Gardening Express Reviews

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

1.2 Rating 1,790 Reviews

3 %

of reviewers recommend Gardening Express

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,790 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

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“This is an appalling, dishonest company. See photos of the plants they sent me. Customer Service said there is nothing wrong with them. They look nothing like the photos and are not like the descriptions, very small, misshapen and unhealthy. The web description says the heather should be healthy, bushy, white and festive through the winter. These are all brown and look sick and sad. The Premium Quality Festive Holly Bushes are misshapen and straggly. Won't be festive for a year. The healthy cyclamens meant to be in bud or in flower have not one flower on 6 plants and not one bud. And are tiny and straggly. The whole shipments was a disaster. If you had seen these plants you would not have bought. To make it worse they said I have to ship back at my cost, including the trees which I can't even box! They know I can't return them and not accepting they have sold me damaged, unfit goods. They say they have a 100% Satisfaction Guarantee but this is meaningless as they know it is difficult for you to ship back. I will update what happens once they receive the plants I am able to ship back. Impossible to send back the trees so do not buy large plants from them especially.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“OMG I wish I had searched for reviews before ordering from this terribly and unfortunately named company! SEVEN WEEKS for my order to arrive in full. It’s a different season now! This seven weeks was accompanied by me spending AGES chasing them when after four weeks they sent only part of my order (when you order the ‘estimate’ for delivery try is 3-5 days), their customer support ticket system being a joke that never wanted to help only close the issue down, and, the plants... I mean, they were cheap, and they are alive? I think that’s the nicest I can put it! The plants certainly do not match the glowing website descriptions “covered in giant flowers” - I quote, for example, nope. Please avoid and learn from my and many others mistakes - there is NOTHING positive to say about this appalling, abysmal company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“OMG I wish I had searched for reviews before ordering from this terribly and unfortunately named company! SEVEN WEEKS for my order to arrive in full. It’s a different season now! This seven weeks was accompanied by me spending AGES chasing them when after four weeks they sent only part of my order. Their customer support ticket system being a joke that never wanted to help, just close the issue, and, the plants... I mean, they were cheap, and they are alive? I think that’s the nicest I can put it! The plants certainly do not match the glowing website descriptions “covered in giant flowers” I quote for example, nope. Please avoid and learn from my and many others mistakes - there is NOTHING positive to say about this appalling, abysmal company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Received a delivery with numerous plants. Some ok, some pretty dead and not as advertised. Started a dispute through the chat as they don't provide a phone number on the website. Talked to two people through chat and Marina the manager on the phone, got fobbed off, despite providing with clear evidence that the plants that I have received are not what is advertised (ornamental cabbages are advertised to be in 10-12cm pots 1l on the website, arrived in 6cm pots and less than 400ml, and some of the heathers were pretty dead). Got told that the plants are the right plants and there is no issue and if I want to return them for refund I need to cover the cost myself, which I have refused, given that I have received not what I have ordered based on the information provided online. When I have pointed out the difference in size of the ornamental cabbages both in the description and photos on the website, I got told that the measurements are approximate and the images for full grown plants. This was not mentioned on the product page. As for heathers, I got told that some of them are not in season and thus don't look great right now. Again, nowhere on the product page is mentioned that they are out of season. On contrary, it says 'Full of buds and bursting in to colour right now'. Again, when I pointed this out to Marina the manager, I got told that I should have done my homework (bear in mind the product page doesn't even mention what types are being sent!). All in all, the company is a scam and I would advise against shopping with them as you will waste your money and nerves talking to the customer support team.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Companies like these should cease trading, I am sorry I have to say this.But AVOID AT ANY COST, Companies like these should cease trading, I am sorry I have to say this.But AVOID AT ANY COST, go to your local gardening store, some plants need to be seen in reality. I complained about them to the Standard Trading Institute. In brief I purchased a pair of trees and what I got delivered it's an absolute joke! In reality the product did not match the one on the website and they are tempting customers with false misleading advertise: -the height was slightly smaller, the delivered products coloration is different, the leaves are three times longer than the pictures on the website, the amount of leaves and brunches is completely different from the photo on the website- (there are waayyy less leaves and brunches), the quality of the leaves is poor, leaves are dry and seem to be dying. I have returned the product paying from my own pocket £20 per delivery (they refused to send a courier to come pick up the plants, which I wouldn't have returned if the product was OK) plus initial £6 for delivery charges and it took them 10 days to deliver ("express is clearly not a reflection of their "speedy" service) Really not worth it considering the trees cost (£49)! They tempt customers with discounted prices however the quality of the plants desired is very poor, in my experience. Customer service, simply do nothing to rectify issues, copy pasting and churning out standard paragraphs about how to look after plants and stating that the plant advertised on the website it's just a picture to give us an idea about how these plants are going to look like over years! This is clearly a breach of trading standards.