Good Word for Thornes

[eddy current]

I received an order of bits and bobs from Thornes which included 2 x glass quilts on 29/4/09. Checked the parcel for external damage(as one does) and opened up, everything well packaged and protected until came to glass quilts,
wrapped in 3 layers of bubble wrap but broken into small pieces!
Phoned Thornes and spoke to a nice lady(Jill I think) and explained the situation and what could she do to rectify it. She said "we could send them out again but the same thing might happen." So suggested I would pay the extra for poly-carb ones if they paid the postage, had to try and get something out of the deal. She was quiet for about 30 seconds and said they would replace the quilts with poly-carb at no cost to me(wow! result) but would I pass word around how kind and generous Thornes were.lol.
Anyway nothing turned up so I phoned yesterday and a man replied so I explained the situation, he put me on hold for about 20 seconds, came back, apologised that they had been out stock but they were now in stock and would be posted immediately, delivery first thing in morning.
09.30 this morning DHL on doorstep with parcel from Thornes!!!

So there we are A GOOD WORD FOR THORNES!! (as promised.

Bob

 

[Poly Hive]

I fear one good word will not undo a lot of bad ones.

I have to ask, why would you want glass quilts in the first place?

PH

 

[Salkeela]

We got Thornes stuff through ebay.

NO hassles and everything up to spec. Delighted!

 

[Poly Hive]

I have to ask. No hive but raising a queen? What is the game plan??

PH

 

[Salkeela]

Okay, we have a mentor who is going to split a hive for us.

However he wanted to rear some new queens so he could split some hives. So he gave us a cupful of bees with a queen cell in a loaned apodea, so that we can rear our own queen! Nice touch I think!

Once she returns from her mating flight, he will split a hive for us and we can use the new queen in our new hive. If all goes to plan that is......

 

[Poly Hive]

good luck to you and your queen, may she prosper. Seems you have a generous mentor well done you, the luck of the Irish hmm?

PH

 

[eddy current]

I am starting from scratch with my yougest son and my grandson is also showing an interest. We have built up 2 x National Hives (Thornes) and have 2 x nucs on order. Everthing is in place, impatiently awaiting arrival of bees.

Bob

 

[Salkeela]

It is rather exciting all this ....

... although if I'm honest my OH will be the chief beekeeper here. He's a bit calmer in nature than I am.

Mind you listening to the bees in their little box this evening is amazing. What a hum.

Tomorrow apparently they get moved out of their dark spot and the door opened so our queen can go looking for a mate.

I just worry she's going to meet a sticky end on some lorry windshield somewhere.

 

[hedgerow pete]

jill is the main conntact at thornes she is always the one selling stuff on ebay and if you dont know she IS MRS THORNES the other half is top dog and she runs the shops he runs the manafacturing, a very lovely lady who has on more than one occation made sure the equipment i have ordered in a rush has turned up,
i know i slag thornes off at times mainly because of there prices and sometimes quality issues but and please rember this they do , do what i want and when and sometimes you just have to pay for quality

 

[grizzly]

You are right Pete, for example i ordered gear i needed for this weekend last sunday eve, it hasnt turned up .... without a word about anything being out of stock..... shite example of service.

Flip side, they exchanged damaged goods without question, and even let me return an extractor(used once) without any grief, so very positive.

My main qibble with them is they have not planned well enough for demand, they dried up surplus stock everywhere just to feed the Stoneleigh pack, leaving the rest of us with our only local outlet empty of stock. They are now struggling to supply.

Their excuse in part was they had no idea the spring would be so good, well that one dont wash with me, when i bought for a large supermarket chain i always kept an eye on the weather and the calendar, hot spell or bank holidays means increased business with certain lines selling heavily, it just needs a little forethought.

So when normal service resumes i am sure it will return to its previous high standard.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

I ordered in their winter sale enough foundation for said number of frames, but a couple of packs of foundation missing.

I phoned up, they said no problem did not even question, and next day 2 replacment packs arrived.

Now if I was not honest I could have just done that to get a couple of extra packs of foundation.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Their excuse in part was they had no idea the spring would be so good, well that one dont wash with me, when i bought for a large supermarket chain i always kept an eye on the weather and the calendar, hot spell or bank holidays means increased business with certain lines selling heavily, it just needs a little forethought.

