back to ordering online....

[ashleyelsha]

Alright, so I am trying to support my local petstore by ordering feeders from them. They said I can order crickets in bulk, so I order 1000 from them a couple of weeks ago. They came in a few days late, but they called when they came in and I went and paid for them and picked them up. The size of the crickets I purchased were not very uniform. I ordered 1/2" and got sizes from pinhead all the way up to 1". Now I now you expect some to be odd sized, but most were way smaller than 1/2", more like 1/4" and I feel I did not get my moneys worth since I gutload them and freeze them. So I go back again figuring this time I will order larger, my dragon is big enough to handle 1" crickets now anyway. So when I got order they tell me it will be next week before they order again AND they want me to pay up front... whaaaaaaaaaat??? They said they don't want to be 'stuck' with them if I decide not to buy them. Couldn't they just put them in their bins to feed and sell if I don't show up to buy them??? I explained to them that I paid last time when I picked them up, and since their deliveries are not prompt I would prefer to pay when the shipment arrives. They tell me no.

Now maybe I would understand if I had ordered and then not picked up in the past, but didn't I prove myself by picking up my last order the same day it was delivered??? Where is the trust to gain a good steady customer??? So I said ok let me have 200 crickets today and then I will order some bulk online that I will recieve in 2 days. They then proceed to tell me they can only sell me 50 because they have 'their own to feed'. WOW, really????? So they don't want to be stuck with 1000 extra crickets, yet they don't have enough to sell me more than 50 crickets, AND they don't get a shipment in for another week and a half????

Customer service is officially dead. Here I am trying to support a local business, but I guess I will just go back to ordering online. No WONDER the local family owned business is dying.. ugh.

 

[diamc]

[Moved to Feeders from General Discussion forum]

 

[ashleyelsha]

at least ordering online I will have 1000 3/4" crickets in two days.

 

[diamc]

Yes, you will get them very quickly. Did you have a site in mind to order from?

 

[ashleyelsha]

Yes, you will get them very quickly. Did you have a site in mind to order from?

I ordered from ghann's. I have ordered from them once before and was very happy with the speed of shipping, service, and overall quality of the feeders. I just thought I would help support a local family own business, you know? with shipping the cost is about the same, either order 1000 from the local family owned pet store, or order 1000 online and get them delivered to my door.

I just can't believe how rude they were to me, first refusing to sell me more than 50 crickets because they would not have enough to feed 'their own' animals :roll: , and then giving me a hard time about paying ahead for the 1000 crickets I want to order because they don't want to get 'stuck' with them. :shock:

I will not go in that pet store again.... I will make the trip to petco or petsmart first.

 

[JMDaniels]

Sorry for your bad experience. It's nice to support local businesses but a lot of times the pet stores just aren't the best places to get feeders. They usually don't want to sell in bulk because, as you mentioned, they use the feeders for their own animals.

Also, pet store workers don't tend to be very knowledgeable on the subject. If you find something is wrong with your order, the cricket farm would be more able to explain what happened than a pet store that gets the crickets second hand. Additionally, when you deal directly with the supplier (the cricket farm), they are happier to replace a messed up order.

 

[ashleyelsha]

It makes sense when, I will definitely be ordering online from the supplier, it just users me about their overall demeanor towards me as a customer, I felt as though everything I was asking was too much. That's why I say it is no wonder the independent family owned business are disappearing.