Gardening Express Reviews 

A long delay in delivery and no updates. When the 6 plants eventually arrived, 3 were broken, with half the plants snapped off and 3 were good and bushy.
Very cramped packaging which was the reason for the breakages. 2 plants jammed in between 4 others.
Customer Services did not listen, and did nothing to help. They said the plants are resilient. Plant them and they'll be fine. No apology offered. No replacements offered.
NEVER WILL I SHOP WITH THEM AGAIN.

You guys are a disgrace to the gardening community, I ordered and paid for a shipment of plants on the 18th August and to date you have not let me know of the status of my shipment.

Please explain why this is and why you have so little regard for your customer.

One cannot complain about customer service when there is no customer service.

Copying of my original review below because it relates to customer service as well:

Terrible company and uncaring customer service. Ordered some acers because of a lot of promotional ads this summer. I was wary of buying late in the season but all the individual plant reviews on their website were very good. So I placed my orders without concern to take advantage of the offers (Order 701273032).

All the plants were in poor shape and one was not even the acer cultivar I ordered ...issue with naming on their website. Customer support was delayed in responding and now their way out is for me to return the plants at my cost and insured too. I said I would pursue the matter with my credit card company instead.

I posted my review of the individual plants on their website with my photographs...but these cowboys have not published them. Now I know why there are no poor reviews.

I purchased 6 x lavender plants on July 19th, they arrived on July 30th. They were packaged well but in a very sorry state. I was so shocked that I took photos as they were unboxed, some looked half dead but as we were experiencing very hot weather I thought they just needed water/attention and planting. 19 days later they were all in a terrible state. I emailed Gardening Express but as I was out of the 14 day, it goes under a 5yr warranty and I have to send the dead plants back at a charge to myself otherwise they will do nothing but had they sent healthy plants out in the beginning I wouldn’t be in this situation. I would never buy from them again.

Order no 701272390…

I’ve waited three years after my last purchase from Gardening Express, which was a disaster - they delivered a broken cypress tree that’s 2/3 of the size and width of the one that arrived undamaged.
I hoped they’ve made progress since then - they never responded to me other than showing off on Trustpilot with “email us and we will try to resolve the issue”, or reimbursed - it turned out you can’t make any use out of the made up 5 year guarantee for plants purchased from them.

This time, five out of the eight plants ordered were annuals, and I received five pots filled with soil with a couple of dry sticks because the plants had been cut to the ground, and will never grow back being annuals, so are completely useless. Three out of the 8 plants, dahlia trees, have arrived with broken branches. I’d share the photos if I could on here, but will do on Google reviews.

Their chat bot says someone will get back to you within 3 working days, but that’s not true either. They completely ignore any issues but you’re welcome to send plants back at your own costs and they will, apparently, reimburse you.

I’ll be escalating it this time - the Consumer Rights Act is clear on what they should do when the product doesn’t match the description or is faulty.

Damaged packages, broken pots, supposed large fruit was tiny not what I ordered. No customer service, complete lie and fake promises. This company are a scam !

It tock over 3 weeks for plant to arrive
Plant not in good state was nothing like as in photos or description
Looks half dead
Sent photos and said about how long it had taken to arrive
Said not happy as was a present but can't give
There answer was to water it give it 3 weeks and see how it is but should pick up
If alfter 3 weeks and it is not than I will have to pay for packing and sending it back
Not happy would not recommed this company does not seem to worry what plants they send out and how long it take

The quality of plants this company delivers is shockingly poor and the turnaround time on delivery is terrible, now they have moved to an AI generated customer services process it is impossible to complain and ask for a refund or get an idea on delivery - don’t waste your time or money buy from J Parkers

Horrendous. DO NOT USE! They use DX Express for shipping, enough said. Orders literally dumped outside the main door of a 36 bungalow complex, no communication whatsoever. It was only a kind neighbour who brought them in for me, I had no idea they’d were there! Literally dumped outside. Dreadful service

Save yourself the drama and order elsewhere. Plants arrived after a significant wait shrivelled and dead. Contacting customer service is through AI. A month on and I’m being asked to return the dead plants at my own cost. Wish I had read the reviews before ordering. Hope you are luckier than me.

