Warning - Talon Distribution
I am posting this as I know there are outfitters as well as others that may need to ship something and I would hate for them to have to go through what we did.
On Sept 30 2016 our client harvested a bull elk of a life time with his bow. It was a moment that I am sure will live with him for ever. Due to the size of the antlers the bull could not travel back with him to the US. We talked about him having it mounted up here but when he flew home he did take his cape and he really wanted to have the cape mounted with his antlers as opposed to buying a cape; and rightfully so. It was decided that he would employ the services of a local taxidermist to prep the skull for shipping, build a crate, and deliver it to a shipper that would handle the paper work of getting it to our client. All of that was done in a very professional and timely matter. Due to some scheduling circumstances the bull would not be shipped prior to the 60 day drying period and I was able to pick up the bull for a couple days and have it officially scored prior to shipping. Up until this point everything was going as planned. Some time in the second week of January I got a phone call from the taxidermist asking if I had spoke to my client lately. I had not spoken to him so the taxidermist informed me that the crate containing the elk skull and antlers had suffered significant damage at a shipping facility in the US. I immediately called my client and had a chat with him. At that point he had not been to the facility to see the damage. A couple days later he made it down and sent me the pictures that I will attach below. The one antler had been completely broken off from the skull plate and one tine had the tip of the tine broken off. Although it's not an ideal situation; it is far better than I imagined. When I first heard of the situation I thought the antlers and skull were in 87 pieces; luckily that was not the case. Immediately talks were initiated between the client, taxidermist, and the shipper Dale Warren of Talon Distribution. It turns out that at one of the shipping facilities, someone set a 2000lb crate on top of our clients crate. The weight of the crate collapsed our clients crate thus damaging the crate and the antlers inside. Please note that myself, my client, and my taxidermist all understand that sometime unfortunate events do happen. The problem lies in how the situation was handled and what was compensated. The following is what I was told by my client and I did not hear it fist hand but I do have a few emails that back this up. 1) To my understanding Talon Distribution as paid to do the paper work to get the animal to the client in the US. 2) To my understanding he does not own freight trucks so he was responsible for securing 3rd party freight trucks. The taxidermist delivered him a sound and solid crate in perfect condition containing an intact set of elk antlers and skull plate. 3) Dale did advise my client that it would be cheaper if he split the skull plate but my client decided to pay the increased cost of shipping an intact skull plate and antlers. 4) Initially it is my understanding that Dale told my client that he would be reimbursed the cost of the shipping, the cost of the crate, and the cost to fix the elk antlers so they could be mounted. This sounded fair and all parties were happy. 5) As talks progressed Dale communicated to my client that Talon was paid to get the elk antlers from Alberta to the US; he did that so the cost of shipping was justified. 6) Also, crates get damaged during shipping so that is not Talon's fault. 7) The shipping companies insurance covers the cost of freight up to $2 per pound, the crate with antlers were 240 lbs, so their insurance would cover $480 US. Some how the check ended up totaling $434 US 8) If my client got an estimate to fix the antlers then Dale would cover the difference between the insurance cost and the total to fix. 9) Total to fix estimate came in at $760.86 so that means Talon was going to pay an additional $326.86 US for the repairs. Now let me note that this is not about the money and my client isn't upset about that. He is upset about how Dale said one thing and then over the next few weeks changed his answer about what he was going to cover. Further more the statement made by Dale to the tune of, and I'm paraphrasing here, I was paid to get your antlers from Alberta to you in the US, you have your antlers, I did my job. Well that really didn't sit well with anyone. My client has filed a complaint with the BBB and is working with them to get that complain on their record. I just wanted to let fellow outdoorsmen the series of events that took place should they ever need to ship something that maybe they should choose someone other than Talon Distribution. http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psip7uclnp.jpg http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...pshp58bx7r.jpg http://i23.photobucket.com/albums/b4...psulcmhzt3.jpg |
Sorry about your experience but I have always had the complete opposite experience with Dale along with a lot of other people we know that use him lots. Fast good communication, what we thought were fair prices to deal with paperwork we didn't want to, and anytime there were problems with shipping he dealt with them.
