Gardening Express Reviews

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

1.2 Rating 1,758 Reviews

3 %

of reviewers recommend Gardening Express

Company Reviews

Questions

Metrics

1.2

Based on 1,758 reviews

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
Average Delivery Time	Over A Month
On-time Delivery	Greater than 16%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	Greater than 31%
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 27th June 2025

630

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

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

“Absolutely disgusting customer service and products well below standard. I ordered 4 plants, 2 of which were crushed but due to the nature of what they are they will recover easily. What I am disgusted with is 2 monstera that I ordered. One a standard monstera and the other a monkey mask. My order arrived with green carrier bags wrapped tight and knotted over the leaves of the monkey mask and the 2 other plants, these were individualy bagged and tied to the larger monstera pot. The monkey mask consists of 10 leaves, 2 are severly scorched, a further 1 is scorched to a lesser extent, and 4 are completly torn so only a fraction of leaves remain. That leaves 3 leaves on the entire pot! The larger monstera is infested with thrips! When they arrived there was no way they would have immediatly survived reporting as they were clearly shocked. I watered them, fed them and put them on suitable locations. The 2 smaller plants are recovering well and were repotted after 2 days. The monsteras however have required so much work, both clearly have thrips which I am treating. Neither however would still be alive had I not known how to look after them! I contacted gardening express who tried to pass the blame for damage on to the delivery company over and over again! The delivery company is not at fault! Knotting carrier bags tightly around stems and leaves and then sellotaping the pots together is what has caused the damage! They will not even comment on the thrip issue and the repeated response is they will be OK in the long run! Can you imagine receiving a dress which is ripped and telling a customer don't worry you can repair it and it will be fine in the long run! Each email takes a minimum of 48 hours for them to respond so this back and forwards has been going on for what feels like an age now! The response I received 2 days ago was to return the plants at my own expense to get a refund if I'm unhappy, they refuse to do anything else as the plants are alive. Which infuriates me as they are alive because I havecared fir them, repotted them,fed them and I am ongoing treating the thrip issue. They will not apologise for causing the damage or discuss the infestation. Nothing is there fault! At the beginning of this I would have accepted sorry, it's our fault and they will look on to the poor practice of tying stems and leaves in knots inside carrier bags, but now the denial of any blame and the constant it will be fine in the long run has meant that I will push ahead with an escalated complaint.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

“Were do I start waited ages for delivery but when it did arrive disappointed is an understatement got a full refund but bitterly disappointed with quality and size of fuchsia cuttings was a joke lavender was near dead soil dry stems brown like they had been scorched overall a very bad experience with quality of goods but on the other hand refund was promptly given.”

