DO NOT BUY FROM- petchauffeur.net

[DragonCharm]

Worst customer service skills I've ever seen, hands down. You can complain about LLL all you want but at least I get prompt calls or emails from them and my items ship out next day no questions asked. I found this place via Google as a place to buy my bulk Repcal from and I don't care if LLL is about $12 more for the same order I am going to buy from them so I can get my shipment sometime this month.

I ordered on 8/1 and as of yesterday no tracking number or package. It was Fedex ground and being in NY with my in CT it should take 1 day, 2 max. Anything from a bordering state via ground usually gets here the next day. Yesterday, 8/4, I sent an email asking if it had been shipped and for the tracking number.......below is the email correspondence so far. I'll update as the douchebag responds to my email. Oh, and if there isn't a box on my doorstep when I get home from work Tues I'll be calling my credit card company to reject the charges. As of now I don't really trust him. I know he's printing his Fedex labels online because I got a notification that the first label he created was cancelled. Since they are being done like that it should say the "billing info recieved by Fedex" or something when I track the supposedly good number below but it comes up not found. The number below is not the one that got cancelled, I double checked the numbers.

================================

I didn't threaten you. You should learn to be a little more courteous, especially when you have a customer that's pretty damn close to going back to another distributor to buy the product. For the $10 I saved I would have rather paid it to get it mailed out in a reasonable time frame. Nowhere on your website can I find anything about allowing 5-10 days to ship it. With an attitude like yours you'll be out of business in no time. There are 5000 other vendors vendors that are more capable of fulfilling an order in an expedient manner. I'll be sure to mention my experiences on my fish forum and all of the reptile forums I belong to. Have a nice day.


>From: "Pet Chauffeur Store" <[email protected]>
>To: "Richard Fellows" <[email protected]>
>Subject: Re: Online Order Placed With Miva Merchant (5002 = $71.52)
>Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 14:56:36 -0400
>MIME-Version: 1.0
>Received: from host4.e-businessexpress.com ([65.109.239.52]) by mc10-f32.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.211); Fri, 5 Aug 2005 11:58:48 -0700
>Received: from PC4 (user-0cdf14v.cable.mindspring.com [24.215.132.159])by host4.e-businessexpress.com (8.12.10/8.12.10) with SMTP id j75Iwjg3011859for <[email protected]>; Fri, 5 Aug 2005 14:58:48 -0400
>X-Message-Info: JGTYoYF78jEHjJx36Oi8+Z3TmmkSEdPtfpLB7P/ybN8=
>References: <[email protected]>
>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180
>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180
>Return-Path: [email protected]
>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 05 Aug 2005 18:58:48.0760 (UTC) FILETIME=[B679DB80:01C599EF]
>
>It clearly states on the website to allow us 5 to 10 business days
>to ship the order.
>As you placed your order August 1st, it means that we reserve the
>right to ship it to you until August 12th.
>Fortunately, our distributor delivered the items earlier today and
>we were able to release all packages this afternoon. Here is your
>tracking number 109676810003212. Please access Fedex.com to track
>your package.
>
>We don't need to be threatened by clients once they accept our
>policies.
>So please feel free to buy from any other store and we will avoid
>problems.
>
>Thank You!
>
>Val Lang
>Store Manager
>Pet Chauffeur Ltd.
>petchauffeur.net
>
>----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Fellows"
><[email protected]>
>To: <[email protected]>
>Sent: Friday, August 05, 2005 12:07 PM
>Subject: Re: Online Order Placed With Miva Merchant (5002 = $71.52)
>
>
>>A full week to ship an order is a little excessive don't you think?
>> I don't think I'll be placing any more orders with you, I
>>honestly don't want to wait forever to get my order. If you can't
>>get my order out the door in less than 48 hrs your priorities
>>aren't set on customer service.
>>
>>
>>>From: "Pet Chauffeur Store" <[email protected]>
>>>To: "Richard Fellows" <[email protected]>
>>>Subject: Re: Online Order Placed With Miva Merchant (5002 =
>>>$71.52)
>>>Date: Fri, 5 Aug 2005 10:40:33 -0400
>>>MIME-Version: 1.0
>>>Received: from host4.e-businessexpress.com ([65.109.239.52]) by
>>>mc11-f19.hotmail.com with Microsoft SMTPSVC(6.0.3790.211); Fri, 5
>>>Aug 2005 07:42:42 -0700
>>>Received: from PC4 (user-0cdf14v.cable.mindspring.com
>>>[24.215.132.159])by host4.e-businessexpress.com (8.12.10/8.12.10)
>>>with SMTP id j75Egfvd006992for <[email protected]>; Fri,
>>>5 Aug 2005 10:42:42 -0400
>>>X-Message-Info: JGTYoYF78jEHjJx36Oi8+Z3TmmkSEdPtfpLB7P/ybN8=
>>>References: <[email protected]>
>>>X-MSMail-Priority: Normal
>>>X-Mailer: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2900.2180
>>>X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2900.2180
>>>Return-Path: [email protected]
>>>X-OriginalArrivalTime: 05 Aug 2005 14:42:43.0134 (UTC)
>>>FILETIME=[EFD965E0:01C599CB]
>>>
>>>It will be shipped this Monday.
>>>FedEx will send you an email with all information you need to
>>>track your package.
>>>Thank You!
>>>
>>>Val Lang
>>>Pet Chauffeur Ltd.
>>>petchauffeur.net
>>>----- Original Message ----- From: "Richard Fellows"
>>><[email protected]>
>>>To: <[email protected]>
>>>Sent: Thursday, August 04, 2005 5:43 PM
>>>Subject: RE: Online Order Placed With Miva Merchant (5002 =
>>>$71.52)
>>>
>>>
>>>>Has this shipped yet? What is the tracking number?
>>>>
>>>>Richard Fellows
>>>>http://kingsoftheaquarium.com
>>>>http://dragoncharm.com
>>>>http://aquaticpredators.com
>>>>http://petwebhosting.com
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>>From: [email protected] [mailto[email protected]]
>>>>Sent: Monday, August 01, 2005 2:33 PM
>>>>To: [email protected]
>>>>Subject: Online Order Placed With Miva Merchant (5002 = $71.52)
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Online Order Placed With Miva Merchant (5002 = $71.52)
>>>>
>>>>Order Number: 5002
>>>>Placed : 08/01/2005 14:32:34 EDT
>>>>
>>>>Ship To: Bill To:
>>>>Richard Fellows Richard Fellows
>>>>[email protected] [email protected]
>>>>8605892735 8605892735
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>38 Putnam St 38 Putnam St
>>>>Bristol CT 06010 Bristol CT 06010
>>>>US US
>>>>
>>>>Code Name Quantity
>>>>Price/Ea. Total
>>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>-------------------
>>>>SRP00300 Rep-Cal Herptivite Multivitamins 3.2oz 2
>>>>$6.85 $13.70
>>>>SRP00210 Rep-Cal Ultrafine Calcium with Vitamin D3 7lb
>>>> 1
>>>>$50.25 $50.25
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> Shipping: FedEx
>>>>Ground Service: $7.57
>>>>
>>>> Sales
>>>>Tax: $0.00
>>>>------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>>>-------------------
>>>>
>>>>Total: $71.52
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>

