Gardening Express Reviews 

1,190
•
TrustScore 1 out of 5

1.1

While we don't verify specific claims because reviewers' opinions are their own, we may label reviews as "Verified" when we can confirm a business interaction took place. Read more

To protect platform integrity, every review on our platform—verified or not—is screened by our 24/7 automated software. This technology is designed to identify and remove content that breaches our guidelines, including reviews that are not based on a genuine experience. We recognise we may not catch everything, and you can flag anything you think we may have missed. Read more

Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Considering 224 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Consumers frequently complained about terrible plant quality, reporting that items arrived dead, damaged, or completely dried out after enduring weeks of waiting. Buyers also experienced severe delivery delays, missing items, and unhelpful automated customer service chatbots that failed to provide any real assistance or refunds. Though some customers faced issues, a minority of people were satisfied with specific purchases like hydrangeas or noted reasonable quality during earlier orders. Some reviewers mentioned that certain plants arrived in decent condition or warmly praised particular varieties despite the widespread service shortcomings.

What people talk about most

Product

Customers consistently note negative experiences with product quality, frequently receiving dead, dying, or... See more

Quality

People report negative experiences with quality, stating that many items arrived shrivelled, damaged, or... See more

Order

Clients share profound dissatisfaction regarding order fulfillment, frequently citing severe delivery delays,... See more

Customer service

Reviewers express deep dissatisfaction regarding customer service, highlighting that contacting support is... See more

Delivery service

Consumers find delivery service to be deeply frustrating due to extremely slow turnaround times, with many... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Horrendous. DO NOT USE! They use DX Express for shipping, enough said. Orders literally dumped outside the main door of a 36 bungalow complex, no communication whatsoever. It was only a kind neighbour... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I have bought from Gardening Express before, without an issue, however after ordering 17 plants, for outdoor pots.. only 6 were delivered..6 weeks later!! They were old plants and half dead on arri... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Absolutely appalling service, order did not arrive despite DHL stating it had been delivered. Contacting this company is nigh on impossible as they use a 'chat' function which is utter rubbish. I don'... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Waited 23 days for delivery and then received only one Hollyhock instead of the 2 I ordered. Found out customer service is just a crap chat bot that repeats the same 5 days for a response rubbish. The... See more


Company details

  1. Garden centre

Information provided by various external sources

Gardening Express is the leading online supplier for everything Gardening in the UK. It s not hard to see that the site has been put together by plant lovers, and rivals the other well know brands. It covers ornamental flowers, shrubs & trees and more. If you want something they haven t got they say they ll know where to get it.


Contact info

1.1

Bad

TrustScore 1 out of 5

1k reviews

5-star
4-star
3-star
2-star
1-star

No history of asking for reviews

This company hasn't invited their customers, so reviews may not be representative

How this company uses Trustpilot

See how their reviews and ratings are sourced, scored, and moderated.

1.1

All reviews

(1,190)

224 reviews in the last 12 months

Write a review
Companies on Trustpilot aren't allowed to offer incentives or pay to hide reviews. Reviews are the opinions of individual users and not of Trustpilot. Read more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

I have just received a palm plant in a…

I have just received a palm plant in a terrible condition. Pot bound so much so it’s had strangulated the plant, causing yellow leaves and mite on most of the leaves?
I have tried contacting the company but there is no email address or tel number. Chat couldn’t help either just saying contact Gardening Express, but how? So they might offer guaranteed goods but there doesn’t seem anyway of contacting them?
This has been a very costly experience, yet no access to speak with anyone in this company

Mrs Tobin

11 August 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Overpriced low quality salix

If I could give zero stars, I would! Exorbitant price for what was received, website photos misleading and misrepresentative of what was received, poor quality, split dry pots, cheapest value plant pots provided. Can’t get refund, no phone helpline, scamming company - AVOID AT ALL COSTS.

11 August 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Scam company

Made mistake of not reading reviews prior to buying. Scam company, plants still not arrived after 27 days with with last 3 being with delivery company except plants to be dead. No customer service just a lo grade chat bot that does nothing. Avoid at all costs

11 August 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Waste of time and money

Plants arrived weeks late, majority of them dead planted them anyway in the vain hope they might revive - they didn't. Customer Service set unobtainable and unreasonable demands. Complete waste of time lodging a complaint. Just glad I didn't spend a fortune.

31 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

If I could leave no stars I would

If I could leave no stars I would. Where do I start First off I am disgusted that this is an english company seems they have learned a few disreputable tricks from various chinese and indian companies SCAMMERS I spent £75 on dead plants 3weeks delivery dead plants bashed in boxes customer service shite have reported to trade and standards and waiting for refund from bank AVOID LIKE THE PLAGUE SCAMMERS

20 June 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Poor experience with large order

Placed a large order. Bark, compost and plants. Bark and compost order progressed and tracking numbers given.
Only 3 out of 4 parcels arrived. 3 times I chased the forth parcel and the AI bot said someone would be in touch within 3 days. 9 days later I'm now chasing missing parcel plus no tracking for the plant part of the order.
Re missing parcel I was eventually asked if I wanted a replacement - if they had any stock. I gave up and had a refund
Plants I was told to allow 15 working days. The bot kept referring me back to the bark and compost order. Split order beyond it's intelligence. No way to speak to a human to explain
5 weeks after ordering the boxes arrived squashed and ripped. 1 left upside down with plants on their heads. Shame I can't attached photos, as they need to be seen to be believed.
Some with TLC might survive to be used next year, but honestly 2 were brown and crispy, 1 was just dead twigs, 2 grafted plants came minus the important grafted plant altogether, but they had left the parent trunk to sprout 1 shoot so it looked like something was alive
If you don't mind gambling to see if any decent plants arrive, and law of averages say some will be good, then you take your chances. Perhaps if you order 1 plant at a time it might work
Bypass the bot and email direct. You won't get a reply for days, and then it's a standard cut and paste excuse most of the time.
gecs at gardeningexpress.co.uk

