Feather Emporium ??????

[TheCream 0]

 

This is what I ordered on May 2nd

 

... on a ladder painting and he would call back ...

 

... He was chasing his dog that was loose ...

 

... he said that he had been sick and that he was behind ...

If he is a one man operation ... then it's possible these are actual reasons, and not just hollow excuses. it's been three weeks since you ordered ... and many companies claim "...expect your package in 3 to 6 weeks." I usually don't expect anything to arrive before the 4 week buffer. Earlier is then icing on the cake.

 

I've never ordered from F.E. so I am not defending ... just saying.

 

 

With all due respect, Mike, in this day and age a 4 week buffer is ridiculous. I live in Ohio. I have ordered from stores in New England, St Louis, Oregon, Utah...none of them took more than about 5-7 business days to get a package to me. And this is with "standard" shipping, I don't pay to expedite. I ordered from FlyFishFood on May 15. The order shipped on May 16. The order arrived on may 19. Utah to Ohio in less than a week. The places I order from consistently (no real local fly shop near me) continue to get my business because they show me they care about their business by running it well. If Feather Emporium is accepting payment for something they are selling, then not getting it sent out or communicating with customers that there is an issue, then they don't seem to be running their business well. If it's one of those "one man show" excuses, then clearly one person can't operate the business. So, get help or stop.

[flytire 0]

i agree with jeff above

 

i have received orders from bears den, jstockard, competitive angler, performance flies in less than a week. bears den shows a shipping charge on the order page but they only charge the actual rate from the post office

 

i just ordered 2 hats from whiting farms and that was 2 days to my door

 

i have ordered from feather emporium (in the past, not lately) and never had a problem with them

[mikechell 0]

I don't disagree with you guys ... most of my online orders are here within a week, too. I am always "excited" when a package come in "early".

But I don't get upset until after 4 weeks.

I do disagree, however, with your statement, "So, get help or stop."

 

With the shear number of online businesses, a one man operation is normal. But many of those aren't profitable enough to support a family ... rather are a second form of income. I can't expect them to keep to the same time schedules as brick-and-mortars with online sales staff.

 

Fly Tyer's Dungeon is another one man operation, and he's usually right on time ... but slips once in a while. Again, I don't hold that against him.

 

Maybe I am just more patient, more forgiving or less concerned than most. 4 weeks or so is an acceptable turn around for me.

[TheCream 0]

i agree with jeff above

 

i have received orders from bears den, jstockard, competitive angler, performance flies in less than a week. bears den shows a shipping charge on the order page but they only charge the actual rate from the post office

 

i just ordered 2 hats from whiting farms and that was 2 days to my door

 

i have ordered from feather emporium (in the past, not lately) and never had a problem with them

 

I'm framing this.

 

 

I don't disagree with you guys ... most of my online orders are here within a week, too. I am always "excited" when a package come in "early".

But I don't get upset until after 4 weeks.

I do disagree, however, with your statement, "So, get help or stop."

 

With the shear number of online businesses, a one man operation is normal. But many of those aren't profitable enough to support a family ... rather are a second form of income. I can't expect them to keep to the same time schedules as brick-and-mortars with online sales staff.

 

Fly Tyer's Dungeon is another one man operation, and he's usually right on time ... but slips once in a while. Again, I don't hold that against him.

 

Maybe I am just more patient, more forgiving or less concerned than most. 4 weeks or so is an acceptable turn around for me.

 

I'm sorry if you thought I was blunt, but this is the way I look at it:

 

1. It's a business, not a hobby. You're taking someone's money, do your part.
2. I am in the post office enough to know it doesn't take that long to get a package across the nation.
3. Put the stuff someone paid for in a box, address it, get it to the post office.
4. If you can't deal with the volume of orders, re-evaluate what you're doing.

I'm not an incredibly impatient person. I don't order something and have to have it ASAP, but I also don't tolerate laziness well. I've discussed my experience on here in the past with Fly Tyers Dungeon, which is pretty similar to the original post in this thread. I got run-around, I got excuses, he got my money. I understand life getting busy, but if everyday things keep you from operating your business like a business and not a hobby, maybe you shouldn't be doing it?

[Sandan 0]

I've ordered multiple things from David @ Feather Emporium. Capes, hun skins, CDL capes and some other things. I've been nothing but pleased with the prices and quality. Shipping has been right on time also.

[mikechell 0]

We don't disagree on much, Cream. But we'll just have to agree to disagree on this point. Home businesses rarely run as smoothly as "professional" ones. I get the feeling F.E. and FTD are both more home than pro.

