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Anybody use Nature Hills Nursery?

sbratcher
12 years ago

Nature Hills Nursery (Omana, NE) is one of the few sources that I can find for Mayhaw trees. Has anyone ordered trees from them in the past?

thanks

steve

Comments (92)

  • HU-281663274
    3 years ago

    Were you able to file a complaint with BBB in Omaha and the FTC? I hope The more complaints the more likely they’ll be held accountable

    really easy to file - at least it’ll be on record

  • Sam Hawkins
    3 years ago

    Same experience of the above. Ordered a tree and after some time of no update, they were just dark. No response to over a dozen emails. I ended up filing a paypal dispute and only got a partial refund and no plants. Very disappointing. Definitely a scam

  • Laura Bambrick
    3 years ago

    Don't order from them! 2 of the 4 plants I ordered started turning brown a week after planting. Due to the nature of evergreens by the time they started turning brown my 4 days were up to put in a shipping claim so they refused to replace or reimburse. Their customer service is awful! I submitted a BBB complaint and they still say they stand behind their plants and guarantee the ship healthy ones. I asked for photos of how healthy they were before shipping! Ha! There is no way to know how healthy a plant is until you transplant it. They are scammers taking advantage of people online ordering because of COVID! Warn your family and friends and stay far away!

  • HU-705079599
    3 years ago

    they are terrible. Beware!!!

  • sherrymorrison
    3 years ago

    I ordered four plants in 5/17/20 to avoid shopping during Covid. It took a week between shipment and arrival about 5/30/20. One of the plants arrived and looked like it had been trying to grow in the dark with long spindly yellow branches and brown dying leaves. I planted all the plants adding miracle grow soil and compost. The sick plant tried to grow some leaves but the spindly stems wilted and the plant just started dying. I contacted the company asking for a replacement on 7/15/20 and Barry said he thought the plant would make it and give it some more time. I contacted him again 8/5/20 once it was completely dead and Barry only offered a 50% credit on that plant and would not offer free shipping to replace it. My 3 other plants are doing fine (although much smaller than I expected for the price) and this plant was clearly not healthy. This is substandard service. Don't buy plants from this company. It's not worth it.

  • HU-705079599
    3 years ago

    So agree.

  • Judith Hainaut
    3 years ago

    I would advise - Do not buy from this nursery. I have purchased a fruit tree and a lilac from them over the past two years. Tree never leafed out. Lilac started dying right after arriving and finally dyed completely. I took it out of the pot and it was extremely root bound. I called and the customer service person told me to take some pictures and she would email me so that I could respond directly to her with photos. I took pictures but never received email and they don't do refunds.

  • frank DeFelice
    3 years ago
    last modified: 3 years ago

    ill make this short read real reviews and bbb reports before buying

  • Echo Wong
    3 years ago

    I ordered two plants on 6/29/20, did not receive it. I emailed them on 7/16/20 and was told the delay was due to weather condition. Now 9/23/20, I still have not received any plants or the booster that was recommended. And now my credit card requested a refund on my behalf and Nature Hills wants to charge a 10% handling fee when they've done nothing and shipped nothing after three months. Oh on their site under review, there is a fine print "your review may not be posted" So they only select the good reviews to post.

  • David Ernst
    3 years ago

    I got ripped off by Nature Hills Nusery too. Wish I had read the reviews prior to ordering. Very unethical business practice for them to charge prior to shipping and then steal 10% of your money for canceling your order when you find out they are not going to ship for 2 months. I cancelled my order 2 days after ordering and it took 2 weeks to receive a refund. I think their business model is based on ripping people off by by hiding their terms and conditions in fine print. What they are doing is unethical, immoral and borderline criminal.

