Complaints

This profile includes complaints for Murray McMurray Hatchery Inc's headquarters and its corporate-owned locations. To view all corporate locations, see Find Local Branches.

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Murray McMurray Hatchery Inc has 2 locations, listed below.

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  Murray McMurray Hatchery Inc

  191 Closz Dr Webster City, IA 50595-3206

• 

  Murray McMurray Hatchery Inc

  PO Box 458 Webster City, IA 50595-0458

The complaint text that is displayed might not represent all complaints filed with BBB. Some consumers may elect to not publish the details of their complaints, some complaints may not meet BBB's standards for publication, or BBB may display a portion of complaints when a high volume is received for a particular business.

• Initial Complaint

  Date:12/15/2023

  Type:Customer Service Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  The discription of their chick sexing guarantee is misleading based on their wording. I orderd chicks from them thinking if I reviewed **** incorrectly sexed I would be refunded. I called for my refund and they refused. They state on their website We guarantee 90% accuracy on all sexed poultry. If you receive birds that are incorrectly sexed, we will either refund your money, replace your birds, or credit your account. Based on this I ordered chick thinking I would get my money back if they were not the correct ***. They refused

  Business Response

  Date: 12/15/2023

  For the better part of a century our company has offered both a live arrival and livability guarantee as well as a 90% sexing guarantee. While other hatcheries offer a 100% guarantee, we do not. Our guarantee is 90% accuracy. The reason for this is that it sexing is simply the most difficult thing we do at the hatchery. We have professional sexors on staff and offer the most breeds of sexed chicks of any hatchery in the U.S. But, it's important to understand that while we do our best, these are live animals and there are simply no 100% guarantees.
  

  Sexing a baby chick can be done one of three ways, but each way is specific to each breed and/or the flock: visibly sexing by color (autosexing), feather/wing sexing (specific to a flock), and vent sexing. Each option has a margin of error as each breed is different from the next, each bird is different from the next, and you have to allow a margin of error for the workers as well. Even with vent sexing, the most difficult and detailed, you are looking at a bump inside the vent of a baby chick that is about the size of a pin head. 

  All that said, we do offer a 90% sexing guarantee where we will credit or refund any incorrectly sexed chick beyond that 90%. So if you order 10 chicks, and 1 of them is incorrectly sexed we would not refund them as that meets that 10% margin of error. If 2+ were incorrect, we would refund/credit for any chicks in error beyond that first one (beyond the 10% margin of error). This policy has been in effect and published both on our website and printed catalog for the better part of the past century.

  In reviewing this order, the refund was not granted due to our published policy. The error was one bird in an order of 17 (94% accurate), and our representative explained to the customer that this did not qualify for the refund. The call with the customer was recorded, and there was no further discussion or issues discussed. 

  To add some further points to this complaint, a few things would have needed to happen in order for a refund to be processed had the customer had more birds in error: (1) Our representative would have asked for photos to verify the error prior to processing a credit or refund. This is done for multiple reasons: to ensure there is in fact an error as sometimes hens and roosters are difficult to differentiate; and was the male a free surprise chick as the are not eligible for a refund. (2) This customer DID order a free surprise chick. The free surprise chick is always a male it does not qualify for any of our refunds because it is sent at no charge. So a few steps further would have been needed had the error exceeded that 10% margin of error.

  In review, the customer was treated with respect by our staff member, our policy was explained clearly to the customer, our policies are nearly a century-old and published both online and in our catalog, and her order was over 94% accurate.
  

• Initial Complaint

  Date:11/27/2023

  Type:Product Issues
  Status:

  ResolvedMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  I ordered New Hampshire chickens it was supposed to be 14 hens 1 rooster and a free chicken to go with the order. Well I ended up with pretty much all the chickens being roosters. All they offered was to refund the order, but I feel this is unjust all the food I have bought as well as all the money I spent on the encloser seem like a complete waste. They advertise a 90 percent sexting guarantee this by my account is way off.

