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R. Russell queens

73K views 153 replies 57 participants last post by  Vance G 
#1 ·
Greetings all!

Was wondering if anyone who has ordered queens from R. Russell has received them yet? If so, could you tell me a) when you ordered them? and b) when they arrived?
Thanks,
Steven
 
#43 ·
Twinkie...

So, do you call this poor service? In what way can you defend this?

1. Emailed regarding shipping dates, etc. before ordering. I did get a response and was told what to do in order to get them the week of my order(May 7).
2. Ordered and did what I was told.
3. The week of May 7 comes and goes. No emails letting me know the order is delayed. On the 11th, I did email just asking if I should expect them the next week. Got no response.
4. May 21, I email because I know I am going to be traveling June 3-10 and am concerned that the queens would ship that week.
5. May 23, I email the same concern again because of no response to first email. Got a response that the order would marked to NOT ship that week. Was asked if next week would actually work for me. I, of course, said HECK YES as long as they would arrive on or before Friday June 1st.
6. On the 29th, I get an email from the USPS stating the queens had been shipped the 29th.
7. Friday the 1st comes and goes with no queens. I talk to USPS and they state that the queens have a shipping # but that they were never actually picked up. WHAT???? In Russell's defense, this was a USPS issue...
8. Queens arrive Saturday, June 2nd. I am leaving 7:00AM on the 3rd for 9 days. Do I have time to run down to a yard to put queens in? Don't have much of a choice do I?
9. 1 queen DOA along with all attendants, the other queens alive. Took pics of DOA queen and email to Rusell. Place 2 remaining in hives.
10. Received email from Russell saying they will mail replacement queen and will ship June 11th. I offered actually pay overnight shipping on the replacement queen. They graciously declined.
11. June 10, checked queens. Released but not laying.
12. I'll skip ahead....June 18th, both queens are gone having never layed an egg. No replacement queen in the mail yet.
13. Today, the 20th, still no replacement queen and no responses to emails that I've sent.

So, have I communicated well enough and do I qualify for "poor service" based on your definition? Numerous times, I have either had the shipping dates come and go and have had no response to attempted communications.

Seriously, you've got to stop defending the undefendable....my story pales compared to so many others. I only "lost" $100. Many have lost a great deal more.
 
#49 · (Edited)
8. Queens arrive Saturday, June 2nd. I am leaving 7:00AM on the 3rd for 9 days. Do I have time to run down to a yard to put queens in? Don't have much of a choice do I?
11. June 10, checked queens. Released but not laying.
12. I'll skip ahead....June 18th, both queens are gone having never layed an egg.
.
I am not commenting on the service or anything of that nature...upfront here.
What i am commenting on is the loss of the laying queens.
June 2 or 3rd you installed
June 10 checked for release and laying, noting nothing going on
Here is the crux of that problem. When installing queens, place them in so you can see the queen candy openning when you check 4 days later at the earliest! Place the cage in such a way that if the candy is not gone it will take very little to release, preferably with no frame removal. This is very important. On day 4 from install, only open the lid, check and if the candy is gone, close the lid. On day 12 then check for laying. Checking or disturbing the hive any more before that period and they will ball the queen. She needs time to go over the frames and spread her pheremones as well as to get the new eggs hatched out so the bees can get to work.
Edit:
One other thing. When we kill a queen or split and then re queen the next day, it is important to quickly check the frames. This year especially I am seeing the hives get started earlier than normal on making cells. I am finding that if I requeen the next day and if i am close to the 24 hour mark, they have already started cells. What I have found is they have superceded the new queen. Why, there were some small emergency supercedures. Those emergency cells are tricky. Some of them are very small and runty. They would almost pass for drone cells.
 
#44 ·
I'm confused hawk, #8 on YOUR list, leaving june 3rd for 9 days. Then # 11 on YOUR list, on the 10th, 7 days later checked the queens. Fuzzy math, or someone else checking your bees.
If you had someone else checking the bees that is adept enough to see if they are laying or not they could also while you are still out of town on your 9 day trip, install a queen cage in the hive. I understand your frustration as a consumer. I also understand Docs issues and am not defending the response his company has given to some of their clients. BUT, how's this working for you? I also have ordered a queen from them recently. I will wait until it gets here, period, i know it will come. BUT if it absconds, gets rolled, i kill it, it doesn't lay a bazillion eggs in the first 24 hours, its color is not quite right, it smells like avocados, i will NOT expect a FREE replacement due to some issue that may be my fault or just nature. I will not consider this a fault of their customer service. Dude, you buy a cow, it don't give milk, takes 3 steps and dies, that's livestock. If they sold you a bad cow, that's one thing, BUT if you did something, which from your own posts does not discount this as a possibility, take some responsibility for the fact maybe YOUR actions or the hives they were introduced to had something to do with the failure. Maybe it did, maybe not. just saying it may be a possibility, and maybe a slam session here may not be the proper avenue for your angst.
I thought this was the regular forum, not consumer section where this should have been, OR the whine line.
Maybe my meds are working right...
good luck to ya.
 
