Comments regarding Gurney's Seed & Nursery

Posted on May 18, 2011, updated May 29, 2011
Posted on May 15, 2011, updated May 18, 2011
Posted on May 15, 2011, updated May 15, 2011
I am in the midst of a Gurney's mess right now. I quit any serious business with them years ago when they went downhill after the bankruptcy, etc. Nevertheless, they had a blackberry I wanted....

I planted these last fall, on drip irrigation and mulched, but nary a leaf this year. Finally sent them an email a few days ago & got a quick reply that these plants are no longer available & they'll send me a certificate. Plants are on their website, which I have informed them of. I want plant replacement....A certificate would have to, of course, be spent there plus shipping fees again, plus I got the plants "on sale".

No reply yet to email #2, so we shall see.

"On May 16, 2011 10:59 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for letting us know about the problem with your blackberries. A customer service representative will be contacting your for your account information and take care of your blackberry order for you."

In the past, I had great luck with Gurney's, but this year has been bad. Out of three indoor plants ordered, I had to ask that they replace ALL of them. They arrived half-dead, the dirt everywhere inside the box - two of the plants had completely deformed stems, and the leaves looked either diseased or quickly dropped off. To their credit, they replaced two of them with much better plants, but the third was no longer available.

I received almost all of the seeds ordered, but the sage seeds were backordered - and eventually cancelled without any notice of the cancellation. I checked on the order because of a credit to my card. Today, I found out they probably aren't going to ship the half dozen tomato plants I ordered - but they wouldn't know for sure until mid-June, so I had to cancel that portion of the order as well since my garden needs to be planted already! Never had problems with Gurney's before, but I probably won't use them anymore as planning my garden is impossible when they don't even notify you that you aren't going to receive portions of your order.

"On May 27, 2011 3:57 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for letting us know about the problems with the shipping of your order. A customer service representative will contact you for your account information and find out what happened with your order."

Most of my plants came, though much smaller then expected. I mean I can buy a gardenia, blooming and quite large here for $9, but the one from gurneys was tiny. The dancing dolphin plant has barely grown in almost 1.5 months. The others were OK, I will have to wait and see. The angel trumpet plant completely tanked. It can as a one finger long and one finger thickness and barely any roots. It's done for completely. I ordered April 26/11, and one plant has not been shipped yet. I was even astounded, as the climbing shell plant was puny, like half the length of my pointer finger, though its grown a tad.

Overall, disappointed - I have requested they either refund me for the angel trumpet or send another. Though honestly, I believe the shell plant, dancing dolphin, and blue fringe daisy's should also be refunded or sent a decent one that will grow.

"On May 27, 2011 12:11 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your posting and letting us know of the problems you had with your order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account informaition and take care of your request."

Posted on May 21, 2011, updated May 24, 2011
Posted on May 19, 2011, updated May 21, 2011
Ordered, using a coupon, as a trial on 4/27. Received somewhat iffy sweet peas and fringed blue daisies. Inquired about remainder/majority of order and was told it would be shipped in 3-4 business days. That did not happen and still has not. Checked website and all of the remaining items are "sorry, sold out" so am seriously wondering. Sent a third e-mail inquiring with no answer as of yet. What have I learned? If you have to offer a $25. coupon to get folks to buy $50. of product you supposedly have available, perhaps there is a reason. Only thing they were timely about was charging my card!

"On May 20, 2011 9:39 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. We apologize for the delay with your order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information and check on your order for you."

Posted on May 3, 2011, updated May 23, 2011
Gurneys used to be fantastic.
no more.
For what you get, the prices are horrible.
Their processing speed is slower than slow.
Their website is a joke. Is this 1998? The gurney's website thinks it is.

Examples:
I mailed in an order that contained a refund coupon. My order total on their website did not reflect the amount of the refund coupon. I had to email customer service to get it corrected. Why did I have to do that? It should have been automatic.

When they ship a package using "UPS Mail Innovations" the tracking number they provide is your gurney's order number with a 2 digit number stuck onto the end. Uh, yeah, that is NOT a valid tracking number. UPS does not tie gurneys order numbers to tracking numbers.

I had a small order (everything was marked to ship in the spring), get shipped in 3 separate bundles over the course of 14 days. Why did it take 14 days for them to ship, when ALL items were marked in stock and their site says they ship in 2-3 business days?

I have another order that is currently waiting to be shipped (day 12 so far). Why hasn't it shipped yet? All items in the order are marked as spring shipping, all items are marked as in stock. Their site says it will ship within 2-3 business days, yet I have been waiting 12 days for my items to ship and nothing.

I understand that things happen, but the gurney's website gives NO information about what is going on, emailing their customer service department takes days to get what seems like a canned response. There is enough mail order competition at this point to make the issues that gurneys has unacceptable.

My experience this spring has been horrible. I will never order from gurneys again.

"On May 5, 2011 11:07 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. I apologize for the delay in the shipment of your order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information and check into your order for you."

Placed large seed order on 5-15. Seed supposed to ship right away. Not shipped yet. All my inquiries have been ignored. Only automated replies saying a rep will be in touch. Some blueberry plants shipped today. It's the seed I need. I wil NEVER use this company again.

Posted on June 20, 2006, updated May 17, 2011
In 2002 I ordered 2-18" Mulberry trees. I ordered 2 as it said in catalog that I had to plant 2 for cross-pollination. It said in catalog that they should produce Mulberry fruit in 3 years. Well, it's going to mid 2006 and still no sign of Mulberries! I must admit according to Gurney catalog the trees are best suited to one zone warmer than mine. Even so, I've had no fruit from them they have grown like a rocket and they always look healthy and have the prettiest leaves. I'd order from Gurnsey again. Especially tree stock.

