| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| jocorless |
LPH Poultry -Anyone had dealings with themI ordered some Silver Wyandotte eggs from them earlier this week -http://www.lphpoultry.co.uk/shop/shop.php?c=viewproduct&pid=238&cat=23&maincat=8&start=0&sid=side32b001a7998747e22e83a567be4240c Now these are very expensive eggs at £30 for 6 but I really wanted this strain as they are very pretty but they've not yet turned up and I wanted to set them this weekend! I have tried ringing them - Land line not working and the mobile on answerphone - I really am not happy at all and wondered if anyone had dealt with them before and whether they had any problems - after the disastrous hatch rate with the eggs from Poultry Mill - 3 viable from 12 I was hoping for a bit of luck with these |
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| Chez |
I've not had anything to do with them ... their website is nice, isn't it? They have chocolate orpington eggs for £200, which gave me the wiggins a bit  .
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| Bebo |
And only bantam ones as well. Can't believe they want 40 quid for half a dozen gold laced orpington eggs either.
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| jocorless |
Well he finally called me back unfortunately I was in a meeting at the time and missed his call!
He was very rude on the phone and said that if I thought that the eggs were too expensive - he would refund me the money - I did think the eggs were expensive but I wouldn't have bought them if I didn't actually want them! He also said that if I had wanted the eggs urgently that I should have contacted him first to see if they were available - Now considering that the website said there was a maximum of 3 days for despatch one would have thought that if he had more orders than he could fulfil in that time that he could have sent a simple e-mail explaining the problem rather than no contact at all - It's simply good customer practice especially when dealing with such expensive eggs - I then could have made an informed decision It does annoy me when folk who are supposedly running a business don't pay any attention to customer service I've rung him back and left a message saying that if I am not going to receive the eggs by tomorrow I want a refund |
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| LadyFarmer |
If you want silver laced bantam wyandotte eggs I have some, mine have the double lacing strain and certainly are not priced at that amount....also have other wyandottes, and even with a broken ankle I can post out quickly! | ||||||||||||
| jocorless |
Thank you for the offer but I wanted large fowl eggs - I've decided to leave it for now thanks - they are refunding me my purchase cost as it will be another 5 or 6 days before they could send my order out | ||||||||||||
| LadyFarmer |
No problem, sorry didn't read your post correctly, we only have buff orpingtons and black minorcas in large fowl | ||||||||||||
| Lorrainelovesplants |
For your info - a very reliable source close to me has said that thischappy is ALLEGEDLY the one who has caused the Pekin bantams site to close. You are one of many who ordeed and paid for eggs that faild to arrive (ALLEGEDLY).
Now, I am using the word ALLEGEDLY as I am passing on info from a friend, and there could well be some other satisfactory info. Buyer beware....................... |
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| spicycauldron |
The Pekin bantams site has closed? When did that happen? Why? Feel free to pepper a response with words like 'allegedly' and 'claimed'. 
I'm not sure which one you mean, either. .com and .co.uk are still up and running? Plus there's a link from the LPH page at the bottom, to the pekinbantams.com site that apparently maintains that one... Chocolate Orps are only available as bantams, and the prices are crazy everywhere. But LPH prices on all breeds seem rather high. I mean, six Light Sussex eggs for £16????? |
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| Woodburner |
Pekin bantams has completely changed and a lot of useful stuff that was on the old site has gone. | ||||||||||||
| Lorrainelovesplants |
I cant add any more as I dont know any more.
Perhaps people on here who used to be on the forum there know more? The other way to perhaps get more info on the LPH situatin is to email the disgruntled buyers via ebay? Im sure if they were genuine chicken lovers the would be happy to expose a less than honest seller? |
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| LPH Poultry |
Libel
Our landline is cut off due to phone calls in out of hours business as we are a small business everything runs from home and is pretty annoying when you get phone calls through dinner etc
Please view quote from my site under hatching egg section
where you got 3 days dispatch from i cannot see anywhere? Hope this clears up everything and gives a perspective from the other side. Many Thanks Leon |
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| sean |
Probably from your delivery charges section. Here. | ||||||||||||
| jocorless |
Yes it was from the delivery page - You really need to ensure that the information on your hatching eggs page is on the delivery details pages as well - I never actually went to the hatching eggs page until after the debacle began - I came straight to the Silver Wynadottes page from Google - so hadn't seen that information - You could also have put the information on the order summary page - so that I would have seen it there - Again giving me an informed choice
Also an e-mail once you'd received my order explaining the current waiting time would have been appreciated - takes very little time but makes the customer feel wanted and appreciated - I understand you are running a business from home and its very busy but manners and customer service cost nothing and reap massive benefits - Something small businesses often forget at their cost I have to say - I did eventually get my money back - although it took nearly a week after cancelling my order before they could be bothered - Sad because I would have loved some of those eggs as the Silver Wyandottes and the Blue Wyandottes are simply gorgeous |
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| GSHP |
I don't normally get involved in debates but we are a small business which is run from home. 'Out of hours' phone calls go with the job, surely ? Anytime from 6.30 am until after 11 pm. weekends included. We have the answer phone set up for times when we are unable to take a call. | ||||||||||||
| mochyn |
Same here when I was in business. I'm afrain it goes with the territory. If you want phone calls only in pre-set hours work in a call centre. |
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| judith |
I disagree. I think you are entitled not to take calls at all hours of the day and night, but you do need an answering machine that clearly states your business hours. And you do need to return calls promptly within those hours.
