Comments regarding Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee)

I had been growing nasturtiums for several years in large planters on the front porch, using Burpee seeds because they were available at the grocery store. I was waiting till after the frost-free date and planting the seed directly into the planters, but kept getting only about 50% germination, and figured I must be doing something wrong.

So I decided to try starting the seeds earlier, indoors in individual paper cups. The Burpee seeds weren't available yet, so I bought what they did have, namely Ferry-Morse seeds (even though I had the vague impression it was a second-rate company). Well, I got 100% germination! So of course I thought planting them indoors did the trick.

The following year I was able to get Burpee seeds early enough to plant them indoors -- and dropped right back down to 50% germination again! I finally checked Burpee's Garden Watchdog rating, and learned that the company seems to have gone seriously downhill in recent years.

Not sure what I'm gonna do next spring, but I sure won't rule out Ferry-Morse!

I'm posting this same comment on both the Ferry-Morse and Burpee pages, with a positive rating for Ferry-Morse and a negative one for Burpee.

I ordered a lot from burpee this spring. a couple hundred dollars worth of bare root material etc. First of all, everything I got from burpee is small and lacks vigor. When I compare the blueberries I got from burpee to the one I literally just bought at Home Depot, the one from Home Depot is three times the size of the ones from burpee. That's after what, three months? Why buy from burpee when you can get healthier plants for the same price at a store which is omnipresent throughout the US? The currant bushes I got from burpee are 1/3 the size of the currants I got from a smaller seller. Just generally, I don't recommend them for the quality of their product. It has been extremely disappointing. But beyond that, the whole reason I shopped with this company was that I was starting a large new garden and buying a lot of stuff. I thought burpee offered the security of feeling like if something died that wasn't my fault, there would be customer service that might not be present at a smaller nursery. Boy how wrong I was! It is now a month and a half after I asked for a refund for a jersey blueberry. It never grew a single leaf, I waited until the end of June and then asked for a refund. They never responded. I contacted them again. A week after that they sent me an invoice saying I would be shipped an entirely different variety of blueberry as a replacement. I responded and said I did not want that variety. No response from Burpee. I guess they have better things to do. A few more weeks went by and I asked again. A week later I get an email saying they are sorry, but either it shipped, or it didn't ship (apparently burpee has no way of determining if their orders have even shipped which, come on, am I honestly expected to believe that?) But if it HAD shipped I could refuse it, and they would give me the refund. Well. Eight days later, no shipment, no refund, not a word from Burpee. I can tell you, I will never buy another product from this company as long as I live, and I do not recommend you do either. They just don't care.

I tried ordering through Burpee, it didn't end well.
I filled out the order, while finishing up it mentioned a discount, I believe it was 25% over $35. I attempted to read the code off of the catalog, but the code was printed over 2 different colored bars, thus impossible to read.
I went into chat to describe the problem, they weren't hearing it. They simply said without the code there was nothing they could do. Pretty much to me it sounded like SORRY CHUMP.
At that point I deleted the order. Their loss.
Had it been my company, I would have gotten the code off a different catalog and given it to the customer. That wasn't in their game plan.

My broccoli seedlings just arrived broken, yellow, distended, and curled. They are also way too late in the season for where I live. Even if these were going to live, which at least half of them won't, they are arriving two months after I should have planted them. It's even too late for me to get my money back and buy replacements locally. And the plants that do survive from this batch will never be healthy. I've ordered live plants through the mail before and they were well-packaged and suffered no damage, so it is possible to do it well. These are late, broken, and were definitely unhealthy even before they went into the box. I am also seeking a refund because of Burpee's "guarantee" and have yet to have any success with a refund. NEVER ordering from Burpee again

Their service quality and product quality is lower than when I ordered in past years. The order I placed was “processing” for weeks before it shipped. All items ordered were listed as in stock and within their preferred shipping dates for my zone. Instead of pausing accepting new orders like many vendors did this year, they kept taking orders but under delivering. Finally, the germination rate was below expectations for varieties I have grown before with a high germination rate using their seeds.

I ordered four separate orders early this year from Burpee. Each order was worse that the previous one. The last two were each missing a plant. Customer service is non existent. They will not answer phone calls or return them.
I received plants that were dried out not at all rooted and most were out of the Pots with the soil in the box. Of the twelve plants in total I doubt over four will live and I still have not received the glass slippers buddleia replacement.
I received a dried out of the pot with no rootball intact tiny Buddleia Prince Charming replacement today. It is in deplorable condition. I sent pictures of the condition to Burpee. I wi never order from this company again.
If you check my feedback on companies you will see that it is almost entirely positive. I do not leave unfair reviews but Burpee is unacceptable.

Rose

In the early to mid-2000's, I was an avid gardener with a ~900 sq ft garden. During that time, I was a fanatical fan of Burpee Seeds, having helped my grandfather and uncles (who used Burpee seeds) in their gardens growing up and then using their seeds in my own garden.

