We received 2 vegetable boxes from Homestead Creamery, but they only charged us for one, because the quality and selection of vegetables they received from Sausser Farms weren’t all that great.
We signed up to buy one 5lb Option A box and one 5lb Option B box each week.
Option A is supposed to be a combination of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, and herbs.
Option B is supposed to be a combination of cucumbers, egg plant, greens, string/pole beans, broccoli, and zucchini.
I received an e-mail from Sausser Farms at 8:36 this morning stating that “Just a reminder to those in the Roanoke area that the stand will be closed today, July 3rd.”
Reminder? A reminder would imply that we were informed previously that the stand would be closed today. We weren’t.
The survey for this week clearly asked when those of us in Roanoke wanted to pickup our vegetables on Friday or Saturday. I chose Saturday, and I guess I’m out of luck.
I replied to the e-mail with the following, “You’re announcing on Saturday morning that the stand is closed today. How much worse can your customer service get?“
The response I received was:
Steve,
They have been letting everyone know at the stand and it has been posted on the Website. Out of courtesy, I simply sent out a reminder…that has to be better than not reminding people.
-Chris
And my response to that was, “No, it wasn’t posted on the website until this morning. The survey that we were asked to fill out for the week clearly asked if we planned to pickup Friday or Saturday.
When did they tell the people at the stand – yesterday? If they picked up yesterday, they are not picking up again today, are they?“
The customer service just keeps getting worse.
Sausser Roanoke Survey for weekend of 7/2 – 7/3:
Sausser Farms Roanoke Survey for Weekend of 7/2-7/3
the email:
Just a reminder to those in the Roanoke area that the stand will be closed today, July 3rd. Thank you! Click to view this email in a browser If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe Sausser Farms 9175 Patrick Henry Hwy Phenix, Virginia 23959
This thing is a rip-off! I have been to the Christiansburg location 5 times and have gotten only broccoli and a few zucchini. The other four times, they have had nothing to offer, or have been closed. I will be demanding a refund.
Good luck with that refund. I sent my 2 cards in over a month ago – no refund yet. Sent 2 emails, both of which received automated responses stating that my emails probably wouldn't be read. Phone – disconnected. Now, website down.
Channel 13 has a story about people in Forest who are dissatisfied with Sausser Farms – long lines, poor produce, irregular hours… [Read](http://www.wset.com/news/stories/0710/751940.html “Read the Article”)
Members of the Sausser Farms coop in Ruckersville found the building abandoned when they came to pick up their shares on June 16th.
Sausser Farms vacated the building without paying rent and without giving the landlord any idea it was leaving.
When the Greene County Record asked Sausser why he had vacated the Ruckersville without paying his debt, he said, “I never got a bill.†Asked about breaking his lease, he said, “I never signed a lease.â€
The landlord said that both Sausser and his wife both signed and initialed the 13-page lease.
[Read](http://www2.greene-news.com/gcn/news/local/article/ruckersville_co-op_building_abandoned/57562/ “Read the Article”) (Greene County Record)
I do NOT feel this was a fraud. I do think that this family was really trying, but the weather threw a monkey wrench into their plans. My parents had a produce farm years ago and knowing when produce would be ready was a real crap shoot – they did irrigate, so that helped. But farmers are definitely at the mercy of the weather. NO rain means NO crops!!! I feel for this family. Hopefully next year will be better for them AND for their customers, including me!! I too was looking forward to having the fresh veggies!! I think we all need to practice some patience and understand that THINGS HAPPEN!!!
I practiced patience and understanding with Sausser Farms as long as I could, but you can’t blame everything on the weather. The weather is not responsible for them showing up late at their locations or not showing up at all. The weather is not responsible for the lies they told their customers about why they were not at their produce stands. The Saussers are responsibe for collecting the membership fees of thousands of people, then not delivering what was promised. They too are responsible for telling the local news that they would give refunds to dissatisfied customers and then not even holding true to that. Come on…they aren’t in the farming business, thet are in the business of ripping people off!
