OK I just wanted to vent, and I'm not even the one who is being screwed over by this.
My friend has lived in Florida for the past three years. She has finally arranged to have her mare shipped from here to Florida now that she knows she's for sure got roots there (as opposed to moving back here to MI, which was kind of always a possibility).
On Thursday, 10/15 we arranged to have the vet come draw the mare's Coggins. I was present and gave the vet all the info including all the horse's info (name, DOB), the destination in Florida to be written on the health certificate, and the ship date, 10/28. On 10/19, the shipper called my friend and said he would be able to swing by early since he had a pick-up in Wisconsin. She called the vet's office here to find out whether the Coggins result was back and the health certificate was complete, and she was told that they were. So she calls the shipper back and says it's a go for early pickup on 10/21.
Shipper then heads north with his Wisconsin load of 3 warmbloods (rather than south through Illinois, etc. on the way back to FL). His plan was to go through the UP and then head south through the LP to pick up my friend's mare here near Detroit. On his way through the UP (thickly forested area with very small population), he hit not one, but three deer. So he gets held up having some quick necessary repairs done on his truck before he can head back south.
So, on 10/21, my other friend and I head to the vet's office to pick up the health certificate and the coggins, which was supposedly ready. Well...they weren't. Coggins wasn't resulted which means the certificate couldn't be completed. The state ag. lab's office was already closed. We tried everything, but in the end, the shipper had to just head south and stick with the original plan for 10/28, which means he went out of the way, hit 3 deer, had to pay for truck repairs, and was set back several hours all in vain.
Fast forward to yesterday. Since then, the horse's owner has made countless phone calls and written a very stern complain letter to the vet's office here. She finally gets through to the state ag. lab here who say that they don't even have a record of the horse's sample being sent. After much searching, they finally realize the damned vet wrote the WRONG NAME on the mare's coggins, so it was filed in a different place than they thought to look. So all that gets figured out and they confirm that the original was mailed on 10/21, so we should expect it any moment now. Vet's office, meanwhile, still hadn't seen it by this morning.
So now my friend just texted me. They sent the friggin coggins result TO FLORIDA. I made it very, very clear that the result needed to be sent to the farm where the horse is NOW because then it can travel WITH THE HORSE TO FLORIDA. So now, we are one day from shipping this poor mare, and all she has is a health certificate with a piss-poor faxed copy of the original. Did I mention that the horse's owner is a vet tech who works at one of the largest equine clinics in Ocala? My friend is now threatening to burn down the vet's office here hahahaha. I feel so freaking bad for her.
So, a.) cookies if you read this all, and b.) have you ever heard of such incompetence in your entire life?! I really do hope that they will accept the faxed copy at the border, because my friend just does not need any more of a headache from this situation. Ugh.
My friend has lived in Florida for the past three years. She has finally arranged to have her mare shipped from here to Florida now that she knows she's for sure got roots there (as opposed to moving back here to MI, which was kind of always a possibility).
On Thursday, 10/15 we arranged to have the vet come draw the mare's Coggins. I was present and gave the vet all the info including all the horse's info (name, DOB), the destination in Florida to be written on the health certificate, and the ship date, 10/28. On 10/19, the shipper called my friend and said he would be able to swing by early since he had a pick-up in Wisconsin. She called the vet's office here to find out whether the Coggins result was back and the health certificate was complete, and she was told that they were. So she calls the shipper back and says it's a go for early pickup on 10/21.
Shipper then heads north with his Wisconsin load of 3 warmbloods (rather than south through Illinois, etc. on the way back to FL). His plan was to go through the UP and then head south through the LP to pick up my friend's mare here near Detroit. On his way through the UP (thickly forested area with very small population), he hit not one, but three deer. So he gets held up having some quick necessary repairs done on his truck before he can head back south.
So, on 10/21, my other friend and I head to the vet's office to pick up the health certificate and the coggins, which was supposedly ready. Well...they weren't. Coggins wasn't resulted which means the certificate couldn't be completed. The state ag. lab's office was already closed. We tried everything, but in the end, the shipper had to just head south and stick with the original plan for 10/28, which means he went out of the way, hit 3 deer, had to pay for truck repairs, and was set back several hours all in vain.
Fast forward to yesterday. Since then, the horse's owner has made countless phone calls and written a very stern complain letter to the vet's office here. She finally gets through to the state ag. lab here who say that they don't even have a record of the horse's sample being sent. After much searching, they finally realize the damned vet wrote the WRONG NAME on the mare's coggins, so it was filed in a different place than they thought to look. So all that gets figured out and they confirm that the original was mailed on 10/21, so we should expect it any moment now. Vet's office, meanwhile, still hadn't seen it by this morning.
So now my friend just texted me. They sent the friggin coggins result TO FLORIDA. I made it very, very clear that the result needed to be sent to the farm where the horse is NOW because then it can travel WITH THE HORSE TO FLORIDA. So now, we are one day from shipping this poor mare, and all she has is a health certificate with a piss-poor faxed copy of the original. Did I mention that the horse's owner is a vet tech who works at one of the largest equine clinics in Ocala? My friend is now threatening to burn down the vet's office here hahahaha. I feel so freaking bad for her.
So, a.) cookies if you read this all, and b.) have you ever heard of such incompetence in your entire life?! I really do hope that they will accept the faxed copy at the border, because my friend just does not need any more of a headache from this situation. Ugh.