(Working with Germany cured me of the "must be accessible at all times" approach - I can barely speak English at 6.45 in the morning, let alone German!!) |
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| mochyn |
I think, had I been dealing with companies, that would have worked, but almost all my work was for private individuals, so the calls came in (mainly) in the evenings or at weekends. Not at 6:45 a.m., though. Thank goodness. |
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| judith |
I take your point about individuals as opposed to companies. But I think you can still use an answering machine and act professionally - state your business hours on the message, ask the caller to leave message and a good time to ring them back and make sure that you do ring them back.
It is the leaving people in limbo part that is unprofessional, rather than trying to have some control over your personal life! |
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| GSHP |
In our case .. a small family building firm ... my husband leaves the house at 7am and often doesn't return before 7pm. Many areas are out of mobile range so regular customers and contractors know to call him before or after these times. Some are emergency calls during storms etc. others especially weekends and holidays are from second home owners. It's the way it goes. I do agree the most important part of customer service is returning missed calls promptly and keeping a good line of communication open. There is nothing more frustrating as a customer than not knowing what is happening. | ||||||||||||
| mochyn |
Absolutely. |
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| LPH Poultry |
PostI totally agree with what has been said, but when you are a 1 man band its very hard to perfect everything.Jocorless : i remeber the phone call clearly you where very agressive and pushy on the phone, the first thing you told me was "the eggs are very expensive and over priced" its not really the best way to start a conversation. So i decided not to deal with you and give you a full refund as i had bad feelings around the deal. |
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| bodger |
Is name and shame such a good idea on a public forum ?
There are always two sides of a story and it must be quite daunting for someone trying to make a living to have to come onto a strange forum and have to defend themselves against someone who has rightly or wrongly defamed their reputation. As a total newcomer, I wouldn't like to have to come onto a new forum and try and hold someone to acount amongst a midst what maybe a hoard of their friends. A reputation can take years to build but only a short time to destroy. |
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| Chez |
I think it's important to hear both sides of a story. I would rather it was done in public than by private message, I guess; if I were in the seller's position. At least you have a chance to put your side of the story on an open forum rather than having no idea what is being said about you.
I am absolutely certain that everyone who runs a business has messed up or had something mess up at some point. What you do to put it right is just as important (more, IMO) than what goes wrong in the first place. As for the phone calls - I grew up in an 'open all hours' business. I agree with Judith - so long as you say "I can only return phone calls every second Tuesday when the moon is full" then that is fine. Everyone is entitled to some kind of personal life. It can be very detrimental to family life otherwise. |
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| Brownbear |
Re: Post
People tend to get cross when you take their money and don't deliver the goods. A chance to redeem the situation, soothe ruffled feelings, apologise, make good etc has been thrown away, and instead you offer an earful to her online. I'd advise a serious rethink of your customer service policy. |
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| Tavascarow |
Re: Libel
Can I suggest when you receive an order & not able to dispatch immediately you message the customer & explain the delay & when you anticipate you will be able to deliver. That way the customer isn't in limbo land wondering what's happening to their order & a polite message can soothe nerves. I would be angry if I had paid good money & waited a fortnight without explanation when it states on your site dispatch within 3 days. |
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| LPH Poultry |
All i ask is to be spoken to how you would want to be spoken to, just give that a think through before resorting to online bullying! | ||||||||||||
| LPH Poultry |
It states clearly in the Hatching egg section, that you must contact me if you require the eggs quickly! what more can i do??, its common sense that Non deadstock ie hatching eggs and poultry cannot be kept on shelves like tellys ready to dispatch as soon as a sale comes in eggs have to be collected fresh.
