Anyone have recent contact with Russell Apiaries? Placed an on-line order for queens with them on Jan 20. Payment went through but I have never received an order confirmation from them and all attempt to contact them have failed.
broke-t, I asked Russell and this is what he responded with. "Although we would normally welcome any beekeepers to visit, having an obvious ill-wisher take time away from our work and create tension in an already stressfull situation doesn't sound very appealing... He can hope for the worst from his own operation... Just stop responding to negativity on that thread Jackie... There are people that view others as competition and dealing with them only makes your job harder... We dont have to do business with those people and you dont have to let them stress you... Just ignore them on the forums and add them to your prayer list... We all have enough on our plates and the people that depend on us deserve our full attention..."
"Although we would normally welcome any beekeepers to visit, having an obvious ill-wisher take time away from our work and create tension in an already stressfull situation doesn't sound very appealing... He can hope for the worst from his own operation... Just stop responding to negativity on that thread Jackie... There are people that view others as competition and dealing with them only makes your job harder... We dont have to do business with those people and you dont have to let them stress you... Just ignore them on the forums and add them to your prayer list... We all have enough on our plates and the people that depend on us deserve our full attention..."
Doc has been beyond helpful to many on this forum over the years, that has not been lost on some of us and i for one am very thankful for his advice and support.
Seems that some are afraid of the competition that indeed makes America great and feel it necessary to take jabs at a man (or company) when they are faced with adversity.
Gee, my world has been turned inside out two years in a row, by mother nature, things are in a shambles and need immediate attention to salvage what is my livelyhood, and i miss some emails, or shipments due to circumstances out of my control.
I think this would be the BEST time for a VISIT!!! Really?
I don't know him, never bought a bee from him (but will), have never personally talked with him, have no clue what he looks like. But like i would with anyone who has gone thru things like this, have some Grace.
I am sorry to hear about Russells misfortunes. I personally know nothing about the Russell operation nor have I had any business dealings with him, if memory serves me correctly Broke T has visited there. Out of curiosity has anyone else here seen or been able to make it over there to help them pick up the pieces?
I am sorry to hear about Russells misfortunes. I personally know nothing about the Russell operation nor have I had any business dealings with him, if memory serves me correctly Broke T has visited there. Out of curiosity has anyone else here seen or been able to make it over there to help them pick up the pieces?
My helpers and I were there during the clean up. I worked with Robert for years while he helped me get big enough to go commercial in honey. I worked in every yard and met some awesome bee keepers. Never met any Johnny from Philadelphia. He says that Mr Russells sunkist would eat you out of house and home and I know that didn't come from visiting Mr Russell or using the sunkist.
I don't consider Robert a competitor. I have more orders for queens than I can produce. I knew Roberts dad and visited with him several times. It just bothers me when I see things that don't add up.
I would love to see how the Russell operations work, as I know seeing him in person and seeing how his operations work would go miles for my education, but I know he (and everyone from the company) is extremely busy, and does not have time to cater to a "site visit" as such.
But, if Doc ever offered a course, or a shadow session, or a class of some kind, I would be very interested in attending or participating. I know the odds are slim (and he doesn't have the time to do one), but I'd be willing to cash in vacation time to attend.
"It's always good when your gut feeling about someone who you have never met turns out to be 110% correct. God Bless All of you at Russell Apiaries."
I second that!!
We had the second year running with floods. The Pecan's I harvested this year I can eat myself. Not much I can do about disapointed customers. Just hope for better next year.
I wish RR and his family and crew all the best
Barry, busy people being on the internet at night instead of when they are busy during the day? No, does't seem odd at all. You never get on here at night?
Phil, uh huh, couldn't help it either could you? See I'm not the only one that it's getting to.
Broke T, I have never met you either. Maybe you just showed up at JN's home or something?
Specialkayme, I bet Russell would let you shadow him for a few days so long as he is going to be in one place for a while.
max2, we are going to Australia this fall! I can't wait!
Personally for all the HYPE the sunkist strain wasn't that special. I have a few sunkist queens from last year they were slow to start and the bees seem retarted as far as I am concerned. My other srains are and were more productive and yes their customer svc sucks nothing special there either.
This is not the place for vendor updates. That is to be done in private communication or in the for sale forum if it is a follow up to an ad. Thank you.
Never had any dealings with them, but as for me communication and customer service are what gets my business. But from reading this thread, I think Barry is on to something. Russel does not get on here any more but all of a sudden an employee desides to go out of his way to defend his boss.It just so happens the employee posts at the same time that the boss usualy posts. Sounds a little fishy, I think the employer and employee are the same person. I have had a couple of good bosses, but never one I thought that highly ofopcorn:.