  • Gaby Garcia
    2 years ago

    They send me diseased plants and refuse to take them back and refund. Bought two Red Tip Photinia which arrived covered in leaf spot, first they said it's just from overhead watering, then they said "just pick off the leaves." They expect me to plant them near my healthy plants? When you call sales, they answer right away; when you all customer service, they direct you to their website and end the call. Been going back and forth with them via email for the last three days. Resorting to credit card dispute. TERRIBLE COMPANY - DO NOT USE

  • HU-250850690
    2 years ago

    Do not buy from this company. I bought a Tulip Poplar in June of 2020. After waiting for it to be delivered, I received it in October and immediately called about it because the leaves were brown and falling off and it really didn't look like it was going to make it. I even submitted pictures. I was told that they consulted with their horticulturalist who said it was going dormant and it would be okay. Well, here we are now May 2021 and I have a dead tree that never made it through the winter. There's no way to call them. you have to contact them by email and wait for them to get back to you. Now I'm being told that they will send me a replacement tree but I have to pay for half the cost plus shipping & handling again. And to top it all off, the size I ordered isn't available and they only have the bigger, more expensive size. I will never buy from them again and I caution everyone to do the same.

  • Richard Hermann
    2 years ago

    Total scam indeed. They advertise a #2 container that they represent will be at least 2 years old could be as large as 4 years old. Nothing could be farther from the truth. They shipped a plant that is smaller than the 1 year old blueberry I purchased at the same time at Home Depot in a #1 container. If you want a fraudulent business, this is it. Here is their 2-4year old plant.... https://dadword.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/plant/laughable_size.jpg

  • HU-250850690
    2 years ago

    I filed a complaint with the BBB and the attorney general

  • katarina kultanova
    2 years ago

    I want to share my absolutely horrible experiencewith Nature Hills Nursery and explain why I will NEVER EVER!!!!! make any order with this company again. Not even if it was the last nursery on the world! If I could rate negative 100, I would.

    I placed my order on 09/03/2020 on my Kwanzan Flowering Cherry Tree. I was expecting to get the tree within a week or two. After a month of no communication I contacted the company by a phone and asked when the tree will be delivered. I got an answer that they were waiting for cooler temperatures and that my order will be shipped soon. Another week or two passed by and no sign of tree. It was middle of October, and I felt like it should be already planted. I have to mention important fact, that we live in Chicago area, so early winter, cold temperatures or long winter are normal here. I started to be really concerned and I called the company again, I was thinking to cancel to order. I was informed that the tree was being in packaging process (which means you can’t cancel the order) and I was assured that now is the right time to plant the tree and promised that “everything will be ok”. I will just mention that within 2-3 days from that phone call there wasn’t sign of notification email or tracking number. The tree was finally send in NOVEMBER!!!. I promptly planted it. The weather wasn’t too bad but I knew in zone 5 November is not an ideal month to plant a tree, and I was hoping it will be, as I was assured, “OK”. Well, it wasn’t. On spring the tree didn’t come back… I am 100 % sure that if the tree was delivered around the time I made the order (meaning September), it would survive. For this I fully blame Nature Hills Nursery. I contacted the company on May 3’rd and I got an answer with request to perform a scratch test which would determine if the tree is really dead or still in dormancy. The test showed that the tree is really dead, and I send the result. I got this answer: “Unfortunately plants are perishable items, there are many environmental factors outside of our control that can impact the success of any planting. We do our best to ship the healthiest, most viable plants available, but they can and will sometimes die despite our and your best efforts. Keeping this in mind, we are pleased to offer a full-year of warranty coverage to our customers for up to 50% of the value of the plant purchased. Standard shipping applies and no promotional offers can be used.” Of course, I absolutely didn’t agree with this solution and honestly, if I knew before my purchase that there is this condition I would never make an order! However, there is not much you can do, once you are in this situation… either you loose all the money for dead tree or you can get “something”. After long and “stormy” discussion with the company representative, who btw. didn’t express a tiny bit of empathy but cold face!!! I decided to get at least “something” and order different tree instead; – McIntosh Apple Tree. Now, let’s talk money; initial price I paid for the Kwanzan tree was 130 $. The Apple tree was 106.95, the warranty lowered the price to 53.48 $ + shipping, which was 29.95$. (nope, the company won’t waive the shipping to replace your dead tree). As a new order it should be displayed in my account and notification email should be sent. Three days after and I didn’t get any email and the order is not marked in my account. So, I guess, if a miracle happen, I will have (who knows when) an Apple Tree for 214.06 $ YAY! Bravo Nature Hills!

