topic Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery in Garden

My experience with SpringHill Nursery

IamMrsG — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 17:58:26 GMT

If you ever consider ordering from Spring Hill Nursery, I advise you to remember my experience with them. Pertinent background information is that the order and payment was accepted immediately, and I received a confirmation the same day of the order with a 1 week ETA. Nearly one month later, this is an abbreviation of today's chat session with them:

Me: Hello, Daniel. I placed my order in May, shipment has not happened yet. 6 Muhly grass plants -- your site said "In stock." Now it says, "Ships in Fall." What's going on??
Daniel: The reason the plant says ships in the fall on our website is because yesterday was our last day to order for spring. We are now rolling over for our Fall season.
Me: What's the problem with shipping my order from May?
Daniel: I put a rush on your order.
Me: What result will that get us? Is my order on "back order"?
Daniel: Yes, your order is on back order.
Me: So, when can I truthfully expect delivery? Why wasn't I notified of this?
Daniel: Honestly you will probably not get this order until the Fall.
Me: I have been questioning this situation for 3 weeks. YOU are the first to give me a direct answer.
Daniel: I suspect we will not get it in time to ship out to you and it will roll over. I can cancel if you would like or we can leave open to see what happens.
Me: I live in Zone X. Winters can be harsh. Will Fall planting have a bearing?
Daniel: Yes, we are close to you. A lot of our items ship out of (your state).
Me: Yes, I could have driven to you to get quicker information that trying to contact you via Customer Service (me here: My CS query received no response) and phone calls (calling CS takes you to the Philippines). So, what about Fall planting of these grass plants?
Daniel: Our discount store has tons of plants right now. You plant them the same in the fall as you do now.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

mousiegirl — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 18:05:03 GMT

Go to Dave's Garden and tell your story in the forum. I advise shopping at Bluestone Perennials, very fast shipping and beautiful plants. Customer service is also great.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

IamMrsG — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 18:09:56 GMT

@mousiegirl wrote:
Go to Dave's Garden and tell your story in the forum. I advise shopping at Bluestone Perennials, very fast shipping and beautiful plants. Customer service is also great.

Thanks for the referral, Mousiegirl. I just checked with Bluestone Perennials, but they do not have this particular grass. I suspect it's too late in the season now to find and/or plant it anyway.

BTW, why did you suggest I go to Dave's Garden with this experience?

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

JustJazzmom — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 18:33:55 GMT

There is a garden watchdog of mail order companies and locate Springhill Nursery there and relate your story. Its helpful as a 'rating system' for those who do mailorder of plant materials.

Spring Hill Nursery at Garden Watchdog

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

debic — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 18:57:46 GMT

I was recommended Hallson Gardens for hosta. It's perennials and they ship bare root. They came really nice and asked me when I wanted it shipped. They have a list of times they will ship.

This is about 4 days after I planted it.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

JustJazzmom — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 19:07:10 GMT

@debic

I second Hallston Gardens for hostas too!

Purchased my Hosta 'Frosted Mouse Ears' from them a few years ago and they are still thriving under some shrubs or in a mini hosta border I set up near my patio.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

debic — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 19:16:21 GMT

@JustJazzmom wrote:
@debic

I second Hallston Gardens for hostas too!
Purchased my Hosta 'Frosted Mouse Ears' from them a few years ago and they are still thriving under some shrubs or in a mini hosta border I set up near my patio.

I looked at those, but I'm trying sun tolerant ones. Since the weather is cooler here I'm hopeful. I bought "Stained glass" and "rainbows end" locally as well.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

JustJazzmom — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 19:22:32 GMT

Any of 'June' or sports of 'June' are more sun tolerant. 'August Moon' is another sun tolerant. Usually the golden leafed ones are more sun tolerant.

June and her sports-- go to the letter J and June should say (31) click on June and see all of her sports.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

Mary Bailey — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 19:30:11 GMT

I used to have such good luck with Springhiil products. This thread reminded me to call for 2 refunds. I'm gettng 2 checks $8.99 for thornless blackberry & $46.94 for a Red Colonnarde Apple tree. I also asked them to take me off their mailing list.

I have had better luck at the garden centers in the big box stores.

The Cherry tree is growing like crazy. I'm so happy about that.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

IamMrsG — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 19:30:26 GMT

@JustJazzmom wrote:
There is a garden watchdog of mail order companies and locate Springhill Nursery there and relate your story. Its helpful as a 'rating system' for those who do mailorder of plant materials.

Spring Hill Nursery at Garden Watchdog

Thank you, JustJazzMom, for the clarification and link to Dave's Garden. I used it and did file my Negative review. I wish I had known to check this site before ordering from Spring Hill Nursery. I thought I recognized their name as standing for reliability. Based on the reviews I found afterwards, what it appears they are reliable for is exactly the poor service I received.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

mousiegirl — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 20:31:11 GMT

There is a forum for posting positive or negative reviews of plant companies. I accidentally stumbled on the forum, and read that a company that I had made a large purchase with in March had many negative reviews, so I called my bank as I was still within the thirty day time frame, and told my bank that I had been scammed. Long story short, he ignored my bank's correspondence, so I received a full refund, as my bank got it through his bank. His name is Pernil Gerver, I believe, not sure of the spelling.