  Business Response

  Date: 11/27/2023

  Each and every order of sexed baby birds from Murray McMurray Hatchery offers a 90% sexing guarantee. This guarantee has been in place for decades. Per our website, *****************************************************************************************************, we guarantee 90% accuracy on all sexed poultry and will refund or credit the cost of any incorrectly sexed birds over and above that 10% margin of error. We do hire professional sexors, and that 10% margin allows for human error and also because we are dealing with live animals where sexing is looking at something as small as a pin head. We do ask for photos to verify the birds are not as ordered prior to processing the credits or refunds. Our guarantee is published publicly on our website and in our catalog.
  

  This customer order has been refunded in full prior to this complaint. The customer did email us a photo and we did respond confirming that they did receive males in error instead of females. In good faith, and because the error was beyond what was expected, our customer service department contacted them and fully credited their order. IMPORTANT NOTE: We have recently switched credit card processing providers so the customer was contacted (today) to alert them that their refund could saved as a credit, or we could mail them a check. Due to the switch in providers we were unable to refund back to the original card, and this information was conveyed to the customer.

  We are currently in our off season, where our management team reviews any and all issues from this past season and adjusts policies and personnel going forward into the next season. All orders have internal tracking and metrics, and documentation. All errors are part of that review process and will be addressed.
  

  
  

  
  

   

• Initial Complaint

  Date:07/13/2023

  Type:Delivery Issues
  Status:

  AnsweredMore info

  Complaint statuses

  Resolved:

  The complainant verified the issue was resolved to their satisfaction.

  Unresolved:

  The business responded to the dispute but failed to make a good faith effort to resolve it.

  Answered:

  The business addressed the issues within the complaint, but the consumer either a) did not accept the response, OR b) did not notify BBB as to their satisfaction.

  Unanswered:

  The business failed to respond to the dispute.

  Unpursuable:

  BBB is unable to locate the business.

  Purchased 2 female black swedish ducks from Mc Murray Hatchery. Order # *******. Mc Murray used their partner hatchery, ****** Farms to ship the chicks. Both ducklings were very sickley and deformed when they arrived. One was deformed and missing an eye, the other had a deformed foot. I contacted Mc Murray hatchery and was told their gaurantee is only for ducklings not making it within 48 hours, there is no gaurantee for the quality of chicks shipped through their partner hatchery. Both birds died on the 3rd day, outside of Mc Murrays 48 hour window. Again I contacted Mc Murray and was told non of their policies would cover the ducklings. Regardless of how long they each lived, I believe the birds should have never been shipped given their deformities, and quality control should have been able to catch these issues before the ducklings were picked and packaged for shipment from Mc Murrays partner, ****** Farms.

  Business Response

  Date: 07/13/2023

  McMurray Hatchery is a century-old family-owned business known for our customer service. All of our orders of day-old baby chicks and other poultry carry a quality guarantee, a 48-hour live arrival and livability guarantee, and a 90% sexing guarantee. We simply ask that the customer contact our offices within the proper timeframe, and occasionally we will ask for photos to verify quality or sexing issues.

  In reviewing ********************** complaint, we can find no record of his contacting our office, and we have tried reaching out to him without success. ****************** has posted on the BBB, ****** Reviews, and other online sites complaining of a quality issue that is, in fact, fully guaranteed. His complaint claims he has contacted us but our system shows no record of a call, email or text.

  In good faith, we have posted a full credit to ********************** account on our website (dated July 13, 2023) and will continue to attempt to reach out to him.
  

  Customer Answer

  Date: 07/13/2023

   
  Complaint: 20313697
  
  I am rejecting this response because: providing a credit onto the account to use at a later time is unjust. This simply means that I must purchase more from Mc Murray Hatchery. Due to the quality issues already experienced I do not believe I would receive better quality poultry from them. The birds would still be shipped from their partner, ****** farms that has made the claim that there have never been any issues with the poultry they hatch and ship. Furthermore I have the recorded conversation with Mc Murray hatchery from July 7th. They have also only reached back out to me while I was working and unable to respond today July 13th.
  
  Sincerely,
  
  ***************************

  Business Response

  Date: 07/14/2023

  We have reached out to the customer and had no response. We have placed a credit on his account in the full amount of his order without question. If he would like it refunded back on his card we do need him to call in to verify that card's information per our payment policy. At this time the customer has received a full refund, we just need him to communicate with us directly vs via this website. At this time this case is closed on our end.