#45 ·
OK ,,,sometimes i just have to speak up ,,,and you all should now by now how near and dear this thread is to me soo :popcorn: .The reasons the queens arent laying well is because they were banked ..Every word i say is not open to discssion ,,,its fact . I bought, picked up 25 sunkist nucs last yr ..to be picked up in early june ..I got the run around and didnt get them until aug 8th ..The ad said ..3-4 frames of brood with the same laying queen . What i got was old comb ..only 3 had brood and the rest banked queens .Lets not forget the slime covered honey frames with shb . I got a extra 5 queens in a bank : in case something got squished in transit . The truth is i got 4lbs of bees shaken into nucs , The extra queens werent extra ,,they just werent put in the box . When i talked to bob he said ,,,are there enough bees ? Meaning tough on the brood ..when i asked about why they werent laying ,,,he said ,,,thats expected from banked queens ,,,when i said something about the shb he said thats to be expected . Really ? ...i drove 2000 miles and spent 3000$ on the trip for this ? He said he stands behind his bees and would send me packs to make up for it . Well its about july . I made a monster mistake and bought 10 moonbeams last june ,,,not a word about that 400$ . Now that i knew the deal i asked for a refund in april ,,,twinky got a pm where i asked for a refund ,,,did she bother to bring that up ? What sunkist i have left are up to 2 boxs ...for a overwintered nuc thats not impressive . I called pay pal and my bank ..the bank is a bigger hammer because they can bring charges . The product is worth the wait is just a fairy tale ..if you get a product . There is more to this than meets the eye ,bob talks a big game that he cant back up . Boys ,,,ladies ,,he's a snake oil salesman ...and for anyone that cares to call me out on this i got 100$ on the table that says he goes bankrupt to dodge his responsibilities before the season is out . In my vids i say where every queen is from ,,,eyes dont lie . Heres the worst http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HtEdd32vO1c&feature=plcp . Its your money but if i defended someone ,,id rather go Adi Amin. PS ...i never did get one taker for the moonbeams @ 375$ ..its not to late to transfer that transaction .,,,seeing voice mail is full and they have selective email . Three words for you ..you were warned ...ok 4 ...repeatedly
 
#46 ·
We have been warned. If my Moonbeam shows up I will be shocked at this point. They did charge my card before shipping the product which I believe is a violation of FTC law which is, ladies and gentleman, is a violation of a Federal Law. This can't be good as my brother is a lawyer that loves doing pro bono work for me. ;-)
 
#47 ·
my moonbeams are doing well, nice like puppy dogs. Some of the other queens arnt doign so hot, but its probly becuase I had no time to introduce everyone correctly. live and learn. If I was to complain to russells I would be one of the many who have caused the reason for russell to go back to commercials. Was there some duds in this batch? with out a doubt yes, but I know that the 8 splits I made one day didnt all have duds, while 5 I did the other day all had top of the line queens. Learnt my lesson. I screwed up, oh well.
 
#48 ·
Beezly,
Are you really gonna make me out to be the bad guy based on a typo and me coming back a day or two earlier?

I have NOT asked for money back on the queens that were released and then mysteriously "disappeared" before laying. The replacement queen I am speaking of in #12 is the DOA queen that I was told would be shipped on the 11th of this month. I do expect either a replacement queen or a refund. EVERY queen breeder does that. I, along with dozens of other folks, am still waiting on this replacement queen, again, that I WAS TOLD WOULD BE SHIPPED ON THE 11th.

Twinkie is a hack...and you are the next sucker/victim. You just sit back and wait on that queen to show up. If you only run a hive or two, you can afford it. If you're like so many of us that have future income that is dependent up the timing of splits, then we have the right to be angry. I did EVERYTHING I was told by Russell in order to get the queens by a certain date. I have a calendar that I operate on in order to make splits, grow them to make it thru winter so that I can split and sell nucs next spring. The one month delay on those three queens and now loss of all three has set me back over 6 weeks on 3 hives. I will not be able to make queens off of any of the 3 queens. In a nutshell, because of this, I will be unable to make 9 additional splits...$120X9=$1080 that I have potentially lost.

Over and over, folks are chiming in here sharing horrible experiences where they were mislead/decieved. I felt this way at first, backed off of it and even sent an apology email. After seeing the results of the queens I received, hearing stories of folks receiving "banked queens" and DOA queens not being honored with a replacement, I for one, am now of the belief that this group is exactly what folks are saying about them. The sad thing is that my story/experience PALES compared to what others have lost.

So, again, you just sit back and wait on that queen and nit pick our statements while ignoring the big picture....
 
