Comments regarding House of Wesley

Very poor quality plants and service. They would accept only original shipping label to obtain replacements of plants that were shipped dead, rotten and moldy. However, original label is also needed within one year for warranty for any plants that fail to thrive. So sending label for replacements now relieves them of their warranty. My opinion is dead plants were shipped in attempt to get the label back ASAP. I will never buy from them agian nor would I recommend them to anyone.

We ordered about $150 worth of trees (46 trees, to be exact) from H.O.W. in Spring of 2001. They finally arrived mid-summer, far past ideal planting season. The condition of the trees when they arrived was disgusting. Covered with black and white mold and fungus, crammed into plastic bags. We decided to try to plant them anyway and spent days planting and watering to try to salvage them. Needless to say, most of the trees never grew at all. The spruces were dead from the start. Some of the willows and poplars survived, but more than half of what we ordered was a waste. We have tried for days to contact this company and can never get through. After reading all of the comments here, we realize now what a huge mistake we made and will never deal with this company again. Avoid them at all costs.

I wish I had found your site before I sent my order. Now I am just one of a long line who are out the money, and no shipment yet, its been weeks. And from what I hear, there is not much chance the plants will be worth anything when they get here. I am notifying the Attorney General here, mail fraud division about this company. It was a fairly expensive lesson to learn.

This company is horrible to deal with; my order was full of 'substitutions' that didn't live long enough to survive shipping. I've concluded that their numerous 'subsidiaries' are merely a ploy to avoid responsibility. NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH PLANTRON, I cannot stress this enough. I can't even get off their mailing lists!

I placed an order with House of Wesley, they cashed my check immediately and I still haven't received anything. It's been 2 months. I contacted the customer service dept. and was told that they did not handle that type problem. So I emailed another address and got the response that my plants were in the shipping department and would be sent out ANY DAY. That was 2 weeks ago, I can only imagine what shape the poor plants are in at this point. I will never be suckered into buying from these people again.

Everything I ordered from them died and you have to send back your packing slip to get credit. I also ordered from one of their other catalogs under another name and it was the same dead moldy plants.

After reading about the disreputability of this company on your website, and having already received erroneous information from them about when my order would arrive, I immediately cancelled my order with them, after waiting for 6 weeks for my plants. They refused to cancel my order! They insisted that once an order is placed, it is impossible to cancel and we have a binding contract. I contacted Visa and BBB because companies like this bank on the fact that it will be too difficult for customers to go through all the proper channels to get their money refunded. A few years ago, I had the experience of receiving rotted merchandiseand trying to get a refund from Richard Owen Nursery (owned by House of Wesley, I just found out) a few years back and never got my money refunded--that one was a few hundred dollars--ouch. I would caution everyone, DON'T deal with the following associated companies: House of Wesley Nursery, Royal Dutch Garden, Burgess Plant & Seed, Richard Owen Nursery, Four Season Nursery, ComeToBuyInc and DirectGardening.com.

I read the comments in this column about House of Wesley, most of which were negative, but I succumbed to the temptation of the Unbelievably Low Price. Shame on me. I ordered 12 burning bush plants on May 1, with a promised shipment of 7-10 days. My credit card was billed on May 3. After May 15, I started calling and emailing. I discovered that the reply email that says "your order is in packing and will be shipped soon" is a canned automated reply and has nothing to do with the email sent. I refused to bay the credit card charge. I finally received the plants June 25, and they were moldy and looked dead. I tried to plant them with no luck, and returned them for refund 2 weeks later. Instead of a refund I was issued a merchandise credit. I contacted them and was told to return the credit certificate and ask for a refund, which I did August 10. By August 25, I had heard nothing, and threatened to refuse payment again. They said a refund would be sent out promptly, and I foolishly paid the credit card bill. It is now Sept. 14, and I have NOTHING from them but heartache. My advice: Run, do not walk, RUN from this company under all it's different guises.

The things I ordered from this company were of very poor quality They took there money way before product was ever sent and then when they did send it, it had to be returned full of bugs and stunk to high heaven trees that should have been moist were dry and dead and bulbs that should have been dry were moldy slimy, and stunk really bad. I returned the package and they are in no hurry to refund my money. Plus they think I should be out the shipping. I guess they want people to pay for them to ship their garbage back and forth!

