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Harold Ray

Feather Emporium; Honest?? Anybody Using Them?

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I'm glad to have seen this thread for I first found out about FE thru another site and decided to view his web site. I was so impressed with what I saw and the great comments regarding FE that I decided to purchase from him. Being that I live in rural farm country Ontario Canada, I find shopping on line excellent for me and have mostly had positive results. That being said, I made my purchase to FE on March 31, 2015 for a Ringneck Pheasant Rooster and a yellow Magnum Guinea skin, paid for thru PayPal based on his web info and unfortunately ...............I'm still waiting to get them!

Numerous emails with no response and 3 long distance phone calls to date and.............I'm still waiting to get them!

On my last phone call to him, August 15, 2015, I finally got him to answer and he informed me that he sent an email reply ( did not get it ) and that he can no longer ship a Ringneck to Canada because it's classified as a game bird. There was no info on his site regarding that new restriction and it certainly sounded like an excuse to me, because a month earlier I purchased one from Angler's Workshop which arrived in 3 weeks w/o any problem. Now I'm still waiting for my Guinea and reimbursement of the $ for the Ringneck.

If and when I ever do get this settled, I'll likely look elsewhere for my feathers.

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Davie Parker, You have 180 days from the date of the transaction to open a dispute with paypal. You should still have time. Do it now and don't let this guy get away with stealing from you.

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Wyoroy.....thanks for the heads up. As this was my 1st transaction with both FE and PayPal, I thought it would go off w/o a hitch, for I have heard and read good things about both. However, so far it has not been good. I have logged a dispute this morning with PayPal based on your info, so hopefully something will happen within the next 2 days or I will certainly cancel my order to regain my money.

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I logged a dispute and didn't get any results as FE never responded to paypal, but then paypal asked if I wanted continue with my dispute. I told them I did. Finally, after waiting over two months without receiving a single response from FE I got my feathers.

 

Randy

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FE will have a certain amount of time to respond to the dispute, he probably won't. Then you will have to escalate to a claim. Paypal has a tutorial on how to proceed. Look in the resolution center.

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Wow, I can't believe that this thread is still alive! I had a problem with them over a Cree Cape. I decided not to send the cape back and end up with no cape ( however low quality it was) and no money returned.

But how can anyone recommend them given all the different complaints? Beats me.

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Feather Emporium/David Roberts... are you out there? Are you still in business? I've sent and resent a sizeable feather order that you asked for and I have not had any reply, except for a phone call in mid- October. The first and original order was in mid-July with the last message sent to you on November 11. My last two phone calls have been met with a message that your inbox is full. I REALLY don't want to elevate this to Paypal but my 180 days is fast approaching. I just want to start tying again!!

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I can see that problems still exist with FE.

My problem finally got resolved thanks to advice given by an honest member here. After waiting for such a long time (165 days) for my order, hearing nothing even after repeated phone calls and unanswered emails to FE, I chose to follow the advice given and issued a dispute with Pay Pal.

No answer at all from FE, but Pay Pal stood behind their business ethics and I received a credit into my account within 2 weeks.

 

As for FE...............never doing business there (or try to) ever again nor promoting their beautiful web site to anyone.

From the overall sound of this thread, it appears that FE`s nice web site is attracting many customers, but the owners are picking and choosing who they wish to deal with.....certainly not a good way of doing business IMO.

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i am not pleased to submit a public complaint about FE but am left with few other options. I have bought several hundred dollars worth of feathers from FE over the years so it is justified.

 

The current incident with the company deserves a public airing.

 

  1. In mid October I ordered and paid (Paypal) for a selection of feathers. I followed up with an email to ensure receipt. that went unanswered.
  2. Given that I live in Canada, I waited a couple of weeks, to allow for cross border shipping etc.
  3. Then i called and left a message,
  4. Then i waited again. Then i called again.
  5. Four weeks after the order and payment, I got hold of the owner on his cell phone; he claimed he knew nothing about my order. I reminded him that I had paid already and his lack of knowledge concerned me. I even asked if he was still in business.
  6. I sent two more emails, expressing real concern. No response.