 

Back when I was very young, my Mom tried to run a ceramics (pottery) business. It got pretty busy for a while, and the pressures started getting to her.

Too often, someone's project would blow up in the kiln, and take other people's creations with it. She'd do a pouring and the "slip" wouldn't be perfect. There were a few other things that could ruin a good day.

She finally gave up and sold off everything. Sad to see it.

So, I give an extra break to people trying to run a business and give us super low prices at the same time. If brick-and-mortars sold stuff at the same prices, it'd be different. But for the price, I'm willing to overlook a slow delivery.

[ralphs007 0]

I contacted paypal, who contacted Feather Emporium about my order.It turns out for an order under $25.00 you have to pay a $2.61 tracking fee. I had no idea,since I hit add to cart,and then I hit check out. I was taken to paypal,where I sent the required amount.If I would have ordered at least $25.00 worth of stuff,there would have been no problem with the order.

When it's under $25.00, you also have to wait for Dave to send you an invoice for the tracking fee of $2.61.He never sent me the invoice to pay for the tracking fee,and that's what caused the delay.

So I'll have to take some of the blame for being so cheap with my order

P.S

It probably says something on his web site about the tracking fee on orders under $25.00 but I missed it.

[Striperknight 0]

It takes less than a min to reply to an e-mail to give a status.

[Fisherboy0301 0]

I've ordered multiple things from David @ Feather Emporium. Capes, hun skins, CDL capes and some other things. I've been nothing but pleased with the prices and quality. Shipping has been right on time also.

 

I've also ordered numerous times, and I have had nothing but superb service. Maybe I'm just lucky. Who knows.

[mybadhabit 0]

Being a small business owner, I know what it's like to be cruising along and everything is going smoothly and then someone or some thing throws a monkey wrench into your life. I happens more often than I'd like, but I deal with it the best I can. There are times when someone isn't going to be happy with what happens and that is usually avoidable, but not always, and they get their feeling hurt or just get pissed off. I know that I highly value my customers, since each one pays me well, I do my very best to make sure that they stay happy. I'm guessing that FE isn't making off each customer what I do, so their customer service level of attention may not be as great as mine, but there is no excuse for putting a paying customer off, at any cost. This thread is a prime example of why customer service is such a major thing now, because one never knows how one person can affect your business long term. This thread may end up costing him hundreds of dollars in the long run and he will have no idea why, or he may read this and see his blunder, the wonders of the net will never cease.

 

My view on it is, if it can be taken care of then no harm, no foul, but if there is obvious disregard for services that I've paid for then I would have a problem. The thing is, that if that problem can be worked out to my satisfaction, then I will still do business with them, if not then I need to take a look at the cost/problem relationship. Is an inexpensive product worth the stress, that paying less for something brings, or should I go with a higher price and better service, all boils down to what "I" choose to deal with. Do I want or need the stress of this vendor or not. I try and keep most of the stress out of my life now, it's just not worth my time to be stressing or little crap that I can avoid.

 

Since stress causes heart issues, I try and eliminate as much of it as I can, it's just not worth it, no matter what the cost.

 

Blane

[flyty1 0]

I guess with all of the comments, if he has what you want in stock - should be no problem. Hovever, special orders / dye jobs could take a long to very long time. Is there a reliable form of communication with him?

[David 82nd 0]

Hmm , I've ordered a few times from him , usually prompt and the orders were all quality , my last order took a while longer , I called him , he apologized saying he had pneumonia, was behind schedule but was trying to catch up on orders , this is the time frame around when others said their orders were late? , The guy apologized offered my money back , told me he works alone and was running behind from illness , my order was at my house three days later ...... I'll give him the break , being a one man show can be tough IMO. Then to get sick and fall behind on orders has to be a hurdle , I'll order again , he was honest with me on the phone , offered my money back and apologized. ...just my experience ,

[bulb 0]

Hey all ordered five dryfly capes and some large peacock eyes a couple of weeks ago and when i got back home last week the stuff was waiting for me in the mail, I live in sweden so was a little concerned about shipping etc. The capes were in unmarked bags and of good quality. As a reference they were of slightly lower quality compared to two whiting bronze capes I've tied with in the past but definately usable for all intents and purposes. My only conplaint is that on the website it says that for orders over 125 usd shipping internationally a complementary whiting 100's pack will be included, and this I never recieved despite specifying feather size for the 100's pack in an email.

[ihang10 0]

I love this thread.

[flytire 0]

oh my