Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.Reviews of starkbros.com

Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 16, 2025

Thank you for your honest feedback, and please accept our sincerest apologies for the experience you’ve had this season. We completely understand your frustration — not only with the delay in your order, but also with the difficulty in reaching us and the lack of clear communication along the way. This spring brought unprecedented challenges to our shipping operation, and unfortunately, that impacted far too many of our loyal customers — like you — who deserved better. The high call and email volume, combined with serious logistical setbacks, created delays we did not anticipate and struggled to manage. That’s not an excuse, just the truth of a situation we’re actively working to correct. We’re glad to hear you were finally able to connect with one of our team members and receive your refund, but we deeply regret that it had to come to this point. After 15 years of doing business together, we’re truly sorry that this season’s failures led to a loss of trust. Please know your feedback has been heard and taken seriously as we continue to make improvements. We appreciate the time you took to share your experience, and while we may not have earned back your business today, we hope we can demonstrate in the future that we are still the company you once re

Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 14, 2025

We’re very sorry to hear about your repeated frustrations and truly regret the negative experience you’ve had with us. While we do provide estimated shipping timeframes, those dates are not guaranteed — and we make every effort to communicate this clearly throughout the ordering process, including on the order acknowledgment and other areas of our website. The nature of live plant shipping is dependent on many factors outside of our control, especially weather conditions and seasonal digging windows. This year, we faced unusual weather patterns and significant shipping logistics issues that unfortunately disrupted our normal schedules. It's not an excuse, but it is the reason behind the delays. I reviewed your past orders and saw that last year's cancellation occurred after our grading and quality control team assessed the plants and found we were unable to fulfill the size you requested. While our goal is always to deliver as expected, we will never send anything that doesn’t meet our standards. We completely understand your disappointment and appreciate that this has been a frustrating process. While this season was particularly challenging, I want to reassure you that it is not typical. In most years, we are able to deliver promptly and without complication, and many customers have had positive experiences. We hope that despite the setbacks, you might consider giving us another opportunity in the future. Thank you again for your feedback — we take it seriously and are always working to improve.

Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 14, 2025

We're truly sorry to hear about your recent experience and completely understand your frustration with the delays and difficulty reaching us. Your order is currently delayed due to our team completing final quality inspections. This season, fluctuating early spring weather pushed back our harvesting schedule, which in turn delayed shipments. On top of that, we’ve also faced some logistical challenges that have further impacted timelines. These aren’t excuses — just the reality of a tough season that has affected many growers across the country. As this is our peak season, our small on-site call center is experiencing extremely high call volumes, which has led to longer-than-usual hold times. We know how frustrating it can be not to get through right away, and we’re doing everything we can to help each customer as quickly as possible. We’re grateful you had a great experience with us in the past, and we’re genuinely sorry that this one didn’t live up to your expectations. While this season has been unusually difficult, we hope you’ll give us a chance to make it right in the future.

Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 14, 2025

We’re truly sorry for the frustration and disappointment you've experienced. Please know that we are not a scam — in fact, we’re proud to be the oldest continuously operating nursery in the United States. We've been serving gardeners for generations, and your trust is incredibly important to us. This season brought a series of challenges beyond our control, including unusual weather patterns that delayed digging and disrupted our normal shipping logistics. These setbacks unfortunately impacted many orders, including yours. We completely understand your decision to cancel, and we’re sincerely sorry that we didn’t meet your expectations this time. I can confirm that your refund was processed successfully. While we recognize you're upset, we genuinely hope you'll consider giving us another opportunity in the future to make things right. Thank you for your past interest in our nursery, and we wish you the best in all your gardening endeavors.

Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 12, 2025

Thank you for taking the time to share your experience, and please accept our sincere apologies for the frustration and inconvenience this situation has caused. We understand how important timing is when it comes to planting bareroot trees, and we deeply regret the delays and lack of communication you've encountered. This season has brought significant challenges for us, including extended periods of unfavorable weather and logistical issues that have impacted our ability to ship on schedule. While these factors were out of our control, it’s our responsibility to communicate clearly and uphold the trust our customers place in us — and in your case, we acknowledge that we failed to meet that expectation. As a token of our apology, we’ve contacted our shipping department and have moved your order to the front of the line to ensure it goes out early this week. In addition, I have issued a full refund for your order — your trees will still be sent, but at no charge to you. Please allow 2–3 business days for the refund to reflect back to your account. We genuinely appreciate your feedback, and while we cannot undo the inconvenience, we hope this resolution demonstrates our commitment to making things right. If you have any further concerns or questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out.

Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 12, 2025

We’re very sorry for the frustration and inconvenience you’ve experienced, and we sincerely apologize that your expectations were not met. We completely understand how disappointing it can be when a ship date changes without clear communication. To provide some clarity — the delays this season have been due to a combination of unprecedented order volume, unpredictable weather conditions, and logistical changes in our shipping process. These factors unfortunately impacted fulfillment timelines for many of our customers. We also want to emphasize that our customer service team does not receive real-time updates when order ship dates change. With thousands of orders moving through our system daily, those changes are handled automatically, and our service agents are not individually notified. That said, we absolutely agree that more consistent communication is needed, and we’re working to improve that. Our core customer service team — many of whom have been with us for years — truly care about our customers and take pride in offering helpful, knowledgeable support. We’re sorry your experience didn’t reflect that and appreciate your feedback, which we will use to improve. If there's anything we can do to help resolve your concerns or check on your order status, please don’t hesitate to reach out directly — we’re here to assist.

Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 12, 2025

We sincerely apologize for the delay and the lack of communication you've experienced — this is not the level of service we aim to provide, and we understand how incredibly frustrating this has been, especially with the importance and intention behind your orders. This season has brought a perfect storm of challenges, including uncooperative weather, extremely high order volumes, and logistical adjustments that unfortunately impacted our normal shipping timelines. We truly regret that your orders were affected. As a token of our apology, we’ve issued a discount on both of your orders, resulting in a refund that will be reflected back to your original payment method within 3 business days. In addition, we’ve contacted our shipping department and requested that all ready-to-ship items from your orders be prioritized and sent out early this week. We understand the importance of planting within the proper seasonal window, and we deeply regret that the delays may have affected your plans. Please know we are working hard to catch up and restore the trust of customers like you who have shown us patience. If you need any further assistance, we are here to help and want to make this right.

Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 9, 2025

We sincerely apologize for the experience you’ve had and completely understand your frustration. Your concerns about communication, shifting ship dates, and the timing of your dormant tree delivery are absolutely valid. This is not the level of service we strive to provide. This season has presented us with significant and unexpected challenges—primarily weather-related delays and inventory setbacks—that have directly impacted our ability to ship orders on schedule. While shipping dates are estimates and subject to change based on when plants meet quality standards, we understand that delays of this length are incredibly disappointing and disruptive, especially when you’ve planned around a particular planting window. We’re very sorry that communication dropped off and that you had difficulty reaching us by phone. Our call and email volumes have been unusually high this season, and although that’s not your fault, it has unfortunately affected our responsiveness. Please know that we are working to correct this. As for your second order and current shipping estimate, we’d like to look into your account and provide more accurate and personalized information. However, for your privacy, we cannot do so here without identifying details. If you’re willing, please reach out to us directly and we’ll prioritize your case. We genuinely appreciate your patience and feedback—it helps us identify where we need to do better. Again, we’re truly sorry for the inconvenience this has caused and want to help resolve this for you as best we can.