Am I being treated right, as a customer?

[Tenrec]

Hey all, I don't like to cause any fusses about things like this and like to smooth things over with breeders/sellers first and foremost (because I've BEEN there, ok)...But I'm not sure what to do in this situation?

I ordered some goslings and ducklings early this month, and they were due to hatch and ship Monday, and be here today, very early.

I called the post office at 7:30, just in case they forgot to call me. No chickies! Worried about my babies, I got online and checked my email...And saw a message sent about 2:30 AM, telling me that they did not have enough goslings to send my order, and that the entire order would have to wait until May 15.

I have been fretting these past three days about my birds in the mail! And I threw out my back setting up their brooder (which is more my bad but I'm whining here, ok). The hatchery already has my money, and has had it since the beginning of April.

Should I be ok with this? I ask because I've been told I have a tendency towards lenience that can get me in trouble...Or am I just whining?

 

[Pyxis]

Who did you order with? I have an outstanding order with Sand Hill, and they've already missed two of my expected shipping dates, presumably because they didn't have enough birds or had a bad hatch. That said, I knew ahead of time that this was a solid possibility, so I'm waiting patiently and hoping that they ship out on my third and last backup date.

If the hatchery wasn't clear with you that this could happen, then it's fair to be a little bummed. But they really could have just had a bad hatch. There's no way to plan for things like that, so it's likely just an honest mistake.

However them not emailing you right away to let you know isn't great, and that I would probably be upset about. Sand Hill doesn't email me when my birds don't ship, but that's because they have a system where they call you if they ship and don't call if they don't, so no call means they didn't ship.

 

[Tenrec]

Who did you order with? I have an outstanding order with Sand Hill, and they've already missed two of my expected shipping dates, presumably because they didn't have enough birds or had a bad hatch. That said, I knew ahead of time that this was a solid possibility, so I'm waiting patiently and hoping that they ship out on my third and last backup date.

If the hatchery wasn't clear with you that this could happen, then it's fair to be a little bummed. But they really could have just had a bad hatch. There's no way to plan for things like that, so it's likely just an honest mistake.

However them not emailing you right away to let you know isn't great, and that I would probably be upset about. Sand Hill doesn't email me when my birds don't ship, but that's because they have a system where they call you if they ship and don't call if they don't, so no call means they didn't ship.

Metzer. I hear they're great, so I don't want to cause drama here.

I hope you get your birds soon!

I was told I would be contacted if the birds weren't available...Which, I guess I technically was, but it was a little late. I'm more upset for them if they had a bunch of little goslings that didn't make it, to be honest, but knowing when it happened would have been nice. I did set time aside so I could be here today! I could give them the benefit of the doubt and say they might have been waiting for any slowpokes to come out of their shells...

I suppose there is not much more for me to do besides put on a stiff upper lip and wait, like you, hahaha. We'll get our birdies.

 

[Pyxis]

Metzer.  I hear they're great, so I don't want to cause drama here.

I hope you get your birds soon!

I was told I would be contacted if the birds weren't available...Which, I guess I technically was, but it was a little late.  I'm more upset for them if they had a bunch of little goslings that didn't make it, to be honest, but knowing when it happened would have been nice.  I did set time aside so I could be here today!  I could give them the benefit of the doubt and say they might have been waiting for any slowpokes to come out of their shells...

I suppose there is not much more for me to do besides put on a stiff upper lip and wait, like you, hahaha.  We'll get our birdies.

Metzer is usually pretty punctual, in my experience, so I bet they had a bad hatch It would have been nice if they could have let you know sooner, though! Although you're right and they may have been waiting to see if they got any slowpokes.

 

[cottontail farm]

Oh wow. Just wow. Check this out, I too ordered from Metzer's months ago and my order shipped Monday and came today. Missing a gosling. I had ordered 4 and got 3. No call, no note, nothing.
I called and the gentleman on the phone apologized saying they ran out of goslings and some people didn't even get their orders (!) He talked about refunding my money and i asked if he couldn't just send me the gosling i already paid for. He said there were no super africans for next monday and we agreed on another breed. They're shipping me a gosling and "packing peanut" duck at no charge.
They admitted that i was a mistake that i wasn't notified. We'll seen what happens next week.
I will say that they were packed well and everyone looks really healthy. I understand poor hatches but it seems like they're having a problem with customer communications.

 

[cottontail farm]

Oh, also i did get an email from them on monday with a tracking number for my birds.

 

[Tenrec]

Oh wow. Just wow. Check this out, I too ordered from Metzer's months ago and my order shipped Monday and came today. Missing a gosling. I had ordered 4 and got 3. No call, no note, nothing.
I called and the gentleman on the phone apologized saying they ran out of goslings and some people didn't even get their orders (!) He talked about refunding my money and i asked if he couldn't just send me the gosling i already paid for. He said there were no super africans for next monday and we agreed on another breed. They're shipping me a gosling and "packing peanut" duck at no charge.
They admitted that i was a mistake that i wasn't notified. We'll seen what happens next week.
I will say that they were packed well and everyone looks really healthy. I understand poor hatches but it seems like they're having a problem with customer communications.

Oh no! They should have told you hahah. It does seem they are just having problems with communications...Tell me how your little gosling and duckling are, please! I need some baby waterfowl in my life lol.

I guess I'll just hit em up and tell em sorry for their loss because that's honestly depressing!

 

[cottontail farm]

I need to vent. So here it is Wednesday and I've heard nothing about my replacement from the hatchery and no call from the post office so i started making calls . Apparently my birds shipped Monday. I expressed my frustration that I wasn't notified and provided a tracking number and was told i should have received that information in an email. Obviously I didn't or i wouldn't be asking for it. Then i was told the email system had been down and that's why the email wasn't sent. Ok, so you didn't send it once it got working? Lol.
Then the woman on the phone didn't want to read me the tracking number because she "just emailed it to me and it's long" and useless as the package hadn't been scanned since Tuesday. I am a very easy going person but I've had it. To top it off part of last weeks order was a pair of jumbo pekins and one is still literally half the size of the other. At this point i am just hoping that my birds show up with today's express mail and aren't DOA. Never ordering from this hatchery again. I cannot believe this is how they operate.

 

[Ducks4us]

I need to vent. So here it is Wednesday and I've heard nothing about my replacement from the hatchery and no call from the post office so i started making calls . Apparently my birds shipped Monday. I expressed my frustration that I wasn't notified and provided a tracking number and was told i should have received that information in an email. Obviously I didn't or i wouldn't be asking for it. Then i was told the email system had been down and that's why the email wasn't sent. Ok, so you didn't send it once it got working? Lol.
Then the woman on the phone didn't want to read me the tracking number because she "just emailed it to me and it's long" and useless as the package hadn't been scanned since Tuesday. I am a very easy going person but I've had it. To top it off part of last weeks order was a pair of jumbo pekins and one is still literally half the size of the other. At this point i am just hoping that my birds show up with today's express mail and aren't DOA. Never ordering from this hatchery again. I cannot believe this is how they operate.

i think problems with them are pretty rare. i have heard nothing but good about this place, my own experience included.
but they are working with live animals so things can change at a moments notice.
the size of your pekin could be because of a health problem or something with its diet.
poor communication can be frustrating. but the quality of this place compared to others makes up for it in my opinion.

 

[cottontail farm]

I ordered from them because of their great reputation. BUT I've also ordered from other hatcheries and had better service. My order showed up today, Thursday, around noon. The duckling seemed a.bit out of it but has such since perked up. The gosling looks good as well.