Croft & Cole Reviews 192

I have been a way for a few days and just arrived back and my trees are definitely not going to last the next week never mind Xmas day. Please contact your method of payment and report Croft and Cole to trading standards.

Our Tree Guarantee
HAND-SELECTED
Our trees are hand-selected from farms across the United Kingdom for their outstanding quality and beauty. We search through hundreds of acres of premium Christmas trees, with only a tiny percentage being selected for the annual Croft & Cole collection.

MY TREES ARE ANYTHING BUT PREMIUM BELIEVE ME I WISH THEY WERE

NO HOLES OR BARE PATCHES
Our Christmas trees have a full and thick foliage that gently thins towards the top lateral branches and leader

BRANCHES ARE DROOPING DOWNWARDS PHOTO WAS SENT TO YOU BUT YOU REQUIRE FURTHER EVIDENCE COME AND COLLECT THEM AND REFUND ME MY £179.97.

STRAIGHT UP & SINGLE LEADER
The leader is the top vertical branch of the Christmas tree and for the most stunning looks we only select trees with a single leader that points straight up.

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CORRECT PROPORTIONS
Christmas trees come in all shapes and sizes but we only select trees with good symmetry and proportions that are individually pleasing to the eye.

MY TREES ARE DEFINITELY NOT PLEASING TO THE EYE MY DECORATING SKILLS ARE AWSOME BUT EVEN I CANT DISGUISE THE OBVIOUSLY POOR QUALITY

HEALTHY & LONG LASTING
We only select healthy trees with good colour so we know your tree will look fresh for the entire festive period.

AT A PUSH MIGHT LAST TILL THIS WEEKEND BUT THE PINES NEEDLES ARE DROPPING AT A TOUCH. XMAS DAY WILL BE A SORRY STATE OF AFFAIRS

ACCURATELY MEASURED
Our trees are measured from the bottom of the trunk to the top of the leader and will only ever be equal or greater than the size selected.
e.g. a 5-6ft tree will be no smaller than 5ft but could be up to 6ft or even a little over if it has a long leader to make sure that you get the full size you had in mind.

SUSTAINABLY GROWN IN THE UK
All of our trees are grown in the UK, this helps support British farming and keeps our carbon footprint to a minimum. All of our farms replant after harvest.

FRESH FROM FIELD TO FRONT DOOR
We take delivery of our selected Christmas trees on a daily basis, this allows us to make sure we're dispatching a tree that is fresh from the field.

TREE WAS DEFINITELY NOT FRESH

READY TO STAND
Before we package our Christmas trees we re-cut the bottom of the trunk, this opens the stems and will allow the tree to hydrate when stood in a water holding stand.

NOPE - ONE OF TWO HAD TO HAVE AN AXE TO THE BOTTOM TO ACTUALLY GET THE TREE TO FIT

STRONG & BESPOKE PACKAGING
We deliver our Christmas trees in a strong, unique and recyclable packaging, which allows the trees to breathe in transit, while also providing maximum protection.

LAST YEARS BOX PACKAGING WHICH WAS BRILL HAS BEEN REPLACED BY PLASTIC BAG PACKAGING WITH HOLES NOT SURE IF YHE HOLES WERE INTENDED. UPON OPENING PINE NEEDLES FLOODED MY FLOOR

In 2021 we received an amazing tree and wreath. Stunning packaging too! This year (2022) I ordered Christmas tree and wreath without even thinking. However, I was very disappointed. Tree is mediocre, it came in a bag looking like a dead body. Wreath wasn’t even there. After chasing croft&cole with emails I got answer that it may be delivered some other day by DPD. I received the wreath and that was the second disappointment. Small deformed, below average and severely overpriced. After my trip to Costco and Asda that evening I spotted way better beautiful very big trees for only £35 Our Croft and Cole tree looked very poor (actually most of needles fell off already) in comparison. I felt robbed. I complained and they never even bothered getting back to me - at least acknowledging my email. Lowest if the low. Do not recommend - don’t buy from them. Disappointment

Scam company - avoid. Ordered tree and paid for delivery for 9th December. No tree. Customer service is non existent. Finally managed to get in touch with the courier who said that they will deliver on the 16th December. Dead tree, no thanks. This company is overdue on accounts and confirmation statement and applied to be struck off just a few months ago. Will be reporting to trading standards as it’s clearly a scam. Thankfully paid via credit card.

Worst Christmas Tree Ever!

Due to illness I decided to order my tree online and emailed Croft and Cole as I was nervous about doing this.

I ordered a 7-8ft tree but following their tree sizing guide asked if it could be nearer to 7ft rather the 8ft or above. With this in mind I was expecting a tree between 7ft-7ft 6” but unfortunately the tree that has arrived is smaller than 7ft and is by far the scrawniest tree I think I’ve seen

As mentioned by others the quality for the price is not comparable and I can purchase a much more premium tree from our local garden centre for around £30-£40 less.

I’ve emailed the company today as the tree certainly does not meet the Christmas Tree guarantee on the website.

I was hoping that a collection/refund would be an easy process but having read the comments on here I fear that will not be the case.

We are now having to go out this weekend and search for a tree which is exactly what we wanted to avoid.

I have had Croft & Cole trees the last 2 years and they’ve been fine. Had this years delivery booked in since October and delivery confirmed by the courier for this afternoon, then this morning a message from the courier:
Due to issues within our warehouse the stock could not be located to load for delivery today. We are working on resolving the issue and will contact you as soon as we have an update. We apologise for the inconvenience caused
No one answering the phone at Croft & Cole.
Don’t plan to buy from them again.

