Metzer Farms customer service?

prestoconfuoco

Songster
May 26, 2019
64
48
101
Upstate NY
EDIT: Problem solved — see my later post — they actually called me back about 15 min. after I posted this and are shipping me two replacements.

Hi all,

Hearing basically nothing but positivity about Metzer farms I ordered a small order of 3 ducklings to upstate NY. I knew the journey was long and it was cold here so there was a chance some ducklings wouldn’t make it.

When they arrived last Thursday one was dead and another was crawling around and couldn’t walk right...I put her under a brooder and tried to get her to drink nutridrench or eat grogel but she wouldn’t eat or drink and within an hour she had died.

Now I’m left with one duckling (who I love very much) and I’m sure some of you know how hard it is to raise a duckling on its own. I need to find her friends asap, and since the feed stores here have a 6 min. and I want sexed birds getting replacements from Metzer seemed like the best option.

Now to the point, I emailed them once before the ducklings arrived, asking about whether or not they’d be ok if the journey ended up taking an extra day as the tracking indicated (that didn’t end up happening). No response. I emailed them twice the day the ducklings arrived. No response. I called them on Friday (during business hours) and reported my losses (which is just leaving a message), they say you’ll receive a confirmation email or call back. No confirmation or call back. I emailed them again after business hours Friday using the contact us form on their website and it seems like the website broke, taking me to an error page when I tried to send the email - so I have no idea if it worked. Now today Monday I have called them twice during business hours to try to get a human on the phone and as soon as I get past the automated message and press 4 for “other inquiries,” I’m sent straight to an answering machine with no rings.

I’m a bit at a loss — I’ve been really inconvenienced here (having one duck is harder than having 3, AND harder than having none) and I literally have not heard anything from them.

Has anyone had similar experiences? Is this normal? Since I’ve heard so much positivity, I’m wondering if something is going on with them that is preventing them from getting back to me.

Right now I’m looking at trying to get two one day old ducklings shipped from MyPetChicken (who I love!) and thankfully they are in Connecticut so I believe the two would make the trip alive despite the small order. I would have to wait until minimum April 19th to get these; wanted to see if Metzer could replace my birds sooner, but I just haven’t had any luck.

She is so sweet and friendly but she has imprinted on my fiancee and I and she wakes us up multiple times throughout the night — she needs friends!
 
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Right now I’m looking at trying to get two one day old ducklings shipped from MyPetChicken (who I love!) and thankfully they are in Connecticut so I believe the two would make the trip alive despite the small order.

Just FYI MyPetChicken is a broker. None of their birds actually ship from CT because they don't breed them and aren't actually a hatchery. In fact if they use Metzer for their ducklings, they might end up shipping from Metzer again. I'm not sure who they use for ducklings but I know they use Meyer for chicks.

As to your issues with getting ahold of Metzer, I'm not sure. I think they're having a hard time with Covid, probably. The only time I ever had problems with an order (some dead birds) I called, got ahold of them right away, and was refunded.

It's very possible they're just backed up and understaffed. In fact, recently they put out an email that they are looking for people to hire, so I think there's a very good chance that that's the case.
 
Thanks for your replies — I had no idea MPC was a broker so that’s really useful. I didn’t realize people had Friday off.

In some sort of freaky karma thing, 15 minutes after I posted this they called me back and they’re shipping me two replacement birds next week. Fingers crossed they show up alive — they told me it’s been difficult with USPS lately and shipments have been taking one day longer than usual so losses are higher.
 
I
Thanks for your replies — I had no idea MPC was a broker so that’s really useful. I didn’t realize people had Friday off.

In some sort of freaky karma thing, 15 minutes after I posted this they called me back and they’re shipping me two replacement birds next week. Fingers crossed they show up alive — they told me it’s been difficult with USPS lately and shipments have been taking one day longer than usual so losses are higher.
I was glad to hear this update. I've had very good experiences with metzers customer service. 👍
 
EDIT: Problem solved — see my later post — they actually called me back about 15 min. after I posted this and are shipping me two replacements.

Hi all,

Hearing basically nothing but positivity about Metzer farms I ordered a small order of 3 ducklings to upstate NY. I knew the journey was long and it was cold here so there was a chance some ducklings wouldn’t make it.

When they arrived last Thursday one was dead and another was crawling around and couldn’t walk right...I put her under a brooder and tried to get her to drink nutridrench or eat grogel but she wouldn’t eat or drink and within an hour she had died.

