered from this company for years but will not be doing that again. I await the rest of my order, and hope IT arrieves soon.

"On Nov 13, 2020 2:41 PM, Brent & Becky\'s Bulbs responded with:

Yikes, all of this to a long time customer! This is a real kick in the pants. You are 100% correct! This is far from the attention we normally give people! Covid-19 is killing people, and some business, while other businesses are over run! In fact, all e-commerce business is through the roof! People are staying in and ordering online. Our orders are WAY up (3.5 times normal) and finding the staffing has been difficult (some have opted out to keep their families healthy). We are totally inundated with phone calls and orders to a point we can't keep up any more. We've actually contacted people and informed them that they wouldn't be able to fulfill their orders physically. Almost all have been thankful for our honesty. So, we're scrambling to do what we can and it has affected our normal operation and procedures. Brent and Becky are in the warehouse shipping, office workers are in the warehouse shipping, Shoppe workers are in the warehouse shipping, employee's family members are pitching in with shipping, and even our own distant family members have come into town to help a few days ago. We are truly sorry for your experience and we hope, that after things calm down, that you give us another chance. This was so unexpected and we know that once we get out from under this pandemic explosion of business, we'll be back to our normal operations and pleasing 99.9% of the people that choose to do business with us.

If need be, contact us through FB or over SpeakPipe on our "About Us" page on our website and hopefully we can help you!

Sincerely,

Jay Hutchins
GM, Brent and Becky's"

This was my first time placing an order with Brent & Becky's Bulbs. The people seem nice, but very disorganized. I placed my order on October 8, and it was a while before I heard from them vial email that they did not have one of the kids of tulips I ordered. It was only later that I realized that the nursery had attached an order from someone in New Mexico, complete with name, address, and every item she ordered and her total, which was higher than mine.

I wrote back that I would order something in place of the tulip I had had ordered, since they didn't have it anymore, as well as additional bulbs. I created a new cart for these and asked how I could combine the order. It took 10 days to get a response, and that was only with two follow-up emails on my part. By the time I got a phone call from a very nice lady, I saw that what I had put in the new cart was no longer there. She didn't seem on top of what correspondence had gone on between myself and others at Becky's, and that's when I noticed the New Mexico order attached to mine. She said, "Well, I know it's a pain, but you're going to have to find the additional bulbs you wanted on our site and create a new cart." If she had just offered to extend me some sort of discount for the disappointing customer service, I probably would have stuck with them, but between that and waiting 26 days from the time of my initial order to that conversation, with nothing to show for it, I decided Becky's is definitely not a company I can count on. Now it's November 3 and probably too late to get a tulip garden going. Thanks, Becky's.

"On Nov 5, 2020 11:16 AM, Brent & Becky\'s Bulbs responded with:

Wow, what a year for you to try us out. You are ABSOLUTELY correct! This is far from the attention we normally give people! The reason? Covid-19. In fact, all e-commerce business is through the roof! People are staying in and ordering online. So, A: orders are WAY up (3.5 times normal) and B: Staffing (some have opted out to keep their families healthy). We are being inundated with phone calls and orders to a point we can't keep up any more. So, we're scrambling to do what we can and it has affected our normal operation and procedures. Brent and Becky are in the warehouse shipping, office workers are in the warehouse shipping, Shoppe workers are in the warehouse shipping, employee's family members are pitching in with shipping, and even our own distant family members have come into town to help. We are truly sorry for your experience and we hope, that after things calm down, that you give us another chance.

By the way, it's not too late to plant bulbs. As long as you can get into the ground, you can plant as late as January. So, if you can find some bulbs, go ahead and start that Tulip garden! Feel free to reach out on FB or through SpeakPipe (on the About Us page on our website) if you have any questions on getting it started!"

Posted on May 12, 2020, updated May 24, 2020
Posted on May 12, 2020, updated May 12, 2020
I bought first order 110.40 USD on brentandbeckysbulbs.com on March 16th 2020 and wait to receive them. but it's lost because brentandbeckysbulbs change my receiver name and I never receive Fedex message for shipping information. I contact my household, Fedex and brentandbeckysbulbs to help in lost package. But brentandbeckysbulbs just say we are shipped please contact Fedex. You ship with no signature required service. Yes, I do now. But it hard to do in this case. I want to know what's name on first package that you change. I lose 110.40 USD not receive anything. and very disappointed in your service a lot. It's first time but it's lost. And brentandbeckysbulbs blocked my Facebook already. He should get information in lost package that he change but not.