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Exochorda macrantha The Bride £15.95. So not a cheap plant but looking at a photo of this on the website I thought it would be well worth it. Oh dear - what I got was a bent stick. I did raise a complaint but all they said was that it was alive! Then closed the case. I am not happy at all. I will not be using Gardening Express again. First photo is from their website and the second photo is what I received. Goodbye from a long standing customer.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Ordered a pair of Tuscan Cypress trees. On unpacking one was damaged, in that the leader branch was broken. Immediately emailed Gardeningexpress with pictures, took a week for them to reply (after I chased them) to be told that there was no detrimental damage. Having stated that I was unhappy with this I was told to return them at my cost to get a refund, when all they had to do was send a replacement tree. Rest assured I will not use them again and would strongly advise against anyone else using them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“If you want1/2 dead plants, very poorly packed, but full price - then buy from here. Once bitten twice shy!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I would give 0 stars if I could. Plants that I had ordered were an absolutely disgraceful size and condition. Contacted customer service numerous times who were so slow with their awful response. I would never order from this website again as the plants are terrible and their rude and slow customer service is even worse!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“They admitted they sent me something with no label, but their company confirm that what it is! When I asked for a price reduction to match the label lost tree, they simply tell me that they can't because I didn't order the label lost one.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I would give this shambles of a company zero stars if possible. This company is a joke, I really don't know where to start. I am normally quite a savvy shopper and can't believe I fell for this scam. The owner Chris Bonnett should be ashamed of this outfit, I would gladly spend double for a quality product delivered with great customer service which is the exact opposite to what I received. Buyers beware!”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“£48 Plant heavy infected with vine weevil. I cannot get a response from them at all. Shocking waste of money. They need shutting down. Customer service and plant quality = ZERO”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“My guess is this company is buying up out of season/damaged/poor condition stock from wholesalers and or garden centres which would account for the very unhealthy condition of plants sold; very different to the website illustrations. Ordered multiple plants, jasmine x 3 cordyline x 4 nandina firepower x 6 clematis apple blossom x 2. The plants did not look healthy upon arrival, nothing to do with delivery as the boxes all in tact, these plants would have been in this condition prior to despatch. One clematis was broken lower stem. Had to send photo and the company replaced without issue. the other plants I was told to water cut back and they would revive. No point challenging as they will not concede. Plants that have subsequently died within a year of planting cordyline x 4 clematis x 1. Plants requiring a lot of nurturing jasmine x 3.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Delivered today battered from Yodel. Top eight inches of lemon cypress broken off , one hydrangea missing , the other in poor condition. You cannot ring customer service , fiddle about on website raising a ticket. Will not be buying from them again. They are DREADFUL. Our order was substantial 90.00. They carefully pick your plants they claim then pass them to Yodel to kill.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Worst company I have ever dealt with. Ordered 4 Cypress Pines which arrived in boxes that were too small, so in order to get them in the box they had bent the top 12 inches of each plant which was brown and dead by the time they arrived. Tried contacting customer support but 1 week on they have not responded. Would not recommend this company in any way. Slow delivery, plants dying or dead on arrival, no customer service and no phone number.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“I complained that one of two plants purchased from this company had died. I waited over 2 weeks for a response. I had sent 2 photos during this time, one of the plant on it's last legs and the other of the plant dead! They told me to water it. Eventually they said they would replace it but I had to send it back to them at my own cost and pay the postage of the replacement. I do not consider this to be at all fair play. I will not use them again..”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“The worst online shopping experience I’ve ever had! Goods arrived in appalling condition. Gardening Express has NO CONTACT TELEPHONE NUMBER (a big red flag I missed!) and enquiries/complaints need to be made on their website through their ‘ticket’ system - which in my case just meant that my complaint ‘ticket’ was read, ignored and stamped RESOLVED. My email got a response that can only be described as sarcastic and passive aggressive (that’s you Sam!). No refunds. No returns. No clue.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“This company is an absolute disgrace. They have no telephone number when something goes wrong. I ordered £79 worth of plants. They are not as described and arrived in poor condition. I raised two issues with their online ticket system 8 weeks ago and have heard nothing back. I posted a letter including photos of the plants 6 weeks ago and have still heard nothing. The £39.99 ‘giant’ cordyline is half dead. I would never ever use them again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

“Plants arrived very bad damaged and can't exchanged or refund...”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,790 reviews