House of Wesley does not stand by its guarantee. I have a BBB complaint against them.

In 2000, we ordered 150 Norwegian elms, 12 Blue Spruce trees, a Weeping Willow tree and 2 Apple trees. When they came, the Blue Spruce were black with mold and, of course, did not survive. The Norwegian Elms were nothing but dry sticks but we spent hours planting them all. The Weeping Willow actually had a leaf on it but did not survive and the apple trees never came out of the stick stage. 3 weeks after planting the Norwegian Elms, they were still sticks so I contacted the company about it. They sent me a gift certificate instead of returning my money. They said I hadn't sent them the original order number. It was on the packages the plants came in and, of course, had gone to the dump long before. I had no choice but to accept the gift certificate. It was good until August of 2001. On June 16, 2001, I sent in an order, adding a check for the shipping that they were not willing to include in the gift certificate. This is August 26th and I still don't have my order. If I get it now, it's too late to plant the bulbs and trees I ordered. This is a very poor company and I'll never order from them again.

I placed an order on July 9th for 2 purple smoke trees, and 25 creeping red sedum. It is now August 10 and even though my check has been cashed, I have not received my order. This is the first time I have done business with this company, and I accidentally came upon this site. I have to agree with some of the others, I have ordered from companies such as Michigan Bulb many times and have never had any problem, or this long of a wait. Guess I'll wait awhile longer.

I placed an order thru House of Wesley. I was charged for all of my order with House of Wesley. It finally came after a long wait all in a large plastic container with all of the plants in plastic bags. You could tell that it had all gotten too hot. The roses came out all but two plants none the worse for wear. The heat and moisture had caused them to start sprouting in the bags. The rest of the plants were getting slimy. I have learned that nature is a strong survivor and so I planted everything. A waste of time because they did not turn around. I have a sprinkler system so I know water was not a problem. When I called customer service from the catalog to get info before I made my order I made it clear on ordering trees that I did not want to plant sticks. I was told on the evergreen trees that they were 3 ft tall when shipped and that the other trees were one-year-old trees. I got sticks and 9" tall evergreen trees in a bag. Not what I was told when I made my order. I am contacting House of Wesley now to see if they will reimburse me for this order or resend the plants. Wish me luck.

Same results as the people before me. Do not order from this company. I manage a nursery. Took good care of plants that were alive when they got here in a plastic bag, which had been too hot. Poor service, awful plants, and a general loss of $526.00. Again, please do not buy from this company.

I ordered various plants from House of Wesley and they arrived in sad shape, looking moldy and mucky. I contacted the sender and they said put it in writing and send invoices and package, and give the plants some time. I again contacted them for a refund and they said I would have to give the plants 6wks time to grow. Anyone could have looked at those plants and known they would not grow. I notified them again and now have received a replacement certificate because they say I did not return the order in 14 days. I call this fraud.

I ordered plants from House of Wesley for the first time. They arrived totally covered with fungus. I planted all and followed directions. Nothing grew. I asked for a refund over 4 months ago and nothing has happened. Do not order from this company.

I ordered 6 American Arborvitae and they all died. I've tried to contact the company, but I can't seem to contact their web site. Any suggestions?

I sent in an order to this company from a flyer in the paper. I order plants and seeds and supplies frequently and have never experienced such a situation. My order went in March (around the 1st); my check was cashed and returned to me by the 15th. I never heard a word from the company. After another two weeks, I called their customer service # and spoke to an extremely nasty woman named Cassidy, who said I had to conduct all business by mail and that shecould tell me nothing. I told her that I wanted to cancel the order, and that I wanted them to refund my money. She said to put it in writing. Then she hung up on me. I wrote to them telling them that it was now too hot (6 weeks had now passed with no response from the company) to plant trees in my area - it was in the upper 80's every day - and that they should refund my money. I sent it certified mail and also said that if they sent it, I would refuse delivery. The box arrived on Friday (May 27)- eight weeks after I had ordered the plants and trees. I refused delivery and then called their customer service again speaking to the nasty Cassidy, who screamed at me for refusing delivery and told me to write another letter. I am doing that but she as much as told me to forget getting my money returned. So, I feel like they ripped me off and I don't know what else to do, except to try to warn others before the same thing happens to them.

