Our Hansa plush fawn was perfect!

We received a nice customer e-mail this morning that I wanted to share with you:

Sent: Mon, December 14, 2009 7:07:11 AM
Subject: RE: Deer Order

My fawn arrived today and I just wanted to let you know that I LOVE IT! It’s a gift for my daughter who is expecting her first baby in May. She and her husband decorated their nursery in a forest theme with deer, raccoons, and squirrels and this little guy is perfect.

Thank you!

"L"

Happy Customer Report: Soon this plastic piranha will have a new home!

Our turnaround is so fast you barely have a chance to blink. We usually ship your order the day we get it, and we ship by US Priority Mail in the US, which means that it takes no longer to reach the East Coast than it does to reach nearby cities and towns (we're located at the far northwest of Oregon).

If the box leaves our store for the 5 p.m. mail, it reaches Portland, Oregon, sometime that night. In many cases, it's on the plane that night. Of course, we don't see the package to follow its route, but typically it will be delivered as quickly to Boston as to Los Angeles, even though one is a continent away. If you live in a peripheral, or small zip code area, it may add a day to the delivery time on your end. That's why we say that your order is "usually delivered in two to four days" from the time you place it with us. And all this is for a minimum shipping and handling fee of $6.50 on an order of $20.00 or less. A larger order will cost a little more. We use the Post Office rather than UPS, because ground shipping may take a week to travel across the country. We like quick service, and so you do you!

Kevin needed this plastic piranha and some other items for his child's school project. After some discussion with Sue (our Customer Expert) about possible deliver dates, he wrote:

November 19, 2009

Just finished up the order, Sue.

Thanks again for your quick replies and speedy service. Now it's up to our friends at the USPS.

Kevin

You can read comments from other happy customers here.

Lowland tapir t-shirt: One happy customer!

The text was simple, the message was heartwarming:

Sent: Wednesday, June 03, 2009 3:01 PM
To: tapir@tapirback.com
Subject: order received

received my order in THREE
DAYS!!!!!

tshirt is exactly as described and is in mint condition.

will definitely be shopping for more tapir stuff in the next day or
two. thanks,

j

Big smiles here. We always love to hear how happy you are with what we've sent you! Thanks for the e-mail, j!

About the t-shirt:

This is the second shirt design drawn by artist Audrey Jakab especially for Tapir and Friends Wildlife World. We love the tapir's beautifully-formed shape! This time Audrey drew a lowland tapir (Tapirus terrestris) in the same "faux woodcut" style as her first one — the Baird's tapir shirt. As with the Baird's shirt, this design is also printed front and center, and is about the same size — 8 x 8 inches.Both of the no-pocket shirts look identical except that the t-shirt is short-sleeved and the sweatshirt is long-sleeved. Of course, the sweatshirt fabric is heavier! The shirts are printed in black on ash-gray, and for once we can say the scan came out very well! You'll get a very good idea of what it looks like from the picture. The small print underneath "T is for Tapir" says "© 2000. A. Jakab" on the left and "Tapir Preservation Fund" on the right. Come look through our terrific selection of shirts.

We love to see your projects and we LOVE it when you get good grades!

A very happy mother wrote to us:

Hi! About a month ago I ordered a Horned Toad and a Thorny Devil from you for my son's project for his school's Academic Fair. We just finished the fair and Marshal made a 100 on his project with very high marks for the animal examples he used (your toys!). This was a big boost to him and he worked very hard to make sure his report was as good as his visual project was. I am attaching some pictures of the project! Thanks again for the speedy service!!!!! His name is Marshal Rainwater and he's in the 3rd grade at Hancock Creek Elementary here in sunny Cape Coral Florida. (P.S. - This was made in a child's shoe box. The background is an aquarium background, the 'sand' is crushed almonds colored, and then of course your lovely figures including the 'box' the devil came in.) -- Mandie

Thanks for telling us! We're all smiles around here. Great work, Marshal. We're glad we could help! By the way, the "box the devil came in" consists of two halves, light tan in color. The horned toad is standing on one, and the other is just behind the thorny devil. The thorny devil is a puzzle, and the pieces come in a re-closable plastic case. Marshal used his ingenuity and put the case to use as stones for his diorama. Very clever :)

If you're into plastic vultures, give us a call!

This is one of our plastic vultures. We have a new one, too, and I haven't managed to get it online yet. When a customer called looking for plastic vultures for his son who had a serious fascination with them, Sue was able to tell him about the one that isn't online yet. He purchased both, and here is his reply:

Hello Sue

This is [DL], I ordered 2 Vultures for my 4 yr old son Ameer. I would just like to say that you were right, he is one happy little camper I could not believe how fast it came. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you.

