Always do a google.com search for 'the scoop on (whatever company OR TRADER) - it's amazing what's on google and a good way to find out others' experiences.

Kelly Nurseries has 84 reviews (68 negative, 11 positive and 5 neutral).

This is very good advice.

Unfortunately it was only after the problems began that I did the search and saw found the results skewed towards negative reviews. In fact, I mentioned this to them in an e-mail communication, to the effect that I expected trouble and wasn't going to stand for it. And do you know what they told me? Here I quote:

"We would like to mention that because we do ship more than a quarter of billion plants annually, try as we may, mistakes may happen and plants do die. A mail order company survives on repeat customers. If the majority of our customers were unhappy and chose not to order from us again, we would long ago have been out of business."

They do have a point in that it is surprising indeed that they are still in business.

Send them a copy of the google.com search - that might open their eyes.

J. Hogan (Oklahoma)

So, i suspected that they were all connected since all the photos are exactly the same for each company, I even called and asked that specific question if they were affiliated, all I got was double talk trying to make it sound like they were all independent. I'm relieved that I am not the only one and that I was not unreasonable with my thoughts on this company. In 2016 I too went for their great prices and pretty pictures of the plants that I was hoping to see in my yard, but most of them died. I did soak the roots as suggested, planted and waited to see if anything would bloom but no... My order was over $150.00 and they told me I could get replacements but because I did not have the original slip to send to them I could not get any replacements even though they had me in their computer system and was able to view my complete order and I gave them a list of all that did not survive they would not replace any of my plants I was totally disgusted. I have come to the conclusion that the company, of many names, receive the orders; taking people's money.... the employees in the fields do not care what they pack up, anything, dead or alive just getting through their work day and the company takes advantage of all mishaps with customer satisfaction being the least of their concerns.

ALL online or mail order plant vendors should be vetted before you do business with them!! Always check Garden Watchdog before placing an order - they are a mail order clearing house, rating some 7500 different sources based entirely on customer reviews. Dead or mislabeled plants and terrible customer service are the most common complaints. But for every bad vendor there are several or more that are excellent.

I should have checked reviews before I ordered. I placed an order SPECIFICALLY for one item -- they sent a substitution, then told me I could send mail label back for the correct item - WHICH MIGHT NOT COME FOR A YEAR! They also STILL HAVE THE ITEM I WANTED LISTED ON THEIR WEB SITE. I call that fraud. CINDY in customer service IS FLAT-out NASTY. Before I had even begun to express my unhappiness with their MO, she said "IF YOU WOULD JUST CALM DOWN Ma'am... SHE DOES NOT BELONG IN THIS JOB. I will never order again, and NEITHER SHOULD YOU!

These guys are a joke! I understand the current state of things but the reality is that placing customer service agents remotely to phones from their own homes is an extremely easy and cheap process these days. None the less they have NO WORKING PHONE NUMBER, and don’t mention that anywhere on their site. However if you try to call their phone it’s disconnected! That says a lot right there!!!

It takes days to get a response to an email, yet when they do respond they don’t answer any questions. I wish I had read the extensive number of bad reviews online prior to ordering. Assuming they were a reputable company, then reasonable substitutions would have been okay. SCAM!!! First, the plants I ordered were almost all potted. However, I am now waiting for the “dormant” plants which are apparently kept dormant in a climate controlled place (seriously?!?!) to be what exactly?? They were “HARVESTED”, so even though they may arrived in a pot they were not grown in that pot, they will simply be packaged in a pot.

Also, I ordered a liatris barefoot plant which was automatically flipped on my order confirmation to 25 bulbs. I still haven’t rec’d responses to that or several other questions. Total shady company, misleading website, non-existent service.