"After succumbing to the advertising hype, I ordered a Balsam Hill tree thinking I'd be getting a realistic, high-quality tree that would be visibly superior to all those chain-store trees. It's been a little over a week since my original order, and although the overall look of my tree is very nice, the quality is not worth the $570 I spent. I got a 7.5' unlit Vermont White Spruce, which is supposed to be the 'Grand Daddy of Artificial Trees', according to one customer service rep. While I do like the mostly realistic look of the fluffy branches, and the numerous branch tips, there are still noticeable gaps after hours of fluffing. I could get the same look, gaps and all, for much less, at any local store. My biggest complaint, quality-wise, is that the tree sections do not fit securely, and the middle piece is especially wobbly. I am reluctant to hang lights and ornaments on this tree because that middle piece wiggles & rotates quite a bit. When I called Balsam Hill customer service (sales), no one seemed to know much about the products, and it seems that the flimsy section fit is a design flaw. Several CSRs wanted to send me a new middle section, but couldn't explain how it would be different, or fit more securely than the one I had. When I said I didn't want to take the tree apart & go through the nightmare return process (been there, done that already) unless I had a guarantee that the new section would be somehow different/better, I was told to just exchange the entire tree. I asked if BH had a troubleshooting guide that mentioned ways to make the sections more secure, since that seemed to be a recurring problem, and a supervisor helpfully informed me that if I 'attempted to secure the tree myself in any way, it would void all warranties.' I guess that was a hard no to my troubleshooting question. I then asked if a partial refund was possible, since I would have to find a way to secure the sections if I kept the tree, and at this point, the tree did not seem to be worth its expensive price tag. I think they must have been listening to Meghan Trainor because all I kept hearing is 'NO'. Don't even get me started on all the other customer service calls about the first order exchange, the 2-day shipping that arrived a week later, the exchange 'refund' emails that made no sense, and the many representatives that apparently were really new, really stupid, or really stoned. I do want to give a shout-out to the 3 reps that felt like the proper response to a customer concern was to hang up in the middle of a call. Balsam Hill customer support training 101 at its finest. At least I have the satisfaction of knowing that once this tree gets sent back, Balsam Hill will have spent more on the 2 returns & shipping refunds & I will have spent nothing. Except for that nice Costco tree that's $400 less than the Balsam Hill one I ordered. Does this company even care that they're losing money & customers due to amazingly poor customer service? Or do the over-inflated tree prices compensate for the losses? Oh well. My entire family & several friends were waiting to see my Balsam Hill tree before deciding if they wanted one. Guess what their decisions are now? "

"We have a 7' Calistoga Fir #5023854. We heard about them in the fall of '15 and purchased it for that Christmas - friends were bragging on their beauty big time. It's true, a beautiful tree indeed - loved it. YEAR #1

The next time we were able to use it was two years later (Christmas '17). After repeated troubleshooting attempts, we couldn't get the upper section lights to work (after replaced fuse lamps and inline fuses). Balsam honored their warranty and sent us a replacement section. Tree decorating... delayed. YEAR #2

This season (Christmas '18) is now our third season to use it. Immediately the bottom section of lights only half worked. After (3) hours of troubleshooting and chatting online (replacing the fuse lamp, plug fuses, and three branches of lights - it still didn't work). Again, Balsam honored their warranty and another section is being sent. Tree decorating... delayed. YEAR #3

1) It's true - they've got a beautiful tree. 2) Our experience was only a wonderful customer service. 3) They have a super warranty - so far. 4) But they also have an overpriced poor quality made tree. I would seriously research carefully if there are other routes to go by way of an artificial tree. BEWARE buyers, "Beauty is only skin deep," but their quality is unfortunately very lacking, sorry to say."

"just got it yesterday box is solid but insert that tree sets in is very poorly constructed put together with little staples. will not work without some revamping. "

"Do not order from Balsam Hill. Our experience was horrible. We ordered a 9 foot tree, which was supposed to be shipped on a Monday and did not ship until Wednesday. Then, only 1 of 2 boxes were shipped. They cannot tell us where the other box is or when it will be shipped, or if it was even shipped. This is unacceptable. We paid a great deal of money for this tree, and more than likely we will send the 1/2 tree we received back and NEVER order from Balsam Hill again.
My wife thrives on entertaining, and we counted on Balsam Hill for a great experience and a beautiful tree shipped and delivered when promised. It's very frustrating and we are disappointed that as much as we paid for this tree we did not receive even basic customer service.
Costco has great trees for 1/2 the price. I recommend buying one from a store and skipping the online experience with Balsam Hill."