"On May 12, 2020 11:26 AM, Brent & Becky\'s Bulbs responded with:

When we get an order from a customer, we send the order to the name and address that was entered on the order. We received your order, fulfilled your order, shipped it with FedEx because of their speed in getting orders to California. FedEx says the package was delivered to the correct address. We understand that you're upset, but FedEx is who needs to be contacted. You ordered again because you really wanted the bulbs, so we fulfilled your order again, shipped them with USPS so they could arrive before the weekend, and according to the USPS, they are delivered. We have followed our normal procedures twice now. Our social media person decided to remove you from our page due to the overly demanding, rude, and repeated messages, over and over, asking for a full refund when we did exactly what we do with all of our orders."

I placed an order for 15 Erythronium bulbs on 23 September for shipping in October. My order was processed on 22 October and I was charged the full amount plus shipping. Shortly thereafter I received an email from the company that the bulbs had gone bad - or perhaps they just ran out. In any event, no bulbs would be sent. I was credited for the product on 30 October but not the $7.00 shipping charge. I called last week requesting the additional $7.00 and was told they would credit me right away. I'm still waiting!

Overall, a very unpleasant shopping experience: place an order, wait 5 weeks, find you will not have the items you ordered, then find you've been charged shipping on something you never received. A big disappointment and now a big hassle.

"On Nov 25, 2019 8:31 AM, Brent & Becky\\\'s Bulbs responded with:

Absolutely deserved. There must have been a miscommunication and this should have been resolved. As we told you late last night on Facebook, this was something to be fixed first thing this morning. We were home and didn\'t have access to our database late on a Sunday night. This seems to be your place for communication, so as soon as it\'s resolved, we\'ll drop another message to you here letting you know.

Thanks!

Posted on May 6, 2018, updated May 7, 2018
Planted 15 tulip bulbs last fall per instructions.
(5 02-0813 yellow spring green)
(5 02-1203 orange emperor)
(5 02-1218 albert heijn)
As of 5/6/18 I have only 8 that have come up, 4 orange emperor and 4 albert heijn, I lost all the yellow spring greens. I checked on there guarantee, which is there is no guarantee. Will not buy from them again!

"On May 7, 2018 8:09 AM, Brent & Becky's Bulbs responded with:

Wowee! That really stinks! First question (and this usually is our first question), have you given our office a call yet? We can begin to figure out if it's an issue with the cultivar or something else. The second question is, have you dug down to see what's there? There can be 3 possibilities: Mushy mess = they froze. Partial bulb pieces = they were eaten. Wrinkled and shriveled = they just didn't perform. If you can communicate that with us either here or, to save a step, call our offices directly, we can take steps toward solving this problem and making it right. Our number is toll-free 877-661-2852.

Thanks! And we'll be looking for your call!"

Extremely slow shipping that causes products to arrive (hopefully, they have not yet), well after the ideal planting time. Even though it will be very late to plant them, I will have to pay a 25% restocking fee to return the product. A company that specializes in bulbs should ship products at the appropriate time for that region of the country. It is very difficult to reach customer service, since they do not always answer the phone.

"On Oct 17, 2017 10:27 AM, Brent & Becky's Bulbs responded with:

Interesting comments, thank you for posting them here.

Having been planting and growing bulbs as a family since 1900, you really would think we would know the proper time to plant bulbs. And, we do. The best time to plant is when the soil is around 50 degrees, which usually happens around the average first frost date. For Springdale, PA that average date is today, 10/17. Your process date was listed as 10/15, so we could get it to your around that time. However, over the last 33 days in Springdale, you had 25 growing days (days where the weather has been suitable for crops to grow) and 8 cooling days (days where plant growth is inhibited due to cooler temps or other weather conditions). And for the month of October, you were in the 70's and 80's for daytime temperatures until yesterday, 10/16/17 where it finally cooled down thanks to the same cold front that passed by us here yesterday.

Now, of course, like most reputable companies, we make accommodations for folks who feel differently. We feel we specialize in bulbs and customer service. But, making that accommodation involves a simple phone call, email, or social media post. Yes, it's hard to answer every call right now. More than 30% of our yearly business happens in October. But, we do have voicemail where you can leave a message and we'll call you back.

Your order was placed on 5/11/17 when we were much slower. We emailed a confirmation to you with the 10/15 process date on it, and since we didn't hear from you over these 5 months, we assumed this date was fine for you.

Thank you for calling us this morning before making this post. However, as I mentioned, your process date was 10/15 and your order is already underway and stopping it involves stopping the other hundreds of orders we are processing at the time so we can locate yours and try to restock everything. We felt that this would have caused many more people to be upset about the delay of their order. We really do apologize.

Next year, if you so desire, just leave a note on your checkout or give us a call and let us know exactly when you'd like to receive it, as we can - if need be - make it land on the exact day you want it. We're good like that.

Thanks for sharing your feedback! It means a lot!"

