Amtrak

[celtic]

Yesterday as i was going out off the house , amtrak arrived and said" bird for yourself ", gave my house number etc and because i'd lost a cheq (which i had a quick look at but did,nt have time to go back into the house and check it's ring and the bird in the box looked very similar , anyway on getting home again and checking ring numbers the bird was,nt mine at all but a fancier round the street with the same house number as myself, i phoned the gentleman who had ,had the bird delivered and he assured me that the bird had indeed come into his loft in derbyshire( we're in Edinburgh) and he kindly offered to compensate me straight away as he thought he had sent it to the wrong address, i then contacted another fancier next to me who was able to verify who owned the pigeon,  luckily enough it was  a friend of his who came this evening to pick up the bird   straight away and reimbursed me, what would have happened if for instance my wife answered the door paid £22 in good faith and then the other fancier had'nt wanted it back? amtrak were not , how shall we say it "for giving an apology" yet the gentleman in derbyshire who had already done his bit as far as i can see even offered me to compensate me for the money i'd paid although the pigeon had nothing to do with him apart from landing in his loft for a day,.

Do others have any opinions on amtrak and their service,? when i phone the fancier from Derbyshire i shall if he gives me his permission name him as i think himself and his wife are a credit to the game, amtrak in my opinion did,nt do a good job in this case.

[jimmy white]

hi celtic  ,just reading your [experience] with amtrack, it used to be the case that they[ gaurenteed]24 hour delivery,if that chap waited over 24 hours he would have some sort of claim    read the small print , it maybe differant now,     my experience a few years ago, i had 2 tbs sent from nottingham, and after waiting in all day they never arrived ,so between the sender [who was livid]and i , we made a lot of phoncalls  that day, both to each other and both to amtrack, however it materialised that at 5pm  they were delivered to the wrong gilmerton, they were delivered to gilmOrton in dundee, then when i complained, they said they would feed and water them and deliver them on the third day[2ybs 3 weeks old] well after a lot of debating they decided to send the ybs by TAXI from dundee to edin, i got them later that evening   ,they refunded the carriage, but not the phone calls ok mistakes can be made, but theres a post code which they allways ask for, so in fact they broke their own contract,and really i think they could well afford a taxi at the prices they charge???? jimmy white

[Guest shadow]

Everybody speaks as they find and with sending and receiving pigeons by Amtrak I have  never found cause to complain, but just hope the do not pack in like Interlink as we could be up the creek without a paddle ,have seen several advert's in the cage bird magazine and the courier firms quote £50 per consignment.  ??)

[PIGEON_MAN]

AFTER USING AMTRACK ON A FEW OCCASIONS THIS YEAR I MUST SAY THAT I HAVE NOTHING BUT PRAISE FOR THEM.I PHONED OUR LOCAL DEPOT  A COUPLE OF TIMES ASKING THEM IF THEY COULD SUPPLY ME WITH ONE OF THEIR LARGE BOXES AS I HAVE SENT OFF 1 LOT OF 6 BIRDS AND ANOTHER OF 4 AND THEY HAVE ALLWAYS OBLIGED ME DELIVERING THE BOXES THE DAY BEFORE I NEEDED THEM. THEN AGAIN I DO KNOW OF FANCIERS WHO HAVE HAD PROBLEMS.

[Westwater Assassin]

GOT AN BIRD SENT BACK LAST WEEK ?

 

PHONED ON THE MONDAY AFTERNOON.

 

BIRD BACK IN THE LOFT ON TUESDAY !

 

CAN'T SAY I'VE HAD ANY PROBLEMS (ONLY THE PRICE £22.00)

[jimmy white]

thats the first and only complaint i had with amtrack     but i still think their a bit dear at 22 pound a time   after all they ship alorra lorra pigeons

[Guest Doostalker]

I could tell you a few disaster stories about Amtrak, especially one where I had a bird savaged by a cat after delivery to the wrong address, but I could also say that these are in the minority of the successful uses I have had with them. Still I think one mistake with livestock is one too many. By the way, have all the Scottish fanciers used the Scottish Pigeon Post when sending birds anywhere in Scotland? They are called SPDS and their details are on the back of every SHU transfer form. It costs just £10 fo a box of birds. You have to supply the box though. I use them all the time here in Dunoon as Amtrak won't come across here, and if I want to use Amtrak to get birds over the border I have to get the birds to/from mates houses in Greenock. SPDS have depots in Aberdeen, Broxburn, East Kilbride, Inverness and Perth. The lady who runs the Aberdeen office, is married to a dooman I think, so they know the needs of the fancier.

