Frustrated with Michelle Nelson

[Tbar]

I don't have a dog in this fight but I'll throw my  in. I have had about 10 mounts done and several euros. I have used just about every taxi in skagit county. Turnaround and quality are in no way relative (in my experience),  some mounts turned out awsome and were a relatively quick turnaround, and some waits have been disappointing to say the least. As a taxi customer the only time I was fighting mad was when my mount wasn't ready close to the promised timeframe.
 I was quoted a 1 year but told to check at 9 months. At 10 months he informed me the cape was back and he was starting right away. I was led on and ignored(not to go into too much detail) for the next 10 months while calling every couple weeks religiously. It was such an uncomfortable feeling, the taxi held  all the cards. I wanted to freak out on him but he had something special of mine. I wanted to go elsewhere but my $1000 bill was paid in full. I felt I was behind the 8 ball at every turn and was powerless to change the situation. In the end he discounted my bill 15% (which he didn't have to), but thats not worth 1 of several arguments I had with my wife on how to handle things from our(the patron) side.

[Sawbuck]

I don't have a dog in this fight but I'll throw my  in. I have had about 10 mounts done and several euros. I have used just about every taxi in skagit county. Turnaround and quality are in no way relative (in my experience),  some mounts turned out awsome and were a relatively quick turnaround, and some waits have been disappointing to say the least. As a taxi customer the only time I was fighting mad was when my mount wasn't ready close to the promised timeframe.
 I was quoted a 1 year but told to check at 9 months. At 10 months he informed me the cape was back and he was starting right away. I was led on and ignored(not to go into too much detail) for the next 10 months while calling every couple weeks religiously. It was such an uncomfortable feeling, the taxi held  all the cards. I wanted to freak out on him but he had something special of mine. I wanted to go elsewhere but my $1000 bill was paid in full. I felt I was behind the 8 ball at every turn and was powerless to change the situation. In the end he discounted my bill 15% (which he didn't have to), but thats not worth 1 of several arguments I had with my wife on how to handle things from our(the patron) side.

Tbar, have you tried Wildlife Art Taxidermy over on delta line road in Custer? Bruce does great work for a good price and has your stuff ready when he says he will. When I brought my deer in last October he told me July, and ended up calling me in March and said it was ready. Five months and quality work, I was thrilled.

[kramer]

I believe a taxidermist reputation is partially based on repeat clients and then turn around time. I've got probably over 30 mounts done and never waited longer than 12 months. It don't matter if its a rug life size 3/4 or shoulder mount. To me it sound like to much work taking in not knowing boundaries. I send all of my animals out of state to . They are picked up at my front door and delivered to my front door. No shipping charge. They are done with extreme quality and in a timely manner. They know their limits and are not greedy. They pick up a trailer load of animals from word of mouth and repeat customers and deliver it 9 months later.to me taxidermist have out priced themselves around here for quality of work. I can send my stuff outta state and save 1 to 300 dollars depending on the mount. And quality is as good as it gets.just my 2 cents.

[TRB]

Wow.. I did not mean to start such a public debate..I was not trying to start a witch hunt on this but I see how it could be construed this way...I wish I would have just sent another pm.  I Sent the pm messages that Michelle outlined in the last 3 months and over the last 6-8 months I have initiated phone calls probably 4-6 times..My issue is this:  originally I was told December of 2012 would be done date...that came and went....then phone calls and statements that I'm working on your bear,  shouldn't be too much longer...then 3 messages this summer and still no bear but  "I'm working on it now".  What does I'm working on it mean?  Does that mean its being worked on actually or not...I have heard that for last 6 months since overdue...if you are not working on it just tell me it's going to be another 6 months because your too busy or whatever just don't  lead me on..I am sure you have lots of stuff going on at once but to me if you are really telling me your working on it how long does that go?  I must admit the other threads have made me nervous....I can see it now,  hunting season is upon us and you will have tons of new stuff coming in and before we know it it's next winter...Just tell me one way or the other and I will be ok....I chose you because of the quality work displayed in your marketing and because you were helpful with tips on prepping the cape etc...I now think that you want to please honestly which leads you to make estimates of time that are unrealistic...Is that just part of the trade,   Seems like maybe it is...Again,  I am sorry I brought this public

[Michelle_Nelson]

TRB it's late and I won't call you this late.  I will be up for a few more hours.  If you would like to call me feel free I have my phone on. 