#52 ·
Hawk,
By no means am i trying to make you out to be the bad guy. If you came back early, ok, don't care. I have been reading all of the threads about these issues here and on russells site. You have made it a point to be very detailed in your many extracted posts and i just saw a couple of inconsistancies. I also don't care about typos. If i misunderstood that you were just waiting on 1 replacement, then i guess i misread something in the maze of posts concerning this.
My main point is that many have stated their issues here, and should. You seem particularly determined to get your point hammered home and i was just asking how is that working for you?

As for my order, i do not run just 1 hive, far from it, but due to some of what has been said here ordered just 1 in hopes of getting it. If i don't, then yep, i am a sucker. But you won't see me coming on here...many, many times to share my frustration about it. I'll lick my wounds and try to get my money back thru steps available to me.
No your not the bad guy. Just wondering when it will be that enough is enough.
and i still think all of these threads concerning this should have been in consumer section, not muddying the regular forum.
Good luck to all of us.
 
#53 ·
Honeyshack...

That's hogwash....I've been keeping bees with my father since I was 5. On my own since my late 20's. I'm 45 now. In all those years, I've had 3. Yes, only 3 queens that were balled. 2 of them were the SK queens from this year. I've released probably hundreds of queens into hives from cages. To say that they are going to ball a queen because I open up the hive, pull a frame, see her and put the frame back in 8 days later(WITH NO SMOKE I MIGHT ADD...NOTHING), it just plain, flat out HOGWASH. I've opened a hive in fewer days and have seen the queen numerous times without this result. Plain hogwash. I've gotten PM's and emails from others on here that have had the same exact experience.

Beez, you're right. It's not getting anything accomplished by chiming in here. Most of us are responding to Twinkie's unbelievable/crazy defense of them. She is really the one that tries to turn the table on us jilted customers and somehow make it look like we are the one's at fault for coming on here and stating the truth. Funny thing is, every time she writes some hack of a defense, ANOTHER jilted customer pops on. My detailed response(with typos...oops), was a response to her trying to justify some poor service by them. I figured if I wrote out a more detailed experience, it might be more difficult for her to defend...and, again, my story PALES compared to others. I lost $100. Others have lost $1000's of dollars and have seen nothing in return. But you're right. It is beating a dead horse. They'll no longer be offering to the public after this year. Twinkie is trying to almost blame us for that happening, but in reality, they did it to themselves. For me, it's back to the NICOT system that I use a couple of times a year to make a batch of queens for splits. I will refrain from any additional comments....unless someone else responds with a ridiculous defense of their customer service.
 
#54 ·
those who have been upset over the CS of RA.. How are you going to react, and feel when things are made right? because all I have read about RA is of company owned by a man who does everything to make it right with the customer. These issues will never happen again because this is the last year RA is selling to the little guy. So RA identified the issue and is doing everything to avoid it. I have seen a few apologize. River RA already told you they would replace the dead queen, and you know as well as every other beekeeper about releasing queens. Did you just set them loose out of the cages? As for seals complaint he just seems hell bent to not get his money or a replacement, he seems more determined to mar RA reputation. As for being illegal to take a credit card before a client reseves merchandise. That is hog wash. How many merchants give products into the control of a customer before they are paid???? None with half a brain that I know of.. the largest percentage of internet transactions are pay first. A business sending product before payment will not last very long, not in this world.
I defend because I feel some of you are making fools of yourself. Sure you are harming RA but you are also harming yourself. If any of you become queen breeders or sell supplies, I personaly would not want to do business with you. Because how you are behaving is not professonal. And shows signs of a quick and unresonable temper. Doing any business with quick tempered and unresoanble people is nonhe productive. This beekeeping community is a small one, and with me writing this and if I became a queen breeder or sold supplies how would this post effect me?? In my view positivly because I am sure the worse of you would not want to do business with me.. Any business owner knows the worse part of business are the few crazies. I would seriously think before I wrote about negetive experinces. A good rule to go by is react as if RA was your friend . If by next year you are still disgruntled and it is not of your doing, then go for it. but all of you know what has happened here, with the bad weather, the deaths, and the understanding RA has admitted this is too much for them, so bare with them. Yet you keep on coming and get worse.
 
#55 ·
Seal62 I've just checked out your youtube video re the Sunkists.

I dont see any honey or pollen in those frames not a drop? if she dosn't have at least a couple of frames of honey and some pollen she's not going to lay.

I've had a number of "lame" queens they dont need all their legs to walk and haven't noticed any big difference in egg laying ability.
 
