Comments regarding Breck's Bulbs

I ordered 78 various bulbs from Brecks. The lilies were moldy and smaller than I expected from what their catalog illustrated. In addition, they sent the bulbs to the "bill to" address and I had to send them myself to the "ship to" address. Furthermore, 1 entire collecion of about 20 bulbs was missing from my order yet it was marked on the bill of lading as being in the same package.

I called Brecks by phone (on my dime - long distance) and they offered to ship the missing bulbs (as they should have been expected to) to the correct location. But I am still not pleased, especially since I see bulbs for sale at my local nurseries, Large Discount stores , and other places like Costco which are just as large at about half the price!

To sum up:
1) the quality was not there -- their bulbs were small
2) Bulbs arrived moldy -- no quality there
3) They screwed up on the shipping
4) They are more expensive than locally available bulbs

I personally won't order from Brecks again, in spite of the glossy catalog and $20 off coupon.

I have learned my lesson. Holland may be a good source of bulbs, but there is NO advantage to getting them from Europe if in the US they are cheaper, better quality and have less distance and time in shipping, than can be obtained from a foreign source.

I have ordered from several companies this year. Because of the comments Breck's makes about the size of their bulbs I
was willing to pay the high price they ask for them. I seem to be having the same problem as the last person to write a review. I live in a Zone 4. I have been informed that my bulbs are on their way from The Netherlands and they will arrive around Thanksgiving. The ground will be completely frozen. I guess I could dig the holes and put some dirt in my garage to cover them. FUN! I did receive a partial order a few days ago and the bulbs were not as large as those I bought from a local nursery for a much lower price. Their catalog does not give information about zones. I had to call before I could place an order. Now I wish I hadn't placed that order at all. I'll let you know about the quality of the other bulbs when they arrive if my fingers are not too frozen to type.

I ordered about 300 bulbs in August and was told they would be shipped in mid-September. I believe the estimated shipping time would take about 2-4 weeks. I received an e-mail a few days ago that said they were just shipped and it would take 4-6 weeks to arrive. By the time they get here it will be December. I contacted the company and their response was that I could refuse them when they arrived. I got the impression they were not the least bit concerned about this. I was not given a reason why I was not notified in September that my bulbs were not being shipped on time. I will probably never deal with this company again.

I hope I'm not getting the runaround from this co. I recently rec'd an order of lily bulbs from them. Most were either molded, mildewed or mushy. I have e-mailed the co. 2 or 3 times and still haven't gotten a straight answer on whether I'll be getting replacement bulbs. But they did answer when my daffodils will be sent. I will report back if and when they resolve this for me. If I am given what I paid for, I will give them a positive rating.

I do not usually order from a company that has the volume of negatives as this company but I was unable to find anyone else that was offering America Asiatic Lilies. My order came yesterday and I would like to say that I am very pleased with my 9 bulbs....I am glad I took the chance.

Breck's has been just lovely with me! I ordered a number of bulbs & wildflower seeds ("Tulip topper")last fall. Nearly all of the bulbs came up this spring, but only a couple of each thing actually bloomed. I was disappointed, but when I called them they told me to let them know what all didn't bloom and they would be replaced at no charge. Sure enough, when I called this week they offered to replace all of the bulbs that didn't bloom 100% -- so, for example, a group of 5 tulip bulbs that only 2 bloomed, they're replacing all 5! They gave me some tips about when to fertilize, too. The wildflower seeds were excellent quality -- we just sprinkled them on the garden, didn't cover them with soil or anything special, and they have just bloomed all summer in beautiful profusion.

New management - same old tricks.

I recently received a 'sale' catalog from Breck's. But their prices are still very high. For instance Monsella tulips they list at 8/$8.99 can be bought from another company at 10/6.99. Breck's mixed crocus 60/19.99 - 'the other guys' 100/23.96 and the list goes on and on, so check the competition before you bite.

I ordered bulbs from Breck's in 2001 and 2002. The bulbs I received from them have been high quality and did absolutely GREAT both years. My crocuses and tulips lasted at least 3 weeks and were beautiful! I just placed a huge order with them to be delivered in the fall. They have a life time customer!

