How many chances do you give a hatchery ?? When is it enough??

[Promiselandfarm]

Okay I have a question about hatchery botch ups. How many times do you give them before you do not ever use them again? I ordered from Ideal because they are listed here and so many have stated how they like them. My first order was really a whim for my son an after the fact when I ordered some Buffs Orps and White Rocks. The Bantams were to be on sale and they called me to see if I wanted to purchase them because I had asked about the special. They were to be mixed breed and sexs for a reduced price. I said okay and then when they charged my debt account it was more than it should be. I called and was told they would refund the amount so no big deal I just asked them to credit my account because my other chicks were still being incubated. So now today I get double billed for the chicks that are to hatch on the 30th call and get a "we'll fix it" after they have already take out more than 50 extra from my account. I don't know about you guys but at my extra large family home every penny counts. So this is no small deal for us. The second Bammy is those bantams look to be 95% male. I think out of the 25 there may be if I am very lucky be 5 females and one is not even a Banty it is grown huge. I am very unhappy about the price even sale price with mostly males. Should I give up on this hatchery or let them have another chance? What would you do? I have sent them an email stating how unhappy I am but not sure if that will make a difference. I also ordered from Hoovers and they sent me extra chicks which Ideal did not do and never over charged me plus I got what I ordered. How many chances do you guys give each hatchery?? And what are big no nos that you make sure you stay away from???

 

[chickens4jojo]

I have only ever ordered from Murray Mcmurray & their Customer Service was excellent & they have always done what they said they would do.

Maybe Ideal just had a "bad few days?' though. I have only heard very good things about them usually. I do know my local feed & seed orders chicks from them all the time (I see Ideal's label on the newly delivered chick boxes sometimes.)

I am sorry you had a bad time with Ideal. They should fix their mistakes immediately. If they don't, I think you should try somewhere else next time. $50 is a lot to me, too.....

 

[jujurama]

I have used Ideal without a hitch. They sent extra chicks with my order (all male black sex link) in order to provide extra body heat for the tiny silkie chicks that I ordered. Could that be why you have so many males, could some of them be extra's for warmth?

Around my house we refer to these as "Packing Foam chicks" since they are essentially sent as packing material. I just give them away to the local feed store or one of my neighbors (I let them know that they are all cockerels).

 

[Promiselandfarm]

No they were not extras they are the orginal set. I did get a call from Ideal after I posted and after I sent an email. My money well I will get to wait for a refund...sad because it was not supposed to be taken... however, I did get an offer of a replacement batch of bantams but because they are my son's responsiblity it is up to him and I have not asked him yet as he is outside on the farm somewhere.

 

[CarlaRiggs]

Why would you want to order from Ideal again?

Carla

 

[AussieSharon]

Don't wait for Ideal to fix the money problem. Report it to your credit card company or bank and they should take care of it immediately.

I think most people will find that straight run in most cases equals far more males than females. It seems to be the case with everyone I've talked to regardless of the hatchery they used.

If you're unhappy with them try another hatchery next time. I've ordered twice from Privett, a total of 150 chicks. There was a problem but it was fixed very fast and I was more than happy with the final outcome.

 

[PurpleChicken]

It's gotta be hard for the hatcheries to keep up with all the small orders. I doubt
any of them are getting rich quick.

What happened to you is frustrating. I think I would be more upset they billed me before
my order was shipped.

People should never use debit cards for anything other than groceries. It's too easy
for a screwup to mess up your account. If you don't have a credit card then get yourself
a prepaid Visa or Paypal account. Paypal makes single use, prepaid visas, all online.

 

[Promiselandfarm]

I have credit cards but do not like to use them unless I have to because they charge interested even if you pay before the 30day period. Found that out after I paid one off because of new charges(they outsource to India and some of them speak very good English, some broken always hope for the good ones...man I wish I spoke another language). Anyway I also have a paypal never thought of that...wonderful idea* thanks for that one I could just transfer funds and no big deal, but not everyone takes paypal cards.
Also a footnote on debt card which we just found out recently after this order was placed....every time you use your debit card there is a 90% rate of the possiblity of fraud!!! I about flipped when my banker told me that. I asked her like an idiot several time was she sure and why so high and did everyone know how high of rate it was???? She told me not everyone knows that, but because she works in the fraud part of banking she was sure of her facts. You never know who writes down your numbers and uses them later. "With so much internet mail order it is easy" she said. So now my husband and I watch our bank statements like hawks. He has to order a new card because of unathorized charges!

 

[2 Beauts]

We have 1 credit card that we use just for online purchases for this very reason.

Also, having worked in retail in the past, it seemed that whenever I had a problem with a customer's order, EVERYTHING that went wrong, went wrong with that customer. It seemed everything I tired to fix created two other issues. The best thing to do from Ideal's side, is 1) Be honest. 2) Be sincere in their effort. 3) Fix It! 4) Apologize in every other sentence, and in writing.


Edited to add: If you can't understand the person on the phone, you can ask for someone who speaks English as a native language.

 

[Windy Ridge]

Just my opinion:

They overcharged you once or twice? Once can just happen anywhere, but twice seems a little much. Still, as 2Beauts pointed out, sometimes things do just seem to happen to one person. Have you ever had a day where everything goes wrong? I'm sure hatcheries dom too.

As to the sexes, people are often impatient about that--and nervous that they'll all end up male. They may not be, you could have plenty of pullets. But... even if you're right and you only got five females instead of 12 or so that you would expect out of a straight run or 25, I had a horrible hatch once at home where I hatched eight cockerels and one pullet--argh! Those WAY-OFF ratios do happen, which is why straight run costs less. There are just no guarantees. Even when you pay for pullets, you can still (rarely) get a mistake, but they don't really have any control over how the birds hatched out. If they did, they'd make a mint. My Pet Chicken is the only hatchery that can sex bantams, so it's not even that Ideal could have sexed them out and given you the left over males. Whatever mix of sexes you have is how they hatched. I hope you have more pullets than five, though!

Every hatchery I've ever ordered from--and every breeder--charges when you place your order. There are probably some that don't (?), but it's pretty common, because once those birds are reserved for you, they can't sell them to anyone else and have to turn customers away. It's like good faith money.

Its too bad that in this case they OVERcharged and then didn't fix it in a timely manner. However, everyone has been sold out and busy this year, weirdly so. The two farm and feed stores in my area were unable to keep chicks in the store for even an entire day.

I've heard too many people happy with Ideal to think that they just don't care about their customers. I've never ordered from them, personally: I've ordered from McMurray, Mount Healthy and Meyer (hm, I must have an M fetish), and I was pretty happy with all of them. For me, it was a matter of proximity to my location or what breeds were available from the hatchery. I had good service from all of them.

If it makes you feel better, though, just resolve this issue and use someone else next time. Fifty bucks is a lot to me, too.