    Now another experience; Not knowing that my tree won’t survive I ordered on March 15’th 2021 another two trees. Today is May 16’th, MORE THAN 2 MONTHS!!!, and I did not get any tree yet, and no communication from the company (besides thank you for your order). Nothing like “we are working on your order” or “we are sorry for the delay” or “this product will be sent this and that day”, simply NOTHING! NO COMMUNICATION WHATSOEVER! Is it normal to pay full price for something and not get it for more than 2 months???

    I hope this won’t happen to anyone, as it is extremely frustrating and disappointing. I feel robbed, and as I said on the beginning, I will never order anything from this company again, and I hope all potential customers will evaluate the risk associated with dealing with this company.

  • Anya
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    Unfortunately I can add another vote against Nature Hills, years after this thread started -- they are apparently some kind of scam business pretending to be a nursery? I obviously hadn't seen these comments when placing an order with them, and the two plants arrived yesterday. A small hydrangea was badly infested with some kind of pest and/or disease, and when I went to bag it, some kind of small beetle jumped (!) off the plant. That alone is a complete disaster, but on top of this, the plant was advertised as quart-sized on sale of $24 plus $10 shipping... it arrived in a container the size of SOLO cup, so pot-bound there was a full mat of roots below the container. No one in their right mind would have touched this plant had they seen it in person, never mind paid some $34 dollars for it.



    Want to know what their "customer service" said about this? That the above is totally normal "field damage" and I should go ahead and just plant what they shipped; instead, I've bagged it and will be taking it to our local extension office.

    One guess on whether they published my review on their site, so they also only post the reviews that make them look good.

    The Nature Hills Nursery of Omaha Nebraska is an online scam company selling wildly over-priced, tiny Trojan Horse plants -- avoid this nursery if you're lucky enough to read this before ordering.

    I've filed a complaint with the Omaha BBB and Attorney General and will be pursuing the legality of shipping infested plants across states.

  • HU-569443160
    2 years ago

    BUYERS BEWARE if you your package never arrives after 3 weeks from when it ships and you want a refund they will throw you through every loop hole possible then ignore you HORRIBLE CUSTOMER SERVICE Still yet to receive a package let alone a refund

  • HU-190358469
    2 years ago

    This is the absolute worst company! DO NOT BUY FROM THEM. Their rep placed my order wrong and they refuse to take responsibility or correct the order. They will not refund me for their mistake either. Also, once you place an order you will never be able to speak to an actual person, only via email. I have spent weeks and endless emails. Terrible company and I wish I looked at outside reviews before even thinking of ordering from them. Stay away!

  • CYNTHIA MCDONALD
    2 years ago

    Same issue(s) as most whom were dissatisfied with Nature HillsNursery; Namely: false advertising(dwarf lemon trees allegedly 3-5 years old. Sick plants and no response or adequate response from Nature Hills. i purchased two sets of trees from them and had to go into emergency save my plants either two weeks after receipt(dwarf lemon) or immediately upon receipt( lil Gem Magnolias). After transplanting treating(fertfertilizer, neems) i hold some hope for the lemon trees; the Magnolias not so much: I continue to treat the brown spot fungus they arrived with, but i am removing leaves daily. So sad; i spent nearly $300 for these trees! i filed a complaint via BBB which did get a very cookie cutter response from Nature Hills, but no solution.