#56 ·
BeeG, this is RA's last year selling to "the little guy" because so many "little guys" have had such bad service that folks are out there talking about it. Is that our fault? As a matter of fact, you and many others, probably owe some folks on here a big fat THANK YOU. As for the release of the queens...geeze. I don't think I need to defend myself but here goes. I make a nuc/split/hive queenless for 24 hours, place the queen cage in the hive and allow the hive to release her on their own....JUST LIKE THE REST OF THE BEEK WORLD DOES IT AND HOW I'VE DONE IT FOR 20 YEARS AND MY FATHER HAD DONE IT FOR 40 YEARS. RA said they would replace the queen and ship June the week of June 11th. It's the 21st and STILL NO QUEEN. For the love of pete, do you "defenders" not get it? OVER AND OVER these folks tell you something and they don't do it. OVER AND OVER!!! That's what folks keep saying on here and, for some odd reason, people keep defending them??? BeeG, you can sit there and say you'd never buy nucs/queens/bees from me. Fine. But you've never worked with me. We've worked with them and we are warning folks. It's folks like you that hop on here midway and try to chime in and defend them having had NOTHING to do with the situation. Have you been mislead by them? No. We have. Do you they owe you $$? No. Others on here are. Scroll thru some earlier posts. A "refund" was denied by the bank because the funds weren't there. Did they say they'd send you queens on certain dates and not send them? No. Others on here have experienced that. Have you had to send them email after email, phone call after phone call with no response? No. Folks on here have.
I can guarantee you this...there have been folks that have read these posts that have chosen to not place orders because of our experiences. In some ways, our experiences have been a gift to them. Again, mine is minor compared to others. The point is mute after this summer. I, for one, am glad of that.
You can say we look "foolish". Fine. I am willing to be a "fool for the truth" any day.
 
#57 ·
river I have queens ordered myself.. heck just today I emailed them to add to that order.. I ordered my queens last year.. Why I did not get them. I asked to wait because of my possible usurpation. I then emailed them that my hives are now ready. I got emailed back that I was put back on this list, and I will wait. river I do not think you are a bad person, I just think you have jumped on the bandwagon. You know they are having issues, so why beat the dead horse? Have they told you No we will not help you? I think with all this lynch mob mentality, just caught you up in the scheme to try and keep kicking RA when it already admits it is down ,and is working as fast as possible to make things right. Is bee source really the place to resolve your issue with RA? Or are you just posting to send more harm their way? Did you purchase your bees through bee source? I mean come on. Anyone who writes negative warning emails on bee source are not doing so to rectify business dealings with RA!! They are doing it for negative attention. With RA claiming they are no longer selling small orders, then who the heck are you warning now??? Defenders as I am called and others like me, just do not find these post productive . I personally feel that once RA makes it right with you.. You will feel very bad. RR has written so many valuable post on this forum.. He has been very willing to help anyone who asked him through this forum. I just find it very heartless to keep attacking the man when he is down through this public forum.
 
#58 ·
Is it jumping on the bandwagon when you say "me too" and then have to defend yourself for saying "me too"?

You may not find it productive, but some do. I know I would have found posts regarding folks' negative/positive experiences productive if I had been smart enough to research even more before I ordered. You don't find it productive because you've ordered and, it appears, you don't really care when/if you get your queens. Chime back in when/if you haven't received your queens and you're trying to get a refund/email returned/phone call answered like so many other folks or they've told you when you're queens will ship and you go ahead and make your splits based on that date...and they don't show. Or perhaps you won't really care if you do/don't get any of those. That's your choice to be treated poorly and not fight back. Or maybe you will. Until you've walked down our road, it's just not really fair for anyone to try to say we are the ones being unfair/unreasonable.

I'm done here...you can just keep putting your head in the sand.
 
#59 ·
Oh I care when my queens come.. But I also see the obvious, and me making a fool out of myself is not going to make my queens arrive any faster. As for negative posters one in particular( Laura) could not stop with the venom. She slashed RA bloody.. She then had everything made right so well, that she begged to have her post removed. At least the woman had enough humanity to feel embarrassed. But then again us women fight better with our tongues. Which some men take too much to heart.
River if RA does not make it right for you then OK, But if he does, how are you going to feel? and again how are these post helping people? are you trying to destroy his commercial business?
I also have no idea how making splits has to do with getting new queens? I have been making splits ,and I have tagged the hives I need to requeen.. This bee keeping business is not something you can get upset about if plans do not go exactly as planned. If you can not roll with the flow.. I do not see how you can grow. So many things seem to happen. I had equipment ordered from another company put on back order after I paid ,which caused me distress. Which taught me I better be prepared next time, and not wait until the last minute for badly needed woodware. It seems this is the nature of this industry, hurry up and wait, then learn real quick how to improvise, and deal with the cards you are dealt. . You can not control the weather, and you can not keep beating a dead horse. I do believe RA knows they have issues with CS.. And I do believe they have taken measures to avoid a repeat of this year by closing down small order sells.
 
#60 ·
Very good point BG. RS is a fine person with good ethics and values. His company made an error by going to the "I want it now" consumer that they were unprepared to deal with. End of story. I believe they will make it right with everyone in due time. They also have a plan to put breeders in every state, so you can deal with someone local.

Sol made a great point early on about grafting some of your own queens. I believe everyone should give it a try. I have split many a hive and let them raise their own in a crunch. As we work the yards, we crack them off all the time. Re-queen later as I am better prepared. Most folks are afraid to give it a try.

