Comments regarding Willis Orchard Company

In September 2009 I ordered 12 cabernet Sauvignon grapevine plants by phone with hopes of making some home wine and charged them to my credit card. I ordered the more expensive 3 year old plants and paid full price, and was assured that they would be 3 year plants when I received them. I had never seen a Cabernet Sauvignon grapevine before and was extremely surprised that Willis Orchard sent me such small one year plants, or maybe even 2 year old vines even though I had paid for the largest 3 year size but went ahead and planted them anyway. I was further more surprised when a friend of mine looked at my vines and said they were muscadine vines instead of wine grapes that muscadine vines have different shaped leaves and bark. I got my agricultural extentions agent to come over to view the plants and he said in no uncertain terms that Willis orchards had not sent me wine grapes at all! I am 82 years old and have suffered with health problems and do not wish to have willis orchards replace the wine grape vines with more grapevines that might like before be incorrect muscadine grapes, as I may not have much time left to enjoy my wine making. Willis Orchards doesn't offer refunds on orders, so I am out of their guarantee policy time frame. Here's hoping my complaint will help other gardeners to avoid getting stuck with miserable plants of wrong sizes and incorrectly identified grape vines from Willis Orchards!

A similar problem happened to me when dealing with Willis Orchard Co, and I posted a complaint on other forums online and have complained to the BBB in Georgia.
I placed an order with Willis Orchard in January 2010 and waited weeks before they finally sent them. In late march we had a freeze that ripped the crepe myrtle trees and no more leaves appeared until a month later. After waiting and waiting for the blooms to show they finally came in early summer but the three different colors of crepe myrtle were supposed to be red, white, and pink kinds. Guess what!? All the crepe myrtle plants turned out to have white flowers- no red- no pink. I called Willis Orchards every time a wrong color crepe myrtle bloomed- 3 times- and every time they were rude with a promise to replace them almost a year later, but not last year, all that time was wasted. Still no replacements from Willis Orchard has come. Even if Willis does send me replacements, how do I know if the crepe myrtle flowers will not be mixed up like the first time. It's discouraging to have to deal with incompetent mail order companies like Willis and it makes you wonder if they are truly incompetent or if they deliberately mix up orders to their customers. From reading all these negative complaints on this forum I'd say it may be both factors and having rude employees on the phone certainly does not help either!

My problem is with an Internet mailorder nursery, Willis Orchard and I was surprised how unprofessional everything appeared, let me explain. I purchased a Hachiya persimmon tree 5-6' that had supposedly borne fruit in 2009. The persimmon tree switch that arrived had no evidence of branching or fruiting. It was less in size than 5 feet even if you consider the butchered roots. This persimmon tree advertised as old enough to bear persimmons has not performed as Willis Orchard advertised- No Fruit!
Actually my wirfe says she could have purchased this plant at Home Depot or Lowes for less than $20, one third the cost of Willis Orchard's price. We thought we were getting a more mature tree as reflected on their website.
The root system reflects that it was grown in a coffee can or slightly larger sized container. A local neighbor who is a master gardener doubts this tree ever bore any persimmons at all. Another problem is I don't know what type of plant I have for sure as there was no identifying tag. A professional nursery would have a tag so as to know what to ship. Willis Orchard provided no planting instructions with the delivery or on the phone,
I have tried to resolve these problems by E-mail and phone calls, but the people at Willis Orchards are rude and aggravating to deal with.
After experiencing this uncomfortable and losing financial situation I tried to get my credit card company to charge back but they said I complained too late. I feel that I have been "ripped off!" When I went online to various garden forums and to BBB of Georgia it appeared my problems with Willis Orchard are not too uncommon.