Helpful Report

Posted 11 months ago

“Plants arrived totally squashed. Leaves off. Soil everywhere. Pots broken. The customer service stated that the photo's were not sufficient. Perhaps judge for yourself!! These people are a joke.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 11th July 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“They sent small diseased plants not the 3 to 4 ft ones Thai ordered. They refuse to reply to my emails and messages. I have had to make a Visa charge back claim to get my money back. I will be reporting them to trading standards. Stay clear of them. No better than scammers.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 10th July 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Gardening express sent me three plants eaten by insects (remains of lave still stuck to the remaining leaves) - their web site says 'and they’re regularly inspected by DEFRA too to ensure they are pest and disease free when they leave us.' this is patently not true in my case. They also sent me three pathetically small plants that were clearly much smaller than those on their web site - I sent two emails to Gardening Express, one to the person I was liaising with regarding the delivery the second via their web site - neither were replied to. Avoid, avoid, avoid. They may be cheaper than the rest but the plants they sent had been eaten to bits or were tiny. Exceptionally poor value and their customer service is not existent - order at your peril ....”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 8th July 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“When I opened the packaging I found a lot of the soil was actually in the container and not in the pot. The plant was lying loose and crooked in the pot with roots exposed. I sent them pictures and did not ask for a refund but rather a small amount of soil to replace that which was missing to be able to fix the plant securely. They rejected my claim and have not since replied to me. Very disappointing.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Similar to the other tales of dead and diseased plants and the same response. I spent around £250 on plants and all of them were rotting and small. I got my bank to return the money I paid and reported them as a scam, which from the amount of people they con, I believe they are. So get in touch with your bank and say you have been scammed and hopefully you will get your money back too.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Truly appalled by the exceptionally… Truly appalled by the exceptionally poor service received. In 2023 I added some hydrangeas to a large border in my garden and this year decided to add more, 2 months ago I ordered exactly the same colour and variety and it arrived 2 weeks later and was subsequently planted. I decided 3 weeks ago to add 1 more- same colour and variety of hydrangea at a cost of £39.99, as well as ordering other items. The plant arrived yesterday, rather than being a dark ruby red it was pink, the leaves were also a different colour to my other hydrangeas, when I looked at the pot there was no label and the pot was different to the one my previous labelled hydrangea came in. I immediately contacted the company, sending photos of planted bed, last months order and yesterdays received order and both pots. Either the person in CS doesn't bother to read complaints or can't understand English. They have said there is nothing wrong as the pot photo shows the correct item....durrr... obviously not bothered to read, and they have sent me a form to fill in to return the plant at MY EXPENSE... This year alone I have seen around £600 with GE and only today noticed there is no telephone number to call to discuss Date of experience: 05 July 2024”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Plants arrived my clematis was broken and leaves dead on one side , my rose bush is completely dead , I emailed them told to do a bark test which shows its brown under so dead too , really not very happy these plants I will not be using them again and will go back to garden centers instead”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“The plant they delivered was in poor shape and smaller than they advertised (even the label on it showed it was a smaller specimen) - apparently that label is for convenience and they are allowed +-20% on claimed sizes. I also ordered two bags of their famous compost on an offer, only one arrived and their fictitious customer service lady is refusing to reply to any of my chasing emails. They are at best incompetent but at worst its a con company selling plants that no good gardening centre would display. Never use them!!”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 3rd July 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Flamingo tree arrived dead and crushed. Other plants was all snapped and broken but also look like weeds. Rubbish customer service. Rude and dismissive when I contacted them. They blame post but clearly the tree was not healthy when posted. They send you rubbish via post and blame the post. I will Never recommend or buy from again. Be very careful ordering from this rubbish scam company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Awful customer service. I'm convinced they don't even have one”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I bought a walnut tree from you on the 23rd of May. I contacted you last week to say the tree is dead. It was dead on arrival by the look of it. It wasn’t delivered till the end of May so that makes it less than a month that I’ve had this tree, I’m told you can’t do anything for me. Basically you’re saying too bad we got your money and you’ve got it dead tree from us. I think it’s absolutely disgusting. Take peoples money. I’m sending them dead tree”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Sent out dead fruit trees. 1 out of 5 has shown any sign of life. Customer service don’t want to know even though their own bare root guarantee covers things like this. Proper rogue firm this one. Avoid!!!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“You sent a plant out that looks like it has been eaten by slugs. Sent you a photo. You replied it’s fine very bad customer service you don’t appear to care about a loyal customer. Just send out standard reply. Only complaint is about the plant placed on the paperwork”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 23rd June 2024

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“As per other reviews, I received tiny plants. See picture attached. It measures 15cm and is advertised as 50-70cm with plants in the pictures 3 times bigger. Their website shows big plans and good reviews only. I left my bad reviews as others did and they are now shown. That’s so sad. please don’t buy from them, you may be disappointed.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Same as other folk, they show you a photograph of plants that look superb but what you get are scrawny specimens that would not sell at a quarter the price in a garden centre sell off.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“Terrible services!! Never received my order and money back !!”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I order two Large Salix Flamingo plans at £39.90 plus £6.99 delivery What I expected was 2 full tall plants of 90 to 1.2m high, which was described in garden express’s website However when it arrived there were two 20cm Salix branches sitting on top of two plans sticks instead This is so disappointed and missed leading, I am buying the full plans and not a grafting cut of 20cm Also there’s some small branches that were broken And to return this I have to pay for shipping. I certainly will not order anymore from Garden Express and warn people to be careful of what they are buying before paying for it.”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

“I contacted you about 2 plants with frost damage for which you refunded me! I had to contact you about 2 clematis Montana which looked dead I was told they needed to climatitize.!! They were planted out in fertile soil still dead no growth budding anything. Dont sell half dead plants these were not You would not replace or refund I will not be buying from you again or advising anyone else to either .”

Helpful Report

Posted 1 year ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,758 reviews