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Idiots who can't read

Nirvana

Nirvana

Genetics Geek
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I almost posted this in the "General Business Questions" section, but I'm mostly just pissed off so I figure this is the better place to put it ;)

I breed and sell mostly mammals, and because it's too expensive and too much of a PITA, I don't ship them. This doesn't seem to be an issue at all with chinchilla buyers, but for some reason hedgehog buyers ALWAYS want me to ship the animals. (Why IS that??) I put a disclaimer stating that I do not ship in BIG BOLD letters at the top of my "Available Animals" page, as well as on the ads that I posted the animals on, but I STILL get these inquiries.

I got one just now and I got fed up and responded just slightly less politely than I normally do. This was what I wrote:

"Please read my terms and the big, bold print at the top of the page -- I DO NOT offer shipping as it is too difficult, stressful on the animals, and FAR too expensive."

I thought that was just impatient enough to get my point across, but not *too* snarky as to seem downright rude.

Apparently not -- the reply I got back was a giant "F**K YOU!!!!" (uncensored, and with more exclaimation points than that) in about 60 point purple font.

I told the woman to learn to read in order to avoid such problems in the future (I guess I already offended her by being impatient, so why not go all-out, right?)

Normally I don't have many problems (bad customers, etc.) selling mammals, but man, this shipping thing is just getting frustrating and I don't know how to make it any clearer!! Maybe my reply was a little too snarky, but still ...

Where's that little "head banging into a wall" emoticon when you need it ...
 
Yeah, the rules for shipping mammals are a good reason not to do it - what a pain. Don't get me wrong...I'm all for the safety and well being of the animals, and I know the rules are needed.

*How many of those hedgehog people do you think expect that you would just be plopping the little fella in a box, surrounding him with crumbled newspaper, and bringing him to FedEx?
 
hhmoore said:
*How many of those hedgehog people do you think expect that you would just be plopping the little fella in a box, surrounding him with crumbled newspaper, and bringing him to FedEx?
Click to expand...

Right -- that's the other thing. I mean, we ship snakes all the time, and I don't think it bothers the snakes all *that* much, but shipping mammals is a pretty big deal for the poor things. I can almost guarantee that most of these people want me to ship not because they can't find hedgehogs in their area (hedgehogs are not all that rare!) but because I sell them for relatively cheap (obviously they're not figuring in the cost of shipping either) and they'd rather save a few bucks than save the animal the stress ...

But this also illustrates the other reason I don't ship mammals -- I like to MEET the potential owners before I turn over an animal! I don't really know that I want these guys going to someone who would react with that much animosity to a simple snarky comment...! :eek: (And yeah, maybe I was a little overly-snarky -- but "F**K YOU" is not really the appropriate response for a level, sane person to counter with ...)
 
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