Oakland Nursery

Worst after-the-sale customer service experience I've ever had! But it started out ok, so let's back up to the beginning... Great experience working with the designer (Brendan) to come up with a landscape plan. I had concerns about bushes and dormant plants being installed during the first week of March, with the likelihood of future freezes & snowfalls, but Brendan assured me by email that when the remaining plants were installed later in the season, they would "take a look to see if any of the perennials already planted did not emerge due to frost/moisture/any other issues and will replace those as well - likely we won't see any issues there." Remaining plants were installed before full emergence of the earlier plantings. Last step in the plan was for transplanting some existing hostas into the new bed, but they hadn't emerged yet. I asked & Brendan agreed that he should probably invoice for what had been completed to that point. That invoice was paid promptly. Hostas emerged mid-April, so I emailed Brendan a couple of times to let him know; and acknowledged their undoubtedly busy schedule. Finally transplanted the hostas myself. By then it was apparent that 6 of 14 brunnera were not going to emerge, and one of the spice bushes was very dead. One last email with those concerns. Never heard back from him. Finally, tried to call his office & the outgoing VM message stated that he was no longer with the company. And so the horrific customer experience began… No one in that company could be bothered to inform an existing customer, with an incomplete project, that her designer no longer worked there? I guess because the work done to date had been paid for, they just didn't care. Friday, 5/13, I reached Danny in the office and explained the situation with the plants. He said he'd check into it. To Danny's credit, he did call me back later that day - told me the new supervisor for that job was Max, and that he'd be calling me first thing Monday morning. By the following Friday, I'd heard from no one, called again, left another VM. Danny called, stating that they had a number of issues with Brendan's clients, and were very busy dealing with all of them. So professional... Nothing from anyone by 5/27. Left another VM, suggested that I would be willing to accept a refund for the dead and missing plants, if that was simpler for them. Received a voicemail from Danny that he'd previously sent the information on to Max, and that he'd also emailed him with that day's message. Crickets... 6/3: LVM requesting a substantive resolution to the issues, and suggested I might need to contact my credit card company to dispute the final charge for breach of contract. 6/7: finally a VM from Max Reiner. Upon callback, I was rudely informed that there was a spice bush in stock to replace the dead one, but he only had 3 brunnera in stock. And anyway, perennials are not covered under warranty - despite Brendan's assurances. ("He never should have told you that!") Conversation concluded with an offer to plant the new spice bush the following day, and a statement that he'd see what he could do about the brunnera. 6/10 @ noon: LVM for update about spice bush... That evening it had been planted, so called Max to thank him (not realizing it was his cell). Asked him to call on Monday re: brunnera. 6/17: called Max re: brunnera. Is he REALLY a VP? Very obnoxious. He's got 425 clients, can't get plant material, can't get parts for his trucks, can't get people to work for him (wonder why?!?), etc. We're out over $200 for plants I can't confirm were ever installed, because they never emerged - and he basically tells me I'm out of luck - they're not under warranty. "If they were on the invoice, they were planted." Also told me he has no interest in doing anything to help because of my attitude. It's been over a month, no one ever reaches out to me proactively, and I'm the one being difficult? Are you kidding me? Telling everyone I know to never use Oakland.

Outstanding ! The plan drawn was just want we wanted. The installers were professional and answered all my questions. They put in a hard day and the finished project looks beautiful.

We asked them to come landscape our front yard. After some amount of phone tag, they came out to our house to assess the landscaping. We liked their suggestions and asked them to come up with a plan. They told us it would take a couple of weeks, they were very busy. After 3+ weeks, I texted their landscape architect and asked how the plans were progressing. He texted me back that it was nearly completed, he would contact me soon. We texted back and forth one more time - got the same answer that our plan was almost ready and he would contact me soon. He never contacted me again. At this point I had no interest in working with them so I did not pursue this any further

unknown

The team that planted our tree did an outstanding job! They came on time and worked with me to plant the tree in the location we selected. The tree is thriving (2+ years later) and there is no way we could have done this on our own.

unknown

We had porch landing with stairs from patio doors and walk way done this year and landscaping done previous years. Really love the way everything looks!!!!

polite and professional

A crew of three came out and they were done in a very short time. All the plants I ordered came in, some were less common, but they were found and brought. Everything neat and tidy. I thought the price was very reasonable.

The plants we bought were of very good quality and look beautiful. The associates are very helpful about where to plant the flowers and how to care for them. They had the fertilizer etc. but didn't hard sell us on any of it. We were very pleased with the service and product.

