Dealings with Long Creek Apiaries

[Tom G. Laury]

You guys should just move out to California and start shipping bees back home. We have too many out here.

[beepriddy]

[QUOTE=beemaster01;462601]To all 1000+ readers of this thread: Please count the the number of different people on this thread that are complaining. FIVE! That is FIVE out of hundreds of satisfied customers. It is sad that FIVE people can have such influence with only one side of the story. There are others on the tread offering advice based on one side of the story. I have no complaints with them. Such is the double edge of the internet.

Somewhere I read statistics years ago that to make up for the damage that 1 unhappy customer can do you have to make over 200 new customers to replace the revenue. This was in the day before the internet. So I truly hope you did and do have 1000+ happy customers you will need them. My experience with customer service has been where there is smoke there is fire.

[JRing]

I almost bought a package of bees from LCA rather late in the season, but the tone of the email put me off, when I asked if they still had bees for sale. I did however buy from another supplier in TN and have been very happy with thier bees and service. I will email and ask questions often, and they are more than helpful. They were inspected and had no pest problem either.

[llang]

Posted on his website... in the running banner:

FOR SALE STARTING AUGUST 1ST......Single colonies of bees for pickup at our apiaries.......$175.00 each......Consists of one brood box w/ten frames bees and honey, bottom, and flat top....All good solid equipment, no junk......All bees must go as I am retiring due to poor health.....Credit from unfilled orders can be applied to colony purchase if desired or will be repaid from proceeds......

[Oldtimer]

Beepriddy, you can't count.

[HuNu Farm]

I was notified Tuesday that my bees had shipped. The P.O. called at 6:50 am on Thursday that they had arrived. The package was in great shape - queen and 99% of the bees alive and happy. Got them in the hive yesterday. No complaints.

[greybeardmike]

I was notified Wednesday that my bees had shipped. The Post Office called about 7:30 Friday morning to say they were here. The queens were alive but there were quite a few dead bees in one box. The temperatures have dropped back into the high 80s this week but extremely humid. They are in the hive now. I hope there is enough goldenrod and sumac around for a good fall build up for winter. Considering how much further south I am, I feel lucky to have gotten bees this year.

[ToddFiala]

I am still waiting for my five packages of Russian bees ordered last December to be shipped the week of May 16. I understand that some of the people who recently recieved Russian bee packages ordered as late as April 16 of this year. I called Long Creek and finally got a hold of David and asked him when they are going to ship. I was told Saturday or Monday. Then I kindly told him that I have heard that line since May. I then asked him how many orders are ahead of mine. He just said not many. Now I just find out through this website that his policy of shipping in order received without exceptions is not being followed. Hey beepriddy, you mentioned that you have experience in customer service, how would you handle this? I am extremely discouraged right now and have little faith in my order being sent. Can anyone give me some advice? Maybe I have been too kind and patient?

[beemaster01]

Everybody here is getting what they want, Long Creek will be no more. What else do you want, blood? Unfortunately, I don't have any of that to spare. Sorry.

[ToddFiala]

I don't want blood, I just want my bees. I am just another customer caught up in a mess that I don't want to be in. What did the others do to get their bees?

[ToddFiala]

Saturday afternoon I got an email from Long Creek indicating that my order has been shipped that day. I am looking foreward to filling the hives.

[Francus]

I really don't think people here were out for blood. Nor do I feel people were looking for Long Creek to fold. They just wanted bees, or answers, or a refund.

Even late bees would have gone down better if there was better communication. In situations like this I often wonder how many others are in a similar situation but don't talk about it or hit the forums to find out more. The only reason I did on this thread was I bitched about not getting my bees on another thread and a private email suggested I check out besource.com. After that, I spoke up.

Again, I got my bees. Late, but not too late. The bees seem to be good quality and the queen is laying after a week and a half. But had my phone calls been answered or my emails answered more frequently, or better yet better news on the site, I probably wouldn't have bothered to comment.