Posted on April 7, 2011, updated May 16, 2011
Hi Dave and Associates, Thank you for giving all of us out hear a voice when the companies we deal with will not!
My complaint is with Gurney's Nurseries....
My story begins in Jan.29th.2010
I clipped out a coupon from my Sun.paper advertising Top Hat Patio Bluebrries...It sounded great to me so I filled out the coupon and ordered 2. I wrote out a check for $18.49 and mailed them in to Gurney's address.
FEB. 2010...Called and they said they were on their way...
MAR.28,2010....e-mailed Gurneys...My order was lost in transit...should get mid Apr. as they have ordered a reshipment according to Isabel
APRIL26,2010....E-mailed again and asked where were the berry bushes as it was getting late to plant.
MAY 04,2010...Received an e-mail from Jessica saying a reshipment had been ordered for me (again) and I should receive by late May
LATE MAY.... called and told them to forget the whole thing...just send me a refund...Was told by the( delightful person)(NOT!) at Gurney's That they would refund me less shipping..I said this was unacceptable.
JUNE 08,2020....Called and said I would like to speak to someone as I had a complaint...Chuck was the person I spoke to"He was just the person that I needed " he said.
Told him the whole story....He asked me if I knew anyone by the name of Gary Baldwin in Shoreline.. (same last name as mine).I said I did not ...Shoreline is a rather large community.
They had been sending my shipments to him...(3) Also 2 refund checks.... Which were cashed.....Lucky Gary!!!!
UNBELIEVABLE!!!!
I looked this person up in the phone book ,called and got his
voice mail. I explained who I was, my phone # and told him what had happenned and would he call me....I called twice and left messages......No response..Now I know why!.
I"M not done with this problem yet either...... It's only $.18.49 but I'm sick of this whole charade and someone is a crook!,
In the meantime Chuck says he will send me a refund....
JUly, Aug,Sept ,Oct,Nov.Dec...No check ,no correspondence and I just tried to forget about it for awhile...
JAN.26,2011....Called and spoke to Megan...whole story AGAIN .She will take care of it . OOOOKKKKK....hmmm sounds soooo familiar.
FEB.24,2011.....A customer service Rep.. named Kimberly Joyce called and I explained the whole thing to her!!!
She asked me if I knew Gary Baldwin ?? He lives in Shoreline. I said NO!
She said numerous bushes had been sent to him and 2 refund checks....BAD GARY!!!! (I'm going nuts here)
Kimberly seemed really reluctant to promise me any thing and by this timeI I feel like I am trying to get something out of their company', I said I would send her a copy of my cancelled check (Which was cashed on FEB.21,2010 I also sent her a copy of this statement ) But they have no one in their system with my name and address so I must be making this up....right!
Who would do this for, $18.49. and 3 blueberry bushes YIKES!
Any way Kimberly finally said she would refund me the money and even send me the bushes if they were still in stock....if not I would get them for next season......SURE!
All this sounded very nice.....BUT....Here it is APRIL,07,2011 and not a word,e-mail,phone call....nothing.
At the end of MAR
I e-mailed them and asked if they would send me the name and address for their CEO or President as I would like to contact them. Still haven't heard from them on this either.
Their Customer serviceis No customer service.IT SUCKS!!!!
!
Would I buy again from Gurne'ys??? Not on my life. My first buying experience with them was enough to cure me for ever
Thanks Dave and Assoc. for letting me blow off some steam!!!!

"On Apr 8, 2011 12:02 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

I apologize for all of the problems you have had with your order and trying to get your refund. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your informaiton and get this taken care of right away. "

We have been ordereding from Gurney's for a about 4 years now with a few 'hiccups' but nothing major.

To start my wife ordered x2 Pea fence 4 weeks ago..... We received everything else ordered in a decent time, but no word on the fences. After 2 weeks pass my wife emails them ( which was difficult to find the email address) 2 days pass before she gets a response......... So I call talk to customer service, (Mind you I'm in Sales so I was level headed a polite about this) Customer Service tells me stuff I already know it was ordered April, 20th 2011.
Unfortunately they were out of stock!
WHY were we not notified before we ordered this??????
The next shipment they will receive from the vendor is May 10th. So I thank her for her time and informed her I will call back on May 11th.
May 11th comes along and I call customer service tells me that they have not received the order from the vendor so they cannot ship and the next expected date for me to receive the fence is JUNE 26th!!!
I ask for supervisor I talk to the supervisor staying very level headed about this. Explaining that what is happening is EXTREMELY poor customer service! We were never notified this was on backorder, It's not posted anywhere that they may have limited quantities nor did we even receive a courtesy email, or call explaining the situation. She does apologize about it & offer refund. Mind you, I'm paying interest to the Credit Card company on a product I do not have because I was charged for it. I deny the refund for the moment till I find a alternative. (My Plants are still growing and nothing to climb)
Being in Sales myself this is the poorest customer service I have EVER had in my 38 years apon this planet!!! Obviously the 'powers that be' have a syndrome called 'head up the ass'
Yes someone will do the job they were hired and respond with a apology to this, the damage has been done. Will never order from this comapany AGAIN!

"On May 13, 2011 9:49 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. We apologize for the problems with your order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information to check out what is happening with your order."

I have been disappointed with my bizarre experience with Gurney's and will definitely not order from them in the future! I do not know how to describe this situation in a concise manner, but I will do my best.

I placed an internet order on April 16. This was my first time ordering from Gurney's.
After placing my order, I received a confirmation email, addressed to someone else with my same last name. (That person just happened to be my recently deceased grandfather, who also lived in the same town as me. He never lived at this address).