Posted on September 9, 2016, updated September 20, 2016
My experience with certain aspects of this company have been less than ideal. First of all their website doesn't work well, and is not easy to use. For example, I found that there is no easy straight forward way to find the lowest priced daffodil on their site. Other bulb websites have a quick and easy way to sort items from lowest to highest price. Useful features that provide quick at a glance information on price or quantity don't seem to be present. Overall website navigation stinks. I even had error pages when trying to view certain daffodils. I actually prefer viewing their catalog, but expected online ordering to quick and easy. It was not.

Secondly I don't like their expensive and sneaky way to "double dip" on shipping charges. I ordered crocus corms and shipping time was to be around 9/1. I also wanted daffs, but was told those could not be shipped at that date and would require additional shipping charges! I'm sorry but I call that a bunch of BS. So I went and bought my daffodils at Wal-mart in August. Daffodils are certainly dormant in August and Sept. and should have been ready to ship with my crocuses. I can't see a real legitimate reason to do that to somebody.

Thirdly I wasn't impressed with the size of the crocus corms that were delivered. I've seen bigger corms in the big box department stores. I suppose they will grow if they are like any other crocus. It's difficult to know what to expect out of them.

Finally I would have liked an invoice in the shipping container showing my exact total for the order. After this messy transaction I'm looking for other places to spend my money.

Ordered Agapanthus bulbs from B&B and planted them. Having never grown these before I thought after they bloomed they seemed to be "stuck" at a point of not fully opening. I emailed company and was referred to their description in the catalog which basically said they have been unpredictable and may need time to become established.

However, when I received a catalog from B & B I noticed that the photo of the Allium looked EXATCLY like the blooms in my garden where I planted what I thought was Agapanthus! I had never grown Allium either, but I did have visitors to my garden say that they smelled like onions or garlic.

I again emailed company and informed them that it appeared that I had been sent bulbs that had been mislabeled. I asked to send them pictures, or even send some of the Allium to them but they did not respond to that email.

As stated, having never grown either one of these bulbs I did not understand the development process of either one. But when I looked at the picture in B & B's catalog of the Allium I knew it was Allium that had bloomed and was not a "stunted/not fully opening Agapanthus.

"On Jun 8, 2015 11:54 AM, Brent & Becky's Bulbs responded with:

Oh, no, Zoe57! Did you email us directly or through the website? We'll look into the communications to make sure you can reach us and that all of the address was correctly posted. But, by all means, pick up the phone and give us a ring, at 877-661-2852. As you can see by the rest of the folks posting here, we hold strong to our belief that we make sure everyone is happy and we do a great job at it. Please call us and let's get this through from start to solution, find out what went wrong and let's make sure your a happy customer when all is said and done! Ok? We hope to hear from you soon!

