Bellingar Packing - Ashley, Michigan

Victoria Y.

This was my first and only time I will ever give my business to Bellinger. This fall the farmer we have gotten our pork from the last couple years dropped our pig off along with several others. I placed my cut order the same day the pigs were dropped off. Two weeks later I heard nothing from them. I called, they said it wasn't done yet and to give them another week. Another week goes by call again. Still not done yet. Yet another week goes by (4 weeks now) still not done. This time they gave me some excuse of the smoker being broken. Funny, because literally everyone else had their pork back except for me. It all went in at the same time. Week 6 comes around still no pig. The farmer called and read them the riot act, all the sudden it was done. So we know exactly what happened, they lost it and won't admit it. I did not get the amount of a full hog either. I am 99% sure the pork I picked up is in fact not from the pig that was dropped off. I am now getting into the pork and every package I have opened has a smell to it. There are also grisly parts along the outside of the chops and all over the roast I tried to make that I have had to cut off. Similar to the grisly texture found on the outside of raw meat that has been left out to long and starts to dry up. The smell of the pork chops and roast also carries over into the taste. The only way I can get some of the taste out is to try to marinade it. This has been a horrible experience and I feel like my pork is ruined. I will never be going back.

Elizabeth C.

Honestly if I could do no stars I would because my husband and I have faithfully been going there for years and this year just put the icing on the cake!!! I placed a thanksgiving order this year and when I was placing the order on the phone the young guy I was talking with told me I didn't need a 5lb prime rib mind you I have no clue who he was and he didn't know me or my family but said that was to much and I also ordered a 4 lb spiral honey glazed ham told them I wanted my order the week before thanksgiving I got my ham but it wasn't what I ordered it wasn't honey glazed just plain ham and never got my prime rib well the night before thanksgiving they called me and left a rude voicemail saying the prime rib was finally ready for pick up it was ready, well they called at 6:00 pm mind you they closed at 7:00 pm how would I have made it in time to get it when I live close to a hour away So basically my thanksgiving was screwed because I couldn't provide my family a good dinner because there was nothing at the grocery store... I think this the end of me being faithful to Bellingers because chance after chance nothing good ever comes from it and their employee's are rude and I'm so upset that they couldn't even get my order right especially after they ask me when I wanted to pick it up but don't get any type of notification of my order until closing time the night before i needed it.

Julie S.

We have used Bellinger packing for many years to have our pork processed. Have been happy with them most of the time. Prices are fair in my opinion. Getting an appointment for your animal to go in can be dicey, but that is the nature of the beast-no pun intended. If you're animal is ready for slaughter during the local county fairs, your appointment will be in October. That's not their fault, they can only cut so much meat!

If you haven't submitted your cut order, they will call you directly to get it. They found a box of meat that belonged to us months later and called us to come pick it up.

We have experienced our cut order being different than what we requested. We have had a other hiccups with them along the way.

HOWEVER, you see Mike Bellinger at the local county fairs supporting our local kids. You hear their name at the fairs buying animal after animal at well over market value. He, or his liaison, is there talking to the kids and showing incredibly huge amounts of support when others don't bid.

We are fortunate to have a business owner and community supporter like Bellinger Packing.

Cali ?. L.

Great place, great flavors. Totally worth it!
Higher on price but better quality in work.

Kevin L.

I do not recommend Bellingar Packing... they are careless and provide poor customer service (contrary to their advertisements). Here’s the details of my experience:

I shot my first deer last fall (Fall 2017). I took my deer to Bellingars for processing, and had them make several products, including two pounds of jerky. Two weeks after getting my meat back, one of the bags of jerky was molding! It was clear the bag hadn’t been opened, but when it was processed the bag was not sealed fully, and had moisture in the bag.

At this point we called to let them know this happened, and ask what could be done to fix this situation. The kid on the phone screamed “WHAT DO YOU WANT ME TO DO?” Followed by “You can bring it in if you want”. Wow... disgusting customer service. But maybe this was an isolated incident.

Last weekend we took the moldy package into Bellingar Packing (face to face). We were greeted by a young kid (likely the same that said the above) who was unwilling to help. After asking for the manager, who was apparently unreachable... a nice young lady came out and apologized, gave us a replacement bag of jerky. Fine... now we’re even. She said the owner would likely be just as upset, and would be contacting us on Monday.

I received a call from Justin, who is a part-owner. He was unapologetic, and refused to accept responsibility for a poorly sealed (and mishandled) bag of jerky. I let him know I was disappointed, and that I was expecting a sincere apology for Bellingar’s mistake. I certainly won’t be back. Perhaps I have too high of standards from a family run business. They don’t seem concerned about quality, customer service, or keeping their customers happy.

Update: Followed by this call, I received a call from Mike Bellingar, who was much more apologetic. He seemed genuinely concerned about what happened, and offered a full refund. As such I’m updating my rating to a two star...

Eli P.

Was greeted when unloading hogs and the packaging was amazing will definitely be returning.

Tessa S.

Second time using Bellingars for our pigs. Mixed experiences... Will be looking for other options next time. Last year, we were happy with the meat packing, and happy with the animal handling when unloading. The older gentleman who was there to help unload was easy with the pigs, did not rush them to unload, and got them tagged with no excess stress. Very much appreciated that. BUUUUT...

Tonight when I dropped pigs off, there were also two teenage guys who were supposed to be learning, but were very unprofessional- talking about things like how the killing was their favorite part, and how one of them took 5 shots to kill a pig one time, and how funny it is when they 'tase' them. Made me feel pretty bad about the hog treatment... Or maybe none of it is true and they just have terrible judgement, but they made a terrible impression, and I have no confidence in the skill of these people Bellingar's employs- in handling our animals well or packing our food! Yikes. I don't feel comfortable with that.

Also was not impressed that our pigs were put in a holding pen with other pigs that were already there- and promptly began scuffling and nipping each other as pigs do when they meet others in tight quarters. And as the teenage boys filled me in when I asked, yes, of course they put multiple lots of pigs in the same pens, and there were still more coming in that night! So the two that were already there, plus our four, and then how many more are getting squeezed in?... All in a small holding pen for over 12 hours. That sounds like a LOT of stress and potential damage (bites, bruising, etc) to the pigs we carefully raised ourselves to be as healthy and humane as possible... so I was pretty disappointed to see this.

While we liked their packing work last year, this year's drop off experience has me very disappointed. I will be looking for other options next year- where the boys they employ don't joke about how poorly they kill animals, and my hogs don't have to get stressed fighting other hogs all night.

Michael ?. P.

Took my deer there for years, always had a good experience and the packaging was amazing. Then last year even with the late season boneless switch I stayed loyal to them. But I took in 50lbs of boneless and only got 35lbs back. The manager made it right but the 15 lbs I got obviously wasn't from my deer and we don't enjoy the flavor. Now this year they are going with boneless deer for the entire season. Tough time & tough decisions so I get it. But between the missing meat and boneless only I'm moving on to someone else. Best of luck in the future.