4-28-03
I received a catalog from this company a couple weeks ago, and was concerned about the negative comments on this site regarding them, so I went to their online site first and e-mailed them. I simply inquired about the bankruptcy issue. As I said that was a couple weeks ago, and I've never heard back from them. I would be cautious about doing business with any place that doesn't respond to a customer inquiry.

same as Gurneys and Wayside.

While I'm still waiting to see how many will come up this spring (harshest winter in 25 years here - some alliums have started to sprout, and the snowdrops are happy), overall I was fairly pleased with the shipments. We had an early hard freeze, and a few of the bulbs showed up after it. Note however that I ordered very late, and again frost was early. I did get all but one order of lilies planted however. Overall the bulbs seemed to be in good condition when they finally came in. I don't plan to argue if they don't survive; I know that at least a few were eaten by voles (found the top of one).

I'm not ravingly happy with them, but overall I can't fault them.

Their (Gardens Alive's) order-tracking software had real problems tracking my order since it was sent in pieces. That may be fixed; my order from Springhill this spring seems to be much more trackable (also split). However, I got an error (a microsoft database error) when submitting my order to springhill - inexcusable! It did show up properly, however.

This company states bulbs will grow in certain zones that the DO NOT survive in. Poor quality also. Fine they will reimburse but a waste of good time planting things that don't grow.

I have ordered from Brecks for about 8 years and have never had a bad experience with them, they are always on time and healthy.

I select my rating only on whether I would buy from a company again. I've decided that I've made my last purchase with Brecks. The product just doesn't match up to the cost. Rather small for the price. They made an automatic sub on an order rather than contacting me with the problem. At the same time, I was charged for the original product. After contacting customer service, they did take off the charge, so that was resolved. However, I was left with an overall decision not to place another order. To leave on a positive note, customer service was prompt in their response.

Recieved my 2 orders and pleased with quality and packaging. We'll see how these bulbs do this coming spring!

Excellent company to deal with! All of my bulbs are in excellent condition. Great packaging and instructions! Shipped when they said. I also ordered two special order iris collection's and they were exceptional rhiozomes also.
Definately will buy from Breck's next year.*****Five star

Absolutely unreliable. Never buy from them again. Wasted our time and effort! Mailed in order in late August explicitly asking to have them delived no later than mid Oct '02. Haven't received and still waiting. Customer Service told me it could come tomorrow or as late as mid December!!! The ground will have been completely frozen in a few weeks. Told me I could refuse the package for refund but that's no service at all because we lost our planting time and the selection.

I placed my first order from brecks. I ordered 208 assorted bulbs. They were nicely packaged, healthy bulbs. Properly labled as far as I know. I only found 1 rotted daff bulb and out of 208 bulbs I thought that was pretty good. We'll see what they look like in spring. So far I am happy with my experince.

I represent a local Girl Scout organization. The mothers of this troop decided to do the Breck's fundraiser and followed all procedures. We sent our money and waited. We have since been attempting to contact Breck's and were unsuccessful. The web page was constantly unavailable as well as all phone lines busy. I just found out about this bankruptcy from your web page. Isn't there a procedure they should have followed in notifying anyone doing fund raising with them, since these groups are non-profit organizations? Thank you for the information and please let us know if we have any recourse.

I have ordered from a variety of gardening catalogs for years, among them Breck's. Admittedly, my orders were never huge or costly, but they were a splurge for me. At first all was well. But then when an order of tulip bulbs costing over $40 failed to bloom, I requested a refund or replacement. After waiting almost a year for a response I wrote again, and received, after another long wait, a letter informing me the company had declared bankruptcy and had gone out of business. I was basically informed not to expect anything for my loss. I wrote a couple of complaint letters, to no avail. Sometime later I received in the mail another Breck's catalog proclaiming new ownership glibly regretting they could not (I say WOULD not) be responsible for debts of the "old" company and inviting me to trust them and become a customer: talk about reopening old wounds and adding insult to injury! It was like a slap in the face! They are putting their profits over their responsibility and their word (their guarantee) to their customers. I urge any who read this to use caution when ordering by catalog and apologize to those gardening catalogs (which must be out there SOMEWHERE) who do care about their customers and keep their guarantees and run impeccable businesses.

