Exotic-Pets.co.uk - Feedback Please

[adamntitch]

well there here and are both ok due to karens excellent packing them the heat pad was still warm and both are alive and well even after a night in the depo up here just shows if there pack ok then there fine

[philbaker76]

Originally Posted by adamntitch

well there here and are both ok...

Glad to hear it mate. Cheers, Phil

[sparkle]

is it ok to ask phil..

how it seems all the emails that were about complaints or missing orders seem to have just got lost.. in the ether..

it seems the REASON given for the issues are..

email never received..

and i know im stirring up the issue again but why is it when legal action was threatened etc... the email WAS received for various orders..

im wondering what server problem could be intermittant in that way

if you look at it this way

the peopel with complaints and negative feedback have been given the SAME answer every time..

which is.. BUt we didnt KNOW... we didnt get any email etc

Yet out of ALL those people its obvious we tried emailing and tried contacting..

to be able to process orders the email must have been working .. just seems a bit odd mate xxx

PS.. glad karens reading and things are coming together a bit more..

Improvement where animals are concerned is always a good thing..

[joeyboy]

haven't ordered from the site before, i was looking at it and even though the I've seen bad press on a few forums i was going to anyway, i kinda wanted to be the one to buck the trend so when i do decide to get a lizard I'll order from you guys, especially now your on the forum, has made me 100% confident it will be sorted out if it goes wrong, if emails bounce back the forums will be the place to go!

My only suggestion, which I've sent to you on your comments part but didn't get a response, is that in your starter kits for the following species, i recommend you inform the buyer that the large/large flat faunarium wouldn't be that suitable for the species when it becomes fully adult, I'm listing obvious ones but you might want to look at all your starter kits for possible improvements:

Emperor Scorpion Kit: An adult Emperor Scorpion grows to roughly 25cm, a large flat faunarium has dimensions 46x30x17cm. As you can see this doesn't leave the scorpion a lot of room. I'd recommend something more like 75x50x25 minimum for an adult, since you supply two Emperor Scorpions with the starter kit you really do need something bigger, they aren't really that much of a social scorp to begin with, they'd probably fight, maybe to the death if kept so close, i recommend you supply only one scorpion with the starter kit, if you can get some bigger containers( not exo terra cos i know they don't do bigger plastic ones) suitable for pets in maybe you could sell them separately, recommend they buy one from you when their scorpions near adulthood?

Praying Mantis kit: You only offer a small faunarium with your mantid starter kid, depending on the speices this really wont do. Your average mantid gets to 5-6cm, giant asian and some others can get to 10cm. Mantids need enclosure taller and then they wide and so a small faunarium, even put on it;s side so it's taller, wont do. I recommend you supply the medium faunarium( not flat) and advise the customer to position it so it is tallest. Medium is 30cmx19.5x20. Tell them to rest it on the 19.5 side so the 30cm side is going up. This should be enough room.

Tarantula kit: It should be ok for most tarantulas although if it's an arboreal species like the pinktoes it's going to need something high rather then long.

Frog/Toad kits: I don't know much about frogs and toads, a large faunarium is probably fine though. Unless the species needs high humidity, these aren't so good for that because the lids have so much ventilation. You'd need very regular misting to make sure their ok.

Glad to see your offering affordable flat pack vivariums for the lizards and snakes. I assume however the vivariums have good ventilation and are decent quality( escape proof and the like)

Hope this helps in some way, i really like your site layout though, especially how it says in stock or out of stock next to the animal before you click on it, just start writing for caresheets for what you sell and you'll be a grand place! Maybe you could ask for some caresheets here, especially for lizards and snakes? I bet people here will be happy to help you, I'll be surprised if many caresheets suitable for your site aren't dotted around this forum anyway.( I JUST REALISED THERE'S A CARESHEET SUB-FORUM HERE!! It's got sections for inverts, lizards, snakes! Go ask if you can take some maybe or request one, it seems requests are answered)

Good luck mate, i hope you guys on the forum will try and spread the message this place isn't as bad as people think on too other forums.

[dmrich]

Hi Phil

Here was what I put on a post previously

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/class...-opinions.html

and I note that some of the issues that I raised - you have already corrected - so good on ya both!

