topic Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!! in Kitchen

VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

GeorgiaJanet — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 18:36:37 GMT

I am SO disappointed. Florida Honeybells are wonderful and delicious!! I just received my order this year and they substituted California ones because the Florida ones had not matured in time. California ones are sour, not sweet.!!! NO WAY are they the same!!! They should have let us know ahead of time.

I had ordered the California ones last year and hated them. I had to juice them all just to get them down me. And here I did a double order because I had loved the Florida ones so much.

SO, SO, SO DISAPPOINTED!!!!!! Fortunately I also ordered some Florida ones from another Citrus company and received those a few weeks ago and thoroughly enjoyed them, so at least I got to have some this year.

I certainly won't trust QVC to give me the right ones so I will never order them again from QVS!!!!!

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

PA Mom-mom — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 18:45:37 GMT

@GeorgiaJanet That's strange. The presentations I watched specified California. What item number did you order?

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

GeorgiaJanet — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 18:54:25 GMT

I ordered mine on 12/30/20 for a 1/18/21 shipment and they were definitely Florida ones. Now all that is available on QVC are the California ones.

Last year I had liked the Florida ones so much that I ordered some California ones afterwards. That is when I found out they are nothing alike. The California ones are very tart and sour so I certainly did not want them to substitute. I'm not losing any money on them but I was so looking forward to eating the Florida ones again.

Fortunately I had also ordered some from another citrus company in Florida and received those a few weeks ago so I did get some this year. They were delicious. From now on I will order from them and NOT QVC.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

KingstonsMom — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 19:01:20 GMT

I noticed that our Publix (GA) was advertising 'CA honeybells'.

The original FL honeybells sold here are supplied by Hale Groves (dot com), you can order from them directly (that's why no link to their site)

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

Kachina624 — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 19:21:16 GMT

@GeorgiaJanet. If you're unhappy with a food order, all you have to do is call CS and ask for a refund. Do not return the fruit.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

homedecor1 — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 19:54:11 GMT

@GeorgiaJanet

The original description stated "California" and here in FL I'm yet to find them except last year they had them about 1 week and they came from CA not FL!!! Haven't seen them since - maybe they've been replaced with the CaraCara which are CA grown. (I asked our Publix produce manager and he said they are no longer available - maybe just in Publix.)

I know the FL oranges, grapefruits & produce in general are are terrible - UNLESS you go directly to a grower. There aren't any in my area - although, I'm spoiled by Jersey corn, tomatos and vegetables! I've yet to find a good tomato!

Plus, another thing QVC nor Mr. Cushman never discloses Cushman's SOLD to Harry & David almost 10 years ago maybe not their inventory but their name -- I used to have family who lived near the original Cushman store in West Palm Beach -- long gone as are the orange groves ...

hmmm wonder who is "laughing' all the way to the bank with his bib on...qvc & Mr. Cushman

Want a good orange try the CaraCara or the Lil Cuties they'd be cheaper and better...IMO>>>

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

GeorgiaJanet — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 19:53:32 GMT

Yes, I called and got my money back and I stopped next year's auto-delivery. So that part is not the problem. I am just disappointed I won't have the delicious fruit to eat. I'll end up just juicing all these again to get some nutrients from them, but otherwise they taste awful, way too sour.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

GeorgiaJanet — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 20:02:19 GMT

I bought some and received them earlier in the month from another grower, Hales, and they were Florida ones, delicious, juicy, and sweet. I'll buy from them next year, certainly not from Cushman's (Harry and David). No it did not present as California, it presented as Florida ones. An insert in the box explained that California ones were substituted.

It was very false advertising.....I would not have placed the order if they were not presenting them as Florida Honeybells. Here is how the order showed, as Florida Honeybells:

Purchased on 5 Easy Pays

Auto-Delivery Plan

Item number:M72041

SH 1/18 Cushman's 10-lb Florida Honeybell Box Auto-Delivery

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

GeorgiaJanet — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 19:59:52 GMT

Yes, I had ordered from Hales and got them earlier in the month and they were very good. I'll order from them again next year. I called them today to see if there were any left but they are sold out. Now I know not to buy them from QVC.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

brady2 — Fri, 29 Jan 2021 23:52:50 GMT

I just received my Florida??? Honeybells and although I haven't eaten any I feel robbed! and cheated! When I first saw the Harry and David shipping box I knew something was wrong. QVC knew they were not going to ship the Florida Honeybells the very first time it was aired. If I don't like them I am going to get my money back. FALSE ADVERTISING!!