As it was, due to the lack of info I shelled out for a local hive. Which was extra money I wasn't planning on spending. But what the hey! I got them pronto and now I have two hives.

So, I guess what I am trying to say is that no one was gunning to put LC out of business. That happened because of the customer service all by yourself.

[beemaster01]

Francus;

You obviously haven't read the entire thread. If you do, you will change your mind.

[ToddFiala]

I had a phone call from the post office at 7 am to inform me that the bees are here. I was surprised that they arrived so soon, being shipped on Saturday. I put them in hives, but unfortunately, one package had a dead queen. Now for the hassle of insurance paperwork.

Todd

[PhilB]

David,

You accepted my payment for 3, 3lb packages of Carniolan/Russian Hybrid bees in March of 2010 and you cashed my check for $311.10 the day you received it. You promised delivery in June 2010, July 2010 and May 2011 but still nothing.
Like so many others, in spite of the repeated disappointments I have remained hopeful that by being patient, perhaps you would make good on your promise but your refusal to answer calls or reply to my e-mail or communicate your intentions is making it difficult to keep my cool.

Your exact quote from March 16th was: "We are reserving the first 9 days of May to ship transfer orders such as yours. As your order is paid in full, there will be no extra charge. Thank you very much for your business."

I have sent dozens of polite e-mails reminding you of my order and including my address and yet, March 16th is the only correspondence I received in a year's time. I even called and sent copies to multiple known e-mail addresses for you, including the address used on March 16th so you had to be receiving them. What am I doing wrong?

Phil B - Fish Creek WI 54212
(P.S. I live in a very small town - anything sent to Phil B in Fish Creek will get delivered to me.)

[HuNu Farm]

David,
I saw on your Long Creek Apiary website the message about queens from last week being "drone layers". Being new to beekeeping, I had to look up what that means! I can see through the observation window on my TBH that the Russians I received on July 7 have built at least two frames of comb. Should I be worried about my Russian queen being a drone layer, or did the early July shipments look okay? Thank you!

[beemaster01]

I hold queens to make sure that they are laying worker brood, especially this year since we have had such a bad year for bees. That is the reason I caught the bad queens before they were shipped. All the queens in packages and queen orders that I have shipped this year to date should be good.

A queen that isn't laying by the time she is 16 days old will be a drone layer. A queen requires a nice sunny day with very little wind and temperatures above 72 degrees to mate. There is also a narrow time frame that a queen must mate or she will give up and not mate at all. For example, 5 days of rain or cool temperatures at the wrong time will prevent a queen from mating.

Verifying that a queen is fertile can delay shipments but a package with a drone-laying queen is a waste of your money. By the time you realize that there is something wrong, the package usually has dwindled down so much that even if you replace the queen, it might not survive. I have had these problems all year and eventually you just run out of time.

[Grizbee]

Hey David, Hows the hive sale going? Just wondered if you have $936.90 in the bank yet, still checkin' my mailbox for that refund every day

[beemaster01]

If you READ what the website says, sales start after August 1st. I am currently checking hives to make sure they are queenright with fertile queens. There has been very little response to date to the offer. If you look at the cost of a package, equipment, cost of feeding sugar and the labor involved, $175.00 is a very reasonable price. You could very easily have more than that invested at this point. If there is not a good response, especially with the environment in Washington to the current economy, I may be forced to stay in the business another year. I will just see how it all plays out.

[HuNu Farm]

I would LOVE to be able to take advantage of that deal, but just can't make the drive down there right now. Really - these bees are high quality. I'm amazed at how far my package of Russians have progressed, starting from bare bars, in my top bar hive since July 7. Especially since it has not rained here in over 3 weeks, and we've had 95+ degrees every day since they've arrived. I am feeding them sugar syrup in the hive and they have constant access to water nearby. We've ditched the suits, gloves, and veil already - these bees have shown no trace of aggression. David, thank you again! My 4 year old loves "his" bees and can't wait until they start making honey.