The Stem Reviews

Name: The Stem
Rating: 4.91

4.9 Rating 4,918 Reviews

98 %

of reviewers recommend The Stem

4.9

Based on 4,918 reviews


Shipping & Delivery
Delivery Methods	Own Driver, Courier
Average Delivery Time	Within 5 Days
On-time Delivery	97%
Accurate And Undamaged Orders	97%
Customer Service
Communication Channels	Telephone, Email, Live Chat
Queries Resolved In	Under An Hour
Customer Service	4.9 out of 5

About The Stem:

London’s sustainable online garden centre. Plant-shaped happiness direct to your door.

Visit Website

Email:

info@thestem.co.uk

Location:

London, ,
E10 7QP

Write Your review

Tell us how The Stem made you happy

Help future customers by talking about customer service, price, delivery, returns & refunds.

Minimum 10 characters

Would you like to add a photos or videos?

Strengthen your review by uploading photos & videos.

Drag files here or browse

(Supported files: jpg, png, mpeg, ogg, mp4 & webm)

What's your name?

Leave this blank if you'd like to publish your review anonymously.

(Optional)

What's your email?

We need your email address to verify that your review is genuine

Please note that we may share your email with the company to verify your order.

The Stem 5 star review on 3rd April 2023

1031

Anonymous

Anonymous // 01/01/2019

Filter: Rated 2 None 5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Stars Helpful

“One of the plants came broken with some rot of very offensive smell. The rest was good.”

Helpful Report

“The plants were so small - I found the website misrepresentative. Am so disappointed.”

Helpful Report

“Delivery was a day late and the driver had just left it outside the front door whilst I was out, which was fine. The plant itself looked very unloved and sad when I opened the box. It's pretty depressed looking at the moment and the soil and plant were both more on the dry side and will need some TLC.”

Helpful Report

“Out of 6 plants ordered only 1 had no damage and was in good condition(Asparagus Fern). Monstera(Swiss Cheese Plant) Footstool Palm looks nearly dead after a few days in the flat. Leaves were very dried/burnt on arrival. The Umbrella Tree had one entire root rotted, and wrinkled. Blue Star Fern leaves were ripped and burnt-looking on the ends. Unfortunately poor quality, however, may be due to DHL delay in shipping. Plants may have been 1 entire day stuck in a cold van, which will probably cause harm to all the plants in the long run. Lets see how long they last.”

Helpful Report

“Sadly my order was severely delayed and 2 out of 5 arrived dead! Very disappointing’”

Helpful Report

Hi Nancy, We're very sorry that two of the plants arrived dead. Most indoor plants are tropical plants, and as you can imagine they really do not like temperatures below 5 degrees, so the last week has been a perfect storm with the coldest December in 122 years! This can particularly affect plants such as Alocasia. We have refunded both these plants straight away for you, and we're glad the other plants arrived in good condition!

“Sadly I feel the plant looks like it’s dying . It was meant to be delivered on Tuesday but did not arrive till the Wednesday”

Helpful Report

“Very sad to feel the need to write this review today. It's been months of watching my Money Tree deteriorate and today's ironic marketing email offering me 25% off it hit a nerve. Countless emails, up to a week waiting for a reply only to be asked questions I'd already answered or requested images I'd already attached. Two of my five stems have been removed now due to the plant withering away. And a third on its way out. I have done a LOT of research and it seems that these trees come with HEAPS of issues and quite frankly I'm wondering whether shops should even sell them. My local garden centre told me they don't for this exact reason. Anyway, back to why I'm giving The Stem such a low rating. I'm not new to plants but was new to Pachira. The potting mix took months to dry out and in 7 months I've only watered it 3 times despite it being in a bright south facing spot, I've since learnt it should have orchid bark and perlite in it, which it doesn't. The braids are so tight that they can cause numerous issues for the tree... Pretty but potentially harmful. I've lost countless leaves and now trunks. Despite all this and my many requests for a diagnosis so that I can attempt to save my tree I've gotten nowhere. Customer service pick and choose which part of my email to address (because I tried to give them all my care info and details) then getting passed onto James who didn't bother to read everything supplied and each of his replies is asking me questions I've already answered then taking a week to reply again (or not as the case seems to now be as I've been ghosted). I may appear ranty and annoying in this review but I'm fed up. My most expensive plant is falling apart and every time I have contacted other stores I shop at for help they reply promptly and efficiently with support. And yes these are all independent and small businesses.... It's just that they understand Customer Experience. I sadly won't be returning. I need to know I can rely on a store to help me out when something they sold me starts to deteriorate within weeks.”

Helpful Report

Hi Anna, I'm very sorry that you were not happy with the advice we provided about your money tree. We have a set of trouble shooting steps that we ran through, and we provided advice upon how to create the conditions for your money tree to thrive. As the plant was delivered 10 months (40 weeks) ago, in February, it makes it a little more challenging as the health will depend on the environment and care it has received in its home. Best wishes, James

“Unfortunately my plant arrived damaged. The box it was delivered in had no markings such as ‘delicate’ or ‘this way up’ which led to what seems like the entire plant having been upside-down at some point, causing all the soil to fall out the pot and the stem of the plant to snap! There were no supports to keep the plant upright and nothing holding the soil in place. I am hoping they will soon rely to my email and provide a new one / refund, which would remedy the low rating!”