  • Perry Parkes
    2 years ago

    Don't buy from them. I purchased four viburnum. They arrived dead. Shipped out on May 12th and arrived May 17th, dead. I can't get a live person on the phone. The company sends me ridiculous emails and won't replace or refund me.

  • CYNTHIA MCDONALD
    2 years ago

    This Company is shameless! There needs to be a class action brought against them. One should not pay top dollar for plants to be received dead or dying; putting you in emergency mold out the gate to try to save the plants you just purchased ; not too mention having to treat and save your existing plants! This is a serious issue of which Nature Hills Nursery could care less. It is both sad and disheartening. I will never do business with them again. And like I shared with Nature Hills, I will express my thoughts and feelings about this on every website at every opportunity

  • Di Ward
    2 years ago

    ABOSOLUTELY HORRIBLE! DO NOT USE THEM

  • dlcgraphx
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    These horrible reviews continue. They have a facebook site but no commens. Can we do a facebook page dedicated to complaints? I bought 3 trees. They stole my money. Awful. They have tons of fake positive reviews. Is there no stopping them?

  • CYNTHIA MCDONALD
    2 years ago
    last modified: 2 years ago

    It is so sad. i gave up on my Lil Gem Magnolias for the brown spot/fungus they were delivered with started to spread to my other plants. I am not sure if FB would allow Page for grievances?

  • HU-569443160
    2 years ago

    If you want to join my group on facebook its called nature hills scamming lets get the word out

  • Kim Rapolla
    2 years ago

    Chose this nursery over others due them being located in the same state. Orders do not come from this location, they contract out to other 3rd party nurseries.


    I ordered 3 plants. 2 arrived dead and the 3rd they claim was lost by FedEx, even though FedEx tracking shows it was never picked up. They will not refund. They shipped me out 2 more plants to replace the dead ones. They look pathetic. The leaves are brown, with many broken stems. Still not willing to issue a refund.


    Buyers beware. Their support phone number goes to a voice mail referring you to email them instead. Email gets returned as they're over quota.

  • CC Colo
    2 years ago

    Just adding to this horrible review list. Horrible quality and NO customer service. They refuse to answer calls, emails, or inquiries on their customer portal. I wish I had researched more before purchasing.

  • swva
    2 years ago

    Adding another voice to list. Run--run, do not walk away from this company. They sell unhealthy plants or do not send them at all for top dollar. They do not respond unless you are ruthlessly persistent do not refund, and manipulate the "customer reviews" they have on line. If you go to any other review site the reviews are completely negative. Not only that, they lie about their "resolutions" on line and most of the customers reject their statement of how they remedied the problem (see BBB site). They also do something to the email so that at a certain point you can not simply hit reply and reply to them. They use the internet to victimize customers in an era when people really rely on the internet. The whole "family-owned" thing and the folksey responses are all branding for a con operation. I plan to write to the NE attny general about consumer fraud.

    Deborah Olsen

  • HU-705079599
    2 years ago

    Good for yoo they are terrible and unethical

  • Anya
    2 years ago

    SWVA, and anyone else interested in contacting the Nebraska Attorney General's office about Nature Hills, consider emailing directly to Ryan Sothan: ryan.sothan@nebraska.gov as well as their main e address: ago.consumer@nebraska.gov


    You can remind Ryan Sothan that he handled the complaint out of Washington State about Nature Hills in May of 2021 from Anya -- he assured me they'd be pursuing the issue.

  • Kim Rapolla
    2 years ago

    Thanks for posting this Anya, I'm emailing them now.

  • rpellentuck
    2 years ago

    Nature Hills unfortunately does not publish negative reviews on their actual website, to my knowledge. My order for Hollies, which was not inexpensive, with shipping. And which they refused to guarantee was close to a joke. The plants were tiny. The pots were small. The root balls were heavily growing over the pot, no one would voluntarily buy these plants. They were obviously dried out. In addition, the packaging was so poorly done that multiple large staples had torn into the plant.