I emailed customer service and promptly got a reply, which I appreciated. Their response was along the lines of, "Thank you for contacting Gurney's. I have made the necessary changes to your account."
I once again contacted Gurney's. I explained that my concern was not only that my name was inadvertently switched with someone with the same last name, it was for the lack of protection for my personal information, credit card, etc. I still do not understand how this could happen to a new account.

The reply I got the second time stated that they were sorry that I had this experience, but the account was incorrect because the other person also lived at this address (which, as I stated previously, he did not).
Today I went online to check the status of my order and it says the entire order has been cancelled! I never authorized the order to be cancelled.
I then checked my credit card information, and the charge is still on my statement!
What a circus this simple garden order has turned into!

"On May 5, 2011 9:37 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

I apologize for the trouble you have had with your order. We will have a customer service representative contact you concerning this problem and get this straightened out for you."

I don't know why Gurney's advertises in every magazine I have but is out of everything I ordered. I waited patiently for over a month for a lemon tree and finally I cancelled my order today. My mother warned me not to fall for Gurney's advertising but I did. I ordered another lemon tree along with an orange tree, tangerine tree, and lime tree from another company and it was a better deal and they are already processed it and its waiting on the shipping company to pick it up. I did receive an olive tree from them but it took 3 weeks because it was out of stock when I ordered it too. Gurney's should let its customer's know when a product is out of stock so we can make the decision whether or not we want to pay and wait or go elsewhere. Gurney's needs to get its act together.

"On Apr 20, 2011 3:57 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. I apologize there was such a long delay with your order. I will have a customer service representative contact you so we can check on your order and find out what the problem was and let you know."

I have ordered from Gurney's in the past without issue, but I tried to place an order a few days ago and it did not go through. They recently sent me an email with purchase incentives of $25 off $50 orders up to $100 off $200 orders. My son has been wanting to plant some berries in the yard so I went to the site and put over $200 worth of blackberries, raspberries, bush cherries, blueberries, etc. in my cart and proceeded to check out. When I finished entering my address and credit card info, I hit submit, but received a window that did not like my address and wanted me to check it. It gave me an alternate address that included the 9 digit zip code instead of just the 5 digit zip that I normally use when purchasing everywhere else so I thought okay, I will go with the address they want to ship to and I clicked on it. Unfortunately, I received the same message again using the new address. I clicked on edit and all was good so I submitted my order again, same message. I tried again and received a message that read “ If you are receiving this message, it may be due to multiple clicks of the Submit Order button. Your order should have been placed and you should receive a confirmation email shortly.” It also directed me to contact Gurneys via phone or email if I did not receive a confirmation email. At this point I am worried that they are going to ship me three orders and charge me three times, but I waited a few hours and never received a confirmation email. Since it was too late to call, I sent an email to customer service with my issue spelled out and a copy of my order attached. (I always make a screen copy of items that I am ordering over the internet for future reference or problem solving). I received an instant automated reply that read ”Dear Gardening Friend,
Thank you for contacting Gurney's. Your questions and comments are very important to us. Rest assured one of our Customer Care Representatives will respond to you as quickly as possible. As always, we pride ourselves on our world class customer service and we back our products with a no-risk guarantee.” Waited a day with no contact so I tried again, by sending my past email with a new one. Heard back the next day from Jack and he said he needed my address and more information from my original email. First, I am a customer of theirs and they send me emails all the time so they have my address and my original email was attached to my second email. I replied back with my address and all emails attached, but I still have not heard back from their “world class customer service”. All this trouble trying to just place an order and give them money so I can imagine what I would go through if I had problems after they had my money…or maybe they already do three times over and I just have not received a confirmation. Who knows? If my order has not been placed, which it probably has not, it is sad because I was planning on planting everything with my son while he is off for Easter break next week. Major disappointment!!! I guess I will check with Stark Brothers or locally.

"On Apr 16, 2011 9:54 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for letting us know about the problem with your order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information so we can see if your order was placed. I apologize for the inconvenience."

NEVER AGAIN will I order anything from this company. I feel utterly cheated, having ordered four Red Twig Dogwood bushes from them at $15 each plus shipping. Upon receipt yesterday, I found four long twigs in a shipping box - for which they charged me about $11.

As this weren't bad enough, my wife found quite a few full, wide many-twigged bushes at a local shop and they were $2.50 less per bush than we paid this rip-off outfit.

This note is my very small way to help put this lousy outfit out of business.

"On Apr 16, 2011 9:30 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. I apologize that the bushes were not as expected. We have a lifetime guarantee on our plants and if you are not satisfied we would be happy to reship, offer a replacement certificate or refund you for your purchase. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information and take care of what you would like to have done.
"

Pathetic, expected better. Ordered a 2 foot jump-start and later discovered that Amazon sold it for $48 with free shipping where Gurney's wanted $70 PLUS shipping!. In fact Amazon sells the 4 foot version for less than Gurney's sells the 2-foot!

To add insult, even after charging shipping Gurney's shipped via the UPS/Post Office combo which is the cheapo dead slow shipping method.

I will be ordering seed from the nearby Territorial for seed from now on and everything else from Amazon and affiliates.

"On Apr 16, 2011 9:23 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. From time to time we do have offers of free shipping and we almost always have a coupon offer of $25 off a $50.00 order. We also have a lifetime guarantee on our plants. Hopefully you will give us another opportunity to provide you with world class customer service.
"

On March 26th I ordered some blueberry bushes and other plants from Gurneys.com. Using a $25 coupon, the total to came $70.47. Two days later, the bushes and plants were on sale for 50-80% off. I asked for store credit for the difference and was denied. OK, I'll keep the packet of seed I received and cancel the order since nothing else was coming for a while. I received my refund today of $53.03 ~ that means those flower seeds (sent First class mail in small manila envelope!) cost $17.44! Disgusting.

