FurryAnimalsOhMy
06-30-2006, 10:46 PM
Ok, we would like to see everyone's stance on a situation that happened here with a customer earlier.
We have a black velvet female who is for sale. At birth, she was beaten up by her fiesty brother who ended up pulling out a chunk of her fur on the top of her head. We then started to rotate, and anyways, all ended well. Both chinchillas were fine- until the week that we weaned them. The brother sold, and the sister we had to keep back because she was fluctuating her weight too much. When the customer decided they wanted her, we told them everything about the girl and they were fine with it. They said, "We will be taking her to the vet when we get her to make sure she's healthy, as long as she's healthy, everything will be fine." We received the $50 non-refundable deposit (it is clearly stated on our web site and in the various emails that we had sent back and forth before they picked her out.) We picked a date and then WE (the breeders) postponed it due to her lack of staying at a constant weight. Why sell a chinchilla that is sick and who can't keep up her weight? At that time, we offered to refund their $50 non-refundable deposit because we knew that it might be some time that she was ready to leave, if at all. So a few weeks later, after watching her carefully, we decided she was ready. We emailed the customers and set up an appointment. That day came and they were supposed to be here at 5:30pm. And at 4:48pm (exactly), they emailed us and told us that they were not to come because of the thunderstorms that they expected us to have. So, we then rescheduled, and the appointment was for today at 5:30pm. Well, 5:30pm came and went. Now it was 7pm. Still no sign. 8pm, no sign, no calls, so we went out. Now the neighbors were out and saw that they were ringing our doorbell for atleast 30 minutes. Left, and then came back at around 9:30pm. Our internet was down from 2pm-9pm, where THEN we read an email that said they no longer want the chinchilla, but they want their [non-refundable] deposit back. I called him while I was not in the area, and he answers.
I started the conversation by saying "Hello, someone just called me from this number?"
and he replies, "Hi Ryan, I'm sitting outside of your residence."
I then said, "Ok, well, we were home until about quarter to eight and we didn't hear from you or anything. Now, we are not in the area so we will have to reschedule."
"This seems to be such a big problem, we do not want to get the chinchilla anymore and we would like our deposit back."
"Sorry, [enter name here], but it is a non-refundable policy and we made you aware of that before you sent the deposit. It also states it on our web site."
SO, the phone conversation took about 30 minutes. He threatened to take us to court over the $50. He threw it in my face that I DID offer to give back the deposit (the first time I POSTPONED the appointment, but like it says on our web site- SEE BOTTOM) I told him that the $50 could go towards another chinchilla in the future (they didn't have time for one now because they were going on vacation - but we got an email confirming them coming two days before!) We don't have time for that court crock. I FINALLY gave in, because I was getting so frustrated, and by this time I wanted to say not so nice things anymore, and I offered to give him back HALF (making it $25).
Now - what would you have done? How would you have handled this? Has this happened to others, and how have you 'fixed' it?
Sorry about the length. I'm still ticked, if you couldn't tell. :)
Directly off of our web site:
Deposits: We require a nonrefundable deposit to hold any animal. Generally, we work on a first come, first serve basis. If you terminate the sale of an animal, you will not receive the deposit back. However, if we terminate the sale of any animal, you will receive your deposit back or credit towards another animal. We expect to receive the deposit within five days unless otherwise discussed. We are willing to make special arrangements if necessary, depending upon the case. If we do not receive the deposit within five days, we will put the animal back up for sale. We are also willing to make payment plans to pay off an animal in full before pick-up. The amount of the deposit will be determined by us depending upon the type of animal purchasing. For the deposit, we accept cash, money orders/cashier's checks, personal checks and paypal. We will give you a receipt at pickup, or if wanted upon request.
FORGOT TO ADD- They paid paypal and wanted cash back. Ridiculous!
We have a black velvet female who is for sale. At birth, she was beaten up by her fiesty brother who ended up pulling out a chunk of her fur on the top of her head. We then started to rotate, and anyways, all ended well. Both chinchillas were fine- until the week that we weaned them. The brother sold, and the sister we had to keep back because she was fluctuating her weight too much. When the customer decided they wanted her, we told them everything about the girl and they were fine with it. They said, "We will be taking her to the vet when we get her to make sure she's healthy, as long as she's healthy, everything will be fine." We received the $50 non-refundable deposit (it is clearly stated on our web site and in the various emails that we had sent back and forth before they picked her out.) We picked a date and then WE (the breeders) postponed it due to her lack of staying at a constant weight. Why sell a chinchilla that is sick and who can't keep up her weight? At that time, we offered to refund their $50 non-refundable deposit because we knew that it might be some time that she was ready to leave, if at all. So a few weeks later, after watching her carefully, we decided she was ready. We emailed the customers and set up an appointment. That day came and they were supposed to be here at 5:30pm. And at 4:48pm (exactly), they emailed us and told us that they were not to come because of the thunderstorms that they expected us to have. So, we then rescheduled, and the appointment was for today at 5:30pm. Well, 5:30pm came and went. Now it was 7pm. Still no sign. 8pm, no sign, no calls, so we went out. Now the neighbors were out and saw that they were ringing our doorbell for atleast 30 minutes. Left, and then came back at around 9:30pm. Our internet was down from 2pm-9pm, where THEN we read an email that said they no longer want the chinchilla, but they want their [non-refundable] deposit back. I called him while I was not in the area, and he answers.
I started the conversation by saying "Hello, someone just called me from this number?"
and he replies, "Hi Ryan, I'm sitting outside of your residence."
I then said, "Ok, well, we were home until about quarter to eight and we didn't hear from you or anything. Now, we are not in the area so we will have to reschedule."
"This seems to be such a big problem, we do not want to get the chinchilla anymore and we would like our deposit back."
"Sorry, [enter name here], but it is a non-refundable policy and we made you aware of that before you sent the deposit. It also states it on our web site."
SO, the phone conversation took about 30 minutes. He threatened to take us to court over the $50. He threw it in my face that I DID offer to give back the deposit (the first time I POSTPONED the appointment, but like it says on our web site- SEE BOTTOM) I told him that the $50 could go towards another chinchilla in the future (they didn't have time for one now because they were going on vacation - but we got an email confirming them coming two days before!) We don't have time for that court crock. I FINALLY gave in, because I was getting so frustrated, and by this time I wanted to say not so nice things anymore, and I offered to give him back HALF (making it $25).
Now - what would you have done? How would you have handled this? Has this happened to others, and how have you 'fixed' it?
Sorry about the length. I'm still ticked, if you couldn't tell. :)
Directly off of our web site:
Deposits: We require a nonrefundable deposit to hold any animal. Generally, we work on a first come, first serve basis. If you terminate the sale of an animal, you will not receive the deposit back. However, if we terminate the sale of any animal, you will receive your deposit back or credit towards another animal. We expect to receive the deposit within five days unless otherwise discussed. We are willing to make special arrangements if necessary, depending upon the case. If we do not receive the deposit within five days, we will put the animal back up for sale. We are also willing to make payment plans to pay off an animal in full before pick-up. The amount of the deposit will be determined by us depending upon the type of animal purchasing. For the deposit, we accept cash, money orders/cashier's checks, personal checks and paypal. We will give you a receipt at pickup, or if wanted upon request.
FORGOT TO ADD- They paid paypal and wanted cash back. Ridiculous!