I had to play phone tag for a couple of weeks before I was able to set up an appointment for someone to come out and find out what I wanted in a landscape design. Once the appointment was set up things went fine. They came out, I gave them the basics of what I wanted, they did a landscape design for the front and back yard. They went over what they would do and then told me they would go back to the office, work out the estimate of the cost and then email me the estimate. Within a few days I received the estimate. It was extremely high. Part of that was because in the design for the back yard they had designed a back yard that was much more extensive than what I had wanted. I did not use them since their estimate was much too high.

Oakland is very informative concerning the maintenance of landscape and yard problems.They are the most knowledgeable staff within 40 miles od Delaware.They have 4 other locations.Highly recommend their expertise and products!

They were great. From when I went in, it has been an amazing experience. They brought it and planted it today for me. They put mulch around it to make it very nice. I didn't even have to lift a finger.

They have so many different plants. Their plants seem to be healthy. They also have help for information regarding how tall it might grow. It is written on the information tag. They are really good at answering questions. They are very courteous and everything.

I called Oakland and was referred to the landscape architect department. They took a message as no one was available. I waited two days for a return call, but when none came I called again and got through to Mike. I explained that it was Thursday and I wanted to purchase plants and bushes on Friday to plant on Saturday and Sunday, but I needed a plan to know what to buy. Mike was able to come out on Friday afternoon and spent a couple of hours with my husband walking the front and side yards. He brought a clip board and was able to draw a plan for the space including a new front walk, a few retaining walls, foundation plantings, etc. The plan was done and handed to us when Mike left. I was so impressed by this service. It was fast, easy, inexpensive and just what I wanted. We told Mike the color scheme was purple, yellow and white and that everything had to be perennials and low maintenance. He met all of these criteria. We were able to go and buy the plants for the one side of the house and plant them that same weekend. It turned out beautifully and we have the plan for the future plantings for the other 2 sides of the house. I look forward to doing the other two sides on a future date. I would highly recommend this service.

We picked out 2 new trees at Oakland Nursery. We then paid for and scheduled delivery and planting of the trees which occurred a week later. The crew from Oakland was professional and friendly and planted the trees in no time at all. This is the first time we have used Oakland to plant trees and we will definitely use them again.

I give gift certificates to my kids every year. We have great experiences with them. They're very knowledgable and they have a wide range of everything.

unknown

The nursery was not busy but I had trouble finding someone to answer my questions. I selected the plants that I wanted and proceeded to check out.

They sent a 3 man crew. Foreman and crew were very careful not to damage my lawn (by using a rubber tired dolly). They assisted in getting the heavy trees in each holes that I predug.

VERY PROFESSIONAL, COURTEOUS AND HELPFUL. DELIVERY WAS ON TIME AND AS PROMISED.

WE TRY TO DO ALL PLANT SHOPPING AT OAKLAND BECAUSE THEY HAVE SO MUCH VARIETY AND THE EMPLOYEES ARE KNOWLEDGEABLE. THE MAJORITY OF THE PLANTS DO GREAT, AND WHEN WE HAD ONE HOLLY BUSH DIE THEY REPLACED A SECOND BASED ON MY DESCRIPTION. THE SERVICE DESK IS HELPFUL WHICH IS HARD TO FIND AT OTHER STORES.

I WASN'T SURE WHAT KIND OF TREES I WANTED WHEN I WENT TO THE STORE. ROBERT ANSWERED MY MANY QUESTIONS AND ASKED ME QUESTIONS TO TRY AND HELP ME DECIDE WHAT WOULD WORK BEST IN MY YARD. HE WALKED ME TO THE FRONT OF THE STORE TO LOOK AT ONE OF THEIR OWN TREES WHEN I WASN'T SURE WHAT SIZE AND SHAPE A CERTAIN TREE WOULD HAVE WHEN IT WAS MATURE. ROBERT NEVER PRESSURED ME INTO HAVING THEM PLANT MY TREES AND HE WAS VERY HELPFUL IN GIVING CARE INSTRUCTIONS FOR THE FALL. THEY HAD A WONDERFUL SALE NEAR THE END OF SEPTEMBER TO CLEAR OUT THEIR SUMMER STOCK TO MAKE ROOM FOR THE FALL STOCK....A GREAT SALE ON SHADE TREES AND OTHER PLANTS. EVERYONE WAS FRIENDLY. THE PLANTING CREW DUG THE HOLES BY HAND AND WERE VERY CAREFUL TO PLANT EACH TREE WHERE I INDICATED. THESE WERE GOOD SIZED TREES. MY HUSBAND WAS AMAZED. THIS COMPANY WAS WONDERFUL!