Gardening Express Reviews

Name: Gardening Express
Address: Gardening Express, Chelmsford, Essex
Rating: 1.16

1.2 Rating 1,799 Reviews

3 %

of reviewers recommend Gardening Express

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,799 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
Average Delivery Time	Over A Month
On-time Delivery	Greater than 16%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 30%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Live Chat, Telephone
Queries Resolved In	Over A Week
Customer Service	1.1 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Refunds Process	Difficult
Returns Process	Could Be Better

Phone:

08448 044 253

Location:

Gardening Express, Chelmsford
Essex
CM1 4UA

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Gardening Express 1 star review on 2nd September 2025

Varese

Gardening Express 1 star review on 24th July 2025

Anonymous

Gardening Express 1 star review on 27th June 2025

Anonymous

635

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 1 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“I ordered some plants in August and, despite several emails assuring me that the order is on its way, nothing has been received and we're now in December. The value of the order was only £27 and it's tempting to write it off and move on, but I've decided to start County Court proceedings. Companies as bad as this need to be driven out of business.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Avoid by all means, order partially received...no response despite several emails.........there is no contact telephone number..looks very dodgy........”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Plants were dying on arrival, having waited many, many weeks. This company cannot cope with the demand and will not reply to enquiries or requests for refunds. I would not recommend this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“My order from garden express failed to show up. Finally managed to get through to yodal the delivery company via twitter who told me an issue had arisen, they had informed garden express and I needed to contact them about the matter. I did again via twitter and to my shock they proceeded to send me personal details for another shopper asking if this was my order despite me sending order numbers and screen shots of order! To send me another shoppers home address phone number and email address is appalling and potentially illegal. This company needs to be shut down let alone review online ! Avoid at all cost !!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Do not trust this company. They claim to have a 5 year guarantee but when I emailed with a problem I was constantly fobbed off. After exchanging a number of emails, my last was ignored and I was sent their standard email claiming not to have heard from me and that they were closing my enquiry down. I have now given up, as I was no doubt intended to do. Also, they expect customers to return unsatisfactory items at their own expense and inconvenience. I would never recommend this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Avoid at all cost, if I could give zero I would. I placed a large order in April due to lock down it finally arrived in June. The boxes looked as if they had been used to play football with. In the order were to geums one was very poor and the other one had no foliage what so ever. I sent photographs immediately, I received a reply giving me a ticket stating my complaint had gone to the relevant department, this ticket disappeared with no solution. Like a fool I placed another order in July, in this order I received 10 echinacea bare root cuttings these were all rotten and I have never received 10 hemerocallis. I have repeatedly emailed with my complaint, with replies of my complaint has yet again been sent to the relevant department, up to date I have had no refund, replacement or explanation. If I had read reviews before I placed an order I would never have dealt with this company. I don't know how a company can operate in this way and not be penalised. It is now nearly 6 months since my first complaint and no result.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Very disappointed, the picture looked like a small bushy tree which could go outside with lights, a 12 inch table top one arrived, maybe in 5 years will grow. Be warned the pots are big and used in height measurements, also not the blue spruce I ordered, I know colour changes maybe in 10 years it will. The local supermarkets are a better bet, save your money. Customer care poor, sent photos no response”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“This would have been a 0 Star if it was available! Their service isn't just poor, it is almost non-existent. I purchased some plants with 2 separate orders back in April, they arrived in May & June, sadly, some plants were dead. I wrote to them with photo’s immediately and respectfully requested replacement plants. Nothing to date has arrived and neither have I received a reimbursement. I have subsequently written to them numerous times, without a response, except for once when they said to 'bear with them during this difficult (COVID) period and that someone would be in contact with me soon'. 6 months after that initial contact, I still haven't had either replacement plants, or reimbursement. What is most irritating is that they state on their website that they are working with significantly reduced staffing (COVID) and to please be patient. But they are still able to advertise a full list of available plants for sale by way of their regular sales emails! Yes, the plants received that weren't dead have flourished, but Garden Express's customer service in the event of a problem is appalling. Buy from them at your peril.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Plants didn't arrive. Total lack of communication- I felt that I was treated with utter contempt. On the bright side, I discovered that it's easy to get your money back. I went, in person to my nearest bank branch with a comprehensive timeline of all my attempts to communicate with this company. Within minutes, Lloyds had retrieved my payment, and that was all it took. The money was back in my account. They can do this even if you didn't pay by credit card -I had used my debit card. Apparently, the onus is on the company to prove that the goods were delivered. Good luck - it works!”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Order two bay trees 80-100 cm high. Arrived in a box the size of a hoover box. Very small inside and 40-50 cm with hardly any leaves. The return cost £25, and plants £59. I am still waiting for my refund three weeks later. Very dissatisfied with this company and wish I had read the reviews first. They should pay the return postage cost as plants were not as described at all.