I Need Some Advice

[JustDucky1970]

Hello Everyone,

This may not exactly fit here, but I thought this might be the place to get some advice. I recently bought a small mobile metal chicken-tractor ($300+ with shipping). I was planning to put some young pullets in it out in my now-bare garden. I won't give the pen's brand here, but I feel like the company was not up-front in the fact that the instructions for the pen are both incomplete and incorrect.

I'm pretty handy at assembling things, but after following the instructions I've discovered (after 3 hours of work) that I'm going to have to take the thing apart to make things go together as they should. Even then I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make everything work. Again, the company indicated that the instructions were "vague" and said they could supply additional instructions, but they really can't for this model.

What leaves another bad taste in my mouth is the fact that the company has this in their text: "If you receive a run from us and thought it would be a different size you will be responsible to pay for expensive return shipping and any shipping damage that may occur from shipping it twice." When I read this at first, I thought that was a strange thing to say. Who wouldn't understand the size of a chicken-tractor? Now I'm wondering if it's more that people might get this pen, not be able to assemble it, and then can't return it (or have to pay $$$ to ship it.) I'm beginning to suspect that that might be more the case.

The representative that I talked with on the phone was very nice, and offered to help with questions. I hate to leave bad feedback for small businesses that cater to agriculture, but I also don't want to support a business that can't even provide the most basic instructions for its products. It makes me wonder if there is a problem with the assembly that they don't want to have to deal with. However, I also don't want other chicken-people and small-farmers to have the trouble that I'm having. (Wasting a lot of time out in the heat and possibly wasting money.)

As other chicken people, what do you think about this situation? Would you leave a negative review about this product? Or am I just hot, aggravated, and mad because I hurt my back? Thanks for your honest opinion. (After working on this I need to go out and just listen to my baby chicks peep for a while...they're so soothing.)

 

[aart]

Again, the company indicated that the instructions were "vague" and said they could supply additional instructions, but they really can't for this model.......What leaves another bad taste in my mouth is the fact that the company has this in their text: "If you receive a run from us and thought it would be a different size you will be responsible to pay for expensive return shipping and any shipping damage that may occur from shipping it twice."

This sounds familiar....I think we 'reviewed' one of these coops not long ago.
I was struck by their rather candid CYA statements.

In order to get viable feedback on this situation,
you really do need to cite the company and provide a link to the coop you bought.
As well as showing, with pics and text, the problems you had assembling.
Otherwise we(or at least I) cannot really give an accurate assessment or suggestions.

I'm sorry you head a rough time with it, definitely take some time to rest and cool off(both literally and figuratively).

 

[blackdog043]

Without pics or a link, I have no advice. Being in your situation, I would have no problem letting everyone know what company this is.

 

[PetesChicks]

Third vote for Name & Shame. Let us know the make & model of the coop, and there might be something someone here can help you with to make it work for you. Without details, there isn’t much anyone can do to help you.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

If you are still not wanting to shame the company who sold you the product you could share product information.
That will help in identifying what went wrong between instructions (or lack of thereof) and completion of installation.
My other suggestion would be to Google troubleshooting "chicken tractor xyz by ABC co." You may find you're not alone in your frustration.
The problem may be that the product originated from another county and translations are not always the best.

Case in point--the instructions for washing mens boxer briefs.

 

[aart]

It's not about 'shaming' per se,
but about gathering others experiences with the product,
and experienced builders/assemblers opinions about the instructions/explanations.
More to help @JustDucky1970 find a way thru to functionality, and maybe a little bit of commiseration, along with warnings about a possibly faulty product.

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

I agree it’s not about shaming the company but I do understand OP not wanting to give details.
Someone once told me “With a good experience customers tell one maybe two people. With a bad experience they tell five to seven.” It may not be the sellers fault. If they just supply the product they can’t do anything about crappy instructions.

 

[JustDucky1970]

Okay, here are the facts: it's the Medium Rite Farm Lifetime Series Broiler Pen sold by Coopsnmore.

https://www.coopsnmore.com/Medium_Lifetime_Freestanding_Chicken_Broiler_Pen_p/2312.htm

It's the one with both the metal grating AND the red & white polycarbonate panels. Here's the problem (and I may be able to upload some pictures.) First of all, the instructions, in some places, make NO sense. Example:

"the roof the rest of the empity , used the four No. C insert it a . and No. 9 and No 9-1 insert it as like the picture."

(Yes, this is exactly how this instruction reads, extra spaces, misspellings and all.) in some places the instructions can be deciphered.

The illustrations do not really show the parts in detail, so you have to use "common sense" to figure out exactly how to arrange the parts. In some cases this is easy and obvious. You can figure out that you need the narrow grooves in the metal pieces to align so that you can put the panels into them.

Second: You are given 2 different types of bolts: a black one that uses an Allen-wrench, and a silver one with a head that is flattened on each side. (These latter slid into a groove in the metal and really are very clever.) HOWEVER the instructions NOWHERE tell you where to use the black bolts! At least I can't find it. I did ask the rep this question. I never would have found out otherwise.

HOWEVER, this is the real kicker: In step 7 you are told to [again, this is typed verbatim]

"PUT 4 No. A (insert the appoonited place put the four No.B insert the e appoonited place."

From the line drawings, this is telling you to put the panels (solid and grating) into the already-constructed frame. (By now you have screwed in a lot of screws with the Allen-wrench, which is tedious work, and even have put the hinged roof-hatch on top.) I thought perhaps, due to the flexibility of the panels, you WOULD be able to somehow bend and flex the panels to fit. NOPE. You can't "bend" the panels to get them into the grooves. You need at least one side open into which to side the panels. Then you have to deal with the roof panels. I'm going to have to study this carefully, because you may NEED to put the roof panels in first, and yet you also have to have access through the roof in order to fasten some screws.

Again, putting this item together might be relatively easy (assuming that it CAN be put together. What scares me is that I later found a review for the large size of this pen that states (there are very few reviews out there)

"This took 8 hours to put together. The directions are exactly as stated, vague. There was literally no reasonable way to put this thing together without modifying the design." https://www.coopsnmore.com/Large_Lifetime_Freestanding_Chicken_Broiler_Pen_p/2316.htm

IF this thing can really be assembled as designed, and IF there were clear directions written in a systematic way, then I think this thing would be relatively easy to assemble. As it is, it's a major mess.

If a company is going to sell a product for $300 or so, they should at least be able to supply decent instructions.

 

[Squeakles]

What leaves another bad taste in my mouth is the fact that the company has this in their text: "If you receive a run from us and thought it would be a different size you will be responsible to pay for expensive return shipping and any shipping damage that may occur from shipping it twice." When I read this at first, I thought that was a strange thing to say. Who wouldn't understand the size of a chicken-tractor? Now I'm wondering if it's more that people might get this pen, not be able to assemble it, and then can't return it (or have to pay $$$ to ship it.) I'm beginning to suspect that that might be more the case.

I can understand why this leaves a bad taste in your mouth as it sounds like they are saying to expect to be disappointed with their product, but what I *think* they mean is that sometimes when looking at photos, people can make incorrect assumptions about scale even if the measurements are clearly listed. I know I nearly bought a coop online to use as a quarantine pen that looked like it was tall enough for me to walk into (they had photoshopped chickens into the image and made them tiny, so that the run looked a lot taller than it was. It was only when I got out a tape measure and held it up that I realised just how short it actually was).

 

[FlyingNunFarm]

Everywhere I looked that it is for sale it’s stated the instructions are awful. I went to rite farm directly and linked their contact info if you haven’t called them.
http://www.ritefarm.com/contact-us.html