Jay Hutchins
General Manager
Brent and Becky's

Mostly negative, been ordering since 2003. Kept on trying. Biggest disapointments, nearly $100.00 spent on lycoris, very sad outcome, Fritillaria Persica no show, deformed non perennial tulips. Daffodils that don't come back. Here is a list of almost everything I bought:
1. N. Extravaganza (Lasted 3 yrs-gone)
2. N. Bulbocodium conspicuus (One came up 1st yr-gone)
3. T. World Expression (Came up 2 yrs deformed-gone)
4. T. Horizon (Came up 3 years-gone 2 came back last year)
5. Allium oreophilum (Never came up)
6. Allium triquetrum (Doing great spreading)
7. Crocus Chrys. blue bird (Two came up 1st yr-gone)
8. Crocus versi Picturatus (Four came up 1st yr-gone)
9. Fritillaria Persica (Came up 1st yr never bloomed-gone)
10. Lilium Martagon Backhous (4 came up doing great-1 was a lily)
11. Fritillaria meleagris (out of over 50, 12 still coming back)
12. Galanthus woronowii (two come back yearly)
13. Crocus sativus (One still coming up)
14. Crocus speci conqueror (Never seen any)
15. T. Olympic Flame (Never seen any)
16. T. Little beauty (Three still come back yearly)
17. Allium caeruleum (Came back 2 years-gone)
18. Allium Globemaster (Came back 3 years-gone)
19. Crocus Flavus Golden yellow (Doing great come back yearly)
20. Dracunculus vulgaris (Two still come back, one doubled itsrelf)
21. Bletilla striata (doing great come back yrly some doubled 4 bloom)
22. Crinum Ellen Bosanquet (Leaves are there--potted winter inside, never bloom)
23. Crinum powellii (Come back yearly 8 scapes this year, outside all year)
24. Lilium sp. leightlinii (Only saw one of these 1st year-gone)
25. Lilium Asiatic Pink Giant (One of these comes back yearly)
26. Lilium AS Blackout (All come back yearly)
27. Lilium O/T Orania (One of these come back yearly 5 ft tall)
28. Lilium O/T Anastasia (All of these doing great)
29. Lillium Tigre flore pleno (Three come back yearly)
30. Allium Gladiator (Came back 2 years)
31. Allium Christophii (Got 1 by mistake-comes back yearly)
32. Allium White Giant (3 of these come back yearly)
33. Chionodoxa forbesii Blue Giant (all of these come back yearly)
34. Hyacinthoides non-scripta (See a few of these yearly)
35. Ipheion uniflorim (Never seen these)
36. Muscari armeniacum (comes back yearly)
37. Orinthogalum nutans (Never seen these)
38. Puschkinia scilloides var. libanotica (All of these come back yearly)
39. Scilla mischtschenkoana (Never seen these)
40. Triteleia Queen Fabiola (These have doubled, come back yearly)
41. N. Rijnveld's Early Sensation (These are amazing, all have doubled come back yrly)
42. N. Trumpet Warrior (Never seen any of these-got refund)
43. T. Bakeri Lilac wonder (1 or 2 come back yearly)
44. T. Clusiana var. chrisanthia (3-4 come back yearly)
45. T. Humillus Lilliput (Came back 1st year-gone)
46. T. Humillus Odalisque (Never seen these)
47. T. praestans fusiller (Came back a few years-gone)
48. T. Lady Jane (Doing great doubled come back yearly)
50. T Pulchella tete-a-tete (Never seen these)
51. Allium Firmament (Came back a few years-gone)
52. Allium Mars (Three come back yearly)
53. Iris dwarf danfordiae (Saw one 1st year-gone)
54. Iris hist Katherine Hodgekin (Three come back yearly)
55. Iris reticulata Alida (Two still come back yearly)
56. L. Red Hot (Two come back yearly)
57. L. Touching (Came back 2 years-gone)
58. L. Boogie Woogie (1 comes back yearly)
59. Nectaroscor sic. sap. bul. (3 come back yearly)
60. Allium nigrum (4 came back then two come back)
61. Crocus ver King of the
62. Gladiolus communis ssp. byzan (These do great come back yearly)
63. L. Lollipop (All come back yearly)
64. L. Garden Party Oriental (1 comes back)
65. Hippeastrum Johnsonii (Never seen it)
66. Lycoris radiata (2 comes back, 1 doubled)
67. Lycoris squamigera (2 came back-gone)
68. Lycoris chinensis (1 came back-gone)
69. Hippeastrum Pink Impression (Indoor-great-had a baby)
70. Hippeastrum Dancing queen (Indoor-great-had a baby)
71. Hippeastrum Misty (Indoor-great-had 2 babies)
72. N. Perfect Lady (All come back yearly)
73. N. Merlin (All come back yearly)
74. Arum Italicum (Doing great-doubled-come back yearly)
75. Ermurus Lemon Meringue (Never seen these)
76. Lilium Satisfaction (2 came back)
77. Crinum Cintho Alpha (Outdoor-never seen this)
78. Lycoris speringeri (2 come back yearly)
79. Hippeastrum Aphrodite (Outdoor blooms)
80. Hippeastrum Papilio (Outdoor leaves come back never blooms)
81. Hippeastrum Emerald (Outdoor leaves come back never blooms)
82. Amorphophallus napalensis (Comes back yearly)
83. L. Scheherazade (Leaves come back never bloomed)
84. Sauromatum venosum (Comes back yearly)
85. Hippeastrum Baby Star (Blooms nicely outdoors year yound)
86. Lillium Black Beauty (3 come back yearly)
87. Crinum Morei Album (Came back 1st year-gome)
88. Eucomis Pole Evansii (Came back just leaves for 2 years now)
89. Gladiolus Flevo Junior (2 0r 3 come back)
90. Gladiolus Flevo Cosmic (2 or 3 come back)
91. Gladiolus Flevo Daniella (4 come back)
92. Gladiolus Flevo Focus (3 come back)
93. Gladiolus Flevo Smile (2 or 3 come back)
94. L. Miss Feya (4 came back)
95. L. Timezone OT (3 came back)
96. L. Pumilium (4 come back, 2 bloomed)
97. L. Tom Pounce (One came back 1st year-gone)
98. Gladiolus Nymph (1 or 2 come back)
99. L. Robinia (4 come back, 1 is pale yellow)
100. Amarcrinum (leaves for 4 or 5 years never blooms)
101. Crocosmia (Never seen these)
102. Alluim Cernuum (Looks like grass stays year round)
103. Alstromeria (Leaves for 2 years, then bloomed)
104. Colocasia Sangria (Winters inside comes back yearly-very small)
105. Kniphofia (Leaves 1st year then 3 bloomed)
106. Lilium Regale (One comes back-rest are gone)
107. Zantedescheia aethiopica (Leaves 1st year-gone dug up bulb--moldy)
108. Anemone coronara Mr. Fokker (Leaves 1st year-blooms great now)

"On Sep 25, 2012 9:23 AM, Brent & Becky's Bulbs responded with:

If there is ever an award for tenacity, you are the winner! Thank you for your business over the years!