Now that there is a telephone number on the site I am more relaxed about buying from the site again, and I did infact call Karen about some frogs about a month ago and she was really helpful and friendly. The first order (only for some livefood and a mantis) that I made (11252) was ordered on 13th November and was not delivered until 6th December - and I had real trouble trying to raise you by email (as there was no phone number then) and it was very frustrating - however it looks like this is now sorted and best of luck with the site because I really like the intention, variety and layout of the site. Just get more photos/caresheets up for each of the animals !

Hope this helps

[philbaker76]

Originally Posted by sparkle

is it ok to ask phil..

how it seems all the emails that were about complaints or missing orders seem to have just got lost.. in the ether..

it seems the REASON given for the issues are..

email never received..

and i know im stirring up the issue again but why is it when legal action was threatened etc... the email WAS received for various orders...

im wondering what server problem could be intermittant in that way

if you look at it this way

the peopel with complaints and negative feedback have been given the SAME answer every time..

which is.. BUt we didnt KNOW... we didnt get any email etc

Yet out of ALL those people its obvious we tried emailing and tried contacting..

to be able to process orders the email must have been working .. just seems a bit odd mate xxx

Hi Sparkle, of course I don't mind you asking - if you're thinking it, other people will be too. And by asking me the question, at least you give me/us an opportunity to respond.

To be honest, I don't know why all the e-mail isn't getting through. And I'd assume it isn't JUST complaints not getting through.

...I can explain some of the late replies though. We have Order, Sales and General enquiries e-mail types.

Order enquiries are dealt with first. If there is an order enquiry, it take priority over all other mail. Usually replied to within 24hrs on week days.

Then Sales enquiries are dealt with (as they are potential sales).

Finally, General enquiries - these can take a week+ to get through (sheer volume) and IF a customer is using a general enquiry to let us know about an order it won't be answered until we get to it.

With mail.server filtering, our own and peoples own filters and firewalls, it would be hard to say WHY it's not all getting through. I just don't know.

Obviously, now we know about the problem - we're building our own mail system into the site, bit like a PM system. ...so every enquiry will have an id number - stored and easily tracked, if need be.

Thanks again Sparkle. Cheers, Phil

Originally Posted by joeyboy

haven't ordered from the site before, i was looking at it and even though the I've seen bad press on a few forums i was going to anyway, i kinda wanted to be the one to buck the trend so when i do decide to get a lizard I'll order from you guys, especially now your on the forum, has made me 100% confident it will be sorted out if it goes wrong, if emails bounce back the forums will be the place to go!

Yeah, if you (or anyone orders) and you have a problem, that you don't feel has been sorted. Let me know with your order number and I'll bring it up with Karen ~ get you some answers.

But please try the usual means of contact first

Originally Posted by joeyboy

My only suggestion, which I've sent to you on your comments part but didn't get a response, is that in your starter kits for the following species, i recommend you inform the buyer that the large/large flat faunarium wouldn't be that suitable for the species when it becomes fully adult, I'm listing obvious ones but you might want to look at all your starter kits for possible improvements:

Emperor Scorpion Kit: An adult Emperor Scorpion grows to roughly 25cm, a large flat faunarium has dimensions 46x30x17cm. As you can see this doesn't leave the scorpion a lot of room. I'd recommend something more like 75x50x25 minimum for an adult, since you supply two Emperor Scorpions with the starter kit you really do need something bigger, they aren't really that much of a social scorp to begin with, they'd probably fight, maybe to the death if kept so close, i recommend you supply only one scorpion with the starter kit, if you can get some bigger containers( not exo terra cos i know they don't do bigger plastic ones) suitable for pets in maybe you could sell them separately, recommend they buy one from you when their scorpions near adulthood?

Praying Mantis kit: You only offer a small faunarium with your mantid starter kid, depending on the speices this really wont do. Your average mantid gets to 5-6cm, giant asian and some others can get to 10cm. Mantids need enclosure taller and then they wide and so a small faunarium, even put on it;s side so it's taller, wont do. I recommend you supply the medium faunarium( not flat) and advise the customer to position it so it is tallest. Medium is 30cmx19.5x20. Tell them to rest it on the 19.5 side so the 30cm side is going up. This should be enough room.

Tarantula kit: It should be ok for most tarantulas although if it's an arboreal species like the pinktoes it's going to need something high rather then long.