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The prices were not the problem. The issues was with what he initially told the client he would do for him and then he changed his stance and supplemented our client much less than he anticipated.
In the end Dale secured the 3rd party freight company so he is ultimately responsible. Why should my client have to pay for a service he never received? My client was aware of the additional costs of shipping the skull whole and that wasn't a problem. He did not receive his skull whole so why should he still have to pay for that service? |
Like I said sorry for your client. I'm just simply stating myself and a lot of people I know have had zero issues with Dale, and when problems did arise he dealt with very well in our eyes. You had your experience and I've had mine. Just simply stating it. Also there's two sides to the story I'm sure, pretty tough to pass judgment until you here his side as well.
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We are posting this over $300?
Did you recommend Dale? Maybe you should pick up the tab? Did the client not follow the recommendation of Dale? Maybe he should pick up the tab. And what about the idiot that actually caused the damage? Maybe he should pick up the tab. |
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Someone paid for a service, they did not receive the service; why should they still have to pay for the service? |
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For his antlers to be shipped to him from Alberta to the US whole with out the skull being split and to be delivered to him in the condition in which they were dropped off in.
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The taxidermist took reasonable steps to ensure the were delivered properly. And now someone who spent a heck of a lot more to kill that Elk than the shipping cost is trying to blame someone. Why aren't you at fault for recommending someone to safely transport these antlers? |
read the whole story
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I do not know if that is true or not as I have never looked into it. I may be wrong but I look at this the same way as getting a bear hide done. You drop off a skinned bear at the taxidermist to get a rug mounted. The taxidermist sends it to a tanner. The tanner wrecks the bear hide. I would look to the taxidermist to make things right as I did not secure or choose the tanner. I gave my money to the taxidermist to do a job. Like I said, I may be wrong and I have been before; but this is how I look at this situation. I'm not saying that Talon doesn't do good work and hasn't done good work in the past. I'm just saying that I'm not impressed with how the situation has been dealt with by Talon and neither is my client. |
Shipping
I can't even believe this is hard for people to understand. The shipper should pay for damages and the client should still pay for the shipping, they did that part even though they messed it up. Now the shipper needs to remedy what they screwed up.
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It is not Talons fault that the crate was damaged once t left his warehouse. It is the company that is carrying the package. By the sounds of it the shipping company put forth the insurance money that was owed for damaging the crate and the contents inside. Not sure why Talon should be footing the bill when the insurance already covered the damage to the crate.
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Talon
I have used Talon as well and found Dale provided really decent service.
On another note, am I the only one that thinks the crate in the pictures looks to be poorly constructed as well? It looks pretty flimsy to me. At the end of the day, my thought is you should probably just pick up the bill and never use Dale again. |
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-There is the client who hunted -There is us the outfitter -There is the taxidermist -There is Talon who is the company that prepared the documents and secured the freight company for shipping. -It is my understanding that Talon does not own the freight trucks and they secured a 3rd party freight company |
Sounds to me that Talon actually did their job however they should fight for your common client to get fully reimbursed for the damage and for it to be fixed on the 3rd party shipping companies dime.
Insurance is one thing but this is negligence and the shipping co should be the ones making it right. IMO Dale needs to go to bat for your common client and maybe someone screwed up only having $400 in insurance on the dang thing. |
As you were told on Facebook it's not Talon fault and next time buy insurance.
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Maybe I missed it somewhere, but have you contacted Dale to see his side of the story before you started slandering his name on the internet? Or are you just going by what your upset client is saying?
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I have not slandered him at all and only spoke to our experience and voiced my opinion. |
Talon has always done well for me in the past. I am glad we have guys like him as well that can get my trophies in and out of countries legally without hassle.
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it should have been in a better crate.
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The crate should have DO NOT STACK and FRAGILE stickers all over it. The company that set the heavy pallet on top of it should then pay for damages. Client still needs to pay shipping but the parties responsible for the damages should be paying for them, whether it was mislabeled or mishandled.
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Box
I would never ship anything valuable is a box made from OSB .
Zero structural strength. |
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