"My Pet Chicken" is it trustworthy? *POST YOUR CHICKS FROM MPC!*

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

I've ordered twice with My Pet Chicken and had 2 very good experiences - I would recommend them.

The first time was the 25 chick special last October (25 EEs). I live in AZ and the chicks were sent priority mail since it was a large order. They had along way to go, but still arrived in 2 days. One chick did die from shipping stress and another had a problem with its legs -- MPC promptly refunded me for both those losses. The rest did wonderfully. I didn't keep all 23 chicks (sold the extras on craigslist), but the ones I did keep past the 1st four weeks ended up being hens (very friendly and pretty hens).

My 2nd time was almost 2 weeks ago - I ordered 30 chicks - I thought I might lose 1 or 2, but all 30 of them survived! One of the polish chicks seemed weak at first, but after a few hours, she was running around with the rest. They'll be 2 weeks old on Monday and are all healthy and active.

I got wonderful colors of EEs from MPC in my first batch (my local feed store only sells 1 color).
Here are a few of the more unusual colors I received:

A Group shot of a few of them when they were a little older - all but the Buff Orp were from MPC:

A close-up of the Splash EE from MPC

This is my newest batch of chicks - I was thrilled to find breeds I can't get locally and that I was able to order only 2-3 of each breed (or one if I had wanted to). I hope my Polish turn out to be as pretty as PoutryCrazy's polish chickens - what pretty birds!

 

[Ed62]

I'm pretty sure that's where my wife ordered from. She ordered 8, and 1 died when it was about 4 days old. She ordered all hens, but 1 was not. Other than that, we are happy with them.

Ed

 

[The Lisser]

I split an order of the 25 all female assortment from MPC with my neighbor. All chicks were alive when they arrived and we got one extra. The Salmon Favorelles was weak and needed some TLC but it did perk up. So far don't know if any are boys.

The only things I can say to the negative are that a few of the chicks are smaller and feathering in weird, and my GLW has a severe cross-beak, which I know is hereditary. Since they will be our family pets/layers, I don't mind too much if she can adapt, but I wish they didn't use breeding stock with that problem. My speckled sussex is developing curled toes, which I think is genetic (since the other ones are not developing that, I am assuming it's not related to the food). I know that there are always potentials for problems with animals, but I think any of the breeding birds with these hereditary defects should not be used. I'm not expecting show-quality, I just want animals that can live a long life without disabilities that could have been prevented.

Just my two cents.

 

[soccerbabiesmama]

Quote:
I know MPC does have a policy that you must give them at least 2 weeks notice to cancel an order for live chicks, which seems fair. Are you sure that you are calculating the days correctly? Calling on a Monday to cancel a delivery for the following Monday would be 1 week's notice, right? What day did you try to cancel and what day was your ship date? I've had nothing but good experiences with them and most other things I've read about MPC has also good - maybe it's just a misunderstanding.

It was exactly 14 days, and I agree - that's a completely fair policy. But MPC did move their ship date up by 1 week - voiding my ability to cancel. Then when I confronted them with that, they said that it isn't a 14 day cancellation, but a 15 day. Luckily my bank reviewed the transaction, their policy and my invoice and has decided that MPC should have refunded the money - the bank is going to reverse the transaction. My issue with MPC isn't their policy, it's that the policy states 2 weeks, but they really use 15 days. Also, they first claimed that they would "donate" the chicks, but after I asked for a receipt they changed their wording to "abandoned," "hatched just for you" and "rescue". It was incredible the amount of guilt that they shoveled my way.

My experience with them was a complete surprise because they came so highly recommended. I was hoping that it was just a misunderstanding, but that's not the case. I truly tried to act with good faith - even offering to buy $60 worth of other product, but they absolutely were going to keep my money and attempt to guilt me for it. MPC changed their story 3 times on me - and my bank has to refund my money. I personally will NEVER order from MPC again.

BTW - I asked to speak with a manager and was told that their isn't one, just a supervisor and an owner. I emailed the owner, who has ignored me. Sounded a little strange - but the entire transaction was strange!

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
I know MPC does have a policy that you must give them at least 2 weeks notice to cancel an order for live chicks, which seems fair. Are you sure that you are calculating the days correctly? Calling on a Monday to cancel a delivery for the following Monday would be 1 week's notice, right? What day did you try to cancel and what day was your ship date? I've had nothing but good experiences with them and most other things I've read about MPC has also good - maybe it's just a misunderstanding.

It was exactly 14 days, and I agree - that's a completely fair policy. But MPC did move their ship date up by 1 week - voiding my ability to cancel. Then when I confronted them with that, they said that it isn't a 14 day cancellation, but a 15 day. Luckily my bank reviewed the transaction, their policy and my invoice and has decided that MPC should have refunded the money - the bank is going to reverse the transaction. My issue with MPC isn't their policy, it's that the policy states 2 weeks, but they really use 15 days.

