Orscheln's employee LIED to me

[debid]

N&MSchroeder :

You know a lot of this could have been prevented with a few well placed signs. Yes, I know chicks get mixed up and moved around, but my local feed store does a great job of placing laminated signs in the bins to identify each breed. These signs have information about sex, size, egg color, laying rate, etc. Very helpful for the customers. I know you wouldn't have purchased these chicks if the sign said meat chickens on it.

This was my thought exactly. Signs (if installed on the correct bin) would make a world of difference. This way, you significantly reduce how much the employees have to memorize and accurately relay back to customers. Heck, make a black and white photocopy page on chick necessities (a shopping checklist!) and basic care to include with chick purchases. Also, stock books on poultry care with the rest of the supplies so people can get a "chicken bible" to read and learn more about caring for their birds long term.

Honestly, though, I don't think the employee LIED. Being ignorant and being deceitful are very different things. I do agree, though, that the manager could have handled it better.​

 

[DAFox]

Quote:
And now you should research leghorns. They are generally flighty birds. I wouldn't make them pets for a 5 year old and 2 year old.

I never depend on a store employee to know what would be the best thing to buy (be it an animal, car, washing machine, etc.). I do my own research. If I impulse buy -- it is on me. I don't blame the employee.
I picked up a chicken breed book at Orschlens one day while I was looking at their "rare breed" bin, just to correctly identify what I wanted. I put it back when I was done. The employee correctly identified each, but I made sure.
Dale-Ann

 

[chics in the sun]

Don't discount leghorns as pets too quickly. Handle them A LOT as chicks - that is mine in the picture, and she STILL lets my four year old pick her up like that. Just hangs there patiently while he talks to her for a minute, then puts her back down. She does like to fly to the tops of things, but she is one of our favorite chickens. She will even fall asleep on my lap sometimes.

And how did I end up with a leghorn? Pet store lied to me and told me it was an "Ameraucana" - which I dutifully researched before purchasing. The burden is shared, and the stores need to be honest and have at least basic, acurate information. I should not be expected as a brand new chicken owner to be able to tell the breed of a 2 day old chick.

 

[dretd]

Quote:
Of my chickens, my Light Brahma is my favorite and my hubby's too. You may have lucked out by getting them. They also feather out really slowly and it seems a lot of folks think they have roos at first (I did) but they are mistaken. You may want to post pictures to see if anyone can help with ID's.

To the OP: I suspect the employee was mistaken not dishonest with you. As for the chick prices, the cornish x are frequently $.99 on sale and so don't assume that the other chick prices there are also going to be cheaper. I have purchased pullets anywhere from $2.65 to $5 a piece. It may vary from store to store or between batches at the stores depending on which hatchery they use. One store I got my Salmon Faverolles pullet from was $2.75 but the Welsummer was $4.95--both 'rare' breeds. They get birds from 5 different hatcheries so cost and quality varies.

 

[m_shuman]

Quote:
And now you should research leghorns. They are generally flighty birds. I wouldn't make them pets for a 5 year old and 2 year old.

I never depend on a store employee to know what would be the best thing to buy (be it an animal, car, washing machine, etc.). I do my own research. If I impulse buy -- it is on me. I don't blame the employee.
I picked up a chicken breed book at Orschlens one day while I was looking at their "rare breed" bin, just to correctly identify what I wanted. I put it back when I was done. The employee correctly identified each, but I made sure.
Dale-Ann

I have done my research on Leghorns thank you very much! I don't see why you chose to directly attack my opinion on this subject! I also had Leghorns as a child and a Leghorn Roo too! Never had a problem with them! In fact I carried the roo around like a lap dog when I was about my sons age. No I don't take my advice from a salesman either but if I buy a vehicle I expect the person selling it to know the difference between an SUV and a truck a washing machine I expect them to know the difference betewwn a front loader and a top loader chickens the difference between a chicken you eat and a chicken that lays eggs! By the way most feed stores here in South Georgia do not carry books for identifying chickens. They carry feed, chickens, fencing, fertilizer garden supplies, chemicals etc, not books. And if you asked them for a book they would look at you like you were crazy.

Edited to add: I believe chickens are like any other animal (or children for that matter). The more you work with them the better they turn out. It is all about time and patience! And by the way of all of our pullets the leghorns are the friendliest!

I used to be an AVP and manager for a bank before I chose to stay home and raise my kids. If one of my employees had made a mistake, misled or plain lied to one of my customers I would have done anything to make it right. And if they didn't know the correct answers to questions or were unfamiliar with what they were talking about then they were expected to ask for help from someone who knew the correct answers. This is not very different from that bad customer service and incompetence is bad customer service and incompetence whether it is from a bank, doctors office, car dealership or feed store.

