Repti-Racks- Bad customer service

Please beware with buying from Repti-Racks. I had viewed an ad on Fauna for a black friday deal for 47x23x12 black cages that were a great deal and decided to order 4 of them with 23" heatpads. I placed a phone order ON black Friday (11/23/12) and was very pleased with the gentleman that I spoke to. He was very helpful and helped me choose a few different options on my cages. That was the last helpful moment. I paid approx $800 in full over the phone with a credit card.

I was told a lead time of 5-6 weeks for the cages to be built and shipped which I was fine with. I had read their website and understood that the black Friday deal caused a lot of orders as well as xmas and New Years coming up. At 4 weeks (12/23/12) I emailed them to confirm that I was still looking at a 5-6 week time frame. I was told that due to the holidays, orders had been delayed and that after the new year they would be back on track and my order was due up next.

At 8 weeks (01/21/13) I emailed them again and asked if they had an estimate for a shipping date since I was told weeks ago that my order was next. The response I received was to look at their website for lead times and that they were now expecting my order and several others to be in sometime that week to be completed and shipped.

It is now a month since the last email from them and I still have not received my cages. It has been double the lead time that I was given. I understand that these are just estimates, but double the original estimate is a little excessive.

I have tried calling and the phone just rings and rings...

Please be cautious when ordering from these guys. I have read other reviews of people having the same issue. I just want my cages.

amy do you have conversation with them ,email,text etc...would be easier to prove your case.

Of course I do.

From: <sales@repti-racks.com>
Date: Jan 21, 2013 10:37 AM
Subject: RE: Order
To: "Amy”
Cc:

Hello all info for lead times and process is at link below. Were expecting your order and several others to be in sometime this week who's up next to be completed and shipped.
Thanks

www.coldbloodedenclosures.com

Please read Read Order/Process/leadtimes before ordering

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: RE: Order
From: Amy
Date: Sun, January 20, 2013 6:53 am
To: sales@repti-racks.com
Good morning,
I understand that orders have been delayed due to Christmas and New Years but can I get an estimate on when my order might be shipped? I was told it would be about 5-6 weeks when I ordered them and it is approaching 8 weeks. Also about 3 weeks ago that my order was due up next but I couldn't find a turn around time for making the cages on your website. This is not a problem but I would just like an update.
Thank you!
Amy



On Dec 27, 2012 12:13 PM, <sales@repti-racks.com> wrote:
Hello,were just coming out of the holiday closings for thanksgiving,xmas and coming on new years were are closed for day before,after and on of each holiday and also our suppliers and manufacturing so this was to be expected. Once we come out of the new years holiday we will be back on track with orders and your order is due up next.
Thank you
If you like more info please click link below for how our process works

www.coldbloodedenclosures.com

Please read Read Order/Process/leadtimes before ordering

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Re: Order
From: Amy
Date: Sun, December 23, 2012 11:36 am
To: sales@repti-racks.com
Hello,
I placed an order 4 weeks ago for four 47x23x12 black cages with 23" heatpads. I have not heard anything back after my phone order and just assumed that i would receive a confirmation.
I was told it would be about 5-6 weeks to receive the cages, which is approaching quickly and i just wanted to know if that is still an accurate time frame.
Thank you,
Amy


On Nov 23, 2012 2:53 PM, "Amy” wrote:
I have to work at 5pm EST, if i don't hear from you by then is it possible to still receive the black Friday prices if I give you my order via email?
Thanks,
Amy


On Nov 23, 2012 12:40 PM, <sales@repti-racks.com> wrote:
ill call u later today when I return in few hours

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Order
From: Amy
Date: Nov 23, 2012 9:59 AM
To: sales@repti-racks.com
CC:

Can someone please call me, I would like to order 4 cages.

Thanks!
Amy

Originally Posted by PiercedAmmo

Please beware with buying from Repti-Racks. I had viewed an ad on Fauna for a black friday deal for 47x23x12 black cages that were a great deal and decided to order 4 of them with 23" heatpads. I placed a phone order ON black Friday (11/23/12) and was very pleased with the gentleman that I spoke to. He was very helpful and helped me choose a few different options on my cages. That was the last helpful moment. I paid approx $800 in full over the phone with a credit card.

I was told a lead time of 5-6 weeks for the cages to be built and shipped which I was fine with. I had read their website and understood that the black Friday deal caused a lot of orders as well as xmas and New Years coming up. At 4 weeks (12/23/12) I emailed them to confirm that I was still looking at a 5-6 week time frame. I was told that due to the holidays, orders had been delayed and that after the new year they would be back on track and my order was due up next.

At 8 weeks (01/21/13) I emailed them again and asked if they had an estimate for a shipping date since I was told weeks ago that my order was next. The response I received was to look at their website for lead times and that they were now expecting my order and several others to be in sometime that week to be completed and shipped.

It is now a month since the last email from them and I still have not received my cages. It has been double the lead time that I was given. I understand that these are just estimates, but double the original estimate is a little excessive.

I have tried calling and the phone just rings and rings...

