Flow hive 2 slow delivery

Hi all,

I ordered a flow hive 2 over a month ago, at the time the website said October shipping. About a week or so ago the chat staff on the main website then said late October.

Now the website is showing November.

Has anyone received their flow hive 2 orders? I have a nuc on back order and am starting to get concerned. There has been no voluntary communication from flowhive, only when I approached chat. I understand pre-orders but don’t understand ambiguity, they either have stock now or should know the date stock will be ready.

Honestly, if I’d known it would be 6-8 weeks before delivery probably wouldn’t have dropped 1.5k on the product and accessories and would have purchased elsewhere.

@Forum_Support

This is a general bee forum, have you phoned Flow Hive or better still sent them an email asking directly about your particular order?
We know through the grape vine that they are very busy with orders world wide so I would cut them a little slack Nathan. One of their production machines may have failed, an order for timber delayed, ask them the reason behind the delay.
I have two Flow Supers and they arrived as the date given to me and asking pre-order and post-order questions were answered within 48 hours.
Don’t go for a refund and cancel your order, there are Chinese look-alikes being sold with an Australian dispatching address. They look similar but they are not the same, they have heaps of dissatisfied customers because of manufacturing and design faults and no warranty or refund, buyer beware. Be very aware, don’t think of them as a cheaper option to a Flow Hive.
BTW I don’t work for Flow Hive, nothing more than a user of their product with pleasing results.
Regards

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I don’t think your waiting period is that significant given the amount of sales from the campaign. I waited for 7 months for my FH1, 2 months for FH2. My understanding is the factory running on 24 hours roster to meet the order demand.

Even you receive your FH2 in Oct or Nov, it will take you a while to assemble, paint and you may even not be able to use the flow super in this season given your nucs needs time to establish. There are always handy to have a 2nd hive for split in the next Spring or swarm catching or a spare box to temporarily move the heavy flow frames in to reduce the weight before you lift off the super box for brood inspection,.etc… so when your nucs grow out of room, you can always house them in the standard hive, by then your flow hive will be ready to transfer over.

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I was looking into getting a second hive in the meantime, but the overheads are too high, buying extra suits and tools and smokers etc when already on order.

I guess it’s just disappointing. When a site advertises a product ready for delivery October, I guess it’s kind of assumed that this means early October, otherwise should be written late October\November. If it is the case that there are supply side issues or delays this is quite different to having a ‘pre-release’ date set and confirmed.

For me, I was hoping to have honey this season and knew I would be pushing it for time already. If flow hive made it clear that they were struggling to meet demand, and that they would do their best to deliver in October, but this was not guaranteed, I would have bought another product.

I’m sure the team and product are great, but for far far cheaper I could have started keeping immediately this year, had honey this year, and still ordered flow frames ready for Spring 2019 some time down the track to get honey out of them in just about the same time as when they do eventually arrive this year.

Nathan, don’t get disappointed at this stage with what is really not an end of the world issue about the delivery date. Don’t assume ‘October’ means ‘early October’, the best laid plans can get delays beyond our or Flow Hives control.
Are you ready for another disappointment, it will be a mirical if you take honey in your first season without killing you bees from starvation over winter. Your expectation need to be realistic. Very seldom do people do an extraction in their first year regardless of the type of hive they have.
Cheer up. Work on bee time and not what you want from them and then you won’t be disappointment.

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You don’t need to spend a fortune on a 2nd hive now, I would say $200 will give you a double brood boxes with 16 frames. Beekeeping is an expensive hobby as they need to be made solidly for durability. If you took into account the cost of this hobby, you shouldn’t have choosen the Flow hive style, it’s initially costly as we all knew that. You will spend more than just one hives down the track as you need more hives on standby to be able to run your colony efficiently.

Beekeeping is not about honey, it’s about how to manage a colony of insects that can deal with pest invasion themselves and with your manipulation, they can be honey productive. It also comes down to the seasonal weather, when it becomes too wet, too dry, too hot or too cold, the colony may struggle to make honey as they will eat them all or die out if we take away all their stores or without feeding them sugar syrup.

I lived in Canberra for a few years so I can understand how cold the winter is. With frost in Canberra winter, you will be surely need 2 boxes hive before the winter set in hence your 1st year will be spending most time to build up. The flow super is only be kicked in from Oct to Dec after you have a well established colony. After Xmas will be way too hot and dry for a good nectar flows for the bees to use the flow frames.

I suggest you watch Vinofarm YouTube by @VinoFarm to see his beekeeping experience, he spent 3 years to learn keeping bees before harvest a little or some honey this season.

I hope you won’t be that disappointed with a high expectation on the honey harvest since you invested so much on the flow hive but it is just a beginning of this hobby. I lost count of how many extra frames and boxes that I bought … I don’t see it will be yet done with it because beekeeping is addictive, one hive will lead to another and you will want more when your manipulation seem to work out so well.

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Just wonder if you can ask a refund of your flow order since you are not happy with it? You can always buy it later when their delivery time is quicker

I have to echo what Peter said about it not being an end of the world situation. Don’t put a honey harvest too high on your list of expectations. Some people are only getting honey now, after 2 years.

You’ll find lots of information in this forum. Just click on the magnifying class, then type in the key words of any topic. For example:- “flow hive in Canberra”.

Join a bee club, find a mentor, do lots of research & watch the video “City of Bees” a few times. cheers

PS, Flow used to have a refund policy after administration charges. Whether it still applies, I have no idea.

Maybe you need to rethink your purchase because there is a lot more to keeping bees than simply harvesting the honey. A lot of folks around my way are finding that out.

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if you are really keen to establish your colonies as soon as possible you can put them into a standard brood box and the easily transfer them to the flow hive once it arrives and you have built it. You can probably get a brood box base and lid for under $150. Later on having that spare hive will come in handy for storing frames, catching swarms, and other things. Or you could easily sell it.

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Hi Nathan,
Thanks for reaching out on our Community Forum.

I am so sorry that you have not yet received a manufacturing or shipping update from us – as each lot of orders draw closer to fulfilment, we have been sending customers update notifications.

All dates listed on our website for pre-order of the Flow Hive 2 are estimates, however we are doing our best to fulfil these within the timeframe we have set.
The shipping date of your order should be within the month estimated when you placed your order, being October. I want to clarify that all new orders placed from the 2nd of October in Australia currently have a shipping estimate of November as per the information on our website.

If you could please contact us on info@honeyflow.com we can assist with providing a more specific shipping date, as well as answering any other questions you may have.

We look forward to hearing from you, Nathan.
– Maya, Flow Customer Support

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Hi Maya,

I did contact through your website on the 15th and got an automated reply to expect someone to reply within one or two business days, however this has not happened. To date, I have had no updates regarding delivery, I placed my order early September.

Hello Nathan,

Thank you for getting back to us and explaining your situation.

Please check your emails as I have emailed you in detail with regard to the shipping status of your current order.

Please be in touch again should you need anything further, we would love to assist you.
– Lou, Flow Customer Support’