jenny8675309
Hatching
- Jul 5, 2015
- 5
- 1
- 9
I thought I discovered the holy grail of chicken doors when we decided to add an automatic door to our coop and I came across "The Coop Tender" in my search. This particular door actually offered wifi and the ability to get notifications from my door....don't get excited...that's where the good news ends (at the concept).
We ordered the door on August 17th and were told we could expect it in 2 weeks. After 3 weeks we began making phone calls to inquire about the doors whereabouts. Beware, calls are routed to an answering service for the company who were never able to provide any real information and could only deliver a message to the company who may or may not get back to me days later with a generic email. After a month of stalling, Coop Tender finally gave us a tracking number...for a package they admitted they hadn't shipped yet and a number fed ex said didn't exist.
In the meantime, all chicken coop building plans were on hold, my carpenter went on to his next job, and my coop became prey to a mouse infestation due to the opening where a door was supposed to be.
Frustrated and feeling totally jerked around, we finally cancelled the order and filed a Paypal dispute to get our money back. The day AFTER we cancelled the order and filed the dispute is the day this company finally decided to ship.
Things didn't get any better once the door finally arrived....well beyond the promised deliver date. The wifi was constantly going on and off line (which coop tender blamed on my internet service that functions perfectly fine in and outdoors with absolutely everything else). Then I started getting notifications the door was open when it wasn't! Once, around 3am I received such a notification and got out of bed in my pajamas to check the welfare of my chickens to find the notification to be incorrect and the door was actually closed. After several "software updates" on Coop Tenders part, MY wifi suddenly improved and the door was no longer giving me incorrect messages...just repeated messages. After more, "software fixes", I wasn't getting as many incorrect notifications, but was frequently getting repeat notifications or no notifications at all. I would like to add here that I am above average tech saavy...I have built and maintained several websites for more than one business/organization.
Just when the wifi and software issues began to operate at a somewhat functional level (not perfect, just acceptable), the door mechanics started acting up. One night we hear this horrible noise just outside the kitchen window where our chicken coop is. I go outside in the darkness (something I had become pretty accustomed to with this "automatic" coop door by now) to inspect. I discovered the motor was continuing to attempt to run and close the door even though it was already shut. There was no stopping it other than to turn off the power and attempt to contact Coop Tender the next day and hope they'd return my call in under a week...something I already knew I couldn't hold my breath over. In the meantime, when I turned the power back on the next morning, my door would not open. When Coop Tender finally got back to me, the man suggested the problem could be one of 2 things, both of which required that I partially disambe the door to diagnose and fix myself. He also informed me the door wouldn't open at this point because it must have come off it's tracks and advised me to force it back on...I know, doesn't sound "healthy" to my door, right?? To my surprise, the door actually closed on it's own that night. If the problem was either one of the things Coop Tender suggested, it apparently fixed itself without me attempted to demonstrate my lack of knowledge in either electronics or coop door fabrication (both good reasons why I paid someone else big bucks to do BOTH these things!). Things were okay for a few days until the same thing happened again. Coop Tender's explanation now was that when the door was built it was constructed improperly --the magnet that tells when the door is shut should be NO MORE than 1/4" away from the other magnet and ours was substantially more than that. The suggested fix?? For US, to get out our tools and nail/screw a piece of wood to the right side of the door in such a way to FORCE it to the left so the magnets will be closer together since it wasn't constructed properly to begin with. My father always said "measure twice, cut once"...what was he thinking when you can just force a $300 door back into place with shims and nails and hope it holds up over the years. When I inquired about the possibility of a refund at this point, that's when communication stopped.
Back to PayPal for assistance (thank God for PayPal). Since the first dispute was "resolved" when Coop Tender provided tracking numbers and proved shipment (even though they didn't ship until AFTER the order was canceled and the case was filed), I had to open a new case. This time it was for "item not as described". After waiting to the very. last. day. (10 days later to be exact) to respond to my complaint, Coop Tender's counter to PayPal was "we do not accept returns on merchandise". Luckily for me, PayPal disagreed with that defense and took my side. Today is December 5th, 2015. I was advised to ship the door back and I will be receiveing a refund. YES, I did say December. Flashback to the beginning of this ordeal, I ordered the door in AUGUST. I was been screwed around with this long. What should have been a happy hen house before fall hit is still an ordeal heading into winter. Now, I have to get out in the cold, snow and ice to remove this door, ship it back, wait for my refund, buy a new door, reconstruct the door opening that was custom designed for THIS door to accomodate a new door to finally protect my coop. This has been the biggest hassle ever!! We were more than patient over and over and over again and more patient than anyone should ever be asked to be. I actually hated that we had to finally give up and throw in the towel after all we had been through to have to go back to square one. But, when the issues keep coming and you're asked to refabricate your own door, you've got to consider that if this is what's happening right out of the gate, what am I going to be looking at in a year from now...when I don't have PayPal to protect us. I'm happy, but angry, to say after 4 months of WASTING OUR TIME and dealing with this unending CRAP, I am finally able to move on and am hoping for a better outcome with a different door (again, thank God for PayPal).
