Comments regarding Gardener's Supply Company

Ordered a kneeler from Gardener Supply as their About Us says their items are made in Vermont, USA ([HYPERLINK@www.gardeners.com]). Kneeler arrived in a box stamped Made in China. Nowhere on the website does it say it is made in China. Kneeler off-gassed horribly. Minor contact with the paint from wrangling it open produced a deep ache in my hands. I am shipping this back tomorrow.

Ordered some raised beds from them earlier this year that I was happy with. Then ran into problems with one of the trellises I'd purchased from them. And spent an entire Saturday -- during the spring which is valuable gardening time -- including hours and hours on hold on 3 separate phone calls trying to resolve the issue.

It's still not resolved. The customer support is extremely understaffed and, while somewhat nice, completely inept.

They used to sell quality products that they backed. Evidently that's a thing of the past. I won't be back.

I'm not the only one who's dissatisfied. Go read their BBB reviews.

Ordered online. Registered for an account. Never received any email acknowledging my order or new account.But, of course, continue to receive sales email. And yes, Peter, I checked my spam folder. Can’t look up order status online as I don’t know my customer number. So I emailed for customer number and order status. Received email back stating they will check it out and get back to me in 24 hours. Again, 24 hours pass and no, nothing, nada, zip from Gardner’s Supply. So I have now called 3 times. Waste of time and money. Extremely disappointed with customer service. Save your time and money. Buy somewhere else.

I used to think of them as a quality company. I couldn't order much because they are so expensive, but now I won't order at all. I have requested removal from their email list because they are selling my email to their "partners", a bunch of junk companies like Springhill and Flower Power Fundraising. It bothers me a lot that they are using my information to make money and that I get emails from companies with which I never intend to do business.

I placed an order for a number of items and all were disappointing. Quality is on par with discount stores while the prices are as high as my local high-end garden center. The worst example was the 5-in-1 Weeder (Item # 40-474). When it arrived, I took it out of the box and got started on some weeds in an old flower bed. It wasn't as effective as I'd hoped, but I was initially satisfied. To my dismay, one of the tines caught on a small root and snapped right off. It did not bend. It simply snapped. The tool is not even made of real metal, but rather a cheap composite material. Total loss and will cost more to return than the product cost to begin with.

Disappointing merchandise, not as advertised. This complaint seems to show up a lot on this board.
The company does not pay return shipping on returns unless strict conditions are met. Unfortunately, "this is a piece of junk" does not qualify.
We won't be doing any more business with this company, and we advise others to avoid them too.

Re: Order W02577506 dated 3-11-2012.

This order consisted of 2 17" rolling planters, 2 self watering Railing Planters, and 1 Hanging Art Basket for a total cost of $218.

All of these items looked very nice, arrived on time, but all were of poor quality. The platic sides on both types of planters were not of sufficient weight to keep the sides from bulging when full of soil.

The wheel broke off on one of the rolling planters, both railing planters fell off the deck railing during the summer months, and the artistic hanger was so poorly made that one of the metal attachments broke before I even used it.

Obviously, I am very disappointed, but have been so busy that did not have the time or energy to document this until now.

I purchased a package of metal plant markers that are advertised as 1" x 2-1/2"....
I called first to make sure this was the correct size and they assured me they were.
When they arrived I found that they are 7/8" x 2-1/2......NOT the size I need....!!!
Sent them an email but no reply.....

The customer service really is not good when dealing with delivery. When at the Store in Williston everyone was very helpful. Our delivery was scheduled for today 6/14/2012.

Was scheduled between 9 to 12. It is now 12:35. We called them and we were told they left 10 minutes ago. When we asked why no one called the person did apologize and said she hadn't done it. If it's 12:22 why wasn't anyone calling at 9am ?

We then asked what time they will be here. She said they would call the driver. We got a call back 5 minutes or less later and said the driver doesn't pick up the phone when in route.

So why tell us your calling the driver ? Also what's the point of having the phone if you have issues with delivery and customers are calling ?

So I called back and tried to talk to someone else who was in charge. She told me she was a manager but couldn't help and that the person I talked to was a manager also. Nothing they could do. Sounds like too many chiefs and not enough Indians.

I am very disappointed as taking a day off and not being here at the times we were told.

Not to mention sitting here not knowing when... and having to plant them today and they are 3 large trees.

I have about 10 more I need to buy and I will not be buying them from here.

Absolutely the worst customer service I've ever experienced! On April 6th 2012 I placed an order for a raised cedar bed for my husbands birthday. I received an email confirmation within 24hrs stating the item was in stock & would arrive in 10-12 business days. When it didn't arrive I emailed customer service and received no response. Then on April 19th I called to find out what happend and was told the item was back ordered 4wks & would arrive on May6th. On May 5th I received a call to let me know the item would be shipped within the next week. Three weeks later, May 25th, my credit card was charged. The item finally arrived on May26th. It doesn't end there: on June 5th they BILLED MY CREDIT CARD A SECOND TIME. When I called customer service to have it straightened out I was told my account had only be pre-authorized on May25th and therefore charged it again on June 5th. I have been told my account will be credited, we'll see. I was never compensated for my time and aggravsation & my husband had no present on his 60th birthday.

Purchased Northern Lights greenhouse - been nothing but problems from day one. I wrote wanting to return it, no reply, then reply - Let us replace failing parts, sure - they replaced some parts but you have to reconstruct the thing every spring. They were just trying to run out the time period when you could return it. I was a sucker. A couple thousand dollars later - still junk. Said they would "make it right" - never did. Just junk. Having a greenhouse was a dream of mine - they turned it into a nightmare. Junk.

