Inquiry Bob Clark Experience..pretty negative so far

[krampvs]

Not a good idea to ship a live reptile in 20* weather.

Exactly what my email was about, and exactly my concern. Very luckily I work directly next to a FedEx shipping center and frantically called to reroute him to the hub until I get out of work tomorrow.

 

[krampvs]

Without some kind of back and forth, feels more like an ultimatum than communication. I'm not sure how these automated websites work but I can understand the buyer's trepidation. I can say I've bought from Bob Clark in the past and was a satisfied customer. This was before the shopping cart style website though so we had established a dialogue and agreed upon a shipping date.

I was hoping for a similar experience but I do understand he is busy is has thousands of animals. I wouldn't even mind a reply several days later.. except I was questioning the shipping and he's already been shipped so that's out the window.

Have you ever had an experience where you needed to have a snake replaced/refunded? I certainly hope to open a healthy reptile tomorrow, but in the event that I don't I'm very nervous I will not get a response if there is an issue that needs tending to.

 

[Ed Clark]

Best of luck having it held at fedex.and good luck with your purchase!

 

[krampvs]

Best of luck having it held at fedex.and good luck with your purchase!

Thank you, certainly hoping for the best here.

 

[nickolasanastasiou]

You are not wrong (so to speak). Some of this is a side effect of scale. Or the structure of a given business since they are not all organized in the same way. Automated processes are also factors. Your expectations are not unrealistic in a broad sense, but some operations are not set up for the style that we become familiar with when dealing with smaller-volume breeders. Depending on how human capital is allocated (animal care, processing, and/or customer service) to multiple workloads, things may lose the warmth we experience with some of the more intimate and cozy types of operations. I have a difficult time juggling everything in my schedule and people can burn out on some aspects of customer relations, so I try to imagine how it must be for parties with more expansive dealings. I have found Bob to be a very busy individual.

I have communicated on a topic with Bob before. It did not really work to answer anything I wanted to know about that topic, but that is how it goes sometimes.

I would expect you to get what you ordered and I would watch the shipping notifications and tracking updates (and sign up for notifications for that tracking number on FedEx's website if you have not already done so). More personal communications might not really develop for a number of reasons (his schedule, his inclination, and so on). It just kind of is what it is. If you are looking for an animal, I think this works. If you are looking for a more rich set of interpersonal interactions, I would say that the two sides of this transaction simply are not well matched for that kind of thing. Call it life stages, the nature of a particular tier of business, or whatever else, but it is what it is.

I think you will most likely be satisfied with the animal you receive.

 

[krampvs]

I think you will most likely be satisfied with the animal you receive.

So long as I receive a healthy (not frozen) snake, I will be very pleased. This online thing is new to me as I have only ever purchased snakes in person. I was looking for better quality so I turned to the internet and it certainly is a different way of doing things.

I am cautious if there is a problem due to the lack of response, but based on most people's experiences and what users have said in this thread, I do not feel I will have to worry too much.
Thank you for taking the time to respond

 

[snakesareawesome]

My personal recommendation is to not use "Add to cart" type things with live animals. I would always rather call, email, text, or fb message the seller first. For one thing, it saves headaches when animals are no longer available and for another it gives you a chance to get any particular details you'd like (such as ship dates, etc) before committing to the purchase.

 

[hotlips]

I've had no dealings with Bob Clark, but from all I've read, I'd not be worried that you'd be ignored IF there was a problem upon delivery. One thing I was just thinking though, is that this thread's title is a little unfair to him...I don't know if it can be altered now or not, but I think that it should be if it can be, so as not to prematurely reflect negatively on his business. Nothing wrong with what you were asking, and I totally get why you were a little stressed, but so quickly saying "pretty negative so far"...I can only say that if I were him, I'd not like that. Bet you wouldn't either, as it's not fair, knowing how many people check in here & might not have time to read beyond the title & just carry that negative association with his name.

 

[hotlips]

My personal recommendation is to not use "Add to cart" type things with live animals. I would always rather call, email, text, or fb message the seller first. For one thing, it saves headaches when animals are no longer available and for another it gives you a chance to get any particular details you'd like (such as ship dates, etc) before committing to the purchase.

That's exactly what I would do (and have done in the past) as well. I've never bought an animal without talking to the seller, and I've changed my mind just because of what I could read from that conversation: even though the animal appealed to me, I could tell I didn't want to do business with that person, that something was lacking. It's possible to misread someone that way of course: not everyone enjoys being on the phone or is good at it, or they might be having a bad day, but that's what I do.

 

[tlmoon]

While it might look hasty to post a thread after a day, I'm guessing there would be no thread here if the OP hadn't gotten a shipping confirmation, taken time off work, and had to track down whether the animal was actually being shipped or not. Kudos to the OP for taking the time to be available in case the snake did arrive.

I think it's fair for the OP to be frustrated. I know for me personally, getting time off work for a morning Fed Ex delivery is super difficult and I would be very frustrated if I got a shipping notification, had to take an unplanned morning off work and then no snake.

