Town & Country Garden Centre - Owen Sound, ON

Very Wary

I saw some very nice, very well tended nursery stock. It is pretty obvious that they sell good quality plants. I was impressed with the wide variety of trees available and their healthy condition. In my experience, prices seem typical but that doesn't mean inexpensive. I believe that you get what you pay for and quality is worth the cost. So, it's not a big box parking lot situation, if that's what you are looking for.

Ryan Carson

I have had nothing but great experiences with Town & Country. A couple of years ago I asked them to quote all new plants, grasses etc, in our gardens. I know nothing about these types of things so I needed them to take us through their suggestions and do up a quick mock design. The total quote was fair and they showed up on time. The only thing that wasn't perfect was they used brown mulch instead of black. When I called they said no problem, apologized and sent someone right away to correct it. I couldn't have been happier with my experience with them.

As a follow up, I called them last week to see if they could come by the house, put new mulch down and plant a couple more bushes. They again showed up on time, did great work, and the bill was fair.

I would definitely recommend them to anyone.

Arthur Layman

Poor experiences. The brunette lady who sits in the office seems to be more concerned with decor of her cabinets, then helping customers. This place never has anything you want. No bulk manure, compost, or sand very expensive prices for what they do have. Cat is friendly. I've tried to get several things from them since they are close to my home and a local business.

itsciencefreak1

Warning!!! Do not hire Town & Country Garden Centre!!!!

We tried to hire Town & Country to complete the landscaping at the front of our condo. After we contacted them, they came within a couple of weeks to check out the property to come up with a plan. We had very specific goals in mind that I let them know about at that time. They also asked for a down payment to hold our spot in the work queue, that we gladly paid. When we got their drawings back, it wasn't anything like what we had asked for so we sent them back to the drawing board and also provided them with the rules that needed to be followed according to our condo board. They sent another set of plans via email, but they were exactly the same as the first set of plans that we had already rejected. I tried to get hold of them both by phone and by email, but got nothing back.

At this point, a year later, we just want our deposit back, but they have given us every excuse to not do this that can be imagined. For instance, one excuse was that they didn't have our address. I wonder how they were ever going to show up to do the work if they didn't know where our place was. The deposit was supposed to hold our place in the work queue. There was no work done, therefore, they should be refunding it.

Don't hire these people for anything non-retail.

Scott Cowley

Part 2

I informed the staff member on Oct. 20th that the only course of action I would be left with was writing a poor review and she said that the reason for my call was that I was determined to write a bad review. I was determined... but she was wrong about my determination. I was determined to buy the soil that I had made plans about for weeks and I was upset by the lack of service. Near the end, she told me that she wasn't sure what I wanted from the conversation and that she had already apologized a number of times. What she had done was say twice that she was sorry for how I "felt." She didn't apologize for rudely telling me to ignore the hours on Google, even when it was her that was wrong about her own hours according to THEIR website (for convenience I've attached a screenshot from THEIR website below). She didn't apologize that I've made multiple trips in and that their staffing doesn't support the sale of their bulk products. She didn't apologize that people don't answer the phones when people are told to call in. She didn't apologize for the multiple miscommunications. She didn't apologize for the fact that management specifically told me to come in on Saturday Oct. 22 and that they hadn't told me that there were specific times associated with this.

I will not apologize for my feelings. I will not apologize for this fair accounting of my experiences. I will not apologize that I am determined to get my soil for my wife's gardens and within minutes of my disappointing call with Town and Country I had confirmed a pick-up with Westside Nurseries. If I had only gone there to begin with...

I would put the audio from the conversation if Google supported that... perhaps companies should be more away of the future/present and how there are Apps to record conversations for quality assurance... the quality assurance of the customer! I will save this conversation should the company wish to address this with me... but I rather doubt that my views/rating will be changed at this point...

Scott Cowley

I find the 1/5 star rating appropriate. The sole purpose for my business was to buy a few yards of soil and they appear to provide the cheapest price ($30 vs. the next closest I'm aware of being $35 at Westside).

HOWEVER, good luck in making the pick up and subsequent purchase!

I called on October 3rd to see if anyone was working that could operate the skid steer to load the dirt (this was their suggestion on an earlier visit when I was turned away as they didn't have someone to do this). Nobody answered the phone, so I drove there and was told that there was nobody to do that. There were two staff working in the main room and they told me that I should have called. I then told them that I had. Their next suggestion was to come on Saturday the 7th, as someone would be able to do that.

I followed their directions to show up on the Saturday (the 7th), only the store was closed early for the long weekend. Understandable that they might close early, but why wasn't I told that they would close early? I then left a message identifying my disappointment that I was told to come on this day, but nobody informed me of the reduced hours.

The day after this (Oct. 8th), a manager called me and told me that bulk sales (like top soil) were only sold at the beginning and end of the day (if the personal were there) and the "beginning" and "ending" would be different from day to day. I'd have to call in advance to find out for that given day. The other chance was to wait 2 more Saturdays (Oct. 21) and they would have someone working that could operate a skid steer to load the soil. The manager put me on hold to confirm that this staffing would be available and there were no restrictions on timing outlined.

Based on my disappointing trips in the past, I proactively called on Friday Oct. 20th to see if the person was going to be in at 9am when they open. In summary, I was told that the person would only be in at 10am and when I expressed that this was certainly not good for me as I had structured my day around a 9am purchase... I was told that I shouldn't be surprised by this as they don't open until 10am. I was then told not to look at Google for hours of operation, as they do not control this. As we were discussing things on the phone, I quickly looked at THEIR website which says they open on Saturdays at 9am! When I mentioned this, the lady on the phone repeated again that I shouldn't read off Google. I told her again this was on THEIR website and NOT Google. They have absolute control over THEIR website!

Throughout the conversation she kept saying that they cannot be expected to have someone to drive the skid steer all the time during the off season. I told her that I accept this and understand this, but I had specifically confirmed things with a manager and waiting one day every two weeks was not an unreasonable expectation. Clearly this wasn't an everyday expectation. I was expecting that someone would be in on the day that they had said they would be and I think waiting 2 weeks is certainly not expecting too much.

Part 1...

M Farrow

I love the atmosphere when I visit here! I purchase my garden plants here every spring. The quality is always excellent!

A. G.

Awesome experience! She was very helpful and knowledgeable we really appreciated the time she took to help us.