Rescue not answering phones?

Vojera

Dunno if I'm allowed to mention the rescue by name, but a place local to me has some guinea pigs for rehoming and I'd love to take some. The only problem is that I cannot get through to them on the phone. I've rang a load of times and it keeps ringing out to voicemail. I've left messages but not had any response to those either.

I'm going to try email next, though I would much prefer to talk to someone over the phone about what I feel I can offer as a great guinea pig home. It says on their site to call first, not to just show up, otherwise I'd just take a spin out to them.

Has anyone else has similar experiences with any rescue? I just feel so frustrated because how do they expect people to adopt animals if they can't get in touch?

SillyMangoX

A lot of rescues don't have people dedicated to answering phones as so much time is spent caring for all the animals. I know it's frustrating but all you can do is keep trying.

godtabh

If its close by would you not call in?

Vojera

Well, when I say local, it's about 40 minutes away, which is a pretty long trip if there's no one available to talk to me or able to answer my questions. For example, I only have space for one or two sows (they'd be joining the girls I already have), so it's a bit of a trek to go the whole way and be told they only have boars. In addition, if, for example, there are three girls that came in together as friends then I don't want to split them as the one left alone will be sad, so I'd rather be sure I can actually help them out before hopping in the car. Petrol isn't cheap these days!

Whispered

You might find it easier to email them.

doctorchopper

Vojera wrote: »

Dunno if I'm allowed to mention the rescue by name, but a place local to me has some guinea pigs for rehoming and I'd love to take some. The only problem is that I cannot get through to them on the phone. I've rang a load of times and it keeps ringing out to voicemail. I've left messages but not had any response to those either.

I'm going to try email next, though I would much prefer to talk to someone over the phone about what I feel I can offer as a great guinea pig home. It says on their site to call first, not to just show up, otherwise I'd just take a spin out to them.

Has anyone else has similar experiences with any rescue? I just feel so frustrated because how do they expect people to adopt animals if they can't get in touch?

I had similar experiences with a couple of shelters when we were looking for a dog, we waited 5 weeks for a well know rescue for a dog, he needed to be neutered and shots ect... 5 weeks later nothing had been done just excuse after excuse so we gave up on them, and its not like they had the door beaten down to adopt the dog as he is a extra large dog that not many people could take or want, tried to contact 2 other shelters, 4 to 5 calls a day messages left with no replies. We wanted to do the right thing and re home a dog that needed a home, but unfortunately we were forced to buy a dog from donedeal.

Sigma Force

A rescue rehoming an animal ..yeh they can be busy but they do need to keep on top of calls and at least phone back later on because otherwise how are they going to rehome animals, I don't care how busy they are they have to eventually ring back. I had a guinea pig rescue for a while and if I didn't ring back I'd be missing out on some much needed homes so I don't understand this. Do try to email them in the mean time maybe they don't have credit or something.

Some rescues can be slow to get back because they are busy but it defeats the purpose of a rescue if they don't answer calls. Do ensure you call at a sensible hour though no rescue can be expected to be on call 24/7 but if you are still looking for guinea pigs if you pm me I might be able to suggest some other rescues depending where you are at.

maggiepip

doctorchopper wrote: »

I had similar experiences with a couple of shelters when we were looking for a dog, we waited 5 weeks for a well know rescue for a dog, he needed to be neutered and shots ect... 5 weeks later nothing had been done just excuse after excuse so we gave up on them, and its not like they had the door beaten down to adopt the dog as he is a extra large dog that not many people could take or want, tried to contact 2 other shelters, 4 to 5 calls a day messages left with no replies. We wanted to do the right thing and re home a dog that needed a home, but unfortunately we were forced to buy a dog from donedeal.

You know I find something a bit odd about this.......firstly there are lots and lots of rescues and lots and lots of pounds (where, unfortunately almost anybody can walk in and adopt a dog then and there once they pay the license fee) - so I find it quite difficult to believe you were forced to buy a dog from donedeal.

All my dogs (3) have been adopted from 2 very well known rescue centres and the third from a lesser known organisation who are not a shelter as such but have dogs in foster care until a good home comes up for them.

I have never, ever, ever, had any problems and have nothing but praise for these people who do such good work and are run off their feet - yes you have to wait a little for home checks etc but thats part and parcel of doing whats best for the dog - not just to convenience the human. Sometimes you can have difficulty getting through by phone (as these people are so busy) but you just redial a few times until you do get through. And as I said above there is the pound.......

ISDW

There is also the possiblity of course that the guinea pig rescue is run by one person, and they may be on holiday, or ill. Email would definitely be the way to go.

Vojera

It's definitely not a one person rescue. If it was, I'd be a lot more patient. And I'm only ringing between 9 and 5, so it's not that I'm interrupting someone's dinner!