If Russell really wanted to discuss the issues on this thread, why would he not do it under his own account? Posting as an "employee" leads no added credibility than it would if he posted directly.
Why is it so suspicious that two people that work together post at similar times? Maybe they work on similar schedules. They do, after all, work at the same place.
And if twink really was Robert, why would he quote himself as saying "stop wasting your time posting on that site."
I just don't get it I have ordered queens for Dr. Russell no problem and when my hive absconed I let the Dr. know and he sent me a replacement he paid for the shipping and all. Dr Russell is good people I bet you can't count how many people he has help on this site alone. Two years in a row bad weather during queen production time this year one of his nuc yards got hammered give the guy a brake I am sure when things get back in order the Dr will make things right the best he can
Boy Barry you sure killed this thread J/K I emailed them today to make sure they still had record that they were going to send me a replacement queen for one that didn't take, they got right back to me and are going to ship her along with some others I just ordered today.Rod
Robert was a generous contributor to Beesource and his presence is missed. I learned much just reading his contributions. It seemed clear to me that his motives were to educate and help his fellow beekeepers. I'm really disappointed to see such accusations in open forum.
Update. I got a email from Russel Apiaries today, 4/17, they started shipping 4/16 they are behind and not sure when my order will get out. Thats all I needed I dont have to order other queens, I can work around a few days or weeks of delay.
I picked up my SunKist Cordovan at the PO this morning. Shipped on the the 16th and in fine shape when she got here, This is the first Cordovan color I've seen and they are a beautiful bee.
I received my beautiful Queens from Russell Apiaries this morning in the mail. Just as they had promised.
I fail to understand where anyone does not understand that this is not a competition for sales. As I understand every one usually sells all the queens that they produce.
I fail to understand why anyone would be jealous of someone (Dr. Russell) who while obviously not perfect but tries to deliver on time a high quality product.
I fail to understand why all can't see that his only intent here on Beesource was/is to help beekeepers all around the world. I see that his love of bees probably comes before profit.
Good luck to all and we all need to have a little more patience and understanding!!!
Picked up my 4 queens yesterday at the PO. They were ordered a few weeks ago with a "ship date request" of "see doc" and Robert had emailed me to do. They looked great. Hived them today. They should be out in a couple of days!!!!
There seems to be at least one poster in this thread that implies that the destruction described by Russell employee(s) to at least one of their buildings and a large 5 frame nuc yard is made up. Well, I saw a large pine tree laying through the middle of his building a few weeks ago ... it certainly seemed real to me. It certainly doesnt help speed things up in the busy spring season.
This is agriculture. Weather slows things down or (in this case) causes damage which can be fixed but it takes a little time. Would you rather they fix the damage or email every time someone asks a question of no consequence (in this twitter, facebook generation (most thoughts and comments really are a waste of most peoples time and doesn't really require a response).
If a business owner or employee takes to time to respond every time a customer writes an email, you would be able to read a book the length of this thread on 20% of your customers. I have some sunkist queens and they are best queens in my apiaries (one other strain I have is just as good, but they are certainly worth having).
Now, the busiest (meaning best) queen breeders arent going to call or email you back in the Springtime... Get it? I'm a commercial beekeeper and you couldnt pay me enough to mass produce quality queens due to the massive amount of time it takes 6 months out the year just to produce the product. There are only so many hours in the day. There is not time to respond to thousands of people every day. Be patient if you ordered. If you havent ordered and aren't the patient type, you probably shouldnt order at all. My $0.02...
Regarding their damage, if they have everything fixed and got back on track with orders, then I am impressed. Remember, I saw the damage AND I dont work for them (and, no, I'm not a Russell).
yeah but their service was subject before the storm. I have never had a phone message returned or an email. The last nuc update was 4/10, 18 days ago. If their method of communicating is their web site, how much effort does it take to update it once a week or so. If they don't want to sell to non-comercial beeks, stop. BTW they added a new product, May-June nucs for sale but no communication about Aptil-May nucs. I have a $1200 order pending. Update us please.
In their defense, if they have several hundred customers all screaming about itty bitty 2 queen/nuc orders, they're probably way too busy to answer all those in a timely fashion, and paying a girl to do it costs money. Probably just a tight ship. I pay, I get what I order. Or thats what my experience was with them in 2011
Update: 3 of 4 doing great. One split ended up all getting Nosema or something and dying. Emailed Russell. Will see if another is shipped. Either way, I am still happy with the queens. Will likely order more in the future.
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