My friend placed an order with House of Wesley April 3, 2001. I couldn't wait to see her order, and planned to place one myself, just assoon as I made sure hers was ok. Today, May 16, 2001, her order arrived (3 weeks after cashing her check). Two hundred dollars worth of plants arrived in one small kitchen size "garbage bag". How the owners of this company can sleep at night is beyond me. For example, 50 Periwinkle's arrived in a "sandwich size baggie". Only about 5 had any green leaves left. Her 12-24" blue spruce were maybe 12" including the root. Five out of six were covered with mold, and were black. None that we could tell were of the "blue" variety. Her hosta consisted of 1/8 cup of mulch in a bag. What a joke! While we both did not expect the "beauty" of the catalog, we did expect viable. I won't be placing an order with this company, or probably not any other. I prefer green living plants, and am willing to pay for them instead of wasting my time on these "businesses". Thank you for your website. I stumbled upon it while searching for online companies. I think in the future, I will use my Yellow pages, instead of the internet.

I also had terrible results with House of Wesley. Last Spring I ordered 100 privet hedge and 100 Chinese elm. The hedge plants arrived covered with mold and were entirely mushy; the Chinese elm were only slightly better. I called to return or have the item refunded and was told that I should try planting the stock anyway, and that I could still receive a refund later if the plants didn't survive. Not one single hedge plant survived, and only 27 of the Chinese elm made it. Furthermore, when I requested a refund for the dead stock, I was told that I would have had to return the stock within 2 weeks (or was it 10 days?) to receive the refund!! I had ordered well over $100 of stock and I was livid! I did receive a voucher for the amount of purchase to apply against a new order. I really didn't want to order from this company again!! But I used the voucher and placed a new order several months ago, it's now May 4, 2001 and I still haven't received my new order. Much of my other new stock has already been set. NEVER EVER AGAIN!

I placed an order in early Apr 2001 - $103. I didn't receive two trees. Now it's June and ¾ of the order did not come back to life but I discovered something from the shipping label. I also ordered from Richard Owen Nursery the Shipping label are exactly the same but different colors. The package ID #'s are the same - the typewritten numbers at bottom are the same, and another number at the top left are the same. How can two different nurseries have so many of the same numbers on the printed label? Also there is no address to return for a refund. I will never do business with House of Wesley or Richard Owens.

I ordered from House of Wesley on the 1st of April and I have never received any of the items I ordered. My check was cashed on the 11th of April. I guess I would have been smart if I had checked the internet before ordering. My order was only $75.00 but I still hate to be out that money. I guess I have learned a lesson the hard way. I will never order from these people again.

I ordered from House of Wesley 6 weeks ago, and still haven't received my order. I don't think this is a very reputable company.

I've ordered from this company for the first time, the first of April 2001, and as of April 25, 2001, still have not received my order, nor a satisfactory status of my order. The phones are always busy (voice and fax.) Something tells me I'm into a company that is not very reputable; after reading all these customer remarks, I'm certain of it.

After reading all these complaints, I'm worried about sending my order! I ordered from House of Wesley last year and ALL my plants looked a little unhealthy when I unwrapped them but I planted them and they grew beautifully! I ordered from another company and got terrible results. I guess I will try again with H.O.W

I will never buy another thing from House of Wesley. They have cashed my check and when I called for any confirmation on delivery time or date, I was informed she couldn't tell me and that the nursery workers wouldn't be back until March or April.

This company is not a reputable firm. A few years ago I ordered a mosquito repelling geranium and never received the plant or a refund. Just this year, my sister ordered a number of plants. None of these plants ever grew. I contacted the company. They promised that they would send replacements in time for Fall planting. They never did. I am still trying after two months to get my money back. They are not responding.

We just received a gift of plants from the House of Wesley: Their water lily collection-three of the four plants included were sodden rotten masses of goop-the only water lily to survive was the white generic water lily; the red, pink and yellow were totally rotten. There is no phone # listed on the mailing label. It was delivered one day before expiration date.The other plants arrived intact. [update] This dealer is unbelievable. The only way to contact is by mail or long distance if you have a complaint. They take eons to process - a letter mailed from NYC July 20 was registered in their system Aug. 10 - still no written response; denied receiving original label which was in priority mail package in separate envelope with letter of complaint. Forwarded copy of label with their return mail, which they required to be returned to them in order to process complaint. They have no idea as to when they will ship replacements: 2 plants lived out of over 12 ordered in two pond collections. $60.00 plus priority mail postage and two lengthy long distance phone calls to get one water lily and one pickerel is disgusting.

