Avoid Gardening Express at all costs

An online only gardening retailer to be avoided at all costs. We recently bought some lavenders sold as Hidcote which they are absolutely not (we have used Hidcote lavenders for years and Gardening Express lavenders bear no resemblance whatsoever). We also bought an Acer Palmatum Sango Kaku which on arrival had clearly been stuffed into a box too small for it, resulting in broken branches, in addition the tree is virtually bold for the first 4 feet and in generally poor condition. At point of ordering we had used the very frustrating customer support system to request the tree be at the upper end of its height and that it be upright and in good quality condition. We were assured this would be the case and that everything goes through quality checking. As soon as we unpacked the tree it was evident there is no such quality control and no care taken in the packing of this large specimen tree. We immediately contacted them to express our concerns and disappointment and told them we wished to return the tree for a full refund as is our statutory right under distance selling rules, we also attached 10 photos to identify the problems. The response that we received acknowledged the broken branches but said this often happens in transit but they completely ignored our main complaint as to the poor quality of the tree. The response was robotic, dismissive, condescending and basically a generic email suggesting we trim the branches and give it a good water. We have made further contact without response so far and having read numerous other negative reviews we don’t expect to get one. Avoid dealing with them at all costs, this is obviously an unreliable and untrustworthy business who make it deliberately frustrating to make any kind of meaningful contact.