However i have taken note and in future will email customers regarding hatching eggs. |
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| Rusticwood |
I also run a business from home and also get 'out of hours' calls these are answered politely at all times |
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| bagpuss |
If a business website contains inconsistent information it can be difficult for the customer to know what to expect This page http://www.lphpoultry.co.uk/shop/shop.php?maincat=8&sid=sidb9d5d933ef8966d6231f4f7e4f190472 Says
But this page http://www.lphpoultry.co.uk/shop/shop.php?sid=sidb9d5d933ef8966d6231f4f7e4f190472&c=ex&page=8
This means if customers read the delivery page and not the hatching page they might expect a more rapid response. It might be a good idea to edit your delivery page to add the information about a wait of up to 2 weeks so people don't get confused |
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| jocorless |
Re: Post
I was annoyed but that was because I'd struggled to get hold of you - when I did - I didn't say the eggs were overpriced - I said they were expensive - big difference - It's a bit worrying when you buy from someone you've never dealt with before and they are impossible to get hold of and has taken £30 from you for 6 eggs I'm highly computer literate and an IT professsional - despite that I missed the information on the hatching eggs page - that's why it should be on the despatch details page as well- If I had seen it - I wouldn't have ordered from you in the first place as I needed the eggs for the weekend - as they were going into the incubator with some other eggs that a friend was hatching - If I'd seen the information I would have held off ordering until the incubator was free On reflection - yes I probably could have handled the situation better but I also really do think you let yourself down badly when it came to communication - I'd sent you more than one e-mail about the order first before I'd rung you - none of which you ever answered The situation was resolved to neither persons satisfaction - I've still not got any nice Silver Laced Wyandotte large fowl - your birds are really beautiful and you are down £30 for an order |
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| paulandpatinmanche |
We're a bit new to this as well, but may we make a suggestion?
Jocorless is an IT professional and probably knows his/her way around a website, how to make alterations in order to make it more user friendly etc and could possibly do this a lot more quickly or easily than LPH poultry. Why not suggest / make the necessary alterations, and instead of payment in cash, take payment in eggs? Could this be a good way out for everyone, saving LPH possible aggro in the future? Only a suggestion!
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| bodger |
Good chicken keeping doesn't always go hand in hand with being a fantastic business person, communicator and computer wizard. The same can be said in reverse about computer wizards. | ||||||||||||
| kirstyfern |
I always have the answerphone on as I am often driving / with the animals / working my other job during the day.
Unfortunately I don't always get back to people as quickly as they would like but I do now say on my website that it is better to email / text me 
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| Brownbear |
In some ways, it's better to over-estimate the time that deliveries can take, if there is doubt. A person will be delighted with faster than expected service, and severely displeased with slower than expected. But the main thing is communication.
Tell people when they can expect their stuff, then tell them again when you send it. Some of the courier firms now do this as a matter of course; UPS emails the client when you ship it, mails all concerned if there is a delay, and emails you when the delivery is made. |
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| RichardW |
But sadly fail every single time to actually deliver to us for the first 2 or even 3 attempts (and they dont email us). The "local" depot is just to far away to give good service here. They do ok in the local town but run out of time in the sticks. They use lots of excuses like we cant find you (thats odd you have been before & you have our phone number so you can ask), it was not loaded on the van, the van has been in a crash, cant get to you due to the snow (when we had had no snow at all). Funny how it all happens on the days we have parcels with them. Here they are the worst courier to have a delivery from. |
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| bodger |
Chickens are not machines and fancy breeds can be particularly unreliable when it comes to laying eggs. In this sort of business therefore, allowances must be made.
I don't know the business thats being battered, but both parties should be aware of these uncertainties from the outset. This should be made clear through information being made available by the vendor and also by the vendee reading and understanding the agreement they are entering into. Poor communication and a lack of due diligence from either party is simply bad manners and bad business. |
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| LPH Poultry |
eggsWell if your still after them i have them in lay and very fertile at the minute, i could also pop 6 in the post monday morning for delivery tuesday. Last customer hatched 9 from 12 on new years eve.Thanks Leon P.s i have emailed my web designer to edit dispatch page, this page really is only relevant for all deadstock and not livestock but i realise its not 100% clear. |
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| Chez |
Are you going to stick around, LPH? Always nice to have more Poultry Nerds on board 
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| foxy |
well this is only my 2nd post (hopefully of many!!) 
Actually I have had dealings with LPH poultry, although I doubt Leon remembers me. I had sold him a quartet of nice birds(faverolles) and had arranged to meet him at Salisbury Auction. He took one look at my birds and promptly gave me an extra £5.00 for them as he thought they were worth it! We then had a lovely chat about dogs, he had a gorgeous and very well trained German shorthairer pointer. Sometimes its good to get a different perspective, oh I am hopeless at answering the phone at home, usually outside with my ducks and chickens
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| jocorless |
Re: eggs
That's really good to hear - Thank you for taking the criticism's on board |