Boaphile Plastics

Hey John.
I guess you want a free cage too?
Mark has some...he he he

I am glad someone saw my point.

Daniel Wedeking

I forgot to add.  I like the way you put that.
that is a fine example of constructive critisicm....
No attacks.  Just suggestions on how to do it better.

when and if I start doing something wrong or failing at something......I hope you have something smart to say to me too.

Ritchie-

I won't turn down a free cage. However, I prefer to work hard for the money to buy my own. Working hard and paying for my own brings me a great deal of satisfaction. Know what I mean? By the way, I like how you put it about your family coming first. I respect that. Given the sad state of affairs of this world today, it is nice to know there are still those out there who care for their family. &nbsp;<img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

Chris E.-

It really is too bad that you were unable to obtain the cage you wanted when you wanted it. But there were more constructive ways to attain your objectives. Your own wording of your posts do not reflect favorably on you. When you reply, think your thoughts through. If you project yourself tactfully, your words will carry weight. Vendettas and vindictiveness do not go over well here. I am not criticizing you here. I am offering advice. How you take it or employ it is up to you. Best of luck in future purchases. &nbsp; <img src="http://www.faunaclassifieds.com/iB_html/non-cgi/emoticons/smile.gif" border="0" valign="absmiddle" alt=''>

</span><table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="3" cellspacing="1"><tr><td>Quote </td></tr><tr><td id="QUOTE">Chris E.-

It really is too bad that you were unable to obtain the cage you wanted when you wanted it. But there were more constructive ways to attain your objectives. Your own wording of your posts do not reflect favorably on you. When you reply, think your thoughts through. If you project yourself tactfully, your words will carry weight. Vendettas and vindictiveness do not go over well here. I am not criticizing you here. I am offering advice. How you take it or employ it is up to you. Best of luck in future purchases. </td></tr></table><span id='postcolor'>

I should have just said that.....maybe my point would have been clearer.


Hey Chris...my apologies for attacking you....BUT
What he said

sweet goddess, I can't believe where this thread has gone. Chris, please pull head out of a$$ and calm WAY down. You never even *tried* another form of communication. I have had every email from Jeff responded to within a day...which in this business during this time of year is great. People get busy...get over it.

I think you have some personal vendetta issue here...which reminds me to flag your name as someone to never bother buying from or selling to...I don't need the headache of dealing with a person like you. And given how you have presented yourself, I think other people would also think twice before dealing with you.

end of line

I am entertained by Ritchies posts as usual, but am disgusted with the whinning baby Chris is. Jeff is respectable and a fair buisinessman. I too thought the whole 900.00 thing was B.S. and then Jeff posted it was 199 each shipped. I recieved the same quote previously from Jeff. Lets say he got your messages even though you never left them because I have never heard of anyone EVER having an honesty problem with Jeff, but lets say he got them and decided..."I ain't calling this sniveling little cry baby back, I don't need that kind of baby as a customer". That is his choice. I have the right to refuse anyones buisiness anytime I wish and so does he. Chris you are full of POOP! It was said perfectly that you had to settle for the Mustang when you wanted and could afford the Ferrari. Hey would you have been less pissed if you had reached him and he took your 1000.00 (LOL) really 400.00 and told you the money was non refundable and told you the wait was 6 to 12 months because of the orders. Don't come here and try to ruin someones reputation because you are to retarded to try other ways of communication like EMAIL which I see everyone has been successfull with. And hey how about the message forum Jeff has at his site, Did you TRY to reach him there. Stop being a Crybaby as Ritchie so elequantly stated and Grow up!

hmm lets see, so 2 four ft cages with the expandable ends and venomous slide thru are only 200 bux huh? hmm seems like we just keep getting deeper and deeper into it dont we.

SORRY… LONG BUT MAN THIS COULD BE A WHAT NOT TO DO MANUAL HERE.