4 August 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Very very bad customer service

So ive just recieved my order 701240679 and it’s been in a box since I got an email from couriers 5.40pm Friday 31st July to say they had received my order and would be delivered Monday so my trees have been in a box since Friday and just got delivered now 1pm 3rd august the driver said sorry the box is hot as it’s very hot in the back of the van and then stored In warehouse is worse so my trees have been in a hot warehouse for over 4 days and the small is Acer is dehydrated but ok but the Katsura tree 80% of leaves all crispy ready to fall off dry as a bone now is this really acceptable as the trees weren’t cheap trees I paid for them to arrive in reasonable comdition not half dead. I’ve been trying to talk to a robot for best part of 30 minutes and it’s like banging your head against a wall trying to explain all of this to them they ask for pics

Order number ✅
Label on plant ✅
Invoice ✅
Clear pic of damage ✅
I do not understand says the robot
I sent what they ask for so I then say I want a replacement or refund the robot replies I will pass on your information to customer services. This is totally unacceptable I want either a replacement or a refund I have sent photographic evidence what more is there to say . People do not waste your money on this company as it’s not the first time I’ve had problems and the reviews are getting worse as each day goes by.
Also I ordered 13 July and just got my order today
I’m not going to hold my breathe that it gets sorted out as the robot says you only have 14 days to get this sorted

3 August 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Gardening Express…DO NOT ORDER

I have bought from Gardening Express before, without an issue, however after ordering 17 plants, for outdoor pots.. only 6 were delivered..6 weeks later!!
They were old plants and half dead on arrival. After sending photos, as requested, several times..I am still awaiting a refund or even a human response ! Stay away from this company!

16 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

terrible customer service cant contact…

terrible customer service cant contact them apart from the robot.phone line is unobtainable no email address delivery way over time I cancelled as i wasnt used to such incompetence and poor customer service

it was so poor wondered if the whole thing was a scam

waiting to see if they process my refund and when

12 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

We've shopped here for about two years, not again

We've shopped here for about two years. There are always bargains to be had, and I have been very impressed at just how carefully package up eveything. Yet my order placed four weeks ago, was scheduled for delivery on the 29th. The driver has clearly scanned the parcels, as he sent innacurate information, saying delivered to seller. I told the seller, i did try to call, but all you get is AI, who tell you, you should here back in a few days. My plants have been on someones van for three now four full days, in this heat 31, whilst i suspect being bashed. They could have prioritised this contacting DHL directly

1 August 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible customer service.Two Ball…

Terrible customer service.Two Ball plants bought cost £199.94 but both died within weeks.. despite taking good care of them.
Having written to explain the situation. They were not in the least interested. Needless to say I will not use them again in the future.

5 May 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Reported to trading standards

Honestly I am shocked this company is still going. I ordered items. They took three weeks to send it. I tried to cancel it and they ignored the cancellation and sent it after weeks and weeks anyway. Please do not buy from this company it is a scam. They do not possess the items. They wait for you to pay for the items and then they purchase the items. It's a straight up scam. No way of contacting them either besides chat which doesn't work as they must ignore the requests. I've reported them to trading standards for breach of conduct. Please do not shop with them.

28 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

this company is beyond awful.

this company is beyond awful.. 5-10 working days for delivery was over 21 days, by which time I had gone in holiday. I called customer service, they gave me no solution even though I told them I was going away. This meant they spent a week unwatered with a courier. They were all of course dead when they arrived. I waited for another 7 days for a reply from customer services,’the reply suggested it was my fault because I held them with a courier. This company don’t deserve to be in business

20 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Bad service poor quality plants

Ordered plants on 01.07.26 was told order received and getting ready for dispatch on 12.07. part order arrived on 27 .07 I was told on 23 .07 that plants wher despatched ,after 4 days with courier plants wher half dead ,dried out wilting and no mention of when I'll receive the rest of order ....i would not recommend to anyone to use this company there quick to take the money but slow to give you the plants, there's no way to contact them directly there customer support is nonexistent

28 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Misrepresentation on gardening express website

Delivery was late and I was left waiting in all day for a delivery that did no come despite an email telling me the item would be delivered that day. However when the plant finally arrived I was very disappointed. The plant cost over £30 including delivery. It was described a a giant xxl hydrangea. When we owned the box 4 of the stems fell off and were completely dead. The plant was bone dry. The plant is nowhere near an xxl hydrangea size. It is small with only a few stems left and no blooms or even buds anywhere on the plant. This company has deliberately misrepresented what they are selling online. Definitely to be avoided!!!

21 July 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

USELESS

Ordered plants, NOTHING, waited and waited. Sent a message to cancel order, NOTHING, no response at all. Like throwing money onto a bonfire. The company is ABSOLUTELY USELESS.

6 July 2026
Unprompted review

Is this your company?

Claim your profile to access Trustpilot’s free business tools and connect with customers.

Get free account

The Trustpilot Experience

Anyone can write a Trustpilot review. People who write reviews have ownership to edit or delete them at any time, and they’ll be displayed as long as an account is active.

We use dedicated people and clever technology to safeguard our platform. Find out how we combat fake reviews.

Learn about Trustpilot’s review process.

Here are 8 tips for writing great reviews.

Verification can help ensure real people are writing the reviews you read on Trustpilot.

Offering incentives for reviews or asking for them selectively can bias the TrustScore, which goes against our guidelines.

Take a closer look