I've wanted a Balsam Hill Christmas tree for many years, but my budget was always telling me 'no no no' because Balsam Hill trees are pricey. Well, I discovered their sale prices and had to tell my budget 'yes yes yes'!! This was the year that I would finally have the most beautiful of artificial Christmas trees!! I purchased the 6.5' Classic Blue Spruce™ Full Prelit Artificial Christmas Tree, Green, LED Candlelight™ , Traditional, Easy Plug by Balsam Hill. Even though the tree arrived after Christmas, I HAD to set it up right then!! I had COVID during Christmas, so we rescheduled our family get together for after Christmas. The tree is absolutely gorgeous. I was amazed with how full the tree became after fluffing every single branch. It was a lengthy process, for sure, but once finished, the tree was so full and real looking!! The gloves that came with the tree were life savers for my hands. When it was time to remove the decorations and put the tree away for next Christmas, I just didn't want to put it away! It's a beautiful tree! I decided to replace the Christmas ornaments with Valentine's Day ornaments and now I can enjoy the tree for a while longer. I married my honey on Valentine's Day, and this year will be our 48th anniversary. I'm wanting more Balsam Hill trees now, this time with the multi color lights, or the color + clear LED-easy plug lights.

I ordered the 7.5' tall Classic Blue Spruce, which is advertised as being 5' wide. First, the widest part of the tree is only 4.5' wide, so definitely some false advertising there. Then, the height of the tree is "boosted" from 7' to 7.5' with a singular twig sticking 6" higher than the rest of the tree. For all intents and purposes, this is really only a 7' tree. If I had ordered a 7' tree, I would have been really pleased with this one, it is pretty, but I wasn't looking for a 7' tree. I was figuring that the proper part of the tree would be 7.5' and then I'd have my star on top of that, making it 8 to 8.5', perfect for 9' ceilings. Of course it's only after setting up and "fluffing" the whole tree for hours that I really saw that it was shorter and narrower than advertised. The tree also had zero padding inside the shipping box, so the "trunk" of the tree had busted through the box during shipping and was scraped up. I chatted with customer service and it was pretty rough. I was initially told I could return it if I paid THEM $30 for a shipping label. But, long story short, after almost two hours with customer service, and three customer service agents, I was able to get a 25% discount for the trouble. The third agent was helpful and expedient.

Do yourself a favor and do not purchase this tree. We purchased from Balsam Hill thinking this is a top-of-the-line company, so we expected a nice full sturdy tree. That is not at all what we received. I could have gone to a secondhand store and purchased a tree that was more up to par than this. The bottom section went together well, not very full but I was thinking it's the bottom I'm sure it will get better. After struggling to get the middle section turned to line up the arrows, I placed it and the darn thing was wobbling around. So, I took the middle section off and made sure I had the base secured. Lined up the arrows again and the tree still wobbled. But I proceeded to fluff the branches thinking when I put the top on that will make the tree more secure. Two hours of fluffing the middle section branches and of course the top section while it was on the floor. I placed the top section on the tree. Well, that did not take care of the wobbling and now the tree that was straight is not leaning forward like I was from lifting the middle section and the top of the tree to place them. Even after all of the fluffing I could still see straight through the tree. Which is not like what was pictured. When my husband got home, we both worked on the tree to get it straight and to not wobble. That did not help. Back into the box to be returned. Our story didn't end there. When I called to get the RMA # and instructions I was told it will 24 to 48 hours to get the email with the RMA and instructions, I can't explain that one, emails are almost instantaneous. Also, Balsam Hill wanted to charge a $25 as a return fee to return their defective tree. We did get that taken care of but a return fee should have never been mentioned as that was ridiculous.

I don't typically post reviews but after reading several negative ones I felt compelled to share my experience with my Balsam Hill tree. I have needed to replace my artificial tree for a few years so I've been shopping around for the past couple years. I prefer unlit trees (you know how devilish those lights are and impossible to get off the tree when they burn out) so that limits my selection. I've been looking at the classic blue spruce, saw lots of good reviews but also some negative ones (with scary pictures). Then the other day I read the NYT recommended the Classic Blue Spruce (unlit!) as one of it's top 5 trees artificial so I ordered it Sunday. It came Tuesday and I just finished putting it up. It is the fullest, most beautiful tree I have ever owned, real or artificial. It looks just like the picture and I am by no means a gifted tree assembler. Also, NOT ONE needle fell off, I don't even have to run the vacuum. I can't wait to decorate it! Only criticism, I wish it was a little lower to the floor, but, hey, more room for gifts!