guy brought in a deerhide to get tanned, i dry salted it to ship out to the tannery, anyways tannery tells me that the hide was slipping so they tanned it hair off. -so anyways the guy still gets his deerhide back but its buckskin instead of hair on. i know it wasnt my falut or the tannerys-probably bad field care from when he got in it late october. what do i tell this guy and what about money issues-he already paid for it up front. but do i have to give him his $ back?
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Almost everyone has the same clause as your tannery does, you should have it too.
You may want to have a couple of bases covered here; first off, you are not the first one that has had this happened to. I think that I would maybe purchase two or three hides and have them tanned the way he wanted, and have them laying in the shop and offer one for him to pick out, in trade for his failed hide. Maybe offer an option of what he could do with the leather skin such as made into nice gloves, it is best to feel him out first, he may say that it is ok and no big deal, or he may go postal. Some guys would replace it secretly and bet on him not noticing, other guys may say, hey we had a contract so eat it and that is the way it is, sh*t happens.
The main goal is to keep the customer happy; I would not offer the money back, unless he demands it up front. Try to deal so it is a win, win situation.
just want to be able to keep this guy happy. i do like mr.T's advice on haveing a couple spares to exchange for his buckskin just in case. also am pondering just replacing it with another hide and betting on him not noticing, but not sure if i should.
with an out of state customer's coyote hide. He shipped it to me raw from Indiana. It seemed to be in good condition, except for the fact he shot it at close range with a muzzle loader. I sent it off and it returned with huge pieces of missing fur around the pellet holes. It looked like trash. I called him up and was honest with him. "Hey, your coyote didn't tan up well. Can I offer you your money back plus fair market value of a coyote pelt (he wanted a wall hanger) or give you another tanned coyote?" He was so happy that I was willing to work with him that he was willing to accept the fact that his coyote was trashed and that was that. I decied the honorable thing to do was to give him a nice tanned coyote. Know what? He was so tickled that I ened up getting more work from him! Be honest and give your customer options.
Got the caribou cape back from the tannery yesterday, after they warned me it was losing hair. Got it out of the box and shook it a little and hair started to come out from everywhere. The outfitters like to use rock salt to treat the hide and I don't agree with it, should be fine salt like we use. In any case I called the customer up to let him know, and that the cause was bacteria from probably improper care by his outfitter. He then told me he shot it on Thursday and they caped it out, salted it, rolled it up and left it out (no cooler) until they left on Tuesday. He has pictures of camp jays picking on it. Enough said, he agreed to buy a replacement cape if this one in fact is no good after I soak it up...
I too hate it when it happens. But my customers are warned up front and they lose part of their deposit for my labor as a result. I find that when they get stung with this it makes them realy pay attention better to my advice on field caring for their mounts. Main thing is, like Jeanette said, be honest and up front with them. It's the best policy. Seems we covered this topic (to tell or not to tell) recently here.
we keep extra deer hides, cats, yotes etc... Customers don't remember much 6-12 months down the road. They are just excited and tell you the same old story of how they killed it and it must have weighed 50lbs more than the true wieght. No if it is truly a unique hide, then you probably need to tell the truth. Can't replace those unique items.
get caught in a lie one time, and it could destroy your business. They will understand!