D.O.A. Inquiry

[Robyn@SYR]

With the bump, this old thread caught my eye...

We are working now on Terms and Conditions for live arrival insurance for ShipYourReptiles.com. I am going to incorporate the video suggestion as proof of DOA into the requirements, that is an excellent idea.

As for this particular DOA, from a breeder's perspective, requiring someone to return a DOA seemed like a good idea in the beginning, but in the end, it's not. It just adds expense, inconvenience, more heartache, and being such a rare occurrence, if I think it is a scam, then I would just not do business with that person again.

They MUST be there for the first delivery attempt though. No excuses for missing it, or not noticing the package has been left at the door for the last 4 hours. Be alert and anticipate the package arrival, ALWAYS.

That said, it has been perhaps 2 years since our last shipment DOA at Pro Exotics, and that is with perhaps a thousand animals shipped each year. It is a very rare occurrence, as long as we use appropriate packaging, and watch for inappropriate weather.

For something that happens so infrequently, I have to chalk it up to bad luck, make the refund, and do it with a smile. I may ask for a pic, they may volunteer one, and typically a dead and limp snake in hand is all the visual info I need. I don't ask the customer to jump through further hoops, nor do I look to incur more shipping costs for a dead animal that has no further use.

I suppose you could try and keep the animal from rotting and do a necropsy, but that is another two or three hundred dollars, and again, with the rarity of the situation, I am just looking to make it right for the customer.

DOAs may happen, but they should be INCREDIBLY infrequent, and I worry more about the customer's satisfaction and experience, rather than worry about getting more proof (and smelly rotten proof at that) of a sad, dead snake.