Comments on: In Praise of Wayne’s Bottle Brush Gyms

By: Best in Flock

Best in Flock — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 00:10:37 +0000

Vicki – it is not their responsibility to make good on orders they had nothing to do with. Nor are they a message service for their vendor. If you have a problem with Wayne, it’s not fair to put another independent business in the middle of it. I listed those other stores in case you wanted to make a purchase from them – I do not recommend bothering them with complaints about something they have no control over. Nor is it fair to ask them to provide information about Wayne – why should they be dragged in the middle of this?

By: Vicki

Vicki — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:16:26 +0000

I have the same problem and contacted the golden cockatoo, and the other store he is selling his stuff through and they would not give out any info nor would they take a message.

By: Sonia Kovitz

Sonia Kovitz — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 17:29:32 +0000

Hi Lynn! The govt website wouldn’t have been about getting any money back, just making a record. I cancelled that anyway. I am out about the same amount of money as you, but I have stopped feeling frustrated and angry as I was at first. Wait and see, it may take quite a while but I’m now on record as saying Wayne will come through. I do not believe he wants to cheat anyone but is dealing with more than he can handle right now, whatever it is. His love for birds is absolutely real and that is the clincher. He wants them to have his great toys. Trust me, he will come through. I feel it.

By: Lynn

Lynn — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 15:37:16 +0000

Sonia, I hope you are right. I ordered my replacement parts in April and have yet to receive them. I’m also one of the ones unfortunate enough to have used PayPal (I wonder why they don’t do anything after 60 days). What good would it do to put a complaint on the government website, they’re not going to do anything either.

Really frustrated and poorer by about $300.

By: Sonia Kovitz

Sonia Kovitz — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 21:45:06 +0000

Kathleen, I think he will come through. I don’t think he wants to dupe anyone. I have not given up. Wait and see.

By: Kathleen Vasudevan

Kathleen Vasudevan — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 18:40:25 +0000

I’m really sad that Wayne had to result to taking peoples money. I placed ANOTHER order in March on Paypal (which will not refund my money) and spoke to him numerous times like I always did. He mentioned some hard times in his personal life, but I never thought he would dupe me. EMMA has 6 perches and one hanging perch. She loves them. I’ve been a customer since 2005. If you look below, you can see all the perches I have for EMMA.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=370pfcL75e8

YouTube CapeParrotEMMA

By: Sonia Kovitz

Sonia Kovitz — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:55:08 +0000

Hello again everyone. It’s strange but when writing the previous message yesterday, I wrote about “a chance in a million he might still come through on back orders.” I had a funny feeling as I wrote it that it still might come true. Just now on his site I’ve found a new message dated 7/25/09 saying that he would fulfill his back orders but could not state exactly when. I have been thinking about this a lot lately and about the fact that Wayne has a genuine love for birds, and now that I’ve seen his message, I just want to say — yes, Wayne is going to fulfill my order. It might be 6 months from now or a year, but he will come through on it, and I will let you know when he does. I also am about to cancel my report on the govt web fraud site (ic3.gov), which Paypal had referred me to. I will let you know when I get my bottlebrush gyms!

By: Sonia Kovitz

Sonia Kovitz — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 15:24:19 +0000

Thanks for your reply, Best in Flock! Messages to his email address are returned, so I haven’t had any contact with Wayne since May when he said he “couldn’t get the right color for the base” and I said to use any color. I suppose there is a chance in a million he might still come through on backorders but I’m not counting on it. I’m definitely still interested and I took a look at the two sites you mentioned. I know my birdies would enjoy play stands, but am not sure about brushwood vs dragonwood. Will do some more reading and checking around. Your blog is really great — thank you!

By: Best in Flock

Best in Flock — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:31:49 +0000

Sonia, very sorry that you don't have recourse. Maybe you can try to continue emailing him persistently... I suspect (but I have no way to know for sure) that flattery might get you farther than threats. Click here for some other people's recent experiences with him if you need further backup. Two other places that I know carry or have carried Wayne's parrot gyms in the past are The Golden Cockatoo and Platinum Parrot. They will not be able to help you get your money back since they are not responsible for fulfillment of orders that go directly through him, but they do carry the gyms if you are still interested in that particular product. Good luck.

By: Sonia Kovitz

Sonia Kovitz — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 14:08:32 +0000

Thank you Dan, for your reply. Unfortunately since I used Paypal, which has a deadline for filing complaints, I’m plumb out of luck, but I did file a report on the government site. I updated it today by sharing your complaint on this site as confirmation that I am not the only one cheated by Wayne. I most likely will never get my money back, but these days I have to look at it in perspective. One last try: I am going to call the “Chippy the Pirate” store mentioned above, and see what they know. And I definitely want to buy some kind of good play gyms for my conure and my quaker — I know they would love them and I’m going to be looking for other options. THANK YOU!