OntarioHunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,980
Thought I would share this horror story so others might learn from it. I hunted Africa in 2019 and harvested eight fine trophies. The outfitter turned them over to their "preferred" taxidermy company. I had all eight skulls euroed plus kudu pedestal cape tanned and wildebeest "backskin" tanned. I specifically ordered the kudu euro skull AND cape so I'd have something to put on the wall in case the cape was screwed up. Not an uncommon occurrence when dealing with overseas taxidermists. Long story short, after many problems, the crate with trophies finally arrived at the local freight dock the first day of pandemic lockdown February 2020. I actually intercepted the shipment after the customs broker in Toronto mistakenly misdirected it to another city five hours west of here. I get the crate home, remove the lid in my driveway, and the stench almost knocks me over. What the hell?! First skull I unwrap is the wildebeest. It's been PAINTED white. No doubt to cover the rotting flesh. All the skulls were painted and missing teeth (the buffalo missing ALL teeth). The kudu cape had a missing patch hair on the left shoulder. The wildebeest hide was clearly from a cow shot once while laying down. Probably a sick animal culled from a game farm. Well okay, this stinks (literally) but it's a lockdown in the middle of the winter so cleaning this mess will give me something to do. Last skull to be stripped and boiled is kudu. And what do I find? The taxidermist boiled the skull till one of the nose pieces fell off and disintegrated. So they just dug up another piece. Not even from a kudu (almost certainly waterbuck) and badly discolored, obviously from being left to soak in a pit of greasy decaying animal parts. That's too much! I sent an email to my PH and he raised hell.
During my second safari last August I was surprised to learn the outfitter was still dealing with same taxidermy company. I had a zoom conference with the manager and after making some weak excuses he finally conceded the "mistakes" and agreed to make good. They would process the capes for sable and second kudu free of charge. Eight skulls would not be painted. At Christmas I get an email from taxidermy outfit saying they finished the work and sent it off to freight company. Wait, no photos for final approval? And what the hell are they doing sending the stuff to the same freight company that made a dog's breakfast shipping my first trophies? They knew about those problems. Nothing happens. Then last week I get an email from the taxidermy company: why haven't you paid the freight company's account? Maybe because I never got an account from them: "Why are you guys still doing business with this crappy shipping outfit?" The freight company emails: sorry we misspelled your email address (like it didn't get kicked back as undeliverable?). Wire them $2074.00 US now if I want the stuff shipped. That was their "account." A one-liner. No itemization. Not an account - a demand. Jeezus, that's a lot of money to ship one box half way around the world bulk freight when it didn't cost me nearly that much to fly there and back as a passenger. Last time freight was around $900. I contacted the lodge owner and he relayed my concerns to the manager of the taxidermy company. The freight company told the manager that the increase was due to airlines increasing rates x2.5. Nothing can be done. I send the money and ask for details. No response. I contacted my customs broker and asked if she had heard when the stuff would be shipped. Nope. Nothing. Then I finally get an email from the freight company cc'ed to taxidermy and customs broker. Another one-liner: "documentation" has been completed and shipment will go out next week. Again, that's all it said. No details. No documentation attached. Noninformation information. Curiously, within fifteen minutes I received an email from my customs broker with all shipping docs attached, including a customer invoice! Why didn't the freight company send the documents to me? Because the freight company didn't want me to see the documents. Turkish Airlines was charging $845US to ship the crate from South Africa to Toronto. The customer invoice on page two had several expenditure items listed (depot handling, terminal fees, etc.), all left blank. The only thing itemized with a currency amount was Turkish Airline freight charge. At the bottom the grand total was "AS AGREED". The freight company didn't even have the balls to specify what was supposedly "agreed."
What can the readers glean from this? Always specify to overseas taxidermist that projects WILL NOT leave their premises without your approval. That approval requires 1) photos to substantiate client satisfaction [something they "forgot" this time] 2) a firm itemized quote from a freight company if the taxidermist is not shipping the items directly. Common sense would seem to dictate taxidermists cannot transfer client property to someone else without the client's approval. Of course, it's pretty clear to me this taxidermist is in on the scam. Once the trophies are in my possession the hammer is going to fall on that outfit. Justice can be obtained much more efficiently on the internet than through the courts.
During my second safari last August I was surprised to learn the outfitter was still dealing with same taxidermy company. I had a zoom conference with the manager and after making some weak excuses he finally conceded the "mistakes" and agreed to make good. They would process the capes for sable and second kudu free of charge. Eight skulls would not be painted. At Christmas I get an email from taxidermy outfit saying they finished the work and sent it off to freight company. Wait, no photos for final approval? And what the hell are they doing sending the stuff to the same freight company that made a dog's breakfast shipping my first trophies? They knew about those problems. Nothing happens. Then last week I get an email from the taxidermy company: why haven't you paid the freight company's account? Maybe because I never got an account from them: "Why are you guys still doing business with this crappy shipping outfit?" The freight company emails: sorry we misspelled your email address (like it didn't get kicked back as undeliverable?). Wire them $2074.00 US now if I want the stuff shipped. That was their "account." A one-liner. No itemization. Not an account - a demand. Jeezus, that's a lot of money to ship one box half way around the world bulk freight when it didn't cost me nearly that much to fly there and back as a passenger. Last time freight was around $900. I contacted the lodge owner and he relayed my concerns to the manager of the taxidermy company. The freight company told the manager that the increase was due to airlines increasing rates x2.5. Nothing can be done. I send the money and ask for details. No response. I contacted my customs broker and asked if she had heard when the stuff would be shipped. Nope. Nothing. Then I finally get an email from the freight company cc'ed to taxidermy and customs broker. Another one-liner: "documentation" has been completed and shipment will go out next week. Again, that's all it said. No details. No documentation attached. Noninformation information. Curiously, within fifteen minutes I received an email from my customs broker with all shipping docs attached, including a customer invoice! Why didn't the freight company send the documents to me? Because the freight company didn't want me to see the documents. Turkish Airlines was charging $845US to ship the crate from South Africa to Toronto. The customer invoice on page two had several expenditure items listed (depot handling, terminal fees, etc.), all left blank. The only thing itemized with a currency amount was Turkish Airline freight charge. At the bottom the grand total was "AS AGREED". The freight company didn't even have the balls to specify what was supposedly "agreed."
What can the readers glean from this? Always specify to overseas taxidermist that projects WILL NOT leave their premises without your approval. That approval requires 1) photos to substantiate client satisfaction [something they "forgot" this time] 2) a firm itemized quote from a freight company if the taxidermist is not shipping the items directly. Common sense would seem to dictate taxidermists cannot transfer client property to someone else without the client's approval. Of course, it's pretty clear to me this taxidermist is in on the scam. Once the trophies are in my possession the hammer is going to fall on that outfit. Justice can be obtained much more efficiently on the internet than through the courts.
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