Helpful Report

“Plants are ok. Expensive for what they are. You can find the same in Columbia rode much cheaper. The delivery was very bad. It was unrealisable with last minute updates and made me lost a day.”

Helpful Report

Hi Lucas, We're very sorry to hear you did not have a perfect experience, please get in touch with us by emailing info@thestem.co.uk and we'd love to try to make this up to you :) James

“Plant had broken stems. I was very disappointed”

Helpful Report

“Plant had leaves dropping off. I list about 5 stems. Looks nothing like the picture Always a problem when buying online”

Helpful Report

“Sadly bought a two Chinese money plants and when they arrived lots of leaves were damaged . Plants looks bold now but hopefully they will grow back”

Helpful Report

“I spent £100 on a birds of paradise plant and 2 of the stems were broken. It was delivered without any protective covering to keep the leaves in place, as the leaves are quite spread out it makes them vulnerable to knocks. More could’ve been done to ensure it’s safe delivery”

Helpful Report

“Was delivered like this”

Helpful Report

“Not satisfied with the plant that was delivered nor the response from “James””

Helpful Report

Hi Baraka, Thanks for your review. You received a beautiful Monstera plant, but you were not happy with the aerial roots of the plant. I explained that these are a natural part of the plant, and if you do not like the appearance you can prune them off without any damage to the plant. If you are not happy with it, there is no problem for you to return it, but I am not sure what else we can do to resolve this for you! Best, James

“I thought it's the best plant shop based on my 1st order. However, they are not consistent.”

Helpful Report

“My plant came horribly, most leafs fallen down and it has nothing to what I think I was buying”

Helpful Report

“We bought a Christmas tree. It was a good-looking tree and the size was as advertised but had some issues. Unfortunately it didn't come with a wooden base (prompting some interesting DIY solutions to propping it up). But more importantly it was incredibly needle-droppy. Much more than any recent tree we have had. We kept it hydrated and fed and minimised the central heating as we do with our trees every year, but it started dropping needles the first evening that we had it and it just got worse from there. Was glad to finally get rid of it!”

Helpful Report

Thanks for the review. We sell water retaining tree stands for your Christmas Tree, and we recommend using these to keep the tree hydrated, which will minimise needle drop! Best wishes, James

“Given the glowing reviews, perhaps I was just unlucky with my experience. I made 3 separate orders with The Stem. 1st one, plants arrived damaged during transport (broken leaves, broken pot, one with a lopsided moss stick unable to stay up straight after falling). No wrapping to protect plants, unlike what is fancifully advertised on their Instagram. At this point, I thought, ok one time thing and they must be busy during Black Friday sales. Since I had another delivery coming, I reached out to them with my complaints, and the owner was very quick to respond saying that they will pick up damaged plants, replace said plants and make sure all plants are in top form. A day before delivery, got an email asking to confirm that they can pick plants up and also to confirm a ‘duplicate order’. Turns out, they duplicated my second order instead of generating order for the replacement plants. Then nonchalantly tell me that all the plants that they were meant to replace (3/5) are now sold out and they will offer me a £10 gift card as a for the inconvenience. Had they made the correct order 1 week prior when I reached out then, the plants were still in stock (I checked on their site!). Driver arrives to drop off plants from new order, asks for ones to be picked up, no sign of in stock replacement plants! (apparently I didn’t reply early enough to confirm that I will take a refund for of stock one… but I mean, what other options do you have?). Plants in this delivery were perfectly packed, and in perfect condition. Given all the issues so far, I was very pleased with the quality of plants from the second order and placed a third order (thinking the mistakes were just a series of unfortunate events… wanted to use up the £10 anyway). 3rd order arrives, none were wrapped for protection once again, 1 plant was ok (reordered from 1st order), and two looked downright sick. One had ‘burnt’ leaves all over, and the other was shedding leaves like crazy. 1 week later and I am convinced that one is on the verge of dying, so £20 down the drain. There is no way they did not notice this abnormal amount of shedding or the damaged/burned leaves when sending it out, which gives me the impression that unless you write to them and rant like I did, the quality of plants you get is a hit or miss (second order was perfect because they made sure to inspect it and package it carefully prior to sending out). Will not be returning again nor recommending.”

Helpful Report

Hi, We're very sorry to hear about your negative experience. The team has been very stretched in the last few weeks in this exceptionally busy period, so we are sorry if we did not experience our usual service. We would love to put this right for you and have sent you a message offering to resolve this for you :) James & Team

“I purchased a Blue Spruce because I specifically wanted that distinct Christmas smell. Unfortunately as advertised "with their sweet pine smell" mine had no smell. very disappointed”

Helpful Report

Hi Kellie, We're sorry to hear that your Blue Spruce did not have as strong a pine samell as you were expecting! We hope you are happy with your tree nevertheless and wish you a Merry Christmas! James & Team

The Stem is rated 4.9 based on 4,918 reviews