"On Feb 19, 2011 8:06 PM, Willis Orchard Company responded with:

See http://www.customerlobby.com/reviews/634/willis-orchard-co/ if you are interested in reading what the other 99.9% of our customers have to say about us. (74 reviews in only one year. DG's reviews are over four years.) Also should anyone like to have a fresh picture taken of the exact item/s they would like, let me know and I'll email it to you. Ask for Jason.
However, you can not buy something today and call me two years from now to complain about it. And expect a free replacement or a refund. This is basic common sense. (Because I explained this common sense, I'm labeled as "rude and unprofessional".)
"

My experience seems so much like that everyone else that I sure wish I had known about this website before purchasing from Willis Orchard Company; would have saved considerable time and money! I ordered one peach tree and two apple trees in the spring of 2010 but my complaint is not about the size, rather, it is about the viability of the trees Willis sent me. I knew that my 5-6' trees would not show up with leaves, that they would be "dormant," that they would probably be pruned and that I should generally not expect much from a 2 yr. old tree. What I DO expect is for the nursery worker packaging my order to be aware enough of what they are doing that a brittle-branched, dark brown stemmed tree that is clearly DEAD not me sent to me as a dormant peach tree. Furthermore, the insistence of the woman on the phone that this tree was in fact dormant was quite frankly an insult. I was ask to return this tree which I also find to be absurd because I did not kill this trees, it showed up dead! I can tell you I am not going to return this tree, I am not going to do business with these crooks at willisorchards.com again and I will be contacting the State of Georgia Department of Agriculture. This nursery apparently has the worst reputation of any nursery in the United States!

I purchased a 5-year-old ($184.95) Manzanilla olive tree in October 2009. I was shocked when I saw the plant (very thin trunk, looked like it was from last pick)...anyway, I planted it in a large terracotta pot in sandy soil with good drainage. After two weeks, it started to lose its leaves. I called the company and the person told me it was due to stress. The tree continued to lose its leaves, and I noticed small black scales on the branches. Within three months, all of the original leaves had fallen off and the new growth (yes, I did have some) produced irregular bordered, very light green and fragile leaves that would curl up and fall off. Within eight months, the tree looked like a large stick in a pot. I contacted the company and they said I could return the stump and they would replace the tree. I paid for the return shipping and the company sent a new tree (I did not pay for the shipping). This new tree was gorgeous! The trunk was solid and it had a full crown of beautiful leaves - unfortunately they were all infested by scale (identified by a friend who is an avid olive tree grower). Almost all of the leaves had scale marks and there were live scales on the branches. Within months, the tree experienced massive leaf drop and dying branches. I still have the tree, hoping that it might come back in the summer when it goes outside - but it does not look good right now.

My overall dealings with the company is neutral. The customer service was not great and the first (original purchase) olive tree was pathetic looking for the price. That said, the company did adhere to its one-year return policy. However, I am rating the product, which the company is responsible for, and that places my experience in the "negative" bucket. Both trees were infested with scale, which is impossible for a private homeowner to care for once it is manifested. I have since purchased olive trees from other vendors, and all are beautiful, pest free, experienced less stress from shipping, and growing very well.

Last year I ordered 1 Sumner and 1 Elliot pecan tree to pick up at Willis Orchards. The trees were advertised to be grafted but turned out to be phony, un-grafted, seedling pecan trees. The website at Willis Orchards offered for sale pecan trees 1 1/2 "cal, 10-12 ft tall, at $150.00 each and Cynthia Willis Orchards, sales lady told me to bring $300.00 cash, but when I got there she gave me an overpriced bill of $478.00, contrary to our telephone agreement. I was ready to walk out of their office (and now wish I had) when she and the owner tore up the bill and tossed it in the garbage and loaded up my pick-up truck with the two B&B pecan trees weighing about 75 lbs each. At home my friend laughed at the trees telling me Willis Orchards had tricked me, selling me un-grafted seedling pecan trees, dishonestly, because their own website contradicts itself, saying " Willis orchards only offers fine, paper-shell, grafted pecan trees." that seedling pecan trees are "wild" 'trees of less value'.
After realizing that Willis had tricked me by their deception, I complained to the BBB, the Attorney General's Office and the Georgia Department of Agriculture. An official from the Ga. agency enforcement called me and said they had forced Willis orchards to change their misleading website that was offering seedling pecans for sale as grafted pecan trees - and were going force him to send me a $300.00 refund, but I have not gotten the refund yet. I wonder if the authorities will force Willis Orchards to refund other victims that received un-grafted nut trees thinking that they were buying 'true to name,' grafted pecan trees. The Georgia authority said that Willis had been advertising this "bait and switch'' scheme of selling un-grafted trees for an extended period of time