Then I took a job that required a great deal of travel, so stopped gardening. I am now semi-retired and able to garden again. This is my first year back to gardening, and of course, I turned to Burpee for my seeds. My seed order was around $500. Mostly vegetables, a few herbs and petunias. My orders also included a few plants and onion and garlic sets.

How incredibly disappointing an experience! In general, for the seeds, the germination rate was around 40%. Some as low as 10% (broccoli), to a high of 80% (non-coated petunias). The shipping speed was horrendous. I created multiple orders, to space out the costs. Invariably, the seeds weren't shipped for a week or more, even though the website says it will ship in 2 business days.

Regarding the plants, in all cases, I had to call or email multiple times to find out why my plants hadn't shipped (even though I within the shipping dates for my zone posted on their site). Depending on the agent I got, the answer was either "we don't know why it hasn't shipped", "it will ship tomorrow" (it didn't), or in one very rare case, "I will let you know what's going on" (and she did, but she blamed the grower). Unfortunately, when the plants arrived they shipped in inadequate packaging, and arrived damaged and dry. About 1/2 survived, but it took significant work to get them to a healthy state.

The onion and garlic, were no better. I again had to contact them regarding shipping and received the exact same results from customer service and, also, the same packaging issues. The garlic was not viable. I didn't bother contacting them again -- I knew what that would be like already. The onions did okay.

At issue here, is the time constraints implicit in the gardening world. We expect our items to arrive on time and in good shape. The poor shipping, customer service and quality at the "new Burpee" causes us gardeners to potentially miss planting dates, which is not a risk I will take in the future. I'm very sorry to say, I will no longer be a Burpee customer.

I recently placed my very first order with Burpee, 8 Torenia plants for my wife's annual Mother's Day hanging baskets. These are 4" pots and with shipping was a little over $50. I've ordered a number of plants over the years and by far these are the worst looking plants I have ever received. Lots of dried out leaves, spindly, stems cut off, broken stems, wilted stems (some), chlorotic, two looked nearly dead, and all the size of starter plants. I sent an email to Burpee with the problems clearly spelled out along with several photos. Not a single peep from them. No apology, no refund, nothing... I expected so much more from such a long established company.

BURPEE really is just a seed company. Anything else should be avoided as they branch out into other offerings. I purchased Angel wing Begonias (12 plants) x 2 because I had a really good experience a couple of years ago with Whopper Begonia plants from BURPEE. Expecting a repeat performance I was disgusted with the plants that I received. They arrived wilted with yellow leaves and several had come out of the package during shipment and dirt was everywhere! Because of this I was immediately able to see the root development and it was very lacking. These were advertised as plants, however in my mind these are no more than plugs in poor condition. For $50 plus dollars I expected more, however these half dead plants were nothing like the plants that I purchased in the past. On top of that I called BURPEE to let them know of my concern and waited over 30 minutes on the phone before deciding to leave a message for a call back. According to the recorded message someone will be contacting me within 24 to 48 hours. Well tomorrow is exactly one week from when I called and I am still waiting to hear back from BURPEE. I realize it's Spring and that most nurseries are busy but they were not to busy to take my hard earned money. I wouldn't recommend BURPEE to anyone especially if you are looking for plants.

This is NOT our fathers' Burpee! My father always used to order from them back in the 50's. Out of the catalog and mailed in a money order. Back in the days when it was a quality company with quality products and service. Like Sears.
So now in 2019 I place order from them. First, I am shocked at their shipping charges. Totally excessive and out of line with other online retailers. Prices for seeds were double - even triple - retail prices in stores. I go ahead anyway because they had a few specific varieties I wanted and I did not have time to prowl the internet. $27 for a few packets of just seeds. Seven days later I have heard nothing. I check the tracking number. They are now using some convoluted shipping system where your order gets routed through numerous UPS shipping facilities, then handed off to USPS, then routed through numerous USPS shipping facilities, routed to the local Post Office and then delivered. As of today, 12 days later, UPS shows it was handed off to a postal facility on the other side of my state 7 days ago and there is no other further information from either UPS or USPS. Burpee presumably implemented this convoluted system just to save a few pennies even though their shipping charges are outrageous. Burpee has yet to respond to my email.
So for me, its' Bye Bye Burpee. Never again. There are just too many other online and retail sellers of quality seed with good service to deal with their nonsense. One of them is True Leaf Market in Utah that delivered my Better Boy seeds in TWO days!

Posted on January 25, 2019, updated January 25, 2019
I used to enjoy shopping with these people decades ago. But, like other northern nurseries owned by Jung and others, they have fallen so far from grace that they now think it's a great idea to cheat their customers. I placed a sizeable order for seeds and what I received was in such poor shape that I was flabbergasted that they came from Burpee. I purchased petunia seeds from 6 different suppliers, including Burpee. Burpee's seeds are the only ones that didn't sprout. Most of the coated petunia seeds had lost all their coating and there were only 9-12 seeds in each of the five 15 seed packs I purchased. It looks like this might be from last year. The quality has gone so far down from mismanagement that all they receive now is negative reviews from everyone. I won't be back and I suggest you avoid these people. Don't waste your hard earned money on these crooks! They don't care any more!

