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selling hay ??????????

X

xcsp

Member
Hello
Need a opinion on what to do with this problem I have .
Sold a guy some 2nd cut alfalfa/timothy hay in july this year he took 60 bales .
He calls me yesterday tells me he wants his money back for 30 bales he says his horses will not eat it.

I have sold my 2nd cut plus I am feeding my 2 horses with the same hay he bought, he is a first for me to hear something like this.
Anyways I do not know where this hay has been and would be afraid to take back and feed my horses with it . so I am leaning towards telling this guy no -deal once it is gone it is his.
any suggestions ?????
Greg
 
I would tell him he has spoiled horses, and keep your money. That is why I am not in the hay selling business. I probably own as many horses as anyone on here, but mine work for a living, and get no special treatment. If they don't like what they get fed, they will get hungry enough to eat it, eventually.
 
Sounds like a crook to me. A lot of the horsey
types are crooks its best to not to sell them
anything.
 
If this guy is a long time customer, then I'd look into it further. If he just "showed up" needing hay, then I'd be VERY leary of giving him his money back.

You may not know how he stored this hay in the time since he bought it from you. Who knows what could be wrong with it by now. ?? Now, if this hay was baled too wet and has since molded..........well, only you will know this.

Personlly, I have each customer inspect the hay before we ever load it. I always cut open a couple bales so they can see what's inside. If they say "it's ok".....then it's theirs. Period.
 
We get that all the time. They buy it and keep it for months and then they call and say, "Oh, the bales are all moldy inside, or its brown inside, or it has got too much dust in it. Just had a guy bring back three midsize bales a couple of weeks ago. He swore they were full of black mold. Had fed part of one. I unloaded them and fed them to the cows. Absolutely nothing wrong with them except there was a tiny bit of spoilage on the one that had been on the bottom of the stack here. Boss gave him his money back.
 
I sell hay every year to horse people. Don't generally like them very much but they pay well for good hay. I have only had trouble one year and that was my fault...little too much moisture in the stems on some bales of grass hay and it heated and developed a fine dust that smelled a little like mushrooms. Not all bales were affected and people who brought it back got a credit toward next cutting or refund.

My first question would be how long have you been baling hay? If you messed up then man up and refund the hay...but get it returned. I use old bales for erosion control, mulch, or just compost them.

Second question is, do you want to keep selling hay? Horse people are clannish, especially if they show. You can get a bad rep. For 30 bales I would take it back and refund BUT I would always be sold out when he came back around if there is any doubt about honesty.

It's a business, you have to play the game.
 
Sorry bud, I'm not WalMart. You know what your horse will eat and you bought it.

And he would be the first person I'd ever put on a "bad buyer" list.
 
Once I went to pick up some BAD hay that I sold, and they had several male dogs peeing on it. They kept the hay. At the least I would go look at it first.
 
Personally... I have no problem taking hay back provided I know where and how it was stored. My squares are fairly distinctive in the local area in that I use a particular twine and the baler has a plunger spike that nobody else has... so I can ID my own bales fairly easily whether or not anyone else can... So on that basis I don't mind taking them back. Add to the fact that I'd eventually sell them for construction mulch if they were bad...
In your case... I dunno. There's a certain number of these scammers around who play games like that. Your hay is junk, blah, blah, etc. Give me my money back... When it comes time to cough up the hay you always find out it's been fed.
For the sake of 60 square bales.... I'd probably refund the money and then burn the hay in front of them. Then tell them to fly to hell and don't come back.

Rod
 
Your biggest problem is not establishing your terms right up front.

Always - and ESPECIALLY with horse people - ALWAYS insist they take some bales to try first, because once it leaves the barn, it can't come back in.

Horse people are notorious for doing this to you.

If it were me - in this case where you didn't set expectations - I'd be clear now that you have no-return policy for a reason (might have been stored improperly, rained on, picked up viruses/parasites from other animals), but this ONE time you'll take his back (minus say a $20 loading fee for your time).

To me, it's just too small an amount to lose a potentially good customer over.
 
Difficult question. Since I have horses and James & I grow hay, I've sort of been on both sides of this issue.

Many years ago, long before James and I began raising our own, I bought a load of nice looking hay. First time I had bought from this person. Hay looked good and smelled good.

I hadn't fed much of it, when all of my horses started colicking. Got the vet out. After treating my horses ($300+). We started looking for a cause. He discovered singletatry pea in the hay. Not just the vines, but the pods. I didn't know they were toxic to horses and was lucky their reaction wasn't any worse than it was.

I called the grower. He did refund my money and come get the hay, but said none of his other customers had a problem. I picked up every shred of that stuff, bagged and trashed it.

Horses can be funny critters. Mine spent 2 years at the farm grazing on bahai, but flat refused to eat the bahai hay grown on the same fields they grazed at the farm. Go figure.
 
