New snake advice. Who to ask?

[muddoc]

I have been getting a rash of questions lately about issues they are having with their new snake. The most frequent asked question I have been getting revolves around feeding. Let me state that the specific scenario I am speaking of is questions from people via, phone call, e-mail and PM, and these people are not asking me about a snake they bought from me. Many of these people have actually never been customers of mine in the past at all. With all of that said, my question for further discussion is where do you go with these types of questions? Do you go to the breeder, a forum or just a trusted breeder? Below are my two views on the subject. They may spark a little debate in themselves, and revolve around the two biggest reasons I don't like giving advice in this type of scenario.

1) I prefer not to give out advice to someone that is asking about their animal that they didn't get from me, because if I give advice that ends up harming the animal in some way, or causes some other issue, the actual seller may disagree with my advice, and render the customers guarantee void. For example, if I sell someone a snake (I do not post up or ship an animal that hasn't eaten at least three meals on it's own in a row) that they claim won't eat, and their good friend tells them to force feed it, and it regurgitates and dies after said force feeding, I will not do anything for them. My recommendations would have gone more down the path of check your husbandry, and either you are feeding the wrong type of meal, or maybe the meal is too large or small. In essence, I think the best contact in a situation like this would be with the seller, as the issue can then be noted by them and tracked for future resolution if the problem persists.

2) This reason I don't like giving out advice, is where it may get a bit controversial, but I have been aggravated by this for quite some time. I know, and all of my customers can attest to this, that service after the sale is one of the biggest things I strive for. I have had many people tell me that my animals are slightly higher than what they can get elsewhere, but they know they can call me for anything for years to come. Why should I spend my time to help someone with a problem that they acquired from someone else. I think the guy that made the money off of the sale should have to spend his time answering questions and trying to solve the situation. With that said, many people on this forum know that I have always been very open with information, and I definitely don't want anyone to think for a second that I would let someone or their snake suffer because they couldn't get help. My first recommendation is to go back to the breeder/dealer, and get their input. If for any reason they won't help or the person thinks the advice is poor, I will do everything in my power to ensure that that animal doesn't fail to thrive.

I guess my parting comment is to remember that service is part of what you pay for when you buy a snake, so make sure that the person you buy from is not only going to supply you with a healthy, quality snake, but also service after the sale that meets your standards. And also remember that the safest thing to do if you have a problem is to contact the breeder/dealer FIRST.

Thanks for taking the time to read my long-winded post,

[BigJ]

Good read, I think both of your thoughts are right on track. I would never refuse advise, for the animals behalf, however I will always refer them to the breeder/seller that they originally purchased the animal from.

I think I would even take it one more step however. If contacting the seller failed I would recommend they hop on the forums and do some reading, and then ask for my clarification if something was not making sense to them. I would give them the link to a good husbandry page and inform them to ask me any questions after giving a thorough read-through!

[angllady2]

I agree with you completely.

As a relatively new breeder, I haven't had to deal with this as much, but I have already had people who know I'm into snakes asking me for advice. The thing is, I'm not comfortable telling people what to do with an animal they did not get from me. And just as annoying, they ask me about an animal the did get from me, then deliberately ignore my advise. Then they whine to me when things go wrong.

Gale

[kitedemon]

I think there is a time and place for exchange of information. I believe forums like this are the place to ask the questions like those whom are contacting you. your choice if you want to respond or not. It seems to be assumptions that just because you are a breeder with good standing you should answer everybody's questions. personally i would just redirect questions from not clients to an open forum and allow the forum to sort it out. the controversial stuff well will spark a debate and clearly offer that there is no clear answer the clearly incorrect stuff will be quickly corrected and everyone will say the same (remember the post about feeding royals crickets?)

If you choose to share your knowledge on a forum great if not some one else will.

the real killer is do people whom have asked questions before a sale about a snake from where ever come back later and buy from you? Will by passing the 'buck' actually be passing the 'buck' potential future client to someone else.

i don't have an answer but personally with the sale of any commitment on my part (animals or big ticket items) I often pick a few places (or clerks) ask lots of questions and partially decide whom was forth coming with fair good opinions (not blind questions but ones I have a good idea of what is correct and what is not) If I can trust a store or clerk with a good truthful opinion I can trust them with my cash and my business current and future. honest fair and standing behind products (any product) is worth extra cash. They only way i know of really finding that is per sale support. I can't say everybody (anybody) does this and I don't know how to separate the are you someone good to deal with questions from the I am gonna email this guy he seems to know what he is doing ones.

as a consumer and business person myself I don't have a good answer or even if it makes a difference. Turning people away unanswered or suggesting they go to person they bought the snake might result in "he never answers emails! Told me to ask someone else!" there is a chance it could backfire upon your reputation. Just something to think about. It looks like a rock and a hard place problem from where I sit.