I ordered a Mother's Day gift from Gardener's Supply online. Not only was my order mishandled, resulting in my mom receiving the shipment twice, after Mother's Day, but the customer service was horrible. Initially, I (politely) spoke with Lisa, who not only didn't apologize for the mishap but sent me a follow-up letter telling me why the mishap was my fault and why I wouldn't receive a credit for the shipping I paid.

A few days later, when it was clear that there were still problems with my order, I called again and spoke to Vicki. Vicki was a lot more helpful and agreed that I should receive a credit for my shipping cost.

Today, I called and spoke with Emily, who definitely seemed to understand the definition of customer service. She told me that she was going to email me a label that I could forward on to my mother, in order to return the duplicate shipment she received. I still haven't received the label, but at least Emily was friendly.

I'll never do business with these folks again.

I recently did some Christmas shopping online at the Gardener's Supply website. While shopping I noticed that several items were marked "out of stock." Every item I ordered was marked as still being in stock.

I placed my order and it was processed online. Several days later I receive an email informing me that two out of the three items were out of stock.

Why was this information not available on the website? I was sending the order directly to family. Now I am sending them a rather skimpy gift and it's now too late to cancel and order elsewhere.

This is not my idea of how a website should work. If I'm paying a premium price for both items and shipping (yes, you are higher than other vendors) I expect better service.

I wouldn't waste my time (or money) ordering from this company again, unless you enjoy being disappointed or disappointing others at Christmas.

Buyer beware! Unfortunately I purchased some items from Gardener's Supply Company. I have no complaint with the product, but after receiving them I found the same item at another site on-line for 30% less!! Shipping and handling charges were also significantly more than the other site. Before you buy from them, spend a few minutes on-line searching for other sellers. You will likely save some money.

I have ordered from Gardener's Supply several times in the past and received the merchandise I ordered as it was described. My last order has been a disaster and I will NEVER order from them again. I ordered the folding firewood cart. When I unpacked the order on March 10th I did a parts inventory of the hardware. I was missing one cotter pin and received 3 bolt and nut sets instead of the five required. I immediately called the number on the parts list and was told they would send the hardware in about two weeks. I then e-mailed Gardener's Supply to complain about the poor quality of the cart. The cart would be simple to put together if the parts fit, but they don't. I'm a 53 year old pharmacist and I have a lifetime of experience putting things together, but the parts have to fit, I can't bend metal etc to make them fit....I also told Gardener's Supply about the missing cotter pin and the missing bolt and nut sets.....they also told me they would send the missing parts. As of March 27th I have not received the missing cotter pin or missing bolt and nut sets. I asked the name of the carrier and tracking number and got one of those "lost in the mail " stories.... I have lived in the SAME house for 26 years .... I also never got the hardware from the company that I called when I unpacked the firewood cart......guess that was "lost in the mail" too......

I tried to order a Garden screen/sieve here but couldnt find one in their catalog. I live in Vermont and prefer to patronize local businesses.

I finally found a sifter/sieve from a garden supply in Washington State and was slightly annoyed that it had to travel the entire country to get to my garden in Vermont.

The sieve is a life saver here in Vermont. My "soil" if it can be called that is extremely rocky in addition to the fill that was used when my home was constructed in 1989 which is mostly sand and stone and gravel.

Sieving not only helps my new plantings, its also provides me a never ending harvest of gravel for ongoing paving projects.

I inquired if they sell a separate rose for the watering can that I bought some time ago because mine broke. I never said it wasn't my fault, but they offerred to send me a replacement at no charge. Wow! I *am* a regular customer, but still... I think that was awesome customer service. And I told them so. They were pleased to hear it.

I ordered a pair of grass shears from this company. When they arrived they were simply not operable. Although they hadn't been cheap in price, they were certainly below par in quality. I sent e-mail to gardener's supply asking them what to do.

They told me to ship the shears back at my own expense. I wrote to them again and asked for a postage-paid label. They responded that they would be happy to refund my shipping costs if I sent the shears back via parcel post or UPS ground. I sent them UPS ground, which cost over $17.00.

Days went by and I heard nothing from them, although according to the tracking the package had arrived. Finally a credit appeared on my card, but only for the amount of the shears plus a few dollars. I wrote to them again, asking if they needed any further information from me to refund my return shipping costs. I offered to send the shipping receipt, etc. They said they didn't need any of that, and that my money would be refunded.

The last I heard, they said they had refunded my shipping charges, although the amount has not shown up on my card. I will wait a few days and start chasing them down again. All in all I've sent over 10 e-mails in regard to this return, and I've had less than helpful responses from these people. I will certainly not order from them again.

I can't say I'm very impressed with their customer service. I attempted to call them three times to place an order and eventually had to leave a voice mail order with their service. I left my email address.The next day I received an email saying there was a problem and please call them right away. There were no details about what the problem was. This I did and once again could not get a real person on the phone. Thinking maybe it was my credit card number, I left another voice mail with my credit card number again.Next day I received ANOTHER email stating they still had a problem and I had to call right away. Again, no human was to be found and no details about the problem, even though I remained on hold for over 6 minutes.Finally, I sent another email canceling my order. It was too bad because they had other items I was considering, but if I can't get a hold of a live person and my first order was such a hassle, I'll go elsewhere.