Name: Hortology
Address: Unit 1D Marconi Road, Burgh Road Industrial Estate, Carlisle, Cumbria
Rating: 4.83

“Plant not the size advertised. Price was left on the pot and in shop would have been a 3rd of the online price.”

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Jason - Thank you for your comments. We are wondering if you are confusing us with another purchase. None of our plant pots have price tags on them as we only sell online and do not have a shop?

Posted 4 years ago

“I will never use this company again, very poor customer service and good luck to anyone expecting refunds for non delivery . I rarely review but made an exception as I’ve been incensed by them”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Ian As explained, we have tried to deliver your plant three times without success and the delivery company has now returned this to us. Unfortunately the plant has deteriorated and is not suitable for re-sale. We have sent you photos of the plant and offered to reship it to you if required or as a goodwill gesture we offered a partial refund. We are not in a position to offer a refund in full for the plant as it was left in transit for too long. Had you contacted us earlier we would have been able to make arrangements to leave with a neighbour or in a safe place and would have done everything we could to facilitate your delivery. Plants are perishable items and subject to different terms in respect of ownership and risk. We accept full responsibility for the quality of our plants up to the first delivery attempt, but thereafter, as we are limited in what we can do to maintain the quality of the plant whilst you rearrange a delivery date, the associated risk passes to the customer. This information is available in our T&C and we believe this is a fair and reasonable approach to supplying perishable items. - Your Hortology Team

Posted 4 years ago

“All the outdoor planters came without holes in. When I queried this i was referred to a very small line on the website that tells you this (you wouldn't look for it!) and told that I drill holes at my own risk too! Also i was appalled by the amount of packaging used for my delivery, excessive to the extreme. They talk about 'living a greener life' in a lot of the marketing - how about you start by dealing with this.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Ian Thank you for your comments. The pots you ordered are pots that are suitable for both indoor and outdoor use. You should drill a hole for use outdoors as stated on the product description section highlighted in bold as "Usage". In terms of our packaging, we use the minimum amount required to ensure our pots arrive intact. Being fragile they need a sufficient level of cushioning and protection to avoid damage in transit. We have spent a lot of time testing and developing our packaging to ensure this is optimal, both from a protective but also an environmental perspective. Any less and the breakage rate increases significantly, resulting in more packaging to resend a new item to our customer and more fuel to deliver etc. Please be assured our packaging is all made from recycled material and is fully recyclable. Your Hortology Team

Posted 4 years ago

“The product is great, but the time for delivery was not acceptable. I ordered on the 27/9/20 and received on 6/10/20. It wasn’t plants only an air plant sprayer. Postage very high too. The present was for my daughters birthday on the 1/10/20 so thought 4 days would be amble for deivery.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

Hi Jacqueline Thank you for your review. We were aware of this delay and emailed to explain the situation to you. Due to the impact of the pandemic on our business, our delivery pages and your order confirmation advised to allow 5 working days for orders to be processed. Your order should therefore have been dispatched on Friday 2nd but just missed the collection. It was therefore shipped first thing the following Monday. We appreciate this extra day caused frustration and are sincerely sorry we were unable to get your order out to you any faster this particular time. - Your Hortology Team

Posted 4 years ago

“Plant pictured was much smaller than the one delivered. I emailed about this and they acknowledged that the photo online was misleading, however would do nothing about it. They advised that the plant would grow.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

Hi James Thank you for your review. We provide a number of images of our plants in order to give an appreciation of characteristics at a certain level of maturity. Depending on the size you select when ordering the plant you receive may look different to some of the images. You ordered one of our smaller Hoya plants sized 14 x 30cm. The indicative plant height of 30cm is approximate due to the nature of the live plants. Heights also include the size of the grow pot, roots etc. You kindly sent in a picture of the plant received and based on this, the size looked to be as expected. Although our plant heights are indicative, they should be there or thereabouts and based on the image received the overall height was around 28-30cm, albeit the trails were not very long. We do have images of this plant online showing how it will look with longer trails once established. We also have images showing the plant without longer trails, which is more inline with the plant ordered and received. This plant can be very fast growing and trails will develop as long as the plant is given the right care. We have a care guide here: https://hortology.co.uk/products/hoya-carnosa-tricolor-wax-plant Kind regards Your Hortology Team

Posted 4 years ago

“I would have loved introducing my new plant to its fellows, unfortunately, as you used Royail Mail as the courier of choice, my plant was not delivered, despite the 3 notified occasions when I was definitely in.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

Hi there It looks like RM tried to deliver three times with no answer on any occasion. We have refunded you order as per you request. We have also asked RM to try again for you and the plant is yours to keep for free when it arrives. We are unable to send another one as this plant is now out of stock. Kind regards Hortology.