Super slow shipping. Took them about 5-7 business days just to ship my order. If your going to order from them I would order way ahead of when you need them. Had problems with my big mama and super sauce tomato seeds germinating. The ones that did sprout didn't grow very well at all compared to the other varieties. Probably won't be using them again.

It took over 2 weeks just to send the plant and when I called to find out why I had not received it they did not have any explanation - just that it has not sent. And when it FINALLY came they were SO SMALL, NOT worth $10 and SOOOO DRY!!! I don't know if it will live. I will NOT order from Burpees again and removed my name from their mailing list!!!

As a first time customer I am very disappointed. I placed an order on 4/30/18. My zone is 6. My orders were to begin shipping as of March 26 for the items I purchased. I had not received any response other than the confirmation and funds withdraw. On 5/7 I sent an email inquiring as I had yet to see any shipment confirmation. I got no reply. I called on 5/11/18 and spoke with Paula. I was told that orders could take 7 to 10 days to arrive. I specified I had ordered 11 days ago and heard nothing back. I was then informed they only ship Monday thru Friday. well it had been 10 full days since I ordered and that was Monday and Fridays. She stated my order had not yet shipped but was not sure why and I should wait until next week at the end of the week to see if they shipped. I asked her to cancel my order and refund me my money. I also asked for email confirmation which I have yet to receive. I have no order and no confirmation of a refund which she also said would take another 7 to 14 days. This is a very poor example of a company for a first time buyer and I will not be purchasing from or recommending them to others. I will be proceeding with a dispute with my payee to obtain my full refund including the very expensive shipping costs.

Bought 3 determinate tomatoes from the 3/$19.99 sale online. They arrived in terrible condition with one dead and the other two very sickly. They were shipped in a plastic molded 'egg case' with most of the dirt loose in the container and very dry. These very small seedlings did not stand a chance. Comments have been left on their website.

I ordered seeds in mid January, of all the companies I ordered seeds from this year Burpee's were the last to arrive, however they were also the most expensive... I was happy with the quantity of seeds, all exceeded the numbers stated BUT of the 4 types of eggplant I ordered 3 of the varieties had poor germination. Actually of all the seeds I ordered this year from many different sources, of the 30+ varieties of eggplant I had poor germination with 3 of the 4 varieties ordered from Burpee, this was a surprise considering it I thought Burpee would be a reputable company. The 3 that did not germinate well were planted side-by-side with other varieties at exactly the same time, in the same planting medium, in a climate controlled room, and the majority of the others germinated very well, most averaged in the 80% range. For example Meatball Eggplant, also from Burpee had a perfect 100% germination rate, while in the same 6 cell (3 cells of each variety with 2 seeds per cell) Shooting Star Eggplant failed with 0% germination.

Germination rates:
Meatball Eggplant 100%
Shooting Star Eggplant 0%
Behold Eggplant 10%
Early Midnight Eggplant 20%

I emailed them today and will update this accordingly as I receive a reply from them.

I opened up a $2.49 pack of Burpee Batchelor Buttons (I had two packs) that I bought at Fred Meyers to cover an area that was about 1' x 2 & 1/2' I had prepared for Summer flowers. Each pack contained no more that 15 seeds (and I'm being generous) ... so the total might cover a foot square ... that is, if they all live. This is about the biggest rip-off I've seen in awhile. I will never buy another pack of Burpee ... of anything. And I'll give them the advertising they deserve.

I normally grow from seed in my hydroponics system but 2 years ago I got started too late. So I ordered from Burpee and was amazed by their immense selection they have. The problem is, when I received my starter plants, they were puny almost dead looking things and I lost almost ¾’s of them after transplant. This year I tried again but as soon I received the puny pathetic plants I dropped them into my hydroponics system. This helped a little as I was able to feed them right away and I only lost about a ¼ of my plants. But selection means nothing if the plants won’t survive. I live in grow zone 5, so maybe my problem is I am getting the last of their plants, that is, all the good ones have been shipped previously. My starter plants that I got from Earl May are dwarfing the Burpee plants, so next I will just buy everything from them.

"On Aug 5, 2016 8:34 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We are very sorry to hear about this customer's unfortunate experience with our plants. Our plants are not recommended to be grown hydroponically. If customers want to grow our products hydroponically we recommend they grow them from seed. We have reached out to this customer to address the issue of his/her receiving unsatisfactory plants. We appreciate hearing of his/her experience."

I ordered three dahlia showtime plants from Burpee. When they arrived, I unpacked them and set them in a sheltered place outdoors to acclimate. When I checked back two days later, the leaves were developing powdery mildew, which grew worse by the day. I called Burpee customer service and they offered to replace the plants. They arrived today looking HORRIBLE. 2 of the three had broken off near the soil line and the third was very beat up, with soil scattered all over and roots exposed.

