While I can understand the ‘growing pains’ this operation has entailed, there are some BASIC shipping issues that FLOW needs to address with their manufacturers.
Our FLOW hive boxes arrived this week,
AND THERE IS NO MATERIALS LIST in the box.
It is just a box full of wooden pieces.
NO INSTRUCTIONS, and
NO MATERIALS LIST!
WHAT is that box supposed to contain?
WHAT are all those pieces parts?
While we are not noobs, and are familiar enough with hives and Langstroths to figure it out, MANY of FLOW’s customers may not be.
At the VERY LEAST, FLOW needs to get a PACKING MATERIALS LIST up here online, so that people can check their shipment with a list of what should be in the box.
This is beyond amateur. This is crossing into lazy and negligent.
Perhaps FLOW needs to be better in contact with their manufacturer, because QUALITY is starting to come into question, when it can’t even be packed properly…
And YES, FLOW. We are your SUPPORTERS, and we know that over 12 MILLION DOLLARS can afford you someone to better handle simple details like a PACKING MATERIALS LIST…it’s a simple piece of paper, listing everything in the box…NOT that complicated, and it should be the LAST THING before the box is sealed.
If this weren’t 2016 I might tend to agree with you. Unless someone bought it for you as a gift, the only way to buy this product is to have an internet connection, and seemingly a working knowledge of the internet (google). I just did a basic google search for videos on assembling the hive and got 3,050 results.
I guess hard copy versions of the packing list and instructions might be nice for some folks, but why go to the extra effort, labor, cost of adding them when everything you need is online already? Having a sheet included with the links to the official videos would be a nice touch, but again, it comes back to… who doesn’t know how to work google?
Aside from that I have bought hundreds of things over the years that didn’t include a materials list, and instructions that may as well not be instructions at all because the translations were so bad. And there was NO digital information to help me online. So saying that they are negligent, lazy, or amateur is a little ridiculous and whiny. There are more support materials available for the Flow frames online then nearly any other product on the market that you could want to buy (and they aren’t even technically on the market yet, IE still filling founding orders).
I stand corrected they are included thanks @Dawn_SD
Did you by any chance check underneath the screen in the screened bottom board? The assembly videos show a full set of instructions sitting on top of the pull out plastic sheet.
Assembly is not that complex.
A MATERIALS PACKING LIST is of more import.
No customer should have to assemble the FLOW, only to find that a part was not packed when they reach that part of the assembly process.
ANYTIME you purchase a kit of ANY type, a PACKING LIST is enclosed in the box.
Often, it is included WITH the Assembly instructions.
It tells you EXACTLY what is in the box, in what quantity, and generally includes an illustration of what the pieces parts look like.
While the assembly sheet has that information,
Hiding it in the bottom of the screened bottom board, with the identifier that they are the instructions, HIDDEN under the wood, is NOT good communications with the customer.
And having to watch almost 2 minutes of a video to know where they are hidden, is likewise poor communications.
Shouldn’t that information be within the first 30 seconds???
Shouldn’t FLOW make sure that customers QUICKLY and EASILY have access to such important things?
I think they should. Every other business shipping kits to be assembled does it.
~m
Adagna, if you bought “…hundreds of things” over the years with no materials list, you have not done many professional purchases. I too, have bought hundreds of things over the years. Online and in-store.
A materials list is by law required for many of them.
You probably also got them, but they were included in the instructions, and you simply did not notice them.
And, your experiences aside, THIS is not a “look at it and figure it out” type of item.
This is an item requiring specific fasteners and pieces parts.
That is what a Materials List is for. To identify and INVENTORY exactly how many of what is included in the kit.
This makes it easier to verify that you DO get ALL the pieces parts, and are not missing ONE screw, or a frame piece, or any other part of the component to be assembled.
And YES, this IS 2016. But that does NOT require an INTERNET CONNECTION to verify what was packed in the box.
Assembly is not the issue. POOR PACKING and NO Materials List is.
I am fully capable of Internet research. I am NOT fully capable of psychically knowing what is supposed to be in the box.
So thank you for your concern, but FLOW, as the retailer needs to address the issue, not have a gadfly dismiss it as “unnecessary, because you can just google it.”
An instruction manual on how to operate the Flow Frames and Hive.
An assembly guide with a list of all the parts and hardware that should be included in the box.
It is under the screened bottom board. I have suggested to our packing team that it be put at the top of the box to stop any confusion. I will suggest it again.
If any customer did not receive this by accident we are happy to provide an electronic copy - they just need to email us and we can email them.
I did a search with your email address and couldn’t find you in our system, so you must have ordered under another email address.
We only send our electronic copies to customers so we are not sending them to our Chinese copy-cats.
I think you are being a bit pedantic. I suppose it all amounts to the level of interest you have in a flowhive. If you saw the news and said “this is for me” and purchased it thinking I can just get this ,whack some bees in it and Bobs your uncle, I have honey when I want it.
If you were really interested in raising bees, and Flowhive was a way of pursuing this, then you would be much more aware than you apparently are.
You found this forum to voice complaint why did you not use it to to read the posts relating to the assembly. I watched two videos, each maybe 3 times, read countless posts by those who had some problems, all well before my boxes arrived and when they did I really didn’t need the instructions. I found the packing well ordered and logical for assembling and the parts list was the pieces in the assembly diagram.
Have you approached Flowhive…no? That should be your first contact and the if they can’t help then voice your complaints in this forum.
There are many members of this forum who would be only to glad to help you, so maybe next time take a more conciliatory approach than a confrontational one.
Wow! so it appears you found the instructions, yet you still complain? After I got notification about my package being shipped, the first thing I did was come to this forum and read. It didn’t take long to find the assembly videos and learn where the instructions were. When ever I have to build a kit, the first thing I do is layout all the parts and even if I didn’t see the video, those instructions would have been located right away.
I can just imagine future post about problems your having managing your bees. I suggest you start reading about raising them, there are plenty of videos on youtube and a wealth of information in this forum, because the instructions don’t explain all you need to know about caring for your hive.
Today’s culture of instant gratification and nobody being thankful for anything will hopefully pass.
Anything worthwhile takes effort, and counterintuitively for me, the more effort I put in, the more I am happy with the result. Just my 2 cents on the whole of “western” society. Perhaps not relevant, but that is me.
What people seem to have conveniently forgotten or refuse to acknowledge is when you have to work hard, Scrimp, Save and battle - Things are more Valuable than just mere money.
The simple pleasures in life are becoming obsolete, old fashioned and not Cool. Hence we are losing the pleasure derived from acquiring.
But there is a difference between new technology for the sake of keeping up with the Jones’ and new technology that can be unique and special to enhance - Not all drudgery is good and I understand where many Older Beeks are coming from, but some things need to change and others have no need to and chug along nicely.
Many younger people don’t understand the pleasure of anticipation, because all they have known is instant gratification and “I want it NOW!!”
For me the Flow hive means I don’t need expensive, bulky equipment to harvest. But the simple pleasure of looking and talking to my girls in precious.
I think some people just need to find their own balance
Why is it that the sins of the few paint all?
Most people are not like that.
Don’t believe all the that the media would have us believe. Most people are bringing up their children to be decent. I hate the way such blanket statements are made. It’s so dispiriting.
I came back later to PS
Didn’t the initial Flow advertising suggest you could have “Honey On Tap” without any work at all…no beekeeping knowledge?
I always liked the unofficial Latin saying, “Nil illegitimi te carborundum”. There are lots of variants on this, but I am not translating them. However, it did get me through medical school.
On reflection, I prefer your amo, amas, amat, amamus, amatis, amant. Thank you!