You guys are killing me… I'm Chris' self-admitted sucker of a girlfriend who’s responsible for giving Jeff another chance after the previous hellacious customer service song and dance he did on ME 6 months ago. &nbsp;Man, what a waste of time this guy can be. &nbsp;

To answer the Luna question, Ritchie the only reason Chris came back to take more crap off Jeff is because I asked for his cages for my birthday and he was trying to do something nice for me. &nbsp;That's it. &nbsp;There's no real point in assuming the worst, is there? &nbsp;

Here's the deal. &nbsp;The reason I wouldn't place an order to Jeff myself is that I got so aggravated with him the first time we tried to order cages months ago that Chris was the only one left in the house willing to go at it again. &nbsp;In my opinion Chris is totally pulling punches here because I’ve seen the whole deal first hand. &nbsp;And the forums exist NOT just to suck up to the guys who people IMAGINE are the players in the reptile world… but so everybody can see what’s really happening out there… unless you’re afraid to hear it for some reason.

AND this is HYSTERICAL… has anybody noticed now much PROTESTING is being done for something Jeff CLAIMS he didn’t do? &nbsp;Back up everybody, and realize business involves hard earned $$$. &nbsp;Who do you give yours to? &nbsp;Does it not matter how they treat you? &nbsp;Yeah so great that Jeff’s a nice guy when he’s blowing smoke up your skirt… so is everyone when they want something. &nbsp;And Jeff, this forum is not just for people complaining about buying sick snakes… is it? &nbsp;On one hand you were saying &nbsp;HEY WHY DIDN’T YOU POST… then you say, HEY WHY DID YOU POST FOR THIS MINOR THING?

If anybody's interested in the facts from the person who caused this colossal waste of time, here they are: &nbsp; (And if you think THIS is a waste of time, imagine sitting around thinking you've got to keep CALLING this company only to BEGIN an ordering process that PROMISES to continue to take MORE AND MORE AND MORE of your time... )

1) &nbsp;HISTORY: &nbsp;Over 6 months ago when we were moving out of the city we had a timing issue with a cage order... we were selling our old vision cages. &nbsp;We could get melamine cages locally OR order Jeff's cages and have them delivered to our new house in the country. &nbsp;But we could NOT place an order, ship the animals to the new house 700 miles away, and show up only to find NO CAGES in the winter and a bunch of snakes sitting in tupperware for weeks. &nbsp;So I tried to contact Jeff repeatedly, both through email and telephone, about ordering his cages. &nbsp;I got no response. &nbsp;In the meantime I was shopping around. &nbsp;I then looked on the boa forum and saw other people saying they couldn't reach Jeff, so, before I gave up on the cages totally I decided to post the question... Boaphile Plastics, out of business? &nbsp;And a question about whether the cages were worth pursuing anyway.

Gee... AMAZINGLY Jeff responded. &nbsp;So did a TON of other people who had the same problem… some who gave up and some who finally got their cage after a big fat pain in the butt and liked the cage. &nbsp;Then, Jeff gave me the first “personal problem, small business guy, no harm intended, no really my cages rule” song and dance and proceeded to invest CONSIDERABLE time into trying to talk me into buying his cages. &nbsp;I’d already decided on others but told him I would consider ordering again in the future when money and TIME were less of a consideration, and we'd gotten settled. &nbsp;NOW, DID JEFF LEARN ANYTHING FROM THAT EXPERIENCE? WELL LET’S SEE…

I haven’t had time to watch forums lately, but &nbsp;HERE'S WHAT IT LOOKED LIKE THEN and HERE'S WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE NOW. &nbsp; IF someone happens to know about the forums and endanger in any way the sacred reputation you spend lots of time talking up, Jeff, THEN AND ONLY THEN do you respond. &nbsp;When you were trying to convince me to buy those cages back in December, if you'd spent the same time just responding in a timely manner to begin with I would've had an order placed with you, NOT even shopped around at the time, and you could have saved yourself all that trouble. &nbsp;The same goes for now. &nbsp;What would it really have cost you to FOLLOW THROUGH and respond to a phone call?

