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Russell Apiaries

231K views 504 replies 148 participants last post by  jim lyon 
#1 ·
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.
 
#456 ·
Ted sent me this yesterday:

Barry, I am alive and well but busy with bees. The Alabama bee company is in NO way affiliated with Russell apiaries..I shook about 300 pounds of bees for the Russells back in 2011 in trade for queens because of supposed disasters that kept occuring over there in Missippippi. It took a year and half to get my queens and the ones I got in 2012 were duds. So right then and there in 2011, I smelled skunk. Thus I did not get involved with any other business dealings with the Russells. I shook the bees because as a commercial beekeeper I knew his father. All of us commercials know each other. But to this day I do not know if Robert Hughes, who came to my place of Business with his sidekick Phillip, was Robert Russell. Nor do I know if Robert Hughes is J. Russells illegitimate son by the other woman. I do know that Mr. Russell senior when he was alive ran a good business. He made a living off of 1200 hives of bees and produced around 150 drums of honey a year. Not the thousands of hives that was claimed on Beesource. I do know that the Russells were involved with development of the VSH bees. All the commercials at that time were-Normans, Rossman, Myself, Harrell and sons just to name a few. It was a matter of survival in those days. The damage that has been done to the industy by Russell with his fradulence will take a long time to repair. The sale of bees, nucs and queens is done on a trust basis. That sacred trust has been broken.... Barry, you may post this if you want to. And my reponse to Swamp boy as to why I do not go to Alabama meetings anymore-call me I am in the phonebook..TED Kretschmann- A member of Sioux Honey ass. Sweetening a golden tommorrow
 
#458 ·
I'm glad this appears to be working out for everyone. It could of been worse there are a lot of Long Creek customers still waiting on checks. I wonder what the plans are for RR. At this point you don't know what to believe about the company but, I did enjoy reading his post.
 
#467 ·
Did anybody else see this on their website?

"Our legal representatives are working to stop the false allegations that have been spread around. These pages will be activated again as soon as that has been completed. Thank you for your patience and support."

I'm sure they are all false. I haven't heard of them doing anything wrong.
I'm still waiting for my $130.50 but I must be making that up. I have a receipt if anybody wants to see it. :waiting:
 
#469 ·
I've been sending requests since they put that link up on their site. I even sent another email yesterday saying I would either take what I originally ordered or a refund. It makes no difference to me. I'm glad to see that Russell is making it right with some of you but I've yet to even receive an email back. I hate to see trouble with anybody in the bee business but I work hard for my money.
 
#470 ·
I am still in shock that I got my money if not the season back. He may have run out of money or decided the heat is off by now. Search back thru these complaint threads. I believe there are addresses or places to contact authorities. The man found the motivation to pay after a visit to to jail. Maybe the law needs to help you.
 
#471 ·
Yeah, I sent an email also as a reminder, kind of like checking in, and big surprise?? No answer. Must have gotten a few taken care of and the pressure is off. I did file the complaint with the Gov't link for fraud, will send another email in another week or so. Would just be tooo good to be true that everyone get's their orders made right.
 
#472 ·
The expected has happened. Today, I received court notice that Russell Apiaries is in bankruptcy court. Regardless of what his supporters on this forum seem to believe, one cannot run a business the way Russell Apiaries has been run and treat customers the way Russell Apiaries has and expect to stay ahead of bills and orders.

Beekeepers, in general, are among the finest people on Earth. This episode has shown that there are exceptions. I have long-since given up on getting my refund or queens, but Russell Apiaries and his supporters at least owe the rest of us a deep and sincere apology. I'll not hold my breath.
 
#473 ·
Interesting. I'm no lawyer, but... In the case of refunds made within 90(?) days prior to the bankruptcy filing those refunds may be seen as "preferential payments" and the recipients could be ordered to return that money to the "trustee" for subsequent disbursement to his creditors...secured creditors getting theirs first and everyone else getting what is left over...nothing. If I got a refund I certainly would not mention it...and hope that Russell doesn't.

Ed
 
#477 ·
I got the same bankruptcy notice from them in today's mail. I do not believe there was ever an intent to make things right. I kept fairly quiet during this whole circus - just hoping and believing in the good of farmers. But thinking back I was taken to the cleaners by an old horse trade before I started shaving. Should have learned my lesson then :scratch: Once a horse thief always a horse thief.
 
#479 ·
I got the bankrupt notice on Saturday. The bad thing is, as with a lot of companies that declare bankruptcy, he'll be back stealing beekeepers money in no time at all. I like how they state on the website that many of the operators pulled out of the state operator program due to false allegations on another website which caused the demise of the company. Do those "false" allegations have anything to do with stealing money?

I took the time to rewrite their notice on the russell site for them to better reflect what happened.

Sadly, after stealing beekeepers hard earned money and after restructuring the company in order to trick some hard working beekeepers into the state operator program, and investing so much of their hard earned money into that program, on top of major health issues, we were forced to close and enter bankruptcy upon the exiting of many of the operators due to some very true and real allegations made on another website. All creditors have been listed in the bankruptcy and you should receive a copy of this in the mail and forget about ever getting your money back. We pretended to take a large risk with your money in the hopes that we could benefit the industry in great ways by creating a future of specifically localized acclimated genetics, and with the fall of that program and failing health, we have lost too much to be able to survive the damages, even though we spent every penny of your money. (insert evil laugh)

There are still several excellent producers with our stocks, and we will continue to refer incoming requests to them but hope nobody will bother us. With the closing of the company, all production, retail, and wholesale activities were halted, which means stop bugging us, you are not getting your money! This website will instead be used as an educational tool for Robert Russell to personally reach the many supporters that seek his advice. These writings will of course include, a full report on how to steal money and get away with it, along with a multitude of beekeeping and gardening topics, such as management techniques, selection methods, equipment construction, pest and disease control, and evolutionary theory, as well as an interesting and very personal look at the connections between our diets and the fight against cancer.
 
#487 ·
<snip>

I took the time to rewrite their notice on the russell site for them to better reflect what happened.
<snip>
What is ironic is that in today's crazy world of litigation there is a far-fetched possibility "Doc" could hire a greasy lawyer, sue folks for slandering him and *causing* his business irreparable harm that lead to it's failure and suddenly victims find themselves as the defendants. I'd say the chances are just about nil that he would pursue that and that the chance of "Doc" winning if he did such a thing would be even less...but, stranger things have happened...especially in our justice/legal system filled with shade-tree lawyers.

Ed
 
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