Dropped a duck off at a taxidermist back in early December. The taxi told me it would be a six week turnaround. I questioned that 6 weeks seemed really quick and he said he had a bunch of ducks to do and was going to knock them out together after drying. I followed up with them at the beginning of March and he said they were drying but would be done in a week or two. Fast forward to April and I got the same response, that he had several that were about to be finished and he was sure mine was in that batch. I moved out of state a few days ago and still hadn’t heard back from the taxi. I left a $40 or $80 deposit but still owed about $200 I think, I’d have to double check my receipt once we unpack. So what do I do when the taxi does eventually call me saying my bird is ready, if ever. Do I offer to pony up the cash to have it boxed and shipped, or do I tell him to just keep it? I wanted my bird back but I’m not really interested in paying extra now just because he blew he timeline. So ignoring wanting the mount back, what’s the ethical decision?
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Taxidermists that are worth their salt usually take much longer than 6 weeks on anything, because they are busy. And taxidermists that charge less than $300 for a duck would make me suspicious of their experience and quality. That being said, I would pay to ship it just to see what it looked like.
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If you want my honest opinion, I’d never believe a taxidermist if he said something was going to be ready in 6 weeks. You need to think about a taxidermist like your wife. If she says it’s going to take her 30 minutes to get ready, most men already know to prepare to wait at least an hour. Same with taxidermist. Nothing against taxidermists. It’s just the way it goes. I’ve had quite a bit of taxidermy done, so I know the wait times. Guys that don’t have much done tend to be gullible and impatient.
Regarding shipping your bird, I’d see if he’d split the shipping cost with you. Did you inform him you were moving out of state and you wanted it before the move? If I knew I was moving within the next year and did not want to hassle with shipping, I would have left it in the freezer until I made the move.
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$280 on a duck seems really cheap, and 6 weeks is rather a short time. If his work is any good, I’d pay the shipping. I’ve never gotten a bird done but my taxi charges like $350 and does great work too but there’s no way he’d give someone a 6 week time line.
I’d let him know you don’t want it. Taxidermy isn’t an easy job and he probably bit off more than he could chew.
My taxidermists tells me 6 months on a deer, I’ll be happy if I see it before next season and I don’t bug him about it. They usually have a main job and taxidermist is a hobby to bring in a bit of extra income.
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Originally posted by Texantax View PostShould start a thread called customer ethical question
Jason,
It’s definitely an ethical question on my end, not the taxi’s, just wasn’t sure how to title the thread in a way that even remotely described the post content. I did inform them of my impending move in March, as that was when I found out I would be leaving. As far as the pricing, this place was right in line with all the others I looked up for a duck mount, with the exception of a couple outliers. I didn’t pick the cheapest place, nor the priciest. It was my first wood duck so I would definitely like to have it back, but don’t want to get stuck with a $50 shipping bill either. As far as the timeline, 6 weeks definitely seemed crazy fast to me and I would have been fine if he had told me 6 months. I just don’t understand why they give an unrealistic ETA to begin with. Tell me 6 months and I’ll be happy if it’s done in 4 but tell me 6 months and take a year and I’ll be annoyed.
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