I first started ordering from this company in 1991. Without exception, all the bulbs I ordered came on time and were in perfect condition. The only ones lost were because they were planted in bad locations or were inadvertantly damaged by digging (pests and people); or they were "annual" tulips.

One order in 1995 came on time; however a certified letter came shortly thereafter explaining that the shipping had been poor; the Rembrandt tulip bulbs had not been kept chilled during transit. They gave us a credit (double amount) for another order. I had already planted the bulbs, but did not expect them to do well: they not only grew, they have increased every year.

My experience with the perennials they offer by "special mail" is vastly different. I ordered a "hosta assortment" that was fine. I ordered an "astilbe assortment" that was not fine. Not one survived. I was given a refund, but it was very disappointing. The same experience with the oriental poppy assortment: not one survived. Full refund given.

I have not ordered from them in the past 2 years because I have a surplus of spring and summer bulbs now; but with the negative comments, I wanted to let others know that in the past, this was a highly reputable bulb dealer.

I have ordered for about 10 years from Breck's with no problems, until 2001. I also feel I have contributed to their liquidation accounts. I am out $79.32 for bulbs that never arrived. After FINALLY reaching a real operator, I was informed that they shipped only UNPAID orders and not PAID ones! Oh well, live and learn; no more BRECK'S. Could not believe they had the nerve to send another catalog, and no toll free numbers!

I have been trying to contact them about an order and not one of the phone numbers works. This has really turned me off to catalog shopping no matter what the item might be. No wonder the company went bankrupt. If I ran my own company the way Breck's runs theirs I'd have been out of business long ago.

I guess I was lucky, given the other experiences I've heard about. I placed 2 large (>$100 each) orders with Brecks last fall, one via the MySeasons website and the other directly by phone. The MySeasons order was never filled, and my credit card wasn't charged - annoying, but no real loss. The second order was delivered at the correct time, and my credit card was correctly billed. ALL of the spring bulbs have now appeared, and many are doubles and triples - so far, the colors are all as promised too. My experience has been (unexpectedly) good enough that I'll give them another try now that they're under new ownership, but given the well-publicized problems I'll not yet recommend that anyone else do the same!

I have ordered Dutch bulbs from Breck's for several years, and have been nothing but satisfied. They have shipped me high quality bulbs, the order has always arrived correct, complete, and on time, and probably about 95% of the bulbs have grown. The ones that haven't are probably my own fault.

I placed an order 5-3-01. Called to cancel on 9-19-01. Was told not to worry because there was no order shown. I asked what to do if shipment arrives. Was told it wouldn't because none was shown. Order arrived. I tried three (3) 1-800 numbers and all were continually busy. Tried two (2) web sites and neither would load. Began receiving letters for payment. Letters said, "We trusted you and you have not sent payment." FINALLY, spoke to a person on 11-23-01 and was told to mark the box ""Return Refused"" and she would make a note on my account. I have sent copies of all correspondence three (3) times. I am still receiving letters. I did all could to prevent shipment, returned the shipment, and in return they keep sending letters. I was a 1st time customer and I am sharing my experience and treatment I received.

My situation is that my Breck's Bulb order was not filled properly and of course I can not get in touch with anybody about it for obvious reasons. Do you have a phone number or e-mail address in Holland for Breck's or for the outfit that is taking over? After reading all the e-mail I can understand why they went belly up. Their billing system was for the birds and not requiring money up front is a lead in to financial disaster.

My "Unique Daffodil Collection" is a major disappointment. Only about thirty percent bloomed and they were not quality blossoms. Sorry I did business with Breck’s. Looks as if I threw away$68.88.

My bulbs haven't arrived from Breck's. They were scheduled for Fall 2001. Now all the phones are constantly busy and I have learned the parent company has filed Bankruptcy.

I'm very sorry to hear about Breck's predicament. I have ordered from them for 35 years, and was satisfied until this year when they did not send my replacement order and would not answer the telephone or fax. For years they have sent quality bulbs, although the price was very high. This last year the bulbs were inferior. I often wonder if Breck's had no actuarial oversight to track the monies that were coming in and where they went? SHOW ME THE MONEY!