Hawk, next year, give me a shout early on and I will bring you some cells, or if you prefere laying queens for free if you would like to have some new genitics. I have English Buckfast, or Danish Buckfast. I am just south of you, so its not that far. Then take five of those nucs, and make them nothing but brood builders. Keep yourself supplied through your own queen yards and nucs. You will have more than you can handle before you know it.

Kind regards
 
#61 ·
The only fools here are the ones that 1. Defend RA having had ZERO dealings with them and 2. Those that call those of us that have had poor dealings with them fools.

If "making good" is actually doing what you said you would do long after you said you would do it, then I'll be happy. But there's nothing else warranted on my part. Nothing else is due. Over and over, they have said they would do things and haven't. When they do finally "make it right", they are owed NOTHING from us. What are we supposed to do?? "Good news guys!!! RA came through 2 months late!! They really are upstanding!!!" Upstanding is doing what you said you would do THE FIRST TIME or in as timely of a manner and as gracious as possible.

If you ordered something from Walmart online and it didn't show up when it was supposed to, what would you do? You'd call them, email them and maybe even stop by the store. But if they never answered your calls, emails or didn't allow you on the property, you'd be mad. But when the product did finally show up, your reaction isn't going to be, "Hey, those Walmart folks aren't so bad after all. At least they did finally send it to me. Hey everybody, WALMART'S GREAT!!!" No...you'd tell everyone you knew to avoid ordering from Walmart online.

I'm such a fool that I've received, just today, a THANK YOU for posting this. He was about to order based upon their website only. But because this thread was at the top of the forum, and he read about all of our experiences, he chose to order elsewhere.

I keep hearing, "good folks", "ethical", etc....I'm not going to doubt their intensions and their hearts. But their actions have spoken louder.
My past experiences with purchasing queens:
1. They answer the phone and return emails.
2. If they can't fill the order, then they say , "I can't fill the order". RA takes the order and the $$ and doesn't tell if they can fill it by the date you asked. I find it hard to believe that they are unaware that they can't fill our orders. This is not an "I want it now" mentality. It's really a "I'd like for you to be up front and honest with us about when/if you can fill the order. If you can't, that's fine. I can look elsewhere for an order and I'll call you again since you were up front and honest with me." But because of how they have conducted themselves, there are tons of folks that are out there screaming, "Don't do business with them!" Now, whose fault is that?????

Look, I sell nucs every year and every year I have to say to people, "I'm sorry, I don't have anymore." This year, I actually called some folks back pretty early and told them that I would not be able to fill their order for nucs. Since they were the last orders, they were the first off the list and I refunded their deposits. I actually put them in touch with folks that I knew sold a good nuc. That's agriculture. I'm fully aware of it. Our business is affected by things we have no control over.

I keep saying I'm done with this, but them I was called a fool...

Do I dare bring up your sexist comments? Now, that show's who the fool is...
 
#62 ·
So everything is alright now that RA has done what he said he would do to start with. How many phone calls not answered. If they had answered 20% of the e-mail or phone calls, wouldn't that have been nice. How can a large beekeeper order a 1000 queens and have them show up a week late 2 weeks late, or not at all. The defenders on here are a joke, I hope you have as much luck with "RA" as I have. Take several days of from work send in your money and hear nothing. There is a sucker born every day and I was one. Tony
 
#63 · (Edited)
I see the heated debate over Russell is still going on.

I recieved a variety of PM's on beesourse concerning my posts about Russell Apiaries. Yes, I posted a lot, mainly to respond to his defenders ridiculous claims and badgering the people who were out a lot of money.

Some of the messages I received explained the fact this 'feud' was a long standing fight between beesource members and pointed out I was just the latest sucker to get drawn into it. Also about some of the posters extending circumstances for their late orders and to be fair, I thought it would be best if I apologized and asked if my posts would be removed.

I am sorry I did that since that was taken out of context as "begging for forgiveness'. My apology was critisized And I was called a horrable women.etc etc.

BEGGING? Please.

I have no patience for this crap and am really horrified at what I have read here on Beesource and Russells own web site.

And and update on the remainder of my order?..it was going to be sent that week in May. That was exactly a month ago.

Once again I have to sadly report-Same poor/non existant service. No answers to calls or emails. And my emails were not to badger them about my queens.My emails were to offered to pay for shipping and to let them know I would accept a different variety of queens if the Cordovan Sunkists were not available...My email went off into the dark world of emptiness and oblivion never to be heard from again.

My original order was due in April and now July is around the corner. Hmmmm...I should have stated April 2012. Maybe they thought it was April 2013?

A little sarcastic? You bet. I've never seen such a Dog and Pony show as these forums have put on.

I am sure many defenders will be responding to this post. Go ahead and waste your time.

