The Arbor Day Foundation is a nonprofit organization that sells trees, shrubs, and plants, often in connection with charitable donations for reforestation and environmental initiatives. This page aggregates customer feedback about their products and services to help shoppers understand what to expect before placing orders or making donations.
Arbor Day Foundation Reviews
What Shoppers Say About Arbor Day Foundation
Shoppers rate the Arbor Day Foundation at 1.5 out of 5 based on 19 reviews, with the vast majority expressing serious dissatisfaction. The dominant complaint centers on product quality: customers report receiving dead or dying trees, plants that fail to thrive within days or weeks of arrival, and damaged shipments with broken specimens. Multiple reviewers also cite deceptive marketing practices, specifically promotional mailers promising free trees with donations that later require catalog purchases instead, along with aggressive follow-up contact even after repeated unsubscribe requests. Several shoppers question whether donated trees actually reach reforestation projects and characterize the organization as fraudulent, citing unresponsive customer service and unfulfilled promises.
A small minority of reviewers acknowledge the foundation's environmental mission and friendly staff, but even these defenders concede that product reliability is severely compromised. The replacement guarantee appears ineffective, as replacement trees reportedly fail as readily as originals. Long-term customers report consistent problems across multiple orders spanning years, suggesting systemic issues rather than isolated incidents.
Customer Reviews (19)
Sorted by: Most recentSpent over two hundred dollars on trees that either came in dead condition or didn't last more than a few days after arrival.
Really deceptive operation. Got a mailer promising free trees and a care guide if I donated. Made a donation and sure enough, about a month later another letter arrives saying forget what was advertised - now I'm getting a random tree variety only if I buy from their catalog. Completely misleading marketing. Won't be donating to them ever again.
Legitimate scam. I donated trees as a gift and seriously doubt those trees ever made it to any forest. Here's the real problem though: once they have your info they'll bombard you with endless emails and so-called tree surveys that waste paper and your time. I've repeatedly asked them to stop contacting me but they keep at it months later. This business is sketchy and poorly run.
They're basically providing fancy kindling wood! Biggest scam I've dealt with. Back in 2022 I placed an order for over 300 different trees, bushes, and plants. Shipping took forever and when everything finally showed up it was pathetic. One shipment contained a pair of dwarf apple trees snapped completely in two while still boxed up - I have no clue how that even happens. Everything else had massive problems - root gel spilled all throughout the boxes and the roots were completely dried out. I asked repeatedly for replacements but since it's a charity they apparently don't honor their own guarantees. Do yourself a favor and get plants literally anywhere else. Honestly, anyone donating money to support this outfit is directly funding what amounts to a scam. Shop elsewhere!
WARNING - THIS IS A SCAM!!! I made a donation to the Arbor Foundation and received nothing in return. Sent them an email with no response. Posted on their chat tool hoping to resolve it but got nowhere. Seemed like a fantastic way to help plant trees and support reforestation efforts. NOW I believe it's completely fraudulent. Maybe it had good aims initially but that's gone. Never got the tree starters that were promised and absolutely no attempt to fix things when I reached out about the problem. I would have gladly donated annually and planted trees across my 4 acres, but I'll handle it myself elsewhere with my own funds. Really disappointed this turned out to be such a letdown.
Appreciate what they stand for as a charity focused on environmental improvement and their staff is genuinely friendly, but the product is seriously unreliable. More than half of my trees never developed leaves at all. Their guarantee seems worthless since replacement trees die too. Over two decades I've ordered numerous pecan and sycamore trees and basically none have survived. While I still support the mission, I've been watering dead twigs for months now at my current place. I understand they encourage good watering practices, but these plants arrived in such poor condition it's tough to get them established.
They claim the order shipped but won't give tracking info. Want faster delivery? That'll be an extra $25 charge. Why should customers have to pay extra to get reasonable shipping timeframes in the first place? Feels like highway robbery.
Complete rip-off. Ordered a redbud tree that likely came dead. Showed up as basically a twig. We did everything according to instructions and watered consistently for months. Still dead. They sent a replacement. Same story - arrived as a twig, followed all care instructions, ended up dead anyway. Skip this company entirely. Instead connect with local native plant nurseries that know what they're doing and can actually provide viable specimens. Do not waste your money here.
Dropped six hundred dollars on bare root trees that supposedly thrive in my area. Got twigs, plain and simple. All of them died. Called to complain and they gave me a really hard time about it. Eventually they sent replacements but all but one died too. Absolutely do not spend money here. Made another call and they won't even take my calls anymore. I grew up farming and know how to plant trees properly, so this isn't a skill issue. This company is running a con.
Your question shouldn't be asking what went wrong - it should be asking what actually went right. And honestly the answer is nothing. I cannot get anyone to respond to my calls or messages. I've saved all my order numbers but it hasn't helped. Until some attorney generals team up to file a class action lawsuit against these people, customers like me have zero recourse.