Shipping notification March 8 - March 25th Still Hasn't Shipped

Wow! Thats intense. They may be able to ship some medication to get you through!! Ill bet it is worth the wait. In the meantime find something you enjoy to distract you. All this “agony” isnt worth it!! Smiley face.

Goodness. Do you get this upset regularly about such things. I agree. Take a deep breath. Life just isnt perfect. Im a bit concerned this bothers you so much. It will work out. Always does!!

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Since you are so concerned about my mental health, I will try to explain. I have had countless communication issues with this company. I have emailed them directly many times, and never gotten any useful information. The right hand never seems to know what the left is doing, and, as a customer, I think I should be able to know the status of my order. I am tired of hearing that all these issues are due to being a brand new company. I have dealt with other crowdfunded companies that did a much job of communicating, much less producing what they invented. I dislike being ugly to anyone, but the only way I have managed to get any information about my order is to have a wall-eyed hissy fit in the public forum. I resent having to resort to that, but it seems to be the only thing that works. I don’t need medication, I need decent customer service.

Thank you for posting this message. I am in Texas and the same thing has happened to me with order #10884723. My order details states that the order confirmed on March 8 and shipped on March 11 - I have not received the frames. I have sent a couple emails to info@honeyflow.com, but have not received any responses.

Thank you Martin.

Issue resolved as well. ALL customers who have notified me about this issue should have new tracking numbers this week.

I have requested that these issues are sorted asap as this is clearly a Fedex issue that appears to have been somehow related to a large storm on March 8th-11th in Memphis. We still do not have a complete answer on who was effected, but if you have zero movement on a fedex tracking number please bring it to our attention and we will get a replacement set out asap.

Maybe you should wait to get the facts first before flaming. [quote=“MartinB, post:25, topic:5981”]
as this is clearly a Fedex issue
[/quote]

Maybe you should read the whole thread before chiming in. As I and several others have said, we have emailed many times and never gotten a response. If this Fedex issue had been the only problem, I would not be this upset, but the it is just one of the many communication issues we have faced. I just wanted information, and they can’t seem to provide it. Although Martin is on it, we still don’t know where our flow frames are or when we will get them. We are now promised a new tracking number within the week. Since the old tracking number was worthless, it remains to be seen whether this actually means anything or not. FedEx says the labels were created but they had not received the the items to be shipped. Does that sound like FedEx’s fault?

@busso, @tjsutton, @daleknott

If our intent is to help the Flow team succeed, we should all be careful not to come across as apologists for the Flow team. It is in Flow’s best interest for upset customers to come to the forum, get their feelings off their chest, and find some solace. This gives Flow an opportunity to show their future customer base that they listen to their customers and respond appropriately.

Responding to upset customers and explaining to them that they are overreacting is counter productive. A negative response to an upset customer (1) ignores that everyone is human and is going to be slightly irrational when they are upset, (2) makes that customer more upset usually resulting in that customer becoming more irrational, (3) usually passes judgement on the customer without knowing the customer’s complete back story, (4) offsets the positive impact of a good response from the flow team, and (5) discourages future upset customers from venting.

If this thread didn’t have the back and forth mud slinging, it would have been a great example of how Flow fixes things when they go wrong. Instead, the awesomeness of @MartinB’s response is lost in the noise created by the mud slingling.

In defense of @lomaxdq1, I emailed flow support about this issue 14 days ago. They responded to my first email and said everything was OK and told me (a) email back in a week if the shipping status didn’t change, (b) call fedex. I emailed them back twice and did not receive a response. I called fedex and they said shipwire had not sent them the package yet. I called shipwire and they said they probably already sent the package to fedex (FYI, shipwire is the company they are using to warehouse and reship their products after they arrive in the USA). After not receiving a response to my emails after 8 days, I saw @lomaxdq1’s post and I PM’d @MartinB to let him know the details.

There are plenty of people on these forums who complain about flow not responding to their emails. Until recently, I always received a response to my emails within 2-4 days. But, now, I realize there might be a problem in Flow’s email support process. I am glad people like @lomaxdq1 raise a little bit of hell when these things happen so that the Flow team has the opportunity to analyze and fix the holes in their support process.

For 6 years I worked as a support representative at a company that provided first class customer support. Every time a customer contacted support we created a ticket for that contact. Our system required some sort of response to the customer every 2 days. If we had not yet resolved the customer’s problem, we would send the customer a personalized update about the progress (or lack of progress) we were making.

I too want to see the Flow team succeed. I think their company is an awesome story, I hope their product continues to encourage more people to adopt beekeeping. I am also excited to watch the product improve over the years.

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You are right.
Equally though, I don’t see this as a forum for someone to rant away unfairly just because things don’t go their way. Regardless they are upset.
In this particular case the Op received two very nice replys. He then had to put in two more relpys to the effect , That’s no good to me, what about the millions of dollars. And when it was sorted it was a FedEx problem not a FlowHive one.
Edit: It took one day from the Ops first post to Martin B finding the problem. That’s pretty swift.