We will continue to shop at Tapirback

-- Regards [DL]

If you don't see it on our site, give us a call toll-free at (888) 325-3179 or send e-mail. We do our best to give you the best customer service we can. It's like breathing air. It's not that hard. We love to see you happy! And the vultures have a happy home, too, so it's win-win. What could be better?

Customer service is what we do!

The case of the missing alligator . . . heron with frog, and a few other critters from the swamp. . . .

. . . Solved!

We love getting e-mail confirming our great customer service. It always brightens our day, but the real surprise is that our customers are surprised. Shouldn't we all expect great customer service when we do business with someone? Yes, of course! And you've probably noticed that the little niceties that we used to expect have often disappeared from the business scene. I know that personally I expected to be treated respectfully and kindly, and yes, I still expect the people I buy from (goods or services) to be not only polite and helpful, but sometimes even to go that extra distance with a smile. It doesn't happen as often as it once did. I know that *I* notice it these days when someone gives me great service, and I appreciate it. Our customers often seem surprised when all we've done is what we enjoy doing - helping you with a smile!

Here's another letter we received from a customer today. We appreciate it that you appreciate us! Let's make the world go around a little easier today, OK? All of us!

February 25, 2009 2:06 PM
To: tapir@tapirback.com
Subject: Re: Delivery Confirm: (etc.)

Sorry, it was here, my wife mistook it for something else I'd ordered! Thanks for your prompt help, you are great!

~ M.B. in Georgia

We and our scorpion are "awesome" :)

We haven't seen a photo yet, but the scorpion was purchased to go on a hat for some event. Today John wrote:

Sent: Wednesday, February 25, 2009 6:07 AM
To: Tapir
Subject: RE: Sales Receipt from Tapir and Friends Wildlife World

Got it yesterday. You guys are awesome.

~ John in Ohio

Thanks, John. We love to help and we love feedback!

Sheryl and Sue

Very popular animal eyeglass holders (Peeper Keepers)

Some of our most popular and exciting animal gift shop items during the past few years have been our line of hand-painted animal eyeglass holders hand-carved out of wood. Above you see the parrot without his glasses, and below, he's sporting a pair of . . . well, you decide if he has good taste or funky, but they are certainly colorful! The eyeglass holders each come with a notch to hold your glasses. If you've had a trouble finding them, this may solve the problem!

Kids also find our Peeper Keepers a fun way to feel proud of wearing glasses. And, they are so decorative! In addition, hey . . . can you ever have too many animals in the house? We think not!

Here's a letter we received today from a customer who agrees:

Many thanks. The parrot has rave reviews from my classes and I ordered a spare in case he wandered. Now Grandpa wants one too.

~ K

Sue wrote back:

Glad to hear the peepers are such a great success! Thanks again for your new order.

But where's the rub? Aye, it is here. As popular as these items have been for us, the US importer has decided to discontinue them! Now is your chance! Some of the animal styles are still plentiful as of this posting, while others have already gone out of stock for good. We will keep looking for another source, but it may be impossible for us, as a smaller business, to find a source in China because we can't buy in the huge quantities required for production. We'll keep them in stock as long as we can get them. But for now we have to say that if you want one or more, it could be the last chance. No, this is not a ploy, we're saddened every time one of the animal styles disappears. Here is our order page for this teriffic line of carved wood animal Peeper Keepers! We have alligators, bears, dragons, and that is only the start! Come take a look!

Another very happy customer

I accidentally posted a Happy Customer letter on my personal blog. Here is the link!

~ Sheryl

High visibility for tapirs: A stuffed tapir is his new best friend!

Pamela wrote to us on August 5, 2008:

Thanks for offering and shipping the wonderful new stuffed tapir. My son used his birthday money (which arrived right at the time you began taking pre-orders) to buy it and he is entirely satisfied -- thrilled would be more accurate. Even though he is 15, he has been taking it around the house with him and letting it perch on his shoulder; he really likes the wired legs which make the tapir posable. Here he is "modeling" Yanisa, while wearing the tapir shirt he got LAST year for his birthday. August loves doing his part to make tapirs more visible!

Return customer and stuffed toy squirrel both happy

Oops! Running out for coffee. Text to come soon!