"On Feb 8, 2011 6:21 PM, Willis Orchard Company responded with:

They are advertised exactly as follows: B&B (1.5"caliper /10-12')(Seed-Grown Tree)(Freight Only. Call for Quote)
We sell grafted trees up to 9-10 ft. size in bare-root field dug trees and also offer larger B&B seed-grown (a.k.a. Seedling) pecan trees as well. He specifically choose this selection of tree and understood exactly what they were when picked-up at nursery. Only after leaving with the trees and a week later did he begin slandering us everywhere he can think of. He didn't even call us first to inform us of any issue he developed post pick-up purchase. How could this size description be any clearer? Also, no authorities have said or made any such claim about this made-up advertisement scheme....this, like most comments on DG are lies and harmful slander that will eventually be reconciled.
*
See independent review sources Customer Lobby or Google Checkout for many more review than here, that show the true reality of our customers' opinions.
http://www.customerlobby.com/reviews/634/willis-orchard-co/
"

I am simply appalled at what Fedex delivered today. I ordered fruit trees and that were supposed to be 8 feet tall and WITH the roots these things measure 75.6 inches. (6.3') Their excuse is that the trees were pruned but that is MALARKEY! There was not one single cut, snip, or break anywhere on my tree except for where the roots snapped as they yanked my sticks out of the ground. I am NOT a happy customer.

In February 2010 I ordered 3 Northern Red Oak Trees and 2 Southern Red Oak Trees and I carefully planted them in hopes that I would get some 'Instant Shade' that Willis Orchard Co. had promised. I also bought some loblolly pines that were O.K. but smaller than the sizes that were ordered. The Tulip Poplar tree was the right size but the roots were cut down so much that after planting it just sat there with a few pitiful leaves until it went dormant. The oaks were the biggest losers. They all turned out to be white oak trees with no pointed leaves but every tree had lobed rounded leaves like all white oaks have. The 3 were definitely not red oak trees. As it turned out Willis Orchard gave me no shade, poor quality trees and wrong varieties. I will not ever order from them again.

Last spring I bought crabapple trees for drawing wildlife to my farm and feeding them. The crabapple trees ordered were all undersized and the roots were mauled in the package that made me think the trees wouldn’t live since they were also dried out, and the leafed out trees leaves had shriveled and wilted. 4 of the trees did leaf out after planting but numerous sprouts appeared at the base of the tree like a bush which I didn’t want. I wanted crabapple trees not crabapple bushes. The other tree died- not unexpectedly after seeing their deplorable condition upon arrival Also my two catalpa tree that I ordered to get worms for my fish pond just sat there alive but puny and certainly not viable enough to feed my catalpa worms. The Willis orchard co is a great disappointment and will certainly get no more money out from me.

Last Feb I placed a fruit tree order with Willis Orchards for several items and when the trees came I was quite disappointed because of several factors. First the two chocolate persimmon trees were both labeled chocolate persimmon but one of them also had an additional label, Fuyu persimmon. The woman said this was unusual but she felt that the tree with two separate persimmon labels was really the chocolate persimmon and that the Fuyu label was just a stray label that was from someone else's order put on my tree by mistake. (BS) That made no sense to me then and absolutely NO sense now. The three different apple trees looked o.k. but all were undersized; Willis made no offer to refund me part of the listed price to the cheaper size. Now two of the apple trees are dead! Overall I would say my experience buying from willisorchards.com was unpleasant and the replacement policy has been as unfruitful as my trees. I believe someday they will either have to change their management or get shut down. They do not have as friendly a guarantee as they claim!

This past spring Willis Orchards sent my order of several 3-4 foot red oak trees that all were dead on arrival. The 2 black bamboo plants were alive but just holding a few leaves- no new bamboo stalks grew. For my fishing worms I ordered 3 catalpa trees but the roots were butchered and only a few sprouts have grown out, bushy from the base of the tree. I am not pleased with my order results from Willis Orchards and they will get no more orders from me!

