Bad McMurray Experience

[DarJones]

Most hatcheries allow you to specify "NO Substitutions" on the order. I learned the hard way to ALWAYS check that box. I ordered Silver Laced Wyandottes from McMurray about 2003 and received Black Australorps instead. They do not see this as a problem... which is actually a very big problem.

 

[Allsfairinloveandbugs]

There was a snake in the box from Meyer that killed one chick. I can’t say who’s fault that is. It could have happened anywhere. They were gracious about it and gave us a credit. They were also astounded because they hadn’t heard of that happening before.

Now that's altogether another kind of nightmare.

 

[MildlyOffensiveChicken]

Most hatcheries allow you to specify "NO Substitutions" on the order. I learned the hard way to ALWAYS check that box. I ordered Silver Laced Wyandottes from McMurray about 2003 and received Black Australorps instead. They do not see this as a problem... which is actually a very big problem.

The original poster said they opted for substitutions but did not expect 0 silvers. This isn’t a high margin business and it isn’t a boutique hatchery. It is entirely logical to sub in the same breed but different color.

Not an attack but an alternative view:

Dead chicks can be traumatic.

McMurray fulfilled their contract based on the information provided. I am not aware of any large hatchery that doesn’t have a dead chick picture policy. They were directed by the customer to substitute if needed, and they did. The customer was made whole after sending the picture.

The behavior of the employee is impossible to assess without a recording. I can understand not being particularly sympathetic to a complaint when the company met their obligations.

In a former life I took calls passed up from front line employees in a highly regulated, professional industry. >50% went like this:

“Bob said my claim hasn’t been processed yet because you didn’t get the signed contract. I want my money.”

“When did you mail in the contract, I will take a look at the mail log and track it down”

“I haven’t mailed it in yet. I want my money. I want to file a complaint.”


Just an alternative take.

I’ve ordered from McMurray 1 time. Positive experience. I’ve ordered from other places too and had positive experiences.

 

[Aunt Angus]

The original poster said they opted for substitutions but did not expect 0 silvers. This isn’t a high margin business and it isn’t a boutique hatchery. It is entirely logical to sub in the same breed but different color.

Not an attack but an alternative view:

Dead chicks can be traumatic.

McMurray fulfilled their contract based on the information provided. I am not aware of any large hatchery that doesn’t have a dead chick picture policy. They were directed by the customer to substitute if needed, and they did. The customer was made whole after sending the picture.

The behavior of the employee is impossible to assess without a recording. I can understand not being particularly sympathetic to a complaint when the company met their obligations.

In a former life I took calls passed up from front line employees in a highly regulated, professional industry. >50% went like this:

“Bob said my claim hasn’t been processed yet because you didn’t get the signed contract. I want my money.”

“When did you mail in the contract, I will take a look at the mail log and track it down”

“I haven’t mailed it in yet. I want my money. I want to file a complaint.”


Just an alternative take.

I’ve ordered from McMurray 1 time. Positive experience. I’ve ordered from other places too and had positive experiences.

I see and appreciate your perspective. They did make it right. I imagine they are used to getting complaint calls when there are losses. Losing all 25 is.... utterly horrendous. I also imagine OP was more upset by that than the substitutions. I also imagine the hatchery might not have apologized because the deaths were attributable to the USPS, most likely. At the very least, I hope the hatchery folks expressed some sympathy. Opening a box of dead chicks is pretty awful and traumatic after anticipating their arrival for so long. Regardless, I know it helps to vent to fellow chicken lovers when things go awry and you feel helpless. It's part of the beauty of this site.

So OP is right to feel sad and angry and frustrated and helpless. And you are right in pointing out that the issue was resolved as well as it could have from what is relayed here.

 

[Yard Farmer]

Hi friends! I need to vent because I’m still not over what happened. I know McMurray has a great reputation, people generally love them. However I had a horrible experience with them exactly a week ago and it’s just weighing heavily on my mind. I had ordered 10 silver polish, a color I do not have yet, and to fill their requirement of 25 birds I ordered some golden polish and buff laced. Friday morning comes around and I check the status on my phone to find I am receiving absolutely none of the silver I ordered. While I know hatching issues happen I was annoyed that I was not informed (yes, I clicked substitute for same breeds but I didn’t think I would get absolutely none of the ones I ordered). The representative was not polite at all and just kept saying they couldn’t let me know. If other hatcheries like Cackle can, why can’t McMurray? I finally gave up and hung up. A couple hours later I get a call from the post office that our order has arrived. My husband leaves work to pick them up. When he arrives to the post office and tells the attendant he’s there for the order she says “oh” and then says she’s so sorry. He opens it to find all 25 babies dead. Absolutely horrible sight. Can’t tell you how much I cried. I know a lot of people become desensitized to death of animals but to see those babies like that? Just was horrible. The McMurray supervisor didn’t apologize and tried to give me store credit which I wasn’t okay with. Finally got a refund back to my card but gosh this experience was absolutely horrible.

