Would you be upset... because I sorta am

[TOP SECRET]

Well many of you might remember that in Sept of 06 I caught a 20lb steelie on one of our September trips....

We decided to get it mounted immediately, pulled lines, dropped it in the livewell with fresh water... got back to the dock and it was still alive. We took a ton of pictures (it was still alive in the pic above). We bought 20 bags of ice, filled the cooler and put the fish in. On the way to the taxidermist we stopped at CVS and got our pics loaded onto a CD and printed out a few. We dropped the fish, CD and printouts with the taxidermist and even put on the receipt that it was a summer colored steelhead.

Well a little over a year later, I got the mounted fish mailed back to me. I excitingly opened the box very carefully, removed a ton of peanuts, and some platic wrap. I didn't even finish unwrapping the fish.... I could have cried at the sight...

I was expecting my beautiful chrome 20lb baby. Instead, I see a bronzed fall colored rainbow

I called the taxidermist and got the "what you didn't want that color?" Um, no I wanted the fish to look like the pictures... "didn't it have a red stripe in the pictures?" umm, no. Now I have to either send the fish back or drive it 5 hrs up to the taxidermist and pray that they actually look at the pictures this time.

Would you be upset, or am I over reacting?

Nick

[TOP SECRET]

Here's a comparison picture...

Nick

[salmonbound1]

who stuff the fish then

[ray koziatek]

yea big time................

[J.D.]

You might want to explain about "the power of the internet" to your taxidermist. Poor customer service and bad news travels fast these days..... If he doesn't make good by you, let the board members here know who he is.

I had a little "issue" with a marine dealership last spring and let them know I would share their poor customer service policies with thousands of boat owners on line........ things changed in a hurry.. :shock:

[Bob Rother]

Nick, I certainly can understand your disappointment and frustration, however, there is no use crying over spilled milk. The next logical step should be to contact the taxidermist, inform him that a mistake was made, and ask him what can be done. If has any sense of moral decency he will fix his error at no cost to you. Yes, it is going to take some more time, but remember, people are only human--they do make mistakes. At least give him the opportunity to correct his. No one was quicker to jump the gun when it came to these matters than myself, but over time I have learned there is an easier way.

[GAMBLER]

I would be upset also. Hopefully it will be fixed for you.

[Billy V]

I sure hope it works out for you Nick. That just sucks.

[TOP SECRET]

Guys,

I spoke with the taxidermist today, I need to bring it up there and give it back to them to redo. Hopefully, redoing it isn't an issue. My mom had a natural rainbow she caught on our boat done two years ago (got it back last year) and it had the same color scheme... so my guess is they give rainbows and steelhead the same color scheme no matter what time of year or what fish it is. Hopefully they'll redo it without an issue, it just upsets me that I went through so much effort of trying to provide pictures and updates over the last year with pictures to make sure the colors were right the first time around.

Nick

[Mick]

The mount is no where close to the actual fish. Muskie fisherman spend big bucks on fiberglass replicas of the big fish they catch, and the paint job speaks for , and should represent as close as possible the exact fish the person had caught, since catch and release is so vital to sustaining any Muskie fishery in the US. It takes 30 years for a Muskie to become trophy status. For trout and salmon that have only a 4-6 year lifespan to reach trophy status, a skin mount is acceptable since we pretty much have a put in and take fishery on the great lakes. In college I studied art in a smaller school which had a great taxidermy program and I wish I would have went that route. I did talk to many of the other students that had, and I learned that the paint job on evey fish skin mount is what makes the mount. Most of the taxidermy students were enrolled in art classes to further the understanding of painting in taxidermy. I would just get in touch with the taxidermist and ask to have your mount fixed at their cost since you paid them to do a job, and it wasn't done right. It's been a long day Merry Christmas- Mick

[Yankee Troller]

Damn Nick! Id be pissed too. I hope everything works out for the better. You gonna be at the Boat House this May?

[Paul Czarnecki]

Nick, you might want to let everyone know who did the work---just as an FYI so it doesn't happen to someone else.

It looks to me that the taxidermist found doing chromers too tough and went the easy route in painting your fish. Did you research the taxidermist's work? Did you actually physically SEE chromers in his/her showroom? Painting a chrome steelhead PROPERLY is one of the most difficult paint jobs to master. Its also the most time consuming. Its not unusual for me to have three full days in just the painting on a summer steelhead. On the other hand, a stream steelhead is about the easiest fish to paint. I can paint a 34 inch stream steelhead in about 2 hours.