TERRIBLE, Would give 0 stars if I could, payed for my tree a month ago, never came on the delivery day, dont reply to emails, just so disappointed.

My tree last year was fabulous this year was dreadful a truly terrible shape, baubles droop making the tree look dead. Customer services asked for pics , I sent heard nothing more! I’ve seen far superior trees in garden centres since and cheaper.

Like some many other reviews on here, we used Croft and Cole last year and they where great. This year however its a totally different experience. We didn't receive our reef and the tree that arrived was the wrong size. We have emailed and called numerous times, and are not getting anywhere. Looks like we will need to start a claim against them to get our money back, not what we want to be doing over Christmas.

No tree for son's first Christmas!

I purchased a tree from Croft & Cole following research and the excellent reviews. My delivery date of the 1st Dec came and went. No answer on phone number provided after multiple attempts and messages left.

To their credit, I received an email that evening apologising, explaining the courier had lost it and offering resolution of refund or replacement for delivery 7th Dec. I chose the latter option and again, the delivery date has come and gone.

I received no confirmation that they had executed the replacement and have had no response to multiple emails.

Shocking customer experience, the least that can be done is to communicate with your customers when there are clearly issues in your supply chain.

I now need to try and sort a tree for my son's first Christmas somehow else, which won't be easy given the whole house has COVID and I have no idea when I'll be able to go out and get one.... and likely all the good ones are gone.

Avoid. Had a great experience in previous years, tree arrived 6 days late, no active phone line and wouldn’t respond to emails. Tree is falling to bits after being with a courier for a week despite paying for next day delivery. Stopped replying to emails and messages. Tree full of mulch and it stinks, never again. Avoid!!

I have had the same experience with Croft and Cole this year as most of the other posters this year.
My issues started with ArrowXL losing the tree in the warehouse, so multiple calls to their customer services the tree was delivered a few days later than expected.
When the tree arrived it was not in the expected cardboard packaging as per previous years and the tree was no where near the same quality.
The only way we got a response from the company is by emailing them.
If it is any consolation to any of the posters on here, I do know that the founders of the company did sell it this year, so the original people are no longer running the company. have hope this helps people understand why issues have occurred this year but not in previous years.
10th December - to add insult to injury the tree light supplied with the tree have now failed. Not a great start for the new owners of Croft and Cole

Agree with other recent reviews. We liked our tree last year and were expecting similar quality. Instead the tree arrived a day later than supposed to, wet through, shedding pine needles still four days later and smells like a wet dog. Very disappointing and will not use this company again.

Ordered and paid for a 5ft tree. The tree that was delivered was 2ft9!
No response from the company despite emails and phone calls.
Avoid!

Update (07/12):
Croft & Cole reached out to me today to offer explanation and apologies. It seems the fault lies entirely with ArrowXL and their poor organisation and communication.

I’ve been assured a fresh tree has been sent, not one sat in transit for a week. It remains to be seen whether the condition of the tree is as good as previous years with the less sturdy looking packaging. If the tree arrives tomorrow in good condition I’ll amend the review further.

Original Review:
Excellent for the last 2 years. This year, the tree hasn't arrived and there's been no update from Croft & Cole or the new courier ArrowXL.

Just some text on the delivery day stating they'd received the package to the wrong depot so it wouldn't be delivered. Delivery was meant to be on the 2nd.

Tree is yet to arrive, no update or correspondence, phone number diverting directly to a pre recorded message. A Companies House Compulsory Strike Off Notice now appears to have gone public.

** Just noticed companies house have first gazette notice for compulsory strike off for Croft & Cole ***

I have used Croft and Cole in previous years and always been pleased. Completely different story this year. The tree arrived a day late, which is irritating as one of the reasons I pay a premium price is to get a tree delivered on a day that suits my schedule. The tree itself was not in a good condition with BROWN NEEDLES, badly prepared stump, uneven asymmetrical branches (clearly not hand picked as they say they are).

This year it came in a plastic bag (which seems like a bad move given that previously the box was recyclable and more protective). The bag was full of brown needles. I have put the tree in the stand and given it lots of water - but it is shedding an enormous amount and the branches are very droopy. This is not a premium tree. The branches still have lots of brown needles which no doubt will shed soon.

I also ordered lights and a tree stand. The wrong colour lights were sent, and the box the tree stand was in was damaged. The box did not contain any information about returns.

So far no response from Croft and Cole when I have raised my issues via email as the phone number just has an out of hours message on regardless of the time of day.

AVOID!I have ordered Croft and Cole before and it’s definitely not the same quality. This time the tree was delivered inside a bag instead of the cardboard box. A tree that is supposed to be premium/exquisite and shed free, is wonky, badly cut and shedding needles all over. I wish I could share photos on this post! Also, the delivery was a day late and you pay 10 pounds for a specific delivery date. It feels like a SCAM.

Tree has not been delivered and no response to several emails I have sent
Avoid!

My delivery was scheduled for 26/11/2022 and didn’t arrive. After numerous calls and unanswered emails I’m still none the wiser as to what’s going on.
Is Croft & Cole still trading?

Tree didn't get delivered. Croft and Cole didn't pass on my mobile number or the delivery instructions to the courier company. Earliest the courier company can redeliver is in 7 days time in which time the tree will dry out. No way to contact Croft and Cole.