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

“Absolute joke of a company no contact for 6 weeks even though they state 2-4weeks for delivery. After chasing them constantly for 2 weeks; you can only raise tickets which they cancel or send canned responses to which state 2-4 weeks when you are already 5-6weeks waiting!! When I demanded a refund they instead finally sent the plants and refused me one! When they finally arrived after yodel play football with them the box is completely ripped plants hanging out. I opening fully to find a set of badly packed plants some chucked in a box all ways up one taped to the box so lots of stems and leaves damaged and lost. Roses with clear signs of disease and all plants were bone dry. So yet again only contact option is raising a ticket and you’ve guessed it I’ve been ignored again ive been waiting a week now for a reply! I believe this is the worse company I’ve ever dealt with please avoid this company there are many better businesses out there who actually appreciate their customers.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 23rd June 2020

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I have now been waiting since 12 April for plants I have sent letter to the owner raised support ticket. I had a reply eventually from customer services saying that my query had been escalated to Management team and they would send me my plants or refund me this was 8 June it is now 22nd June still no plants and no refund. What annoys me is they are still advertising these plants for sale. I will not ever deal with this company again wish I had read reviews before ordering.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I have just read a positive review!!! Really? Was it genuine? I am convinced that the fruit tree feed which was not the branded one I ordered but two plain bottles with just an ingredient label on it did something really bad to my trees. Oh and it came nearly six weeks after ordering.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“My order Was delayed for two months. Not all plants were delivered. Majority of plants dead or dying (seriously!) Shockingly poor communication: my only option has been to raise yet another on line “ticket”. I spent over £70 with this company, and I am determined to get my money back. Wish me luck, and in the meantime my advice is to steer well clear of this dreadful company.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 22nd June 2020

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Absolutely appalled at the tatty, broken half dead plants that finally arrived weeks and weeks late. Also at the lack of response from customer services. After a 1st reply to my ticket saying it had been passed to someone else to deal with I have heard nothing.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Terrible company, no “customer service”, no way to contact them. Waited over 7weeks for some dead plants to be delivered. Have raised automated ticket and was sent automated reply on 10th June have heard nothing since. Have put a request in to my credit card company for a refund, would suggest anyone who has had problems do the same. It’s clear thus company hopes we will give up and go away. BUYERS BEWARE DO NOT DEAL WITH THIS COMPANY.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Please dont waste your money, awful service. I ordered on 19th April, was very patient given the Covid situation but by 8th June raised a "ticket" to get a meaningless autoreply. Became aware of a growing number of other customers sharing pictures of dead or dying plants so sent notice of cancellation only to be ignored and told that plants would be despatched soon. "Plants" finally arrived yesterday in very poor condition, have asked they come to collect them and refund me which should have automatically happened when they couldn't cope with the demand. Will never buy from them or any connected companies again”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I would personally wouldn't have given them any stars but this is the least I can give. I placed a £106 order on the 5th May and still no sign of them after more than 7 weeks. Looked on my account and they haven't even been processed yet. All nurseries have been affected by Covid19 but my orders from others which I placed after Gardening Express, one of which was in the Netherlands arrived within 2-3weeks. I have emailed and raised a ticket with them requesting a refund and heard nothing. They were very quick off the mark to take my money but not so hot on delivery and customer service. PLEASE DO NOT PURCHASE ANYTHING FROM THIS COMPANY! YOU WILL WASTE YOUR MONEY.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“A terrible company to do business with. They've closed all their communication channels, to contact them you have to 'raise a ticket' to which you'll get an automated reply if you're lucky. Zero customer service. Rated on Trust Pilot as 190 out of 192 garden centres, says it all. They try to remove all negative reviews and take negative comments off their facebook page. Our plants took almost 9 weeks to arrive and were barely adequate. Their MD, Chris Bonnett, should hang his head in shame.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I placed my order on the 12 April and on the 27th May I received only part of my order, Three of the items were missing. The trees that arrived were half dead and one blew over the head completely snapped of because it was that dry. I submitted four support tickets, emailed them, Messaged them via facebook and haven't had a single reply apart from an automated response. They have had over £60 of my hard earned money, and i'm advising people on here, please be wary of this company. I had to give them one star because that was the lowest option. Do not order from this company. My experience tells me use another supplier.”