Now I’m left with one duckling (who I love very much) and I’m sure some of you know how hard it is to raise a duckling on its own. I need to find her friends asap, and since the feed stores here have a 6 min. and I want sexed birds getting replacements from Metzer seemed like the best option.

Now to the point, I emailed them once before the ducklings arrived, asking about whether or not they’d be ok if the journey ended up taking an extra day as the tracking indicated (that didn’t end up happening). No response. I emailed them twice the day the ducklings arrived. No response. I called them on Friday (during business hours) and reported my losses (which is just leaving a message), they say you’ll receive a confirmation email or call back. No confirmation or call back. I emailed them again after business hours Friday using the contact us form on their website and it seems like the website broke, taking me to an error page when I tried to send the email - so I have no idea if it worked. Now today Monday I have called them twice during business hours to try to get a human on the phone and as soon as I get past the automated message and press 4 for “other inquiries,” I’m sent straight to an answering machine with no rings.

I’m a bit at a loss — I’ve been really inconvenienced here (having one duck is harder than having 3, AND harder than having none) and I literally have not heard anything from them.

Has anyone had similar experiences? Is this normal? Since I’ve heard so much positivity , I’m wondering if something is going on with them that is preventing them from getting back to me.

Right now I’m looking at trying to get two one day old ducklings shipped from MyPetChicken (who I love!) and thankfully they are in Connecticut so I believe the two would make the trip alive despite the small order. I would have to wait until minimum April 19th to get these; wanted to see if Metzer could replace my birds sooner, but I just haven’t had any luck.

She is so sweet and friendly but she has imprinted on my fiancee and I and she wakes us up multiple times throughout the night — she needs friends!
Wow. I also live in upstate and I’m expected two ducklings. I am also afraid because the weather just started getting cold again. Apparently they shipped it on Tuesday and it says it’s coming Saturday which is odd. I contacted them and they said usually it’s a day earlier then it says so Friday. Although it’s hard to believe that two ducklings can be traveled from Tuesday to Friday that’s about three days. Apparently it’s coming tomorrow(Friday) so we’ll see if they are dead or alive. If they are dead I’m going to be traumatized I’ve been waiting so long. I don’t have a problem with their contact support although they only answer certain times of the day.
 
I ordered 18 ducks of different varieties. They shipped on Monday, and didn’t arrive until Thursday! Only 17 were in the box! 5 were dead to the point of smelling and flies on them! 4 more died within 30 minutes of being placed in the brooder. There was no heat pack and the two small cups inside were bone dry and empty. What an awful experience! I emailed immediately and called and have received no answer!
 
They shipped on Monday, and didn’t arrive until Thursday!

Unfortunately that's the post office's fault, not Metzer's. USPS was already overloaded thanks to Covid and then the sorting machines were ripped out and the system was further crippled.

There was no heat pack and the two small cups inside were bone dry and empty.

With 17 ducks, a heat pack shouldn't have been needed. It sounds like with the extra day of shipping, they went through all the Gro-gel. Most hatcheries don't even add Gro-gel to shipments, it's a nice extra thing Metzer does.

They'll get back to you when they can. They're pretty overloaded on calls right now what with everyone buying poultry during Covid, and on top of that they're short-staffed. My goslings came in a couple days ago and unfortunately one had passed. The first time I tried calling I didn't get an answer right away. I was gonna send an email, but decided I'd just try calling one more time, and that time I did get someone and they refunded me immediately.
 
Unfortunately that's the post office's fault, not Metzer's. USPS was already overloaded thanks to Covid and then the sorting machines were ripped out and the system was further crippled.



With 17 ducks, a heat pack shouldn't have been needed. It sounds like with the extra day of shipping, they went through all the Gro-gel. Most hatcheries don't even add Gro-gel to shipments, it's a nice extra thing Metzer does.

They'll get back to you when they can. They're pretty overloaded on calls right now what with everyone buying poultry during Covid, and on top of that they're short-staffed. My goslings came in a couple days ago and unfortunately one had passed. The first time I tried calling I didn't get an answer right away. I was gonna send an email, but decided I'd just try calling one more time, and that time I did get someone and they refunded me immediately.
Good to know. Thank yoI. First time I have ordered online so I haven’t experienced this before. Reading the reviews now, it appears that birds shipped from the company have either been great or awful.
 

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