Stark Bro's offers quality nursery products, and helpful advice, for the growing enthusiast. Order trees, plants, and supplies online now or request a catalog.
Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co. (starkbros.com) has 183 customer reviews on Five Star Index, with an average rating of 3.0 out of 5.
Also known as
Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards, starkbros.com
Website
starkbros.com
Category
Home & Garden Services
Location
Louisiana, Missouri
Listed on Five Star Index
2026
About these reviews
Replies
The company replied to 83% of reviews.
Latest
Most recent review: October 2026.
Edits
Reviews are shown as their authors wrote them. The company can reply, but cannot edit them.
Score
This company cannot pay to remove reviews or change its score.
Still haven’t received a shipping notification! I was told I would receive my order by the end of the week. Is this company a scam? I would like my order but I’m getting nervous about them having my money! Tired of the excuses they’re giving me!
Response from Stark Bro's Nurseries & Orchards Co.May 16, 2025
Please know that we’re not offering excuses, but rather doing our best to communicate openly and honestly about the situation with your order.
That said, your order has shipped and is on its way! The tracking number is 458816654828, and according to the carrier, it’s scheduled to be delivered today (5/16).
We appreciate your patience, and we truly hope once you receive your order, you’ll be pleased with your plants. If you need anything further, we’re here to help.
JL
Jennie L.
Dear Stark Bro's Nurseries ,
Dear Stark Bro's Nurseries ,
We placed a $300+ order on feb 20th. Raspberry bushes, 75 strawberry plants and peach trees. It is now May 15th. You still havent shipped our order.
I've called customer service, multiple times, only to sit on hold for ten, twenty minutes, and then get sent to a voice mail. I never recieve a call back.
Instead of communicating with us, you sent an excuse laden email with a coupon code for 15% off our next order 🤣 We were loyal customers. We've ordered multiple times over the last 15 years. I can assure you that we will NEVER order from Stark Bro's Nurseries again after this experience.
You have now forced me to leave reviews, reflecting our horrible experience, in every place a review can be left. We wasted an entire growing season waiting on Stark Bros nursery to disappoint us with gross incompetence and nonexistent customer service!!!!!
Edit: I was finally able to speak to a real live person and get a refund. If you need to get ahold of someone at Stark Bro's Nurseries, call and act like youre intending to place an order. This is the only way you'll be able to speak to a human.
Thank you Stark Bro's Nurseries for wasting my time, patience and growing season.
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
DR
Dawn R.
I have ordered from Stark two years in…
I have ordered from Stark two years in a row. Both times, promised trees by a certain date. They update the order information without informing customer of updates. Only find out when check the order wondering why it's not delivered. Two years in a row, shame on me for trusting them to deliver an order on time. Same thing this year, never again. Sent inquiry asking why they couldn't inform me of the update, asked for information and if can't be on time, cancel order. They cancelled it without any explanation. Never ordering from this company again. Waste of my time.
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.
JG
Jim G.
I ordered 2 fruit trees in march that…
I ordered 2 fruit trees in march that were supposed to be here in april, then first of may then mid may now end of may still nothing.tried calling just music. I ordered from stark years ago and had great results this is horrible never again will I waste my time on ordering from them. horrible customer service.
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.
WL
Wendy L.
Do not order from this company
Do not order from this company! Never sent my order. Ordered Jan. 9, 2025, 5.9.2025 still haven’t received order. Pruning issues!?
Cancelled order.
This place is a scam business, do not buy anything from here.
Burpee, Johnnys seeds are great alternatives.
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.
KK
Katie K.
TWO MONTHS of delay - frustrated and disappointed first time customer!
I am a first time customer and placed an order March 1 (#2915690) for several bareroot fruit trees with an original est ship date of March 23. Since then, my order has been delayed TWO MONTHS with only one notification email of the first delay back in mid March.
While I understand delays, I also trust a 'reputable' nursery to ship bareroot trees within their optimal dormancy period - planting time matters! I have waited as long as I can, but with yet another 2 week delay that means I won't get my trees on time to do our group planting project we had planned. So a major disappointment across the board.
Imagine my surprise when I follow email instructions to create an account so I can manage my order - and my ordered didn't even show up! Without any way to manage/cancel my order, my only option is to get in touch with their [overwhelmingly busy right now] customer service. I just want my money back so I can order trees from an online nursery that actually fulfills their orders on time (like Raintree who I already received my specialty varieties from on time.)
What bothers me most is that while our orders are delayed for months, I still see Stark facebook ads for tree sales - they seem to have no problem SELLING trees while they struggle to fulfill their existing orders. As a business owner myself, that just kinda rubs me the wrong way - take care of the customers that have already spent their money with you and trusted you to get their order in a reasonable timeframe first.
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.
RZ
rob Z.
HORRIBLE customer service!!!
HORRIBLE customer service!!!! Team should be fired or trained properly!!! When given a date for delivery and it changes, and you never notify the customer, then they suck, and make you look bad and unethical!
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.
RL
Rebecca L.
My response to Stark Bro’s response
I made two orders (#2922616 and 2924947) in early March with an ETA of week of March 23th which was changed to 3/30 and 4/6. It was for 19 trees and totaled $1,135.56. Didn’t receive the trees and in the middle of April the website said they would ship end of April. Didn’t ship. Now says end of May. I sent an email because you can’t call them and they said I would receive an answer in 1-2 business days. Now it has been a full week later and still nothing. The dormancy season is over and I have spent money for this year and will not have any growth. These orders for were for my 5 married children so they could start getting their own or hardship established. The lack of communication is appalling and disappointing.
They have my email and have not tried to communicate when I used their method of contacting them. What am I to do and what will the response from them be?
Updates:
Amazingly, Stark Bro’s responded to TrustPilot, but to date has not responded to me individually. I have continued to reach out through their email which is the only way I can contact them. I have given them my phone number but they do not call. How can I communicate that their discount which is less than 10% of the purchase price is not changing my mind that I need a full refund with damages which they can decide is right. They have taken a year of growth from the trees I purchased in March and have had my money for over 2 months.
Sorry, but the lack of communication is appalling.
By the way, a company can’t use having too many orders as an excuse for not delivering when the daily send 1-3 emails advertising sales and encouraging patrons to buy more.
Stark Bro’s, as soon as you personally call me and make these orders right or I’m given a full refund with damages, I will change my review. Trying to mislead others with your patronizing responses on TrustPilot is not a way to conduct business.
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.