I called again and they said they'd refund my $$, but that really doesn't assuage my anger. How can they send out diseased plants or ship plants in packaging that clearly doesn't do the job??? I have ordered online from many nurseries, so I know that plants can be shipped and arrive intact. None of those nurseries sent plants that were diseased. Where's your company pride, Burbee? You should be ashamed of yourselves. That's a 100-year old brand you're destroying.

"On May 27, 2016 12:18 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We were very sorry to read about this customer's two disappointing experiences with her dahlias this spring. We have reached out to her so we can research the problems further and see how we may minimize future occurrences. We always appreciate hearing from our customers about their experiences with our products, shipping and customer service, and find this feedback to be very valuable. "

Burpee has revamped their online system. It would appear that if you have been a customer with Burpee that you may have challenges gaining access to your account history. (As an avid gardener, knowing what I purchased in the past is very important.) I tried to view my history on May 1, but remember seeing some sort of note that account histories were not available, but I could request to receive my history. Thus, I sent a note to the email provided. I did not hear back and sent another message last night. I tried to logon today, but either forgot my password or it is not longer working. Here is the message that popped up from Burpee.com.

"The "Forgot Password" function can only be used if you created an account on our website after January 19, 2016.

Any account created prior is no longer valid due to the re-launch of Burpee.com.

We're sorry but you will need to create a brand new account and re-register your email address."

"On May 19, 2016 5:25 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We apologize for the inconvenience, but the new Burpee.com website required us to start fresh with new user account information. Our customers are required to create a brand new account for future orders with their email addresses and password. The reset password is not valid, unless customers created an account after 1/19/16 on our website.

All orders placed online before the new site launch on Tues 1/19/16 are still in our database, however they cannot be viewed online in prior account order histories. Our Customer Service department can assist any customer with any order information he or she need from orders that were placed prior to the web launch, or from prior years.

Again, we apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate this customer's feedback. "

This year I placed my first (and last) order with Burpee for 20 raspberry plants. At first all seemed just fine and my plants shipped on the expected date. Their website states 3 day shipping and that they don't ship orders on Thursday. I received my shipment notification and noticed that it was THURSDAY and had a delivery date of Tuesday, 4 days. When I emailed customer service I was told that my order was probably being prepared for shipment and hadn't actually left yet. After I provided the tracking number I was told that yes, it had shipped but it would be 3 business days. When I advised the representative that my order had a Tuesday delivery date the rep changed her mind and stated that it was actually going to take 4 days and not 3. Well, that meant that since it shipped Thursday it would be in the truck or at the dock somewhere for the entire weekend. My plants arrived at the first UPS destination on Saturday morning and stayed there for 12 hours. Then on Monday they arrived in my city early morning and were not delivered until late Tuesday afternoon. Burpee assured me that my plants were guaranteed and would be replaced if the didn't live. So, now I wait for a month to see if they live and by then bare root season has ended. So much for fruit next year if they don't live. Very discouraging. No more ordering from Burpee.

"On Apr 9, 2016 1:38 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We were sorry to hear that this customer was disappointed in our service and that there was confusion about the shipping dates. We have reached out to him to see if we can help. We do guarantee our products and will replace the plants or issue a refund if they do not grow. As these are shipped dormant and were in shipping for only a few days, we feel it is likely that they will break dormancy and thrive this year. "

I placed an order for 5 plants on the 4th of July 2015, I waited and waited, never received anything so I checked my account on the burpee page and it said they would ship my order at the best time for planting in my area. They charged my credit card the day or the very next day, but I never saw my plants until September! I could have been enjoying them for 2-3 months. When I did receive them, they were all stuffed into a little box, that I thought only held 1-2 plants max. Oh no! all 5 were stuffed in and dry. I did not get what I paid for. My neighbor said Burpee was the best and that if I wanted to get some great plants, that was the place to order from...NEVER AGAIN! I would have understood waiting if id placed my order in December or January, but it was July! Now ive got to wait until spring to see if this mess of dried leaves and twigs are really just sleeping or if they were dead when I received them. Now im on the hunt for another online nursery that I might actually receive what I pay for.

"On Feb 29, 2016 2:48 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We were very sorry to learn that this customer was unhappy with the delivery time of the perennial plants he/she ordered. We have reached out to the customer and explained our shipping schedule, and to remind him/her that all our products are guaranteed.
We ship live perennial plants in late winter/early spring, or fall. We do not ship in the heat of summer, nor the coldest time in winter, because the plants would not be likely to survive shipments, and because the best time to plant perennials is in cool conditions, and preferably as dormant plants. The ground should be workable in winter and not frozen solid, and nighttime temperatures should be cooler in fall to give the plants the best chance to adapt to garden conditions. We include shipping schedules on our website and with order confirmations, and when a customer calls to place an order over the phone. We are sorry that this information was not effectively conveyed to this customer.
As always our products are guaranteed to grow if they are planted according to directions at the proper time.
"

For many years, at least twenty, I have ordered Burpee Flower and Vegetable seeds. This year is the first year I've had a problem, well two problems. Penta (flowering annual) seeds which did not germinate, although I was meticulous with directions. No big problem, I really didn't care much about that. BUT, I ordered good old Sweet 100 cherry tomato seeds, among others, like I have done for a long time. I typically germinate about twenty sweet 100 plants, greenhouse them to about 15 inches, and give all but two to friends. The two I grew this year had GOLF BALL size tomatoes which were, in my wife's opinion, not too sweet. I felt the same way. Well I complained to Customer Service who referred me to Horticulture, and I sent them photo's of the plants, the ripened fruit, and the lot number on the packet. They returned the price of the seed packet, and postage. What do I tell the friends who got the other plants? Sorry? Is there a QA problem? Someone leave the hybridizing unit door open?

