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Joe Regal Taxidermist- NEVER AGAIN Joe Regal Taxidermy- NEVER AGAIN Odendaalsrus Africa
My brother and I hunted with Lategan Safaris in October, 2007. He suggested Joe Regal Taxidermist to do our trophies. That was the start of the problems. The trophies did not get collected for weeks. Miscommunication (?) between Lategan & Regal took months to straighten out a $600 over charge. I spent $120 on a phone call to talk to Regal about the way everything was to be done. Two months later, he says that he is waiting for instructions on what to do with them. It was clearly spelled out on the order sheet that was with the trophies. We were told on a couple of occasions that they were done or would be done within a week. Both times it was a mistake. My shipper contacted after we were told of a completion date. He said that were not ready again. When they were finally done October, 2008, he tried to have HIS shipper handle them. When my shipper called, she could not get him to take the call.
Finally, our booking agent contacted Regal & unauthorized shipper not to take our mounts. They finally arrived here on 12/16/2008. The crating job was very good. I wish that I could say the same for the work that Regal did on the mounts and hides. The bullet hole patch on my brothers Blesbuck was POOR. The bullet hole on my Gemsbuck hide had a 1.5 patch that was worse than the bullet hole. My brother's skull mount on the Widebeast was on a nice plaque. However, it was a horn mount not a skull mount that he paid for. He talked directly with Regal on this in advance. The special mounting system for the blesbuck was nothing special to me except when I hung it with the hooks on the back that he applied, it twisted completely sideways. I had to put a nail on the side to keep it up. I would NEVER let him touch another mount under any circumstance. He was less than pleasant for all of us to deal with especially when we wanted to use our own shipping agent- xxxxxxxxxxx EXCELLENT SERVICE.
Nick
Lockport, New York
U.S.A.
sorry, allowing you to give a competitors name would instigate others to just file against their competition, to only come back later to suggest their company, ..plus, if you post a competitors name more than likely they will show up on search engines as a Rip-off! - - your comments on this policy are welcome. CLICK here to see why Rip-off Report, as a matter of policy, deleted either a phone number, link or e-mail address from this Report. In this case we removed an alleged competitor's name
6 Updates & Rebuttals
POCONO HUNTER
Stroudsburg,Pennsylvania,
USA
JOE REGAL TAXIDERMY IS EXCELLENT
#7Consumer Comment
Wed, January 25, 2017
I had my African Trophies mounted by Joe Regal Taxidermy. The work was excellent, the trophies were mounted very quicly and expertly crated and arrived in great condition. The price was very reasonable and they created two special mounts for me .I would recommend them to anyone who wants great work at a reasonable price.
SolSimple
San Antonio,Texas,
two thumbs up
#7Consumer Comment
Fri, February 13, 2015
I too hunted with Lategan Safaris and used Regal Taxicdermy and could not be more please with the professionalism and workmanship of both organizations. No trip half way across the planet is going to go off without a hitch and mine was no different but all in all both parties did their very best before, during and after the hunt to meet my every need.
Nick
Lockport,New York,
U.S.A.
pte lies
#7Author of original report
Tue, August 10, 2010
I have no idea why PTE got into this other than the fact that I would not do business them. I guess as pay back. Here is part ofa reply from Bill Smith received today.
From: William Smith <smithsafariservice@yahoo.com>
To: nick
Sent: Tue, August 10, 2010 11:52:58 AM
Subject: Re: Rip off. com
Nick,
I have not idea where PTE got that information about the hotel.
Nick
Lockport,New York,
U.S.A.
not truthful rebuttal
#7Author of original report
Tue, August 10, 2010
First off Bill Smith DID NOT pay for a single thing towards my mother's trip. The springbuck mount was part of the package deal that we paid for in advance. My brother never made the comments that you suggest. He is fuming over his mounts. Lategan advertised that the pick up was included in the package. According to Lategan, he stopped doing business with Regal as well. The shipper that I used to export the trophies had nothing brought problems with them. He insisted on using his exporting service rather than the one that we picked that was a lot cheaper & very good to do business with. Use him at your own risk.
Joe Regal Taxidermist- NEVER AGAIN:
welkom,Nationwide,
South Africa
Joe Regal Taxidermy- NEVER AGAIN: Reply from Joe Regal Taxidermy
#7REBUTTAL Owner of company
Thu, February 18, 2010
We are in receipt of a copy of your "Rippoff Report" notes and would like to file a rebuttal and repair our reputation with the following comments :-
Mr. Nick Giammichele - NEVER AGAIN !!!
Lets start with your arrival at Johannesburg, now OR Tambo Airport, where Bill Smith paid for your 85 year old mother, who accompanied you to South Africa, for a nights accommodation at a hotel, since the trip from the airport straight from your extensive flight from the US, to the hunting lodge would have been too much for a lady of this age to travel.You were treated as a King by Lategaan Safaris, but shortly your hunt, everything seemed to turn out to be a problem for you.
