When's the last time any of you took a gander at the Marshall pets
site? For me it's been a good five or six years, I think. I went to
check it out and I'm so, so sad at what I found. Once upon a time their
site was extremely superficial (in the late nineties and early 2000's).
The information was lame, the appearance of the site was lame, every
thing ... was lame. They went through several employee's there.

Then Rosemary became the customer service rep. She worked hard and was
very polite and understanding for the most part. She really did care
about the customers. She was also very quick to make amends when things
went wrong; to the point where you only had to call and ask for help
when a kits health went awry after purchasing it. I remember one kit I
bought got infected glands from a tiny piece they must have left behind
in surgery. She immediately arranged for Marshalls pay every dime of
the 500 bucks it cost to fix her that same day. NO questions asked, no
paper work, etc.. Later she paid for a ferret whom I bought from a pet
store that said it was a Marshalls pet (complete with papers) that had
no tattoos. From his looks I didn't think he was a Marshalls. I was
very honest with her about my theory that another ferret got mixed in
with the Marshalls babies at the holding center down south. Yet she
said it was okay, that he must have run through the system and missed
getting the tats somehow and once again, Marshalls took care of it. No
questions. I know some of you must be thinking to yourselves that I
received preferential treatment. I assure you that she didn't know me
from Adam. Now I know some of you had the opposite experiences. But
the point is, that when she was on the ball, this was a huge, HUGE
improvement compared to how they dealt with things before where we all
were ignored. came upon a new fella who had just left Path Valley (he
was very unhappy with some of the practices going on there back then).

Somewhere around the same time Mark (Fetter I think it was?) was hired
there. He was put in charge of the web site. He turned it around so
that it was friendly to the ferret community. I was stunned to find
that he put my site about deaf ferrets and me as a health resource
along with vets and others that we know so well here on the FML. I mean
the risk there ... admitting that their fancies were "defective"? But
there we all remained as health resources on that site for years. I
really thought things were improving drastically at that point and
I just cringed every time someone bad mouthed them. I knew it was
insanely counter productive. It takes baby steps to improve in business
without one loosing money or grounds as a leader in what they do. I
come from a family of business men, physicians and politicians at a
lack of a better word. So I know how the almighty dollar works all too
well. I learned that as bad as things seemed with Marshalls, they were
leagues better than other farms. I realized they need support to truly
change. They had made some steps. But we sure didn't (other than
inviting them to Symposiums .. .that was very cool, I admit).

Well, all the sudden Mark "disappeared". Now I've come to find Rosemary
is no longer in her position. And now? Today that web site is right
back, exactly where it was ten years ago. Oh it's flashy. Believe me.
It's a gorgeous site. A gorgeous Sears catalog styled site advertising
all of their fancies vigorously and offering an inaccurate color chart
among other things. ALL health, expert, etc, sources and links ...
gone, gone, gone.

Would this have happened if people like me didn't cower at the ferret
Nazi mentality some of us all exhibit at one time or another? Would it
have happened if some of us had put our negative, loud mouth efforts
into working with them in one way or another. It would have taken years
of intense brown nosing to have had half a chance at having any effect
on them. But the point is we'll never know if this backwards step in
their marketing was because a few people at their business tried to
extend a hand to the betterment of ferrets and were left alone and
hung out to dry, or if it would have happened anyway.

Once a business changes employees and then withdrawls from the real
world into their own little bubble, let me tell ya, it takes
extraordinary efforts to get them to change. It's like beating your
head against the wall. The change had started to come years ago, a
door cracked open. And we blew it.

I know it sounds like a lecture. I didn't mean it to be when I began
writing this post. Initially I was just wanting to say that I was very
sad at how the marketing and web site had changed so much. But I I
suppose I'm having one of those overly thoughtful days. And you, my
ferret family, is on the recieving end for a change. I'm not sorry for
that. That is what we are all here for. For support. I just wish we'd
offer that support to others outside of our family more.

Wolfy

ps, Please, please, PLEASSSSSSE, if you must reply to me negatively or
negatively and critically about Marshalls. Don't. I of all people have
tens of years of knowledge about the pro's and cons about ferret farms.
You will be preaching to the choir and achieve nothing but hurting me
and hurting our efforts to improve things. There are YEARS of posting
about them in that way online. I conceeded that there are awful things
about ferret farms. But I am saying that if they must exist for now, we
should consider changing what we can not eliminate and then work with
them. The in your face approach has not worked and it never will in
this country.

[Posted in FML 6807]