2) CURRENT DAY: &nbsp;So here comes my birthday... Chris asks what I want... I stupidly say I'd really like a couple of new boaphile cages for the babes (and I’m thinking Jeff PROMISED the problems we had before were isolated incidents but frankly I'm not up to getting aggravated by him again...) &nbsp;and trying to be nice to ME Chris calls Jeff. &nbsp;Amazingly Jeff picks up the phone the first time and helps Chris figure out the pricing... &nbsp;Yeah… good deal…

SPECIFICALLY, JEFF: &nbsp;The first time Chris called you it was about noon Colorado time on around the 15th of April and you answered the phone with food in your mouth. &nbsp;He asked you the pricing on two 4 foot expandable cages with the venomous separator and pass through feature. &nbsp;You told him "roughly 900 bucks". &nbsp;You were chomping on your lunch while talking. &nbsp;Chris said, ok so is it possible to overnight it and you said, yes but it will be expensive. &nbsp;Chris was actually being courteous at the time not asking you to give him an exact number because he knew he was interrupting YOUR lunch. &nbsp;Chris said, ok I'll call you back tomorrow to place the order and you said O. K. &nbsp; ANY OF THAT RING A BELL?

SO, Chris tells me he had no problem getting a hold of you and thought it was safe to go ahead and hand you $900 cause it looked like you were in the "work mode" this time… and was I sure those were the cages I wanted? &nbsp; &nbsp;The next day Chris says he called you twice... I think he's WRONG. &nbsp;I think he called you THREE TIMES throughout the day, starting early enough to be able to get to the bank and get you your money. &nbsp;

FIRST AND SECOND MESSAGES WERE BASICALLY THIS:
"Hi Jeff this is Chris Eaton. &nbsp;I called yesterday to get a price on 2 4 ft cages with the venomous slide thru and I have to overnite you out a check today so can u call me with a total price and ull have it tomorrow... here’s our number __)".

3) &nbsp;Regarding bashing: &nbsp;Now, does that sound like someone out to get you? &nbsp;Honestly? &nbsp;Man, I wish the people who were out to get me were banging on my door with cash saying please. &nbsp;Your egomaniacal assumptions consider only that someone is going out of his way to bash you? &nbsp;Have you considered that maybe YOU WERE RUDE TO A CUSTOMER and YOU WERE NEGLIGENT IN NOT TAKING CARE OF A CUSTOMER and now you are BASHING A CUSTOMER and you owe us an apology and that by questioning something we can prove with phone bills is just asking to embarrass yourself in a big way? &nbsp;(AHHHH CRAP… that’s right… the darned phone companies write this stuff down. &nbsp;Uh oh) &nbsp;

4) &nbsp;Re: WHY WOULDN'T YOU CALL BACK WHEN WE WANT TO GIVE YOU MONEY? &nbsp;Now there’s the question... Now, I think we all know that Chris called multiple times and got fed up and that's why he got on here, no matter what anybody wants to say about poor Jeff being persecuted. &nbsp;CUSTOMERS ARE EVERYTHING. &nbsp;PERIOD. &nbsp;Be good to your customers, even if you only care about yourself, because without them your business is NOTHING. &nbsp;So all this indignation over our WANTING to be customers is just irrelevant. &nbsp;

So Jeff, what would it really have cost you to return just ONE of those calls? &nbsp;What... maybe 10 minutes... 10 seconds to write the number down, another 10 seconds to dial the phone, and maybe 5 minutes to talk to us? &nbsp;Or, is it that your ego requires you to always ALWAYS want to be on the receiving end of the calls, and you just figured, "Hey, if they think I'm as great as I think I am, they'll call back." &nbsp;Who knows why you didn't? &nbsp;Pick a lousy reason, any lousy reason. &nbsp;YOU DIDN'T. &nbsp;If I knew for sure what the reason was maybe our customer service would be as bad as yours.

5) &nbsp;Regarding MEMORY LAPSES: &nbsp;(Has anybody watched Cardinal Law lately? &nbsp;uh, never mind) &nbsp;Do you honestly not even remember having that first conversation? &nbsp;Followed by MULTIPLE calls right afterward referring to that conversation while the memory was still fresh? &nbsp;(Remember the phone company now… at least a hedging “well I could have forgotten” might be in order right about now).

