Dew Farms

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/08/24) */
** *** has been receiving his CSAWhen he picks up his CSA share he has been signing for it
We sent out emails in early June to notify all CSA's that due to the cold and wet weather the produce was not growing as fast as normalSince
the quantity would be limited we would use plastic sacks instead of the baskets until the quantity picked up*** *** did not reply to the email at that time
*** *** continues to pick up his CSA each week so we don't understand why he says he has not received his CSA
** *** signed a CSA Membership commitment that reads in part "By becoming a member of the *** *** *** CSA program I am helping to preserve local, small-scale agriculture and I will share in the risks of the farm and not hold them responsible for any crop loss due to weather, drought, blight, insects, crop failure or acts of GodI understand there are no guarantees as to the amount or type of produce I will receiveI also understand that I will pay in advance and that there are no refunds on CSA shares."
This policy is standard for the certified organic farms in *** ***
We stand by our no refund policy

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 5, 2015/09/18) */
We are extremely surprised at Mr***'s complaintMr*** sent us an email on 7/20/at 6:24amIn this email Mr*** states that he has been unable to go to the company location where we delivery his CSAMr*** asks if he
could meet us to get his CSAWe offered to leave it with the receptionist at his company's front desk and Mr*** agreed to thatWe have not received any other email or phone calls from Mr***We have also not had any face to face contact with Mr*** since CSA deliveries started at his companyMr*** has picked up his CSA at the front desk each weekThe receptionist at the front desk has never indicated that Mr*** had any complaints
Mr*** states "Almost every week our deliveries were delayed or cancelled for one reason or another." That is not a true statement
Mr*** has not contacted us with any complaints
Mr*** stated "The customer service received has been deplorable, the product disappointing and, in most cases, unusable, and the value to dollar ratio extremely low."
This is the first we have heard any complaint from Mr***, nor has he provided us with any pictures or other evidence to back up his claim
Mr *** signed a CSA Membership commitment that reads in part "By becoming a member of the Dew Farms, IncCSA program I am helping to preserve local, small-scale agriculture and I will share in the risks of the farm and not hold them responsible for any crop loss due to weather, drought, blight, insects, crop failure or acts of GodI understand there are no guarantees as to the amount or type of produce I will receiveI also understand that I will pay in advance and that there are no refunds on CSA shares."
This policy is standard for the certified organic farms in Boulder County
We stand by our no refund policy

Initial Business Response /* (1000, 6, 2015/10/08) */
Our produce was late in growing this spring due to the cold and wet conditions.
On July 2 we sent an email to all of our CSA members that said in part "As you know this has been a cold and wet year which has slowed the growth of the plants....