I do understand that they can't always answer the phone (although I've counted - in the last three days I've tried twenty times and left two messages) but not replying to messages seems bad form to me.

I've sent an email now so fingers crossed I get something.

If I don't get a response in the next week then I'll probably pm you, Sigma Force. We're not desperate to take in pigs (we have 12 already), but we lost two from our herd in the past six months and when we saw there were pigs in need of a home we thought it would be nice if they could settle with us seeing as we have the space.

doctorchopper

maggiepip wrote: »

You know I find something a bit odd about this.......firstly there are lots and lots of rescues and lots and lots of pounds (where, unfortunately almost anybody can walk in and adopt a dog then and there once they pay the license fee) - so I find it quite difficult to believe you were forced to buy a dog from donedeal.

All my dogs (3) have been adopted from 2 very well known rescue centres and the third from a lesser known organisation who are not a shelter as such but have dogs in foster care until a good home comes up for them.

I have never, ever, ever, had any problems and have nothing but praise for these people who do such good work and are run off their feet - yes you have to wait a little for home checks etc but thats part and parcel of doing whats best for the dog - not just to convenience the human. Sometimes you can have difficulty getting through by phone (as these people are so busy) but you just redial a few times until you do get through. And as I said above there is the pound.......

Don't get me wrong, we had great service from dogs trust but the dog that we were interested in did not get along with our dog so that was a no go, and a very nice lady from the west brought up a german shepherd for us but she didn't get on with the our dog either. We were looking for a particular dog that was young and playfull to get along with our year old husky, the main problem we had with the pound in dublin was we needed to introduce our dog to the potential dog that we were interested in and they kept telling us next week, next week, next week, this went on for 5 weeks and weren't even sure the 2 would get along with each other. One week we spent the whole week trying to get ahold of them, calls were never returned, we even went up in person twice that week. I know people take holidays and sick leave but thats just my experience with them.Plus about a year ago 1 went there to look at adopting a dog and the moron at the front desk tells me he only deals with cats, o i asked him if he could get someone that deals with dogs, and he repeats he only deals with cats.

Whispered

doctorchopper wrote: »

Don't get me wrong, we had great service from dogs trust but the dog that we were interested in did not get along with our dog so that was a no go, and a very nice lady from the west brought up a german shepherd for us but she didn't get on with the our dog either. We were looking for a particular dog that was young and playfull to get along with our year old husky, the main problem we had with the pound in dublin was we needed to introduce our dog to the potential dog that we were interested in and they kept telling us next week, next week, next week, this went on for 5 weeks and weren't even sure the 2 would get along with each other. One week we spent the whole week trying to get ahold of them, calls were never returned, we even went up in person twice that week. I know people take holidays and sick leave but thats just my experience with them.Plus about a year ago 1 went there to look at adopting a dog and the moron at the front desk tells me he only deals with cats, o i asked him if he could get someone that deals with dogs, and he repeats he only deals with cats.

Went where? A pound?

Inexile

Vojera wrote: »

It's definitely not a one person rescue. If it was, I'd be a lot more patient. And I'm only ringing between 9 and 5, so it's not that I'm interrupting someone's dinner!

I do understand that they can't always answer the phone (although I've counted - in the last three days I've tried twenty times and left two messages) but not replying to messages seems bad form to me.

.

Maybe the time you are ringing at is the problem. Perhaps the person is at work and cant answer. I hold the phone for a rescue that I volunteer with. As I work 9 to 5 I cant always answer the phone when it rings so have to rely on someone leaving a message that is coherrent. Sometimes I get messages saying "its Joe ring me back". I dont have a clue who "Joe" is and so wont ring back. Also I dont reply to missed calls that leave no message - for all I know they could be wrong numbers and why would I waste the rescue's credit chasing up these.

I would suggest ringing about 7.30 leave a full message saying your name, contact number and that you are interested in adopting. The adoptig bit is important as rescues are normally inundated with people wishing to give up an animal and you need to separate out your enquiry from the others. Good Luck

Vojera

Inexile wrote: »

Maybe the time you are ringing at is the problem. Perhaps the person is at work and cant answer. I hold the phone for a rescue that I volunteer with. As I work 9 to 5 I cant always answer the phone when it rings so have to rely on someone leaving a message that is coherrent.

Nope, it's not the time that's the problem. It's a well-established rescue and their website clearly says that enquiries are 9am-5pm, Monday to Friday. If it was a smaller rescue then yeah, I'd assume the person is at work, but not in this case.

In my messages I've given my name, number and stated that I want to adopt the guinea pigs on their site, but still no call back, and in my email I explained in a little more detail what I feel I can offer as a guinea pig forever home, but so far I've gotten nothing back but an auto-reply about dogs and cats and how I can rehome my own pets