 

It's December 6 and I have heard nothing from Feather Emporium. I feel I am chasing someone who is trying to hide something. And yet, all I want are some feathers so i can sit around tying over my Christmas holidays!

 

I don't like making public complaints but I dislike losing my money even more.

 

A few simple changes would improve the business, improve customer satisfaction and drive more revenues(!).

 

  • email response on every order acknowledging receipt (btw... that can be automated);
  • a tracking system on orders;
  • hiring a student part time to answer the phone, fix any complaints and try to add a few items to the order;
  • improve the website!!.

I am not saying that you should not use FE. But I am saying that he needs to improve his business, answer emails and send me my stuff!

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DCof ... You don't like making public complaints, but it's the first post you make here?

I'd say welcome to the site, but you've been here since 2010. Are you going to keep posting?

 

As with the original poster, you can get your money back through PayPal, and they will start flagging FE, if there's a trend.

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I use him as well. I've been happy; I'm kind of a one-stop-shop man, so I appreciate being able to meet my feather needs in one place.

I recently, however, ordered a couple of their custom Whiting "100 packs", and was very satisfied with the service and delivery, but the cree (described as black-white-brown grizzly, popular where grizzly and brown hackle are used together, one hackle from these feathers can do the job of two) feathers were poorly died. A few pieces out of the middle of the long strands were good, the bottom was almost pure brown and tops maybe a light standard black/gray grizzly; very erratic.

Other colors I ordered were, as usual, just fine.

The erratic coloring of the 100 packs is annoying because I lose a lot of the "100 fly" quantity due to having to carefully select a portion along the feather, and reject the rest (up to 50% of some strands).

I'll continue to use him just the same. I've been satisfied. When I stopped tying commercially I also find that the life span of a cape is pretty large, so my purchases are in those 100 packs, small bugger type packs, half or quarter capes, etc.

After my initial purchase, I noted to self that when I order from them I need to be ready to receive the order with a packaging I make myself to keep feathers in, as someone mentioned above, he doesn't send your feathers in a detail-labelled package.

As for using him after all the complaints (I wasn't aware of those, I see another had problems with the Cree), unless I am specifically interested in a platinum or pro cape, I am willing to accept some flaws (because I'm not a volume tier, if I lose out on some cree hackles, it might cost me $3 or $4, no woopie). Slow delivery would rankle me because I always wait till the last minute to order, when I really want to tie, and that hasn't been a problem for me with Emporium, yet. My last order was in September I believe, and their website is up, so I guess they're still around.

All above said, having been a commercial tyer before, if I was back in the biz again and needed higher quality hackle that supported volume production, I'm not sure Emporium would be my supplier of choice, but I'd give them a look because as it is now I haven't given them a fair shake on that scale.

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DCof ... You don't like making public complaints, but it's the first post you make here?

 

 

I absolutely never see the point of a post like this. So what if he hasn't posted before, now, he wants to, and there is nothing wrong with his doing so. On many boards, there are those who never post; they read. Some enjoy doing that, and I know some who think that if they post, they will be ridiculed by others. Ring a bell?

 

I have seen the same response at other times on flytyingforum and see no reason for it. If someone says something offensive, that is another matter. Call them down, but if someone has been wronged, posts to tell others who might want to know so they can protect their assets or learn of a problem, that is probably no one else's business.

 

This applies no matter the subject or what board on which they post.

 

I'll say welcome; don't be a stranger. I had the same problem with Feather Emporium, but finally received my product, nearly $400.00s worth, after complaining here. The feathers are great; I am using them now. It just took a while, a few e-mails, a few calls, and this thread to finally get it done.

 

I believe the owner's feathers are good quality, but he needs to improve his correspondence and service. I think the largest problem is he is, or was, a one man shop; it is nearly impossible to do everything when you are a world-wide, internet business.

 

Ray

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and...I do like to support the one man shops in this industry, as long as they're giving it a good effort and not blowing me off.

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Harold, why is it that you only quote part of my post? The part that was intended as sarcasm.

I went on to tell him that he can get his money back through pay pal.

 

I don't have a problem with people who want to read ... but those people also don't have to "join". I do take issue with people who do not introduce themselves before becoming an active participant in the threads ... especially when the very first post is the epitome of an oxymoron.

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