Your Mount is Ready but where are you ?????

[Bean Counter]

I voted 60 days.

If I were a taxi I would be at least as flexible for my customers as i ask them to be for me.  If you quote 12 months but regularly run 18 month turnarounds, dont at the same time tell me that your pickup date is inflexible.   

[hirshey]

I would say this figure should be highly dependent on the taxidermist and the client and the arrangement they have agreed upon.

For me, 30 days is not reasonable if the mount will be done any time between May and September; I am on 2 hour callback from my work station even IF I am afforded a day off... and that's if I'm even at my duty station; between May 14 and October 14 of 2012 I was only home 7 days.

As a general, relative figure under normal circumstances, I'd agree 30 days is reasonable, but each case (if communicated beforehand) is different.

Charlie's Taxidermy held my mule deer euro until October for me due to this reason, which was incredibly appreciated, and I'd use him again in a heartbeat due to his professional manner and understanding.

[superdown]

Superdown, you should also be aware that I play a lawyer on the internet and watch a lot of Judge Judy, so I know what I'm talking about here!

I think you just described like 75% of us.

that's funny. My words may seem harsh and i personally would not have it in me to let my trophy sit any longer than possible in someone else's possession it is just based in principle and of course no business has limitless storage but that being said most taxidermy businesses in general  have quite large storage areas.  

[pianoman9701]

I would say this figure should be highly dependent on the taxidermist and the client and the arrangement they have agreed upon.

For me, 30 days is not reasonable if the mount will be done any time between May and September; I am on 2 hour callback from my work station even IF I am afforded a day off... and that's if I'm even at my duty station; between May 14 and October 14 of 2012 I was only home 7 days.

As a general, relative figure under normal circumstances, I'd agree 30 days is reasonable, but each case (if communicated beforehand) is different.

Charlie's Taxidermy held my mule deer euro until October for me due to this reason, which was incredibly appreciated, and I'd use him again in a heartbeat due to his professional manner and understanding.

I commend Charlie's for taking care of you and yours is a special circumstance for which you would make stipulations in a contract, were there a written contract. For most of us old fogies, we're not going anywhere but to the bathroom and work between now and when the head is complete. 

[pianoman9701]

Superdown, you should also be aware that I play a lawyer on the internet and watch a lot of Judge Judy, so I know what I'm talking about here!

I think you just described like 75% of us.

that's funny. My words may seem harsh and i personally would not have it in me to let my trophy sit any longer than possible in someone else's possession it is just based in principle and of course no business has limitless storage but that being said most taxidermy businesses in general  have quite large storage areas.

No harshness taken. If my skin were that thin, I wouldn't last as an internet lawyer very long (or in this forum)!

[ICEMAN]

54 months.

[bearpaw]

I say equally as long as it took to mount.

  Absolutely This is first thing that came to mind when i initially read the question. Although i have had my mounts paid for within the month of them being completed with a 50% deposit to begin with.

Sorry and no offense, but that's ridiculous. Some mounts or taxis have a 2-year wait, up front. Some even more. If you're having something mounted and you know what the wait time is, and the taxi is within reasonable leeway of that time, you should be prepared to pay for your mount immediately when it's done. What business has the storage space to keep two years worth of orders? Answer: none.

You're paying for a service. Once the service provider's obligations are complete and the service you requested is complete...it is your obligation to pay for it. You don't get to pay whenever you feel like it, and if you can't pay for it in a timely manner, you shouldn't have signed up in the 1st place.
I voted 90 days. That seems fair as long as the taxidermist has fulfilled his end of the bargain and made effort to contact the customer letting them know the work is done.

   90 days seems fair, then charge a monthly fee, at 6 months sell to recover your time  (sometimes people run into hardships and need a couple months to recover)

[Westside88]

In most cases paying for and picking up your work within 30 days of being notified seems reasonable. That being said, it wouldn't be unreasonable to ask for an extra month if there were travel or work issues. I don't think not having the money is a good excuse whether it's a taxidermist general contractor or whatever. Once the work is contracted  it should be paid for when done

[BOWHUNTER45]

I am no Taxidermist but 30 days  Whatever your smoking send some my way    Unless you are the 1st one on that taxi's door step but even then he or she has stuff left over from the previous year 

[DIYARCHERYJUNKIE]

The question is how many days to pick it up after completion.  Not how long to pay for it.  90 is what i picked.  Some people are busy or might take their animals far from their home and need time to arrange pick up.  Like hirsey they might work abroad or on call.  For how wide of a range it seems taxidermist have the animal complete there should be plenty of leeway to pick it up.  So the op says it's 30 days is there ever a stipulation on time of completion in the contract?  Like mentioned I hope the contract would protect both parties.

[jburkett]

I vote 30 days. But for me, the excitement of finally hanging him on wall has always won. I only have two mounts that are professionally done, but both were picked up, and payed in full within an hour and a half of getting the call. But, it is only a half hour drive from my house to my taxis shop, and as soon as I drop an animal off to be mounted I stash the cash to cover the bill in a spot that will prevent it from being spent that way I won't get blindsided with a bill for 600-1000 bucks.

[bowhunterforever]

So far I have picked everything up within a couple days of the phone call.  Most people can't get them back fast enough. I say 30 days is plenty.

Same here, I call my taxi every few months to see when my mount is gonna be done

[Natures Way]

So lets look at it in another way. Lets say that you go to work for a week and your boss/company tells you that you will get paid 30 days from today Maybe! and see how you run your house hold not knowing when your going to get paid. actually when you get a call that it is done it was actually mounted two to three weeks prior and then another day for cleaning and finish work then you get a call. so if the customer waits thirty days to pick up, taxi will be getting paid almost two months after he/she did the work. what ever lead time they have give that amount of time to save the other half of the money and if life happens and it does you should contact the taxi to let them know not to start on your project yet,it will help both of you in the end.

[Old Man Yager]

I got a 3 pt Blacktail from 2012 in my freezer, I guess I would have to drop it off in order to be able to pick it up!! I'd say 30 days on the poll. Although, as long as you are communicating with the taxi, I am guessing it could be longer. Some people might need more time to get the rest of the money owed to the taxi ( if any ) together for final payment.

[h20hunter]

I get that thinks come up in life with customers and business. However....this is a business and comes with an agreement upfront. I would assume that agreement includes the basics. Deposit, estimated time to completion, and payment/pickup policy. If you can't get the money together during the time between deposit/drop off and completion why would you expect a business of any kind to say thats fine, I'll wait until you can pay. To me that simply seems off. If I can't budget ahead of time and pay upon completion like I agreed to upfront then why did I commit to the work? You dont' get tot he store, fill your cart, all of a sudden say oh golly I can't afford this much stuff then expect the store to hold your selections until you can pay.