Got my elk back from butcher...somethings fishy

[HntnFsh]

If you guys that want to sit here and argue, put words into my mouth that were not said, would actually go through and "read" what I've posted, I have in no way defended the Owner of the Butcher Shop.  I am being devils advocate, and looking at it from the butchers side. 

Right out of the gate people were telling the OP he was getting screwed, and how bad he got it, etc.  Didn't bother asking questions or giving useful advice.  They automatically assumed because the OP was the first to complain he was on the right side. 

No one saw the Elk meat that was turned over to the butcher, no one was there the day the meat was cut, No one was there to see if the Butcher did make an attempt to contact the OP, etc.  So lets all jump to conclusions.

My wife and her first husband had a custom meat cutting shop. Shes told me more stories than I can count. Your spot on, on this one Michelle. Cant judge this one until both sides of the story are heard!

[Band]

A good business owner does not allow a game animal to sit for the length of time this one did before having the product finished for the customer.  Period.  A good business owner does not deliver such a tiny percentage of finished product as was delivered to this customer without a thorough explanation either at the time of dropoff, during the cutting process, or at the very least when the customer picks up the final product.  Period.  There is no valid excuse and nothing the business owner finds out from the guy who actually did the processing can reasonably explain those problems.

[h20hunter]

Only way we are going to get both sides is for the shop to log in and comment. Other than that,  we only have the side of the OP. The rest of the trainwreck......to much baggage being alluded to on both sides. Mods should delete it all and let it go to its own thread. And folks are dragging up 2 years old cpost worries, like we need or want this drama.

Op, let us know what's new tomorrow.

[Michelle_Nelson]

A good business owner does not allow a game animal to sit for the length of time this one did before having the product finished for the customer.  Period.  A good business owner does not deliver such a tiny percentage of finished product as was delivered to this customer without a thorough explanation either at the time of dropoff, during the cutting process, or at the very least when the customer picks up the final product.  Period.  There is no valid excuse.

How do you know that the animal wasn't cut within a week or 2 and attempts were made to contact the customer to come pick it up? 

How do you know that a phone call wasn't attempted during the cutting process to talk over bad meat or damage they noticed?  So they were not able to make contact, what is the bitcher supposed to do?  Hang the meat back up for a couple days, so more of it can go bad, while they try to get a hold of the customer?

How do you know that an employee or the OP didn't accidentally write the phone number down wrong?  Or one of the numbers didn't look similar to another due to a smudge of ink?  Maybe one or the other has sloppy hand writing? 

Good chance that the person that gave the OP his meat at pick up was the same person that took it in or cut and wrapped it.  If it is not that employees responsibility to notify customers of spoiled meat while cutting how is that person supposed to give an explanation ?  The OP didn't realize the shortage until after he got the meat home and was making dinner.

If the Owner did not check the animal in or cut and wrap the animal how is he supposed to answer any of the OP's questions until he himself is able to get the answers unless he talks to the employee that did the cut and wrap and pulls the paperwork?

[Bob33]

http://apps.leg.wa.gov/rcw/default.aspx?cite=77.15.170

(3) It is prima facie evidence of waste if:

     (a) A processor purchases or engages a quantity of food fish, shellfish, or game fish that cannot be processed within sixty hours after the food fish, game fish, or shellfish are taken from the water, unless the food fish, game fish, or shellfish are preserved in good marketable condition; or

     (b) A person brings a big game animal to a wildlife meat cutter and then abandons the animal. For purposes of this subsection (3)(b), a big game animal is deemed to be abandoned when its carcass is placed in the custody of a wildlife meat cutter for butchering and processing and:

     (i) Having been placed in such custody for an unspecified period of time, the meat is not removed within thirty days after the wildlife meat cutter gives notice to the person who brought in the carcass or, having been so notified, the person who brought in the carcass refuses or fails to pay the agreed upon or reasonable charges for the butchering or processing of the carcass; or

     (ii) Having been placed in such custody for a specified period of time, the meat is not removed at the end of the specified period or the person who brought in the carcass refuses to pay the agreed upon or reasonable charges for the butchering or processing of the carcass.

[h20hunter]

Seriously,  can we get a halt to this.

No problem with the edit at all. Everyone is thinking it. Everyone knows it. Delete my comment, half this thread, I'll be the first to say thanks.

[Bob33]

Seriously,  can we get a halt to this.

Yes, we can. Any further comments about anything other than the topic of the OP, which specifically deals with a butcher and does not deal with taxidermy or any other related topic will be removed.

[Band]

If the Owner did not check the animal in or cut and wrap the animal how is he supposed to answer any of the OP's questions until he himself is able to get the answers unless he talks to the employee that did the cut and wrap and pulls the paperwork?

If the owner does not have a management system in place and has not trained his employees to provide a full explanation of such a tiny yield of final product to the customer when they are face to face at the time of pickup, regardless of who actually processed the animal the owner is a POOR business manager.  No excuse!

[gasman]

To the OP, you got way more patiens then i do, I would have been down at that shop when the doors open, with the meathe  gave me looking for imediate resolution to the issue,  Kudos to you 

Hope this turns out good for you 

[jnutzalot]

Update 2: The Butcher did not call me back all day, again! I had to call back and the Manager once again gave me the runaround about the supposed employee that botched the order...My patience has about ran out at this point. He promises to call me tomorrow at 10:00 to settle this up. We'll see what happens, this is such a joke.

This will be the runaround phase of dealing with a customer complaint.  Let us know when you're done with this and get to the customer retribution phase.

