Complaint Review: Joe Regal Taxidermy- NEVER AGAIN

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