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

sunshine45 — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 00:03:33 GMT

my favorite place to order fruits from is pittman and davis. i dont know where their honeybells are from, but they have fantastic comice pears, ruby red grapefruits, sugar belles, and navel oranges. very good customer service also if there are issues.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

songbird — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 00:14:07 GMT

I ordered only once from last year. And from a Florida grower,(Hale Groves) not QVC. There were OK. But not everyone tasted the same. They were all different. One was very sweet and juicy, another kind of flat in taste and very little juice. I decided not to order again, because I was the only one eating them. My husband and son didn't like them. Ironically the best tasting ones I ever had were not Honeybells but Minneaolas. That's a variation of Honeybells, but they tasted so much better!

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

GeorgiaJanet — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 04:29:28 GMT

"I just received my Florida??? Honeybells and although I haven't eaten any I feel robbed! and cheated! When I first saw the Harry and David shipping box I knew something was wrong. QVC knew they were not going to ship the Florida Honeybells the very first time it was aired. If I don't like them I am going to get my money back. FALSE ADVERTISING!!"

I received a small paper in my box that told me they had substituted California Honeybells for the Florida ones because the growing season was late and the Florida fruit had not matured yet. They sure didn't need to ASSUME I would be happy with the substitution. I tried one of them, and sure enough, it was very sour. I called QVC and they didn't give me any trouble about returning my Easy Pay payment. I'm just going to juice them to use them up. I can handle sour O.J. better than eating them.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

MichiGal — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 15:10:49 GMT

Like the rest of the customers, I received my box of "Florida Honeybells" only to find out they really didn't grow many this year and they were substituting them with the California "smacks." The smacks are sour and small, they actually look like lemons painted orange, do not have nearly the amount of juice, and do not compare to HoneyBelles. I have always enjoyed the Honeybells in the past, but last year I noticed they were a mess, beat up, under-ripe, and looking terrible. I swore I wouldn't order them again but this year I remembered what Mr. Cushman always said about the longer they stay on the tree the sweeter they get so I intentionally ordered the last ship week. They were supposed to be shipped on 1/18 and after a week of showing them "being prepared" I knew something was wrong. They arrived on 1/28 and to my surprise, there was a note inside saying they were subbing out with Smacks. Shame on QVC if they were aware of this all along and continued to sell them, but if they didn't know they had a responsibility to the customers to reach out and ask if we wanted these or if we would prefer to cancel the order. If I go into the car dealer and buy a Cadillac I don't want to be handed a set of keys to a Chevrolet instead because they didn't actually have any Cadillacs on the lot.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

walkingal — Sat, 30 Jan 2021 15:26:41 GMT

@GeorgiaJanet I was disappointed with my order of Cushman Honeybells this year too. When I was unpacking them, I saw the Harry & David box and I couldn't believe it! I only ate one. Never again. The ones at my local grocery stores are better than that.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

febe2 — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 22:29:14 GMT

I had never tried the Honeybells before and was eager to try them. Talk about BAD! Some of mine when cut open were completely dry. The best of them were not as good as produe from my local market.

The Q should stop selling them. I will never purchase another.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

haddon9 — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 22:37:01 GMT

@GeorgiaJanet I would call customer service and let them know how disappointed you are with the product. They will give you a refund.

ETA: Never mind. I see that you already did so. It is disappointing though.

Re: VERY DISAPPOINTED WITH CUSHMAN HONEYBELLS!!!!!

Reever — Mon, 01 Feb 2021 23:59:41 GMT

I guess I got lucky and received the Florida Honeybells - no note inside about substitutions. But the lack of transparency by QVC is concerning. Why were orders taken if they knew the supply was limited ? Why werent customers informed of this on air by David Venable or Mr. Cushman? Mr. Cushman may not even care. He sold his company a decade ago and is only there as a mouthpiece for more sales. What a shame.