 

[Dennis1]

Thats exactly why when i order online i talk to a human before i order anything

 

[Jim O]

Sorry to disappoint you Richard but 5-10 days to ship is in their terms.

I buy that type of stuff from Matt Graybeal. His customer service is good, his prices are fair, and he's a little closer to CT than is LLL.

 

[critical bill]

Sorry to disappoint you Richard but 5-10 days to ship is in their terms.

Boing!

 

[Rebel Dragons]

Opps, looks like you jumped the gun on this "bad guy" thread.

 

[Chameleon Company]

Good job to those who got the vendor's accurate shipping info into the thread. I confess to reading the original post, with those "what would we do without them" original email communications !!!! ..... and wondering how this rated a "do not buy from" header, much less even a thread here. Seemed more like much-ado-about-nothing, but at least I am comforted in now knowing that if I ever order from them, and don't have my product in 4-5 days, not to worry or waste my time with emails and BOI posts, cause as the vendor claimed, I should expect 5-10 days! As Charley Brown would say......."AAAAARGH".

Jim Flaherty
The Chameleon Company, LLC

 

[Suncoast Herpetological]

Jim

While I agree that this incident definitely does not warrant a "bad guy" thread, where did you find that screen shot? I spent 20 minutes on the site and I couldn't find it.

 

[Jim O]

Jim

While I agree that this incident definitely does not warrant a "bad guy" thread, where did you find that screen shot? I spent 20 minutes on the site and I couldn't find it.

John,

There is a link to it from the shopping cart checkout page.

 

[Ed Clark]

poor service ??????

richard,is this a joke.you should have requested and paid for overnite service if you expected your order next day.

 

[Chameleon Company]

Some considerations for Richard to ponder ..