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“What a sham this company are!! Complete joke! First complained at the beginning of July 2020 after delivery of awful plants & been emailing ever since for a refund - which obviously I've never got - & we're now into mid November. Been fobbed off a few times, or no reply to my emails, just as others have said. See below copy of my first email to them.... Unfortunately I have to complain about the Sempervivum Houseleeks, of which I ordered 5 packs. They arrived last Saturday in a complete mess. They were in two boxes, but one box had many of the plant leaves broken off. A lot of the plants anyway were of a poor standard, they were yellow & dead, & some had turned into a squelchy mess & were basically rotten. On top of this I’m not happy anyway with what I’ve been sent. Your advert on the website shows a large variety of types & colours, & states that the plants will be an assortment of colours, typical of those pictured. However what arrived were only three different types, two plain green & very similar to each other, & one other, also green but purple tipped. I specifically ordered five sets of ten plants as I wanted the variety of colour & type to cover a large area, & I thought that I would definitely get a good variety of colour & type with a large order. So I definitely wont get this now. Also the Hebe Heartbreaker were both very dry & starting to turn yellow. Overall I’m not at all happy with the order; I’ve had to wait nearly seven weeks since ordering, & then to get this poor selection of houseleeks, which was the main item I wanted, it’s a complete disappointment. Please see the photos attached. Half of the photos are here & I will send a second email with the other half. I’d like a refund as its not acceptable to pay £49.95 for the poor quality & lack of variety of plants supplied.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“I had previously ordered from this company and everything went well, good quality plants which arrived very quickly. This latest attempt has been a disaster as the plants arrived virtually dead. I complained and sent pictures with measurements as requested. I was told it had been passed to the horticultural team who would be in touch "soon". The plants were ordered on 22nd July so this has been an ongoing complaint for well over three months. I have sent e-mails on a regular basis but like other reviewers, have had no response. I now know, that provided everything goes well, satisfaction is guaranteed but if you have a problem, customer service is non existent. They obviously hope that if they ignore you, you will go away .I have now lost the will to continue with this as it is obviously pointless and I have wasted enough time and energy on this £41.00 purchase. I have learned the hard way not to buy from this company ever again . All I can say is "BUYER BEWARE"”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Awful. Most plants arrived poor quality and dead. No one to speak to. Raised a 'support ticket' which was closed by the company without any issues being resolved. Very poor- do not trust this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Plants didn’t arrive for 2 months- I had cancelled the order twice by the time they arrived. I sent multiple emails, but had no replies. When the plants did arrive they were almost dead- I managed to save roughthly half of them withTLC. In my opinion they are making as much money as they can with no regard for customers- order from this company if you want to be frustrated, disappointed and sad about honesty.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“You order at risk because there is no one there, no number, no address and certainly no response if any problems. Very untrustworthy. I ordered a pair of bay trees and one was very substandard. Dozens of emails and no response. There is no way of speaking to them and so assume the need to take the legal route and small claims.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“May I suggest the Small Claims Court,you do it online. You can claim the court fees.It worked for us.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Steer clear is my advice. Ordered a shrub but within 2 hours realised I had ordered the wrong species. No contact phone number anywhere, 3 emails trying to cancel/change the order. No response and the ordered shrub arrived. Disappointing, given the £30 'special offer' write up. Avoid”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“Awful customer service over a month of sending mails and still no conclusion refund or replacement,Purchased a 5-6 ft Specimen cordyline as advertised on special deal from £149.99 to £49.99 but when arrived the box measured under 4ft and the plant out of box measured just over 4ft ! Constant requests to gardening express for a replacement or refund to date have been totally ignored , will definitely Not be buying from them again and would Not recommend them. Buy from garden centres at least you can see what your getting and get a refund if not happy.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“dozens of emails ignored. Delivered dead plants ignored my emails of refund requests. Basically just take money and ignore the fact that it has been wasted. They just keep the money and couldn't give a damn about what the customer receives. Worst ever company to deal with. Worst ever (i would like to say customer service) this is none existent. Just felt like I have been dealing with online money scammers!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“This is the worst garden plant company that I have ever dealt with and I have been an experienced gardener foe 40+ years. When I reported that only 3 of the 10 Hostas, I purchased had grown supplying photos, they took ages to reply, when they did reply, the reply was very unhelpful, blaming Covid etc., when I contacted them again asking for a refund they have eventually given me this standard reply, which is rubbish and incorrect: - Hello Terry, Thank you for very kindly sending over the photographs of your plants. With regret, this plant is not covered under the terms of our 5 year guarantee for free replacements. We would ask that if there are any problems with any of your plants on delivery, you notify us within a maximum of 14 days to allow us to put it right for you. With regret, I am unable to help you with this any further as you have been in possession of your plants since ------------------ prior to notifying us of any problems. We find it best to advise you of the plants that are covered by the terms of our 5 year guarantee at the point of purchase. Please appreciate we have thousands of plants within our ever increasing plant portfolio and this changes regularly due to seasonality, We provide a list of product reference codes that are covered by the guarantee on our website. There are certain plants we supply that will either perish due to seasonality or will easily perish if they are not given the necessary care and attention, for this reason your plants are not covered by the terms of the 5 year guarantee. I can only apologise that I am unable to assist you any further with this matter on this occasion. Kind regards Sam This is just a standard letter that has not been correctly filled in, that is how bad they are. Never, Never order from this company!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,799 reviews