buyer beware !!

13 years ago

After receiving a catalog in the mail from Gardeners Choice I decided to give the giant tomato tree a shot and ordered them- the catalog said specifically PLANTS NOT SEEDS. Well... instead of live plants I got a few little peat cups full of starting mix and I assume, SEEDS. My bf called the customer service number to complain and they HUNG UP ON HIM. I was initially disappointed but watered them and hoped for the best. Took about 3 weeks to sprout. Now the romas and other toms I also started from seed are large enough to transplant in the garden but the "giant" ones....are still teeny seedlings with one pair of leaves maybe half an inch tall. TOTAL RIPOFF. Ive emailed them and asked for a refund- we'll see how that goes. NEVER AGAIN tho......

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Comments (8)

karendee
13 years ago
I am so sorry! I am glad you posted for us.

You could try the Better Business Bureau.

Sometimes a contact from the BBB makes them make it right. Or maybe the company does not realize the customer service is so bad...(its possible but they may know already :))

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: BBB Link
lilycrazy
Original Author
13 years ago
Thanks Karen- I'll check into that as well. I've also emailed the company and explained what's happened- hopefully they will make it right. I would be happy if the darn seeds would have grown well but....live and learn right ? It's just so disheartening to me because I've had so many WONDERFUL experiences ordering plants online or catalog. I'm just going to avoid this particular company in the future.
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knaak
13 years ago
Sorry to hear about your bad experience. Since you ordered online, most likely you used a credit card. Did you? If so, contact your card company immediately to dispute the charge. You can email or fax them a copy of the catalog and then describe what they sent you. It might take a couple weeks, but they will deduct the amount from Gardeners Choice and give you back your money since the company's description was misleading ("Product or service not as described" is one of the dispute options).

Also, the BBB really is a waste of time. Much to many people's surprise, it is just a private company, even though it sounds like a government entity with "Bureau" in the name. The BBB can't do anything to any company, other than give them a bad "grade" on the BBB website. While some people do still use the BBB, you probably get more publicity with your complaint through a website like GardenWeb, especially since you get to post details of what happened.

Best of luck.
taz6122
13 years ago
For getting that info out to millions there's also
http://www.ripoffreport.com/
and
http://www.complaintsboard.com/

Put the crooks out of business.
mrdoitall
13 years ago
Sorry to hear about this. I got took on the little giant blueberry plants 2 for $10.00 get one free TV crap!!! The plants came in about 2" to 3" tall with 2 or 3 roots 1/2" long. They where supposed to grow 5 to 6 foot the first year with 16000 blueberry's!!! RIGHT!!! They are 12" tall now in the 2ND year. LOL No more TV plants for me! About 10 years ago I bought a tomato tree. It will grow 15 to 20 feet with 1000's of tomatoes!!! RIGHT!!! It was huge with a ton of tomatoes on the plant (tree) LOL!!! But they taste like rubber the skin was 1/8" thick. They where worse than a winter store bought tomato. LOL No more TV plants for me!!!
lewski
13 years ago
Anyone considering ordering from this company PLEASE DO NOT. If you check the Garden Watchdog this company has 300 negative reviews out of 377 total. Not exactly a great record.

Being burnt by these scam artists once was enough for me. Save your money and deal with one of the many reputible companies out there.
karendee
13 years ago
The BBB has helped me before. Sorry it has not for you...
I will check garden watch dog before ordering now.
Karen
cetompkins
13 years ago
I have ordered from Gardeners Choice in the past and let me say it was a bad experiance and I will never purchase from them again. plants arived dead and customer service is nonexsistant.