"On Aug 4, 2015 8:35 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We were very sorry to hear of this customer's experience with our Sweet 100 tomatoes and appreciate his letting us know. The information he provided will help our quality control team will research the problem and try to determine the cause. "

I live in zone 5. I ordered 9 tomato plants and 6 pepper plants, total over $100, on May 4th. I called several times asking for a shipping date. Customer service could not tell me even approximately when my plants would ship. I finally received an email from UPS on May 26th telling me that my plants had shipped. I never received any communication from Burpee regarding shipping. The plants arrived on May 28th. They were ridiculously small. I completely understand why neither the website nor customer service can tell you shipping dates. No one would order from them. Their plants are over priced, but I wanted to give them a try, thinking it might be worth it. Not only were the plants a disappointment, they cost me almost a month of growing time. I will never order plants from them again, unless they provide actual shipping dates on their website.

"On Jun 1, 2015 5:15 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We were very to hear of this customer's disappointment with his order and the challenges he faced finding out when it would be shipped. We have reached out to him. Such feedback regarding the information we provide and the quality of the products we ship is very helpful to us as we are constantly look for ways to improve our products and the quality of our service.

I ordered tomatoes and peppers on May 7 and received an email on approximately May 12 stating that my order had been picked and would be sent when it was time to plant in my zone. My zone is 6 and according to their website they have been shipping to zone 6 for about 2 weeks. I called to ask when I could expect to receive my plants on May 20 and was told they would "probably" ship the next day. Still had not received on May 26 so I called again and was told exactly the same thing. When I explained that I had been told that on the 20th and needed to know exactly when they would ship, I was told that no one in the company could answer that question but that "the truck" went out with the day's shipment and mine were not on it. When I politely stated that a more specific answer was needed at this point, I was hung up on. Apparently they don't have a shipping schedule. The lady I spoke with was very unconcerned and seemed to be annoyed that I would even call and could not care less if customers are satisfied. This is their customer service. Never, never again will I purchase from Burpee.

"On May 27, 2015 11:56 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We are very concerned to hear of this customer's disappointing experience with our Customer Service department and have reached out to see how we may resolve the issues s/he describes. Excellent customer service is top priority at Burpee. We appreciate any feedback that will help us to improve and maintain the highest level of customer care."

Each year it is something different wrong with my order. While the plants are usually good, there is almost always something wrong.

Next year I will try to find the products I want elsewhere.

"On Apr 16, 2015 4:37 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We are very sorry to hear that this customer has had repeated disappointing experiences with his orders. We have reached out to him and hope that every issue will be resolved by our customer service department. "

I ordered 2 perennials for my central Virginia garden in Feb. One was a Clematis :Henry , not an unusual variety to grow.
On March 15th,I received two anemic 3 inch potted plants ,neither of which was marked as to name,, and sent 2 months before my last frost date. I paid $16.95 for this 3 inch plant.
I called customer service to report the poor quality and size of these plants. I was thinking they were using an outside grower who was shipping plants out early and immature. They were not. Their horticulture group responded to me with basically a shrug of the shoulders and told me to plant them NOW. They wouldn't be damaged.
maybe not but when I am paying $16.95 for a common 3 inch plant, I will baby it. I wont be buying any live plants from them again...and this after 10 years as a customer.

"On Mar 23, 2015 5:29 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We were sorry to learn that you were disappointed in the size of the plants you received, and in the timing when you received them. We do recommend planting perennials such as clematis in a semi dormant state, before the last frost, so they can establish strong roots before they produce top growth. These plants should live for years and produce strong vines and lovely flowers year after year. If they do not grow, as for all our products, they are guaranteed and we will issue a refund. As always, we appreciate your feedback."

Posted on March 13, 2015, updated March 13, 2015
Posted on August 23, 2012, updated March 13, 2015
I have had very good experiences with Burpee this year. I had a problem with some seeds I had ordered from them, but I knew these particular seeds were difficult to start, and they were. But, I wrote to Burpee and Zachary replaced them immediately. Then I had a problem with those because the thermostat on my heating mat over heated and cooked them. Zachary replaced those also.

This spring I ordered a new Honey Suckle, Major Wheeler, a red one, and when it bloomed it came out yellow. I wrote, and Colleen is having a Red one sent. She gave me my option of that or a refund.

