Frank Otte Nursery Inc

unknown

Employee admitted that manager Kurt G., is not fair to customers. Ask other Frank Otte locations & they will tell you they get a LOT of complaints about the Bardstown location. (separate companies entirely!) Kurt clearly does not care. Frank Otte never returned my calls. Kurt failed to respond to request for replacement under 1-yr guarantee- plant died after 1 week. Failed to plant tree to my satisfaction. Failed to deliver professional consultation regarding tree selection and placement. If we wanted someone to simply sell a tree & dig a hole we would have gone to a box store and found day labor. Instead we paid premium for tree itself and then 60% the cost of the tree for planting!

unknown

never got ahold of anyone - just played phone tag.

My wife and I are avid gardeners. Our yard is one of the most beautiful in the neighborhood, as we have spent a lot of time and money investing in perennial and annual flower gardening over the years. As we do every Spring, we spent over $200 at Frank Otte last week for the purchase of several trays and containers of annual flowers which appeared to be vigorous and healthy just 8 days ago. We knew bad weather was heading our way so we delayed planting until this weekend. We made sure all the plant stock was well watered and located in shade or sun, as appropriated by the individual needs of each plant. Unfortunately when we were ready to plant the flowers this morning, we noticed nearly half of everything we purchased was wilted and dying. When we removed the flowers from their containers, it became obvious why: 1) webbing on the base of plants indicated a spider mite problem; 2)mold/mildew and darkened leaves on at least 10 of the plants which indicate botrytis blight - a common disease in greenhouses, resulting from poor irrigation and fertilization techniques; 3) pill bugs were found in the base of several plants; 4) root balls were very weak or non-existent in at least a dozen of the plants. We tried to return the plants this afternoon, as it should have been obvious to any seasoned gardener that the stock we purchased was of very poor quality. But when the manager, Kurt Graeser, came out of his office, it was apparent he was not going to be fair or reasonable. First, he tried to blame the poor condition of the plants on the weather. When we told him we brought the plants inside during the cold nights/heavy rain - Mr. Graeser then tried to blame it on not planting the flowers soon enough. He also had the audacity to say we should take the diseased/infested plants back and plant them anyway, stating that they would be fine once they were planted. As a gardener with 30 years experience, I can attest planting diseased/infested stock will not make them healthy. Why doesn't the manager of a garden center know this? Our guess is - he knew full well that these plants would never recover -- He simply refuses to take responsibility for selling poor quality stock. Needless to say WE WILL NEVER DO BUSINESS WITH FRANK OTTE NURSERY AGAIN.

I have purchased flowers, trees, bushes, pots, mulch, rock and gardening tools and supplies for nearly 15 years. While my review for this experience is NOT positive, I think their quality of product is high - compared to the Home Depots and Lowe's in our city. I recently went into Frank Otte's on Bardstown Road in the Highlands to purchase 4 medium size evergreens to plant along a fence line separating my house and the neighbors. I live a mile from their store. I paid nearly $400 for the 4 bushes and they charged 60 percent of the value to plant them. On top of this they charged a delivery fee and for four full bags of mulch that they used one bag for the entire job. While I think that 60 percent is high, I knew that upfront when I purchased it. I was in a hurry (on lunch break) when I bought them and didn't notice the excessive delivery and mulch charges. Seriously, where's the rest of my mulch I paid for and why on earth would you charge a delivery charge when you are planting the bushes. The trip from their store to my house, including loading the truck and mulch and digging the four small holes for the bushes could not have taken longer than an hour. While I will still purchase nursery products from Frank Otte's, I will never again pay for them to plant anything. And they didn't even leave me the tags on taking care of the plants.

We worked out a plan with them and it was executed in a very timely manner. The people were knowledgeable and effective. They did do a lot of concrete work and we will be in touch with them to do some minor revising of the concrete when the weather warms up.

THEY WERE KNOWLEDGEABLE ABOUT THE PLANTS, AND THEY OFFERED TO COME OUT THE NEXT MORNING TO DO THE PLANTING. THEY WERE PLEASANT TO WORK WITH, AND THEY ANSWERED ALL QUESTIONS.

IT WAS FINE, BUT WHEN THEY DELIVERED IT THEY DUMPED IT IN THE MIDDLE OF THE DRIVEWAY AND I HAD SPECIFICALLY TOLD THEM NOT TO. THE PEOPLE WERE VERY NICE AND HELPFUL EXCEPT FOR THAT.

IT WAS GREAT, AND WE WOULD USE THEM AGAIN. WE HAD HIRED A COUPLE PEOPLE BEFORE THAT DIDN'T SHOW UP. WITH THESE PEOPLE WE WERE PRETTY PLEASED WHEN THEY SHOWED UP ON TIME AND DID A GOOD JOB.

THEY SENT SOMEBODY OUT HERE, HE WAS VERY PROFESSIONAL AND VERY PATIENT. HE GAVE MY WIFE A LOT OF OPTIONS BUT HE PUT SOME THINGS IN THE SHADE AND THEY DIED. HE SAID IT WAS BECAUSE THEY WEREN'T GETTING ENOUGH SUNLIGHT EVEN THOUGH HE SUGGESTED WE PUT THE BUSHES THERE. THEY CAME BACK AND REPLANTED SOME THINGS AND MADE GOOD ON IT.

THEY DID A GOOD JOB. THEIR PLANS CAME IN OVER OUR BUDGET. YOU GIVE THEM YOUR BUDGET AND THEIR PLANS CAME BACK OVER OUR BUDGET. THEY WERE TIMELY AND GOT IT DONE WHEN THEY SAID THEY WOULD BE DONE. THE PEOPLE WERE NEAT AND CLEANED UP AFTER THEMSELVES WELL.

THEY DID A GOOD JOB. THEIR PLANS CAME IN OVER OUR BUDGET. YOU GIVE THEM YOUR BUDGET AND THEIR PLANS CAME BACK OVER OUR BUDGET. THEY WERE TIMELY AND GOT IT DONE WHEN THEY SAID THEY WOULD BE DONE. THE PEOPLE WERE NEAT AND CLEANED UP AFTER THEMSELVES WELL.

THEY WERE FINE. IT TOOK THEM A LITTLE WHILE TO GET IT DONE IN TERMS OF TIME. THEY ARE JUST HOURLY EMPLOYED PEOPLE AND TOLD ME THEY WERE HAVING A HARD TIME COMING UP WITH A CREW AND THEY HAD TO REPLACE TWO TREES. THEY HAD TO DO A FEW THINGS OVER AND THEY WERE RELATIVELY SLOW ABOUT DOING IT.