Taking a look at your extensive list (you must be incredibly organized! Ever thought of being a book keeper for a bulb company?) I see that a number of them bloomed initially, some for years, but then never came back. And then there were some that never performed.

For the ones that never performed, I sincerely hope you reached out to us so we could have made an attempt to figure out why or to remedy the situation instead of having almost a decade of frustration build.

For the ones that bloomed for a season of more but never came back, again, reach out to us. Not to doubt your abilities (most people here on this site have at least above average knowledge), but we have had people call us saying "My daffodils were great for one year, but never came back again. Not even foliage." Since the bulbs were healthy and viable and performed as promised, the fact that there was no return means there's an obvious issue with the site in which they were planted (i.e., not enough Summer drainage will rot bulbs, automatic sprinklers making the Summer soil too wet, etc.)

We would have loved the chance to figure this out before this post (and maybe we did). Seems your note taking and record keeping skills are impeccable, but we may not be able to go back that far. But we are here to work through any of these types of situations, even to the point of giving you Brent's cell number to talk to him if he's not here. We'll bend over backward to help, I promise! The reviews that state our willingness to help are all over this website, so it's not just because you posted a negative that I'm saying this. It's what we do.

If you'd like to talk with us, call us toll free 877-661-2852 and we'll see what we can do. If you'd like to try again, we'll be here for you with your next order.

Thanks for reaching out. And seriously, you don't live that far from us, ever wanted to work in a highly respected flower bulb company's office?

Jay Hutchins
"Grin-eral Manager"
Brent and Becky's Bulbs
jay@brentandbeckysbulbs
877-661-2852"

Years ago I had ordered many spring bulbs from Brent and Beckys and everything was fine! Recently, they offered a 50% off for a late spring order. Well, today I received the order, and was I ever disappointed. The plants I ordered were packed together in a flimsy plastic bag with no individual planting containers, just soil to soil....they should have been each packed separately in their own planting container.The alstromeria is impossible to separate from each other and they were moldy...the buddliea bush had 3 leaves on it was about 4 inches tall from base of soil to top leaf, and was badly wrapped...can't imagine it will ever grow anywhere! The lily bulbs were completely sprouted out. The amsonia was similarly thrown together in one plastic bag and hard to separate. Come on, Brent and Beckys, I know it is the end of the season and you are probably tired, but this is no excuse for your haphazard packing and care... especially sending out sprouted lilys. I know you generally have a great reputation. Also, I called you 2 times today, and nobody in the office.

"On May 31, 2012 7:43 AM, Brent & Becky's Bulbs responded with:

Thank you for bringing some of these suggestions to our attention! Although you are the first to denounce our packing methods for our plugs, it has brought up a discussion in our offices today. The plants you ordered are actually plugs, as stated on our website and catalogue by each item. Plugs are usually packed in plastic bags with soil. If we had sent them to you in individual containers or pots, we'd have shipped it 2nd or 3rd Day to you. As it is, we did notice that your order did take almost 7 days to get to you. Unfortunately, this wouldn't have been the case if it hadn't have been a holiday weekend. Our lilies are frozen and shipped without sprouts, but once they thaw (starting immediately), they sprout quickly! 6 or 7 days in a box is ample time for them to thaw and spring into action. We will be checking the roots of the Alstromeria. And regarding your calls, we had staff here from 8am - 6pm EST. I'm not sure how we missed you. Sure, we may have been assisting other customers, but we didn't have a message from you on our voicemail in order to know you had called. Leave us a message next time and we will get back to you ASAP, I promise that.

Thank you for expressing your concerns to us. It does keep us on our toes!"

I placed an order with Brent & Beckie's in the fall of 2010. I ordered several different items one being 50 Dutch Iris bulbs. It is the middle of April and here in Louisiana we are having 80 degree weather. Most of my bearded iris have bloomed, my Louisiana iris are just about to finish up blooming. My verbena are blooming. My daffodils have finished blooming, My tulips are finished blooming Most of my flowering trees and shrubs are finished blooming , but when I called Brent & Beckie's they told me to wait another couple of weeks and call them back. I am 67 years old I have gardened here in Louisiana all my life, My father was a farmer by trade my grandparents and great grand parents also. But Beckie who lives in VA assumes she knows more about gardening in Louisiana than I do. Out of 50 Dutch iris I have had only one iris to bloom, not one other even put on any buds.. Do not order from Brent & Beckie's.

like Hexane I too ordered crocosmia bulbs and had the same problem, also I had ordered lily bulbs which were horrible, when I called them they said they would give me credit on the bulbs, but I never reordered, needless to say I have not ordered from them since.

