# White Oak Apiary



## Hawkster

Bought a queen from him last year and she heads one of my strongest at the moment. Good experience


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## Saltybee

Ordered 3 queens. Mike called and offered them on time if not a little early. I asked for a later ship date as I was needing medical treatment.

I stepped off the train, my problem. Cannot get back on. Caught Mike once and he said next tuesday his ship day. Great. Rain next three weeks his area from weather map. Delay OK.

Now, frankly, cannot catch him on the phone , emails or left messages. He has taken orders and delivered nucs from his web site while not shipping queens.

I stepped off the train, my fault, but I just need to know a date to plan my hives around. I have repeatedly left a message saying I will work around date. No answer.


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## BeeCurious

I know of two people who bought nucs from White Oak that were sold as "Small Cell". The comb will be measured when the weather clears...


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## Saltybee

I received my 3 queens today. No notice, and not knowing when or if they would come I used my own cells 3 days ago. A little bit undecided what to do with them at the moment but they are here.

I bought them at the early sale price of 35, current price 29, I want my 1/2 queen. (not really).

Will see how they perform.


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## xcugat

Very poor quality--see my post here
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?272032-White-Oak-Apairies-NUCS-Brewster-NY


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## GLOCK

I bought 3 queens and a drone frame {drone frame was to get abetter deal if ya spent so much.} anyway the queens where almost 2 month late and that was with many e.mails and phone calls and i never got my drone frame.
The queens 1 lived on and 2 failed .
I now know how to make queens and i never have to buy bees again WHITE OAK can keep there bees!


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## Jamowie

They are almost impossible to get a hold of, even in the off season. I have heard some good things about their bees... if you can get them. I checked out their BBB rating and it is an F... as in FAILED rating. I am very disappointed and wish that I never wasted my time, effort, energy, & attention with White Oak Apiary.

I understand we are all busy, but they do not even clear their answering machine to leave new messages and they do not respond to emails in any kind of timely fashion.

Very disappointed and I recommend you go elsewhere with your dollars. I am concerned now about how I can contact them for a refund. I might have to file a claim with my credit card company and the BBB against them if I do not hear back.

White Oak Apiary is running their business shamefully.


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## xcugat

I am still annoyed....


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## fruitveggirl

I ordered two nucs this year. Due to poor weather, they were ready toward the end of June. I think I picked them up around the 22nd or so. There was a bear attack a couple days prior to my scheduled pick-up, so I only got one nuc. I don't consider that his fault, though.

The downside of my experience: He is very difficult to get a hold of, either by phone or email. The nucs are poorly constructed -- lots of gaps in the nuc and loose bees on the drive home. They were a little slow processing my refund for the nuc I didn't get, but I sent them a follow-up email about it, and they did it right away.

The upside: I got a very prolific hive. I have no complaints about the bees themselves. In fact, I was quite pleased with them.


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## cblakely

I ordered a nuc from White Oak back in December for my first hive. I did an internet search on them after I placed the order and became very nervous about the whole deal.

I also ordered a couple of packages a couple of months later from someone else which cost the same for both packages as it did for the 1 nuc when I include shipping.

The packages arrived in March. 

The nuc was suppose to arrive late May/early June. I finally got notice that it shipped mid-July. I got nothing. I was finally informed that the nuc was lost in the mail in August. I got a refund in September. Communication was almost non-existent. I was happy just to be clear of the deal.


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## Acebird

How does someone continue to sell bees if they don't communicate with their customers?


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## cblakely

Acebird said:


> How does someone continue to sell bees if they don't communicate with there customers?


This thread made me curious. I did another search on them and their web site is down. It also looks like their facebook page is empty. I guess the answer to that question is they can't. I was probably very lucky to get my money out of the deal.


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## Rader Sidetrack

Decided to move my message out of _Consumer Report_ to the regular Bee Forum.  
Click the link to see that thread:
http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?290626-White-Oak-Apiary&p=1015750#post1015750


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## Michael B

They are still in business and currently have ads up on my local craigslist.

Buyer beware. A fellow beekeeper purchased nucs two years ago. No brood and no honey with failing queens.


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## igep

cblakely said:


> This thread made me curious. I did another search on them and their web site is down. It also looks like their facebook page is empty. I guess the answer to that question is they can't. I was probably very lucky to get my money out of the deal.


Hi:

Website is up now and sounds too good to be true
. I am concerned with previous complaints about lack of quality and/or communication. Has anyone purchased from them recently? If so, what are your experiences? I really want to find a place to purchase northern bred nucs and was hoping this would be a good place since I live in Boston area. Does anyone know another place in the Northeast to purchase northern bred nucs?


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## TWall

Have you tried Betterbee?