We ordered the door on August 17th and were told we could expect it in 2 weeks. After 3 weeks we began making phone calls to inquire about the doors whereabouts. Beware, calls are routed to an answering service for the company who were never able to provide any real information and could only deliver a message to the company who may or may not get back to me days later with a generic email. After a month of stalling, Coop Tender finally gave us a tracking number...for a package they admitted they hadn't shipped yet and a number fed ex said didn't exist.
In the meantime, all chicken coop building plans were on hold, my carpenter went on to his next job, and my coop became prey to a mouse infestation due to the opening where a door was supposed to be.
Frustrated and feeling totally jerked around, we finally cancelled the order and filed a Paypal dispute to get our money back. The day AFTER we cancelled the order and filed the dispute is the day this company finally decided to ship.
Things didn't get any better once the door finally arrived....well beyond the promised deliver date. The wifi was constantly going on and off line (which coop tender blamed on my internet service that functions perfectly fine in and outdoors with absolutely everything else). Then I started getting notifications the door was open when it wasn't! Once, around 3am I received such a notification and got out of bed in my pajamas to check the welfare of my chickens to find the notification to be incorrect and the door was actually closed. After several "software updates" on Coop Tenders part, MY wifi suddenly improved and the door was no longer giving me incorrect messages...just repeated messages. After more, "software fixes", I wasn't getting as many incorrect notifications, but was frequently getting repeat notifications or no notifications at all. I would like to add here that I am above average tech saavy...I have built and maintained several websites for more than one business/organization.
Just when the wifi and software issues began to operate at a somewhat functional level (not perfect, just acceptable), the door mechanics started acting up. One night we hear this horrible noise just outside the kitchen window where our chicken coop is. I go outside in the darkness (something I had become pretty accustomed to with this "automatic" coop door by now) to inspect. I discovered the motor was continuing to attempt to run and close the door even though it was already shut. There was no stopping it other than to turn off the power and attempt to contact Coop Tender the next day and hope they'd return my call in under a week...something I already knew I couldn't hold my breath over. In the meantime, when I turned the power back on the next morning, my door would not open. When Coop Tender finally got back to me, the man suggested the problem could be one of 2 things, both of which required that I partially disambe the door to diagnose and fix myself. He also informed me the door wouldn't open at this point because it must have come off it's tracks and advised me to force it back on...I know, doesn't sound "healthy" to my door, right?? To my surprise, the door actually closed on it's own that night. If the problem was either one of the things Coop Tender suggested, it apparently fixed itself without me attempted to demonstrate my lack of knowledge in either electronics or coop door fabrication (both good reasons why I paid someone else big bucks to do BOTH these things!). Things were okay for a few days until the same thing happened again. Coop Tender's explanation now was that when the door was built it was constructed improperly --the magnet that tells when the door is shut should be NO MORE than 1/4" away from the other magnet and ours was substantially more than that. The suggested fix?? For US, to get out our tools and nail/screw a piece of wood to the right side of the door in such a way to FORCE it to the left so the magnets will be closer together since it wasn't constructed properly to begin with. My father always said "measure twice, cut once"...what was he thinking when you can just force a $300 door back into place with shims and nails and hope it holds up over the years. When I inquired about the possibility of a refund at this point, that's when communication stopped.
Back to PayPal for assistance (thank God for PayPal). Since the first dispute was "resolved" when Coop Tender provided tracking numbers and proved shipment (even though they didn't ship until AFTER the order was canceled and the case was filed), I had to open a new case. This time it was for "item not as described". After waiting to the very. last. day. (10 days later to be exact) to respond to my complaint, Coop Tender's counter to PayPal was "we do not accept returns on merchandise". Luckily for me, PayPal disagreed with that defense and took my side. Today is December 5th, 2015. I was advised to ship the door back and I will be receiveing a refund. YES, I did say December. Flashback to the beginning of this ordeal, I ordered the door in AUGUST. I was been screwed around with this long. What should have been a happy hen house before fall hit is still an ordeal heading into winter. Now, I have to get out in the cold, snow and ice to remove this door, ship it back, wait for my refund, buy a new door, reconstruct the door opening that was custom designed for THIS door to accomodate a new door to finally protect my coop. This has been the biggest hassle ever!! We were more than patient over and over and over again and more patient than anyone should ever be asked to be. I actually hated that we had to finally give up and throw in the towel after all we had been through to have to go back to square one. But, when the issues keep coming and you're asked to refabricate your own door, you've got to consider that if this is what's happening right out of the gate, what am I going to be looking at in a year from now...when I don't have PayPal to protect us. I'm happy, but angry, to say after 4 months of WASTING OUR TIME and dealing with this unending CRAP, I am finally able to move on and am hoping for a better outcome with a different door (again, thank God for PayPal).
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