I waited a couple of weeks to write this review, because I wanted to think it through and ensure I was being fair. I went apple picking here a couple of weeks ago and had a horrid experience.
I first checked out the area with the corn maze, plants etc. They had huge mums, which I almost purchased, but I decided I wanted to head across the street and go apple picking first. At the time, they were picking gala and honey crisp apples. My boyfriend and I were each going to get a bag of apples and I generally purchase gala apples at the store, so we decided to pay for two pecks of the gala apples. If you were picking the honey crisp apples, you received a different bag and paid (I believe it was) $5 more per peck. Again, I usually purchase gala apples at the store so I preferred to pick those.
We rode the tractor to orchard, and were greeted by Farmer Jenny, who told us that gala apples were between posts # and # (she gave us the #s but I can't remember them now); honey crisps were between posts # and #; and she said the macouns might also be ripe and were between posts # and #. We immediately went toward the gala apples and began picking. We strolled around to the macouns and also picked a few of those.
Our bags were full and we were just walking around enjoying the sunny day, when some lady ran toward us screaming. I was taken aback because I thought something awful had happened. I later learned that the woman who ran to us was the owner's wife, Debbie. She ran directly to my boyfriend and I, and said we had picked honey crisps but hadn't paid for the honey crisp bags. She grabbed (yes, grabbed...) our bags out of our hands and gave us two new bags and said we could only pick on the left side of the row between the posts where Farmer Jenny had directed us to the gala apples. I apologized and said I had no idea..because we were told to pick between the numbered posts and not specifically told to only pick on the left side. Debbie said she knew it was confusing but we needed to start over. Other customers in the orchard gave us glaring looks.
Needless to say, it was extremely embarrassing to my boyfriend and I. We were paying customers, and were made to feel like thieves. Money was not the issue. My boyfriend I are both attorneys in the Rochester area. And I sincerely wanted gala apples. But I am no apple-connoisseur. I know there are red ones and there are green ones. In the stores, I rely on the bags to be labeled to direct me to the gala apples. At the farm, I relied on the instructions from Farmer Jenny. I was just disgusted by the way I was treated at Wickham Farms. I felt only a tad better when a man, woman, and their grandson approached us and said they were apparently and unknowingly also picking the wrong apples based on the instructions they received, and were also made to feel like thieves.
At that point in time, I didn't even want to pick apples anymore, or take any home from this place. Unfortunately, we had already paid. So my boyfriend and I filled up our bags with apples from the trees Debbie directed us to, and wanted to get the heck out. We then walked to the end of the row, and Debbie snidely said, "Well that didn't take you long to fill up those bags again." It took everything in my power to bite my tongue, and I did. But what I really wanted to tell Debbie was that she had embarrassed us so badly that we just wanted to get the heck out of that place.
I did not go back across the street to purchase any mums. And I most certainly will not be going back to Wickham Farms ever again. read more