Tom


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## fruitveggirl

igep said:


> Hi:
> 
> Website is up now and sounds too good to be true
> . I am concerned with previous complaints about lack of quality and/or communication. Has anyone purchased from them recently? If so, what are your experiences? I really want to find a place to purchase northern bred nucs and was hoping this would be a good place since I live in Boston area. Does anyone know another place in the Northeast to purchase northern bred nucs?


I ordered two packages from Sam Comfort of Anarchy Apiaries in NY this year. Unfortunately, he is sold out at this time, but he may be able to give you a recommendation for another beek. Last year, I was too late, but I got a recommendation for northern-bred bees from a guy in Vermont from him. It might be worth an email to him at: [email protected]

Are you looking for packages or nucs? If you are looking for nucs, I believe that Full Bloom Apiaries in CT has northern-bred bees. I have not purchased from them, but I have spoken with the guy who owns it, and he seems both very nice and responsive. http://www.fullbloomapiaries.com/

Also, recently, an acquaintance of mine ordered northern-bred nucs from a guy associated with the Eastern Connecticut Beekeepers Association. I don't remember his contact off-hand, but I can look into it if you like.


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## mahobee

I live 20 mins from him and I would only buy honey from him. He has told me 'I am a commercial beekeeper, not a retail one. I can't be bothered with questions'.
Let the buyer beware


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## johneddy

I did not have a good experience with Mike Bruen At White Oak Apiary. I pre-ordered 4 queens for May pickup and my many requests to collect the queens have gone unanswered in June. I have had to contact PayPal and my credit card company to have my money returned.

Meanwhile his web site announces that he is shipping queens.

Let the beekeeper beware.


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## cory brunner

Hi!
New to beekeeping. I picked up 2 five Frame Nucs. One was huge!!! The bees look healthy and happy. The nucs had brood and honey and lots of bees. It's clear to me that Mike takes the health of the bees very seriously.

I found the website easy to navigate and called Mike the owner several times (new to beekeeping... like I said) and he was great. Very friendly and answered all of my questions. His voice mail is often full, but if you send him a text he's pretty quick to respond. I needed a refund on hives and he put it in less than a week after I requested it. (like 2 days after)

I now find myself queenless (I may have squished her) in one of my hives. Today I ordered an emergency queen through them. I should get it in a day or two. I'll let you know. Overall my Experience with White Oak Apiary was pretty great. I would recommend them to other people.


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## handyman dave

On July 8th I ortdered and paid $96.30 for 3 queen bees. I included this note:

"I need these asap as have 2 queenless hives. 
Can you help quickly? If not, please call me 717-XXX-XXXX.
Thanks for your help.
Dave"

After a month with no communication I filed a complaint with Paypal. After another week I got notification that they had shipped the queens.

The package arrived today. There was one queen and a few workers in one of the queen cages. However the other two queen cages contain only worker bees, no queens.

Terrible communication and overt fraud in that I have now paid $96.30 for one queen.

Run away from these people! They are rip-offs.


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## Michael B

Place should just go away.


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## BieneMaja

I should have read up on White Oak Apiary before I ordered a queen early in June. My credit card got charged, and that was it. Could not reach Mike per phone because mailbox is full, not did he respond to e-mails. Last Friday, 8-15 I received a USPS confirmation of the delivery of my queen which finally arrived with 1 day delay. Not only was I surprised and frustrated to even receive the queen so late, I was also a little suspicious. As far as I could see in the queen cage, all 5 bees had the same size, and one was already dead.
I opened the cage inside another box with lid to check it out. there were 5 normal, workerbees in there , one dead and NO queen. 

Yes Let the beekeeper beware!!!!


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## biggraham610

Wow, shipping queens with no queens only workers, thats a whole new spin. I got taken by this guy in a moment of haste last year. Thank goodness I have now learned hives dont die overnight and there is time to think before acting. Someone should pursue prosecution. G


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## handyman dave

handyman dave said:


> On July 8th I ortdered and paid $96.30 for 3 queen bees. I included this note:
> 
> "I need these asap as have 2 queenless hives.
> Can you help quickly? If not, please call me 717-XXX-XXXX.
> Thanks for your help.
> Dave"
> 
> After a month with no communication I filed a complaint with Paypal. After another week I got notification that they had shipped the queens.
> 
> The package arrived today. There was one queen and a few workers in one of the queen cages. However the other two queen cages contain only worker bees, no queens.
> 
> Terrible communication and overt fraud in that I have now paid $96.30 for one queen.
> 
> Run away from these people! They are rip-offs.


EVERYONE! Paypal refunded 2/3 of my payment. 1 Queen = 1/3. At least they were able to tap his funds. YEA Paypal!
(I am sure my credit card company would have been willing to do the same thing but this worked this time.)


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