Comments regarding Harborcrest Gardens (African Violets by Mail)

In June of 2004 I ordered both trailing A/v's and episcia from this company. I waited and waited and received nothing. I e-mailed, received no reply. Finally after a number of e-mails the reply I received stated that they processed orders on a first come first serve basis and that my order would be process in July or August. They also stated that they only have a limitied amount of plants to propogate from and that A/v's could take 8 months. First, they should not be advertising if they do not have enough plants to fill order. It was mid July when I received this reply. Again the waiting began and nothing arrived. Again I began sending e-mails to inquire but they have just chosen to ignore all e-mails.
Needless to say I am very unhappy with this company and would not recommend that anyone order from Harborcrest.

I ordered several plants in November. I contacted them several weeks later to find out where the plants were. They advised against shipping in winter and said my plants would be shipped "at the proper time" for my area. I contacted them again in March or April, asking when my order would be sent. They said the plants would be shipped in late May. I was disappointed at the delay, but figured I'd just wait and see. By the middle of June I still didn't have the plants and e-mailed them again. No reply. I e-mailed them again in very early July, requesting a refund. No reply. If Harborcrest EVER addresses my problems with them, I'll post a follow-up. I'm very disappointed: this is the first time I've had a really bad experience with an Internet nursery.

I ordered violets from this company 4 months ago. I have not received them yet. I have called several times to cancel the order and can only get an answering machine. I have left messages to return my call to confirm cancellation and have never heard from them. I have also e-mailed them several times to cancel and they do not respond to them either. There are many other places to buy violets that are professional and offer wonderful customer service. Everyone should stay away from here!!!!!

Recently I ordered 8 plants from this company. The plants consisted of several types of Begonias and 1 Brugmansia. I was quite disappointed when I received the plants, especially because I have been a customer for about 4 years and had been pleased with my past purchases. The Brugmansia, which cost $ 8.00 CDN was sent unrooted in a tiny 2 1/4" pot. The Begonias were also unrooted and in tiny pots. The most infuriating thing about this experience was that I hadn't ordered many of these plants. I requested no substitutes and the company substituted anyway. Needless to say, I won't be buying from them again.

I ordered multiple brugmansia plants in March 2003. At that time the prices on their website were listed at $5. I
later say a thread on Gardenweb with multiple cmplaints regarding this company. I emailed the company and sent them copies of the complaints. They indicated my shipment would arrive the first week in June. At the end of July I called and emailed them regarding my order as the complaints on Gardenweb were getting longer and longer.

I asked them to cancel my order the first week of August. On August 19, two of the 8 plants I ordered arrived and I was billed $8 per plant. One plant had 3 tiny roots, less than pencil thin, dried out and rooted UPSIDE down and without any side shoots. The other plant was just a stick well rooted and all the side shoots broken off inside the box.

I would never order from them again and would warn people against ordering from them!

I ordered a plant for them which took about 2 months to ship it. I was okay with the wait as I realize that they need a good root system to ship. However, after receiving my order, they sent me a different type of the plant. I figured that they would have called me if they didn't have the one I wanted. The plant wasn't in very good shape when I received it. They did get back to my email of my complaint the same day. Although I don't think I would order anything else again from them.

I ordered from this company early in the spring last
year. It took three months to get the plants I ordered.
Of the plants I ordered half were substituted without asking me and the half I did receive were just stuck in the dirt recently.
This company has a good selection of plants-I hope they can get their act together.

I ordered plants from this company last year. They came as small plants, in small pots, and some did not even have roots and were stuck in the soil. Above all, I had ordered 6-7 different species but upon receiving I noticed that it was the same plant they sent, in 6 copies. I did get a refund but will never order from them again.