[wildweeds]

We nicknamed Bruce "Slowboat" over 15 years ago,he's slower than molasses in january,Well worth the wait but slow. I waited 3 years for a pair of pintails,2 years for a rooster pheasant,16 months for a mountain goat.I took him a very nice pair of valley quail and a immaculate hungarian partridge that were all killed with the golden BB and in perfect condition over 8 years ago.................. I recieved a call that he wasn't interested in doing them 3 years ago//////////////////// I'll saw the horns off a world record anything and nail em to the outside of the barn before I take anything  more to him.He's more into doing african game than anything else,Great work but he just ticked this redneck kid off.I told him I was willing to pay more when he started whining about how birds take the same amount of  time as a deer and he makes more money on deer heads. For those interested in euro mounts PM me a redneck kid that is freinds with my stepdaughter does great work(he does Wildlifes euros) go straight to the source for a better deal.I wouldn't be so ticked at Bruce but to say you'll do something and then welch on it after 5 years is BS.

I don't have a dog in this fight but I'll throw my  in. I have had about 10 mounts done and several euros. I have used just about every taxi in skagit county. Turnaround and quality are in no way relative (in my experience),  some mounts turned out awsome and were a relatively quick turnaround, and some waits have been disappointing to say the least. As a taxi customer the only time I was fighting mad was when my mount wasn't ready close to the promised timeframe.
 I was quoted a 1 year but told to check at 9 months. At 10 months he informed me the cape was back and he was starting right away. I was led on and ignored(not to go into too much detail) for the next 10 months while calling every couple weeks religiously. It was such an uncomfortable feeling, the taxi held  all the cards. I wanted to freak out on him but he had something special of mine. I wanted to go elsewhere but my $1000 bill was paid in full. I felt I was behind the 8 ball at every turn and was powerless to change the situation. In the end he discounted my bill 15% (which he didn't have to), but thats not worth 1 of several arguments I had with my wife on how to handle things from our(the patron) side.

Tbar, have you tried Wildlife Art Taxidermy over on delta line road in Custer? Bruce does great work for a good price and has your stuff ready when he says he will. When I brought my deer in last October he told me July, and ended up calling me in March and said it was ready. Five months and quality work, I was thrilled.

[RightPlace-RightTime]

Seems to be a TREND 

[jburkett]

Seems to be a TREND 

There's definitely a trend here,  look back at all of the post from her very happy customers over the years and compare them to the few   Posts of people who feel there waiting to long for their trophy, and you will see a trend  of people who are pleased with her work.

[The scout]

thats gonna be an awkword day when he picks it up

[sirfunkeybut]

Seems to be a TREND 

There's definitely a trend here,  look back at all of the post from her very happy customers over the years and compare them to the few   Posts of people who feel there waiting to long for their trophy, and you will see a trend  of people who are pleased with her work.

Unfortunately bad news travels farther and faster than good.

[jburkett]

Seems to be a TREND 

There's definitely a trend here,  look back at all of the post from her very happy customers over the years and compare them to the few   Posts of people who feel there waiting to long for their trophy, and you will see a trend  of people who are pleased with her work.

Unfortunately bad news travels farther and faster than good.

I think people are just getting a little carried away  with this,  I just got a mule deer back last week from 2011, it took nearly two years. And I probably
won't get my 2012 buck back till this time next year. I don't care how long it takes my taxi to do it if the mount is perfect, and my mule deer is.

[seth30]

thats gonna be an awkword day when he picks it up

[sirmissalot]

And there is the crux of the issue! You can tell a good Taxi by a wait list, but one with a short wait list is a wait and see proposition. Since YOU (and most other people) are afraid of the same thing(sharing a good taxi with a short wait list) then the easiest way to tell a good taxi  is the wait list.... Only beginners and unknowns have a short wait list, and since the tannery process takes up a bunch of the time how much is the Taxi?

That's not true at all. Good taxi's can and do charge more as their work load increases annually. Turn around time has absolutely nothing to do with quality of work. If you are that flooded with work, and increasing prices doesn't help reduce your work load, hire more help. No one ever said a taxidermist has to be a one man shop... It just doesn't make sense to me when these debates come up. You are given a time frame of when your trophy should be done when you drop it off, that taxi should stick to it to the best if their ability. Where I come from, a man is only as good as his word... One year is plenty of time to finish a quality mount.

[stevemiller]

I've just read this entire thread and the only question that i have is if the problem is tanneries and theyre turn around why not do your own tanning as well? and cut them out completely.I only know enough about tanning and taxidermy to know that the tanning is the easy part and for it to take the longest time is ridiculous.And this is in no way against Michelle just a question on the business aspect of the apparent problem. 

[Michelle_Nelson]

Tanning is a specialty in itself.  It isn't the easiest part of Taxidermy.  It is time consuming, messy, and you have to have a way to dispose of the chemicals your working with.  I did my own tanning for a couple years.   

There are hundreds of tans on the market and they are not all good for Taxidermy.

The reason tanneries have the turn around time they do is because they tan for multiple Taxidermists.