"Been waiting on an shipping update since the week of 11/16/2018. They keep giving me the run around. Starting with its waiting on FedEx to pickup and customer service would have to file claim and I would receive an email for an update. No email, No update! I kept going to website for update NOTHING! So I have called everyday for the past 5 days and have been given 5 different stories. So today someone from customer service called and started the whole FedEx hasn’t picked up again. So at that point, I ask to cancel order and was told it was to late and I had to wait till it shipped and return the tree. So they have my $899 and I have no tree and still no delivery date. Please read the reviews and don’t get SCREWEDAGED! They responded to my review on Trustpilot and started the FedEx has pickup at their warehouse again. Don’t Buy From Balsam Hill. "

"I was told after discussions with several depts within Balsam that I due to the poor customer service, misleading information that was supplied to me and the poor product quality I received, that my replacement sections of my tree were to be shipped to me last week. I was waiting on the tracking information this week as I had not received. When I reached out to the company again, I was told that they were actually not going to ship my replacements - even though they told me they were going to.

This is the second time this company has lied, committed fraud and provided the poorest of customer service.
If you are thinking of spending money with this company - I would highly suggest you reconsider. The amount of money you spend is not worth the extremely poor customer service and their inability to stand behind the quality of their products.
"

"Got the tree, opened the box and wanted to give it a once over prior to setting it up.
No problems setting the tree up. Did my best fluffing the branches on each section prior to installing the next section. The top section was the closest rendition of the trees you advertise.
Now, I really don't know why you included gloves unless I need to supply them to the person that I would hire to professionally fluff the tree. That's the only way this tree will look like yours. Even as I look at your pics today I can see the center like the other unsatisfied customer. I should have read these reviews first. I can buy lots of trees for $600. I really want to return this thing. I cannot find the satisfaction guaranteed link.
The Santa "tree topper", better have a stout tree to hold him up. it does not have any suggestion on mounting him on top of the tree. I purchased the support rod thing with everything else and that was a joke also.
I had to modify the inside of the chimney to accept the rod without running it up Santa's coat. Just ridiculous.
I would rather get a 2 ft. tree at Walmart. set it on a nice table, place gifts under it, (I can afford them now) and have a Merry Christmas.

I would like instructions on returning the tree. I'll keep Santa and set him on another table.

LA Whittaker
"

"The tree sounds great with its realistic needles and being on wheels, as well as the storage bag on wheels too. It sounded awesome. Unfortunately, I wouldn't know if it's as awesome as it sounded because I never got my tree. First it started out and then was returned to sender (Balsam hill) and after hours on the phone with Fedex and Balsam Hill I was promised it would be sent out again and I would have it in two days. Instead, part of it was shipped to someone in Madison Alabama, part of it was stuck in Perrysburg, OH and part is still at Balsam Hill. After hours more on the phone with Fedex and then Balsam Hill, the floor manager said I would have to find out from Fedex why it was shipped to Madison, and why the other is in Perrysburg. I finally said enough. That's not my job. My job, as a customer is to place the order and pay for it. Your job is to see it gets to my door. If you can't do that, cancel the order and refund my money. He said, we can't do that until you receive it and return it. How can I when part of it hasn't left your shop, and part has been delivered to someone in Madison, AL? After much argument, he promised a refund. We'll see if I get it. What I do know I got for sure is a lot of disappointment. It's Nov 29th and I still have no tree. Very disappointing, and in my opinion, bad business. I wouldn't suggest buying your tree from them, as awesome as it all sounds, you won't get the tree. "

"This is a company that will take your money and then give you the runaround! This company is a company that you need to stay away from! I saved and saved to buy one of these trees and now I can’t even get a straight answer about when it will ship! On their website they state that if you order by 12 noon the order ships that day if you order after 12 noon it ships the next day! Well this is all just a scam to get your money! Their return policy or information about receiving your money back is that you have to do it within 30 minutes of your order! So what they do is they get your money and advise you that it’s going to ship and then they hold your shipment or maybe never send it to you who knows because I still have no tracking number anything on my order "

"Do not buy these trees.

Purchased a Balsam Hill Norway Spruce Tree from their French website, but really wanted a tree that was on the UK site (Weymouth Tree). Emailed their customer service to be told that I could not order the UK tree and had to order a french tree from their french website or i could buy the UK tree but I would have to pay for the shipping to France personally. So I bought the tree their sales rep recommended only to find that it was being shipped to France from their UK warehouse. Why they couldn't just help me to buy the tree I wanted I do not know...maybe because the French site sells poorer quality versions? The tree that came was a huge disappointment.

Basically I would not recommend.
1. Over priced (paid €179 on sale not worth half in my opinion)
2. Very plastic looking (shiny green plastic needles)
3. Cheap construction.
4. Not realistic shaped tree.
5. Centre pole is visible and you can see the big green plastic joins
6. After the plastic pine needles the rest of the branch is cheap synthetic like you would find on any cheap supermarket tree.
7. Unnecessary 'care gloves'.
8. Bulky to store.
9. Branch connectors loose and cheap.
10. Customer service not helpful at all.
11. Not impressed at all.
12. We have bought a real tree instead and there is no comparison at all!

Just avoid buying one.