Wish I saw this wonderful site before I ordered from Gurney's......

"On Apr 12, 2011 7:41 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We appreciate you letting us know about the problem with your order. A customer service reprehensive will be contacting you for your account information and check into why the discount was not applied to your order. I apologize for the inconvenience."

I was very disappointed to find that it took two weeks to get a definitive answer on my order status. After three e-mails, all of which contained conflicting information, I phoned, and discovered that my plants were actually "not available" even though my credit card had been charged two weeks ago. I was told that they would ship on Mar. 27, then Mar. 29, and then finally over the phone that they had a tentative shipping date of April 14, which would be nearly a month after my order. I think they should tell you when order that your item isn't available, or at least contact you after they receive your order to let you know it is backordered. I ended up canceling the order, and am now behind on my planting, having to seek out another vendor.
On the positive side, the Customer Service Rep did help me by canceling the order out and allowing me to keep the two seed packets that had shipped already, but she was not apologetic at all. She spoke to me almost as if it was my fault that I did not understand their shipping and reserve procedures. Overall, it was a negative experience and I do not recommend ordering from them if you have a timetable to follow.

"On Apr 1, 2011 3:50 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

I apologize for the delay in answering your email and the delay in the shipping of your order. We appreciate the feedback to check into any problems we may be having concerning our customers. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information and check on your order."

Posted on March 22, 2011, updated March 22, 2011
Posted on May 4, 2009, updated March 22, 2011
Purchased some cherry trees along with raspberry, strawberry, and others. Trees arrived in good condition coming out from dormant but strawberries were in bad condition, most of them were dead. Called customer service and another was sent out next day, this time they arrived in a somewhat pleasing condition, watered for a week and they did fine. Other items such as raspberry have not shipped, they keep on changing the date. Its been 3 1/2 weeks and my raspberry,coffee plant, blueberry, and pomegranate have yet to come.

"On Apr 1, 2011 2:14 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

I apologize for the problems you experienced with our plants and the shipping. As we always try to properly package plants that will flourish, occasionally we stumble. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information as we do offer a lifetime guarantee on our plants."

I have ordered from many of the online nurseries and have never had this type of expierance. On the gurneys website I ordered 2lbs of buffalo grass. when you add to cart it shows "buffalo grass 2lbs- then below that... for each offer ordered you get 2lbs". Now maybe they are stating the obvious but to me if I were to order a pizza and it stated 1 large pizza... for each pizza ordered you get a large pizza. Wouldnt most people understand that as you would recieve a second pizza? So I called customer service with no luck. the csr seemed uninterested and didnt offer a solution. I also tried to do a review at 1 star and of course gurneys did not post it on their website. I guess unless you give them a good rating they just will leave that information out for their customers who look up those reviews. What a sham. I am going to post this information since their own company will not in as many internet sites I can find.

"On Mar 31, 2011 12:06 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. I apologize for the confusion. With our saying "For each offer ordered, get 2 lbs." we are just trying to let the customer know they will be receiving 2 lbs of seeds. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information.
"

I ordered both seeds and fruits plants from this company in 2010. I placed the order early enough to receive the products in plenty of time for planting. I did not receive my raspberry plants til June and in late July I got a notice that my Strawberry plant would not be arriving. I planted 20 plants from this company and 30 from another company and 6 of this companies grew while 20 of the other made it. I infact had a handful of berries from the other. I am looking to order more berry plants this year but it is not likely that it wil be this company.

"On Mar 31, 2011 10:12 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. I apologize for the trouble you had with your order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information so we can reship the plants that did not survive."

I made an order on March 1st 2011 my ordered included 12 packets of seeds, a seed starting kit and a grow light. Here it is the evening of March 16th and I still haven't received anything. I was told by a floor supervisor when I called for the 3rd time that it is normal for seeds and orders to take over two weeks. I canceled the grow light as they told me it was on back order. The one thing that really got me going was the fact that I wrote two emails to the company on how I wasn't a happy customer and I didn't hear anything back from them until I called again to cancel the back order and said something about my emails. I am a serious online shopper and I feel if a company is going to give you the option to contact them by email they should respond to a paying customer right away and not a week later. Bottom line is I will never use Gurney's to order anything. I placed my order with Johnny Selected Seeds and within a few hours I got a confirmation email that my order was packed and being shipped the following day. Now that is the type of company I will do business with for years to come. Save yourself the time and effort and don't ever use Gurney's seed and nursery!!!

"On Mar 17, 2011 10:55 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for informing us of the problem you had with your order. Please accept our apology for the delay in responding to your email. This is our busiest time of the year and we are working very diligently to respond to each of our customer's emails. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information and check on your order for you.."

I ordered 3 goji berry plants. The packing slip stated that they were shipped on the 23 of February but I didnt receive the box until March 9.
The "plants" were dry and dead and even if they were live, the plants were about as large as my hand (5"). This seemed rather unacceptable for shrubbery--though I'm no expert.
Possibly the reason the plants were dry and dead had to do with the packaging--tiny open cardboard boxes with bubble wrapping to keep the boxes from shifting in the crate (this did not stop the soil from falling out and spreading all over the shipping crate...) wow...
I've ordered plants from other companies and the plants were in plastic baggies with moisture retaining gel or moss around the soil or roots ready for immediate or delayed planting.
Gurneys, I'm speechless. No words, but I sent the order back to them and asked for a refund from an indifferent customer rep. Never again.

