So, as you may know, we only hold chins with a deposit. About the ONLY exception would be in a situation where the person calls, wants to come over, specifies which chin, and is coming over later that day... should someone else arrive before them, I will likely try to steer the first people away from buying that chin (though, to be fair... sometimes the second person doesn't show, and this is not to my advantage). But in general, the grand grand grand majority of the times...we require a deposit to hold.
I get people all the time asking if we'll hold "until the next expo" or whatever, without a deposit. Sorry, but no. Perfect example that I wanted to share with you.
We had someone contact us, two expos ago, asking about chins. Told them we'd be at the expo, even brought a cage for them and whatnot. They initially were supposed to get a chin at the expo. I don't know if somehow they changed their mind or something... they initially were looking at a standard grey (age irrelevant), but then at the expo, they really liked this one white male we had.
Now, you may or may not know, at the expos, we usually have the chins marked down a bit, so hopefully we find homes for a few, and can actually pay our booth fee. The chin they were looking at was a $200 chin, marked down to $150. I can't actually think of the last time I had a white chin down to $150, but this particular one had already been at the rescue a month or two and wasn't generating interest, so I figured I'd drop his price a bit. So that was the one they liked, and they asked if we'd be bringing him to the next show. I told them, if he hasn't sold and is in good health at the next show, we likely would... I also advised them, though, that they could put down a deposit and secure him for themselves, so FOR SURE he would be at the next show and FOR SURE they could get him. Despite their love for him, they did not put down a deposit.
After the expo, I received a text from these people, asking if he was still available. My first thought was that now, they wanted to put down a deposit. I told them that yes, he was still available, and they asked if I'd take $125 for him. Sorry, no.
They again asked if he'd be at the next expo and I again told them, if he doesn't sell in the meantime, and as long as he's still doing well, most likely yes.
The following day, someone came to the rescue to look at chins, and picked out that mosaic male and a violet male, we got them intro'd and living together, and the person put down a deposit on the two of them.
Fast forward to the day before the expo. I get a text from the person asking about the white male, asking if we're still going to the expo. I tell her yes we are, and also specify that that specific white male has sold. She asks if we'll be bringing more white males, and I told her yes, we would.
She never showed up.
Mind you, that's fine... they can get a chin now, later, from me, from someone else, whatever, what have you. That's not the point. The point I wanted to make is, this sort of thing is what I see all the time. People want me to hold a chin for a week for them, and say they'll come pick it up on a certain day... and then don't show. I have an almost identical story from a week or two prior to this, where someone wanted a standard grey chinchilla, and wanted to be able to pick from a few... so we brought a couple to the expo (as in, more standard greys than usual, so they'd have some choice)... they never showed. So, to avoid time waster and tire kickers... we only hold chinchillas (or any animal, for that matter) with paid deposits. Thank you for your understanding.
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