OntarioHunter
Well-known member
- Joined
- Sep 11, 2020
- Messages
- 5,971
The moral of this story is know that you are vulnerable when dealing with taxidermy long distance. They know how much you have already monetarily invested in that trophy and they know the sentimental value can be priceless. The taxidermist is in the cat bird seat once you give the trophy to them. If at all avoidable, never make payment in full up front. Pay for materials. That's enough. And it only takes a few minutes on the net to figure out what materials will cost. Final payment will only be made when the client has either seen the finished product at showroom or photos. I was compelled to pay full amount up front because there were no materials involved and the full amount was not excessive anyway. But I made it clear enough in the conference call that approval of photos was required before packing the stuff. Three months later I didn't know the trophies were finished until they were sitting in the freight company's warehouse! Someone did snap a couple of photos of the shipment just as packing was completed "for insurance purposes" and those were emailed to me after the fact. At least it looks like the buffalo skull was done properly this time.