If this is the employees weekend or this is a seasonal employee and he is currently laid off for the season, this is the "employees" time not his employers.  This may very well be requested time off by the employee.  If it is requested time off he may not be home, he may be out of town, funeral, visiting family, who knows.

The Owner quite possibly wants to find the customers paperwork/cut ticket and find out from the employee what his side is. The condition of the animal when it came in, any spoiled meat they encountered, etc.  I see no fault in this.  The owner is probably trying to be prepared for dealing with an upset customer, he wants all his ducks in a row so he can answer his questions.

You don't think the owner would be concerned a customer didn't receive his meat for over two months? The owner shouldn't be clueless, he/she should have have known if there was a box of meat that had been sitting in his freezer since November. He/she should also be concerned that a customer received rancid meat from his shop... You see no fault in this? Amazing how people will continually make excuse after excuse.

[/b]




I'm not sure excuses are being made.  As most situations.....there is fault to be had by both parties.  The OP left his meat there for 3 months and is now giving a one sided story.  We don't (and probably never will) have the butchers side of the story.  If the situation came up 2-4 weeks after dropping off the elk, maybe there would be more credibility to the OP's story....but lets face it, who leave meat at the butcher for 3 months and expects a good outcome.  As a sportsman this should have been dealt with months ago. 

Now for the butcher.....he has a responsibility to the customer.  If the elk showed up spoiled or a mess, he should have not taken it in.  Being that he took it, I will make the assumption that it was viable, decently cleaned meat / carcass.  The OP should have received his meat in a timely fashion and in the cuts he requested.  Being that he didn't it should be made right.  I don't respect business that play "pass the buck" (pun intended  ) to avoid the situation.  With that said, it would be a lot harder to "pass the buck" if it was dealt with in a more timely fashion.   

Hope it all works out...but lets face the facts.  It is probably not going to be resolved (again because this is three months after the fact) and the OP has learned a very hard but valuable lesson.  Butcher your own meat. 

Now wait a minute, I didn't just drop of my elk and forget about it for 2 months (it was 2 months not 3). I was told it would be ready in 3 weeks because they were busy. So...

1) I contracted them at 3 weeks and asked if my order was ready (they never attempted to contact me). At that time they took my information so they could check on my order but never called me back. (week 3)
2) I contacted them at the start of the following week and received their message machine during normal business hours, I don't leave a message. I figure they still aren't done. My friends tell me not to worry. (beginning of week 4)
3) I contacted them again at the end of the  week and received their message machine again, I leave a message stating, "it's now been a month and I haven't received my meat" or something to that extent. (end of week 4)
4) I call the following week and get someone on the phone. I give them my name and they say they don't see my ticket up and that I had a bunch of orders ahead of me but they will be working all weekend to get caught up on orders, blah, blah, blah - It should be ready in 1-2 weeks. (week 5)
4) The following week I call and my call does not go through - I get one of those phone company error messages. Later I find out their card machine shares a line with their main line so maybe that is why.
5) I call again later that day and get the same error message. I start to worry they went out of business or something. (Week 6, it's now been a 1.5 months)
6) I call again the following week and get a their message machine again, It's mid morning and I figure maybe they aren't in yet, or not answering their phone as usual. (beginning of week 7)
7) I call back mid week and get a hold of the manager, tell him how long I have been waiting, and he tells me my Elk is up and being worked on and they will call me as soon as it is ready. (week 7)
8 ) A week goes by and they call and leave a message on my voice mail that my elk is ready. (week 8 )

I made massive attempts to try to contract them by phone. This butcher is 2 hours from where I live, so it's not like I can just swing by his shop on a whim and find out what's going on. This is my third year hunting, so maybe I was ignorant and should have flipped out after a month went by without getting my meat back. After all it only took 2 weeks to get my deer back from my local butcher and that included smoked sausage and summer sausage....

One thing is for sure though, no matter what the outcome this will be the last time I take my animal to a butcher. I'm going to take the advice of people on here and invest in my own processing equipment.

In the end I could have forgave how long it took if my order hadn't been messed up in every way possible.

[bobcat]

    On week 7 they were working on your elk? I'd of been very concerned at that point!

[jnutzalot]

   On week 7 they were working on your elk? I'd of been very concerned at that point!

I figured and prayed they had  froze the meat. Which is what the butcher claimed he did when I talked to him today.

[jrebel]

Yeah, hanging an elk for more than three weeks is a bad mojo.   That might explain the rank steak that you had to throw out. 

Have you tried any other since?  What does it taste like? 

[jnutzalot]

Yeah, hanging an elk for more than three weeks is a bad mojo.   That might explain the rank steak that you had to throw out. 

Have you tried any other since?  What does it taste like?

I tried a piece of tip Sirloin and the back strap. Both were rancid and smelt like a garbage can.

The burger was fine - but I don't even know how much if any is elk meat. It doesn't look like any of the Elk burger I've ever seen or had. And if the other meat was rancid why wouldnt the burger meat be rancid...it doesn't make any sense. 

[Michelle_Nelson]

jnutzalot,

Well I can call B.S. on the Butcher if they told you 7 weeks later after dropping it off that they hadn't cut it yet.  If they had let your Elk hang 7 weeks before cutting it, it would have been rotten, you wouldn't just notice a little funk.  They either didn't want to look up the information or they didn't want to go through the cooler and look for it.

Game Meat isn't like Beef.  They do not age the same, and it shouldn't be hung as long as a Beef.  Beef is typically hung for 7-14 days.  Depending on the animal and the cuts the animal is going to be cut for.