In addition to getting vegetables delivered from Homestead Creamery, I paid $35 for a share in Sausser Farms CSACo-op, which was supposed to result in 5lbs of vegetables a week for 24 weeks, and they were supposed to have a presence at the Salem Farmers Market.
They haven’t opened at the Salem Farmers Market. Their website says they plan to open in Salem in July, but I’m not holding my breath.
That means the Roanoke Farmers Market is the closest location. The first time I went there, the Sausser Farms Rep wasn’t there, so I left, ate breakfast, came back 2 hours later, and their stall was still empty. The second time I went, the rep was there; however, there was a very long line of people with Sausser Farms cards in their hands, and the only thing the rep had left was cabbage at 10:45 in the morning.
Since then Sausser Farms has reduced its Lynchburg and Roanoke hours and is now requiring customers who pick up their vegetables in Lynchburg and Roanoke to select a prepackaged box.
This week, the [choices](http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HLGJPSP “Sausser Farms Choices for weekend of 7/2-7/3”) are:
*Okra and Tomatoes are still in limited supply. We will do our best to fill all requests.
I just received an [e-mail](http://hosted.marketingcenter.intuit.com/18111/bb22980fe0/5401107/f7179a3de3/ “e-mail from Sausser Farms”) from Sausser Farms that those of us who pick up our vegetables in Roanoke are now required to pay $1 per cardboard box that the vegetables come in, but we’ll get an extra pound of vegetables. So, this is really a price increase of 53%.
I don’t need another pound of squash, zucchini, or pickling cucumbers. Can I bring my own bag, dump 5lbs of vegetables in my bag, leave the box, and skip the $1 fee?
The email has been pasted below in case the link stops working.
Please read this if you need help with the survey.
I've received some e-mails that some people are having some challenges with the survey. I don't know that would cause these issues, but I can tell you that the majority of people are able to access the survey and fill it out.
Below are some suggestions that might be helpful:
You completed the survey, but hit the Done button prior to printing. Go back in and fill out the survey again and hit Print under the File menu of your browser and then hit done.
For some reason the link is not working for you. Try the following:
Close your browser and then reopen it and try again.
Delete your Temporary Internet Files and clear your History
Try Firefox instead of Explorer or vice-versa
Type it directly into your browswer: http://www. surveymonkey. com/s/HLGJPSP (Please notice that I put a space after each period, so be sure to remove the spaces.) Or go to SurveyMonkey.com and then add /s/HLGJPSP to the Web address.
Survey Monkey is asking for a user name and password. I have not clue why it would do that. I've tried it and it doesn't ask me. Possible solutions:
Delete your Temporary Internet Files and clear your History
Delete your Temporary Internet Files and clear your History
Try Firefox instead of Explorer or vice-versa
Type it directly into your browswer: http://www. surveymonkey. com/s/HLGJPSP (Please notice that I put a space after each period, so be sure to remove the spaces.)
FYI...I was told there might be a $1.00 box deposit but along with that you will be getting 6 pounds of produce instead of 5. The fee is regardless of whether or not you give the box back at the time of pick up or not. I am sorry, I meant to mention that in the first e-mail, but forgot.
I know the Pick-Your-Share option is not ideal for many of you and filling out the survey is a pain. I wish we didn't have to do it either, but something needs to be tried so that things can improve. TRUST ME, I FEEL YOUR PAIN AND THEN SOME!
And please remember I simply do not have the ability to respond to every individual e-mail. It is not that I don't want, it is that I don't have the time.
Doing the best I can to help the Saussers and the members out,
Chris
Click to view this email in a browser
If you no longer wish to receive these emails, please reply to this message with "Unsubscribe" in the subject line or simply click on the following link: Unsubscribe
Sausser Farms
9175 Patrick Henry Hwy
Phenix, Virginia 23959
Thanks to your posts, I've resolved that I'm looking to get out of their co-op. I'm in Lynchburg, and while their hours have been somewhat reliable at their two locations (outside Myers & Rhodes and the Blue Ridge Montessori School), the constant evolution of their operational model is upsetting. At this point, I qualify their moves to a prepackaged box and the box fee as forms of fraud, something of a prepaid bait-and-switch.