Spring 2009 I purchased two sets of Crocosmia bulbs from Brent and Beck's Bulbs. They were much smaller than Crocosmia bulbs I have planted in the past. True to their disclaimer, the bulbs sprouted but did not flower the first year. I fertilized with bulb food and mulched the bed over the winter in anticipation of beautiful long-stemmed, hummingbird enticing plumes of Crocosmia in Spring 2010. I waited May, June, July, August, but no green shoots, much less flowers. When I called B&B to request a replacement, their manager wasn't in, but would call me back. Several days went by and the same person I had previously spoken to left me a voicemail that since the bulbs had been green the year before, I should have added fertilizer and essentially it was my fault that the bulbs never bloomed. I have gardened for over 40 years and have hundreds of daffodils, iris, lillies, tulips, etc. etc and have successfully grown Crocosmias in the past. B&B should have certainly replaced the bulbs or offered a refund. That will be the last time I purchase anything from B&B.

Let me preface this by saying, I’m no amateur. I’ve gardened most of my life; have my Master Gardener from VA; and have done estate gardening as a trusted “have at it” contractor, working for some extremely fussy ladies.

B & B’s, last year -

20 ($56.00) Polianthes - tuberosa 'The Pearl' - no flowers, not a one.
Carex phyllocephala 'Sparkler', $9.00 – died.
5 Uvularia grandiflora, $27.00 – struggled, but I put them in a pot, and have nursed them through. At least they came up this year.

No response to email, requesting credit. Now, mind you, I have been a good customer, also, and this is the first time I’ve ever asked for credit. I should have done so previously.

2008

5 ($65.00) Convallaria majalis variegate – ditto, uvularia, above. The pips were tiny, but you figure, hey, it’s Lily of the Valley, right? One was lost. The other four in the pot are still teeny.

Arisema sikokianum, $30.00. A very small ‘bulblet, didn’t make it through last winter – which was pretty mild, comparatively, with much snow ‘mulch’. It should be hardy in my zone.

10 tuberoses, two flowers.

I did get 20 lily bulbs from them in ’08 that are doing fine, however.

My take: they’re probably still good for bulbs? I did buy a load of minor bulbs from B & B’s in ’06, and they’re still doing pretty well. However, I won’t need any more bulbs for quite some time. The frosting on the cake here: no response to email, for big ticket items. Take that as you will.

Meanwhile, I’ve found Easy To Grow Bulbs. Huge tuberose clumps! And two good sized potted plants, verrrry well packed. I also gave them a positive review, and will be using them again.

I tried to place an order for the first time from Brent and Becky's this week and did not have a good experience. I ordered 10 Sedum rupestre 'Angelina' from the website. There was no information as to when these would ship but I assumed it would be for spring. I received an email a few days later stating that my order was scheduled to be fulfilled in September. After contacting customer service, they explained that Sedum is a fall shipping plant because it should not be planted in the spring. This was news to me since I have several types of sedums, all planted in the spring. In fact, being that I am in NJ zone 6b, small potted plants do not tend to survive the winters well when planted in the fall. I explained this to the representative, but she explained that she could not help me because they only ship this item in the fall. So I canceled the order.

Overall, I was left feeling that they (or at least customer service) was not very knowledgeable about the plants they sell especially when shipped to different climate zones (they are in Virginia). I also noticed that the hardiness of this item was incorrectly shown as zone 7 on their website when this species survives at least into zone 6. Another thing that concerned me was that the confirmation I received stated that I had order Sedum rupestre without specifying the 'Angelina' cultivar. Maybe a small item, but they are different plants that are both sold, so I was a little concerned. Not a very good experience from a company that does not seem very professional.

"On Apr 21, 2010 2:03 PM, Brent & Becky's Bulbs responded with:

Hi, bjohn1974. Just read your post and I'm sorry that your experience wasn't an enjoyable one. We try to make everyone's experience easy and worry free.

On our home page at http://www.brentandbeckysbulbs.com, there is our Summer catalogue and our Spring/Fall catalogue. The words above our Spring/Fall Catalogue state "These bulbs can be ordered now and will be delivered in the fall which is the proper time for planting." Once you click that catalogue you go to the Main Spring/Fall page and above the "5% discount" logo, it states "Our Spring/Fall 2010 catalogue now activated - order now for delivery in the fall when it's the proper time to plant." I'm going to look at seeing if we can't make that a bold font to make sure it's easier for everyone to see.