I have bought bad hay before, I chalked it up to a learning situation for me, I would never call and demand my money back for my own mistake. But, in your case there, give him the money back for what he hasnt used, get the hay and sell it to a cattle feeder, and be that much wiser next time the guy calls, if he ever does that is... I think thats what I would do. Good Luck
 
Along with the others, I would have him bring
what's left back, and if you agree it's your hay
and the problem wasn't storage, then and only then
refund him for that hay. I sell a fair amount of
hay myself and have seen all sides. Been lucky for
the last 5 years or so as I have a small number of
repeat customers that take everything I have for
sale.

Casey in SD
 
We sell about 20 acres worth of alfalfa hay/year.
We've done it for 5 years now and i've learned if they
get are a bad customer, let them go. I have a couple
people that call and I always tell them it's all sold.
They like to complain, are short on money, or
something,but always want more. Horse people are
the worst. They buy the hay, then expect you to do
everything for them while they watch. I no longer
deliver because of people like that. Beef and dairy
people are the easiest.
 
After he left it out in the rain or the tarp blew
off or whatever -- 4 months later he wants to
complain about half of it? I would tell him not no
but hail no and hope it made him mad enough to never
come back -- and as a bonus maybe he would tell all
of his chiseling cheapskate friends not to deal with
me either.
 
I sell to all horse folks. Some are dingbats! Most are good people. I garuntee my hay and if someone finds a bale with an overload of thistles or weeds I don't have a problem replacing the bales. In your case, I'd definatly check out the hay to see what the problem was before doing anything.
 
For that few of bales I'd refund their money, no questions asked,
to save your name. But I would never sell to them again. The
little bit of hay I sell now is done through the local stockyards
because of one or two people like that.
 
I don't think taking them back will "save your name". It's like admitting you know you sold bad hay - and that is exactly what the horse guy will tell everyone.
 
I think I would go and have a look at the hay before I did anything, to see how it is stored. How much are the bales selling for? If I had 30 bales of hay my horses did not eat at over $20.00 a bale I might want my money back also. It seams a little fishy in your case,since the horses already ate 1/2 of it. Stan
 
Well Thank-you for all the replies, this is no moldy hay/ moisture at 14% when baled,my horses love it.
I decided not to give him his money back because it is too long and I know nothing about where this hay was stored ,so I am not taking it back will not feed my horses this hay once returned.

This is the first time selling hay to this guy I am not a big hay seller, just make enough for my horses and sell the rest.
he should have bought 1 bale tried it and then decided if he wants it .

Again thanks for all the replys
Greg
 
That's pretty typical of horse people. They want to
buy premium quality hay, but at a cow hay price. It
seems like they can always find something wrong
somewhere, and want you to take t back or discount
it. Look at the hay, ask them to show you what's
wrong and ask where the other 30 went. If you buy
it back, don't sell them any more. You'll sleep
better.
 
I would not return any money to him. I would also put up a sign for future hay buyers:

"Please inspect hay before you buy it - NO returns."
 
I spray paint the ends of the twine balls. This leaves a small patch of paint every so often on the twine around the bales. Easy to identify my hay with a little inspection. Different color each year allows me to identify the year of production as well. Never had any hay returned, but tell buyers to inspect the bales as we load them, and reject any they don"t like. Tell them my sheep and goats will eat whatever they set aside.
 
It took from July till now to decide he doesent like it tell him no returns he seen the hay and paid and now a few months later he doesent want it too late you dont play games keep the money and tell him to do not come back ever.
 
I have been in the hay business for 30+ years and had a person try something like that just once. I said I"d be over to look at the hay and if it was bad I would replace it or give them their money back (except if it was their fault due to bad storage). They were trying to not pay the rest of their bill-approx 100-150 bales worth. When I got there they showed me about 5-6 bales of hay they had opened and used part of. I ask "where"s the rest" and they said they used it. I told them - if you used it you bought it and it couldnt have been that bad if you could use it all. Needless to say they did"nt get any refund.
 
I had the same problem about 15 years ago. Did a little independent investigation on my own, found the hay stored outside without cover. Told the guy no, and don't come back. You looked at it, you bought it, you paid for it, it's yours. I sold hay to lots of people, horse and otherwise for a lot of years, and that was the only time I had that one pulled. Other stuff, yes, but not that.
 

In 26 years I have to admit that twice I sold some that had more mold in it than it should have had. Almost all of my hay goes to long term customers who come back year after year. I have always told them that I guarantee that they will find some mold if they buy 100 bales because my hay is made outdoors and not inside a factory, but I have very rarely had a comment let alone complaint other than those two times. They were, however, both within two weeks of when they bought it. I think that three months and thirty fed is too long and out of warrantee.
 
Exactly.... you're always going to find some with a bad flake here and there, etc. I've always had the mindset that if someone came to me and said they had 3 bad bales in 100 on a rare occasion, then I would have no problem replacing them. When someone tells me that 'all' of my hay was bad, after they've inspected every bale and hauled it home... then I tend to doubt the veracity of what they're saying.

Rod
 
It's in my terms of service, no refunds or
returns once hay has left the farm. I'd
yell him it's a perishable commodity,
Kroger doesn't take back potatoes after 4
months, sorry.
 
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