The fight here isn't even about Russell anymore. It's the dispute between the defenders and the customers. Russells strangly quiet lack of input makes it seem like they really don't even exist. And yes, I agree with another post- I have never had my credit card charged before the item is ready to ship. Especially not months in advance of delivery (Or lack of) A deposit would be understandable, but payment in full..then months of ....nothing? Seems a public forum is the only place folks have left to try to get some response for their money. Pay pal is past the dispute date and nothing else works.

And one note: I ordered March 3, 2012. I have never changed my order or shipping date of April. My delivery month came and went and I only got some responce when I started voicing my concerns and a kind man from Beesource with inside connections helped me get some Virgins at the end of May -to at least help me get something going. Problem was they were not the variety I had ordered..and frankly after three days in the cage they already had quite a pile of eggs in the candy tube. Too old?? You tell me. Only a small few were accepted and after a month-they are still not producing any larva. They are beautiful queens and I am going to go out and squash them today.

Russell Apiaries has the best variety of genetics I've seen anywhere. If they could figure out their 'bugs' in the small consumer-customer service are they could do so well. I hope they do. Shame to not succeed with a good product. Many people have told me they will not read forum posts. Shame, they need someone to take all the unhappy customers reasons and figure out a way all (Customers and Russell) can be satisfied. But if no one is listening???

I was all set to place some nice sized orders this year and next..until I had samples of many of his varieties. I love genetics and sadly will not have the chance to play with his stock. It is a loss all around I'd say.

I have 65 hives + 50 mating nucs+nucs I built and tend myself. I sold a few horses to pay for all this and had some nice plans for raising quality bees. It is a disapointment my dealings with Russell ended up like many others did. No real resolution and a lot of emotional forum posts.
 
#65 ·
I see the heated debate over Russell is still going on.
It’s funny how you were trying to sell Russell genetics on Craig’s list until I brought it to your attention and you pulled it down today.

http://seattle.craigslist.org/tac/grd/3084328464.html

“As the summer progresses my grafted queens have really begun to achieve more success. I will have queen cells and mated queens for sale by the end of June.
I am grafting from my 2011 overwintered Glenn Apiaries Inseminated VSH Carniolan.)SHown in photo below-current pic) Read below about these genetics:

http://www.glenn-apiaries.com/catalog.html

Capped Queen cells from this queen will be$15.00 each-a few will be available this Thursday.
Mated VSH queens will be $30.00


Queen cells are time sensitive and must be picked up on time! I will now be grafting every Thursday so capped cell pick up will be ready on Saturdays for more convienent pick up dates for folks.

My next grafts will be from My own best locally overwintered and great producing queen, Russell Apiaries Sunkist Northern Select and English Buckfast queens.
These were open mated. Capped queen cells will be $12.00 and mated queens $25.00

Info for genetics-Russell queens:
http://russellapiaries.webs.com/apps/webstore/products/category/466366
I only have a limited amount of mating nucs, so mated queens are limited and not available until later in the summer for fall requeening needs. Capped cells are more available.

A few nucs headed by Standard Italians or Carniolans should be ready for sale by July 15th. Most are in five frame deeps. I also can make nucs with 6 1/4" frames.
Questions, please call 253-xxx-xxxx ask for Lauri

Sorry, no shipping this year. Raising queens takes scheduling and organization. I am still new and cannot guarantee queens to be ready on any given date. First come first serve this year folks.
I plan to have several more varieties available next year, but have to overwinter them first to be sure they are tough enough to withstand the the challenges of our Pacific Northwest climate.

Key words: bee, bees, honey, honeybees, honey bee, hive, apiary, bee keeping beekeeping ”


How hypocritical of you. When it’s to your advantage you will use their name as a selling tool but come on the forums and slam them. I understand that you have a problem with them… I think we all do by now. Do you think that airing your frustrations here will solve you dilemma?

I have no pony in this race and have no opinion on whether Russell queens are good or bad or anything about them. I have never done any transactions with them at all.

What I have a problem with is when people, in an open forum, complain about a company and then list for sale items that they are selling and using the company name to help out with their sales. I have now seen this twice with people using the Russell name. Both on BeeSource now. If the product is so bad then why would the person(you) want to be attached to it? You can’t complain in an open forum with out taking the chance that people will find fault, just as you have found fault with Russell. Your add reads as if the Russell Sunkist queens have been over wintered and are great producers. You also wrote in the past tense that they (the grafted ones for sale) are open mated. Is this not true? Is your add on Craig’s list then misleading?

I completely understand using the name of Russell in your add if that is what the mother queen stock is from. But is it not counter productive to then go on an open forum and complain about the productive of the queens you received? Or how the seller (Russell) has treated your order? An example that is way out there…. I have some mother queens from Joe Breeder. I am selling daughters. Go take a look at Joes site and check them out but please don’t read what I have said about his business and his queens over there. Because with what I said you might not buy from me then let alone from the breeder.