The consensus here seems to be that you jumped the gun in more ways than one. Maybe you see it that way, maybe not. Val Lang, or whoever is the ultimate owner/operator of Pet Chauffeur, likely does not do it as a hobby, out of their home, as many of the reptile people here do. It may be a second job, or it may be his (or her) full time livelihood. Now, if someone does a search on the BOI, or just sees this header in passing "Don't do business with ..." etc, etc, we have to hope for Pet Chauffeur's sake that they read the thread a little bit and see that it might more appropriately be labeled Richard Fellows aka Dragon Charm is a bad customer , and that Pet Chauffeur is an honorable business. It sounds like a pathetic title for a thread, but so is what you've done here to these people.

You were in such a hurry to get some mud up on this guy that you didn't pause to research his pointing out that he was within his TOS. Secondly, it is also possible that you couldn't have gotten it quicker from someone else. I can't say this with certaintly, but I do know that very few (if any) places that stock the smaller RepCal products do not stock the 7 lb RepCal. I ordered it from a different distributor last year and waited a month for it, as it had to be ordered from RepCal first, delivered to the authorized distributor, then sent to me. We can argue the merits of whether it should be stocked in inventory all night, but what I do know is that you are getting it quicker than I did, and I can't fault Pet Chauffeur for improving on the service I got elsewhere!

And lastly, if you had taken half the trouble to look into this as you did to cut and paste all the useless emails, this thread wouldn't be here. It is certainly a pet peeve of mine to see how quick people in the hobby are to get out the mud and start tossing it about. There are plenty of other frivolous threads here, but with the BOI, you have to take the good with the bad, and Rich has accuratley pointed that out on more than one occasion. But you initiated this thread, and are likely to have seen all of the above replies, and could have at least come back and said "Oooops .... my bad", and maybe even apologized to those hard working folks over at Pet Chauffeur! What a concept.

Jim Flaherty
The Chameleon Company, LLC

 

[DragonCharm]

I spent a while looking and didn't see that on the site. I'm sorry if I expect too much to have my stuff shipped within THE WEEK I PURCHASE IT. Come on, that's a little slow IMO. Maybe I have an unusual demand for good service. I've bought items from hundreds of websites and never have I had to wait a week for something to ship, unless of course it was backordered and that was made clear up front.

richard,is this a joke.you should have requested and paid for overnite service if you expected your order next day.

I didn't say it should be at my door overnight, but it should be shipped in 1 or 2 days....not unreasonable. If I order something from NY I usually get it the next day or two days later. I ordered this stuff on Monday expecting to see it at my door Weds or Thurs, not Tues/Weds of the next week.

 

[Jim O]

I spent a while looking and didn't see that on the site. I'm sorry if I expect too much to have my stuff shipped within THE WEEK I PURCHASE IT. Come on, that's a little slow IMO. Maybe I have an unusual demand for good service. I've bought items from hundreds of websites and never have I had to wait a week for something to ship, unless of course it was backordered and that was made clear up front.


I didn't say it should be at my door overnight, but it should be shipped in 1 or 2 days....not unreasonable. If I order something from NY I usually get it the next day or two days later. I ordered this stuff on Monday expecting to see it at my door Weds or Thurs, not Tues/Weds of the next week.

Richard,

First, you never confirmed whether the material was in stock or needed to be ordered. Second, you didn't read their terms which pretty clearly state up to 10 business days. They were not obligated to call you unless it would be longer. Looking at that website it's clear this is not a huge e-commerce site with order and inventory tracking. Seeing as how you are so experienced at buying over the net I would think you would note that too.

I don't get it. If you buy something and the seller says it might take up to two weeks to ship and they don't ship in a week then you have nothing to complain about. Honestly, you are the one with the problem here, not the seller.

 

[DragonCharm]

Richard,

First, you never confirmed whether the material was in stock or needed to be ordered. Second, you didn't read their terms which pretty clearly state up to 10 business days. They were not obligated to call you unless it would be longer. Looking at that website it's clear this is not a huge e-commerce site with order and inventory tracking. Seeing as how you are so experienced at buying over the net I would think you would note that too.

I don't get it. If you buy something and the seller says it might take up to two weeks to ship and they don't ship in a week then you have nothing to complain about. Honestly, you are the one with the problem here, not the seller.

Well I didn't see that on the site, it wasn't that obvious if I didn't see it when I ordered. My 2 points were that he was rather snotty, poor customer service skills in my opinion, and that his turnaround time on orders was poor in my opinion. Both my opinion. If you don't agree, well that's your opinion.....no hard feelings from me. However I don't think its unfair to post my experience and opinion of this seller and that I was dissatisfied, it may come in handy if someone needs a product quick and are considering purchasing from him. And of course I'll update the thread if my items show up as promised or if they don't, I'm not going to fail to post if they show up just so I can make the guy look bad.

