Boaphile Plastics

Just a quick note, this is the 2nd time in the past 6 months that I have tried to call and order cages from this place. spam_Just recently, I called up Jeff Ronne and asked him about pricing for two 4 ft cages. spam_He actually answered the phone and quoted me almost 900 dollars, pricey, but I felt the cages were worth it. spam_The next day I called for an exact price so I could get a check out to him. No response. spam_I called later that day and left another message. spam_Still no response. spam_Called him up 2 days later, and , you guessed it, no response. spam_The only conclusions that i can come to is that hes either Out of Business or he doesnt need any new customers. spam_Either way its fine, we wont be buying from or recommending him in the future. spam_This is the 2nd time in the past 6 months that Ive tried to get in contact with him. spam_Last time he left some lame response about how his helper now has soccer practice in the afternoons and cant help him so hes falling behind. spam_This is not good business practice. spam_You have a decent product that people want and you're blowing them off and providing excuses that are NOT THE CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM.

Normally I would not have even posted anything but I just dont understand how I'm willing to pay somebody almost a thousand dollars and they just blow me off. spam_Just had to get that off my chest haha.

Jeff lost his only employee and was going to press his son into service when he came home. At least, this is the answer I got a week or so ago. I have 4 racks ordered, and he seems to always respond to email, so try that. Also realize that this is hatchling season, and he prolly has a bunch of girls dropping. Jeff has been around a LONG time and produces great stuff...have a little patience.

I know he does have great stuff, but my patience ran out 6 months ago when i tried to give him money the first time. spam_I'm actually not mad, just a lil annoyed.  I do know that the guys over at precision caging, vision, and neodisha ALWAYS get back to me within an hour or two, and they are companies that DON'T NEED ME AS A CUSTOMER. spam_Yet they always respond quickly and professionally. spam_This BS about his employee leaving and trying to get his son working for him is NOT THE CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM. spam_What if i called up DELL and I wanted to order a computer, would the Dell guy tell me he lost his only employee and I cant have my computer? No, he would find a way to make it happen. spam_In an industry where customer satisfaction is everything, these excuses seem lame.

Jeff makes fantastic cages, and because of this there is a great demand for them. spam_Since he has just lost his only employee, he has fallen behind. spam_He is definitely one of the good guys so try to cut him some slack - he works very hard and tries his best to make everyone happy.

I am slightly hesitant to reply to this since I cannot verify that "Chris Eaton" has ever made any effort to contact me but will anyhow:

I have done a search for a "Eaton" in my inbox. Doesn't exist. I have done a search for "Eaton" in my sent folder. Doesn't exist. I have checked my deleted folder and there is no "Eaton" in that folder either. I have checked my address books, both email and physical addresses and "Eaton" does not exist in either of them. I probably have corresponded with Chris Eaton but am unable to determine who he is or find any email address for him. I don't understand why many people do not sign their emails either. Just a side point but makes life a lot more complicated, for people like me who get about 40-50 emails and phone calls every day, when people do not sign email. I do not have any phone messages from anyone named "Chris Eaton" either. Now I do not mean to say that Chris hasn't called. He says he did and I have no reason to doubt him. I get about two phone messages a week that are unintelligible. The caller whispers the message or says the phone number so fast it is impossible to figure out what was said. It is possible that one of these messages was from Chris. Sorry about that.

Did you think about a post asking if anyone has a suggestion about how to get in contact with Jeff Ronne? It certainly would have been far friendlier and not potentially damaging to someone's hard earned good reputation. I don't understand how someone could be so vindictive as to attack someone they had not been able to contact. Negative posts or complaints are something that should be carefully thought through and responsibly made not shot from the hip as I think this post was.

I certainly think it is an over reaction to post this sort of complaint here on the BOI. This isn't a complaint about being ripped off. This is not a complaint about animals being misrepresented. This is a complaint about not being able to contact someone. It could have been that I was out of town. I wasn't but it could have been. If I have been on vacation for two weeks and obviously could not answer calls wouldn't it have been an overreaction to post negative feedback about someone here without knowing any of the facts? Of course it would. I think this was either a overreaction on Chris' part.

Nathan has worked for me for about two years. He has primarily cleaned and fed rats for me. He did cut back his hours of availability during soccer season. When Nathan isn't here to do his regular duties I have to do it. This is real life. This and the other reasons are not just some "lame response" or fabricated excuses. Of course this is not "NOT THE CUSTOMER'S PROBLEM". It is mine and means I am a little limited as far as how much I can complete. However, I still do not have any messages or emails from anyone named "Chris Eaton".

