"I just threw out my 3 year old tree - Customer Serice was rude and so happy to tell me I was 3 months out of warranty. NEVER AGAIN!!!"

"I purchased the Vermont White Spruce…
I purchased the Vermont White Spruce Narrow for over $5,000 including tax. You would think they could afford to pay shipping for a truck that includes a lift gate - they didn't - and the driver refused to unload from his truck showing me proof they didn't pay for lift gate. I strained my back unloading from such a height (this tree is super heavy) - I couldn't assemble the tree as I was in too much pain for nearly a week.

Assembly was tricky, but I'm very mechanically inclined so I just took my time and made sure everything was all correct. Two things I noticed upon completion of assembly:

1. They didn't send enough bolts and nuts to secure the wheels I needed 6 more of each. Good thing I keep a supply.

2. The tree has tall vertical metal braces which secure to base to stabilize tree (This is good) however they depend on a bolt treaded through pipe to "press up against" another pipe to secure the brace (this is bad). To further complicate matters, they didn't properly thread pipe so while I had tightened the bolts (there is only one for each of the 4 supports) up to what I considered maximum torc, it turns out one of them didn't even make it to the pipe to stabilize that support. You might be asking yourself, how does he know it didn't make it to the pipe? You're not going to believe this.. 

So picture a large central staircase that has an 18' palm tree that's been living there for 60 of our 100 year home's existence. It's gorgeous. It also happens to be where our tree was going... so I moved things around and now the palm tree shared the space with our new fancy Christmas tree..

The tree was fully assembled and decorated and plugged in. Time to SLOWLY center the tree now by GENTLY pushing on two of the metal supports to center tree in opening. This is allowed as well, the base is actually on wheels.. 

Only after approximately a foot, the wheel on the opposite side from where I was pushing spun sideways (because the support bolt wasn't sufficiently pushing against the base -- more on this later) and this allows the wheel to "flip" sideways .. so now the tree is balancing on 3 corners of a square, where the 4th corner isn't offering any support.. 

Slowly, inescapably, with no support on that fourth wheel, the tree begins to fall .. directly towards the palm tree and our homes central banister. CRASH - it snaps the top quarter of the palm tree off and smashes against our wood railing. 

Folks this tree is over 400 lbs assembled and decorated, you can't stop it once it starts to tip, no mater how slowly.. Luckily nobody was hurt, unless you count our ancient palm tree and 100 year old home.. they were not happy.

It took a few more hours to figure out how the wheel could have slipped out from under the tree like that, but it was obvious when it could slip, and as I removed the support, I noticed the bolt while refusing to go further, was not sufficiently touching base.. So I got my socket wrench out and tried to tighten it without being attached to base so I could be sure it was going far enough.. and the bolt simple broke off, threaded piece inside. Which is proof they didn't tape it right.. had they tested it, it would have made it through and none of this would have happened! 

Ultimately I retapped the hole, and upon reflection, realized it was a stupid design they had done, under no circumstances should the wheel be dependent upon a single bolt's friction .. so I drilled holes in the base tubes so as you tighten the bolt on the support, it goes INTO (not against) the base pipe.. so it's impossible to slip.

My new design passed the second year without issue, however we miss our palm tree and our banister is still damaged. Tough to love a product that kills things and destroys your home.."

"Expensive product that failed to function correctly in years 2 and 3. No flexibility on warranty or even buying replacement sections. Continued wiring failures. So expensive tree that fails to function and they have no plan other than to send you a string of lights to wrap over the non functional strands that can't be removed. Their service and care has changed over the last decade... and this 10 year customer is now done... I SUGGEST THAT YOU BUY NOTHING FROM THEM AND FIND A VENDOR WHO UNDERSTANDS CUSTOMER SERVICE, BACKS THEIR PRODUCTS AND STANDS BY THEIR QUALITY GOALS PER THEIR OWN WEBSITE!
F RATING... BYE BYE"

"Their return policy is horrible, they won’t even accept unopened items w/in a few days of purchase "

"Worst customer service experience ever!"

"I am a return customer of Balsam. I purchased two other trees from them in the past without issue. Based off of that history, I purchased the Nordmann Fir this year. The tree arrived with several broken tips laying in the bottom of the box. Several more fell out when letting the limbs open. While fluffing even more came off and others that were just barely hanging on were exposed. I contacted customer service. She advised me that the tree doesn't normally do that and it may have just been too rushed in manufacturing. She said the only way to see if the tips were a real problem would be to see if they continued to break when taking it down after Christmas. I fell for it. A couple of weeks later, I'm looking at their ornaments and lights because there is a sale going on (planning for next year). I read the return policy of 30 days or before Christmas (whichever is sooner). I immediately call Balsam upset because we're now 2 weeks away from Christmas. The agent advised me (after going to second tier) that they could send a replacement tree and I could ship the tree back but I may not want 2 tree boxes around during the holidays. I really didn't. She also said that I could contact them later to avoid that. But if I returned the tree now they couldn't guarantee I would get a replacement before Christmas. I'm an idiot for believing one of them again. I read on their site later that you can pay for rush shipping and it would be guaranteed for the 24th but it was the last day. I called them back upset because, again, I was misled to keep the tree until after Christmas. When they got back to me, the shipping for the 24th guarantee passed. They totally lied to me to have me keep the tree past Christmas so they could deny a refund or a replacement of a different tree. There was more than enough time to get a replacement, but she lied and said there wasn't. More reviews have popped up on their website about tip breakage on this tree. There is a reason they don't want it back."