 

[Dennis1]

As much as i hate to admit it, I think the other posters on this thread are right
You Have to read the small print even if it is really,really hard to find! Thats how they get you While it's an inconveniece for you its good business sense for them as they dont have to stock the product

 

[Chameleon Company]

Richard, take a moment ..

I don't think that there is a reader to this thread who is going to have a problem with your expectations. But it could also more accurately labeled as an assumption in this matter, and that's where the problem is ... with you and not the vendor. In your reply a couple of posts back, you don't even acknowledge that the vendor was correct. Its all about your expectations. So in your defense you say things like:

I'm sorry if I expect too much to have my stuff shipped within THE WEEK I PURCHASE IT.

and:

Maybe I have an unusual demand for good service.

In light of everything else identified in this thread, your expectations are not relevent. IMO, you made a mistake, by not being aware of the TOS, and then were too lazy to check things out, and coming here. Judging from the sarcasm you post in your defense, I would say that while you don't have an unusual demand for good service, you do have an unusual inability to say you made a mistake. And for the record, I did check 3 of the larger RepCal distributors, and only one has the 7lb product in stock.

Jim Flaherty
The Chamelen Company, LLC

 

[DragonCharm]

Well I guess you guys probably are right, maybe "don't buy" was a little harsh. Maybe more appropriate would be "Heads up, if you buy from this guy the turnaround time is a little slow."

By the way, finally found the link to that page that Jim posted above. The link says: "Click here for information about our Refund Policy" As I hadn't even purchased yet I wasn't in need of info on getting a refund, not sure why under normal circumstances I would have clicked that link. It would have been more helpful to me to say "Click here for our Terms of Service and our Refund Policy." I'll be sure to let the guy know that it would be more helpful if it was listed in that manner. Also, something in the confirmation email that states something along the lines of "We are in receipt of your payment, you will receive a tracking number via email when your order ships. Orders ship in 5-10 business days."

 

[romad119]

Rich,

Maybe you could help them out. Point this out to them and maybe they can move and change the title of the link to this info to a more prominent spot on their website so that future customers can better decide on the acceptibility of their TOS to them.

 

[The BoidSmith]

Well I guess you guys probably are right, maybe "don't buy" was a little harsh. Maybe more appropriate would be "Heads up, if you buy from this guy the turnaround time is a little slow."

Richard,

This has been said already but his turnaround time was writeen in his TOS. If I choose to buy anything from a person and company and it states that I will receive it in 5-10 days that's what I expect. Come day 11 and no shipment, only then would I consider complaining. In your defense though it is obvious his TOS were not very visible.

Also, something in the confirmation email that states something along the lines of "We are in receipt of your payment, you will receive a tracking number via email when your order ships. Orders ship in 5-10 business days."

That's a very constructive suggestion in my opinion.

Regards.

 

[Jim O]

By the way, finally found the link to that page that Jim posted above. The link says: "Click here for information about our Refund Policy" As I hadn't even purchased yet I wasn't in need of info on getting a refund, not sure why under normal circumstances I would have clicked that link. It would have been more helpful to me to say "Click here for our Terms of Service and our Refund Policy."

You are right about that. It would have been more helpful. I always check refund and return policies when I make a purchase which is why I had no problem locating it. It was there but was not exactly obvious.


I will point out that once this started between you and them it escalated into a bit of a pissing match. When that happens everyones shoes get wet. I will say that when you said

A full week to ship an order is a little excessive don't you think? I don't think I'll be placing any more orders with you, I honestly don't want to wait forever to get my order. If you can't get my order out the door in less than 48 hrs your priorities aren't set on customer service.

you made an assumption about the item being in stock and also really threw down the gauntlet. Try to empathize and put yourself in the position of the person receiving that who is doing his best to fill your order in accordance with the terms of his company.

I know that "the customer is always right" but it seems as though this is a specialty business that deals in pet transport, specialty diets, and free local deliveries in Manhattan. Clearly your order was not going to be a high priority (in retrospect of course). If their prices are good you might try placing an order with them over the phone (using their toll free number) a few weeks (at least) in advance of your need and find out when they will be able to ship. Or, of course, you can just use another supplier.

 

[DragonCharm]

Could you imagine though what the local delivery customers think though when they order it and expect someone to stop by in the next few days and they show up 2 weeks later. I'm sure they picked a local place to get their item faster. Bottom line though, from now on I'm not dealing with anyone that's too small to stock the products they carry. Until I can find it cheaper I'm going back to LLL. *shudder*

Btw, looked at Matt's site and didn't see it. Do you have a link to the page?