E-mailed Oxbow

[BinkyBunny]

There was a bad drought in much of the midwest making much less hay available and what is available less than ideal quality It's been harder to get horse barns to sell you a spare bale because they simply do not have them this year.

 

[mochajoe]

Alfalfa hay is very distinctive in its appearance as it is very leafy! Here is a photo that illustrates how leafy it is.....and as a few people have mentioned, the drought last summer across most of the midwest impacted a lot of hay production. New England where I live was not impacted by drought as much as rain, so we had many farmers haying later in the summer....some even into early fall! The other photo that I have shared is second cut hay, mixed grasses from a fertilized field (from a local farmer friend)....that I feed to my horses and my bunnies! They all love it! I love my bunnies dearly...but I personally could not justify the expense of buying hay from a pet store! $26 for 9 pounds of hay? So I count my blessing and am very grateful that I have access to horse hay and that my bunnies not only will eat it, but love it! They almost prefer their hay to their pellets.

 

[erinmoveit]

Yeah, my house is surrounded by 40 acres of farm land, I definitely know how bad the crops were. As missy cove said, I'm just looking how they respond to it as a company. With all the money I spend kn Oxbow products, I want them to be just as dedicated to customer issues as I am to their product. That's why this isn't necessarily about coensation. That just is a diversion from the real issue.

 

[Mika77]

I have been buying hay from a horse farm for several years now and Clover loves it plus its cheap (maybe not to feed a horse but for a bunny its very cheap). Well I ran out this week and was unable to go to the farm so I got some hay at the pet store. First I could not believe the price, its insane. Also it did not look or smell like the hay from the farm and Clover hates it. He does not want to eat it and I am worried he will get sick, he is an older rabbit (around 8 years old) and he eats mostly hay with some pellets and veggies so I am worried about his health and will need to get out to the farm this week.

 

[MagPie]

I've been buying the Oxbow Orchard and haven't had any problems with it so far. I don't buy timonthy because I have a bad reaction to it. I will see if the place I ride at would be willing to let me buy a flake or two. My trainer offered me some alfalfa before but he's too old for that. She does have grass bales.

 

[erinmoveit]

Wow, I am impressed with how Oxbow handled this situation! Here is the final e-mail correspondence:

[FONT=&quot]Dear Erin,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Thank you for all the additional information. Mother Nature was pretty harsh with the drought and many of our premier growers lost their crops. I apologize again for the quality of the Timothy Hay. I am sending you three 90 oz. Timothy Hay replacement bags for your bunnies to enjoy. Customers like yourself, Erin, are the foundation for our entire company and I appreciate your gracious attitude and patience. Please do not hesitate to contact me if you have any further questions or concerns.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot] [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]Best Regards,[/FONT]

 

[whitelop]

WOW! Their customer service is the bees knees! I had to send half a bag of alfalfa back to Kaytee in the hopes of getting a coupon for $10. I don't even really use kaytee products, lol. But they would only give me coupon if the product control thought that the alfalfa was below 'their standards'. So who knows what could happen.

I'm glad you got a good response!

 

[erinmoveit]

I was not expecting that at all. I thought MAYBE a coupon for the one that I had bought. I definitely didn't expect them to ship anything let alone 3 bags. This is amazing haha. Well, in order to commend Oxbow for their great customer service, I am glad that I shared my experience. Dealing with customer service generally isn't as pleasant and easy!