If only you could award zero stars. This company are utterly horrendous in every respect - the plants they sell are essentially dead on arrival and the returns / refund processes are designed to be so unusable as to deter customers from getting with a response or their money back. Once they have your details, they will bombard you with relentless spam sales emails, sometimes up to 5 per day - these have no unsubscribe options, contrary to UK law, and even when you have moved hell and high water to contact them with complaints about the unsolicited emails and report them to ICO, they simply continue. BBC Watchdog previously featured Gardening Express regarding customer complaints over delayed deliveries, lost items in transit, and difficulties obtaining refunds. Avoid any interaction with this essentially corrupt and legally flawed enterprise - with the litany of complaints against them, they really shouldn't be operational.

I purchased 2 x Thuja occidentalis Brabant advertised as circa 140–160cm on 8 March 2026. When they arrived, they were clearly not the advertised size, so I contacted the seller straight away to complain.
Rather than resolving the issue, I was asked to send photographs of the plants still in the box. We had already planted them immediately upon arrival because we didn't want them sitting in packaging and potentially dying, so this wasn't possible.
I decided to give them the benefit of the doubt and properly look after them. Unfortunately, by July 2026, both plants had turned completely brown and died.
So I received plants that were smaller than advertised, raised the issue at the time, and was then left with two plants that didn't even survive a few months.
Extremely poor experience and certainly not what I would expect when purchasing plants advertised as 140–160cm specimens. I would not recommend this seller and will not be purchasing from them again.

Like everyone else I wish I had checked reviews before ordering! I had brought 2 plant pots and 2 rose trees from this company as a birthday present for my brother in law. The order arrived on time but one of the plant pots were cracked and the rose trees were 2 dead sticks. I didn't find this out to start with as my brother in law was too embarrassed to tell me. However when I did find out I sent an email with photographic evidence. They are now asking me to send back the 2 dead sticks in the original packaging, who keeps their packaging!
This company is a total disgrace and needs to be investigated.
As it is highly unlikely that any of us complaining are going to get a refund, I am going to my credit card provider to see if they can help.

I wish that I had found these reviews, before ordering. The plants I ordered arrived after 6 days, but most were dying and some already dead, with rotted roots from being drowned and still waterlogged on arrival.

I tried to contact after unpacking them. I could only find the AI chat. I spent half an hour, giving details, uploading photos, finally getting a support ticket number and being promised that a "real" agent would contact me within 3 working days.

To this date, no one has contacted me. I have tried the AI chat again, but still have not gotten any further.

I cannot find any way to phone, email, speak to a real person. Awful, awful website.

Today I escalated this with my bank and hope to be refunded.

Plant pot crushed to get it into the packaging. I hope the plant will recover!28

ABSOLUTELY AVOID! Complete fraudsters! Still have not received my order or a response! Contacted them on 7th Aug 26, should receive a response in 3 days, 28th August - Still nothing! Taken my money not delivered my tree!!!!

I ordered two flamingo plants in a 5 litre pots. The sale was marked down from £29 (expensive) to £9.50 each. When I received the delivery my first thought was ‘it’s ridiculous’. Two plots crammed into a small package, they were cut down in height for the size of its root structure, they were very spindly and evidencing worms crawling through the roots whist being shrivelled and wilting.

The company’s conditions and guarantees are so qualified as the make them worthless. Trying to contact Garden Express is impossible and they are user unfriendly, dismissive and give the impression that it could not care less for its customers.

My plants were almost dead when they arrived. Complaining is a long and tortuous process involving sending photographs of packing labels, packaging, plants and you are obviously not given the opportunity to talk to a human. Was promised a response (I had asked for a refund) within 3 days but when that didn't happen I was promised a response within a further 3 days! My plants are now completely dead and there is no sign of any refund. Do not buy from this company. Support you local garden centre instead - I will in the future.

A middle man company reselling excess stock from Nurseries who save money by having automated systems and slow or non existent customer service. A shame, as prices are excellent and some products delivered are very good value for money. A real mixed bag, and not delivering on customer service promises.

Quite disappointed, wish I read the reviews before ordering.
Plants arrived tightly packed into cardboard boxes, all squashed and some on top of each other, leading to broken plants. Also in the boxes on the plants were two slugs and 1 snail!!

I ordered 12 of the same plant and they arrived looking dead, nothing like the photos provided, all cut right down - out of the 12, 1 has survived. So disappointing.
Other plants I ordered arrived and were just scraggly stems, so weak they are just floppy. The salvia’s just lay limp on the soil.

Complete waste of money. Delivery extremely long, plants look like they are from the reduced section.