In the fall of 2009 I placed a substantial fruit tree order with Willis Orchard Company which was received and planted in a timely manner, even though in Tennessee, we had an icy winter. I ordered flame grapes that were supposed to be red in color and seedless, but even though all 5 of the grapevines produced grapes, they were small, black grapes and all had seeds, not the seedless grapes, as ordered. I ordered several pecan trees as well; their recommended varieties, pawnee and stuart pecan types. The roots were cut drastically off, and I felt they would not live, but was assured by the lady on the phone that they would replace them if they did not live, which they did, but even the replacement roots were cut off, and I think Willis Orchard Company will not make it either, if they continue to butcher their pecan trees! The angel red pomegranate and the fuyu persimmon trees both died, and they claimed they would not replace them, because they were ordered out of zone. My question is, why did they send them to me if they knew they were out of zone in Tennessee. They claimed their plants were guaranteed to live, but, they never said ANYTHING about this out of zone business. That seems like poor customer service to me! Be forewarned! Willis Orchards is unfair and shady in dealing with their customers, and their grapes are mislabeled and their trees are unhealthy and weak.

Last Feb I ordered several nut trees from Willis Orchards in Berlin, Ga that arrived in a box with pecan roots cut off drastically. I called them right after getting the package and got a lady on the phone that said the trees would be o.k. once planted, but, they had a guarantee that the trees would live, just in case. The news is that they all died and now I have got to do all this running around to get them replaced, when I think they sold me damaged goods in the first place!

My order from Willis orchard company arrived last week in awful condition. The apple trees and pear trees had their leaves stripped off which also left streaks of missing bark exposing green, shredded, naked, strips of inner tree surfaces that undoubtedly will be infected by disease and insects. My mulberry tree was supposed to be grafted not the seedling that I received. I was anxious to get my trees in for Fall planting by never figured Willis would send my trees that prematurely and weakened. I am disappointed and will be right back here complaining later if the trees die like I expect them to!

Two years ago, from Willis Orchard Co. (Paradise Palm Co.at the time,) I ordered 4 blight resistant American Chestnut trees. When my 10' trees arrived they had virtually no roots and removing the twist tie almost made me cut the trunk! There was no branch structure to my trees and I called Willis to explain my disappointment but I was quickly silenced by the rep who rudely stated there "Friendly Guarantee." The planting instructions they sent were followed to a tee, but not a leaf to show for my hard work! When my trees did not sprout by mid April I called for a replacement but was told to wait until the end of the growing season for the trees to have had a proper chance to grow. Well, I'm no dummy, I know what brown trunks look like and my trees were dead! So I returned the trees to them and waited for my replacements the following Fall, but nothing ever showed up! I called several times but no one seemed to know what I was talking about. (seems convenient to me!!!) Now I am OUT almost $500.00 and its been two years! My book calls that being cheated!

After calling and calling for several weeks to get one-half of my dead apple trees replaced that were promised to be delivered in September and I cannot get any results by mid-November. The apple trees looked like dead sticks when they did finally get here and undoubtedly were dead on arrival. Willis Orchards website claims to be friendly and full of knowledge but my experience with Willis was negative, and their phone people are harsh and snippy when I reminded them they were self described as friendly and I wish I had not dealt with these disagreeable people!

I ordered two satsuma orange trees from Willis orchards in 2008 that I planted in my backyard in a sheltered position under pine trees to protect them from any unexpected low temperatures. The orange trees were received in April after the last frost, but immediately after planting them the leaves fell off and the stems began to turn brown. I had just about given up hope on them living in September, but they both sprouted at below ground level and grew rapidly back to about 4 feet tall. The problem is that the stems were covered with sharp hurtful thorns and this spring the fruit formed after the many flowers matured. The next problem is that the fruit is misshaped, warped and very bitter-sour to the taste. Willis Orchards cannot replace these wrong variety satsuma orange trees since they quit selling satsuma oranges on their websites. I am done with dealing with their customer disservice and the thorny, uncompromising attitude of Cynthia.