I find Burdpee a very good company to do business with. They stand behind their service guarantees. Thanks Colleen, Jeanette

"On Mar 14, 2015 9:38 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We welcome feedback from our customers and appreciate your disappointment that we do not offer scaevola as seed. We have not offered this as seed for some years, and checking back in our catalogues from 2012 to the present it has only been listed as plants. When you google a product unfortunately sometimes the posts that appear are outdated and may not reflect the current offerings of our company. We recommend checking our website directly, as these are our most current offerings.

Regarding the honeysuckle, these long lived perennial vines may take a year or two to bloom. The first year it is essential that they establish a strong root system. As long as the location is good and they are growing well, they will bloom in a year or two, and for many years thereafter.

We have reached out to Jeannette via D Mail."

I ordered four different kinds of garlic bulbs for planting to expand my varieties of garlic. One was "Kettle River Giant", which was supposed to have a diameter "up to 4" ". All were 2" or less. In addition, I ordered Burpee's "Best Garlic Collection", which was supposed to be an assortment of three different kinds of garlic. All of the bulbs of the "collection" were lumped into one bag, and were not distinguishable from each other. I E-mailed Burpee these concerns, along with pictures of the bulbs of garlic, and one clove pulled loose from each bulb. The response from Burpee was perfunctory, and ignored most of my questions. I will most likely never order from Burpee again. I am convinced that mistakes were made in packing my order; but no attempt to rectify was made by Burpee customer service. I seriously doubt that anyone even looked at the pictures that we took of the garlic. Obviously, there are better sources for garlic out there!

"On oct 3, 2014 12:54 , Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We apologize for your experience with our garlic and for how your complaint was handled. We have reached out to you directly to help you identify the garlic varieties, and to offer an adjustment to your order. We appreciate your feedback and are grateful for the chance to address your concerns. "

Apparently, it is always a mixed bag with Burpee. I rated them NEGATIVE because the last two experiences were negative, with another really BIG negative not too long before that. Here's the breakdown of my walk down Burpee Lane:

Positive - Ordered two packets of cucumbers and some gourds. Everything arrived in good shape, and the cukes germinated well. (Gourds not planted yet because I like them fresh and ready for fall, but I'm sure they're fine.)

Positive - Ordered a packet of hot cherry peppers and a packet of pole beans. Again, everything went fine.

BIG Negative - Two successful orders, so I placed a larger order of melons, squash, and a few varieties of tomatoes and peppers. Big mistake. The thin cardboard envelope had no padding. Something in the handling or shipping process squished the larger seeds to bits, and the smaller seeds had come out of their packets and were all muddled together.

Positive - Before receiving the Smashed Seed Surprise, I had ordered a packet of swiss chard and and one of bush beans. Again, smaller order, nice padded envelope, all was well.

Positive - I sent an email about the Seed Mash. Got a very quick response. "Deb" at Burpee offered to replace or refund the melons, squash, tomatoes, and peppers, my choice. I asked for replacements.

Negative - When I got the notification of the reshipment, the Gold Standard Hybrid sweet pepper wasn't available. They didn't make any special mention of that fact. I just noticed it because it was listed as OUT OF STOCK on the credit for the old order, and was missing from the shipping list for the new order. They didn't offer me a different yellow sweet pepper, or offer to notify me when it was back in stock. Just... nothing. No gold peppers for you.

Negative - I still wasn't completely disillusioned with Burpee, so when I received an offer for $2 shipping using the code FLAT136, I decided to place an order. I needed some sunflower seeds, and was intrigued by the "sunflower forest" idea. I got my order together, sunflowers and a few other items, went to check out, and... COUPON CODE EXPIRED. I looked at the fine print, and sure enough, it said "expires 05/19/2014 11:59 p.m. ET." That's 8:59 p.m. here in Arizona. After a very busy day, I finally had time to place my order, and... No discount shipping for you because you live in the Wild West! I can't say that my failure to scrutinize the fine print and the subsequent time wasted is Burpee's fault. I can, however, say that most of their competitors are more considerate of those of us west of the Mississippi, even at the risk of a few East Coast insomniacs getting cheap shipping in the wee hours.

Unknown - Before this latest disappointment, I ordered a packet of radishes and a packet of carrots. I'm sure everything will be skippy-dandy, and just as sure that I believe this is the end of my relationship with Burpee and their time-sucking inconsistency and unreliability.

"On May 21, 2014 1:10 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We apologize for the issues you have encountered with your orders and have reached out to you through D mail to make sure that everything has been resolved.

We always appreciate feedback from our customers and welcome every opportunity to meet their needs. "

I no longer even consider ordering from Burpee after the headache I went through last year. First they short me half my order, despite the website saying in stock when I bought them. They never notified me, I just opened the box to find items missing with a note saying the were back ordered. I called to find out what the deal was and they told me it was too cold to ship my pineberry & purple wonder strawberries... I checked the weather online and in their area it was high 60's to low70s that week.. They told me they would call back with a shipping eta, but when they did call the customer service rep accused me of lying, saying I had already received all items. I hung up and called back, spoke to a different person who told me they oversold and wouldn't have more ready for another month. So I ended up getting a refund, highly annoyed that the main items I wanted were the ones they shorted me.

