Figured I start in the Flow Forum along with an email sent to the company. We will see where the road leads. Purchased a Flow Hive 2+ 7-frame before Christmas as a gift. Received it today. As I started to check all the pieces, I noticed the quality of the craftsmanship was something that caught my eye. This made me take a closer look at things. Wow. For a beehive that cost $1000 dollars, the craftsmanship is nowhere near a premium product. More like B-stock. Some wood was lasercut while others were definitely not. Unfinished/rough surfaces. Ash falling off some off the cut pieces. Leg stands chipped. etc. Funny things is, the shipping box looked fine. Right now, all I can do is shake my head. If this is the type of product Flow Hive is going to put out, they will not be in business long. I was even defending Flow Hive to someone at the local bee club before I received mine , which is very adamant about change. Not talking to them for a while. Again, the quality control is something to be desired. My guess is I could mix and match parts from a couple of Flow Hives to actually make one product worthy of selling on the market a this premium price. Who knows. Maybe I should have just stuck with a traditional beehive. Time will tell.
Sorry to hear that.
My experience with their customer service has been excellent. Maybe you did actually receive a scratch and dent by mistake, which they do sell occasionally at reduced price. The scratch and dent ones actually looked really good to me, indistinguishable after the bees are in there and there have been a couple of inspections.
I’m sure Flow will take care of you - but this is a beekeeping forum, not a customer service forum, so you won’t find much user interest in your issue here.
Hello and welcome to the Flow forum. Most of us here are beekeepers, and can help with any beekeeping or practical Flow hive advice that you need.
I am sorry that you have had such a disappointment. If you take some photos and e-mail them with your order number to info@honeyflow.com, they will help you out. They are usually very good about making things right, as @chau06 wrote. I will tag a couple of the Flow employees who visit this forum so that they see your comments and can expedite attention to your e-mail. @Bianca and @Freebee2 are Flow employees, but also beekeepers, I am sure that one of them will respond your post.
Thanks for the replies. I’ll keep an open mind. As an FYI, I did not order a scratch and dent. Here are just a couple of examples which I forgot to post photos of. I have more photos, but you get the point with these:
That’s disappointing. Your “chipped” leg stands has me a little flummoxed.
I bought mine a few months ago, my Flow Hive 2+ 7 frame has metal legs. Were your metal legs chipped?
Not good but I’m sure your enquires to customer service will result in a satisfactorily solution.
Yes, one of the metal leg stands was chipped front and back (scuffed too). Here is a couple photos (sorry, I have to do it in multiple posts as a new forum member can only upload one photo per reply).
That is truly disappointing. Certainly worth contacting Flow site.
Thanks Eric for posting and to those who commented.
I’m sorry to see your hive has some quality control issues.
As has been pointed out in this thread, the forum is primarily a space to discuss beekeeping matters and to share beekeeping tips, questions, and experiences. Should you need any product assistance, please contact info@honeyflow.com so our customer support team can attend to your concerns. We naturally want all of our customers to love their hives and have a dedicated team available to assist via email, phone or live chat if there should be any issue with your hive.