In March of 2008, I purchased a number of fruit trees and flowering trees from Willis Orchard mail-order Georgia Nursery. I ordered a crabapple tree and an Anna apple tree that looked good and at planting and actually produced 2 apples this year. The alleged black mulberry tree lived but actually turned out to be a catalpa tree for which I have no use for. The angel red pomegranate tree was nursed along with tender loving care but my county agent looked at it and tells me that it is not an angel red pomegranate tree at all. Its a live oak tree, also for which I have no use for. The two dogwood trees and a redbud tree looked like brown dead sticks in my front yard, till I yanked them up in disgust and put them on my compost heap.

I placed an order and later cancelled. I got an email saying it would be cancelled. I have been waiting days for my money back. I have called them and was told I would get a call back-not done. I have emailed the manager-no response.

They will put themselves out of business if they dont change. There is a nice lady who I spoke with when I placed the initial order. I cant recommend them and I cant order from them again. And I will seek legal action if they dont refund me soon.

I wished I had only read the reviews first. I am learning the benefits of researching reviews first......the hard way.

I recently (August, 2010) ordered 3 items from Willis. I was and still am not pleased with what I received.

I ordered 2 blueberry bushes and I fig tree/bush. When I opened the box they arrived in, I thought they had only sent one plant. The fig tree/bush had no leaves and looked like a 4 ft stick. The two blueberry bushes had some sickly looking leaves.

I immediately potted all 3 plants. The fig has started to produce leaves. The blueberry bushes get sadder looking each day.

I have learned my lesson ... no more Willis .... and if possible stay away from mail order entirely.

Last Feb. I bought 10 sawtooth oak trees and three shade trees to plant around my house. The 2 red maple shade trees lived but the tulip poplar tree died. Out of all the sawtooth oak trees seven lived but have just been sitting there showing no bud enlargement. Three of the sawtooth oak trees died back from the top, down about ½ way to the roots and multiple long sprouts appeared fast growing at the bottom upwards like a bush on steroids. The replacement policy at Willis orchards is so complicated and aggravating that I have decided to forget about it and just buy potted trees at my local garden tree center in the future.

Bought two Asian pear trees from them a couple of years ago, turned out to be wrong trees. They replaced them last year then one of them died this year. Total waste of money and time.

My first order placed with Willis Orchards a little over 2 years ago consisted of a number of fruit trees, mostly apple trees that turned out fine. The Red Delicious apple trees sprouted fine in 2008 and seem to be growing a little now, even though after 2 years of sitting there they have only grown about a foot taller. 2 whole years in this wonderful earth and only 1 foot! This past spring I decided to place another order with Willis Orchards. First I wanted to plant some bushes for a privacy hedge, and their order taker recommended planting bamboo since it is fast growing choice. I decided to plant black bamboo plants since the black color of the canes hides my property better than the bright color of the Golden Goddess Bamboo plants. My bamboo portion of the order totaled over $75.00, and none of the plants ever sprouted and are dead; believe me! When I opened the order, I noticed that the root balls of each black bamboo clump looked like each one had been beaten with a mallet or maybe sliced by a shovel when the bamboo was dug up to ship. The fuyu persimmon tree that I ordered was the instant orchard size but there is not an instant orchard because the fuyu persimmon in my backyard is as dead as a doornail. When I got the persimmon tree, I thought it would not live because it was just a stick with no buds! Unfortunately, that is not the end of my story, because the concord seedless, 3 year old bunch grape vines that were supposed to be seedless did produce a few warty looking grapes, but they were all white grapes, and its obvious they are not what they are supposed to be because they have seeds! It's clear to me and my daughter that Willis either purposefully substituted my seedless grape vine or they have a worker that just does not care about what he picks out. It's surprising that Willis Orchards nursery quality has degenerated so low in just 3 years, since they started off so well with a promising future. Willis Orchards boasts in one online forum that they were shipping out 20 thousand orders a year. If negative comments continue to accelerate on the watchdog and other forums like they have this year, they are going to be fussing with a lot of 'ticked off' people who were praising them 3 years ago at the Willis Orchards startup. For sure there won't be any more order from this disgusted tree planter to add to their 20,000 plus orders per year.