6) &nbsp;Re: &nbsp;WOULDN'T WE HAVE LOOKED UP TO SEE IF WE HAVE THE RIGHT NUMBER??? &nbsp;Give me a break. &nbsp;Hey for anyone who wants to give it a stab in the dark the number is listed on the website as (507) 263-2621. &nbsp;Is that the right number or not? &nbsp;Now if it is the right number, is there some reason we should THINK IT’S NOT. &nbsp;YOU ARE GROPING. &nbsp;GROPING instead of apologizing… ok… It’s the same one we called to get the information the day before you started blowing us off! &nbsp;Now, mind you, a person would have NO CLUE that's a business number because you do not ID yourself or your company on the machine. &nbsp;Why is that? &nbsp;Do you share the line with your family and is it possible that the messages didn't get through to you because someone else received them? &nbsp;

7) You searched through your emails? &nbsp;JEFF, WE CALLED YOU. &nbsp;Who cares that you wasted MORE time better spent serving customers OR apologizing for your bad business manners by searching through emails when Chris CLEARLY said he called you? &nbsp;Why are you trying to deviate from the point? &nbsp;Is this why you don’t have time to take care of business, because you are groping around to defend your DEAD WRONG position? &nbsp;Hey Jeff, we're going to have multiple long distance calls to your number on our phone bill this month and for some reason you didn't get the messages AND don't even remember the conversation with Chris. &nbsp;AND that doesn't bother you? &nbsp;WELL IT BOTHERS YOUR CUSTOMERS. &nbsp;Are you still stating that you absolutely positively are CERTAIN we did not call you? &nbsp;I know you're getting pretty cocky because you have a couple of guys teeing off on Chris, but what if we can PROVE we called you? &nbsp;What if it's worth it for me to go to the trouble to watch the phone bill now just so that you don't get tempted in the future to LIE about and BASH another customer? &nbsp;Is this is just the tip of the iceberg of your customer management problems and you hope to nip it with flames, discouraging other people from complaining by calling them whiney? &nbsp;Is it that you hope to discredit Chris before word gets out? &nbsp;Or will you then say that SOMEONE ELSE commandeered your phone that day to eat lunch and set you up?

Or is it possible that you blow off so many calls that one won't stand out because none of them even get written down, and you care SO little about the individual that even being PROVEN wrong won't register with you?

I'm not even certain your negligence is discriminating... I think its possibly just randomly based on your mood on the day a person contacts you. &nbsp;All pumped up? &nbsp;Great, sell it to the moon, dig through emails defending an irrelevant point, try to appeal to the family theme and make the customer WRONG somehow... &nbsp;Kind of like the A.D.D. approach to business... Ah, not feeling quite like working today... screw em... who needs em.

8) &nbsp;Regarding CUSTOMER SERVICE
Hey Jeff's potential customers: &nbsp;If the customer is assumed to be always wrong, what chance are you going to have if there is a material dispute regarding the order or the caging? &nbsp;If someone is having this much trouble just placing an order, do you want to roll the dice? &nbsp;Oh, we would've not been bashed if we kept our MOUTHS SHUT? &nbsp;I see. &nbsp;WELL BETTER NOT EVER COMPLAIN.

It's common knowledge that you have an earned reputation for horrible customer service, but that you talk your way out of aggravated situations when the mood strikes you ... &nbsp;We've only tried twice to place orders. &nbsp;Both times this same type of thing happened... &nbsp;ONE HUNDRED PERCENT OF THE TIME this happened to us. &nbsp;Do you know whose responsibility it is to TRY in a business transaction? &nbsp;I'll give you a hint. &nbsp;It's not the customer, and when you do get a customer who tries it's a VERY bad idea to bash him.

9) &nbsp;REGARDING “BUSI”NESS: &nbsp; Yeah, yeah, you’re the busiest person around and SO WHAT? &nbsp;We also know you think the burden should be ON THE CUSTOMER to track you down through forums and email... busy doesn't mean WORKING. &nbsp;Busy can just mean looking busy, being inefficient, doing all the wrong things most of the time, managing badly, delegating badly, hiring badly, allowing work to pile up without handling it responsibly. &nbsp;OR it can mean honestly productive. &nbsp;You know who might be "busier" than you? &nbsp;Chris and I. &nbsp;However, Business 101: NEVER ever make your customers responsible for your shortcomings. &nbsp;I can’t help but wonder where are the rest of the business owners who are doing a GOOD job and are listening to you lay off the blame onto US, THE CUSTOMERS? &nbsp;Maybe too busy to be surfing the forums, huh? haha