Hmm ... well it does with me. Don't forget a large amount of capital can be tied up in manufactured equipment and the last two years have literally been piss-poor seasons.

We are in a recession and no one at the moment want's to carry more stock than necessary. Also, the fact suppliers are under pressure is a reflection on beekeepers not planning ahead. The number of beekeepers is also increasing and this will affect sales forecasting too.

I worked for a blue chip supermarket and got involved in seasonality and forecasting. It's more complicated than you'd think especially with seasonal lines with the cut over between winter/summer perisable commodities such as hot pies!

Beekeeping is seasonal and the weather in the UK is so soddin variable, the 5 day forecast is unreliable, let alone the long range weather forecast that beekeeping manufacturers must usee.

I plan ahead each year and by the time of the Spring Convention am sorted for the season. This way I have the equipment to hand and don't have to panic when the season is in full swing.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

They say that having the public as customers is bad. Having to predict the weather makes things even harder!
I've had no problems with Thrones, although delivery is a bit slow sometimes.
The only other problem is that the delivey driver (DHL?) hates bees, he's absolutely petrified of them, (My hives are in the front garden so he has to walk past them) so if he beeps his horn and gets no reply, he now drops stuff off next door. Just cannot get the right staff these days!

Adamd

 

[BKF Admin]

Hmm ... well it does with me. Don't forget a large amount of capital can be tied up in manufactured equipment and the last two years have literally been piss-poor seasons.

We are in a recession and no one at the moment want's to carry more stock than necessary. Also, the fact suppliers are under pressure is a reflection on beekeepers not planning ahead. The number of beekeepers is also increasing and this will affect sales forecasting too.

I worked for a blue chip supermarket and got involved in seasonality and forecasting. It's more complicated than you'd think especially with seasonal lines with the cut over between winter/summer perisable commodities such as hot pies!

Beekeeping is seasonal and the weather in the UK is so soddin variable, the 5 day forecast is unreliable, let alone the long range weather forecast that beekeeping manufacturers must usee.

I plan ahead each year and by the time of the Spring Convention am sorted for the season. This way I have the equipment to hand and don't have to panic when the season is in full swing.

Is that another way of saying you hit the Thornes winter sales.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Yes ..... I've invested in the frames and foundation up front so am not going to be hit by supply and demand problems!!

 

[FROGDOGDIVER]

I did the same. Thought ahead and ordered a heap in the January sales. They came to the Ulster beekeeping conference in March with a lot of sale priced itmes so I again spent a heap. Got enough to do me for most hings now well at least until next years sale. Only problem I had was one pack of foundation was badly damaged but after a quick call to Gill a new one was in the post. They can be a tad pricey on some items but I have had good customer service from them. Pays to think ahead though and stock up in their sale.

 

[mikethebee]

Thorn’s are a manufacturing company buy stock, buy wood, cut wood, sell wood, gone no come back.

ON THE OTHER HAND "bees" Breeding Selling flying cattle is a different proposition nothing goes right.
ALL THE BEST MIKE

 

[taff..]

Thorn’s are a manufacturing company buy stock, buy wood, cut wood, sell wood, gone no come back.

ON THE OTHER HAND "bees" Breeding Selling flying cattle is a different proposition nothing goes right.
ALL THE BEST MIKE

another cryptic post from you

are you trying to say thornes have it easy because they sell equipment where you have it difficult because you sell livestock?


from what I've seen, you have plenty of satisfied customers

 

[thurrock bees]

hi all, ive brought a lot from thrones, they are pricey and slow to send the items, they also dont email you or call to say so and so is not in stock. however i ordered 1000 labels and 800 odd were printed on the wrong side, leaving me with black labels, gave them a call told them how many sheets need, she said no problem and gave 5 extra sheets to say sorry.

 

[PaleoPerson]

One thing that strikes me from this post is that Thornes may not be the cheapest, the delivery may not be the fastest, nor the systems firing on all cylinders at times, but I feel it shows that the people running the business are genuine, this counts a lot for me.

I have actually walked out of a shop when I had the cash in my hand (£900+) and the product of my desires on the counter because the salesman did not give two figs about their job or the products they were selling. I have also cancelled an order for a new car and went elsewhere for the same reason.

Perhaps (more than I would like to admit), I am just a "Grumpy old Man", but I like to support people who genuinely try to help, even those who make glorious cock-ups but then make it hassle free to resolve.