Last March my order placed with Willis Orchard Nursery arrived in late April that was unsatisfactory for several reasons, so I decided to send it all back. The almond tree order was sent too late, I think. When Willis answered the phone he convinced me to go ahead and plant the trees and if the trees didn’t grow, he guaranteed that he would replace them. I was unhappy with the almond trees, because they looked like all the leaves had been stripped off during the shipment and a few leaves were even at the bottom of the shipping box, that I think were almond leaves. The almond trees were promptly planted but no buds ever appeared by the end of July and I asked Willis Orchards to send me replacements which they claimed they couldn’t do until the Fall. Then I asked for a refund which they also refused to do. After reading their replacement policy I decided to just forget the huge hassle and take my loss and bite my lip. I believe that the almond trees died because Willis Orchards sent me weakened trees because they had been stripped of their leaves and pruned of their roots.

In early 2010 I ordered 3 bunch grapes (3 yrs old), 2 muscadines (2 yrs old), 1 fig tree. I planted them last Spring; now I have 2 live bunch grapes and 1 live muscadine. I called and asked for the manager or owner to call me back.

He did in a couple of days and was cordial and said if I would mail him back the dead roots, he would replace the plants. I told him that my only purpose in calling was to tell him that the roots were dried out and not properly packed (in comparison with other mail order shipments from other companies) so he would know there was a problem. I told him that I didn't want any more of his plants. I think he was surprised but didn't really apologize for my trouble. There was no other offer from him so we said goodbye.

In August 2009, I ordered three fruit trees from WO, two plums and an apricot, each about 5' tall; the order came to about $110. They billed me immediately. I prepared the planting sites and waited until the trees arrived, in mid-November (2 months after the first frost here in Massachusetts). Neither plum made it through the winter. The apricot tried, sprouting little leaves on the base of its trunk, then also died. WO won't refund anything, and wants to wait a year to have a do-over, again sending trees in mid-November. I pointed out that they already had my money yet I wouldn't know if I had more dead trees until another year had passed. Eventually the clerk said that if I mentioned her name in my letter, the trees would be replaced immediately--though they would lack the "friendly guarantee." I took it. This was several weeks ago, and there is just silence from these people. They don't seem to understand that this country had different planting and climate zones, and their guarantee is worthless. I am out $110. It would have been more pleasant and productive to have burned the money. The friendly guarantee is apparently neither friendly nor a guarantee.

Willis Orchard does not stand by its free replacement warranty. I bought a pawpaw tree in March 2009 and it was dead in May 2010. Since I called for the free replacement after a year was up, Willis Orchard would not send a free replacement. I even called in early April since I saw no signs of life in the tree and was told to wait until the end of May since they thought the tree might be a late bloomer. Obviously, that did not work.

I go by growing season. Since the tree did not make it to the second growing season, I should get the free replacement. Other nursery companies had no problem sending me a free replacement after the initial year had expired but died early in the second growing season.

Purchased a Tuscarora Crepe Myrtle from Willis Orchards back in October of 2009. The tree has not come to life. There return policy is the worst. After several calls they keep prolonging a refund or exchange due to how long it takes the tree to come out of dormancy. Now they want me to ship the tree back to them at my expense. I would not recommend purchasing anything from this company.

I am in Southern Utah. I ordered 6 grape vines from Willis. These were supposed to be fruiting size. I planted them immediately after they arrived. Of the 6 only one has lived. The others never even got buds. I have tried to contact thier customer service but so far have been ignored.

Posted on April 7, 2010, updated May 9, 2010
Just a few passing thoughts as i contemplate the weather forecast. Thats about as exciting as i get nowadays. Then occasionally, something happens to raise my blood pressure. That something just got delivered to my door.I ordered several items including 2 anne rasberries and 2 muscadine grapes. ( a male and a female) they are supposed to be 2 yr. plants. The grapes are one year seedlings. I know because I've been raising grapes for 40 years. They are about 1 ft. long and and as big around as a pencil lead with almost no roots. It's looks like they were ripped out of the ground. The rasberries look the same. I took a picture of them but have noticed this thread doesn't post them. I guess what i'm saying is i'm very disappointed that i will miss a years growth on what was suppose to be 2 yr. plants. What irritates me most is knowing that the person who packaged these giants of the plant world had to have seen what they were putting the 2yr. label on. For now, i'll wait and see what lives before i make the call to make the call.