Gardening Express 1 star review on 20th June 2020

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Placed my order on 13th April and paid £86.40 of my precious money - after waiting nearly 7 weeks and trying to contact this company- only by email as they have suspended their web chat and phone number, I contacted Trading Standards - they advised me to write to them which I did and miraculously, 2 days later my order was sent to ‘processing’ - 3 weeks on, today I received my ‘ ‘plants’ - some were rotting, others were like twigs and dead looking! Absolutely disgusting - hence I will be claiming for a refund. Please everyone - DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS COMPANY!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Iam so cross that i didnt read the reviews before placing my order. My money was taken immediately, I tried to cancel, but won't let me, he e-mailed lots of times , but just receive another number. Plants arrived 8 weeks later, in a bad condition. Have complained but just received another ticket number. Would like a refund, but sounds like I'm one person in a long line. In future I will use local garden centres, where you can see what you are buying.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“TERRIBLE company please don't use 6 weeks for order sent an email to them to cancel no reply not even a telephone number how can a company operate that that says it all really just shows how careful you have to be buying online I will always check the reviews in future”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“As has been said before, there is nothing Express about this gardening experience and don't expect a reply to your support ticket in a hurry either. Complaints are never well received.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I have had a truly dreadful experience with gardening express - there has been absolutely nothing 'express' about it. I ordered plants in early April, and was aware that there may be a 2-4 week wait because of Covid19, and also that customer service might be a bit reduced. What I didn't realise was that I would get absolutely zero customer service, with noone replying to either emails or online tickets and an inability to cancel my order even when I'd waited over 2 months for it. Eventually some of the plants I no longer wanted arrived after almost 3 months and the only response when I complained was an automated message saying that I would have to arrange for them to be posted back if I wanted any kind of refund. I am now in a dispute via my credit card company with this dreadful company now and would urge others not to place an order.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Unfortunately I have nothing positive to say about this company. Here’s a little questionnaire I’ve filled out: When was your ordered placed? April 22nd What was the cost? £82.86 Were you satisfied with the product? I can’t comment because I still haven’t received it after 58 days. Did you receive adequate customer service? No, I’ve counted 7 emails sent, I’ve had two replies. One being a generic response stating they can’t answer my email because they’re too busy. The other from Roger, who ignored my request for a refund and suggested my order was being dealt with. The next day my order status for 51 days of “processing” went to “preparing Your order” that was 6 days ago and is still the same status. Are there anyways you think the company could improve? I believe huge emphasis on customer service and management of the ordering system would prevent many highly dissatisfied customers. It’s clear the company is overstretched with orders, yet are still taking more. The communication is not acceptable. There is no telephone system, the emails are being ignored and I have three support tickets still open, ranging from mid May until now. Would you recommend gardening express and why? I would definitely not recommend gardening express. The delivery time is beyond acceptable, and without the option of a refund is unlawfuL”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“I cannot stress how terrible this company is. High ranking website but Shocking customer service and terrible, badly cared for, broken, dead and half dead plants shoved in boxes that were too small from them. No response from them after I sent them pictures. No phone. No address.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“My experience of GE not good 13 May – Lockdown luckily with a small garden, decided to order plants in the nice – browse some sites and find a month delivery times, but then find GE, only 3-5 days, in very exceptional circs 10-15 days. Ok, looks good, I can wait 15 days if I absolutely have to but maybe it will only be 3 and I’ll be lucky. 14th May - £97 taken from my credit card. 15th May – Get an automated email saying delivery times are extended – it may be 2-4 weeks now. That’s too long, I decide to cancel. Go onto my order, cancel button removed, can’t cancel. Look for a phone number, doesn’t exist, look for an address to see if they are local, postcode only, seems to be the middle of an empty field in Essex. Can’t see an email. Bit annoyed really. 