Frog/Toad kits: I don't know much about frogs and toads, a large faunarium is probably fine though. Unless the species needs high humidity, these aren't so good for that because the lids have so much ventilation. You'd need very regular misting to make sure their ok.

Glad to see your offering affordable flat pack vivariums for the lizards and snakes. I assume however the vivariums have good ventilation and are decent quality( escape proof and the like)

Hope this helps in some way, i really like your site layout though, especially how it says in stock or out of stock next to the animal before you click on it, just start writing for caresheets for what you sell and you'll be a grand place! Maybe you could ask for some caresheets here, especially for lizards and snakes? I bet people here will be happy to help you, I'll be surprised if many caresheets suitable for your site aren't dotted around this forum anyway.( I JUST REALISED THERE'S A CARESHEET SUB-FORUM HERE!! It's got sections for inverts, lizards, snakes! Go ask if you can take some maybe or request one, it seems requests are answered)

Good luck mate, i hope you guys on the forum will try and spread the message this place isn't as bad as people think on too other forums.

Thanks mate, the availability highlight thing was suggested by RFUK memebers.

I can't comment on the starter kits, but I'll pass on your feedback. Thanks for taking the time to post mate! Karen's done some new caresheets, so I'll post them - for some reviews. And, when I'm online at home - I'll go through some of the older caresheets myself.

Again, thanks for the feedback mate.

Originally Posted by dmrich

Hi Phil

Here was what I put on a post previously

http://www.reptileforums.co.uk/class...-opinions.html

and I note that some of the issues that I raised - you have already corrected - so good on ya both!

Now that there is a telephone number on the site I am more relaxed about buying from the site again, and I did infact call Karen about some frogs about a month ago and she was really helpful and friendly. The first order (only for some livefood and a mantis) that I made (11252) was ordered on 13th November and was not delivered until 6th December - and I had real trouble trying to raise you by email (as there was no phone number then) and it was very frustrating - however it looks like this is now sorted and best of luck with the site because I really like the intention, variety and layout of the site. Just get more photos/caresheets up for each of the animals !

Hope this helps

Thanks mate ...yeah, I'm going to personally help get some caresheets on in the next couple of months.

To my knowledge all order are sent out well within the 10 working day deadline we give ourselves (companies have 30 days).

If there are delays/problems supplier side, Karen contacts the customer ASAP.

There are sometimes delays in winter, due to weather conditions. The amount of people that tell Karen to just "risk it!" is shocking - rest-assured she NEVER puts the animals at risk.

Businesss is growing (company is 3yrs old this September), we didn't have a landline set-up last year - and the mobile wasn't ideal.

Since early 2008 we have a new larger building, all kitted out for more pets. Karen is there EVERY day, feeding, cleaning, packaging and answering the phone (unless she's up-to-her-eyes in animals - if so, try later or e-mail ...but I'd say try later - until we sort our new e-mail thing ...later today all being well).

Also, we're trialing an Order Survey (something we developed before I came on the forum) - we've had our first one though today, and it's not all good (for some livefood and dish) ...so, please keep posting me your feedback.

Cheers, Phil

[sparkle]

fankoo phil..

a few peeps had said it to me too LOL

im just cheeky enough to ask...

well lets just say this.. whatever the reason if things are being tightened up fixed and altered for the better then thats ALL good..

id say this thread is a good PR operation too it shows some degree of caring and willing to change..

strive not to be better than u were but better than u thought u could be

[philbaker76]

Originally Posted by sparkle

a few peeps had said it to me too LOL
im just cheeky enough to ask...

Glad someone is Sparkle
...let me know if you hear anything else mate.
Cheers, Phil

[ladybird]

Why is there so much wild caught stuff? It might be more appealing to have more captive bred animals. A lot of people don't want to support animals being captured from the wild. Species such as White's tree frogs shouldn't be wild caught, there are plenty captive bred in this country, so why are you still doing it?

[retri]

Think its very good to see this post, someone who is actually asking for feedback, and hopefully paying attention to it.

My views are similar to most, the fact that everything of interest turns out to be out of stock, and the lay out of the site is a little too complicated.

Great to see something being done, always nice to see people trying to improve, this shows great business sense