You have cut your own wrist trying to solve a problem that should not be in an open forum. When you have a problem with Safeway (local grocery store) do you write to the editor of the Tacoma Turbine many times to air your complaints? Maybe its time to “Get Jesse” from channel 7. You stated you case many many days ago and still have to keep the horse going around the track. Deal with the supplier not with the rest of the world. Maybe snail mail might be a better choice. Crap if I was him I would completely forget your order for good. He now has nothing to loose. Sugar works a lot better then piss and vinegar.
 
#66 ·
NW Mark...you have valid points. But what you don't understand is that you're coming in late having not been through the junk.

You're right, sugar works better than piss and vinegar. The sugar is so far in the past with some folks that it's crazy. We all tried that. Some on here have been dealing with this for over a year. We were "nice" and patient. But it just kept happening over and over. Eventually folks have just lost their patience and have posted here so that others won't have to experience what we have.

Yes, some vingar has been slung here. Go back and read. Most of the vinegar has come after someone has tried to put it back on us as if it was our fault this has happened. You will see me get defensive if you try to blame me for what I've experienced.

Bottom line: We purchased/ordered a product. We were told what dates to ask for the order to be shipped. It didn't ship then. We emailed or called to ask about it.(I was VERY graceful. I sell nucs and I know how weather, etc affects this). Most of us got no responses to calls or emails. Some of us got responses and were told a new date. More often than not, that date came and went, too. Some of us that did receive the product(eventually) got a questionable product. DOA queens in the mail. I'm still waiting on replacement. Poor queens once they are placed in the hive. Over and over, we are experiencing this.

If I sold you a product that turned out to not be anything close to what I promised and gave you the run around on follow up communications or exchange/replacement and you exhausted every means possible with me to settle up/get a refund, etc, you bet your bottom you'd tell everyone to not do business with me.
 
#71 · (Edited by Moderator)
If I sold you a product that turned out to not be anything close to what I promised and gave you the run around on follow up communications or exchange/replacement and you exhausted every means possible with me to settle up/get a refund, etc, you bet your bottom you'd tell everyone to not do business with me.
I have been screwed many times in my life from different people. The one thing that I have learned is if I can’t shake the persons hand at the beginning or end of the transaction then I am taking a gamble with my money. That’s the chance we all take with making purchases over the internet. You made a choice and gambled with your money. Do you really think your problem will be solved in an open forum?

I have a queen ordered from a company that is VERY HIGHLEY praised on this site. It was ordered in January. To this day it has not been received and I figured it’s a lesson learned and I went into the transaction with the self understanding that I was throwing my money out the door at the time. Is it worth me posting my sad face here about it..NO…. Life goes on and learn to live with it.

Like I said before if I was him I would completely forget your order for good. He now has nothing to loose. What good would it do now to make you happy. You and others have already done your best to destroy him. And what have you gotten for that? Nada... Zip ... Zero
 
#67 · (Edited)
Mark, Since you posted the same statements here as you did on Russells site I will also copy and paste my response.

Sorry you misread my ad. Heres what it states:

My NEXT grafts will be from My own best locally overwintered and great producing queen, Russell Apiaries Sunkist Northern Select and English Buckfast queens.

I see where this runs together somewhat and could be taken as all three are overwintered. My ad has been changed to delete the Russell name and stock only because I don't have it to offer.

These two Russell queens WERE open mated at my place..Remember they were virgins when I got them.

Capped queen cells WILL be $12.00 and mated queens $25.00

Just stating the price for these NEXT grafts when they become available.

Not meant for advertising purposes, Russells name and information were listed only to those that care about the genetics of their bees. I also posted Russells web site so they can see what I am talking about. They could buy straight from him if they wanted to.

I spent a few hundred dollars on my order, have waited for a few months past my delivery date for my mated queens and you feel I should not be uttering the Russell name to inform people of some of my genetics and try to make SOME of my money back? Have I not paid for that privilege? My public forum posts have been to complain, like many many others about there late orders and lack of customer service. Never disputed the quality of these genetics or Russells breeding program.

My craigs list ad was placed more than week ago. I was still hopeful Russells would come through for me (Remember they said the remainder of my order would be sent the last week in May. It is now the last week in June and I have had no contact from them.) I had hoped these new queens would live up to the hype. I am two months behind with my plans to work with Russells stock in my short season area. I am just doing the best I can with what I have to work with.

I sort of see your point, but hopefully you can also see mine.

I had hoped to use Russells genetics to improve my stock, not use their name as a selling point. Most people that have come to me don't know or care to know about genetics. They just want a good queen. Most don't even usually know there is anything existing other than Italians. Unless they are interested I don't even try to tell them about the genetics. They trust me to sell them a good queen and that is what I plan to do.


Russell Apiaries has the best variety of genetics I've seen anywhere. If they could figure out their 'bugs' in the small consumer-customer service are they could do so well. I hope they do. Shame to not succeed with a good product. Many people have told me they will not read forum posts. Shame, they need someone to take all the unhappy customers reasons and figure out a way all (Customers and Russell) can be satisfied. But if no one is listening???