    The plant was so small, that it is unlikely to survive a winter. Only a fool would voluntarily buy such a defective plant. I have bought hundreds of plants since I bought my home, but these are the worst I’ve seen.

  • Don Kucera
    last year

    I had a bad experience ,warranty is worthless. do not order from the company. very frustrated.

  • Paul Anderson
    11 months ago

    Buyer beware! Poor customer support after the sale! In the fall of 2022 I purchased (3) dappled willows and (1) bottle of root stimulator for $196.01. All (3) dappled willows died through the winter and I decided to pursue Nature Hills Nursery guarantee. I worked with their customer service and sent pictures of the plants and performed a scratch test also at their request and ordered (3) replacements, however, the total came in at $163.42. You can see that their claim of replacements within one year at 50% of the original cost is totally false! I placed the replacement order at 2:42pm on April 24th, however, I sent an email requesting cancellation at 5:56 pm. Nature Hills Nursery stated that there would be a 10% restocking charge to cancel the order despite them never pulling the inventory from their store. I escalated my complaint and request for a full refund of the $163.42 with their Customer Service manager and was advised "they had costs they had to cover" I stated that I was not looking for a credit on my initial order and was willing to absorb the cost of the lost shrubs, however, I felt that a full refund for the "replacement" order was justified.

  • Anya
    11 months ago

    Paul, see above for details, but please consider contacting the Nebraska Attorney General's office (Ryan Sothan: ryan.sothan@nebraska.gov as well as their main e address: ago.consumer@nebraska.gov) Spoke to them extensively about an issue I had with Nature Hills in May of 2021, and nothing will get done with this lousy company unless more people light a fire under the folks who might actually be able to hold them accountable.

  • HU-682212758
    10 months ago

    Just finished filing complaints with the BBB and the Nebraska Attorney General's office about Nature Hills. Wish I had researched this company but took for granted that they would honor their policies. Nature Hills operates as primarily a middle man clearing house, they have no idea what is shipped because they deal with wholesale nurserys and those companys drop ship to their customers. Just over a month ago, I purchased a large order of 4-5 foot Wildfire Black Gum trees. The trees arrived well packaged but dry and brittle. Appeared as if they had been in the boxes for days if not weeks. Nature Hills told me that they reviewed the shipping times/weather during transit and everything was perfect. Here is the catch, how would Nature Hills know exactly how the product was handled or shipped as their company is in Nebraska and these trees shipped from a nursery in Kansas. Hoped for the best and planted the trees but not one has survived. Got the same treatment as everyone else, perform scratch test, send photos then customer service emails that they will 'generously' cover 4 of the 14 dead trees and offer 50% off the other 10 provided I cover full shipping. Nature Hills also added that the trees that I ordered are out of stock and it is unknown when they will be restocked. What a joke. Avoid this company like the plague. I have wasted alot of time, energy and money only to get the run around and now their customer service will not respond to calls or emails. Hopefully, complaints to the Nebraska AG will get their attention but I am not getting my hopes up. Buyer beware I guess.

  • Anya
    10 months ago

    Sorry you got skunked by these jerks, too, but thanks for taking the time to file the complaints. Maybe some cumulative amount of those will get results.

  • HU-682212758
    10 months ago

    Thanks Anya. I will update with any new information. Nature Hills sent me an email today and pretty much said tough luck. No surprise.

  • todddec
    10 months ago

    Just adding my two cents. We purchased a fruit tree last year. It took forever to arrive and when it it it was completely destroyed by bugs. I contacted them immediately with photos and all they said was that the tree was fine. It’s now completely dead. I followed their claim process exactly but they’re only offering a 50% discount on a new tree. It’s ridiculous. I wouldn’t recommend purchasing anything from them.