I'm sure you're frustrated with not being able to cancel, but my gut feeling is that MPC is not being dishonest, but simply following their policy of at least a 2 weeks notice. They have to have some kind of cut-off date. Since the issue is 15 days, versus 14, it still sounds like a misunderstanding to me.

The reason I had asked you what day you tried to cancel and what day your ship date is, is that 2 weeks could be considered 15 days versus 14, depending on how you count the days. For example, to cancel an item one week in advance most people would consider calling in on a Monday to cancel something shipping on the following Monday a 1 week notice. You can count this as 7 days or 8 days, depending on whether you start counting on Monday or Tuesday, but it is still considered a one week's notice. If someone tries to cancel an item on Tuesday because they count Tuesday as day 1 and therefore believe they are giving 7 days notice, it doesn't mean that the company will consider Tuesday to Monday a 1 week notice (I wouldn't).

I looked up MPC's policy online and it says (copied and pasted):

"Baby chick and fertile hatching egg orders can be canceled if the scheduled shipping date is more than 2 weeks away, "

This could very well be counted as 15 days, if you count the day you try to cancel, versus counting the following day, which is actually more accurate. I still think it's probably a misunderstanding regarding what constitutes a 2 week's notice. Try not counting the days, but look at the calendar; to cancel for a Monday date, you would need to cancel 2 Mondays ahead of your date. Did you actually try to cancel 2 weeks ahead on a Monday? Or.... was it a later day in the week?

 

[soccerbabiesmama]

I find it very ironic that you are quoting a Monday to Monday - which is exactly what happened, but I didn't give ANY particulars, purposely. Are you part of MPC? Have they been talking to you about their transactions with their customers - which would be incredibly unprofessional! You seem to have the inside scoop on what occurred which is fine, I've nothing to hide. 15 days is not 2 weeks. It was a phone order, and they read their disclosure - 2 weeks to cancel, $10 charge, they read nothing about midnight the day before making it 15 days. It's semantics. They are also charging me $35 in shipping for product that never shipped. How do you explain that? How do you explain that they claim that I "abandoned" my babies? So sorry, but my babies go to school and are put to bed by me every night - they happen to be real humans too

Again, glad that so many others had great luck. I got my cancellation voided, harassing emails that accuse me of abandoning chickens not even hatched, told chickens would be donated - then told rescued, harassed by office staff when I called in, treated coldly, told that they have no managers and ignored by the Chief Executive Officer. If this is the way that they prefer to do business, they can do it on another customers dime.

They could have handled the entire ordeal differently - ie. refunding my shipping for product not shipped, but still charged me for the chicks. So many other options... they chose to be rather dishonest and unprofessional.

 

[KelBelle]

Just a shot in the dark here, but I am pretty sure that most hatcheries try to ship on Mondays. My MPC order shipped on a Monday. It just seems like a good day to use as an example. I really doubt the previous poster has any connection to MPC or sinister motives. I am sorry things didn't turn out well for you.

 

[Dipsy Doodle Doo]

Also, they first claimed that they would "donate" the chicks, but after I asked for a receipt they changed their wording to "abandoned," "hatched just for you" and "rescue". It was incredible the amount of guilt that they shoveled my way.

Hi! I hope you are refunded *in full* for your order. That's just bad business to me. I *think* there were byc members working for mpc and shame, shame, shame for trying to make someone feel guilty for canceling an order.
Never ordered anything from mpc so have no personal testimonial, but Soccerbabiesmama experience guarantees I would NEVER recommend them.
Good luck finding your chicks from another source,
Lisa​

 

[ArizonaDesertChicks]

Quote:
I didn't mean to upset you, I've ordered from them twice and all the ship dates I've had to choose from for delivery were all on a Monday - it seemed a logical day to use as an example. When I saw your post, it looked to me like you may have regsistered just for the reason of bashing MPC since that was your first post here on BYC. I was trying to defend a company that I happen to like (their website has been helpful to me and I've had good service with them). I've been here at BYC for over 1 1/2 years and would defend them too, if I saw some negative postings about them somewhere.

I've already posted my pics of the chickens I received from MPC, which was the OP's intent for the thread, so I'll unsubscribe from this thread and won't be back. Hopefully, things will go better for you soon - I especially hope that the ordinance gets changed and you can get some more chickens too.

 

[soccerbabiesmama]

I'm not upset and apologize if my response seemed curt - I had no clue that most companies ship on Mondays (insert awk. smile). My intent is not to bash MPC at all, it's just to let people know that not everyone had a great experience with MPC - and that if you need to cancel, BY ALL MEANS DO IT THE MONDAY 15 DAYS BEFORE!!!! I found this thread by searching for other customers who may have had issues with MPC, and there are very few - with an astounding # of customers who've been absolutely pleased by them, which is great! That's the reason why I ordered from them also. This whole experience just blew me away