[zeion97]

I think there is a time and place for exchange of information. I believe forums like this are the place to ask the questions like those whom are contacting you. your choice if you want to respond or not. It seems to be assumptions that just because you are a breeder with good standing you should answer everybody's questions. personally i would just redirect questions from not clients to an open forum and allow the forum to sort it out. the controversial stuff well will spark a debate and clearly offer that there is no clear answer the clearly incorrect stuff will be quickly corrected and everyone will say the same (remember the post about feeding royals crickets?)

If you choose to share your knowledge on a forum great if not some one else will.

the real killer is do people whom have asked questions before a sale about a snake from where ever come back later and buy from you? Will by passing the 'buck' actually be passing the 'buck' potential future client to someone else.

i don't have an answer but personally with the sale of any commitment on my part (animals or big ticket items) I often pick a few places (or clerks) ask lots of questions and partially decide whom was forth coming with fair good opinions (not blind questions but ones I have a good idea of what is correct and what is not) If I can trust a store or clerk with a good truthful opinion I can trust them with my cash and my business current and future. honest fair and standing behind products (any product) is worth extra cash. They only way i know of really finding that is per sale support. I can't say everybody (anybody) does this and I don't know how to separate the are you someone good to deal with questions from the I am gonna email this guy he seems to know what he is doing ones.

as a consumer and business person myself I don't have a good answer or even if it makes a difference. Turning people away unanswered or suggesting they go to person they bought the snake might result in "he never answers emails! Told me to ask someone else!" there is a chance it could backfire upon your reputation. Just something to think about. It looks like a rock and a hard place problem from where I sit.

That's really what it is, a rock and a hard place. I don't breed yet, so I can't add anything to that.. But i know this feeling. Whenever I get asked about husbandry I answer to the best of my knowldge but I never lie. When it comes back to "this guy told me this" I don't really know how to go from there... If the person buys from a bad shop, and gets there advice there as well, it's going to be most likely bad advice.. The best we can do is educate people without bashing another "seller/breeder" but in doing so we also open a door to be ridiculed because we gave advice to someone who didn't buy from "us"

Sorry, not proclaiming myself a breeder, I used "us" as a simple term for people who do breed.

And to you Tim. Very nice post. And I will say I will buy from you in confidence, wether your price be 10% or even 15% higher. You have nothing but good reviews and care for your animals, to add to it you always answer any question. I will be proud to call one of my babies and "Bailey Baby" as I said before. I just don't know when yet..lol. I keep getting tapped by little thing.

Again, very good post.

[DellaF]

I'm not a breeder and I'm not the smartest snake keeper. Just about everything I know about BPs I have learned on this forum. I understand how you can get frustrated about your question situation but just remember your advice could possibly help a from becoming a craigslist rescue.

[muddoc]

Turning people away unanswered or suggesting they go to person they bought the snake might result in "he never answers emails! Told me to ask someone else!" there is a chance it could backfire upon your reputation. Just something to think about. It looks like a rock and a hard place problem from where I sit.

Great replies everyone. Thanks for reading my long post. The quote above, was actually addressed in my original typing of this post (for some reason it didn't post, and I hadn't copied the long post, so it was lost). Great that you brought it up, as this has always been my biggest concern when handling these situations. I know for a fact that I have gained customers by helping them with something that they got from someone else. However, I also know that I spent numerous hours sometimes on one person, and then after the long back and forth, they disappear forever. When time is a valuable commodity, it sure is a bad feeling to know you lost 2 hours dealing with someone that never intended on buying from you.

It is definitely a rock and a hard place, and 99% of the time, I end up spending the time to help the person/reptile.

[Valentine Pirate]

That's a situation I never thought of before. I don't produce my own animals yet, and I've only been keeping my snakes for a little under 2 years, but I'll often get questions about reptiles from friends and acquaintances. Since it's so low volume at this point I've been happy to help, but almost always I direct them to this website for more information (and more complete information, as I'm usually not near a source where I can pull specific facts). An issue that I've seen is that people, especially those not used to the reptile industry, have a tendency to hold tightly to the first information they've been told. Many times I've heard "But the pet store guy told me xyz" and because they take this as fact when they're told from what they consider a trusted source (who knows more about pets than the pet store employee ) it can be difficult to break through that.

