Gardening Express

avoid avoid - do not buy! at your risk!

posting my review about a rose tree and several rose bushes I was conned into buying from gardening express - this review is a warning to potential customers about christopher bonnett's dodgy company!

I'm appalled at how this company treats their customers, especially Morgan.

I bought rose bushes and this tree being one as I wanted to start a new garden project. This tree was meant to be the centerpiece. It didn't grow. I spent over £170 on plants with my orders and after a while noticing it was dead alongside two other rose bushes I had bought, I contacted GE on 21.05.2025. It is now 16th June. First they got it wrong that it wasn't covered by the guarantee, it is. Then they said sorry they got confused. Then asked for proof. All the while blaming a faulty internal customer service management platform that moves your communications to the last of the queue if you chase up your previous email.

Of course if you are being ignored by a company and incompetence of the staff is adding to the problem you will chase them, so they've created the perfect excuse to steal your money and give you defective plants.

They even had the cheek to ask me to write a letter by hand and post it should I wish to complain. It's 2025 and they think I will write an essay, walk to the post office, pay for a stamp and post the letter - as if you're worth any effort at all, the stamp price and my time!

This now seems like a scam. My aim is to now raise awareness of this disaster of a company and warn other customers about their dodgy practices. Their director christopher bonnett must be made aware of how his company is taking a nosedive otherwise it must be that he is complicit and it's his business model - take customers' money, provide defective dead products and then create a broken customer service platform with clowns as staff to steal and cause so much frustration that they go away fed up.

I'm no such customer. I won't be taken for a ride.

Weeks and weeks ago I ordered some plants and two outdoor trees from this company and all that I ordered have arrived in such poor condition and were dead when they were delivered and the two trees I bought from them have died a week after I bought them ! Ive sent so many emails and pictures and they have not been responding to my emails for ages and Im housebound and disabled in a wheelchair so I cant go to garden centres !

Ive repeatedly asked for a refund from them and they havent responded until I told them I was going to report them to trading standards and you too! Today they responded and said that if I plant them and give them plenty of water that they will be fine but they arent they are completely dead ! Ive been gardening for years so I know what Im doing and all I want is a full refund from them !

I would be really grateful if you could contact them for me as they dont have a phone number and they take too long to reply ! Many thanks

I had placed my order on May 3. It has now been 17 working days and almost a month overall without any update on my order.

The online order status still indicates that it hasn't been shipped, and there are no tracking details available. I have contacted them via the online form and email several times, but they send a template response without providing a clear and honest answer regarding the shipment of my order. I have also asked them to please issue a full refund and offer compensation for this experience.

This would at least enable me to purchase plants from another store. I have already lost nearly a month of good weather and bank holiday weekends.

I have ordered a mature Magnolia Genie for the price of just over £79. This was on offer.

Tree arrived in a tall carboard box with the bottom part of the box soaking wet and broken. Upon inspection of the tree the provisional pot was broken and there was surprisingly not much of a soil given the the size of the tree (over 5 feet). The tree had some leave buds but all were brown and shrivelled including the branches. I have taken photos and contacted garden express upon arrival of the tree.

Was told to give it somw time and pot it up which I have done. It has now been a month. The tree remains in the same condition except for minimal leafing out at 1 of the branches and only in the lower portion of the branch. I have checked for aigns of life on the other branches but there isn't any.

All the dark brown branches are dry and snapped off. Yet again I have contacted garden express and was told not to worry and to give it more time as it has signs of life. The tree was bought mature for a reaaon as it was meant to have an instant impact which is not the case. It is just a stick now with only 1/2 of one branch with leaves.

I will never buy anything form gardening express after this experience. Paying almost £87 with postage for a tree that is an eyesore is not something that I would ever expect. Especially since there is suppose to be a 5 year guarantee.

I am continuing to insist on a refund yet I am sure that it will most likely go ignored. Oh and as for the shipping - it takes very long from ordering and no updates in between!!!

I place an order for a selection of plants, a small bag of compost and ten bags of decorative bark on 1st of May.

On the 19th of May, way outside their claimed delivery timescale, I received a partial delivery of the compost an 1 bag of bark.

I complained via their web page form and received an email stating that the rest of the order was ready to ship. I emailed back asking them to be sure the remainder of the bags of bark were included as I suspected a clerical error or picking error.

I received no response from my email, not even a recognition of the potential issue.

Since then, I have emailed and contacted via the web page multiple times with absolutely no response.

They still owe me 9 bags of Bark or approx. £90.

As they have no physical presence and are web only I am not sure what else I can do.