Please be cautious when ordering from these guys. I have read other reviews of people having the same issue. I just want my cages.

Hello amy sorry i missed your call today as i saw a missed call and when i happen to go online to respond to someone and saw this you posted i looked at the number and saw it was you after your call wasnt answer this post pops up, its hard to answer phones,emails and build cages and please everyone and their requests,demands,not reading nor understanding process and last min changes all the time we try our hardest and yeah some just cant be quick enough with fast replies we try our best and than get blamed for bad service.I state everything on our site as much as possible and in all ads to read before ordering also in every reply e-mail read before ordering we also had several holidays of being closed for few weeks to spend with family which things like that gets for gotton about and really wish others who post things like this stop and think first what goes into offering caging to the industry and what it really takes also being 1 PERSON doing it all to do everything running it and has been for 8 years their is not much to be made in this and to hire several workers to speed things up would really boost those prices thousands love.we know its a bad time with money in the USA so we choose to stay affordable i do my best and give it my all every day the same i have for 8 years now building cages all day ever day.We have a ton of + feedback on our site from many others who received their cages and every year we get a select few who just don't understand what it takes nor understand the process or panic.This is not a very profitable business almost not worth it at times and makes me wonder why am i still doing this but i do it for the love of it and the industry and gives others choices in caging and proper housing other than fish tanks which would be left if no of us were around to offer caging anymore.So many companies have come and gone over the last 8 years with very little of them left to offer you choices and i produce very good caging at a affordable price and have many many happy and returning customers who many new customers always send us emails such as this which was from today a customer who just got their order (our cage arrived thanks a ton, it looks great! we'll be putting our boa in it next week.) thanks again!)

Everyone who orders and receive their cages and all of them do e-mail us statements such as that and are so amazed with the workmanship and quaility of what we offer but when you get e-mails or a post like this it makes one stop and think why are we doing this again ? I have been happy to have served 10's of thousands with quaility low cost caging they can afford over the last 8 years worldwide i wish their was a better way to keep costs low to make them affordable but speed things up for customers but just impossible if your to keep them affordable.Every year materials and shipping costs go up but we most times take the increase out of our pocket to help out our customers and get posts like this sorry for the rant makes us wonder.

Amy i will be calling you when i get a spare chance as seeing this post required me to post a reply which takes more times away from what needs to be done such as building orders and by the way our voice mail isnt working on phone so it just rings e-mails always work as we have responded to you promptly all the time.

Thanks this will be our last reply

A simply apology and "sorry for the delay, we're prioritizing your order now," would have sufficed rather than a wall of text that was simply patting yourself on the back for offering one of the most "amazing" racks on the market.

Originally Posted by repti-racks

Amy i will be calling you when i get a spare chance as seeing this post required me to post a reply which takes more times away from what needs to be done such as building orders and by the way our voice mail isnt working on phone so it just rings e-mails always work as we have responded to you promptly all the time.

This is not a professional response. This can be translated to, "I'll call you when I feel like it because I'm annoyed that you posted this online to hold me accountable for a very long delay and forced me to actually respond to your concerns."

It's how you handle mistakes, not successes, that brings out the character of a business. The response by Repti-Racks was anemic at best, petulant at worst.

Wow, not even close to a professional response on this one. Giant paragraphs about how happy your "other" customers are has absolutely nothing to do with this customer's issue. I'd suggest maybe taking a step back to see how you might be coming off as unprofessional here.

I have been very understanding about ordering right around the holidays which is why I asked for an estimated lead time. I was not aware that they would be closing for a few WEEKS to spend time with family around the holidays (as quoted below) which should have been factored in when giving me an estimate on arrival.

"...we also had several holidays of being closed for few weeks to spend with family which things like that gets for gotton about and really wish others who post things like this stop and think first what goes into offering caging to the industry..."

I want to reiterate that I am not angry, I have only been asking for a straight answer. If it was going to be another few weeks I would have preferred that answer over being told that my order was up next, especially not knowing how much longer that even means.

I would also like to note that I did not call from the same number that you have on file and the caller ID is not under my name so I am not sure how they were even aware that they missed my call.

Emails do get answered quickly but never with a straight answer. I would like a time frame of when I will be receiving my cages since it has been 3 months.

We apologize for the delay yes your order is prioritized.Sorry folks and amy just ranted on last post its overwhelming being the sole person at times thinking your doing your best you can to please all but just not enough time in a day.

Originally Posted by repti-racks

your order is prioritized.

How about a definite date? Saying 'prioritized' may mean different things to different people, whereas saying for example that the cages will ship by March 15 can be understood by everyone.

I would like to say that I just received a phone call from Repti-Racks and he was very professional and nice on the phone. The order had been delayed due to other orders needing to be done immediately (which is understandable) and I was told that my order would be completed and shipped out probably by the end of next week. He apologized and I understand where he is coming from building all of these by himself.

For the price of the cages they are worth the wait if the quaility is what people have said, just make sure that you dont need the cages ASAP for a new animal (which is stated on their website)