There are many forums, and plant info, I have used the site for this mostly, but it can be very informative on so many plant topics.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

IamMrsG — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 21:24:02 GMT

@mousiegirl wrote:
There is a forum for posting positive or negative reviews of plant companies. I accidentally stumbled on the forum, and read that a company that I had made a large purchase with in March had many negative reviews, so I called my bank as I was still within the thirty day time frame, and told my bank that I had been scammed. Long story short, he ignored my bank's correspondence, so I received a full refund, as my bank got it through his bank. His name is Pernil Gerver, I believe, not sure of the spelling.

There are many forums, and plant info, I have used the site for this mostly, but it can be very informative on so many plant topics.

Thank you, Mousiegirl, for the suggestion. I filed a negative review, and certainly wish I had known beforehand to look for such information. At least, maybe my review will save someone else the aggravation I'm experiencing now. That's precisely why I originated this post. On that same vein, I also filed a complaint with the Better Business Bureau.

I'm glad to hear you were able to recoup your money. It's a shame there's so many shoddy businesses around these days.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

JustJazzmom — Tue, 16 Jun 2015 21:32:45 GMT

In terms of really good garden forums, I recommend Garden Web-- the categories are divided into many topics to name a few -- hydrangeas, roses, perennials, by area of the country, parts of the state (depending on your state). Now I've been a member for years there and recently within the last 6 months, Garden Web teamed up with Houzz, the design website so let me provide the link for Garden Web/Houzz so people can 'look see' what those forums are all about.

Everyone there is very helpful and those who are knowledgeable share their knowledge and there is no snippiness or snark there (as far as I can see on the forums I've frequented). One more thing-- if you sign into Garden Web forums you can use the same info to sign into Houzz and vice versa.

Link to Garden Web Forums

Link to Houzz

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

JustJazzmom — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 16:02:04 GMT

Okay, I know I posted the links to a garden forum where people are very knowledgeable there. Just wondering if it disappeared into the ether or was it removed by the mods??

I'm posting it again in the hopes that it got lost in the ether somewhere.

Garden Web forums-- which has teamed up with Houzz so if you sign into Houzz, you can use the Garden Web forums and vice versa. Topics are numerous and arranged by alphabetical order. I've been a member for years and the people posting have been very helpful to me.

Link to Garden Web forums

Link to Houzz

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

IamMrsG — Sat, 20 Jun 2015 20:44:46 GMT

My bad experience with SpringHill continues. The chat I shared in the original post occured on June 16. I received an Email from them the next day, giving me a new ETA of June 25. Imagine my surprise when I checked the status last night to see "cancelled" and that they have placed the 6 plants back into my shopping cart! This morning I received an Email as a "friendly reminder" that I left items in my cart. Mind you, they have not sent a word to notfiy me they've cancelled the order or to discuss refunding my money.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

PilatesLover — Mon, 22 Jun 2015 15:46:08 GMT

I second the suggestion for Bluestone Perennials.

Another trusted source with beautiful plants is Brushwood Nursery. They also offer native vines. I ordered a native honeysuckle from them recently and was delighted with my order - a nice large healthy plant arrived and it even had a starter trellis supporting the vine (a sturdy bamboo stick).

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

IamMrsG — Tue, 23 Jun 2015 02:22:13 GMT

Thank you, PilatesLover, for the recommendation and the link to Brushwood. I checked out their website, and it's really nice. Unfortuantely for me right now, it appears they're exclusively into vines and climbers.

Honeysuckle can be quite beautiful. I hope your plant flourishes for many years to come!

Fortunately, my experience with Spring Hill has come to an end. My order is officially cancelled and I am told a refund has been issued.

Never again. "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me."

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

wildcat fan — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 13:44:38 GMT

@IamMrsG I'm glad to hear that it sounds like you've been able to get a refund.

About 15 years ago, I ordered six freedom roses from Spring Hill. They are still thriving. I haven't ordered anything since then, but I sometimes contemplate ordering. Sorry to hear about your experience with their customer service. That didn't sound at all like the company I dealt with.

Re: My experience with SpringHill Nursery

IamMrsG — Thu, 25 Jun 2015 02:29:43 GMT

Wildcat Fan, I suspect you are right in that my Spring Hill wasn't your Spring Hill. When you think about then vs now, though, how many things are as good as they used to be?

I have an addendum to my saga: I received a request from Better Business Bureau, asking what, if anything, I have heard from Spring Hill since filing my complaint in early June. According to the BBB, Spring Hill has chosen to ignore their inquiry.