I'm so sorry you had that experience..
I know how you feel, I lost all 9 of my rare Ayam Cemani chicks due to heat.

 

[TJAnonymous]

I'm really shocked and saddened by the OP's experience. I ordered 20 chicks from McMurray's a little over a year ago. I ordered 5 chicks from 4 different breeds. My chicks actually arrived at our post office a day early and I promptly picked them up. I was also horrified to discover 7 dead chicks. That's almost a third of the order. Assessing the condition of their little bodies, it seemed likely that the shipping box somehow became tilted and chicks were falling and crushing the chicks below. Another oddity....all 5 of the Blue Andalusian chicks were dead. I took pictures and called McMurray's. They were very polite to me on the phone and promptly replaced all 7 chicks....one of which was the mystery chick. I offered to send them pictures I had taken and they told me it wasn't necessary. They replaced the chicks with the same breed (except sent me a different mystery chick). I felt the replacement chicks were "packaged" a little better than the bigger order so the chicks couldn't/wouldn't crush each other.

Just my experience but I would probably order from McMurray's again.

 

[U_Stormcrow]

While I appreciate the frustration of a 100% substitution rate, the cause of the 100% loss is most likely the USPS. I can, and have, link news articles going back decades related to postal losses of shipped chicks. The hatcheries accept millions of birds as losses - write-offs - in shipping each year due to postal handling. They have no alternative.

Only USPS will ship live birds across state lines. They have, in essence, a Gov't monopoly on the work.

USPS, of course, doesn't have its own planes - it contracts with commercial carriers. When the weather is great, and the airlines are busy with passengers, it mostly goes smoothly. When there are a bunch of flight cancellations due to a weather event, or just fewer flights in general, losses accumulate - an extra day in a warehouse here, an extra there, rough handling all around.

Once a Cackle, a McMurray, a Hoovers has handed the birds over to USPS, they (and their birds) are at USPS' mercy. If you've ever expected a package from USPS and checked their tracking? It only seems to work when there isn't a problem...

 

[NorthwoodsChick]

That is simply horrible. I am so sorry.

 

[janiedoe]

Hi friends! I need to vent because I’m still not over what happened. I know McMurray has a great reputation, people generally love them. However I had a horrible experience with them exactly a week ago and it’s just weighing heavily on my mind. I had ordered 10 silver polish, a color I do not have yet, and to fill their requirement of 25 birds I ordered some golden polish and buff laced. Friday morning comes around and I check the status on my phone to find I am receiving absolutely none of the silver I ordered. While I know hatching issues happen I was annoyed that I was not informed (yes, I clicked substitute for same breeds but I didn’t think I would get absolutely none of the ones I ordered). The representative was not polite at all and just kept saying they couldn’t let me know. If other hatcheries like Cackle can, why can’t McMurray? I finally gave up and hung up. A couple hours later I get a call from the post office that our order has arrived. My husband leaves work to pick them up. When he arrives to the post office and tells the attendant he’s there for the order she says “oh” and then says she’s so sorry. He opens it to find all 25 babies dead. Absolutely horrible sight. Can’t tell you how much I cried. I know a lot of people become desensitized to death of animals but to see those babies like that? Just was horrible. The McMurray supervisor didn’t apologize and tried to give me store credit which I wasn’t okay with. Finally got a refund back to my card but gosh this experience was absolutely horrible.

I am just so sorry.

 

[Kittys Coop]

The original poster said they opted for substitutions but did not expect 0 silvers. This isn’t a high margin business and it isn’t a boutique hatchery. It is entirely logical to sub in the same breed but different color.

Not an attack but an alternative view:

Dead chicks can be traumatic.

McMurray fulfilled their contract based on the information provided. I am not aware of any large hatchery that doesn’t have a dead chick picture policy. They were directed by the customer to substitute if needed, and they did. The customer was made whole after sending the picture.

The behavior of the employee is impossible to assess without a recording. I can understand not being particularly sympathetic to a complaint when the company met their obligations.

In a former life I took calls passed up from front line employees in a highly regulated, professional industry. >50% went like this:

“Bob said my claim hasn’t been processed yet because you didn’t get the signed contract. I want my money.”

“When did you mail in the contract, I will take a look at the mail log and track it down”

“I haven’t mailed it in yet. I want my money. I want to file a complaint.”


Just an alternative take.

I’ve ordered from McMurray 1 time. Positive experience. I’ve ordered from other places too and had positive experiences.

Respectfully, your 1 positive experience does not negate my experience. When you make an order you do not expect that your order of 10 of one breed becomes zero without any notice until they have already shipped. I have spoken with Meyer and other hatcheries in the days after to inquire on their policy and they stated they inform the customer ahead of time. If other hatcheries can do it, I don’t find the customer rep and supervisors explanation of “we just can’t” without any details sufficient. As for the actions of a customer rep, I spoke to 3 and a supervisor who all shared the same lack of empathy. I work from home in customer service and if I reacted the way they did there would be serious conversations with my manager. Your “alternative take” reads as a denial of my experience.