Of the other items that did arrive, all the other strawberries and 4 of 5 raspberries died. The only item that was healthy and vigorous was a fig plant, which was a rip off for the size/price paid and a year later still has not yet given me fruit.

After I had already been refunded, they mis-shipped me the strawberries that had been back ordered. I wish I could post a picture, they were the saddest pitiful wilted seedlings I had ever seen. Of the 4 strawberries they sent, the only one which survived wasn't even the right variety.

Never again!

"On May 2, 2014 4:08 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

We are so sorry to learn of your unfortunate experience and have contacted you directly to see if we can resolve any outstanding issues. The satisfaction of our customers is very important to us and we appreciate having the opportunity to respond to their concerns."

Posted on April 4, 2014, updated April 9, 2014
Posted on March 16, 2014, updated April 4, 2014
I ordered seeds and live plants from this company last year and was very disappointed. The seeds are overpriced and come in a plain & ugly thin seed packet that rips when you open it. I did not get good germination or healthy thriving plants from any of the seeds. I ordered a Papaya that was listed for zone 9 but it turned rubbery and was unhealthy anytime the weather was under 60 degrees. It died within a few months even though the temperature was never near 20-30 as zone 9 gets. I tried twice to get off their mailing list but they keep sending catalogs even though they agreed to take me off their list. Many of their seeds are treated because they never say they are not, and most are hybrids and PVP's. Just awful, I cannot believe they are still around!

"On Apr 7, 2014 3:00 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Thank you for your feedback. We guarantee our products and will reach out to you directly to resolve any issues you have experienced with them. We appreciate your request to be removed from our mailing list, and will honor that request. It does take a number of weeks for this to take effect and it is possible that you will receive a catalogue during this time. We apologize for the inconvenience. "

Ordered a couple of plants, one of which was a passion flower vine for $16.95, from Burpees. When I received the order, most of the soil was out of the passion vine pot with the roots exposed.... since all they did was put packing paper around the plants. Well, the thing looked dead, needless to say.

When I contacted them about a replacement, they asked for a picture of the plant, which I sent. Received an email stating that that was the way the plant was supposed to look....and that if they sent me a replacement plant, it would look exactly the same, so they essentially said "No" to a replacement. And no mention of how badly the plant was packed (roots exposed), of course. That's their idea of customer service?

So I just asked for a refund. Burpees may be ok for over-priced seeds ordering, but apparently they don't "do" plant orders very well. And their 'customer service' ticked me off...since they tout, on their website, a Burpees product "guarantee of satisfaction".

I won't be using them again.

"On Mar 17, 2014 12:37 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Thank you for sharing your experience and we apologize that it was not to your satisfaction. Please know that the issues you experienced with the shipping of your Passiflora were sent to our Nursery Team for review. Our Nursery team makes every effort to ensure our plants are in good growing condition when they leave our growing facilities, even dormant plants; and we are disappointed that your vine arrived to you in such poor condition.

Please also accept our apologies for the problems you encountered with our service. Our customers are very important to us and we are working to fix the issues you’ve indicated. We are constantly striving to improve the service experience for all of our customers and value these types of exchange. Thank you, and our apologies, again.
"

Burpee has the highest price on seeds that I've ever seen, but I ordered from them several years ago and was happy with the germination rate, so when I saw all of the discounts they were offering I decided to give them another try.

They offer $10 off with a coupon in their catalog, 25% off a $100 order with an online coupon and free shipping with a $50 order. None of the coupons say that they can not combined with any other offer - but after spending all the time getting an order together, I find out in check out that only one offer will be accepted. If that is the policy, that's fine - but it would be more honest to say up front that the offers can not be combined, rather than the big surprise at the end. I emailed Customer Service with this complaint, but they replied only that offers can not be combined at this time.

With seed packets as high as 6.95 each and the feeling that I've been misled about the coupons, they can keep their outrageously priced products.

"On Feb 11, 2014 11:46 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

Thank you for your feedback.

We apologize for the problems you have encountered with our online & catalog promotions. Please know that Burpee will be making changes to our promotional information in the near future based upon your feedback.

At this time we have reached out to you on via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

If you require additional assistance please call 1-800-888-1447 or email custserv@burpee.com.

"

I placed an order on July 21, 2013 for a variety of tulips, I received my order today 10/16/2013, thinking my order was fulfilled only to find that Mother's Love Tulips was substituted with Red Riding Hood Tulips, which I already had ordered.Now, i figured that by placing my order early Burpee would have at least reserved these Tulips for me or at least let me know, so I had the option of choosing a substitute.Instead they sent order confirmation misleading me to believe I was gonna get Mother's Love Tulips.I am upset to say the least and recommend to my fellow gardeners everywhere to never believe by placing an early order with Burpee, that you will actually get your item.It is a little late now for me to try to find the Tulips I desired, so now I will have to wait till next year but I will never order from Burpee anymore.