"On Mar 10, 2011 12:55 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

I apologize for the problem with your plants. We do offer a lifetime guarantee on our plants. There is no need to send the items back. A customer service representative will be contacting your for you account information to take care of your refund."

I completely replanted my front yard last year. I placed orders for everything after spending hours of planning, internet research, checking pricing and zones, etc. The several orders I placed to Guerneys were enough to give the tinman heart burn! One or two items would straggle in, then nothing more. After countless emails and phone calls (I kept being told they were going to be sent out) I finally reached someone who was honest with me and told me the rest of the items had been cancelled! Of course, by then it's too late to reorder from another nursery!

But do you want to know the most amazing part of all of this? It is now 2/2011 and I received a card from them JUST SEVERAL DAYS AGO saying that one of those orders was cancelled!!!!!!!!!!

I will never trust them again!!

"On Feb 24, 2011 1:30 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We apologize for the trouble you had with your order. A customer service representative will contact you for your account information. Once we receive this information we will check out why the items were not shipped and why you just received a cancellation notice.
"

I always get suckered by the $25 deal since it allows me to buy more sweet potato plants.
The seed Pinot Noir (or pinto as they called it) was backordered and then unavailable without giving me notice. They also charged me for it even though backordered and then unavailable. I understand I will get my money back for it when the sweet potatoes arrive.
Maybe next year I will withstand the temptation of their coupons.

"On Feb 21, 2011 10:51 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We appreciate your feedback. We apologize for any problem you had with your order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information to check on the backordered seeds and make sure your refund is sent out right away."

I placed an order on 01/07 and have only rec'd a partial order. somehow they have removed the soybeans from the order but have no reasoning for it. They still have not shipped the onions. The webpage says order shipped but shipping method unknown. how can you not know how you did something unless you didn't really do it. I have sent more then 10 emails trying to find out are they going to ship the rest of the order? are the soybeans no longer available? are they going to fill the remaining order? Not one response from this company. so i paid 38.00 for about 14.00 worth of seeds. I will never use these guys again,

"On Jan 26, 2011 10:01 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. I apologize for the problem with your order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information. "

I have ordered from this company for the last few decades. I received tomatoe seed in the spring of 2010 which stated on the packet that the origin of the seed was China. I planted the seed and it was not the variety I had ordered. I contacted cs at gurney twice. I was told that they sent the seed to china to be packed. They did not address the fact that I had not received the proper seed. They did not offer to refund or replace the seed., This negates their so called warranty., I have thought about this since my contact with gurney . It is now time to order the 2011 seeds and I shall not order from Gurney in the future.It certainly doesn't take much to turn a good company into a non-responsive one.

"On Dec 29, 2010 8:04 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. I apologize for all the trouble you had with your seed. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information to rectify the problem."

Posted on November 18, 2010, updated November 18, 2010
I read the negative reviews about Gurney's and thought that I should give them the benefit of the doubt. What a mistake. I ordered a tree Nov 1, 2010 for fall shipping. Received immediate confirmation that my order was being processed. Almost 3 weeks passed and I heard nothing so I checked the order status via Gurney's automated system over the phone. I was told the tree would ship Nov 25- almost a month after I placed my order. I needed to get it in the ground before the ground froze! I reached out to customer service and the rep told me that the order would be rushed so it would ship in the next few days. That created a new problem since the last day they ship is Nov 19 I was eventually informed. I asked the rep why the automated system would tell me Nov 25 if that date is impossible. She had no idea. I asked if she could assure me that my tree would be part of that final shipment. Again I was told she didnt know so I begged her to check with a higher power to make sure. After holding while she checked, I was then told that my tree was out of stock and wouldn't ship until Spring 2011! I asked why nobody communicated this information and was told it was not customary for Gurney's to let custmers know when an item goes out of stock- even after a credit card is charged for that item! I could not believe my ears. To make things worse, the rep was like a robot; no empathy or emotion. She could care less about the horrendous communication and false info I was given. I had no choice but to cancel my order and now there is an empty spot in my yard where my tree should be. It's sad because it is a special tree (Pixie Crunch apple) and I don't know where else to get one. All I know is that you should steer clear of Gurney's!

"On Nov 18, 2010 1:57 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. We apologize for the mis-communication and we will use your feedback to help provide better service to our customers. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information."

Posted on October 21, 2010, updated November 8, 2010
Posted on October 21, 2010, updated October 21, 2010
Earlier this year, I placed several different orders for several different things. The trouble started even before orders were shipped. The receipt and information on their website regarding my order had incomplete information, and emailing their customer service was a complete waste of time. Always a different person responding who didn't bother to read any of the history in the emails. When my orders started arriving, almost every tree (olive, lime, coffee plant) came damaged in such a way that it was obviously not a result of poor handling in the mail. Keeping the plants alive has been a struggle, and only the olive has really thrived. Customer service was unapologetic when I complained. The asparagus crowns that I ordered were about half of the size of the same age, same variety crowns that I ordered from Territorial for my dad. His asparagus came up beautifully. After several weeks, the crowns from Gurney's never came up, and I'd already given up on trying to contact their customer service. Had I read the reviews on this site before I ordered, I'd have spent my money somewhere else. Poor company, poor products, poor, poor, poor. I caution all of my gardening friends and family against Gurney's.

"On Oct 27, 2010 8:50 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. Your comments are very appreciated and are used to better service our customers We do offer a lifetime guarantee on our plants and a customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information. I apologize for all the inconvenience.