Recently we ordered about 20 trees from Willis Orchard. Pears, apples, hazelnuts, lilacs, etc. All came looking like sticks and dry. A few had buds on them, but the buds were dry looking. The lilacs looked the best of them, with a few leaves on top. The magnolia trees were advertised as "nice full trees" but all I got was a stick with three semi brown leaves on it. I have never been so angry before with an internet company- and I have shopped a lot on the net before. This is the first time I feel like someone was just trying to take my money.

Needless to say I planted the trees in the hope that they might still grow. The roots were severely pruned. The Poplar was just a dry stick with barely any root. I planted it as well. It has been a while now, and the only trees that are doing well is a single cherry, two lilacs, and one grape vine ( but it's only buds still ). The rest could be used as campfire started wood. What a shame and waste.

I would never recommend this company to anyone looking for nice and healthy plants. DO NOT BUY from them, do not get suckered in by the low prices. Returnes are almost impossible, the shipping costs to return trees will amost null any refund you might someone get. I am considerding filing a complaint with my credit card company, perhaps they will be able to resolve this issue with Willis Orchard.

My wife and I ordered a Dynamite Red Crepe Myrtle tree from the company. We received the tree in about 2 ½ weeks. When we received it, it had absolutely no branches on it whatsoever. You would see where someone had cut the top off, as well as the branches that had started growing. We contacted the company about our problem, they told us to just plant it and it will eventually grow. We ordered a 5-7ft tree because they are supposed to be mature, but we were told that it was our mistake to expect a mature tree to have any branches on it. They said that the trees that ship with branches say so, and the others do not. I will admit that I did not look at other trees to see if they had said that or not, because I wanted a Crepe Myrtle not anything else. I have left several messages for the owner, but he will not return my calls. I asked them to take the tree back, and for them to pay for the shipping and to refund all of my money back. They said they will refund the money for the tree, but I will have to pay for shipping the tree back. So much for a friendly guarantee, or a satisfaction guarantee. I am at fault in that I did not do my research on the company before hand, but now that I have, I regret ever purchasing anything from them, as I am realizing that my incident is more the norm than the exception. They have an F rating with the Better Business Bureau, which I have filed a complaint with. They have a lot of negative feedback here as well. I have also filed a complaint with the State Attorney General’s office, as well as post anywhere I can about this company. They will rip you off, then blow you off, and try to make you look stupid.

Posted on April 22, 2010, updated May 3, 2010
Ordered seven trees. They arrived April 16, looking fully dormant, which is surprising for trees coming from Georgia. Even here in the Midwest, my nut and fruit trees are leafing out and blooming.

Four of the trees arrived severely root-pruned. I am hoping they will be okay. I'm concerned, though. The three American filberts I am very skeptical about. I paid for "orchard ready" 6-7 foot trees. Well, these are 6-7 feet, but they are cuttings. Maybe this is normal for hazelnuts, though the little ones I ordered from Oikos last year were grown from hazelnuts (I could see the nut). With these, the bottom is sawed off--I am guessing these are suckers growing from hazelnut roots that were then rooted. Okay, no problem, but the roots are truly pitifully underdeveloped. I guess I'll prune them back severely and hope for the best.

I ordered grape vines from Stark Bros. and Willis concurrently, 10 from Stark and 30 from Willis. Both orders were for 2 year old vines. The Stark order came in one and one half weeks ahead of the Willis order. The Stark vines were robust 2 year old vines in great shape. The Willis vines were one year old plants and the yearling growth was so dessicated it broke like match sticks. The Stark vines now all have leaves. The Willis plants do not have any live buds presently. I blame myself as much as Willis. I should have done my homework on who I was ordering from. I have ordered from the net for years and have not been gypped until now. I am not some competitor spewing "bad mouth". I am just some poor customer who got the bitter short end. I do not recommend Willis and will not order from them again.