It sounds like she'll get a nice snake at some point and that Bob is generally a solid guy, so that's good to hear.

 

[Robert Walker]

My personal recommendation is to not use "Add to cart" type things with live animals.

I'll second this one.

so we had established a dialogue and agreed upon a shipping date.

I'll second this one also, dialogue before a purchase.
If carts are available, I would still call them to further inquire about the animal and place your order using the animal's ID#.

Amazon has the shopping cart & same day shipping process down to a science, I unfortunately have yet to hear of a reptile breeder who does.

 

[krampvs]

I'll second this one.


I'll second this one also, dialogue before a purchase.
If carts are available, I would still call them to further inquire about the animal and place your order using the animal's ID#.

Amazon has the shopping cart & same day shipping process down to a science, I unfortunately have yet to hear of a reptile breeder who does.

Yes, this will absolutely be my next method if I ever decide to purchase online again. I am really new to the whole online experience so this has been a bit of a blunder for me.

 

[krampvs]

While it might look hasty to post a thread after a day, I'm guessing there would be no thread here if the OP hadn't gotten a shipping confirmation, taken time off work, and had to track down whether the animal was actually being shipped or not. Kudos to the OP for taking the time to be available in case the snake did arrive.

I think it's fair for the OP to be frustrated. I know for me personally, getting time off work for a morning Fed Ex delivery is super difficult and I would be very frustrated if I got a shipping notification, had to take an unplanned morning off work and then no snake.

It sounds like she'll get a nice snake at some point and that Bob is generally a solid guy, so that's good to hear.

Yes, thank you. I am hoping by the end of the day today all will be resolved and I can just be happy I have a healthy snake.

 

[JimM]

I'll second this one.

Absolutely .... numerous times I was interested in an animal but when an automated shopping cart popped up, I dismissed the whole idea and shopped elsewhere.

These automated carts are BS when it comes to live animals.

 

[yodawagon]

I think I read on facebook he was out of town. He should have staff handling his affairs though. Try contacting him through facebook.

 

[Vithaxton]

As a reptile business owner I have roughly 17,000 followers on Instagram through my business (@morphbankpythons) you can’t imagine how many messages I receive a day! I try my hardest to get through all 500 a day but it’s like fighting an uphill battle! I can’t imagine the messages a mega breeder like Bob Clark gets. Give him some extra time to respond! And send a lot of messages through Facebook! Facebook usually works because workers at his facility will most likely respond to them while he’s away! I’m not excusing the fact he didn’t message you within 24 hours I’m just saying it gets hard with so many customers! That being said Bob is a grade A seller and knows what he’s doing I highly doubt he’d ship your snake during 20 degree weather as well. It sucks you had to call into work to wait for a snake all day too! The whole shipping label thing being automated is really weird! Lol


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[Vithaxton]

And to answer your question! Yes I have had something similar happen to me through Bhb reptiles and few big breeders but it always worked itself out in less than a week! It did take Bob Clark I believe 3 days to answer back when I asked about buying one of his retics so that’s my history with him!


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[krampvs]

As a reptile business owner I have roughly 17,000 followers on Instagram through my business (@morphbankpythons) you can’t imagine how many messages I receive a day! I try my hardest to get through all 500 a day but it’s like fighting an uphill battle! I can’t imagine the messages a mega breeder like Bob Clark gets. Give him some extra time to respond! And send a lot of messages through Facebook! Facebook usually works because workers at his facility will most likely respond to them while he’s away! I’m not excusing the fact he didn’t message you within 24 hours I’m just saying it gets hard with so many customers! That being said Bob is a grade A seller and knows what he’s doing I highly doubt he’d ship your snake during 20 degree weather as well. It sucks you had to call into work to wait for a snake all day too! The whole shipping label thing being automated is really weird! Lol


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He did ship, but like another member said it's probably because he's out of town and had staff taking care of orders perhaps. I'm sure Bob is extremely busy - I was mostly panicked about the mystery shipping label. I managed to get him rerouted to a FedEx hub where I can pick him up right after work so that was a plus, and like everyone has said I am sure I will have a healthy snake

Thank you also for letting me know your experience was similar - I do wonder now if the shipping labels were automated or maybe generated by one of his staff

 

[yodawagon]

Don't know why my post was deleted, but try contacting him through facebook.

 

[bcr229]

Thank you also for letting me know your experience was similar - I do wonder now if the shipping labels were automated or maybe generated by one of his staff

I have a shopping cart system set up for my business. There's an option to either set up shipping labels to be created and staged automatically, or I can have it done as a manual process. I do it manually b/c it's low volume.

Once the label is created it has an expected ship date (usually the following day) with an expected receipt date 2-3 business days in the future because everything I send goes out USPS priority. The label is valid for 30 days though, which of course would push out the receipt date if for some reason the package doesn't get to the post office on the expected ship date. The recipient still gets the "label created" notification though.