This is the only time we have Sedum available. If we had some now ready to ship, we would have been more than happy to ship them to you. Our Customer Service folks grow much of what we sell, for their own knowledge. And we have found, however, that perennials planted in the early Fall get a better head start than ones planted in the Late Fall and tend to survive quite well once their roots are established.

We are looking into why the name of the Sedum did not appear on your confirmation. Thank you for bringing this to our attention! There is plenty of space for it, but for some reason our system has chosen to leave it out. Our IT guy is being contacted.

Thanks so much for your business, and if you have any other problems such as this, please feel free to call and ask for me directly.

Sincerely,

Jay Hutchins
General Manager
Brent and Becky's Bulbs
877-661-2852"

I haven't received my order yet. But I ordered a catalog the week of the 3rd of August, midweek I believe. Called and was told it was put into the system on the 11th and would not get sent out till the end of the week. It's now the 31st of August and still haven't received it. Maybe I am impatient, but on the phone it didn't seem like they cared whether I got one or not. They were quite casual about it, like I was ridiculously demanding. I have already placed an order so I was not asking for a free catalog. Not my idea of good customer service. I won't place a negative until I get my order and it isn't up to par. I've ordered from 4 other companies in the same time period: all catalogs received promptly and Oakes was very nice on the phone with questions. Bluestone is always great to deal with. I'm not crazy about WFF but have never had problems with my orders and they respond very quickly by email to questions. (Bluestone Perennials, Oakes Daylilies, White Flower Farm!)

I ordered from Brent and Becky's Bulbs because they were so highly rated on this site. Unfortunately, my experience was not positive.
I ordered tulip bulbs and dutch iris bulbs. The tulip bulbs were the smallest I've ever planted in a decade of planting tulip bulbs. Only about 10% of the tulip bulbs came up and bloomed. It was a dismal display.
When I called Brent and Becky's to report my dissatisfaction, I was quizzed about my prechilling and planting methods. When they could find nothing wrong with my methods, I was told that I would need to call back when Brent was available and speak with him. They seemed to be at a complete loss as to how to handle a customer complaint! I called back the following week to try to speak to Brent. Again, he was not available. Finally, Brent and Becky's refunded the money that I had spent on the tulip bulbs.
I have been planting tulip bulbs in my southern California garden for 10 years. Every year I have great displays except for the year I ordered from Brent and Becky's. I will NEVER order from Brent and Becky's again.

There seems to be a problem in the supply department at Brent and Becky's. About 70% of my order, although labeled correctly when I planted in the fall, came up this spring totally unlike what I had ordered. When I called, I was informed that this was extremely unusual, and made to feel like it was MY problem. This is a LOT of mislabeled merchandise. They should check out their suppliers!

I ordered 3 kinds of bulbs from them on-line and the next day I received an email noting that one kind has been sold out. I wanted to add something else to morning) they had already processed the order so the only thing I could do was to create a new order (thus paying extra shipping cost). I received the rest of the order a few days later so I was grateful that they processed and shipped very quickly but I wished they have an on-line system to indicate when something is sold out so that I could've ordered something else instead in that same order. I will keep my rating neutral for now and re-rate after the spring--the bulbs looked like they were in great condition so hopefully they'll all bloom!

Called in on a Friday to ask a simple, yet time-sensitive question and was told by Becky or the operator that Brent would call me that same day - 5:00 rolled around and I called back in hopes to ask my question before the weekend started, assuming I would have to wait until Monday to hear from them and the bulbs I had were already late to plant because of an emer.surgery I underwent. I was told they were open on Saturday and Brent would definately call me then. Saturday came and went and because I wasn't given a return phone call & because of my post-op soreness, I had to discard $50+ worth of bulbs over the weekend that may have been salvaged with a simple phone call to tell me that he felt they could be saved or not. Given my post-op physical condition I reiterated to the operator (Becky?) , I definately feel like B&B could care less about their customers and I will never be ordering again from a company that treats their customers like dirt. $130+ order and can't even get a phone call from them w/2 days notice. Top 20 company? Whatever

I have known Brent and Becky for over 20 years. In the 1980's my step-father bought a large amount of daffodil bulbs to plant on our road. The bulbs were diseased and had to be burned. It was a waste of money unfortunately.

My house is quite close to their business. As people (personal) Brent and Becky are very nice. They used to go to the same church that we belong to. As for buying their merchandise, no, I would not buy anymore of their bulbs.