16th May – decide to browse reviews of GE – OH MY GOSH! Boy should I have read them before. Seems people are waiting 2 months, no I’m not waiting that long. I try and contact them again, find the owner’s name, also find he is due to be on Radio 4 to answer questions about bad service, also find he owns another nursery as well as the online only one somewhere in Essex, and I read an itnerview saying as a garden centre owner thinks they should stay closed during lockdown for everybody’s safety – putting safety over profits and all that – doesn’t mention he also has an online version. 17th May – still angry. Read more reviews. One directs me to Companies House, where I see the registered address is a snooker in some town in Essex. The reviewer also gives the owners home address, which I won’t give here as that’s totally inappropriate and harassing, but it’s no small pad, let me tell you. 18th May – I go onto their site again, ticket system in operation, the only way you can contact them. I raise a ticket saying, politely, as you have changed your delivery terms since I ordered and blocked the refund option on my order, please would you cancel it at your end and refund me. No answer beyond the automated email that I’ve already got 19th May – a real reply from a real person, but all they’ve done is cut and pasted one of the FAQs about not getting a refund after 24 hours, no answer to my other questions about why they took the money when they knew they couldn’t deliver. I was polite still, I said as the terms had been changed it was an idea to, at that point, offer customers an option – continue waiting or have a refund. That may stop some of the angry reviews and bring a few people back on board, give them a choice, a fair one, and they may appreciate it. May even have been willing to wait if you gave them a choice. No response. 20th May – no response 21st May – no response 22nd May – no response 23rd May – no response Are you getting the idea?? I keep writing, getting more and more angry. It’s the lack of communication more than anything. 17th June – FIVE weeks, multiple unanswered messages, no cancellation, no plants, by now I’ve got steam coming out of my ears, five weeks is a perfectly reasonably time to give them when it was originally 3-5 days. I call my bank and ask them to process a refund based on non-delivery after 30 days, a perfectly legal thing for me to do and the bank confirmed that. I should get my money in a month. I post a message on as many review sites as I can find as that is the only way to vent my frustration, I don’t like to do it, but I feel they forced me by their ‘hands over hears singing’ approach to this. But there are some good reviews, not nearly as many, but they all have the ‘invited’ stamp on them, seemingly they are prompted by GE to write, sounds a bit strange.. But maybe some people do get their plants and they alive, I’d like to think so. But not me… I’m still furious 18th June – I add another note to my unanswered and now very angry tickets, saying I have started the process of a refund via my bank for non delivery. I copy them the confirmation from Barclays. Lo and behold a few hours later I get a message saying it’s too late to cancel now, the plants are being packed. I see similar has happened to other customers when I read the reviews. No response until evidence of money being refunded. I reply to say sorry too late, I’ve already contacted my bank and I cancelled my order in writing 4 weeks ago via the ticket system as that is the only method you offer. If you choose not to read the messages when they are the only way we can contact you, that’s your choice. I say if they put out my delivery I will refuse it. 19th – No reply but get an automated email saying ‘good news! Your delivery is on it’s way!’. The reference they give for tracking doesn’t work, so I can’t do anything to stop it. However I find the delivery company number and talk to them, they find my order and say it is only at their central unit not far from Essex and they can return it to sender. I send a final message to GE to say, refund underway, delivery cancelled, I never want to hear from you again. 20th – tomorrow, I am looking forward to going to my lovely little garden centre to buy some beautiful plants, 15 mins away, owned genuinely by a local, and I will have them the same day. Then I am going to put this GE experience well behind me and learn from it, next time I will check reviews before I order! I feel so bad about the companies that were honest about their delivery times, as I didn’t buy with them, as I was fed the lies from GE, more fool me. Please don’t let this happen to you”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“Just terrible customer service. Plants are very expensive and no signs of refunds. Ridiculous company who I imagine won’t survive post covid”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

“May 10th places an order. It is now 30 working days.Customer service an absolute joke. Keep getting gratuitous emails apologising....taken £65 of mine. Don’t answer the flag ups. Don’t answer anything. Still advertising though. Covid is just an excuse.....”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Gardening Express is rated 1.2 based on 1,799 reviews