Ship the fish back to the taxidermist with the PRINTED photos of the actual fish and ask that your mount be painted like the photos. There should be no additional charge (other than shipping) because it was clearly the taxidermist's fault.

Good luck and Merry Christmas!

Paul

[TOP SECRET]

YT,

Yeah we should be at the boat house for the loc and for the long weekend at the end of May.

Paul,

I don't want to say who mounted the fish until I see how things work out. I'm hoping it was just a stupid mistake. We've had three other fish done by them and they all came out pretty nice. We actually drove 2 hrs from sodus just to drop the fish of with this particular taxidermist. I didn't look to see if they had any summer steelies mounted though.

Nick

[L&M]

Smart choice Nick. Nobody is above making a mistake, and there is no reason to post a name right now untill you know what is going to happen.

I kn I've screwed up a few times in my business and made it right, as I'm shur Paul has as well. Why slander some one where it can be seen by thousands of people on the net by one screw up and realy hurt his busness, as you said you were happy with his other mount's. Let us kn how it works out.

[LongLine]

Nobody is above making a mistake. Although that's hard to call it just a mistake when you gave him pix and a "chunk of coin" with the fish. If the Taxidermy man makes it right, I'd post his name with Kudos & a fairly good recommendation. If not...stating objective non-emotional facts is not slander.

Tom B.

(LongLine)

[Paul Czarnecki]

I wasn't telling Nick to "slander" the taxidermist. However, I've dealt with client complaints about taxidermists for the past 15 years as Taxidermy Association President and Taxidermy Examiner for the State of PA. Everyone is quick to complain but no one wants to "name names" and the situation just continues forever. As Tom B. said, Nick gave the taxidermist pictures with explicit instructions. Sure mistakes do get made but, in my experience, this is a pretty big "mistake". A mistake that a lot of people would just brush off and say "It looks nice".

I'll stand by my initial impression here---the taxidermist took the "easy way out" and did a 2 hour paint job on a fish that should have had a 2 day paint job--in order for the finished product to look like Nick wanted (and the pictures suggested).

Just my opinion. I hope things work out for the best for you Nick.

Good luck!

Merry Christmas everyone!

Paul

[TOP SECRET]

I understand everyone's statements above. The taxidermist's name will be revealed sooner or later, either with Kudos for fixing the mistake or with a poor review.

Now the question is... should I put a hold on the credit card that they billed last week when they shipped the fish even though they said they'd fix it?

Nick

[TOP SECRET]

Ok well I placed a dispute with the credit card company and asked them to hold the payment until the repair of the item has been completed. I think that is fair, especially since this is the second billing and they have already received my down payment over a year ago. Once the fish is fixed, I'll repay or release the hold.

Anyone disagree?

Nick

[Tim Bromund]

Makes sense to me. You get what you ordered, then you complete the transaction.

Tim

[MANIAC]

Kudos to you Nick, I think you have been handling this matter respectfully. Merry Xmas everyone, Eric

[Fishtails]

I agree with the credit card hold Bob. That's the reason I use credit cards in certain situations. It's nice to have that option. I'll be very interested in hearing how he handles this, and if he makes good by you.

[Mick]

Everyone makes mistakes, and if he like Paul said takes care of the mix-up then thank him and hopefully you get a great mount which is all you wanted in the first place. Merry Christmas and Happy holidays, Oh yeah and Tight Lines in the new year. - Mick

[TOP SECRET]

Guys,

Just wanted to follow up on this... I drove up and got the steelie from the taxidermist last weekend. I had also dropped off my mom's natural bow she caught a few years ago that needed the brackets reglued on the back...

Here's my fish...

Here's the pic of the fish still alive after it was caught...

And this is my mom's natural bow... it's a replica as the actual fish was eaten and then later my dad had it mounted for her (I tried to tell him when it was caught... I don't know that he believed me that there was a difference between a 12lb natural bow and a 12lb steelhead).

Nick

[Rob]

With all due respect I would find another taxidermist.

That looks like it was painted with http://www.ourfixerupper.com/wp-content ... lliams.jpg

[T_barb]

I went back to your original note.... You said that you asked it to be mounted to look like a "summer fish"... Not sure you got what you asked for....