"Super glossy plastic appearance, very
flimsy & bendy branch tips don't hold otnaments well. Can't shape branches at all to cover the many bare areas where you can see the metal center pole. No outlet on tree to plug a lighted tree topper- you have to run an extension cord down it. Unbalanced LED brightness- Green is super bright and other colors very di. 3x the cost of competitors for NO better quality"

"Balsam Hill has great photographers but there products are junk and they will not stand behind their merchandise. Don’t be fooled into paying ridiculous prices for less than dime store quality products. Please invest some time reading more reviews on PUBLIC formats before making a purchase from Balsam Hill"

"I bought the attached christmas tree on November 7,2021, it cost us $1068. Today I looked and it was on sale for $799. I called the company and they said there policy is 14 days. I told is there anything you do its been 24 days and this was very expensive. They were rude and told me straight out no. Very unprofessional for a company of this caliber"

"I have a friend who has a Blue Spruce she's been a customer for 7 years. I myself have never been able to afford one. But most of my friends have one and they are more than Beautiful, they are "Amazing". Now that I am 71 years old owning a 7ft Blue Spruce is number 1 on my Bucket List."

"We spent $1,100 on garland with Balsam Hill and after one Christmas half of the garland has stopped working. I contacted their customer service and to summarize, they could care less. No return, no offer to replace, no opportunity to get it fixed. The only option is to replace ALL of the garland with a new brand, or repurchase the same brand and HOPE that it works. Really dissapointing for a company like this to take this stance. Clearly, they don’t care about their customers. I would NEVER buy here if you are considering it.
We will be telling everyone we know about how bad the product quality is and the customer service is at Balsam Hill. Please buy elsewhere"

"We purchased a 10' tree from Balsam Hill with a 10 year warranty. After a couple of years the tree started to lean, until it was leaning so badly that it was unsafe to put up in 2019. We contacted Balsam Hill for a warranty replacement and the warranty-replacement tree they sent had a defective tree stand. When they replaced that stand, the next one was badly rusty. When we did set up the tree it leaned worse than our original defective tree leaving us with no Christmas tree for 2020. The best they claim they can do is send us another tree right before Christmas in 2021. Avoid this company like the plague. They will not honor their warranty. They are crooks with hundreds of dissatisfied customers (just check out their Facebook page)."

"I placed an order when the web site indicated the tree was in stock. Over a week later I notice that I have a refund on my account. No communication from them at all. I telephone and Customer services are just awful. Won't do anything and will not expedite delivery of a different tree so will not get anything before Christmas. DO NOT USE THIS COMPANY."

"I spent close to $1000 on a Balsam Hill Tree in 2015 or 2016, due to the fact they claim their trees are lifelike in appearance and are pre-lit in a manner that a single bulb won't bring down the entire string of lights. Well that sold me and the first year everything was fine. However, each year after that I had "stings" of lights go out. What happened to a single bulb won't bring down a string of lights??? I called their customer service number on two occasions when I first started having problems and I was sent replacement bulbs. The problem is it's near impossible to determine which bulb(s) are bad. I then was forced to start adding my own lights, to cover the bare spots on the tree. This year (5th/6th year owning the tree) "95%" of the bulbs are out!! My wife called Balsam Hill customer service and she was told, they need to get managements approval (which my wife was told should not be a problem) and they will send me 5+ sets of lights (pre-strung) for the tree. Today, I get a call from a Balsam Hill customer service rep and I was told my request was denied because my tree is out of warranty!! When I expressed my dissatisfaction and asked the customer service rep, why would I ever spend close to $1000 on a tree that each year the bulbs start going out? I was told by the Balsam Hill customer service rep, anytime you purchase something that is electronic, you have to expect things will go wrong!!! What amazing customer service and I highly recommend to everyone, save your money and "don't buy anything from the Balsam Hill Tree company". To think I spent all this money, had problems after the first year and each year thereafter and this how I'm treated as a customer!! Stay clear of this company! Buy a tree from Costco for half the price and if there is ever a problem, they embody the meaning of customer service and will resolve it at any cost for customer satisfaction. I learned my lesson and I hope this helps others."

"I ordered a lighted garland in October to avoid the holiday rush. Put it in closet and opened day after Thanksgiving to install. Lights did not work. Held for 30 minutes and then requested callback. Callback never came but emailed and received response that since 30 days since receipt, tough luck. No help whatsoever for a defective product. Was previously a loyal BH customer but no more. They do not stand behind their products which are made in China.

"