# Dadant



## BeeGuy54 (Jan 7, 2014)

What happened with Dadant in Fl? They are horrible to deal with. Employees are unprofessional and confused. I may get my order or I may not! and if I do it may or may not be correct! DISSATISFIED!


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## jack Jones (Mar 3, 2009)

Jerry retired and his son is now manager. I was in the store in Nov and left feeling like the staff gave me the cold shoulder. When jerry was manager I always felt very welcome.


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## Swiftwisdom (Dec 9, 2013)

Sad but true.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

BeeGuy54 said:


> What happened with Dadant in Fl? They are horrible to deal with. Employees are unprofessional and confused. I may get my order or I may not! and if I do it may or may not be correct! DISSATISFIED!


Have you sent word to the Main Office? Somebody further up the line aught to know.


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## cdanderson (May 26, 2007)

I have had similar feelings... just order from the Kentucky branch.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

i went to frankfort today for the first time for a spring supply run, i usually go to walter t kelleys, but dadants prices were a little cheaper, maybe 5-10% Well that was a huge mistake, they were out of several items in my order. the plastic foundation is too small for the grooved frames. and the frames are terrible, the joints are very sloppy and loose. kelley frames are much better. 

Im going to kelleys for now on, learned my lesson. the ladies there are so nice and they always make it right.


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## Sharpbees (Jun 26, 2012)

Burns375, I have used both Kelley's and Dadant. I found that I can't put Kelley foundation into Dadant frames and vice versa. I have ran into sloppy, loose joints with both but not often. If you let Clay at Dadants know he will try to work with you to fix the problem and will appreciate the feedback. I like both companies but honestly I go to Kelley's more for the simple fact that they are a local manufacturer and distributor based in KY, where Dadants is based in IL and warehouses equipment in KY for distribution. Many times I go to one or the other according to convenience to my location.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

This is not Fl in particular, but a weird thing with the Dadant web site. Some months ago last year I checked it out cos I bought some cell protectors from the site. While there I saw featured on the front page, some veil/jacket combos that looked nice to me I thought wow I'll get a couple of those, but each one had a little note _temporarily out of stock_. So been checking the site periodically to see when they are available again, thinking temporary means days, or a few weeks at best. No. Many months later they are still being featured on the front page and still say temporarily out of stock. I can understand supply problems or whatever and stuff being out of stock but actually featuring something on the front page, for many months, that is out of stock, seems a little weird.

This snip, from the centre of their front page.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Sharpbees said:


> If you let Clay at Dadants know he will try to work with you to fix the problem and will appreciate the feedback. I like both companies but honestly I go to Kelley's more for the simple fact that they are a local manufacturer and distributor based in KY, where Dadants is based in IL and warehouses equipment in KY for distribution. Many times I go to one or the other according to convenience to my location.


Hey Sharpbees are you Larry Marks? Did you recieve my check via mail, I may buy one more...see you at the KBA meeting Feb 7th......

Most likely I'll just return them and purchase frames+foundation from Kelleys. I've bought atleast 400 kelley frames and have been very impressed. The only problem on a few is the side-rail splits on occasion, once glued its no problem. Kelley actually replaced those for me free of charge. The fit is much better with kelley and they are lighter wood, the dadant frames are atleast 2x heavier. Maybe I just got a bad batch. The nail in the coffin is the plasticell bought at dadants won't fit into there own frames, the foundation is too short for the deep grooves. Kelleys exclusively from now on, kentucky pride! 

ps checked out the hives today...they were flying strong! Spring is almost here!!

Plasticell is an Injected molded plastic raised cell sheet. Coated with 100% USA beeswax in Hamilton, IL to help the bees start drawing the cells. The best plastic foundation available. Tested and proven as the ultimate in plastic foundation. Precise deep cell walls. Uniform exact cells. Fits 9 1/8 inch frames Foundation size is 8 3/8 inches x 16 3/4 inches. Used with wedge top bar or *grooved top bar frames.* Product may be white or yellow color.


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## Sharpbees (Jun 26, 2012)

Burns375 No, Larry lives about a mile from me. He's the person that got me interested in bees when I did the addition on his house several years ago. I guess like me you found cheaper isn't always the cheapest route. Most of my equipment is from Kelley's, I'll probably phase out the Dadant woodenware due to compatibility. I will however use their containers due to price.


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## Mountain Man (Aug 26, 2013)

I have purchased a lot of plasticell off Clay at Dadant and just recently over 100 sheets with frames, got em all together just fine.


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## laketrout (Mar 5, 2013)

I also had a bad experience at a dadant store , very unprofessional , I don't look forward to going there at all but I go right past there store so it saves on shipping . I felt like I should let the main office know and I never heard back from them on it , I'm not sure if they really care .Mann Lake is coming to PA very soon now so I'll check them out but I'm a little concerned about compatibility .


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## bsharp (Feb 5, 2013)

BeeGuy54 said:


> I may get my order or I may not! and if I do it may or may not be correct!


You should have told them you may or may not decide to pay, and if you do it may or may not be in the correct amount!


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Can tell one good story about them, and honesty. When I bought those cell protectors the freight, worked out by some automatic web tool, was insane. Many multiples of the price of the actual product I bought. Decided to pay it though as they are not readily available here and I had few options.

The money was deducted from my credit card. But when I got a new statement, it showed a credit maybe a week or so after the purchase. Dadant after posting, had found the freight was less than I had been charged & had refunded me the difference.

They did not have to and I was not expecting it, their honesty was impressive, also suspect the majority of e-sites in such a situation would just have kept the money.


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

Mountain Man said:


> I have purchased a lot of plasticell off Clay at Dadant and just recently over 100 sheets with frames, got em all together just fine.


I looked at a few more frames and the foundation stays in. The overlap is only about 1/16" so theres no much room for tolerance stack-up error before the foundation falls out. Ill need to make sure I hammer the top and bottom bar in tightly. For an extra $6 per 100 frames i'de rather go for Kelleys.

Do you use the wedge style, without the top groove the plasticell probably fits much better as designed. 

One pro is the plasticell coating has a slightly thicker coating of wax than permadent. Although its missing the triangulated bottom.


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## Kamon A. Reynolds (Apr 15, 2012)

Dad ant has always been slow for me. However Kelley always deliver faster than I thought possible and the quality and people are great. Why would I buy from anyone else?


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## burns375 (Jul 15, 2013)

I got intouch with clay this morning. Apparently a portion of deep size plasticell was cut an 1/8 to 3/16 too short. They are shipping a box of bottom bars with shallow grooves to fix the situation. They also are shipping an out of stock item free of charge, they made it right! Much pleased, but probably going with kelleys next time.


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## MTINAZ (Jan 15, 2010)

I thought I would add my dadant experience here. I ordered some terramycin last week and it is just shipping out today. How in today's world can it take a full week just to pull a box of the shelf and put a shipping label on it. I normally order from mann lake and will have to go back to them.


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## bevy's honeybees (Apr 21, 2011)

I was at the Fl Dadant store yesterday because we were going through N Fl and I wanted a case of honey containers and a few other things. The young fellow who filled my order was fine-- my only complaint is that they were out of stock on 2 items I wanted.


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