CUSTOMERS DESERVE GREAT TREATMENT. &nbsp;PERIOD. &nbsp;The people who like you try to make excuses for you. &nbsp;That’s lame. &nbsp;STEP UP, Jeff. &nbsp;You screwed up. &nbsp;The first time time we tried to order cages from you the only thing that got a response was ... guess ... NOT email... NOT phone calls... A POST SAYING: "BOAPHILE PLASTICS, OUT OF BUSINESS?" &nbsp;So when Chris was ready to give up I said, "Hey, if you really want to know if he's just blowing you off like before or if something's legitimately wrong, just put that post somewhere and he'll surface if it's just another case of his crappy customer service". &nbsp;I rest my case. &nbsp;

WHY did we not use email??? That didn’t work. &nbsp;PERIOD. &nbsp;Only when you FINALLY answered MY post on a forum last time did you bother to look up my ancient emails. &nbsp;WHAT DOES THAT TELL YOUR CUSTOMERS? &nbsp;You’re surfing around instead of taking care of business, THAT’S WHAT. &nbsp;

I’d previously asked for cage information, saying we thought you should distribute your cages in California, etc... talk about gung-ho, Boaphile-appreciating customers... &nbsp;YOU KNOW we weren't out to get you and YOU KNOW we wanted to buy your cages and in order to defend yourself YOU KNOW you're bashing customers. &nbsp;Not good business at all.

10) MOVING ON… THE CAGE ISSUE: &nbsp;There is a definite hole in the market that your cages COULD fill but aren't. &nbsp;The last time I noticed a hole in the market I created a business out of it and put all the amateurs out of business. &nbsp;And I also learned that if I don't stay on my toes, there's always someone standing by to take my place. &nbsp;Are you on your toes, Jeff, or are you assuming your customers will wait forever and put up with anything? &nbsp;If your business disappeared tomorrow you might be begging for the customers that just seem like a pain in the butt today, trust me.

Maybe Chris just sounded like a nice guy that didn't want to interrupt your lunch so you just figured, ahhh I'll call him back when I darned well want... OOPS he posted on the forum, well I'll SAY I never heard from him and my little forum buddies will back me up because I make sure to take care of the forum guys. &nbsp;

You obviously aren't being man enough to simply apologize for bailing on this order, and what will your buddies say when they see PROOF that you lied? &nbsp;Do you think that if you admit in this public forum that you basically just pick and choose when you feel like working, you will scare off those potential customers who are forum crawlers but aren't willing to take their chances with placing an order thru you and seeing which way the wind blows that day, or who simply don't want to reward a business who treats OTHER customers this way? &nbsp;Well good. &nbsp;If nothing else, maybe the people who are already waiting for your help will get a call now, huh? &nbsp;But not because you really want to service them… rather you don’t want anybody backing up our complaint.

Your arrogance is exceeded only by your short-sightedness. &nbsp;While you steadfastly grip control of this tiny company rather than producing cages at a level which will satisfy the obvious demand, you refuse to handle GOOD customers in a way which will bring them back. &nbsp;We have actually referred people to you, with the disclaimer that if they are not in a hurry and they can deal with begging for a cage, the product is very nice. &nbsp;The fact that you haven't seen fit to decide to work at the times we need cages DOES NOT mean WE are not good customers OR good people, and your thinly veiled insults are grossly inappropriate and unprofessional. &nbsp;YOU are the business here. &nbsp;I seriously hope this dialogue has given your other potential customers a chance to see what happens if they complain, and the relatively low level your supporters have to keep things on in order to defend you.