Posted 4 years ago

“I paid £45, thinking the plant will be big, but it was much smaller than expected. It feels it's worth more like £20. I get a sense that hortology is an expensive shop and won't be purchasing there again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“The case was faulty, with water escaping from the seam where it had been joined. As a result my beautiful bonsai tree died.”

Helpful Report

Posted 4 years ago

“The plant arrived with brown leaves. Despite 2 emails and photographs I have had no response. I definitely would not have bought this plant from a shop in the state it is in. It must have been sent out like that as it came overnight delivery.”

Hortology 1 star review on 6th April 2020

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi Lynn We have responded to both or your emails asking for for further information on the plant and offering a discount for the inconvenience. You have replied to previous emails, so I am unsure why these latest ones might not be getting though? I have included a copy of the photo you sent and my initial reply to you included the following question "I suspect the main leaf has been crushed slightly during packing and this has caused the damage. We do check our plants prior to dispatch and would not knowingly send a plant that was not in good condition. Are you able to give me an indication of the extent of the damage and if you would be happy to accept a suitable discount for the plant and the inconvenience?" Kind regards Sandra

Posted 5 years ago

“I placed an order 2 weeks ago and was never asked when would be a suitable time for it to be delivered so it arrived when I was at work. I then tried to rearrange a delivery. No one answered the phone so I sent an email. They responded saying they couldn't deliver when I was available. So I suggested another time and they did not respond. I rang today and on the second attempt they answered the phone. The person on the phone was very rude, and told me that they only deliver during working hours, which seems strange as most people work during working hours. So I suggested Friday morning and they said they could not give me a morning delivery slot, and to contact Hortology. I could not find an phone number to ring, so I again had to send an email. Given that this is a plant that has now been without sun and water for two weeks, it is probably dead. The main problem here seems to be the delivery provider that does not operate in a way conducive to delivering live plants to people that work weekdays.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi David I have emailed you privately regarding your specific delivery so we can resolve this for you. Generally, in terms of our deliveries, we offer a safe place delivery option for customers who will not be in during the day, however this was not requested. We also have a Saturday delivery option. Standard delivery is 8am-5pm on a working day. We email the day before delivery is scheduled and our delivery partner also sends an email on the day of delivery. We provide full tracking details so that you can follow the progress of the driver on the day of delivery and get an ETA for delivery. If the delivery is unsuccessful you will receive a card with contact details for the courier company, they also send a second email advising as such and telling you how to arrange a new delivery. Our shipping email also has contact details for us in case something goes wrong and there is a contact us form available on our website. Kind regards Hortology

Posted 5 years ago

“The image on the website does not resemble the product. Pot looks golden all over on the image but is in fact mostly silver. The box used for shipment was five times bigger than the pot. I had to use a British routing service to re-route the shipment to Berlin, since Hortology does not ship directly to Germany. It cost me an additional 53 £ to re-route this huge box to Germany. And what a waste of paper!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi Robert, Sorry to hear you are disappointed with the plant pot. The product you purchased is called Livin' Beauty Flowerpot - Silver Carved Vertical and therefore we do feel it is accurately described and pictured and one would expect it to be silvery. The silvery-gold swirls are characteristic of the artisan nature of the product and we do state on the product page "the artisan nature of this product results in uniquely individual colour, form and pattern variations." The glaze contains real silver and depending on the environmental factors at the time of firing will result in unique variations that make it a collectors item. You can read about the craftsmanship here: https://hortology.co.uk/pages/the-story-of-living-beauty-ceramic-pots The packaging is deliberately designed to ensure safe transit of highly fragile ceramics across the UK. The level of protection required for a courier network does mean that parcels can sometimes be larger than you would be used to from other categories of online purchases that are not as fragile.

Posted 5 years ago

“My fern arrived with every single stem snapped. It had been packed with zero care. Do not buy plants via them.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hello Sarah I am so sorry to hear your plant arrived damaged. We would always want to be able to resolve a situation like this for you, however I cannot find any correspondence from you alerting us to the issue, so this review if the first we know something went wrong. I will email you personally so we can resolve this for you. Kind regards Sandra

Posted 5 years ago

“Returns are absolutely impossible you have to pay for the returns and works out nearly as much as you have paid for the purchase”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi Ash Unfortunately shipping ceramics is not easy or cheap. We subsidise our shipping costs quite significantly, but as a consequence, we are unable to also offer a free returns service. We provide a significant amount of information on pot sizes etc in order to reduce the need to return an item. We will also refund the original shipping costs if you return your whole order. Kind regards Your Hortology Team

Posted 5 years ago

“So disappointed in the plant. After 10 weeks it is completely dead despite being well cared for. I emailed the company but got no reply. Cannot recommend.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi Brian Thank you for taking the time to leave us a review. I have checked back and I am sorry but we cannot find any communication from you after receipt of your order. We would never ignore a complaint or request for support, its just not what we are about. It is very unusual for a plant to just die. The Areca you purchased was relatively mature and with the proper care it should have thrived. We do provide care guides for all of our plants and would have been more than happy to offer some advice when you first started to notice a deterioration if you had contacted us at the time. The most common issue we see with Areca is over-watering, this will eventually kill the plant. It is very difficult for us to comment to long after the event, but if you wish to discuss this further, please contact our customer support team at info@hortology.co.uk Kind regards Your Hortology Team