I ordered a 6' fig tree in spring 2009 for $70 and it was DOA. I called Willis requesting a refund and they said they would only send a replacement but I had to send a 2-ft long section of the dead fig tree back to them. After I did that( I paid shipping), I called them to check they had received it and they gave me a hard time saying I had to send the root end of the tree back. I had sent the top 2 feet of the tree since they had not specified over the phone. After some back n' forth they said they'd send a replacement but I would have to wait until they got more in stock and they'd notify me. No call or email from them for months, so I called back and finally received a replacement in Fall. It overwintered in my garage but it still hasn't leaf-ed out yet - dead again? I can't recommend Willis, the quality of their plants and the customer service left much to be desired.

It took them 22 days to send. I just received my shipment today. I had to email them once and call them twice just to get my shipment. My order was received by them May 21st and receivced April 14th They promised 7-10 business days!

They sure don't look all that healthy nor compare to simililar plants at the nurserys around here but they were 1/2 to 1/4 cheaper. I will let you know how they do.

I've ordered a peach and a nectarine and payed about $144 with shipping. The trees arrived with roots cut so severely that they cannot hold to the ground without a support. So far they are not showing any growth, the trees I received from all other nurseries are already showing growth. You can find a picture here: //forums2.gardenweb.com/forums/load/fruit/msg0406021416032.html?3

Sweet as Candy when placing an order & friendly on the first call..but when it gets down to the nitty gritty they have never read their own "FRIENDLY GUARANTEE" If you are young and don’t mind wasting a lot of time you may eventually find something they have that is worth purchasing, just beware if it doesn't grow, don't expect a lot of customer service from them.
My experience with them: I bought a premium PLUMCOT from them. I had just moved to a new home and purchased 11 trees from a variety of suppliers, they were the only one to have the Plumcot I wanted. Their tree arrived well packaged, the main stem was over an inch in diameter and well branched..The root ball was almost non-existent and showed little life if any signs of life it appeared as if it had been ripped from the ground..I called the customer service and was ask to give the tree a chance (late march 2009), mid may I called again, the other 10 trees had all leafed out and were doing well. Customer service connected me with "JASON" who said it was now beyond their shipping season and ask that I leave it in, in hopes it would catch..with a promise to replace it that fall if it didn't..I commented to him that because I was kind enough to give the tree all the chance in the world, I was losing an entire growing season..First sign of problems yet to come.."we only replace with the size that was purchased”..ok see you this fall. The tree was left in all summer with pictures taken several times thru growing season of the other 10 trees & the Plumcot. Tree was dug out early October, close up pictures taken & Emailed WILLIS with the invoice ref. & all the dates that I had spoken to them. They Emailed back a week later stating as per their policy I had to ship the root back to them. I called Jason to remind him of all the earlier conversations & finally got him to agree to replace the tree..transferred to customer service to arrange replacement where I'm told that the shipping cost is just a dollar less than the original cost of the tree..still wanting a Plumcot, I grudgingly agreed and give them my credit card info for billing..two weeks go by, now mid November 2009, no tree, call to customer service were I reach a very snippy (for the lack of a more appropriate word) “person” who informs me that they haven't shipped the tree because the only form of payment they will accept on replacement trees is a check??? I inform her that I did care to business with them any longer, and to place the tree where the sun seldom shines. I’ll write the experience and the $64.00 off as a learning experience...I wish I had taken the opportunity to read up on Willis before I had even thought of doing business with them..live & learn.

We placed an order for two chestnut trees in March. We were told that they would be shipped next week. After waiting for 3 weeks, no tree came. So we decided to cancel the order. We called twice. Each time, the cancellation was confirmed and refund was supposedly processed. We thought that would be th e end of it and we would receive the refund in a few days. However, yesterday the trees were delivered to our home. We do not want them any more. We called to return. Willis could not confirm that the order was cancelled!!! We had to pay for the shipping to return. Thanks a lot for the service :(