Chris Bowers & Sons Avis 

Blueberry plant arrived dead. Tried many times to phone, never got a response. Left voice messages. Emailed about the problem, no reply. Never got a replacement or refund. DOn't use this company.

Basically a long story like all the other bad reviews. Chris Bowers took my money on April 30th and then were totally impossible to contact, not responding to email, phone, Facebook. I've waited 28 working days to raise a dispute with my bank and been refunded. Can't really understand how they are still trading when so many people have had so many problems with them. Avoid.

I wish I had read the Trust Pilot reviews before making my order.
Four espalier apple trees ordered and received bare root in April 26.
On receipt, one of the ones had an extensively damaged root stock with living fungal bodies growing out of it.
I contacted Chris Bowers about this, they partially refunded my order rather than replace it "As that variety was unavailable for replacement as there were no more in stock"... (despite being able to go online and add the very same product to my basket) and "It's a weak grower" (that information was not in the varietal description or I would not have ordered it).
I potted up the remaining trees in large pots and waited. Six weeks later, they have no signs of life, the buds are clearly dead, the bark is shrivelled and the wood is no longer green. I contacted Chris Bowers requesting a refund of the remainder of my order. Despite offering a guarantee of growth within the first season, they have ignored my request. Paypal have found in Chris Bowers favour due to more than 30 days having elapsed since my order.
I am currently around £70 out of pocket after receiving one obviously damaged/diseased tree and three trees that failed to grow and are clearly dead.
My recommendation would be to avoid at all costs.

Bare root fruit tree eventually arrived and was planted. Six week later and still no sign of life.
I have emailed twice and telephoned twice. Phone goes straight to voice mail.

I have not received any response. I’m therefore assuming this company is no longer trading; would like to be wrong.

Found their opening hours on Google !
Thursday Closed
Friday Closed
Saturday Closed
Sunday Closed
Monday 10 am–4:30 pm
Tuesday Closed
Wednesday Closed

** THIEVES - TOTAL SCAM ** they literally STOLE my money, didn’t send my trees, ignored every email, text and telephone call.

🚨THIS IS THE SAME COMPANY AS FRUIT-TREES.COM🚨

They need to be shut down immediately - despicable criminality in plain sight.

🚨NEVER SEND THEM YOUR MONEY as you will NEVER receive your order. 🚨

Outrageously APPALLING
Incredible this Company still operating / in existence 🦁

- ZERO Customer Relations -

Main advertised 📞 permanently Blocked 🚫. Managed to find another 📞 which took messages (only ) ZERO response , despite leaving several messages & requesting response .
****++++++++****
- Order ( 4 items ) was INCORRECT as in NOT size advertised : two trees HALF the promised size @ a mere 40cm .
- 3 out of the 4 items were damaged
( photos sent to this Outfit immediately)
- Delivery ( 'Dash' here in Cornwall ) did NOT deliver to me ; driver 📞 to announce
'You have to come and meet me '
This entailed neatly one quarter of a mile walk ( for me) with a substantial package , I did not drive as I had foolishly presumed driver was 'near by '
[ have already reported this to local DASH depot ]
--------
Due to ZERO response from said Company I have already e mailed for a FULL REFUND
[ never experienced such unacceptable lack of service from ANY Company anywhere ]
..... Suggestion : Further investigation
by Trading Standards with a view to this Con Outfit being permanently closed down
An UTTER DISGRACE

Placed an order for various fruit trees three weeks ago, received shipment notification a week ago, but APC haven’t received the parcel.

Contacted Chris Bowers three times with no answer/response, looking at previous reviews this seems to be a common situation. Now wondering if this company even exists…

First tree ordered arrived dead, replacement sent, was barely a twig in a very poor state, pot full of corn that started sprouting after it arrived, absolute joke of a reply to my email questioning the situation and we are still awaiting a full refund from weeks ago, this so called grower is clearly gone to pot!! Avoid at all costs!!!

The wrong tree supplied. When it finally fruited it was a pear of some description, not a Blue Tit plum. The Concorde pear ordered on the most dwarf rootstock is 8 feet tall after 2 years and growing rapidly. Neither that, or the other two trees supplied have fruited, so we have no idea what they will be.
Requesting a refund under the Consumer Rights Act 2015 has been met with a refusal and only the offer of a replacement. Goodness knows what this will be but we are too old to wait another few years so refuse a replacement. Emails are curt, abrupt and frankly childish. Don't ever buy from this company and warn all your friends and gardening club members.

They also do not seem to retain records of transactions. I wonder if HMRC would be interested in this company (also trading as CRJ fruit trees. Neither company registered).

Amended to say that we did get a full refund for the trees we purchased. They are growing well, but because we do not now know what varieties they are, we shall give them away and replace from another supplier.

I bought two apricot trees from this company and although being in the ground for nearly 3 months , the trees look virtually dead. Two small fingernail size leaves on one and three on the other.
I also bought one tree from Asda for a third of the price at the same time.
The tree from Asda has 100s of leaves on.
When I approached Chris Bowers asking for advice on what to do, they just suggested I buy my trees from Asda.
Terrible customer service,.I will never ever buy from this company again and will be getting a refund as the trees are not fit for purpose.Not impressed,.don't waste your money.