We will have a limited supply of vegetables starting out, but the quantity will increase as time goes on. Since the supply is limited right now, we will start off using plastic sacks and switch to baskets as the supply of vegetables increases."
The delivery of July 8 that Mrs. [redacted] refers to was not because "they were not ready to deliver". We sent out an email on July 8 telling all our CSA drops for that day that we have received so much rain that we could not get in the fields to harvest the produce.
We pick our produce each morning before our CSA deliveries. At each drop we set the produce out and let the CSA members choose what they want, according to the CSA size they purchase, from the available selection. Several times Mrs. [redacted] did tell me that she was not interested in some of the produce. On one or two occasions Mrs. [redacted] choose only one giant zucchini for zucchini bread. Again, that was her choice.
In Mrs. [redacted]'s email of July 22 to us she stated in part "[redacted]- I heard you were here today I did not get anything, should I assume I will be getting a refund, minus the one week ( last week) I do not always check emails since this is my personal when I am at work. [redacted]
A thought here: She seemed that she is trying to use any excuse to ask for a refund. Since her personal email was the email she signed up for it is her responsibility to check her email. It is interesting to note that at no time did she ask us to change her email to another email that was more convenient for her to check.
Mrs. [redacted] did not always show up for the CSA deliveries. When she did not show up at the pickup I would put together a CSA of produce available that week and leave it at the front desk of where she works.
I am not sure why Mrs. [redacted] would be elected as a group spokesperson as I visited with each CSA that came to pickup their CSA's. At no time did any of the other CSA members tell me, or email me, that Mrs. [redacted] was speaking for them. Due to confidential laws we cannot discuss our CSA members with others without written permission. As a Chef at [redacted] I would expect Mrs. [redacted] to be aware of that fact. Unfortunately Mrs. [redacted], instead of understanding, only got mad at me.
Mrs. [redacted] stated that "she told me that she was having to sell zucchinis at the farmers market for gas money." That is not a true statement. We did not attend the Boulder or Longmont farmers markets this year so we could put our efforts into our CSA members.
We sent out an email on September 9, 2015 that the ditch company had shut off our water and without water the produce would cease growing and die. We stated there was at most 1 to 2 weeks left in the CSA season because of the ditch water being shut off.
The week of September 13, 2015 we sent an email to all of our CSA members that that week would be the last CSA pickup week of the season due to the ditch company shutting off our ditch water.
We don't control the ditch company and there is nothing we could do about the water being shut off.
In an interview with a newspaper one farmer described this year as "devastating difficult".
Mrs. [redacted] signed a CSA Membership commitment on February 18, 2015 as follows: "CSA Membership Commitment: I wish to be a part of the Dew Farms, Inc. CSA 2015 program. By becoming a member of the Dew Farms, Inc. CSA program I am helping to preserve local, small-scale agriculture and I will share in the risks of the farm and not hold them responsible for any crop loss due to weather, drought, blight, insects, crop failure or acts of God. I understand there are no guarantees as to the amount or type of produce I will receive. I also understand that I will pay in advance and that there are no refunds on CSA shares. I am responsible for picking up my produce every week at the designated time and location and understand that any missed pickups will be forfeited unless I make prior arrangements with Dew Farms, Inc. I also understand that I will enjoy the rewards of agriculture, which includes fresh great tasting local certified organic produce."
We stand behind our no refund policy.
Initial Consumer Rebuttal /* (3000, 8, 2015/10/12) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
[redacted] has not addressed any of the issues we had with the CSA, she gets of subject and is basically a Bad business owner, I know of at least 2 other complaints filed. It's not that I wanted a refund, its that I wanted produce that's why I bought into it. Yes Swiss chard is not my favorite, but I love everything else. I have done shares with Miller farms, and others and will return back to them. I believe, Dew farms is not being realistic on what they delivered, and need to be held to some kind of standard. and I hope people don't sign up for CSA from Dew Farms
Final Business Response /* (4000, 10, 2015/10/23) */
We did address Mrs. [redacted]'s questions that she filed in this complaint. She made several false statements that we corrected. She did ask for a refund when she stated "...so I would say a refund of no less then $150.00 but closer to $200.00 would be taken." Mrs. [redacted] now states that she did not want a refund.
We did address Mrs. [redacted]'s concerns as listed in this complaint. Now Mrs. [redacted] wants to change the entire complaint to another matter. It now seems that Mrs. [redacted] wants to change the subject of the complaint to keep it going and draw it out.
Since we have answered Mrs. [redacted] complaints as listed in this complaint and she is now trying to change the complaint subject matter we consider this matter closed.
Final Consumer Response /* (4200, 12, 2015/10/26) */
(The consumer indicated he/she DID NOT accept the response from the business.)
Your the ones with false answers, false products, and false reporting. as I know of at least TWO OTHER COMPLAINTS that [redacted] has chosen not to address at this time. Yes I do want a refund. especially since I heard that 2 people at group didn't even have to pay 1/2 . they were told half way through that they didn't have to pay because it was a bad year . And No this case is NOT CLOSED !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!...⇄ /> [redacted] can't address one thing, and know that she gave us all maybe a 1/4 of the vegetables she gave the previous year. She also stated that they went down to 1/3 of their farm. I think it's time to close down.