"On Oct 17, 2013 8:37 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

Many different factors impact our inventory levels of live goods. Our tulip bulbs are shipped directly from Holland and at times production issues may occur. When these issues occur, we try to substitute a similar variety for the original product selected, and we do apologize your original selection was not available to be sent to you.

After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on via direct mail on Dave’s Garden and via email to resolve this issue.

We hope you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.


"

Posted on May 26, 2013, updated June 1, 2013
I've ordered from Burpee in the distant past and never had a problem. However, due to their link with Monsanto, I cannot with good conscience order from them again until they sever ties with any company that produces GMO seed. Goodbye Burpee.

"On May 31, 2013 8:47 AM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Burpee is the nation's leading purveyor of both heirloom and hybrid vegetables seeds and transplants. Burpee purchases seeds from a select list of suppliers throughout the world including Seminis. However, none of the seeds purchased from Seminis or any other supplier are GMO. Burpee has never bred or sold GMO seeds and does not intend to do so in the future.

The following link will provide more information about our company's view on GMO seed:
http://www.burpee.com/gygg/content.jsp?contentId=about-burpe...

"

After the experience I've had, I would not recommend Burpee to anyone. If you don't feel like reading the rest, I'll just say that their lousy shipping method killed the live plants they were sending me, and their customer service is lacking. Read below for the full details.

I placed an order on April 14th for three live plants, with the understanding that they would ship around April 29th or so (due to different growing seasons). April 29th came and went, and I received no shipping notice. I finally called on May 12th to ask what was going on, and why my order hadn't shipped. Their brilliant customer service rep kept telling me that it could arrive the next day... even though it hadn't shipped yet. Guess what. It didn't arrive on the 13th. Big surprise.

The shipping notice came on May 16th. Then I waited. And waited. And waited.

I was excited to finally receive the package on May 23rd. Talk about slow shipping, especially for live plants! My spirits were crushed though when I opened the box and discovered that the two little tomato plants were badly, badly wilted, and nearly dead.

I emailed customer service that day to complain and to ask for expedited shipping on replacement plants since I had been waiting so long already. I received a timely, but abrupt reply which lacked appropriate capitalization. It said that they were shipping replacements to me. No mention of shipping type or speed.

I called again today (May 29th) to inquire about the status of my replacements, and to request expedited shipping if they had not been sent yet. I was told that there was no way at all for them to expedite shipping on anything. I finally asked to speak with a supervisor, and the representative said that he would take my number and that she (the supervisor) would call me back as soon as she gets a chance.

Not surprisingly, my phone never rang. However, I did mysteriously get another shipping notification by email not long after I called. Same slow shipping method as last time. So here I am, six weeks after placing my order, waiting for replacements to arrive, and hoping that they don't die en route too. All of our other tomatoes have been in the ground at the garden for two weeks already. My poor tomatoes (if they survive this journey) will be off to a very late start.

I think they owe me an apology and a refund. I didn't pay $22.00+ for dead plants, slow shipping, and lousy customer service. I don't think I'll ever buy from Burpee again.

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:57 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on May 31, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

"

Order of 3 tomato plants, with all 3 plants limp with stems unable to support plants upon arrival. As I was in the garden when plants arrived, they were all planted according to the package directions within 10 minutes of arrival, with sun and wind protection; temperature in the upper 60's, a plastic pot with the bottom cut out, placed around the plants at time of planting. 24 hours later, two plants (Big Boy and Brand boy) are barely alive, but with leaves that are not wilted, so I believe they will recover. The sauce tomato hybrid appears dead, with wilted leaves and no support from the main stem). Purchasing tomato plants from the local grocery or hardware store would have been a better choice, even if I would not have gotten the desired hybrids.

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:55 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on June 3, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

"

I placed an order online to Burpee on March 30, 2013. It was for a Goji Berry Plant-in a 3" pot. It arrived on April 26, having spent 8 days in transit ! The plant was essentially dead- all the soil was out of the pot, and all the leaves were brown. I took a photo and called Burpee's customer service- the rep. told me that a live plant should NEVER be shipped on a Thursday and spend 8 days in transit. She was very helpful, and reordered the plant for me. This was 5 weeks ago, and after several emails & phone calls by me (none of which were satisfactory) today I got a shipping confirmation from UPS that the plant was being shipped today, and scheduled arrival was May 31-(8 days from now!) I called and voiced my resistance to another 8 day journey- I said I know the plant will be dead-again! I get US Priority packages from FL all the way to here- WA in 2 days. I asked to speak to someone from the nursery that shipped it, but that is not possible. This has all been totally frustrating and I will NEVER do business with Burpee again.

"On Sep 4, 2013 3:54 PM, Burpee (W. Atlee Burpee) responded with:

Dear Customer,

We are very sorry for the poor experience you’ve encountered with Burpee. After reviewing your comments we reached out to you on June 3, 2013 via direct mail on Dave’s Garden to resolve this issue.

We hope at this time you feel that this matter has been resolved. Please contact our Customer Service team at 1-800-888-1447 if you require additional assistance or email custserv@burpee.com.

"