Complaint Review: Direct Gardening - Bloomington Illinois

Direct Gardening.com is possibly the WORST business we have ever seen! Me and my husband had been trying for 3 years to get several Northern Red Oak seedlings for our yard but kept having problems each year with our local nurseries not having them, Lowe's website saying that they have them in our local store but then after driving to Lowe's they told us they don't have them and not sure why the website says they do have them, and also tried Arbor Day Foundation which had very reasonable prices but they send you bare-root seedlings that are barely 12" tall and we weren't able to get any of them last past 1 year even after consulting our local nurseries and them confirming that we were doing everything they would do to take proper care of them.

Well after having no choice but to get these online, Direct Garden was one of the 1st sites that came up in our search results. So we read all of the descriptions and it clearly stated that their Red Oak seedlings are 3-4 feet tall and nowhere did it say or imply that they were bare root. When they arrived we immediately opened them and YES we were IMMEDIATELY DISGUSTED to see the following:

1) They stripped off ALL of the limbs before shipping them to us.

2) The tops of the seedlings were snapped off to make them fit into their shipping bag.

3) 1 of the seedlings was broke in 2 half way up the trunk and was not caused from the shipping process through usps.

4) We got out our tape measure and was lucky if ANY of the seedling was 2 feet tall but yet their web site stated they would be 3-4 feet tall.

5) They were COMPLETELY bare-root seedlings and didn't have ANY type of moist gel or whatever else to keep them moist.

6) Both trunk and roots were SO DRIED OUT that they had no flexibility and would snap off with little effort.

7) They hire other businesses to answer their calls thus you're not getting someone on the phone who has actual experience with gardening or the direct gardening website... the same person who answers your calls for direct gardening is the same person answering calls for a plumbing business that hired them as well.

8) Direct Gardening adopts a we-don't-give-a-crap-about-you return policy whereby if you receive a product not as described, they make you pay out of your pocket to ship back their gross negligence!

SUMMARY: It wasn't until after we got these seedlings and seen how CARELESSLY they treat their customers that we then did a search for reviews on this company and we were TOATALLY SHOCKED at the NUMEROUS NEGATIVE reviews and not just on one web site but ALL OVER THE INTERNET! So many negative reviews that ANYONE with common sense would demand to know how they are allowed to keep renewing their business license!

And Please keep in mind that Dirct Garden HAS COUNTLESS negative reviews and so is obvious that it's not an issue of people are just out to get them. With this many negative reviews, it CLEARLY provides evidence beyond a reasonable doubt that that Dirct Garden is GENUINELY a CROOKED BUSINESS!!!

We even uploaded our video on youtube which shows the seedlings as soon as we opened them