 

[DAFox]

Quote:
And now you should research leghorns. They are generally flighty birds. I wouldn't make them pets for a 5 year old and 2 year old.

I never depend on a store employee to know what would be the best thing to buy (be it an animal, car, washing machine, etc.). I do my own research. If I impulse buy -- it is on me. I don't blame the employee.
I picked up a chicken breed book at Orschlens one day while I was looking at their "rare breed" bin, just to correctly identify what I wanted. I put it back when I was done. The employee correctly identified each, but I made sure.
Dale-Ann

I have done my research on Leghorns thank you very much! I don't see why you chose to directly attack my opinion on this subject! I also had Leghorns as a child and a Leghorn Roo too! Never had a problem with them! In fact I carried the roo around like a lap dog when I was about my sons age. No I don't take my advice from a salesman either but if I buy a vehicle I expect the person selling it to know the difference between an SUV and a truck a washing machine I expect them to know the difference betewwn a front loader and a top loader chickens the difference between a chicken you eat and a chicken that lays eggs! By the way most feed stores here in South Georgia do not carry books for identifying chickens. They carry feed, chickens, fencing, fertilizer garden supplies, chemicals etc, not books. And if you asked them for a book they would look at you like you were crazy.

Edited to add: I believe chickens are like any other animal (or children for that matter). The more you work with them the better they turn out. It is all about time and patience! And by the way of all of our pullets the leghorns are the friendliest!

I used to be an AVP and manager for a bank before I chose to stay home and raise my kids. If one of my employees had made a mistake, misled or plain lied to one of my customers I would have done anything to make it right. And if they didn't know the correct answers to questions or were unfamiliar with what they were talking about then they were expected to ask for help from someone who knew the correct answers. This is not very different from that bad customer service and incompetence is bad customer service and incompetence whether it is from a bank, doctors office, car dealership or feed store.

Wow...I am sorry. I re-read what I wrote, and I can see that I poorly worded my leghorn comments. I have a couple of leghorns, too. I happen to like them, even the roo. I really have to move slowly around them or they take fright. I imagined small kids being frightened by that.

The sales clerk comments were directed to the OP, not you. Sorry that you thought that they were directed at you. I was too lazy to clip the quote.

But, I will add that chicks come to the store for a short period every year. It isn't like they are a standard item in the store. I believe that the clerk honestly thought they were giving proper info. But, I personally wouldn't have taken their word for it.

Again sorry to offend you.
Dale-Ann

 

[Buschie's dozen]

she said they lay eggs ,they do but -----its diet all day everyday, for (Cornish cross)

 

[FowlWthrFriend]

FWIW, I bought my first chicks just two months ago. I checked out four chicken books and looked up a few websites beforehand. I walked into the store with the (final) list of chickens in hand only to find huge bins of peeping chicks with a few signs listing as much as three breed names for a single bin. How was I to know which of those fast little fuzzballs was the breed on my list? If they had been individually marked I could have helped myself. As it was, I had to wait for an employee to ask and was then at their mercy to correctly identify the right chick. The gal that helped me did get the right ones and was pretty nice but busy.

Most everyone goes to a store with an idea of what they want or need (or even have a list). Sure, you might impulse buy a candybar at the checkout stand, but at least it's labeled and priced. I felt very prepared to buy my first chicks, but I still had to rely on someone else to actually get what I wanted. I've worked 7+ years in retail; while being prepared helps _you_, it's the merchandiser's responsibility to clearly identify what is being purchased, ESPECIALLY if that item is non-refundable!

Bottom line: stores ought to correctly label their merchandise, for the benefit of their customers AND their employees. No matter then if you have an oblivious impulse buyer or apathetic/uninformed employee, if the information is there then all's fair.

Anyways, just my 2 cents.

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

After reading your post (and I haven't read any of the responses), I feel that maybe the lady might have misunderstood you and might have been still talking about the RIRs.

That would perfectly describe a RIR- some of the best egg layers for 3 years.

Any chance she was describing RIRs and you thought she was talking about the next bin over?

 

[mochicken]

Not my first chicks and not passing 100% of the blame off on her but she was DEFINITELY talking about the Cornish because she was holding the thing and showing it to my son when she was discussing it. I knew what the RIR was as we used to have them in my teen years which I told her.

It wasn't an impulse buy, I bought the 4 RIR because that is all that was left, the Cornish were plentiful so that is why I bought them (and the remaining cicks were .99 on sale)


I do feel like I have some responsibility in this obviously and I guess I deserve to be told how irresponsible I was by many different people but my intentions were to warn folks to make sure they knew what they were buying and that the (cute lil chicks) might not be what you ate looking for no matter how hard the sales person pitches it.

Sorry and hope this thread helped someone because it just made me feel dumb