9) &nbsp;REGARDING PRICING: &nbsp;By the way, if we can have the cages I WANTED for $199ea that means Jeff grossly overquoted us... what IS the price for those cages with those features? &nbsp;Hey, this is a free country, and you can run your business or HOBBY, such as it is, as you like. &nbsp;But why not be up front? &nbsp;(Why not just say... hey, sometimes I wanna work and sometimes I DON'T. &nbsp;SORRY if I screwed you up.) &nbsp;

Have you considered that calling back to say, "THANK YOU for your interest in my cages and I'm SORRY but I can't handle your order right now and I just wanted you to know that I deal straight and didn't want to be holding you up." &nbsp;"Thanks but no thanks buddy I've got bigger fish to fry right now"... or a "Hey go get your girlfriend cages somewhere else if you want em in the next month because I've got more personal problems and can't be bothered with you?" &nbsp;


11) &nbsp;I know Chris asked this already... HOW MANY TIMES ARE PEOPLE WILLING TO CALL BEFORE THEY GET AGGRAVATED? &nbsp;

Ritchie, I've never read any of your stuff before this and it seemed like you started to listen and then got into this pi**ing contest with Chris, and I don't know you but honestly, how many times are you willing to call for something that was supposed to just take a minute on a certain day, before you get aggravated? &nbsp;And if you were doing this as a favor to someone else, like your girlfriend for a surprise or your wife or whatever... would you be even more aggravated because you really are trying to do something nice and the time's running out and it seems like such a SIMPLE THING and it was supposedly all set up? &nbsp;So if anything, that's Chris' BIG HIDDEN REASON for being extra mad, Jeff. &nbsp;Nothing sinister and I'm amazed that you think you're important enough for us to persecute... my god, get over yourself man. &nbsp;Now if it’s just a matter of “Hey I know my friends service sucks but he’s my friend so I don’t like to hear people talk bad about him” then don’t you think it’s a little heavy handed to trivialize a problem just to save Jeff’s delicate sensibilities, especially since HE IS LYING? &nbsp;

After hearing the giant a$$ sucking sounds Chris basically replied, "hey SO WHAT?” &nbsp;WE bent over backwards TWICE and he DIDN'T do a good job for us and he STILL hasn't apologized and now you guys think you can hide behind all this trivia but guess what… JEFF STILL hasn't done a good job for us and this is NOT isolated it is REPEATED and you can see it all over the forums... &nbsp;Your buddy’s got a management problem and he tries to lay it off on this little martyr complex of being so BUSY... &nbsp;The truth is, if Jeff had apologized, taken care of business, it would've stopped there. &nbsp; &nbsp;And the other truth is, nothing has changed in your method of operation, JEFF. &nbsp;YOU WASTED OUR TIME, first with the big sales pitch which I wanted to believe and AGAIN NOW. &nbsp; It would literally be EASIER TO MAKE A CAGE THAN ORDER FROM YOU. &nbsp;SERIOUSLY.

don't care if you DIDN'T know Chris was connected to me, you owe it to everyone who's courteous to you to have common courtesy for them. &nbsp;You obviously feel your time is more valuable than ours and act accordingly.

Now I'm thinking (thanks to the venomous response, no herp pun intended) there must be HUNDREDS of other people who have had a similar experience, and I'd be happy to keep your information confidential if you'd like to email me. &nbsp;You all know who you are and Chris and I don't mind being “point man”, but let us hear from you. &nbsp;

13) REGARDING MAKING A SILK PURSE OUTA THIS: &nbsp;Hey, does anybody want to start a CUSTOMER ORIENTED HIGH END cage producing business? &nbsp;How about you Dwedeking? &nbsp;You sound like a businessman. &nbsp;I believe in propagating good customer relations, I don't know the retail business but I know a hole in the market when I see it and I know that taking care of your customers’ needs in ALL WAYS pays well, and it's not hard to bury the competition if you do that one thing consistently. &nbsp; Companies that do less just DROP AWAY…. Just look at this situation... here's a guy who has been allowed to continue to exist simply by virtue of the lack of competition… he has only one element of a good business and that’s the PRODUCT and his doors are still open. &nbsp;Imagine what a truly innovative production company with reptile knowledge AND business knowledge could do? &nbsp;Filling a hole in the market pays very well, and I'll buy two cages off of you if you don't make me beg. &nbsp;Fair enough? &nbsp;

This summary can serve as the beginning for the business plan section on what NOT to do. &nbsp;HEY, THAT’S HOW I CAN MAKE USE OF THIS WASTE OF TIME… YEAH, GO COLLEEN, GO CHRIS… &nbsp;Jeff, are you SURE you’re taking care of business? &nbsp;Careful, someone that gives a rats patoot &nbsp;(ok there’s no right way to spell patoot?) might just teach you different. &nbsp;And be careful about calling honest people liars. &nbsp;They get even madder than people who actually are liars.

