That's an interesting concept. It there some sort of hidden etiquette established that allows sellers to knowingly send poor quality critters, and those who receive the aforementioned critters are expected not to call them in? Just as a matter of educating readers, what percent of poor critters out of the total order does this secret etiquette allow?
You are entitled to your opinion, but some other 'others' have said that this thread is valid in their opinion, and that the behavior described is far enough from the norm that forewarned is forearmed. The thread does not seem to be about not liking Mike, it seems more a description of how he handles his customers.
First of all, you aren't a "customer" until you've bought something.
Secondly, do you think McDonald's expects that EVERY one of it's orders all across the country will be properly cooked and correct in its counts? Do you think they have the time to have customers request how they want their meat cooked- rare, medium-rare, medium-well, etc.? Do they have the time to answer hipsters' questions about where the meat came from and are the other ingredients local? Do you think they should placate a potential customer if they were to ask if they could inspect all of the food in the warming bins and ask to purchase only THE BEST items that are cooked? Do you think they are a "bad" restaurant because of this? Of course not. They are not the same kind of restaurant as a family-owned restaurant who hand-makes $8. burgers to order. If you walk into a McDonald's, take their cheapest dollar-menu item, ask a lot of questions, ask them to modify it, and then complain about how it tastes once you get it, you're a fool. Although not completely analogous, the point is, you'd be disrupting the flow of how that company models its daily business and expecting something they aren't designed to do.
Wholesalers deal in VOLUME. Their margins are typically less per animal than that of retailers', so high volume is key. If you order two thousand dollars+ worth of animals a week every week from a wholesaler (such as Strictly)- which I have- you have to expect a certain percentage of your order-
especially when ordering a lot of wild-collected animals- will not make it. That doesn't make them bad people- YOU are the one who asked to ship LIVE ANIMALS, in bulk, through a courier system designed for everything BUT live animals. Even if you regularly lose say, 5% of your orders from them, you would do well to consider that you're still saving 50% or more than if you ordered from anywhere else in the world. You can't order 50 Fence Swifts at a time or three dozen Emperor Scorpions and expect them to ALL come in okay. If you're the kind of person who expects that ordering from a wholesaler (for just one example), then you're the kind of person who thinks the OP has a legitimate complaint because he was not treated with kid-gloves.
Some people might want to walk in or keep them on the phone all day, ask a million questions, spend a not-sizeable amount of money, and then complain that an anole and a house gecko didn't arrive alive. It's perfectly okay to call in small losses on a large order, but it won't make you a top "customer" in anyone's book. A good business person would understand the incredible fortune they have to be able to buy animals at such low prices, and accept a certain amount of loss as the cost of doing business/cost of shipping live animals. Similarly, a person who is NOT a retailer or licensed business who is ALLOWED the GIFT of being ABLE to purchase at wholesale (something that annoyed the s*** out of me when I was competing at a retail level), then you should AT LEAST accept the way things are and not whine about it. It's akin to merging onto the Autobahn, driving slowly, and then complaining that the other drivers are honking at you (really, it is).
When I still worked in retail, I often heard "the customer is always right". My reply was that no, "the customer" is an often mis-used term, as one is only "the customer" AFTER they make a potential purchase. Prior to that, they are only a POTENTIAL customer (and still not always right). Additionally, even after they make a purchase, not all customers are GOOD customers. Every retailer reading my words will instantly know what I am talking about when I say there are "customers" who spend a LOT of money, but are not profitable. Still, that person/persons demands special treatment because of the money they spent (regardless of if any profit was made). Anyone who runs a business will tell you it doesn't matter HOW MUCH money the business makes, it HAS to turn a profit. Similarly, a different customer might spend money with a business very infrequently, but their interactions may result in much more PROFIT for the company. Thus, the customer who is more profitable to a business is far more likely to be treated nicely.
If you walk into a South Florida reptile wholesaler's establishment the size of Strictly Reptiles and act like a tire-kicker, you should expect to be barked at. Both sides of this discussion are certainly entitled to their opinions. However, if you still can't understand what I'm saying in defense of OP's inane thread, then in my opinion you either have no idea how wholesale (on that level) works or you just enjoy arguing.