Am so happy I found this website. I had been watching for replacement bulbs from Breck's as promised on the phone last spring. My experience was to have nearly 100% success for the first year, then, fewer and fewer returned. The Apricot Beauty Tulips were the most disappointing. Of two dozen, only 3 returned the second year. The Daffodils were the best. I believe at least 70% returned. I hadn't known about the business problems. Now I will stop worrying about their performance. We also planted a strawberry bed. Half didn't survive but Breck's did ship more. I am sorry they are out of business. I really enjoyed looking through their catalog -thinking about spring.

I too am sad to hear of the bankruptcy. I haven't been a customer for long, but I enjoyed the bulbs I received. The only ones I was disappointed in were the Crown Imperials. Of course they were the most expensive too. They came up and bloomed beautifully the first year, and then this year they didn't come up at all.

Well I just today found out that Breck's filed for bankruptcy by reading all of your comments above. I ordered bulbs last spring, received them a month ago and sent them a check Nov. 5th, along with all my other bill payments. On Nov 21st I received a letter from their collection manager demanding payment or they would damage my credit! I have been trying ever since to call them - four different 800 numbers and one at area code 309 and of course got busies at all numbers.I have just finished writing a letter that I will mail through the Post Office since there is no e-mail for these people either, who knows if anyone is even there to read anything. I told them to call me before they did anything further and that I should at least be able to reach them at the 888 number on their collection letter! I know my phone number works; let's see if anyone calls me. I was fortunate to get my bulbs and in good condition but maybe not so fortunate if they mess with my credit report. By the way, I just looked at Breck's web page, it did come up but the only message, in very large letters is "WE'RE RETURNING SOON". Good luck to you all!

Never had good luck with this company,Poor and small bulbs,not worth the trouble.

I ordered various tulips, alliums, Iris, and Hyacinths from Brecks for Fall 2000 planting. I couldn't wait for my Rembrandt tulips to come up since there were 12 in the collection! To my dismay, I had 4 tulips, none of them the Rembrandt collection. None of my 25 Dutch beauty iris came up or the allium drumsticks. I called Brecks and told them about the bulbs. They were supposed to ship me 12 Rembrandt tulips, 16 allium drumsticks, and 25 Dutch beauty iris. As of today's date, 11/28/01, I have not received anything from Brecks. I have tried to call MySeasons for 4 months, but all you get is a busy signal. I paid my bill when I received my bulbs; all I want is replacements for the wrong bulbs/ defective bulbs they sent me!

Brecks and their parent company have issued checks that are not honored. It is the last time I will buy from such companies.

Last spring or early summer, I ordered just under $70.00 worth of Brecks bulbs, and never received them. I was in the process of building a new home, and very busy, but the man who took my order said that he would send them when it was time to plant them, and I didn't ask when that would be. Since I was never charged for them, I just assumed the order was lost, and I was too busy to fuss over it. Then suddenly, last month, it appeared on my credit card bill, and I thought I should be getting them any day. I still have not received them. What is going on?

Breck's may claim to be honoring past orders, but I have had nothing but trouble. I placed an order in the spring for a fall shipment of plants--I received them late in October/early November--but in horrible condition--some rootings were rotted out, and all of the plants were heavily covered with mold--I could smell the mold before I even opened the box! I have not been able to reach them by website or telephone--getting no answer or repeatedly a busy signal--or was connected and told it was busy, call again--I had the same experience with a recent order from Spring Hill---I waited for invoices, wrote letters on the invoice as to the poor quality of the plants and asked for a new shipment or cancel the order---and then recently received letters from a collection agency! And, interestingly enough, the account number for both companies is the same although invoice numbers differ. If my credit gets zapped because of their incompetence I will really be angry! I urge everyone to steer clear of these people--I repeatedly tried to reach MySeasons.com, getting no response, but this morning was connected by link to Garden Solutions or some such, but am very skeptical about them as well--does anyone have any suggestions?

I was totally unaware that Breck's filed for bankruptcy and I had placed an order in excess of $100 and paid for it in advance in March of this year (2001). I have written to a Michigan Address and to the Illinois Address and have received no response at all. I imagine I just donated toward their liquidation funds.