I placed an order for water plants with House of Wesley on March 24th and they told me they would ship in approximately 3 weeks and promptly billed my credit card on March 27th. By May 30th I had not received my plants and contacted them. After first being told they had been shipped, to the wrong address, which I thought I corrected, and eventually was told that they didn't know when they would ship. I tried to cancel the order and was told that it couldn't be done over the phone or by FAX because that wasn't their policy. I hung up and called my credit card company and put the matter into dispute. On June 28th somebody from their consumer dept. wrote me a letter, to a different wrong address, that they were upset that I had disputed the charge and because they didn't want to disappoint me, they would be shipping my plants. I now owed them the amount and they would be billing my credit card. I finally received the letter but not the plants.I called today, July 17th and explained the situation and requested a credit to my card for the new charge. I was then transferred to a supervisor, not the one who wrote me the letter. I explained everything again and was told that she couldn't do anything. I then told her that I would put it in dispute unless we could resolve this in 24 hours and was told that could not be accomplished. I then offered to give them until Friday (this is Monday) and was told that it would not be resolved within this time frame. It would take at least 2-3 weeks, could not be handled in any way by FAX as they didn't do things that way, and would be at the discretion of the person who wrote me the letter and charged my account without my authorization. I explained I would then put it in dispute. I also told them at this point I didn't want any attempt of further shipment or any more charges made to my account. I got on the phone to my credit card company and again put the amount into dispute. I also spoke with someone at my credit card's dispute center who told me that House of Wesley had no right to recharge my account without my authorization.I have filed a complaint with U.S. Consumer Affairs, am filing one with my State Attorney General for unauthorized charges to my account and am filing a complaint with my State Better Business Bureau. I would not ever deal with this company again and would not recommend anyone else to them.

I purchased a number of items from this company. All arrived dried up and covered with a white mold/fungus. These plants are not healthily plants in some dormant state! I returned everything and am now having to do battle to get my money back. Beware of doing business with this company.

My father-in-law ordered trees for us from House of Wesley. Out of the 12 jumbo spruce 4 have survived. Out of 12 red maple 1 has survived. One Lily of Valley tree was DOA. From 21 Screen hybrid poplar most have survived about 4 are dead. We are not real pleased with this. We have ordered from other companies and have not had this trouble.

We placed an order back in the 1st part of April of 2000. To date (May 19th), we have still not received the order. They cashed our check over 3 weeks ago. I would not recommend this company to anyone wanting to purchase from a mail order company.

I still haven't received this years order though it was placed 6 weeks ago, oh well I'll have to wait and see.

I purchased some lavender, sedum, maple trees, and privet hedges from them. Their shipping rate is fantastic, as are their prices, so I wasn't expecting much. When I opened the bag, the items were exactly as described, but nothing more. The hedges were twigs that were one to two feet tall, but there was green on almost every one. I think that if I give them enough time, they will do very well. One of the maple trees had no roots, but I got five trees instead of the three I ordered. The lavender looks bad, but they may make it. I don't have any experience with sedum, so I don't know if they are good or not. They also sent free plants, of which, the butterfly bush most likely will not make it, but the bulbs probably will do well. I'm certain I will order again from them.

The House of Wesley catalog is the only source we have found for Sourwood (Oxydendrum arboreum) of Sorrel Tree, (aka Lily of the Valley tree.)

I just received an order, my first from House of Wesley. I am a bit concerned about several of the plants. as they don't appear to have survived the shipping (loosely packed in a large plastic bag.) I do plan on returning a PawPaw tree that has no roots at all attached to the twig labeled "PawPaw". The rose looks hardy, as do the daylilies. Of the twelve lavender I purchased, three actually look viable; I'll plant them and watch. Maybe I'm inexperienced in what these plants should look like, I hope they come up as I really liked the presentation in the catalogue.