That's all the experience I have though, sorry for a less than conclusive reply. Good topic to consider, and it definitely gets complicated when you have a high volume of questions and help requests, but also have your own animals and customers to devote your time to. For the record you're on my list of "people to buy from in the future" once I can settle on my next BP addition There just doesn't seem to be an easy answer though, I'll be interested in reading more replies. Good reads so far!

[kitedemon]

As a business person (not a breeder but photographer) reputation is very important, in breeding herps even more so. I also get calls out of the blue about how do you do this or that, in my case they are few and far between.

I am sure you are likely get quite a number of questions on a regular basis, to my mind you need to weigh the loss of time and effort in non-customer service against the edge of reputation on the line. I hate not getting answers personally, and often will default to companies whom do answer questions quickly regardless of price difference. (within reason).

My gut tells me that it is likely in your best interest to answer the questions and help out with problems as best you can. It might be worth your time to build 'stock' responses that can be copied and pasted into email bodies that are more generic and sign any non client emails with a foot note about the canned nature and why. Perhaps offering a Paypal link and pay what you can note might work too? When I started I would have been happy to give someone whom would answer my questions directly and with correct information that was tailored to my situation, if you can charge enough to make it worth the bother is yet another question.

[Skiploder]

I have been getting a rash of questions lately about issues they are having with their new snake. The most frequent asked question I have been getting revolves around feeding. Let me state that the specific scenario I am speaking of is questions from people via, phone call, e-mail and PM, and these people are not asking me about a snake they bought from me. Many of these people have actually never been customers of mine in the past at all. With all of that said, my question for further discussion is where do you go with these types of questions? Do you go to the breeder, a forum or just a trusted breeder? Below are my two views on the subject. They may spark a little debate in themselves, and revolve around the two biggest reasons I don't like giving advice in this type of scenario.

1) I prefer not to give out advice to someone that is asking about their animal that they didn't get from me, because if I give advice that ends up harming the animal in some way, or causes some other issue, the actual seller may disagree with my advice, and render the customers guarantee void. For example, if I sell someone a snake (I do not post up or ship an animal that hasn't eaten at least three meals on it's own in a row) that they claim won't eat, and their good friend tells them to force feed it, and it regurgitates and dies after said force feeding, I will not do anything for them. My recommendations would have gone more down the path of check your husbandry, and either you are feeding the wrong type of meal, or maybe the meal is too large or small. In essence, I think the best contact in a situation like this would be with the seller, as the issue can then be noted by them and tracked for future resolution if the problem persists.

2) This reason I don't like giving out advice, is where it may get a bit controversial, but I have been aggravated by this for quite some time. I know, and all of my customers can attest to this, that service after the sale is one of the biggest things I strive for. I have had many people tell me that my animals are slightly higher than what they can get elsewhere, but they know they can call me for anything for years to come. Why should I spend my time to help someone with a problem that they acquired from someone else. I think the guy that made the money off of the sale should have to spend his time answering questions and trying to solve the situation. With that said, many people on this forum know that I have always been very open with information, and I definitely don't want anyone to think for a second that I would let someone or their snake suffer because they couldn't get help. My first recommendation is to go back to the breeder/dealer, and get their input. If for any reason they won't help or the person thinks the advice is poor, I will do everything in my power to ensure that that animal doesn't fail to thrive.

I guess my parting comment is to remember that service is part of what you pay for when you buy a snake, so make sure that the person you buy from is not only going to supply you with a healthy, quality snake, but also service after the sale that meets your standards. And also remember that the safest thing to do if you have a problem is to contact the breeder/dealer FIRST.

Thanks for taking the time to read my long-winded post,

Tim:

I look at it this way:

The guy who buys from someone of lesser integrity will eventually learn his lesson. I've always felt that if you give them sound advice, regardless of where they bought the snake, the odds are that they will remember that it was you who stepped up and helped them out in their time of need when it comes time for the next purchase.

In the end, I think that will net you business that you had written off as lost.

Agan, Tim, I don't do business in the same arena that you do and don't have the competition that you have to contend with, the egos and the chest thumpers that you have to endure. My stock is more specialized and people who are out to price shop oddball snakes don't have a lot of places to turn to. In that sense, maybe my advice doesn't really mean much in your situation.

I think the key is to endure. How many people do we see come and go? How many scions of this hobby pop up overnight, rocket to what passes for fame in this game and then hit a rough patch and show their true colors? I think there is business to be made on the rebound. You post up for that rebound by having a presence in the community - by lending that helping hand.