I also ordered the dwarf citrus tree collection back in February. When I hadn't received them by July, I contacted the company, and was sent an email reassuring me that I would receive them "by the end of September". Well, here we are on 10/11/10 with no trees, no word from the company. I tried again to contact them, and have had no response. I just emailed them again. Again I understand hardiness zones but c'mon eight months? And not even an update email? I'm about to move and I can't wait much longer here.

"On Oct 13, 2010 9:24 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We appreciate your feedback. Your feedback is appreciated and used to provide service to our customers. A customer service representative witll be contacting you for you account information to locate your order and check on the delivery of your plants."

I received the coupon, purchase $50 get $25 off, so I ordered several item from the catalog (which was current and within the time limits on coupon). Included in that was 50 "our choice" strawberry plants. I received a portion of my order with notation that the asparagus is back ordered, however the strawberries are no longer available. I've purchased from Gurney's for years, and recommended them to all I know, but what transpired after this will change that. I call the company number and get routed to INDIA, where I can barely understand every fourth word said. I explained that my coupon in effect made half my purchase free, and after several attempts at understanding, believe they said a credit for some amount would be issued. I got to thinking about it, checked the web site, and found that "our choice" strawberries were in the current sale catalog on line, under a different item number and at twice the price I ordered it as. I called back (again, routing to India) and explained that I wouldn't have ordered a thing if not for the fact that I need the strawberries (my previous Gurney berries having died from extreme heat this summer). I didn't mind PAYING for them since it wasn't due to Gurney error, but I expect to get them since "OUR CHOICE" indicates strawberries of their choice, and they would have some berries, regardless of strain. Again, I could barely understand a word said, even asking for supervisor, but think they said they would send berries in the spring. I honestly don't believe I'll be getting them. Gurney's used to be so dependable, but outsourcing and not having any way to get contact with an English speaking, company employee rather than an overseas order company leaves me feeling like I'm dealing with a sham company. I've since begun a campaign to contact those I'd recommended Gurney's to, to explain that I no longer feel comfortable recommending them due to lack of access to the company when there is an issue. How can I get verification that next spring I'll receive what they promised over the phone at thousands of miles away?

"On Sep 14, 2010 10:07 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. We apologize for the trouble. We do have an overflow call center in India but at anytime you may ask and be directly transferred to an agent in the US. A customer service representative will be contacting you."

I received 3 rosemary plants in the mail.They arrived dried up except for the very tips. 2 died and 1 is struggling. Will not order from here again.

"On Jul 23, 2010 10:30 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We thank you for taking the time to post, we appreciate your feedback. We do offer a lifetime guarantee on our plants. A customer service representative will be contacting you about your order."

In early March my wife and her best friend stumbled upon an add in the local paper from Gurney's advertising a set of three citrus dwarf trees (lemon, lime, orange) for $9.95 plus S/H. My wife's best friend had been wanting a dwarf lemon tree, so my wife asked me to order a set and based on the delivery criteria Gurney's website provided based on the "zone" where we live it was determined that they should ship and arrive a week before her best friend's birthday. So I ordered a set online, and then about a week later my wife asked me to order her a set as well, which was also done. Well weeks went by, and the only communication from Gurney's had been the order confirmations, but I had received no further details from Gurney's about the order.

In late May I called Gurney's customer service number, which has an automated system, and was informed that the two orders were set to shipped on June 4th. After a week they hadn't arrived and my wife was getting upset, because we were now two weeks beyond her best friend's birthday already. I explained to my wife that we needed to allow 7-10 business days for UPS shipping before a company will deem it necessary to try and track the shipping. But as I explained this to her it dawned on me that Gurney's had not provided a UPS tracking number for the shipments, hence no way to actually track them. So I tried calling Gurney's back and once again received the automated phone system, in the middle of the day no less. All the system would give me was the same information I'd received the week before. So being a "good customer", I waited until Saturnday June 19th, at which point I called Gurney's and surprisingly received an actual person on the phone.

However during the rather short and uncourteous discussion with one of their "customer service" people (and I use that term loosely) it was discovered that not only had the dwarf trees not been shipped, but now it would be sometime either in the Fall or next Spring before they would be available. Allegedly the farmer that supposedly supplied them with these dwarf citrus trees had a "bad crop" and Gurney's was only able to fill a limited number of orders. When I asked why it was then that their system stated that my orders were due to be shipped on June 4th, and then didn't, well she had no explanation.

So my questions are, how can a company advertise the selling of these types of products and not have them ready to ship and deliver in a timely manner? Why would this company set dates for shipment that fall within their specified "planting/growing" seasons, when are actually when the plants should be in the ground in the first place to take root and grow? Why does this company feel that it is incorrect to not have any form of communication (I.e. phone calls, emails, etc.) with their customers so that the customer is updated on the status of their orders? And in the case of this issue, why aren't the trees in question shipped regularly throughout the year when they are clearly described as having the ability to be planted indoors and outdoors, and it is highly recommended that the customer bring the trees in during the winter months so as to help protect and nuture them?

No, this is NOT a company I will do business with again. Today they are supposed to refund my money to my debit card, so lets hope they do so promptly, given that they have been unable to do anything else in the same manner.

"On Jun 21, 2010 12:13 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We thank you for taking the time to post, we appreciate your feedback. We are always here to assist in any way we can. A customer service representative will be contacting you about your order."