Posted 5 years ago

“No contact after ordering. Had to email in to remind them of my order. It was almost as it my order had been overlooked. I ordered 5 pots; the sizes did not match on any. The diameter was 1cm less in all pots as compared to the measurements on the site meaning I was unable to use them for the intended purpose. Overall a very poor service. Certainly wont be ordering again.”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi Adam I am sorry to read your review. As explained when you emailed, you ordered an item that was showing as out of stock on a 1-2 week lead time. We actually were packing your order ready for dispatch when you emailed and I confirmed it was being shipped that day, which was 9 days after ordering, so inline with the lead time expectation. Stock availability and lead times are shown on the website on each product page. We do measure our pots carefully and the sizes on our website are as accurate as possible, although as many of our pots are handmade there is a small degree of tolerance required. We show both the overall size of the pots (the external measurements) as well as the opening so that you can choose a suitable pot. We also have a size guide on each page to help. We tend to err on the smaller side of a range for the opening measurement, in order to help ensure the pot is not too small. So for an example, a 18 x 16cm pot might have an opening that tends to be around 14-15cm. We would state this as having an opening of 14cm. If all of your pots have come up smaller than expected, this would be very unusual. Would you please contact us on info@hortology.co.uk so we can look into this further for you. If you would let us know which pots were smaller than expected and where you were taking the measurement, we will double check the sizes for you and let you know how to return then if required. KInd regards Sandra - Hortology

Posted 5 years ago

“reply to my review says “ sorry if some of the plants were not as tall as advertised. Plant heights are only approximate” ... that is called false advertising. I paid extra for bigger plants and didn’t get them. You advertise different sizes with prices varying accordingly so then don’t call them “approximate” and offer no real explanation or compensation for mr paying over the odds!”

Helpful Report

Posted 5 years ago

Hi David Thank you for taking the time to leave a review. I am sorry if some of the plants were not as tall as advertised. Plant heights are only ever approximate, although we do our best to ensure they are as indicated and usually aim to provide larger plants where possible. Plant care tips are available on the website for each plant. Kind regards Sandra

Posted 5 years ago

“4/5 plants securely packed, but a fifth taped on top. Plant underneath had damaged leaves. Maranta was so dry soil was pulling away from the pot, looked leggy. Parlour palm leaves had yellowing blotches. Philodendron arrived with a few torn leaves. Chlotophytum obviously a mature plant that had been used to produce others, some slimy bits between the leaves. Dispatched on a friday, so must have spent the whole weekend in transit. Wasn't pleased with the appearance or quality of any of them, would not have chosen them if I'd seen them in a florist's. Very disappointed.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hello. Thank you for your feedback. We are obviously disappointed to hear you are not happy with your purchase. We take pride in providing excellent quality houseplants and want you to be happy with your purchase. If we had been aware there was a concern at the time then we would naturally have resolved this for you. Please would you contact us directly at info@hortology.co.uk and send us some pictures of the plants in question so we can look into this further for you. Kind regards. Your Hortology Team

Posted 6 years ago

“Still have not received product - never received notice of attempted delivery and there is always someone af home. Please refund me and recollect your product from wherever it is, thanks”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Tereza. Your order was shipped the following day. We emailed you to advise your order was on its way and sent you tracking details. The courier attempted to deliver the next day. They have also emailed you and left you a card asking you to contact them to arrange a re-delivery time. We will email you privately to reconfirm the consignment details and the courier contact details so you can arrange to have your parcel re-delivered. Kind regards. Your Hortology Team

Posted 6 years ago

We will request the parcel is returned to us. I am sorry you feel we have let you down. The tracking details were available for you to check the status of your delivery and we would have followed this up on your behalf immediately if you had let us know the parcel had not arrived. Kind regards Sandra

Posted 6 years ago

“The plant I ordered was delivered to the wrong address and never received. Despite chasing up with the courier several times I have been unable to retrieve the item.”

Helpful Report

Posted 6 years ago

Hi Richard. We are sorry to hear you had a problem with your delivery. We were not aware of this, otherwise we might have been able to resolve it for you earlier. We will pick this up with our couriers on Monday for you. Your Hortology Team

Posted 6 years ago

Update: We have established this was a delivery company error and have compensated our customer in full.

Posted 6 years ago

Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Courier
Average Delivery Time	Within 5 Days
On-time Delivery	96%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	96%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Email, Telephone, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	4.9 out of 5
Returns & Refunds
Returns Process	Could Be Better

Hortology Reviews