Sunday, January 27, 2019

Hearts In Motion Ornaments

Meant to share this earlier with you all, but totally spaced on it... until today when I was cleaning up and found the envelope with our money. 

You may remember, we had a Christmas tree at Hearts in Motion in Schererville, with ornaments for sale.  Some of you may have gone to see the tree or even buy ornaments... and whether it was you or not, some people did, as we sold $33.50 of ornaments!  Not the best we've ever done, but not too shabby either!  Especially considering most of the ornaments are $1-2, and we have some even cheaper than that, it's a good amount of ornaments sold!

Thanks for everyone who came out and bought an ornament!  And of course, everyone who supports us the rest of the year as well!

Monday, January 14, 2019

THINK Before Responding...or even, you know, read...

This has happened multiple times lately, and I know I’m constantly whining about this because nobody seems to be able to read.  I’m gonna be gone for a few days upcoming and I told someone what day appointments would resume... so you know they emailed back and asked for an appointment two days BEFORE appointments will resume... then gave me one day to apparently think about that (as you know, always behind on emails) even though the appointment isn’t for like a week, and then said well they need to know.

I suppose it shouldn’t come as a shock to anyone that if I tell you appointments resume on a certain day... you can’t come before that day.  Oh wait, unless you don’t read...


Sunday, January 6, 2019

Adoption Forms

Adoption forms are necessary for rescues.  Note what I just said there, for rescues.  So, depending on which chinchilla you ask about, you may not need to fill one out.

That said, if I tell you that I need one filled out... that means... you are asking about a rescue.  Still following me here?

I've had quite a few people lately who email and say they're interested in a chin.  Take the one the other day for example.  Someone emails asking about adopting an adult chin.  I ask them, do they have a preference as far as male / female / age / budget, etc etc...  their response is that they'd prefer a male, age doesn't matter, and they ask if the chins come with cages.  I explain that sometimes we have chins that come with cages, but at the moment none do... though we have cages available.  I tell them, if you tell me what sort of a cage you're looking for / price range / etc, I'd be happy to share what I have that might match.

"Oh, a normal cage, whatever price is fine."

So helpful.  So, I tell them, well, a normal cage... depends on your definition of normal, and same with price.  I clearly think the prices I have set for cages are fine... other people say they're cheap, other people say they're expensive.  We all have our own opinions, none are wrong or right, just what we think.

Anyway, so back and forth a few more emails.  In those few emails, I listed the 5ish males I had that matched the color and age (adult) he was looking for, and he replied saying which one he wanted.  To which I replied telling him, ok, here's the care packet to read, here's the adoption form to fill out.  The following email, he asks me for pics of the cages that I say I have.

I send the cage pics.  I get an email back saying he found an awesome cage for $85 (more power to him, always good to find a deal!).  And there was also a line about, ok, so he no longer needs a cage from me, but he wants to get the chin. 

Well... he still hasn't gotten back to me about the care packet and I haven't had any adoption forms submitted, so I sent him a nice email back statin

Ok, so I will need you to look over the care packet and fill out the adoption form (I linked to these in a previous email so you can find them easily!) and you'll put the info about the cage you got on there, and let me know when you've done that and then we can move forward.

... *crickets* 

I don't know if this is hard for some people or what, but this happens all the time that I mention the adoption form, almost always relatively early on in the conversation...they ignore my mention of it... until it comes up again and that's the next step they absolutely have to do before moving forward... and then they drop off the face of the planet.  Like... is it that hard to understand, if I say it has to be filled out, it will need to be filled out, before you can adopt?  I guess so...

Saturday, January 5, 2019

Getting Cages Up the Stairs

So, if you've been here, you know that the rescue is down a flight of stairs. 

This means that often if you are buying a cage (other than a new-in-box-cage), we need to get that cage back UP that flight of stairs. 

For some reason, I get the feeling that people think I haven't done this before.  Hmm.

The ceiling downstairs is low, so any cage over about 2-3' tall requires being tilted to get it up the stairs.  You can't get it up (or down, for that matter) with the cage standing upright, because it won't make it under the basement ceiling (which is still like 6-7' but still... it's the way the ceiling cuts into the stairway).

Yet it's funny, because so often, I will be helping people take the cages up the stairs, and I will tell people, "you need to tilt it back," and get the response, "oh no, it'll be fine."  *CLUNK* (cage hits the ceiling)

I've now lived in this house almost 4 years.  I have my own 6ish ferret nations and several other large cages here, all of which were transported, set up, down those stairs... plus countless others that I have sold over the years that have had to make it down, and then back up, the stairs.  I swear, I might just have some idea what I'm talking about, haha.

So please listen, when I mention that we need to tilt the cage.  For my ceiling's sake.  Thank you.

Friday, January 4, 2019

Paypal Addresses... Part 2

Remember this post? -- https://nightsatthechinchillarescue.blogspot.com/2018/12/important-of-correct-paypal-addresses.html

After I refunded the money, a few days later, I received an email from the buyer, asking why I refunded the money, were the items out of stock?  Now, on the refund, I noted something along the lines of, "invalid shipping address, tried several times to contact buyer with no success."  But regardless, I emailed them back and specified this, and told them, if they wanted to re-place their order with the correct address, or even email me with the correct address and I could send them an invoice for the order, I'd be happy to get it out to them.

