Bad Experience with Just Struttin' Farm

[whiteakerhouse]

I'm wondering if anyone else has had such a bad experience with Just Struttin' Farm in Novato, California as I have had. In March, I ordered hatching eggs from Deann DaSilva, to be sent priority mail. She wrote the wrong address on the box, didn't include my phone number, didn't send me the tracking information, and so I had no way of finding out what had happened when the eggs didn't show up. She was out of town, so I couldn't contact her. Since the eggs were for a broody hen, I couldn't wait any longer. Ms. DaSilva agreed to refund my money through paypal, but didn't actually do it. Two months later I contacted her again, to make another egg order (yes I know, pretty stupid of me, but I make mistakes too so I didn't see a problem with trying it again). We emailed back and forth and settled on an order. I looked up the paypal information and told her how much I had paid, unrefunded for the other order, and agreed to pay the difference (yes, I know, she should have been offering to spare me the difference, $8.00, out of courtesy, since the order had been so messed up and she hadn't refunded my money... but she didn't, so I was happy to pay it). She claimed she had accidentally refunded an order for another customer instead of me (OK, so more mistakes). There was a "sale" on the eggs I wanted, so I asked how fresh they were. Apparently I missed, in the email she sent back, that she had written "they are fresh," in a substantial email with lots of other details about the new cost, etc. (sorry, I'm busy too, and sometimes I miss things). So in my final email, I said if the eggs were within 10 days of fresh, please to go ahead and send them, but if not I would worry about fertility. She threw a tantrum, told me my order had been a "nightmare from the beginning" and she would not sell to me. Finally, she refunded my money, but in a nasty huff. Now, it is true, the order was a nightmare, but none of the mistakes (except missing the words "they are fresh" in her email) were mine, yet Ms. DaSilva was clearly angry at ME about the messed up order. She has all these glowing references on her website, so maybe other customers have better experiences. With me she was annoyed, irritable and incredibly unreliable.

 

[learycow]

Sounds very unprofessional on many levels. You are lucky you got your money back and I wish you luck next time around! Your statements sound quite reasonable to me so don't take it too personally

 

[FoxholeFarm]

I bought hens and pullets from Deann and had an overall positive experience. My mother, who did the pickup at her farm for me got along with her well. I did feel that she was often terse and a bit high strung over email, but overall not a wholly unreasonable individual. I'm really sorry your experience was otherwise. It sounds to me like you two started off on the wrong foot with her not taking responsibility for a totally reasonable mistake and the sh*t just rolled downhill from there.

 

[joydix]

i know this is an old post but it is floating around and i just wanted to weigh in on this. I have purchased twice from Deann and her bird are amazing quality. Her farm is clean and very protected. i found her to be personable and reliable. The thing with emails is that you can't hear the persons tone...and none of us knows the other persons story...who knows what was going on with her or how she took your tone either. for myself, it does not cost anything to apologize and i certainly can not speak for her as to why she didn't...only that i had a great experience and would buy from her anytime. sorry you did not have the same...really.

 

[livhatcher]

i know this is an old post but it is floating around and i just wanted to weigh in on this. I have purchased twice from Deann and her bird are amazing quality. Her farm is clean and very protected. i found her to be personable and reliable. The thing with emails is that you can't hear the persons tone...and none of us knows the other persons story...who knows what was going on with her or how she took your tone either. for myself, it does not cost anything to apologize and i certainly can not speak for her as to why she didn't...only that i had a great experience and would buy from her anytime. sorry you did not have the same...really.

I am bumping the old post to say that I completely agree with you----Deann has been a JOY to deal with. She is professional, ethical and 100% reliable. Deann seems to take herself and the credibility of her reputation as a breeder and business person very seriously. An example in a nutshell is that a mistake was made and I received someone else's eggs (she felt bad, I felt bad...) and I was not equipped to hatch them. I was able to find someone 40 miles away from me who could, and she without missing a beat, apologized and promised to send me mine on the date I needed them in the future.

I am not doubting the OP, but the experience I have had up to this morning when I picked up my eggs at the post office has been the exact opposite. I have been so impressed that I just feel like the counterpoint should be put out there.