After your hunt, your trophies were collected from the farm which is about 4 hours drive from Joe Regal Taxidermy and you were not prepared to even pay US$ 40.00 for this extensive trip to collect your trophies. Gas prices at the time were sky high and Joe Regal actually wrote off his transport costs, just to accommodate you.
Since the 19th of March 2007 through to 18th of March 2008, you requested several quotes, first from a different Taxidermies and then from different shipping agents in South Africa. Professional Trophy Exports Pty Ltd, is the nominated freight forwarder for Joe Regal Taxidermy and was one of the agents that sent you several quotes between these dates. Each and every time there was either a complaint about one thing or another, not understanding our quote, then not understanding that the sizes were only based on guestimated crate sizes and weight, because the trophies had not been completed and the actual weight and dimensions of the crate could not be determined.
Your trophies were collected and mounted within the 9 month period as you were promised, which is a time frame that most other SA Taxidermists do not have, as they are running between 10 months and 17 months to process and mount trophies.
There is also no mention of the Springbuck Shouldermount, which was done for free and paid for by Bennie Lategaan himself, as a sign of good will and to express to you that the client is always of the utmost importance.
Even your brother admitted during a telephonic conversation with Joe, that you were a very difficult person to do business with and that you can't seem to be satisfied on any level.
Your trophies were packed by Joe Regal Taxidermy's nominated freight forwarder, Professional Trophy Exports, transported to Johannesburg and handed over to your nominated shipping agent at no cost what so ever, simply as a sign of good faith and to ensure that your trophies were handled with the utmost care and consideration when it left Joe Regal Taxidermy through to Johannesburg and then to your shipping agent. No costs were charged for the well built crate you talk about nor the transport from Joe, about 4 hours drive from Johannesburg, or even the Nature Conservation Export Permits and Veterinary Certificates, which was applied for, paid for and never charged for. We bet however, that your shipping agent did levy these charges to you, even it was given to them at no cost.
Everyone down the line, from arriving at the airport, through to finally handing your trophies over to your shipping agent, had to write off some kind of money somewhere, just to accommodate you in some way or another.
Joe Regal Taxidermy is a very highly recommended South African Taxidermy and has always received compliments from their clients about their excellence in the mounting of hunted trophies. They even have a client base of hunters as far as the USA, that take the time and money to ship their US hunted animals to South Africa for Joe Regal to mount and to ship back to them, this alone speaks for itself.
There is just no satisfying some clients ..........
Yours Sincerely,
Ms. Roelien Vermaak
Director
Professional Trophy Exports Pty Ltd.
Unit 17, Tulbach Road,
Pomona, Kempton Park 1619,
Gauteng
P.O. Box 13084
Northmead, Benoni 1511,
Gauteng, South Africa
TEL # + 27 11 979 4036
FAX # + 27 11 979 2810
E-mail : pte@telkomsa.net
Web Site : www.pte.co.za
Russell
Dallas,Texas,
United States of America
Beautiful work!!
#7Consumer Comment
Wed, February 17, 2010
I also have hunted with Lategan Safaris in 2002 and 2007. And I also followed Lategan's recommendation to use Joe Regal Taxidermy. I could not be more pleased with Joe Regal's work.
In 2002, Joe mounted 6 animals for me. I instructed Joe to use his best judgment on these 6 because they were my first animals. Joe did a fantastic job. Most mounts were turned to show each animals trophy qualities and were a wonderful beginning to my trophy room.
In 2007, Joe did about 13 animals for me. Including a kudu, eland, and buffalo. Before Joe started to work on these animals, he phoned me to ask for photographs of my trophy room, so he could see what animals I had and how they looked in my room. Joe also stated he had a new mounting form for a kudu. Adding that he would like for me to be the first to use this new form. HOW EXCITING!
My daugher also took a female impala in '07. Joe mounted it beautifully. The impala's head ended up being nestled into the neck of my ram from '02 based on the photographs of the existing mounts.
I shot two wildebeest for rugs. I was surprised to learn that Joe had kindly mounted the wildebeest skulls to a wooden plaque! The plaques look great on the wall!
As far as communicating with Joe Regal, he or his wife have always answered their telephone. You must remember the time difference is +8 hrs. Not once did I have to leave a message for Joe. Joe was always pleasant. His telephone number can be found on his website. Call him now if you like!
Joe always quoted prices in South African Rand. Joe does not use US$ in his brochures or online. So, I am not sure how Mr. Nick could have a $600US overcharge.
Mr. Nick received his trophies, as stated in his complaint, in 13 months. This is a very fast turn around! To have that kind of turnaround at the end of the season (OCT), that is incredibly fast! Especially with hunting trophies taking low priority during peak harvest time for produce in South Africa occurring in December in that part of the world. Ask any hunter, professional or otherwise about the turnaround time, most will agree 13 months is FAST!!
I could not be more pleased with Joe's work and will use him again this summer.
Y'all come on down to Dallas and look me up. I will show you some of Joe's excellent artistry and superb craftsmanship. And I will challenge you to find any bullet holes or any other flaws in his work!