hey chris,
i understand where you are coming from. spam_i have access to my email all the time b/c i set it to check for new messages every 1 minute and i am notified when a new message arrives. spam_the only time i can't be reached is when i am in class or at work. spam_i work about 25-30 hours per week and with a full college load, you do the math on how many hours per week i'm not available. spam_i'm sure your schedule at least somewhat mimicks mine so you probably end up falling in the same trap i do... why can't someone return my inquiries as fast as i can theirs? spam_well, as jeff stated, he breeds his own rats and rats to sell. spam_he keeps, breeds, and raises boas (over 400 last i heard), and he makes custom cages for sale. spam_he has his own website that, while not needing as much attention as anything else, does take some time and he also has a family. spam_he has four full time jobs (i consider family at a minimum a full time job). spam_he isn't going to be as reachable as you or I. spam_you kinda just have to sit back and give him some time. spam_now, if you did contact him two weeks ago and he never got back to you, is it possible that it was just a mistake? spam_everybody f's up, ya know? spam_especially someone with as much to do as jeff. spam_all that had to be done is simply emailing him and giving him your number and telling him the situation in the email. spam_he will get back to you and probably apologize profusely for his error.
i also want to address something else. spam_when you contact vision, neodesha, freedom breeder, etc.. they are a business with many employees who can usually handle several times the volume that an individual can in the same business. spam_you will be able to talk to someone every time you call. spam_jeff is by himself right now, his daughters probably have to leave a message for him, LOL.
anyhow, i just got off of a long day at work and i had a lot more to say, but now it's just jumbled all together with my customers orders...
last thought... spam_if you couple the demands on jeffs time with the popularity of his product, i'm surprised ANYONE EVER hears back from him.
best of luck and hopefully you can give jeff an email and resolve this problem and get yourself some cages!
later...

Jonathan - WOW. spam_Nice, reasonable, thoughtful, intelligent UNIQUE reply. spam_Thank you. spam_Here's what you didn't know when you wrote that.

1) spam_Chris told Jeff he wanted overnight delivery to get the things here quickly, and ARRANGED to call back the next day to set it up. spam_Jeff knew and said fine. spam_We literally got the cash and were trying to get to the BANK. spam_Why would we have to email in that circumstance? spam_And if we do, our order is already in trouble anyway.

2) spam_Jeff claims SO CERTAINLY that he NEVER RECEIVED our calls, and in fact I think he actually says somewhere that we DIDN'T CALL... yet it looks like he has such a loosely run operation that he relies on kids to leave messages? spam_Wouldn't it seem like he'd give us the benefit of the doubt then and simply say, HEY, SORRY.

3) spam_You also didn't know that we've been through the email mill with Jeff before and specifically were not interested in sending and waiting. spam_We wanted to know for sure he was operational and could deliver... one day he was, LITERALLY THE NEXT HE WASN'T.

I agree... ask, be as patient as you can... work with people reasonably. spam_This started on April 15th. spam_The birthday deal was obviously past... Chris called for a while and then finally stopped calling and posted on the 10th of May I think... that is way too long. spam_NO ONE IS THAT BUSY. spam_As you say, look at what your schedule is like and I imagine you are at least as courteous in business as you sound here. spam_The first few times a person asks for consideration they are courteous, but there IS a point when that is no longer so appropriate. spam_The nice little messages Chris kept leaving were KILLING me. spam_That's why I said, "POST"... that'll hit him where he obviously CARES and we'll see if he's had a legitimate emergency of some kind that warrants understanding or if he's just being rude again. spam_

Unfortunately, the latter was the case and there's just no way around it.

Appreciating someone's personal challenges doesn't mean they're going to get permission to continue to be rude to other people. spam_I'm so amazed that this "excusitis" is acceptable to people... I keep thinking that if we took 4 weeks to call someone back on a "RUSH" matter our business would be history. spam_Again... HOLE IN THE MARKET!!! spam_OPPORTUNITY!!! spam_

-Colleen