Don't buy from Laurel Farms

[Guest guest]

Just a note to warn everyone NOT to buy kombucha mushrooms from

Laurelfarms.com (Betsy Pryor).

In September my current kombucha mushroom died (from improper

storage) and I thought I would buy a new one from Laurel Farms

because I was taken in by the glamour of BP's book and fame. BIG

MISTAKE!

1. The mushroom took more than two months to arrive. (I later bought

a mushroom on eBay and it came in less than a week.)

2. I called the number on the Laurel Farms website when the mushroom

didn't arrive two weeks after my bank statement showed that my check

had been cashed, for a total of four times. Two times no call-back,

two times when I happened to get Pryor she said the mushroom would be

in the mail " next week, " which it wasn't.

3. I emailed Laurel Farms and no answer.

4. When the mushroom finally arrived, it was not a whole mushroom but

only a quarter of one. Apparently, in an attempt to get more money,

Laurel Farms cuts mushrooms into quarters. (The eBay vendor sent me a

whole one.)

5. It didn't make good kombucha and I had to throw the entire batch

out. My guess is that Laurel Farms sent me an old mushroom or maybe

one that had been frozen, but that's only a guess. In any case, the

mushroom was worthless. I know the bad tea was due to a faulty

mushroom and not the way I made the tea because I have been making

kombucha exactly the same way for two years and never had a bad

batch, and the mushroom that I bought on eBay for only $10 made fine

tea.

So now I am not only out the $39 I sent Laurel Farms for a useless

one quarter of a kombucha mushroom but also the cost of four long-

distance phone calls and the tea and sugar to make a batch of tea

that was no good.

Buyer, beware!

Tris