My experience:

I ordered one plum tree from this company. They sent two. I planted them but neither produced any leaves or blossom and had clearly not simply been dormant but had been dead on arrival. When I contacted customer services, they told me to wait a few more weeks for signs of life. I waited a few more weeks but both trees were clearly dead. I contacted them again and they offered to replace both trees. Since I’d already bought a replacement tree from a local garden centre, so as not to miss the growing season entirely, I told them I would prefer a refund but that they needn’t refund the p&p since I no longer had room in my garden for any replacements trees. These are two of the replies I received:

“You should have contacted us first because it is our choice as to whether to offer a refund or replacement in recompense and our policy is for the former; you ordered two trees anyway, not one.”

“We have agreed to replace the trees - without question. That is fair and complies with our guarantee and terms. We haven't gone in to why the trees failed in the first place nor have we asked for their return or samples. Prior to this we only asked that you have them a fair trial as it was quite soon to be expecting anything. Given all of the above the threatening and aggressive manner of your e-mail is frankly incompreghensible.“

I’ll let you decide if you want to do business with this company.

Steer clear of this company if you want any kind of customer service. It simply does not exist with them.
I ordered a fruit tree in April. The wrong order arrived a couple of weeks later. It was 3 fruit trees intended for a customer in Shropshire. I live in the north east some 150 miles away. I tried to ring the company at least 12 times over the next few days following the delivery but never got an answer and on each occasion my calls were followed by a message to say that the company’s voice mail facility was “full” so no message could be left.
I have sent several emails to Chris Bowers explaining the situation but in 8 weeks have not even had the courtesy of an acknowledgement let alone any response to my emails.
After a few days of me receiving the wrong order I was contacted by the customer in Shropshire who had received my order and had also tried in vain to report the problem but had received no response whatsoever.
So eventually I contacted my credit card company and requested a refund. This is now being processed.
The very poor quality trees are still in my possession awaiting collection and my own order is presumably still in Shropshire.

So don’t waste your time with this company. They clearly don’t offer any kind of customer service so should be avoided at all costs.

10 trees ordered, 3 died , despite meticulous preparation. Getting a refund required the threat of court action. There are better suppliers who are interested in customer service. Go elsewher

I purchased a Discovery apple tree on M106 rootstock from this seller and was disappointed with the condition it arrived in. The base/graft area of the trunk showed significant bark damage and scarring, raising concerns about the long-term health and viability of the tree.
I contacted the seller promptly with photos to ask for clarification and a resolution, but unfortunately I have not received any response to my emails.
I understand young fruit trees can have minor cosmetic marks, but this level of damage did not appear acceptable to me for a newly purchased tree. The lack of communication has been the most frustrating part of the experience.
I would have preferred to resolve the matter directly and amicably but I am requesting a chargeback from my bank as I had no response from seller.

My mum often said "if you can't say anything nice don't say anything at all" so I've never left a one star review. I'm making an exception here because I think potential customers should beware.

I ordered a golden gage online, paid and waited about 10 days. When I enquired about a delivery, I got a snarky reply that I should know it takes up to 28 days. So I sent the website screenshot claiming shipping within 5 to 7 days. They didn't reply at all.

A few days later it turned up. I'm not sure if they are punishing me for believing their website claims but to call it a tree is laughable really. The website states they are 120cm to 150cm high. Mine is about 40cm. There's no point pursuing this with their rude customer service. Obviously I'll never use them again and I'd advise others to avoid them.

Based on my experience, its a 50/50 chance for the bare root fruit trees.
Ordered two bare root trees (1 cherry and 1 plum), the plum was ok but cherry tree dropped fairly fast after showing promising start. Not much can be done now so will have to try again next season but will try some other source.

Beware of false advertising. Ordered plants that were supposed to be 2L, but arrived at 9cm - if I had the right information I could have got the plants cheaper elsewhere and 'customer service' have not responded to my multiple e-mails. I've never witnessed a 'company' have such abhorrent 'customer service' - it may as well not exist. Avoid.

I purchased a Crab Apple Tree from them March last year.
I was very surprised to discover, on arrival, that it was just a "stick" with no branches and curled up leaves. However I had faith and planted my "stick".
This year it looks an unsightly mess. Still no branches and still the leaves all curled up.
I am very disappointed as I thought I was buying a lovely fruit tree from a reputable seller. I complained by email and received a very rude reply saying I should have used insecticide.
No offer of a replacement or refund. So much for their "Gold Standard Guarantee".
Don't recommend this company.
I should have saved my money and bought from the garden centre instead.

Avoid this business. Ordered fruit trees that arrived completely dead. When I requested a full refund, Donald the manager was incredibly dismissive and cheeky and ignored my messages. They then attempted to send unsolicited replacement trees without my consent. I formally refused delivery of these replacements via APC on 21 May and gave them 5 working days to return my £73.85. The deadline has passed, no refund has been received, and they are completely ignoring communication. I have now escalated this to my bank for a chargeback and formally reported the trader to Citizens Advice / Trading Standards.

If I could give zero stars I would!
Ordered 2 bare root trees from this company last September. Both trees arrrived in poor condition, no response to either my email or phone call at the time. Planted the trees and the pear tree has survived but the Japanese cherry has not. Sent a further e mail over the recent BH weekend : received a prompt but extremely rude reply from Donald telling me a replacement tree would be sent ( I had actually requested a refund) but that now “ I could perhaps stop moaning and enjoy the fine weather over the long weekend” A replacement tree has arrived and is also in very poor condition. Quite frankly,I am not going to bother wasting any more of my time pursuing this with them but just wanted to advise others to avoid this company at all costs: there are many excellent mail order companies out there who provide lovely plants, this is not one of them.