For added peace of mind, Garden Goods Direct offers optional shipping insurance to protect your order from unexpected issues during transit. When you add insurance at checkout, you’re covered if your plants are damaged, lost, or delayed due to carrier problems. The cost to you is calculated on the checkout page.
What’s Covered
- Carrier Mishandling – Damage to plants or packaging caused by rough handling in transit (e.g., broken branches, crushed stems, excessive soil loss).
- Severe Delivery Delays – Carrier delays that compromise plant health, such as plants arriving wilted, dried out, or stressed due to prolonged transit times.
- Lost or Misrouted Packages – Orders that never arrive because they were lost or misdelivered by the carrier.
- Weather-Related Damage – Plant injury caused by exposure to extreme heat or cold during transit, or weather-related delays that impact plant quality.
- Visible Arrival Damage – Significant structural damage that affects the health or viability of the plant (e.g., split containers, leaking soil, crushed packaging).
What’s Not Covered
To keep our policy transparent and fair, shipping insurance does not cover:
- Theft after delivery – Packages marked as delivered by the carrier but stolen or removed from the delivery location.
- Customer neglect after arrival – Plants left unattended (in the boxes) in the weather after delivery, unwatered, unplanted for extended periods, or otherwise not cared for according to our care guidelines.
- Improper planting or conditions – Damage caused by planting in unsuitable soil, incorrect watering, or poor site conditions.
- Environmental or animal damage – Harm caused by pets, wildlife, or local weather after delivery.
- Late reporting – Claims filed outside of the reporting window (must be reported within 5 days of delivery).
How to File a Claim
If you purchased shipping insurance and your order arrives damaged or compromised, simply:
- Contact our Customer Service team at support@gardengoodsdirect.com within 5 days of delivery.
- When emailing customer service, please include "Shipping Protection Claim" in the subject line.
- Please provide your order number, photos of the plants and packaging, and a detailed description of the issue.
- Once verified, we’ll issue a replacement or store credit, allowing you to reorder with confidence.