Top Shelf Exotics (Inquiry)

Chris,
My purchase date was 12 Jan 2006. I understand what you are saying about all they have to do, but that still doesn't excuse them for poor customer service. They should stop taking orders if they are overwhelmed. If their customer service doesn't improve, they may not have to worry about shipping orders in inclement weather, because there won't be any orders.

Bob E.

Originally Posted by HerpLuver

They have the stock to fill these orders i can assure you of that. But here's the thing, if you have hundreds of orders, and hundreds and hundreds of animals, and phone calls to take, and emails to answer, and cages to clean, and crap the supply order didnt come in, rodents to order, animals to check in on, incubators to check in on with hundreds if not thousands of eggs, banking to do, etc... It can be a bit tight on a small staff. It's not out of there scope to be able to handle the amount of animals they move, it just takes patience and TIME, lots and LOTS of TIME!!!!!!!

A little consideration of all those facts might be helpful.

Again, when was your purchase date in comparison to today? I waited months for my 1.1 100% het albino's to ship and was quite happy when they arrived here. Cause i know there being fed, and properly cared for. Heck, if you ask me, its FREE feeding till they get to my house.

Walmart has a lot more stock, and a lot more orders to fill, and I can still get something delivered right when I order it. If not I'll usually go somewhere else. People want what they paid for, they should not have to wait an indefinite amount of time to receive it. It may not be an indefinite amount of time, but how do you know if there is poor communication? Chris is a good guy and Top Shelf has a good reputation, but my point is, if you continue to have poor communication and shipping delays your business will suffer. Do you "catch up" by making your current and paying customers happy, by communicating frequently, and getting animals shipped, or do you wait till some customers start to wonder about the situation, and orders drop on there own? Sure they would now be able to handle the load, but that is the wrong way to do it. Hire temporary help, do whatever it takes. It could be something as simple as having someone spend the day on the computer (or phone) and contacting everyone and letting them know you haven't forgotten about them, and "we will get your order out". Myself, if I'm expecting something, I want it within reason, I could care less about a couple free mice being given to the animals I paid for. I'm not neccessarily an impatient person. I've paid for animals before there were eggs laid, and waited months, I've also waited for shipments delayed due to weather, but There needs to be a "legitimate" reason, AND constant communication. We're busy is not that "legitimate" for some people.

"I waited months for my 1.1 100% het albino's to ship and was quite happy when they arrived here."

I was unaware that this was some kind of contest to see who can wait the longest. I have no desire to become some martyr for having the patience to out wait a stone. All I wanted was to purchase some snakes and have them shipped in a timely manner.

you said."Someone named Glen replied to an email I sent around 4/7, and while he said the right things and assured me the only hold up was their concern for the snakes, and the number of orders they had to fill"

So then you admit that you ordered these snakes on a pymnt plan back in january and agreed to wait for warmer weather to accept shipment.

you also said," They should stop taking orders if they are overwhelmed. "
Imo you are out of line by saying that they should stop taking orders, when you clearly placed the order BEFORE he had his misfortune. What I mean is that it is not like there are tons of people that they have not served. Nobody else has come forward with your same complaint......

Originally Posted by brianklein

you said."Someone named Glen replied to an email I sent around 4/7, and while he said the right things and assured me the only hold up was their concern for the snakes, and the number of orders they had to fill"

Yes

"So then you admit that you ordered these snakes on a pymnt plan back in january and agreed to wait for warmer weather to accept shipment."

No, there was no mention of taking 3 months to ship the snakes.

"you also said," They should stop taking orders if they are overwhelmed. "

Yes

Imo you are out of line by saying that they should stop taking orders, when you clearly placed the order BEFORE he had his misfortune. What I mean is that it is not like there are tons of people that they have not served. Nobody else has come forward with your same complaint......

You would be wrong, there are a ton of people waiting, check out the BP forum on Kingsnake. Multiple treads of the same complaint, as well as one that heard the same Chris is sick story last year. So I guess this puts me "Back in line"

My bad.
Seems like you started this thread almost ummm... carefully and now you are getting sorta SMART alecky. That is what I meant about being out of line. Your tone has shifted. I can guarantee you that as soon as Chris hears about this thread he will be all over it. And with that I will conclude my input to your situation. I was simply trying to help you understand how we see Chris.
The bottom line is that this is none of my business! I was just trying to help. Good luck.

KS link to the tons of people not being served

http://forums.kingsnake.com/view.php?id=1057199,1057199

Originally Posted by brianklein

My bad.
Seems like you started this thread almost ummm... carefully and now you are getting sorta SMART alecky. That is what I meant about being out of line. Your tone has shifted. I can guarantee you that as soon as Chris hears about this thread he will be all over it. And with that I will conclude my input to your situation. I was simply trying to help you understand how we see Chris.
The bottom line is that this is none of my business! I was just trying to help. Good luck.

i'm sorry you got the impression that I had "changed my tone". I don't see anything "Smart alecky" about wanting to conclude a business transaction 3 months old. I hope you are right and that Chris will be "all over this", it will be more attention than he has paid to this situation so far.

You said you bought the snakes in January on a payment plan.... When was the LAST payment sent??.... Was it a month ago, or yesterday??....

Also, I've done TONS of business with Chris and I have never had a problem.... granted, his customer service is kind of lacking in this situation, but if he is still sick, he could be in self-preservation mode and doesn't really care about anything else right now (of course, that still wouldn't be right, but I'd understand)....

Neil

Originally Posted by Neil Gubitz

You said you bought the snakes in January on a payment plan.... When was the LAST payment sent??.... Was it a month ago, or yesterday??....

Also, I've done TONS of business with Chris and I have never had a problem.... granted, his customer service is kind of lacking in this situation, but if he is still sick, he could be in self-preservation mode and doesn't really care about anything else right now (of course, that still wouldn't be right, but I'd understand)....

Neil

Neil,
Last payment was 2/8 as agreed to. I am not heartless concerning his illness, and if you re-read my original post I gave credit where credit was due. If he is recovering, he still has a responsibility to delegate someone to insure that his customers are taken care of. No one should try to make me the bad guy here, just because I feel people need to meet their commitments.