[Guest]

i to have recently used the spds  service in scotland,to send home 2 strays which came in to my loft & did not clear,one to aberdeen & one to elgin.the only complaint i have is about the thoughtlessness of the fanciers concerned themselves.as spds do not supply you with boxes,you have to make suitable boxes up youself, or buy them in,a return phone call from these fanciers would have been appreciated from them stating that 1.arrangements had been made & 2.on what day they would be picked up.on both occasions spds arrived unexpectedly & i did not have boxes etc. ready.both times the driver was very understanding & and either offered to wait or return the next day. as for amtrak,in all the years i have been using them,i can only remember one time when i had reason to complain about their service.

[maddy706]

Up until recently we have never had a problem with Amtrak.

I got a fone call on thursday lunch time from a Food Merchants in County Durham too say they had one of our birds. I phoned Amtrak too arrange for bird too be picked up . They said it was maybe too late for thursday   they couldn't pick up friday as they don't keep live stock over weekend. So it would then be monday before they could pick up . Amtrak said they would phone me back let me know when bird would be getting picked up , still waiting on the call . I called the place that have pigeon and explained too them , they said they would put bird in a box and feed & water him.

The pigeon was not picked up on thursday , so it would be monday & we would get him home tuesday.

Well monday came and around 3 o'clock i recieved a call from the people who have the pigeon sayin there was no sign off Amtrak. I phoned too be told that they would have too rebook him and it would now be tuesday before they could pick bird up.

Well yes u have guessed today is tuesday and once again they have forgotten about the bird . So it will now be tomorrow ( wednesday ) before they can get him.

I am raging and don't think they who have bird are very happy .

I just hoping when 2 moro comes they do not forget about it again.

They charge us enough to get pigeons brought back & this is the kind off service u get for your money.

 

Well fingers crossed it's like that song by Ronan Keaton " If tomorrow never comes " lol

[Guest]

do not want to sound silly but is thier any other company that pick up and deliver pigeons (like amtrack) but i do not live in scotland so ill have to give the scotland delivery firm a miss! and if so what prices do they charge

 

[Guest shadow]

None that I know of a couple started but did not last long.

[Guest]

oh cheers im not bothered any way im fine with the service amtrak provide but i think they should lower thier prices to about £17 (dont mean to sound cheap) :B :B :B :B :B

[maddy706]

Well once again it is another day . I was thinkin my bird would get picked up today, but after speakin with someone from Amtrak it doesn't look likely as that area was done early this morning and the driver is at the other end of town.

The ppl that have pigeon phoned too say if it wasn't picked up today they are goin too let it go as this is now a week that they have had it in a cardboard box.

Telling Amtrak this was a waste off time as they say they can't make them hold on too it till they go pick it up . CHEEK they have .

>

[martinalison]

I use Amtrak quite regularly and I have never had a problem till recently, my local branch now has a new manager and driver. On 3 occasions now I have phoned them the day before and asked them to collect some birds and they have not turned up. When you ring them they simply apologise and promise to come the next day. You then have to phone the fancier up and explain to him that Amtrak have let me down again.

If I was running a business like them I am afraid I would not survive long, unfortunately when you have no competition you must just put up with them. The BHW will no longer print complaints about Amtrak’s now, just incase they tell us to get lost.

 

[maddy706]

Hi just an update for u all AMTRAK Grrrrr

Yes they eventually picked my bird up only 3 days late lol Brought him up too Edinburgh and u never gonna believe this let him escape so after a week of phoning them , them not turning up too collect him etc they bloody well let him escape . Sadly he hasn't made it home yet.

[Guest]

amtrak have been fine in delivering my birds but i do think they over charge slightly just to pick up a bird and deliver it but it is really convineant and depending on the bird i would pay 20 odd quid to get my bird(s) back any day, but usally i just suggest to the person who reports it (if its within a reasonable distance of my house) if when they were next going to work or something along those lines if they would kindly to just chuck it up and they have done this plenty of times and all the time i get them back safely in the loft were they belong

 

kind regards paul carter