  • HU-682212758
    9 months ago

    As a follow up to my post concerning Nature Hills Nursery, please do not patronize this company and if you have been scammed, post complaints to the BBB and especially the Nebraska Attorney General at ago.nebraska.gov. Hopefully, if more people complain about their unethical business practices, the state of Nebraska may intervene. A very good breakdown of Nature Hills business can be found on this website, buyevergreenshrubs.com and go to their nursery rankings tab.

  • todddec
    9 months ago

    @HU-682212758 Done and Done. Thank you for providing the info!

  • stephrosendahl
    7 months ago

    I have purchased from online nurseries for over ten years and tried them all. Nature Hills is the ABSOLUTE WORST! They offer an optional warranty on trees but do not honor the warranty (even though you pay extra per tree). They are AWFUL! BUYER BEWARE!! Nature Hills is TERRIBLE!

  • HU-502240713
    6 months ago

    Yes. it was the worse experiences ever. their warranty service is totally a scam. they shipped died plants you and no returns. don’t buy anything from them to save yourseyourself a headache

  • todddec
    6 months ago

    Yep, got nowhere with them, they only offered to send me another tree if i payed another 50%. Its a complete scam since it’s not my fault that what they sent wasn’t viable. i got nowhere with the BBB or AG’s office. However, i disputed the charge with my credit union, they agreed it was a scam and refunded me.

  • HU-682212758
    6 months ago

    Seems like their business model is still working. As stated previously, Nature Hills is not a plant nursery but a third party drop ship business. They have little or no actual plants delivered from their location in Nebraska. Most of their products are shipped from subcontract nurseries so whatever you receive is whatever the subcontracted party sends. Might be decent quality but might not. As a result, Nature Hills has a ridiculous warranty policy that is practically useless as they know that there will be many customers demanding replacement or restitution.

    It is unfortunate that the Nebraska Attorney General consumer response team is nothing more than a toothless complaint black hole. The only option is that customers do a search concerning these businesses practices and history before they purchase products online. Spread the word, buyer beware.

  • HU-392035962
    6 months ago

    Worst company I have ever used. I bbought a tree that died 4 months later. I paid $118 and they want to charge me $168 plus tax to replace. I would never buy from them again.

  • Simone Vecchio
    6 months ago

    Horrible company. My tree was DOA and they wouldn't do anything about it. Just kept saying it was dormant. The attorney general is useless. I filed a complaint and never even got a reply. You might as well flush your money.

  • Amber Daggett
    6 months ago
    last modified: 6 months ago

    I wish I had done better research and read the info on here first. I ordered 4 Bluepoint juniper shrubs from them and they arrived in pathetic shape (like they had been boxed for ages or grown laying down!) They are way smaller/thinner than expected for the price! I thought I was getting something very similar to what I bought at local nursery by the description and pricepoint…what they sent is literally a joke, less than half the size and in horrible condition. Getting the same email runaround from customer service from them! On the left and middle, shrubs from local nursery for $135, on the right one from Nature Hills for $128!


  • heatherlyman
    5 months ago

    I placed an order at 6pm on Sept 21 for lodgepole pine trees and then discovered from local growers that those trees don't grow well in our area so I reached out by email at 8pm the same day to cancel the order. The company replied indicating I'd be charged a 20% restocking fee for the cancellation (or I could pick other items to be shipped). I indicated that no action had been taken on my order so asked why would I be charged a restocking fee. They said that's their policy and the manager I spoke with on the phone didn't care at all. The customer service at this business is the WORST. I never saw any policy about a restocking fee but even if I had, I wouldn't have assumed that I would be charged since it was within 2 hours. DO NOT ORDER FROM THIS LOUSY BUSINESS!!!! They truly don't care about their customers.

  • Amber Daggett
    5 months ago

    To follow up with how terrible this company really is, my issue pictured below ended up being ”resolved” with Nature Hills offering me a $10 GIFT CARD with them!! What kind of solution is that?! These people are criminals.

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