My one and only time shopping with them. 1) I ordered a jumbo blueberry plant and paid what I consider a lot for it. When it arrived I felt there had been some mistake. What I got was a short two-twig plant. As Inigo Montoya would say, "Jumbo? I don't think that word means what you think it means." The plant has done poorly since planting. 2) I also ordered a dwarf fig at the same time, and again paid a hefty price. When that didn't arrive I had to e-mail the company and was informed it was backordered. Nice of you to tell me finally. It shipped one week later than the backorder date. It arrived today. I was stunned. It's a twig with three leaves growing out of it. This company is a rip-off. Caveat Emptor.

There are too many good companies out there selling plants. Use Google and find them. Avoid Gurney's

"On Jun 21, 2010 12:07 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We thank you for taking the time to post, we appreciate your feedback. We are always here to assist in any way we can. A customer service representative will be contacting you about your order. We do offer a lifetime guarantee on our plants."

GRRR. My mom has ordered from Gurneys since I was a little girl so I decided to give them a try. I received notification of what appeared to be a season-end sale as I knew other nurseries had already ended their spring sales. However, it clearly said on Gurneys site that the last order date this year was June 9 and ther last shipping date was June 15 so it appears my June 2 order would be fine and presumably shipped in 13 days or less. I'm good about taking care of new plants, and it's still rainy here so I wasn't concerned about getting these plants going this time of year.

I watched my order of 7 items (19 total plants/trees) and on June 11 there was an update. The Gurneys site said 2 items (5 plants) had shipped. Upon checking UPS it appears UPS was actually just notified electronically for billing on June 11 and the item actually didn't reach UPS until June 14 (was it sitting in a box those 3 days?).

As of today (6/16) the UPS site and Gurneys' site say the items has been delivered. I was told by the customer service rep at Gurneys it was shipped to my home address (but I'm here and it definitely has not arrived). Thankfully UPS was more helpful, Gurneys paid for 2-party shipping and the items was delivered by UPS to my local post office. I will drive there and pick up my order later so it doesn't sit in a hot truck until tomorrow afternoon.

Now with the 6/15 last day of shipping past, I called customer service about my other 14 plants/trees. Their automated system says the items are scheduled to ship April 2011. What the heck? I called and was told by customer service that they were still going to try to get part of my order out by June 18. But once I pushed further about what "part" that would be, it appears that it would be one more out of the remaining 15 plants, the other 14 would be shipped next Spring.

I asked if she could explain why their system would allow me to order items that clearly they didn't have available. She gave me a story about some crop failure this year (again why would it let me order these items?)... also I told her it was scary if 5 out of the 7 items I had sufferred crop failure. She said that wasn't the case. So I asked what the reason was for the others... she said they were shipping first come first serve so they might have been out of them when they got to my order. Again... why are they selling and even marketing sale prices on items they don't have available to ship.

I'm bummed. I missed an entire planting season and with most of my choices being fruit trees or berries that means an extra year before I'll be harvesting any fruit.

It turns out what they are sending are flowers and a potted blueberry plant. Everything else I ordered would have been bare root, which I admit I was surprised they were still marketing for Spring, but I was excited to still get them and had great luck with bare root trees I had received only 12 days before I placed the order. If they won't ship bare root trees after April or May... why the heck are they putting them on sale and saying they ship until June 15.

It feels like a scam to charge my credit card in 2010 for something they might or might not have in stock in 2011. Will they even be in business in 2011? Or will my money just be gone? I am especially sad that I now missed my local nurseries end of season sales because I was waiting on the plants I thought were goilng to be mailed by June 15. If Gurneys had been honest I could have bought the plants I wanted for this year locally and had my trees/plants ready to harvest one year earlier.

"On Jun 18, 2010 8:48 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We thank you for taking the time to post, we appreciate your feedback. We are always here to assist in any way we can. A customer service representative will be contacting you about your order."

Posted on June 15, 2010, updated June 15, 2010
I ordered 2 citrus collections and a dwarf blueberry back in March. Now I understand and totally appreciate the shipping schedule. But what is the point of supplying an email address when you aren't going to be contacted?

My first part of the shipment was sent to me a couple weeks after I ordered it. But I just got off the phone with a very unpleasant customer service representative saying that because the plants hadn't all arrived, I would not be getting my citrus trees until sept! Its JUNE for goodness sakes.

She proceeded to tell me that had I gone online to review my order, it would have told me this. See below and exactly what it says:
Order Date: 03/19/10
Order Number: ***********
Order Total: *******

Ship To:
ERIN HARVEY
*********************************
MARIETTA GA 30064 Items Not Shipped:
2 DWARF CITRUS TREE COLLECTION
Items Shipped:
Shipped via UPS Ground
Track Package Here
1 DWARF TOPHAT BLUEBERRY 6-9"

Do you see an updated shipping address? I don't. The customer service rep logged into the website and saw the same thing. I understand about computer glitches, but yea, I feel screwed for not being informed. How hard is it for their system to send me an email when I supplied an email as contact? She says I will be getting a post card in the mail in a few weeks. Yea that makes me happy. *sarcastic*

So all I get is a refund for being disastified. This was my test order. Something small, something I wanted, but how can I justify spending larger amounts of money on this company for my lawn and garden, if I cant get container plants and satisfactory service? I'm not pushy or high maintenance until someone gets an attitude with me from customer service. Partial shipment as an option would be nice, an actual discount, free gift, whatever, hell just a sincere apology would satisfy me. Not an attitude.

So shop at your own risk. I love their product offering, but I will think twice before doing it again.

"On Jun 16, 2010 8:58 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We thank you for taking the time to post, we appreciate your feedback. We are always here to assist in any way we can. A customer service representative will be contacting you about your account."