If you have any doubts then DO NOT buy one!
Thats my advice"

"We purchased a 7.5’ incandescent white light Colorado Mountain Spruce, most realistic, three weeks ago, and a tree stand with wheels. The stand arrived damaged, BH replaced it immediately. New one arrived in good shape a few days later. The tree arrived a few days later and there was a wire unattached with branches not lit, so BH advised to return it with their prepaid label which I did, Fed Ex picked up. They sent a new tree which arrived 5 days later, one bulb was crushed, which I replaced. So far service is excellent, but with two items ordered, and both arrived damaged, that’s not a good track record IMO. New tree looks fantastic, we’re pleased with the look, it did require 4-5 hours of fluffing, (use the gloves the needles hurt!) it’s been up only two days and three bulbs went out. I’ve been reading reviews and the lights seem to be an on going issue, which has me worried. Also, three of the very small branches (2-3 inch ones) broke off when I was fluffing the tree. That is a concern. The tree was not cheap and we bought it hoping it’s quality would be better than the local stores, ie: Home Depot, Lowe’s etc. I hope we get more than three years out of it, or else the value just isn’t there. Time will tell. "

"We bought the 7.5' Blue Spruce in December of 2014. It's a beautiful tree. I was hoping that this was going to be the last tree I would ever need. Far from the truth. Despite treating it very gently and storing it in my son's bedroom (climate controlled), we only had 3 good years. Setting it up for December 2017, there were 2 strands out. No amount of trouble-shooting could fix it so we laid new lights on top of the dead ones to get through the holiday. In January 2018, my husband called customer service and they agreed to send replacement parts since the tree was only a few days out of the 3-year warranty. However, the replacement parts were on backorder and we didn't receive them until October of this year. Rather than send parts, BH sent us a whole new center section. How nice. However, when we put the tree together the center section worked great...but 2/3 of the bottom section and one strand on the top section didn't light up. My husband spent hours troubleshooting the tree (after again talking to BH customer service who really offered NOTHING). This week, my husband contacted BH customer service for the third time, asked to speak to a supervisor and got absolutely nowhere. They refuse to help us. We invested in an expensive tree, hoping to get more than 3 years of easy set-up and beautiful tree. Now we are stuck with a worthless $746 "pre-lit" tree that I will have to either lay more good lights over dead ones or set out for the garbage man. I honestly thought such a highly-recommended company would value their reputation enough to make this right. Reading through the other reviews, I see that I'm not the only one who has had a terrible experience with this company. The tree is beautiful if you're willing to pay a lot of money for 2-3 years of enjoyment."

"I ordered on 11/17/18 a nativity set for my mother for Christmas and had it delivered to her. On 11/21/18 (day before Thanksgiving), my mother received the wrong item. I immediately called customer service and was instructed that they would mail out the correct item and do expedited delivery for 1-2 business days. They immediately sent me an email with label to mail back the incorrect item, which we did. When I spoke to customer service on 11/21/18 I was not told that the item was out of stock. I was instructed that they would expedite delivery. Due to the holiday, I expected the item to be delivered on Tuesday of the following week. I received an email from PayPal, NOT from Balsam Hill, showing I had been refunded on my purchase amount. I called customer service and was informed that the item is out of stock and if I wanted to get it then "you will need to order it sooner next year." I was VERY upset. I ordered it early and due to they delivered the wrong item, I can no longer get the item due to their mistake. And their response was "you will need to order it sooner next year." I NEVER even received a call or an email from Balsam Hill notifying that the item was out of stock and would not be delivered. Their response was a 10% off of my next purchase. My husband and I ordered a tree from them 2 years ago which we love and have recommended to our friends. After this experience i will NOT be purchasing from them again or recommending them. VERY disappointed with customer service and their response and/or lack of response. "

"Whoa my fellow consumers. They don't honor that "premium warranty" so be careful. I stumbled upon their BBB reviews and now see a trend of warranty tap dancing. A light strand goes out, they offer a temporary strand, say the section isn't available and then give consumers the runaround until the tree is out of warranty so they don't have to replace the tree. One agent agreed to replace the tree and another agent called 3 days later to say the warranty department declined the replacement. So just avoid the hassle altogether and buy the cheaper tree. I spent $374 on a pre-tree that's only two-thirds lit. I could've gone to any store and bought a cheaper tree with less hassle than this experience. Warranty is only good on paper. After reading these complaints, I feel duped. "

"Bought a 7' Norway Spruce; Color+Clear w/ Easy Plug Lights w/remote & storage bag in July 2015 on Sale $899.00. Storage bag entirely too small had to purchase additional one. 2016, no problems. 2017 set-up, remote receiver not working & string of clear out. Cust service stated they would send the section that was out and send the receiver. The replacement receiver shipped to me on Nov. 10th of 2018. Yup, 1 whole year later. Clear lights never taken care of & Balsam won't replace because out of warranty. Even though I called while warranty in effect. I called once a month from Dec. 2017-Nov. 2018. Balsam gave me 4 different case #'s as they could not find the case # I was referring to. What a fiasco. If I was using the tree everyday, I could understand some issues. But this is BAD. I didn't even bother getting into the needles constantly dropping off. I am officially worn down & Balsam Hill is not worth my time or $$ anymore. BUYER BEWARE & spend your time & $$ elsewhere."