I have to say there is a majority of responders on this forum who couldn’t say something unpleasant even if they tried. Me though, when an OP fails to listen to advice or is not posting with fairness I will respond, possibly a little too forceful sometimes, so I will be mindful of that.

If posters harp on about the millions of dollars made and poor little me not getting my reward, then they don’t encourage help . Had I been in FlowHive’s shoes I would have sent a mesage to all saying “due to the unprecedented support it will be impossible to meet the estimated times for delivery. All dates are put back to a date to be determined, to enable us to gear up the business and manufacturing.” But Cedar and family are much nicer than me and wanted to try and keep the commitment they made.

Flow hive purchaser’s in the main, realise that crowdfunding is at best risky and at worst you will do your money. Crowdfunding is the lender of last resort and is for supporters to get in early on a new idea rather than pick up a bargain, all the time mindful that they may have lost their investment. Hopefully just about all the crowdfunders should have their hive by now.

Those who purchased direct from the shop have a better augment for timing complaints and should by all means post here but do it fairly. Those who are most vehement in their attacks on the FlowHive management, do so just for the sake of ranting.
If OPs stuck to the facts, as most do and stated the who, what and when, with photos where appropriate and what was the response, they would receive a better response from the forum. Crikey time and time again the correct address to write to or the person that poster’s should be talking to is given but seems to be ignored.

In relation to complaints:
Too often, a reply to a post, which has a different point of view, is instantly taken as an attack which in most cases it is not.
Too often, the poster doesn’t bother to read previous posts to see who they should be really complaining to or indeed to get a solution, they just get on and blast away like a spoilt child.
Too often the poster does not take the advice given here, makes little effort to contact the correct person and continues to rant on about the millions of dollars.
Too often the posters first post is to rant a complaint and is not seen again.
Too often the posters expect this forum to fix everything for them, rather than help them with where to go to get it fixed.

I have to say though, fortunately there are minuscule of complaints relative to all the posts on the forums, so we shouldn’t get to hung up on this. As long as the complainants are seeking help I am sure they will continue to get help and if it is just attention they seek they will get a lessor response.

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@busso,

Your motives are clear to me. I understand where you are coming from. You have valid reasons for being agitated by certain negative posts found on the forums.

However, in my experience and from what I can deduce by reading many threads similar to this one, chiding people for complaining usually makes the problem worse.

Remove the posts from this thread in which the poster chided @lomaxdq1 and this thread would take on a much more positive tone. You would reading people trying to help @lomaxdq1 and you would read @MartinB doing his best to make the situation right. And… half of @lomaxdq1’s posts that probably rubbed you the wrong way, would likely never have been posted.

I only wish I could take my own advice when I’m agitated with my wife :slight_smile:

Thanks @lhengst I know your right, I just have to bite my tongue or break my finger or something and let the nicer people deal with it.
I will try…promise.

busso

My apologies. My post was not to be mean but to bring perspective. It actually did concern me. To be irritated, concerned, frustrated…is understandable. To be in agony? I am glad you got attention and I am glad you are getting resolution. I hope this brings you peace. Flow has shown an outstanding commitment to customer service. They have climbed a huge mountain. My flow frames have not arrived as promised either. But the rest of my life is so full of joy that it is just a minor irritant. Certainly not agony. I hope the same for you. It will work out. It did work out. It always does. Best to you. Watching those amazing bees will be the best medication by the way!! Smiley face.

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I have worked in two industries that are 24/7/365 where things got done no matter what. The prevailing attitude was that there was nothing they couldn’t do. I was also an expeditor for an oilfield firm. My job was to make sure things happened. I also had my own business for ten years in which I was always held accountable, and customer service was very, very important. So no, I don’t have much tolerance for all this inefficiency and excuses. A year of it IS agony for me. And not just because I don’t have my stuff. I, too, thought this was a great idea and badly wanted it to succeed, but even a wonderful product will fail if the company doesn’t do a good job. I am tired of all the excuses and apologies. As Yoda says, " There is no try, there is only do". And no, the situation is not resolved. Martin said it was a FedEx problem, and FedEx said they couldn’t ship it because they never got it. I still don’t have an answer. Also, stop trying to tell me how I should feel. You were not apologizing, you were lecturing.

I hurt for you. Good luck.

TJ, whereabouts in Texas are you?

Lorne, thanks for the help. Where in Texas are you?

Between Bastrop and Elgin.

@lomaxdq1 I’m sure you will receive what you ordered. I was one of the original funders (Feb 25, 2015) and it was Dec, 22nd 2015 when I received my wood ware and another couple of months before I received my Flow frames.

Several times I’ve read here on the forum, as well as experiencing it myself, that when a shipping label and tracking number is generated, an email goes out with that info. Thing is, shipping labels can be printed up to two weeks in advance of a package actually making out the door and into the hands of the shipper (DHL, FedEx, etc.).

The shipper can’t provide tracking for the parcel until they’ve picked it up. I hated that period of time but the day I got my ultimate tracking info and saw the package enroute, all was right in the world.

I never contacted Flow about it. I just kept reading and began to get the picture and chose to just wait. Albeit impatiently.

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In North Texas, close to Denton

I have relatives in Ponder. And, @Martydallas is close to you.