"

I've thought about this one all day......and I still don't quite know what to say. And I'm not one to be rendered speechless very often! But, I'll give it my best shot....(ahem)

Since I am now 38 and I was somewhere between 12 and 18 years old when this happened, I can't recall the actual event. But our guarantee does state:

We guarantee that the bulbs you receive from us will arrive in good condition. IF NOT, PLEASE LET US KNOW WITHIN SEVEN (7) DAYS SO THAT WE CAN REMEDY THE SITUATION!!

Since this was 20 years ago (or more), I don't think we'll refund any lost money. And I'm sorry that this one event, experianced by a family member in the '80's, was enough to affect the bulb buying choices of the rest of the family even to this day.

Thank you and God bless! (How was that?)

Jay Hutchins
General Manager
Brent and Becky's Bulbs"

This was my first year to order from B&B's. Overall I was somewhat disappointed with the experience.

The positives: The astilble, scadoxus, eucomis, liatris, and a few of the other bulbs were good sized, and looked good. They came up and have performed well so far.

The sandersonia, traepoema (sp.), were I believe, doa. They were planted as instructed in the booklet sent with each order, but they never came up. The sandersonia I found at another company. It was cheaper than B&B"s and arrived as a shoot 4" tall. It is thriving. I was able to replace the traepoema.

The rain lillies I ordered were virus infected. Only one bloom ever appeared before they died. I ordered more from another company. When they came, they were larger, healthier, cheaper and continue to surprise me with blossoms after rain or heavy watering.

I ordered a xanthosoma which I never received. Their original responses were "they have to grow out some more". In the end, they finally said "crop failure". After much searching, I found this at another company, and it arrived large, leafed out and is thriving on my patio.

The bletilla I ordered may or may not be bletilla. So far I've had one pitiful bloom, which didn't really look much like a ground orchid.

They were rather pricey. I found many of the same bulbs at other companies for much less. When received, they were HUGE, much larger than B&B's, all have done well.

Emails were not answered in a timely manner. Some were not answered at all. Most were I had to follow up with a phone call.

I did not call the company regarding the problems. In their planting info there is a statement that indicates "we sell them, the rest is up to you". Up to a point, I agree, but if I order identical plants, from several companies, and those from companies A, B, and C do well, and those from company D fail miserably, it is most likely the plant and not the planter.

I would order from them again, but only those items I cannot find elsewhere.

I am leaving a neutral comment about B&B's, only because their customer service was outstanding. I ordered several items from them, including 2 varieties of gloriosa lilies, several trumpet lilies, cannas, and alstroemeria last spring.

I had to call several times to receive the bulbs, as they were several weeks late in getting to me. I finally received them in May. The canna rhizomes were smallish with 1-2 eyes, but looked healthy. The Alstroemeria was in terrible shape, with most of the bulbs (bulbils?) about the size of an "O" . The trumpet lilies were ok...some discoloration, but they bloomed out fine. And the gloriosas were shriveled with no eyes at all.

When I called the company, they were always very nice and helpful. I did end up receiving refunds on everything but the cannas and lilies, but still had to pay the shipping on all of it. I won't order from them again, because it seems their stock is just not that great. The catalog looks incredible, and it makes me want to buy everytime I look at it, but it's just not worth the trouble. The prices are really reasonable compared to PDN, but, you get what you pay for, and I'd much rather pay $20 for a full size plant that will definitely make it, than $7 for something that won't.

Of course the Alstroemerias and Gloriosas never did anything. The lilies bloomed, and the Stuttgart cannas didn't come back this year. Oh well, lesson learned.

After reading all the positive feedback on this site I confidently placed my first order with Brent & Becky's Bulbs for 50 Kissproof Daffodils. Unfortunately, my experience has not been as good as what I've read. My order arrived only a week late, but 32 of the 50 bulbs were completely rotten. I called the company immediately and asked them to credit my card, which they said they would do. However, when my next credit card statement arrived, there was no credit. I called a second time and asked for the credit, and they told me they would do it and would even have someone call me to let me know it was taken care of. No call ever came and my most recent credit card statement shows no sign of a credit. It's been two months since my first call and nothing has been resolved. The combination of rotten bulbs and bad customer service means my first order was probably my last.

I started to order from Brent & Becky's Bulbs a few years ago and have been very pleased with all the bulbs and service. The price was lower than Park's, higher than Van Engelen, but all the bulbs were exceptional. Most of the time I would rather pay more, because I have more trust in their quality than Van Engelen's.

I don't know about planting lilies in the fall. I didn't usually have good luck with fall deliveries from other companies. The lilies were oftentimes mushy upon arrival. If I hesitate to order for fall, I can always order from B & B for the following spring planting.

I highly recommend B & B to anyone who still hesitates to give them a try. You will not be disappointed.

Nice bulbs, very healthy. Wished the prices were a bitlower but pleased over all.