Kelley Walter Co Bee Hive Factory

Terrible company. My bees did not arrive ever! They do not care. They say they care about the bees but they only care about the money. They would not give me a refund. DO NOT DO BUSINESS with this company. Horrible. On hold for 45 minutes. Customer service is terrible. I was told that once the bees are shipped, they did their part. Now it was my job to find them. Find a different company. Their supplies are cheap also.

After a total of 10 calls, lots of hold time, and about 2 months, I finally got all of my order shipped out to me. Everyone on the phone is very nice and clearly wants to help but whomever runs their online business and operations needs to be fired. It really couldn’t get much worse.
I will not order from them again and would advise anyone else go with another supplier like Mann Lake or Dedant instead. The products will be the same and you wont have to deal with Kelley’s poorly run eComm business.

READ ENTIRE REVIEW: as a new beekeeper, I thought buying my supplies from a company that was «established» would be the way to go. wrong! I placed a substantial order (over $ 400, including an entire full hive) and was told it would ship within 2 days. a week later I called and was told it had NOT shipped because one $ 10 item was on backorder! who holds up an entire order for one small backordered item?! I told them (Amy) not to hold the order and to cancel the b/​o item.
I called again a week later and was told it had NOT shipped because, you guessed it, one item was on backorder. I told them, AGAIN, not to hold the order up and was told it would ship next day. this was 2 weeks after placing order. I called again 2 days later to get a tracking#, and spoke with a «supervisor», Mary Glenn. she said the order had NOT shipped because the order was not complete. I’M NOT KIDDING! Mary Glenn «promised me» she would personally see that this order shipped that day, and I should have it in 2 days. she promised to email me the tracking# the next day.
2 days later, I had not received my order. I called Mary Glenn and she told me the order had NOT shipped, guess why? you got it, they were waiting for one item. she told me she would go to shipping department and personally make sure it shipped that day. it did not ship that day.
I then had to drive 2 hours to a bee supply company to buy a partial hive, because my bees were due to arrive that weekend. an additional $ 120 I had to spend because of Kelley’s horrible service.
4 WEEKS after I placed the order, and 3 promises that it would «ship that day», I finally received the order. a section of the hive had been damaged in shipping (the bottom board, or base, which the entire hive sits on), and one major component they said they had shipped was missing. I contacted Mary Glenn immediately and she said Jessica (customer service?) would get back to me that day to address the problems. after sending daily emails for 6 DAYS, they never even responded. I finally had to contact my credit card company to dispute the charges.
when the hive and accessories finally did arrive, the quality was really very poor. the hives were STAPLED together (and not glued prior to that), rather than nailed or screwed, like good quality hives are constructed. they were flimsy and the corners fit poorly. I can tell these hives are not built to last more than a couple years, a considerable investment for such poor product.
I know for certain that I would never order from this company again. their product is poor quality and their customer service is non-​existent. I have ordered online on a regular basis (weekly) for over 10 years, and this was possibly the worst experience to date. AVOID Walter Kelley Beekeeping.

I have only purchased something from them once but they were very professional. I ordered the item and it came immediately. I had some questions about the item order right after I ordered it on line. I emailed my questions and they were answered politely the same day. It seems to be a very well run company.
On a different note I wanted to say the item I ordered was their ventilated bee suit. I used it the first time yesterday and it was amazing. It was very cool to wear and I did not get a single sting. That is very unusual for me since I keep bees in an africanized mixing area and my colonies are very hot to deal with. Although all ventilated bee suits are much more expensive than the traditional suit, this one at least, is worth every penny.

I’d give Walter T. Kelley 5 stars but this is the only bee company I’ve dealt with so I don’t know if it’s as good as it gets.
However, I’m a fan. Back in the winter I got a bee in my bonnet (oh, yes I did!) to become a bee keeper. I did some research and from every source I talked to or googled I got directed to Walter T. Kelley as the best.
My first order was for equipment. I got a nice, cheap helmet and veil and a smoker. Those have been sitting in my trunk but finally yesterday I got the call: three pounds of Italian honey bees were at the post office waiting for me. I went to where I had put my hive (thanks!) and installed them. It was as easy as the lady on the phone said. Only three stings! The bees seemed healthy and active and ready to gather nectar and honey.
Both shipments came on time and in good order. The phone folks were very nice and informative.
The only drawback — and won’t attribute this to Kelley 100% — is the cost of getting into bee keeping. After pricing the traditional route of buying the boxes that you think of when you think of bee keeping I had a mini-​stroke. When all was said and done I would be shelling out easily $ 500 but most likely heading to $ 1,000.
That wasn’t going to happen. I decided to use a more rudimentarly method — Kenyan Top Bar Hive. I built it myself.
I guess what I’m getting at is that with the problems we’re having with a lack of bees I wish Kelley would take the lead in somehow lowering the price to make bee keeping more accessible or have products that catered to Top Bar Hive guys like I’ve decided to become.

So this place will not appeal to 99% of Unilocalers but a good business is a good business, right?
Walter Kelly is the place to get your beekeeping supplies if your not having any luck on the local level. Like anything you order from the net you pay for any discount with shipping costs. This can really get up there if you want to ship a bunch of equipment that weighs 100’s of pounds. Luckily in LA we have some choices for equipment. However, I do get my smaller specialty items and most recently bee medication from these guys. Yes bees can get sick and diseases too. The price is right, they ship it immediately and should you have any problems at all you can call and they will answer all of your questions. Not a bad deal at all.
They have anything you need to update ot start a hive from scratch. I think you can only get bees locally but you can still order queens through the mail. Bee’s in the mail, ahhh!