Keep us posted with any news you find on these guys.
After all this about the surveys and having to print them out and bring them in order to get your shares, there were no option boxes, tomatoes, or okra at the Roanoke Market this morning. Just squash, zucchini, and pickles. Again.
Were they at least in cardboard boxes to speed up the line?
This is the same problem Homestead Creamery has run into. The Homestead Creamery manager calls the Sausser's to ask what's available and then specifies what he'd like in each box – Homestead Creamery offers 3 box choices. So far, the boxes haven't been packed as specified. This week, all 3 choices consisted of mainly squash zucchini and pickles.
I'm planning to go to the Roanoke Farmer's Market tomorrow, and I suspect I'll either come home with more squash, zucchini, and pickles or I'll come home empty-handed because the line's so long. Maybe, I'll take a camera with me and get a couple of shots of the line.
I am ready to contact the BBB about this group of frauds! I understand the frost issues that came late in the season, but by now things should be on the up-and-up. I waited in line until 9:30 this morning for them and they still weren't there…I had to leave as my 15 month old couldn't take being strapped in his stroller any longer! They are a bunch of frauds as far as I'm concerned. I think if enough people complained to someone that will actually listen and ACT upon the complaints, then we may get somewhere (all I want is my money back!)
Things just got a little bit more sketchy. http://www.roanoke.com/news/roanoke/wb/253946
I have reported Sausser Farms to the BBB. They have 14 days to respond to me. It's obvious folks….this was a big scam. It's not that I can't afford to loose $35, it's more that I told EVERYONE I know about it. My friends are all upset with me. Ohhhh, lesson learned!
If it sounds to good to be true…(repeat after me)….IT IS!!!!
Please go ahead and report them to the BBB.
I went to the website for the farm online tonight and it has been disabled. Wonder if they are shutting down everything. Sure would like to get my $70 for the two shares I purchased back. I have been successful in getting vegetables 1 time this season. Lines are too long in the hot sun and they don't show up when they say they will. Wonder what we would find if we drove to the farm? I don't even have email contact for them at this point as it was on the website! I understand not producing what you need to sell, but buck up and give customer money back. The ads on the website surely sounded like this was not their first year of operation – and it was. At one point they emailed those of us who had already purchased a share and asked us to sign on friends as they were well short of their goal of 75,000 shares.
When I get back from “the farm” I will let you know. Gonna to go today and see what's there if anything and try to get my money back. Hahaha!! Kim
Got ahold of my attorney today. He says the people who bought shares in the co-op can band together and file a class action suit. They do after all own a large farm. This was a scam and yes, the site and numbers are not available to any consumers. Although it is only $35.00 the fact is every penny counts and they basically stole from us. Linda J Miller proudnavma/aol I am also contacting the BBB tomorrow. I was told a month ago to mail them my card for a refund. I never got one. But have proof I purchased one. Not nice to play with ppl’s money. Sometimes dangerous things can happen.
The Christiansburg location is completely shut down. A For Rent sign is back in the window of the storefront. Guess I won’t be getting a pumpkin OR that hayride! Despicable people.
This week we received 2 vegetable boxes from Homestead Creamery. It’s the first week we’ve received 2, and it’s the first week that I’ve received any tomatoes, herbs, egg plant, and non-pickling cucumbers.
The only other items we’ve received so far this season are cabbage, carrots, one mess of wax beans, one beet, and lots of pickling cucumbers, squash, and zucchini. Some weeks the squash and zucchini look like they should have been picked a week or two earlier.
They purchase their vegetables from Sausser Farms, and so far, the vegetables haven’t met my or Homestead Creamery’s expectations.
We signed up to buy one 5lb Option A box and one 5lb Option B box each week.
Option A is supposed to be a combination of potatoes, tomatoes, onions, squash, and herbs.
Option B is supposed to be a combination of cucumbers, egg plant, greens, string/pole beans, broccoli, and zucchini.
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