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

Write Your review

Tell us how Gardening Express made you happy

Minimum 10 characters

Would you like to add a photos or videos?

Strengthen your review by uploading photos & videos.

Drag files here or browse

(Supported files: jpg, png, mpeg, ogg, mp4 & webm)

What's your name?

Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.

(Optional)

Whats your email?

We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine

Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.

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

“Paid 19.99 for a clematis that should have been supplied attached to a trellis and full of bud, actually supplied with half dead twig. Pair of standard roses were so shocking, really unbelievable. See photos”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Plants arrived looking terrible. Informed them online and am still waiting for an answer. Should have known better as plants ordered last year arrived in very poor condition. Informed and was told they would be fine. One of five has survived. Won't be buying from them again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Dreadful condition of plants, not as advertised. Received plants that you wouldn’t look twice at in a garden centre never mind paying full price . 2 of the plants should have been in 2-3 litre pots indicating they would be well established but arrived in pots less than half a litre. Customer service is non existent and patronising. I cannot return the plants for a refund as aI am entitled to do as currently staying at home as per government advice due to Corona. Been advised to return them when lock down finishes. Do not use this company.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Horrendous from start to finish... however we haven’t finished yet as I’m still waiting for a resolution. Ordered blossom trees which stated 5-6 ft. On measuring from bottom of soil to the top tip it nearly reached 4ft. My skinny twig did not look like any pic! Ordered jap grass. Lovely pic but again didn’t resemble what I received. All 6 were completely dead. I contacted garden express straight away and had shocking customer service’ if you could call it that. Another customer service person took over the ‘chat’ on messagenger abd stated as I still hadn’t received the full order she’d sort it all then but agreed to send me new jap grasses with them clearly being dead. If it allows I’ll attach all photos. Anyway the email address I was given didn’t work. So on faq’s states get a ticket. Did this and still waiting correspondence. I’ve sent them all the details plus order number and photos. All photos with measurements as they were very needy as to how they wanted the photos taken. Spent ages doing everything they requested to hear nothing again. Very expensive for what got delivered. Very deceiving from pics on site as to what arrives. My little twigs probably won’t get to the size on the photo in at least 10yrs! I made a massive mistake trusting this company. Learn from my very costly mistake and go to a different company or local nursery. If anyone wants to contact me I’ll be putting this review on a few sites as I don’t like to see anyone ripped off and I’ll place the photos on the sites that will allow me to attach so you can see. I’ll add the twig and what it’s supposed to be asap”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Ordered 6 x bamboo plants, 5 delivered in good shape, 1 was clearly not well, pot very dry, brown leaves which were falling off, it was dead no other way of describing it. Emailed them and was told to plant it out and it will get better after 1 month which it didnt... not hard to tell a dead plant from a good one. After getting hold of them again and waiting 4 days for a response was told that i would need to send the plant back for them to look at it to work out if its dead or not. They are doing this as a tactic to get you not to bother, its a faff i just cant be bothered with. Shocking customer services, all the reviews you see on here and gardening express will reply and pretend to care, but honestly they dont. Im sure its procedure for them to send one bad plant with each order. They dont care about there customers, they make it as hard as possible to contact them, then the return process is just the cherry on the cake. Ive never ever dealt with a company so bad!! Whats the point in sending a dead plant back lol they can see its dead from pictures. DONT USE THIS COMPANY YOU'VE BEEN WARNED (well use them if you want dead plants and to be messed about for a few months. Over to primrose i go to get a new bamboo to replace the mess of a plant they sent me. ZERO STARS”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“The oleaster limelight that I ordered arrived on the due date. However, it is extremely small and a good part of the plant has already reverted, i.e. bears just green leaves, when it should be gold and green. This reversion should have already been cut back and a decent green and gold plant sent as a priority. I have bought plants online before and never been disappointed but I will not be using this company again”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I have had awful trouble dealing with this company regarding a plant, not what it said on the website' You cannot phone them they will not reply to a request to phone me, so beware keep as far away as you can from this company we received two sticks and a cane see pic”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY! I ordered a Large Acer tree that had been grafted to form a willow shape. I didn’t expect it to look like the fully nature version illustrated on their website but they showed some younger trees that would resemble the 4yr old tree I was purchasing. When it arrived it had 3 twigs on it, I was massively disappointed. It took customer service (and I use that term very loosely) a week to respond after I’d chased them. There’s no phone number so you can’t actually rationalise the situation with anybody. I was told the tree would grow, but I’d paid a premium for a mature tree so that’s besides the point. Don’t waste your time and money dealing with this company. I honestly don’t know how there still allowed to trade!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Very poor customer service. Plant arrived with the stem snapped. Was advertised at 80cm but was barely 10cm after it was snapped. Even if it wasn't snapped it would have barely 40cm. Customer service team told me that they measure from the base of the pot and to allow 20% tolerance to the size stated in the ad. They also said the plant would probably grow, which is not really the point as I had paid for a larger more mature plant. They said I could return the item but at my cost, which is I wasn't happy with as either they or their shipping company broke it. I'd recommend to avoid and go to a company that cares about their customers”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Different excuses with standard replies”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I was disappointed with the quality of the Michelia Magnolia Fairy White which had obviously had it's main stem snapped off before dispatch, had few leaves for an evergreen on a straggly bare stem with a some sickly yellowish/green leaves on the end, some of which had insect damage.. Very poor quality for £14.97 and no one would have bought it at a garden centre. Their response to my complaint? "I can assure you that your Magnolia is very much alive...." so being alive is their plant quality standard! Avoid.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Appalling company to deal with. Don’t believe positive reviews. I didn’t loose out to much by the value of the dead plants that i ordered. I would never fall for this again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I wish I could say something positive, but all the negative reviews below, have been confirmed. I ordered a big quantity of their special sale items. I was all excited to open the boxes when they arrived 9 days later (it took 2 days for similar items to arrive from Netherlands with free delivery! go figure). Just by lifting them I understood there was something wrong, they were too light. Unfortunately the main bulk of my order was missing. I opened a support ticket (no phone number to call, big red flag I ignored) and it was resolved after 48 hours saying my order had been delivered, whoever handles the complaint section (clearly not a full time dedicated person for this) didn't even bother reading the problem or even worse sneakily pretended not to understand. All I can say is if you really want to buy from this company, go and VISIT THEM DIRECTLY at least you'll see what you get. I forgot to say, the items that were actually in the boxes delivered smelled so much of mould I had to take the boxes out of the house as soon as I opened them, maybe it was a one OFF, no pun intended but some of the items had gone off.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Awful company, had been sent not only some wrong items, the plants I had ordered were damaged and very unhealthy, I sent photos of the damaged parcel and they wouldn’t except the photos (you can clearly see the plants upside down and smashed up in the box in the photographs provided) Terrible products & customer service”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“After placing an order, I immediately noticed it defaulted to my old address and emailed immediately. Then the saga starts, notifications of attempted deliveries at my old Address, bearing in mind Gardening Express had delivered to my new address. There is no telephone number for Gardening Express, it's a live chat, they told me to get in touch with the delivery company Hermes and washed their hands of me. There is no way of contacting Hermes. All I wanted was my parcel diverting, that is all. So now I have lost nearly £40.00. Hermes have had my parcel since 7th December today is the 20th. I have never written a bad review about any company. I shall continue to do so with this company. This is Customer Service at its worst”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“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

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,790 reviews