I was all set to place some nice sized orders this year and next..until I had samples of many of his varieties. I love genetics and sadly will not have the chance to play with his stock. It is a loss all around I'd say.

I have 65 hives + 50 mating nucs+nucs I built and tend myself. I sold a few horses to pay for all this and had some nice plans for raising quality bees. It is a disapointment my dealings with Russell ended up like many others did. No real resolution and a lot of emotional forum posts.
Oh yes, I've been keeping bees a total of one year. I'm not a business or trying to ride on Russells name. I'm busy as heck trying to just get establiahed. I'd be foolish not to sell a few queens or nucs to offset the thousands of $$ I have spent doing all this.

One note I should clarify. I agreed to accept virgins from Russell and the fact they were not mated well was entirely on my end. My weather here was still rainy and cool unfortunately. The fact they two queens that survived are not laying after a month is not a reflection of Russells genetics or management. Why my bees were so aggressive towards the Sunkists and easily accepted the Buckfasts is not clear. If the queens had been the variety I ordered I would of course call my order filled.

Mark, you have no idea of the situation or my intent. The fact you come on here out of the blue and have some authoritative opinion is sad.

Search Russells name here on Beesource and read ALL the posts before you state your opinions. You will see many of us who are accused of trashing Russells are really just responding to other members inflamitory posts who blame the problems on the customers.
 
#70 ·
One note I should clarify. I agreed to accept virgins from Russell and the fact they were not mated well was entirely on my end. My weather here was still rainy and cool unfortunately. The fact they two queens that survived are not laying after a month is not a reflection of Russells genetics or management. Why my bees were so aggressive towards the Sunkists and easily accepted the Buckfasts is not clear. If the queens had been the variety I ordered I would of course call my order filled.

Mark, you have no idea of the situation or my intent. The fact you come on here out of the blue and have some authoritative opinion is sad.
For Every Action, There Is An Equal And Opposite Criticism
 
#72 · (Edited)
BeeG

I am sorry you are so offended by me. It is not surprising, though. You and I are probably very different.

You have a poodle dog for your thumbnail photo, I have a dead Mule deer buck . I am not like most women, I hate the mall and enjoy woodworking, the shooting sports, hunting, fishing,etc. The closest I have ever come to getting a manicure is when my husband scraps off the paint from my hands or digs out a cedar sliver from underneath my fingernail. I don't relate to most women well so the fact you don't 'get' me is not surprising.

But I for the life of me don't understand how you could perceive my posts as vicious and embarrassing. You say as a 'fellow woman' you were embarrassed for me. I've gone back and read most of them. They are not sugar coated, I'll have to say that. Straight and to the point and perhaps that is what is coming off as harsh in your opinion.

As was said in one PM to me, those posts were correct at the time I posted them. Here's part of that message:


"Please tell me you're not feeling "run off" over statements made in that controversial thread? BeeSource is a valuable resource for exchanging information with other beeks, and useful to all. Fortunately or not, it's also a public forum, with thousands of people in it, who all have their own opinions; although the admins do a LOT to keep debates from turning into heated arguments & personal attacks, it is still a public forum, so some improprieties will always, unfortunately happen.
I don't personally see any need for you to have your posts deleted, in that thread or elsewhere; you made statements that you felt were appropriate at the time, and now have made other statements to clarify your new understanding. That's not offensive, that's a learning process, illustrated. IMHO, your comments, all of them, remaining in that thread now serves as a positive example for other customers who may be in a similar situation, and feeling as you previously did, I'd leave 'em myself "


I appreciated this message and think it is very well said.

As a new keeper, I couldn't have been successful to the level I am already without Beesourse. I read and learn from it every day and try to post helpful information for others, especially in the areas of hive design, genetics and experiments-especially regionally specific.

Let's stop all this fighting please. It is really getting us nowhere and having to respond to defend one's self is what keeps threads like this ongoing.
 
#74 ·
BeeG: A second year beek chiming in as if they know what they're talking about? Look, I love to help newbees, but in this case, you are out of line. Rememer the old saying, "Walk a mile in a man shoes...." Well, you've walked about 30 yards compared to some folks who have walked many miles. When you've walked in our shoes as long as we have and have dealt with as many queen producers as we have, then your opinion will be valid regarding what we've experienced. You see, THIS IS WHAT WE EXPERIENCED. That, no one can take away from us. We know what we were told/not told, experienced, etc....Again, you cannot take this away from us. We know how we have been treated.

I hope you are EXTREMELY success for many years as a beekeeper. The more of us the better. I, also, hope you never have to go through what some on here have. In reality, we are actually looking out for you, the newbee. I would encourage you to focus on learning from folks, listen more and imitate those that are successful at this passion we call beekeeping.
 
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