Complaint / Review
Burgess Seed and Plant Co
Direct Gardening, Four Seasons, Dutch Gardens, House of Wesley, Richard Owen, Farmer Seed and Nursery, Kelly Nurseries, Royal Dutch, Iner-State Nurseries, Honeycreed Nurseries, & Come To Buy, Inc. Scamming Mail Order Garden Co

I ordered $426.07 of plants and seeds and $118.72 worth of plants they sent were dead in the bags. They told me the plants were just dormant and that I should plant them to revive them. So I spent over 27 hours planting them and 3 months later they were still just as dead. Their policy is that they will give you a refund only if you send back the plants in 14 days of receiving them??? This refund policy is a joke! Believe me, nobody who orders from this company gets their money back. They just send you more dead plants if you request them to. This company belongs to a conglomerate of 10 other mail order garden companies, and they all treat their customers the same. They have a combined negative consumer review percentage of a negative 65%, which means 2 out of every 3 customers get scammed by these 11 companies. I found these figures on Dave's Garden Watchdog, a gardening consumer forum. The following is a list of these 11 companies in question:

Direct Gardening negative 65%
Burgess Seed and Plant Co. Negative 63%
Four Seasons negative 66%
Dutch Gardens negative 21%
House of Wesley negative 81%
Richard Owen negative 79%
Farmer Seed and Nursery negative 83%
Kelly Nurseries negative 81%
Royal Dutch negative 72%
Inter-State Nurseries negative 88%
Honeycreek Nurseries negative 69%

All these companies are part of the master mail order company:
2009 - 2011 ComeToBuy Inc.

The mail order average negative consumer review for the entire garden industry is a negative 18%. So how do these 11 companies, including Burgess Seed and Plant Co., stay in business with a total of a negative 65% consumer review? They have 1418 negative reviews out of a total of 2177 reviews as 8-1-11. These 11 companies have been scamming consumers for years and nobody seems to do anything about it. I'm sure a lot of their customers are little old ladies on a fixed income that don't want to get involved when they get taken advantage of.

Refund my $118.72 or I keep telling my story to everyone who will listen.including Facebook, Twitter, and any other social network. Anyone else wanting to voice their complaints could also file with the Illinois Better Business Bureau, Illinois Attorney General, Federal Trade Commission, PlanetFeedback, Measured Up, Complaint.com, Consumer Action, & Dave's Garden Watchdog.