~ Sheryl

OK, back again :)

Rachel wrote to us from Canada:

Re: Red Squirrel Order

Good Day! This is just to let you know I've received the squirrel today, safe and sound. He's gorgeous, thank you for chosing exactly the right squirrel for me.
:)

We believe the squirrel is also happy and we're sure he/she has a good home. By the way, this squirrel is one of my favorite stuffed animals in our collection!

New stuffed tapir now in stock!

Our new stuffed tapir, Yanisa, has now been delivered and is ready for shipping. We've had a "pre-order" option online for some time, and those who ordered in advance have now received their tapirs. Here is the reply from one happy customer:

Plush Tapir ...safe arrival...

Hi: Just writing to say the TAPIR arrived and it looks very nice. Good in detail, and color too. I'm very pleased with it. Thank you so much, and I hope to do business with you again very soon.

Donna.

Thanks, Donna! We love to hear good news . . . and we're glad the tapir has a good home :) Yanisa's name was given to her by a tapir fan in Russia. Yanisa is the name of his daughter - half Russian and half Thai. We thought it was a beautiful name, and appropriate since real tapirs live in Thailand.

Sheryl and Sue

Plastic elephant on a mission

Sue,

Thank you so much that was very nice of you and I am sure he will love it. You would not believe how hard it was to find reasonably priced toys for kids that they can actually learn from, so I appricate it. Thanks again :)

Lauren

We love it when our animals make someone's day, whether it's to be educational, entertaining, or both. We have quite a collection of toy and collectible elephants. Come have a look!

Cute stuffed hedgehog!

Our hedgehog came yesterday - so cute - we just love it. Thanks.

Ann

--------------------------------------------

Thanks for letting us know! We only have a few of these left –
they are being discontinued. We hope you enjoy your new
friend!

Sue

What fun! Plastic giant squid and more . . .

Hi there, our parcel arrived this morning, my little boy is SO EXCITED with all his new sea creatures, he loves them all but he's especially taken with the giant squid! Thanks for the spinner too, that was so kind of you to include that. . . . It has been a real pleasure doing business with you, I'll put another order in as soon as the sea otter with the starfish is back in stock.

I showed my children where the parcel had travelled from on Google Earth this morning, Astoria looks fantastic with all that water around you.

Thanks again for all your help and for such wonderful service,

Sarah

She loves our animals!

Here's another letter that made our day:

Dear Sue, thank you for the Opossum, the meerkat, and the tazmania devil. Your a very nice person. your the best stuffed animal maker in the world. Thank you so very very much. you are a kind person.
From Teryn

Thanks, Teryn. You make our work a total delight!

Sheryl and Sue

Our plastic animals are loved and hated in England

It was a dark and stormy night on the River Tyne, near the North Sea and not far from the Scottish border. A box had been opened . . .


. . . scary creatures had been unleashed . . .


. . . and we received the following e-mail:

Thanks for this; it arrived safely and my son has really enjoyed playing with them (personally I hate them, but I must learn to overcome my phobias!)

Best wishes

Jonathan

Thanks, Jonathan! People like you make our day!

Sue, Sheryl, and Lee

Realistic plastic jumbo shrimp . . . YES!!!

Jumbo plastic shrimp or prawn

Received them today. They look great. Thank you very much! I will have to order more in the future. Thanks.

Chris

When we first got these shrimp in stock, we presented one to a marine biologist friend over dinner. He couldn't take his eyes off the plastic shrimp. I don't remember how much of his dinner he had a chance to eat, but he DID love the fake shrimp! It's been a favorite with us, too. At 9 inches in length, it's quite impressive.

She likes our plastic frogs

Subject: very pleased with my order!

Hi -- my boys love reptiles and amphibians, and I found your site through a Google search. I recently received my first order and I am very happy with the quality of the items, particularly the tree frogs. There is a world of difference between your products and the products offered on some other websites (which can be quite disappointing in real life). Thanks so much, and we will be ordering again soon!

Laura

"STUFFED OCTOPUS!!! I LOVE HER"

This was the subject line of an e-mail we received the other day. The stuffed octopus in question is Olive, pictured above. For several years she's been one of our gift shop's most popular stuffed animals. Our customer wrote:

Thanks so much for the rush [shipping]. The party is tonight and my friend will LOVE her. She's gonna give her a great home.

Thanks again!!!

You can read more about Olive Octopus on her own web page. Our stuffed octopus has a beautifully engaging orange eye and her tentacles curl back to position when you pull them stright. She has real personality and is a favorite for both online buyers and visitors to our showroom. We have quite a few octopus items for sale online. Check them out!