Posted on April 30, 2010, updated June 12, 2010
This is the second year I ordered from Gurney's. Last year I ordered 2 cherry trees. I received 1, not in a timely fashion and the 2nd one was back ordered. It was a year ago and I don't remember the exact amount of time, but I do remember emailing back and forth with customer service and months later getting a refund check.

This year, I ordered a bunch of seeds, a cherry tree to replace the missing one from last year and some misc plants/sets.

I received a shipping email 2 days later. After not receiving the order and not being able to track it I noticed the shipping zip code was incorrect. My shipping and mailing addresses are different. I emailed them 5 times before getting a reply and having the situation corrected. This was for the seeds. In their defense, the zip code error was my fault, but I thought it was going to take an act of God to get it corrected.

I was told in an email with a new order number for the seeds that the other 4 items would ship in 3-5 days. After not seeing a shipping notice I again emailed them and 4 or 5 days later when I received another reply was told the items were backordered and no ship date was available. Now have you, these items were still on their website.

I emailed them 5 days ago and have still not received a reply. I love your 100% customer service statement. This is the worst customer service in the world, or at least on the planet. I am not waiting around til fall, or months for you to issue a refund in the form of a check. You can refund my card if you're not shipping the order now or I will have the credit card company issue a chargeback. Thank you.

"On May 4, 2010 1:18 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We thank you for taking the time to post, we appreciate your feedback. We are always here to assist in any way we can. A customer service representative will be contacting you about your order."

Posted on June 8, 2010, updated June 8, 2010
Posted on June 7, 2010, updated June 8, 2010
Endless emails in my inbox. Finally a few months ago came one that said spend a $100 get $100 off. Good deal right?
Wrong.
Good way for these guys to get some cash to use interest-free for a few months. I ordered 11 "offers" of Lombardy Poplars to plant as wind break. "3 trees per offer" means 33 4-5 foot trees for $135.
I checked and checked and checked and my order was supposed to ship on June 2nd.
BUT NO
Today I get a check in the mail that says they are out of stock and they have cancelled my order. WHO THE HELL GOT THEIR TREES B4 ME ? I ordered and PAID for them months ago? ! ! !
They Ship the trees in stock that sold later (and at full price) and stiffed the sales promotion folks. Nice.
Piss on Gurney's. Jerks
Nice "promotion". I will be adding them to my blocked email list and buying local where i actually get something when they run my credit card.

"On Jun 8, 2010 3:21 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for taking the time to post. We appreciate your feedback. I can assure you that Gurney's does not make a distinction on whether a customer pays full price or has a special offer on their order. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information."

Posted on May 4, 2010, updated June 8, 2010
Posted on September 2, 2009, updated May 4, 2010
After many years of not ordering from Gurney's because of bad experiences, I tried them again. I had two orders which went ok and so I placed a third order this fall. On the original order I left specific instructions about when to send iris rhizomes for appropriate fall planting in our area and, not receiving any information to the contrary, I asusmed I would receive them in early August as requested. When they did not arrive, I emailed their customer service department via their website. I received no response at all to my first message, an automated response with absolutely no useful information to my second message, and only after becoming very insistent that they reply immediately did I receive a response to my third message. Their message to me was basically that they would determine when planting time was appropriate for my area and really didn't care that when they planned to send the rhizomes was at least 6 weeks later than trained horticulturists in our state tell us iris need to be planted to survive the winter. When I brought that to their attention, along with the fact that many years of gardening experience in our area tell me that the horticulturists are correct, the response was basically: we'll send them when we feel like sending them and we don't really care what you, our customer, wishes us to do. They were gracious enough to tell me that they have a guarantee on the price of the plants but I'm quite sure they won't reimburse me for the time it took me to plant them or for the fact that the iris that I wanted to have for next spring will die over the winter unless we have an unusually mild winter. Needless to say, I will be returning to my policy of NOT ordering from Gurney's or any of their sister companies anymore.

"On Sep 3, 2009 4:37 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for your inquiry. Please accept our sincere apology for any inconvenience we may have caused. We will be contacting you to help rectify the problem."

In February, 2010 I ordered three fruit trees as a gift- my check was cashed but I never recieved my items. According to the website it would be shipped between March-May. After not receiving it, I emailed customer service and was told that it might ship at the end of the year! I called and kindly asked them to ship it now, since it's summertime in my zone, and the end of the year would be too cold. They finally told me that actually it was not in stock, and they would not get anymore in stock this year. Why didn't someone contact me and tell me that!!!!! I asked for a refund. I'm still waiting for my money back. Extremely poor service,.and very suspect business practices. I will never order from them or their affiliates again.

"On Jun 8, 2010 3:22 PM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

Thank you for taking the time to post. We appreciate your feedback. A customer service representative will be contacting you for your account information. We apologize for the inconvenience."

I ordered a grapefruit and a guava (plus other items) in Jan 2010. I received my other items and the grapefruit was cancelled by Gurneys a few months ago. I contacted Gurneys about when I will get my credit for the grapefruit. Their canned reply was not until the whole order ships and the guava is scheduled to ship in September which the proper planting time for your zone. I live in zone 5. There is no proper planting time for a guava in my zone because it has to be planted in a container because it is not cold hardy. I was charged for my order the same day I placed it. Now Gurneys wants me to wait over 6 months for a refund on something they cancelled. I do not think so. I have requested that they cancel my guava. I will order it from another company that can get it to me in a reasonable time. I don't believe my family will be ordering from Gurneys or their sister companies again.

"On Jun 8, 2010 11:23 AM, Gurney's Seed & Nursery responded with:

We appreciate your feedback. I apologize for the inconvenience. Your feedback is used to help provide better service to our customers. A customer service representative will be contacting you for more information."