Again... have not heard back from them.

I just don't understand people sometimes...

Thursday, January 3, 2019

Asking for Advice... and Not Taking It

So, I'm all for helping people out, answering questions.  But the one pet peeve I have is when people ask for advice, and do the exact opposite.  A story that I've told a lot of people involves a family that adopted two chinchillas. 

They get home that night, and tell me the chins aren't acting as friendly at home, as they were at the rescue.  I asked what the family had been doing since they'd gotten home, and as it turned out, they'd had the chins out of their cage the entire time since they'd been home.  I explained to the family, it would be good to let them settle in, and I shared how with our rescues, we give them a month to decompress before they even have a chance to become available.  I told them, obviously, they don't need to do that long, but let them settle in.  They said they would try to leave them alone for the rest of the night.  Next day, I receive more texts about how they're not calm and they're acting crabbier, and I again explain, let them settle in for a few days.  I even acknowledge that I understand they're new pets and they're adorable and they want to get them out, but for the sake of having a good, long relationship... let them settle in first.  This went on for a few days, until I got to the point where I sent a text:  "you're supposed to be leaving them alone."  And I left it at that.  They kept asking the same questions and expecting a different answer, and that's not how this all works. 

Low and behold, a few days later, I received this text that basically was like, "you were right!  We let them settle in and they're doing much better!" and so on and so forth.  Imagine that, after almost 16 years (it was like...14 then), I might have some idea what I'm talking about.  Lol.

See the thing is, I want to help.  But I do enough repeating myself over and over, to different people, all the time.  Most people ask the same questions, so certain answers are down pat.  But I particularly would prefer not to repeat the exact same answer to the same person, time and time again.

A more recent example... I had a family come to adopt, and they asked if a small dog crate would be good for transport.  I told them, possibly... but measure the bar spacing, if it's more than 1", bring something else or I will give them a carrier.  The day comes for pickup, and they bring the dog crate.  Just looking at it, I debated if it was really 1" or less bar spacing, but I figured they measured it.

We put the chin in, and she was out again in less than a minute.  I asked the people, had we talked about the dog crate?  Had they measured?  Oh yes, we had, but they figured it would be alright without measuring, the bars weren't that far apart.  *face palm*  I didn't ask them to measure just so I could see it typed out on the screen!  I asked because I wanted to be sure the chin couldn't escape.  Thankfully, the chin escaped from the crate while they were still at the rescue... but what about if they were on their way to the car and the chin got out?  I asked for a reason.

I think what it all boils down to is this -- if you ask a question, and the answer either isn't a simple yes or no, or isn't what you were hoping for -- you might listen to it, as there may be a reason that person went into more detail.  That is all.

Wednesday, January 2, 2019

Taking Checks

I know this is hard for some people to understand, for some reason...  let me share with you why I think this should be relatively straightforward.

First, on the Available Chins page, right at the top:


Also, on the Sales Policy page, in two spots -- picking up your new family member and the payment section:



So... can you understand why I get slightly miffed when people ask if I take checks, and even more miffed when they ONLY show up with a check?

The thing is, this isn't Walmart... I can't use telecheck to run your check on the spot, and verify that there really is money in the account.  When I take that check to my bank later, and try to deposit it... should it bounce... I have to track you down and hope that I have your correct phone number / email / address... and like I've talked about in previous posts, I'm not trying to make things any more difficult for myself than need be.  So, sorry, but no checks.  Thanks for understanding!

Tuesday, January 1, 2019

Address On Adoption Forms

When I get in adoption forms, I vaguely scan the address area, mainly to see where the person is from.  If you put Virginia, I will ask if you know that we are in Indiana.  That sort of thing.  But usually I don't really look at the address more than a quick glance.

That will change.

I had one adopter who picked up a chinchilla from one of our foster homes.  Also changing -- people adopting from foster homes will now be required to fill out paperwork prior to picking up their pet.  Otherwise, it is too hard to chase everyone down once they already have the pet in their possession.  I haven't had a problem until now, and of course I realize it's right around Christmas / the holidays, but now this is changing.

But back to addresses.  The one person adopted from a foster home.  After the adoption, I found some treats here that I specifically had marked as for that specific chin.  I wanted to mail those to the new adopter, so I dug out her adoption form.  The address was just a couple of numbers, but no street name.  So I emailed the adopter.  It took two emails and seven days for her to respond with her address.  In the meantime, her husband (I assume? maybe family member) sent me the adoption paperwork... minus the adoption contract -- which ALSO would have had the address.  They sent two copies of the health guarantee, but no adoption contract, so I emailed back that person asking for it.  I still don't have it, and will chase down until I get it.  

The thing is, though, I shouldn't have to.  This shouldn't be this hard.  When I found the treats, I should have been able to look at the adoption form and mail them out, without ever having to reach out.   I also shouldn't have to contact the adopter, over and over, to get the correct forms sent back to me.  So... this will all be changing.  I will be eyeballing addresses from now on (not that this happens all that often, but two different people lately) and requiring paperwork prior to adoption in cases where the chins are at foster homes.