Hardy Trees & Nursery Inc

We purchased a 30 gallon Bradford Pear tree from Hardy Trees & Nursery on 3/22/2014. Hardy delivered and planted the container tree at our home a few days later. The tree looked sick from the very beginning and, over the course of the next year, I called the nursery at least 3 times asking for someone to come by and assess the tree as I was told it had a 1-year warranty. Each time, I had to leave a voicemail message, which was never returned. Their website does not list their hours of operation and the answering machine does not mention Saturday hours.



So, after months without any response, we drove back out to the nursery on a workday to discuss our sick tree. We discovered their operating hours on weekdays are recited incorrectly on their answering machine and they are actually open on Saturdays. Had we known this, we could have driven to the nursery sooner, to address our dissatisfaction with the sick tree. There were children running around largely unsupervised and one of the two customer service ladies was a trainee who needed help with everything. After waiting for some time, the one woman who seemed to know what was going on asked how she could help. We explained the problem and I showed her my receipt. Her first comment was the tree was more than 1 year old and that they had not planted it, based on my receipt. I assured her they had and she left to go look for the delivery receipt. After 10-15 minutes, she returned, apparently satisfied they had indeed delivered and planted the tree. However, she said since it was more than 1 year old, they had delivered and planted it in error (she said they don't deliver and plant container trees) and had significantly undercharged us (since they delivered and planted it), there was nothing she could do. She said we should be happy because we got an incredible deal.



Turns out, she was the owner and those were her children. I tried reasoning with her, pointing out it was their pricing error, that the reason the tree was more than 1 year old is because they had been unresponsive to my voicemail messages and they never answer their phone, the hours stated on the answering machine did not disclose they are open on Saturday and that a sick tree, at any price, is not a bargain. She was completely unsympathetic and unapologetic.



I filed a compliant with the BBB and the owner's response was that they did not warranty container trees sold in 2014. Since I did not request something in writing at the time of purchase, it is my word (that I was promised a 1-year warranty) against Hardy Trees. Based on my own observations about their "service" after the sale and the way they handled my BBB complaint, I'd strongly recommend you do business with another Lubbock nursery.