Burncoose Nurseries Online - www.burncoose.co.uk

I have been looking for a nursery to supply me with two shrubs, a Pittosporum Tenuifolium and Philadelphus.

Having spent 2 hours trawling the internet I came across Burncoose Nurseries, I called to check availability and was greeted by a most helpful young lady. She patiently check the stock and also made alternative recommendations, as I was unsure of height growth of one of the shrubs.

Not withstanding the nursery receives some poor reviews, If the shrubs and the delivery is anything like the quality of service provided when ordering, I will be delighted and will duly leave appropriate feedback.

Thank you young lady for your kind assistance, sorry I’m not allowed to mention you by name.

After complementing the nursery on both their range of plants and the information available for each one at the time of ordering, I have now completely changed my mind about this company.

I ordered 3 plants- all in stock. Yesterday I had a message from both nursery and courier to say that my order had been despatched but was shocked to find when I arrived home that I had only recieved 1 plant. At this point I thought two had gone missing in transit. I have spent the last 24 hours trying to sort this out but not once have I managed to speak to anyone from the nursery. Their phoneline rings and rings or is engaged.

It turns out 2/3 plants were out of stock when I ordered (all showed as in stock) but instead of letting me know, they despatched one plant at a delivery cost of £15! I would of course not have ordered one plant at that cost of delivery. All I needed was a one minute message to advise that two were out of stock and I would then have had options. Just shockingly poor communication and customer service and I have to say a disregard for customer satisfaction. The last e-mail recieved was rude int tone and blamed the courier. How could it be the courier’s fault?

I have now given up trying to contact them and have no reply to my last e-mail, so I am voting with my feet.

I buy a lot of goods on the internet and these days companies keep their stock levels up-to-date. The item I wanted showed delivery “Normally 3 - 5 days”. It was out of stock.

They had my email address and could have let me know that Phormium “Flamingo” was out of stock. I particularly wanted this item and had searched other nurseries who had stated on their websites that this was out of stock. I added some "ordinary plants" to justify the LARGE delivery cost. If I had known that the Phormium would not come I would have cancelled the whole order. Phormium “Flamingo” is a bit special, but who would pay such a big delivery cost for ordinary plants?

They sent a note telling me they would refund me - by the WRONG amount.

I wrote to tell them of my disappointment and received a bland acknowledgement.

I ordered several plants from them at the end of last year, and I had no complaints about the ordering or the delivery to Europe, which was handled quickly and efficiently.

I have however, tried to contact them several times this spring as I have some quieries about the plants, two of the trees don't seem to be what I ordered, and I wanted clarification on this matter as well as some advice regarding die- back on the two Cryptomeria that they supplied.

I have not had any response to my e mails. This is very disappointing, and unacceptable. I would certainly not recommend them to anyone. It seems that they are very happy to supply anything you may want, but they will not respond to any complaints that you may have.

Two of the trees I bought were Toona Sinensis "Flamingo," which should have grown out bright pink in spring, but they have not. I reported this to the nursery and asked for an explanation, but have not received the courtesy of a response.

I ordered 4 plants and am satisfied with 3. the 4th - a 3 year old camellia Cornish Snow arrived unlabelled and clearly not 3 years old. X of customer services has been unhelpful in the extreme, insisting that as a very slow growing type, 3 year old plants are of this size. The plant has, clearly, recently been put into a larger pot. I do not accept that it is what I have paid for (£21) and want a substitute. X accuses me of not reading the website section on plant growth - I have, at least twice! He tells me to parcel up the plant for collection. If I do I fear I will be accused of damaging it. I had Cornish Snow, from Hilliers, in my previous garden, which was always vigorous.

I cannot make progress and feel very unsatisfied with the dismissive attitude to my legitimate query about goods provided.

I am sure that Burncoose Nurseries has many satisfied customers but new to their website I ordered on line without ticking the box to say NO substitutes as I trusted that they would send as near as possible an equivalent which at least would be the same colour.

Unfortunately I was sent a 'speckled' variety which I loath and could buy anywhere, instead of the Wisley Cream ordered.

Their 'routine' apology letter was a disappointment. There was no offer to say they would reserve the plant I ordered when it is next available.

Such a shame before ordering that I did not see the many other customers reviews with complaints about their customer service on this website.

I recently ordered a tree from this nursery. I had a very precise time frame of when I would be available to receive the order. I then realised to my horror when the tree hadn't arrived that I had given the wrong dates. However on phoning the nursery it was able to deliver the order 24 hours later. Brilliant!

The lady taking my order by phone was very helpful and I was delighted when the plants arrived only 48h after placing the order, in excellent condition. When I realised that there was an "out of stock" item on the order which I would have happily had substituted had it been confirmed as out of stock when I placed the order, I phoned Burncoose again. The extremely helpful gentleman who dealt with my query not only agreed to send me a substitute but also volunteered to do so without charging me for postage. Furthermore the substitute arrived only 48h later. I felt that this was customer service of the highest order! I strongly recommend Burncoose Nursery!

I ordered a specimen sized Acer Seiryu £75 plus £22 delivery cost. The plant arrived well packaged and in good time and I planted promptly in a bed I specially prepared for the tree.I have 30 years horticultural experience. Within a week I began to notice the leaves beginning to wilt despite keeping the newly planted tree moist. After 2 weeks every leaf was dropping and some were drying out. I decided to investigate as I have never seen such a rapid deterioration in a nusery purchased plant. When I examined the condition of the specimen I found it was supplied without a root ball! It had not been given a chance to establish in the pot before shipping! I emailed Burncoose to point this out and the fact I have spent £97 on a dead tree and asked for replacement to which I received NO REPY! Avoid this company at all costs!

I was looking for a specific, and hard to find, buddleia, to work in with a colour scheme. Stated as available on the Burncoose website, so I ordered it. The delivery charge seemed VERY steep, so I ordered a second, unusual-sounding buddleia for another part of the garden to make it better value for the delivery cost. The first thing I noticed on opening the poorly-packed second choice (just a bit of netting round the plant, and parcel tape covering some of the pot)was that all the growing tips were dead and hanging off loose. I removed them carefully, trimmed the damaged parts, planted it, and am hoping for the best. The second buddleia - and main reason for placing the order - was not the right plant. There was a note with it to say they hadn't been able to supply it after all, and had substituted a different variety. Plant was as poorly packed as the first one, but relatively undamaged. I couldn't face the arguments with the supplier, so I have given that one away. I have subsequently found another supplier for the buddleia I want, same size plant, half the price, one tenth of the Burncoose delivery charge, and it's a lovely little shrub. I just wish I'd seen the reviews on here before ever ordering from Burncoose in the first place!