Now, the reality of life is I am the busiest man I know anywhere. I run my Boa and cage businesses from home. The shop is here at the house as well. This means that I must be careful who I hire to work near my home around my two small girls and my wife. I am more than just a little protective and want more than anything to protect my girls and wife from harm. For this reason I don't hire just anyone. I am exploring options at this point and hope to have something worked out soon so I can begin building more product. I am not doing any advertising at this point to avoid orders which already have me working about 100 hours per week. Fact is if I had gotten a message from Chris I may not have called him back yet. The fact is that I haven't gotten any message from him though. Being too busy is definitely a problem for me though. If the only complaint anyone ever has about doing business with me is that I am hard to get a hold of I am OK with that. I certainly wish that weren't the case and am working on it but the fact is I am hard to get a hold of. That is a fact. A pain I'm sure sometimes for people trying to contact me. Sorry about that.

By the way... Thanks Lady Chaos and Dr. Leary for the positive feedback!

Jeff,

Sounds like you need to write a business plan and come up with a solution to the contact situation. As it sounds like you have a great product and the demand will only increase if you can resolve the communication issue. There are probably 20 Eatons out there that aren't posting to this website but are buying cages from other people because they can't get a hold of you. There are many companies out there that have great products but fail because they are not prepared for the growth (not saying you are failing, going to fail or that I want you to fail. Just saying you are taking a risk of that happening). Find a local high school kid or a relative to come in for a few hours a day and answer emails/phone messages. In business I've found failure is easy to handle (you just go do something else), success is way more complicated <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Well...I'm pretty sure Jeff is ALREADY successful from what I can see.

I have purchased animals from Jeff in the past and while I couldn't just call him and have him answer the phone like a pet store, he has ALWAYS gotten back to my e-mail or phone message within a few days.

To me, waiting for good quality is NOT a problem. I would much rather be patient and know that when I complete a transaction with Jeff, I will get healthy, well represented animals or solid, well constructed caging. I KNOW this is what I will get even if I have to wait. I am definitely NOT a patient man.....but I believe certain things are worth waiting for.

I understand where you are coming from Chris, but I think you would find it worth the wait.

You know how it goes.......you can BUY a Mustang right off the lot......but you gotta ORDER a Ferrari!

Good luck with whomever you choose as your cage supplier.

Peace - Tom Chambers
TC Reptile <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/biggrin.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Well said Tom! spam_ spam_<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/wink.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Ok, I feel that this thread has run its course and I don't want to spend time mud slinging on people who apparently have a good reputation so I will just say, that Jeff, I left 3 messages on your machine 2 weeks ago. spam_I WANTED TO GIVE YOU MONEY, so i have nothing to lie about. spam_The point is that you cannot keep up with the demand that you're getting, and that can sometimes be a good thing. spam_In this case it's not. spam_Precision Caging is also a "start up" company who's doing very well from operating out of their house, yet everytime I called, I got a live person, ordered my cages, and got them within 4 days. spam_The bottom line is that you're losing customers due to a poorly put together business plan. spam_If you're happy doing what you do and do not wish to grow, thats understandable. spam_But I stand by my statement that your excuses are not the customers problem, and because of those excuses, I ordered cages from somewhere else. spam_Jeff, your cages look KILLER and I bet they're practical as hell, but the bottom line is that you can have the best product around, but if you can't supply them to the people that want them, it's all pretty pointless. spam_Thank you to all the readers of the BOI that saw my point and please understand that this is not mud slinging, it was about an unsatisfied future customer

No, I don't think it has run it's course. You say you called me three times two weeks ago. I say I never received any calls from anyone named Chris Eaton two weeks ago. Maybe you called the wrong number. The good people who read this forum will have to decide for themselves if I am a liar or if perhaps you may have dialed the wrong number. Lets look at the facts:

1. You never posted asking people how to get in touch with me at all. If you were trying to get in touch with me you could have asked for help on this forum or on my own forum or on the kingsnake forums. This might have been the approach a reasonable person would have used if he were really seeking to contact with me.

2. You never emailed me seeking to speak with me. The first approach I would have used if I couldn't get someone on the phone. Call me wacky. I guess that's just me. This might have been productive if you had been looking to get in contact with me. You didn't do this. I didn't get any email from you.

3. If you in fact called but didn't get a return call, wouldn't it be reasonable to attempt to find out if you were dialing the correct number or not? An email to me asking for clarification of the phone number and or posts looking for someone else's help certainly would have been productive for you.

4. Why wouldn't I contact someone wanting to spend money with me? That would simply be stupid. Simple I may be... stupid no.

5. You say you don't want to "spend time mud slinging on people who apparently have a good reputation" but you continue to do so. Your obvious motivation is to damage my reputation if you possibly can.

Finally, the people who read this thread will have to decide if I am a liar or not. I am a simple man with a few Boas, some tools and piles of plastic. I have to get back to work.

Later guys and gals!

Jeff

PS I appreciate the constructive criticism offered by Daniel Wedeking. Daniel Wedeking's response is appreciated! Good points all. Thanks Daniel. The business is going very well. We haven't borrowed a penny to start up and won't do so. My 21 year old son is home from college now and we are working like madmen to build the stuff people can't seem to get enough of. I am working this Summer on a more long term solution to my ever increasing orders and lines of cages and racks. I have arboreal cages ready as well but can't offer them just yet. I have to get this labor/production thing in hand first. I'm working on it...