Problems with Haybox club hay and delivery

Roselina

Roselina

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Hello Everyone - has anyone had problems recently with Haybox club hay ? A 5kg box arrived smelling musty and my guinea pigs refused to eat it. I then ordered 2 2.5 kg boxes one of which arrived damaged / taped up and with a 1/3 of the hay missing. I did contact Haybox but they were not helpful. They did say they were sorry it happened. They also said they are looking into their packing procedure and will discuss with DPD but declined to replace the hay.
Disappointing !
Can anyone recommend an alternative supplier
 

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I do have problems with deliveries being damaged but I'm pretty sure it's usually the courier! Amazon used to wrap up my dog food sacks really well, it wasn't a waste for me because I use all the wrapping but I guess because of waste complaints they stopped wrapping them at all - dog food sacks are not that strong and I have received taped up ones with a lot missing, one that was just spilled all over my front steps, and polite notices that something has happened on the way and it won't be arriving, in other words it's probably all over some van somewhere!
 
Roselina said:
Hello Everyone - has anyone had problems recently with Haybox club hay ? A 5kg box arrived smelling musty and my guinea pigs refused to eat it. I then ordered 2 2.5 kg boxes one of which arrived damaged / taped up and with a 1/3 of the hay missing. I did contact Haybox but they were not helpful. They did say they were sorry it happened. They also said they are looking into their packing procedure and will discuss with DPD but declined to replace the hay.
Disappointing !
Can anyone recommend an alternative supplier
Click to expand...
I’d try and source a good equestrian/local farm shop if you can. I get organic local hay bales for £6 and it’s generally good equality. I use it for most of the cages bases but the piggies really like it better than the commercial brands
 
My last lot of haybox soft timothy wasn't as good as usual. I know it's a natural product and varies but the piggies aren't eating it the same. My vet told me it's too rich to feed all the time anyway so I'm thinking of cutting down my order and trying somewhere else. I got a half bale of meadow hay from a farm but they aren't eating that at all! Their favourite at the moment is Nature's Own meadow hay and as a treat timothy with marigold and dandelion, although they ignore the marigold!
I have also had haybox boxes split and open when they have arrived. Their one bit of tape is not enough to secure the flimsy boxes.
The problem with hay is as a natural product it changes with the weather and year so you find something they get used to and like and the next thing is they hate it.
 
I use pillowad hay. I've always found it to be of good quality. It is now packaged in biowrap which is biodegradable. They also support different charities each year, this year is chrones and collitis UK.
 
Sorry you’re having problems with HayBox.
I haven’t had any problems but my next delivery is due within the next 10 days..

Unfortunately hay quality often depends on the crops harvested and it may be that the heat we had last summer accounts for some of the poorer quality.
 
I had the same issue with the boxes in my last couple lot of deliveries, but not as bad as yours. But hay are (were) still quality. It is the way DPD put them in their vans. Might be they were squeezing it so much so they can put more in their vans. In your photo with boxes taped up with DPD's own packaging tape, it shows they damaged it on their end.
 
I haven't had any problem with the deliveries.

My last lot of Timothy blend from haybox was more stalky than usual and a real pain to clean, so i changed to soft Timothy. The pigs liked it but it has affected the digestion of both of my piggies ( soft, sometimes misshapen poo), especially one of them and they're still not right after a month. I've just had delivery of some lovely looking Timothy blend and I'm hoping that will do the trick. They are fed up with being denied full veggie service until their poos get back to normal.
 
Julie M said:
I use pillowad hay. I've always found it to be of good quality. It is now packaged in biowrap which is biodegradable. They also support different charities each year, this year is chrones and collitis UK.
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I’ve just bought a large bag 3.75 kg of Pillowwad and it looks great but the last two bags have been absolutely dreadful, it didn’t even even look like hay. I wonder if last summers drought has anything to do with it?
 
I’m so suprised HayBox have always been so helpful for me. They called me within an hour of emailing with an issue once and a few months back they offered to send new hay as they had accidentally sent the wrong order. I had meadow hay instead of Timothy. They’re normally very good so I wonder if it’s to do with the damp weather or the courier ?
 
Thank you everyone - I did email as well as speak to customer service at Haybox - not very helpful at all.
I did once get a double order sent by mistake by Haybox and I phoned Haybox to offer to pay for it and they didn’t say thank you just took payment. I think the universe is telling me not to bother with Haybox anymore.
 
The last lot of hay I got was PillowWad's bio timothy from the hay experts. Some of it looks better than others but the goblins are eating it because they're weird like that. Some of it's been quite green, some of it's that stalky yellow stuff that apparently only they'll eat. Plenty of seed heads and that in it, though.

Happy Hay uses DPD so probably not what you want, but they've always been solid with good customer service and I'd still be buying from them if not for DPD.
 
Roselina said:
Thank you everyone - I did email as well as speak to customer service at Haybox - not very helpful at all.
I did once get a double order sent by mistake by Haybox and I phoned Haybox to offer to pay for it and they didn’t say thank you just took payment. I think the universe is telling me not to bother with Haybox anymore.
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Such a shame you’re getting poor service from HayBox.
They’re usually so good but they won’t do themselves any favours with poor service as we do tend to compare notes
 
I gave Hay Box another go before Christmas and was disappointed. The boxes arrived misshapen and damaged - the tape was barely stuck down. They possibly left Hay Box ok but in transit I guess they took a beating. Made me wonder what might be getting into the hay before delivery.

I swapped to Healthy Herby a while ago, and after trying Hay Box again, I went straight back for my latest order. The hay has been great on every order so far.

Both companies use DPD but Healthy Herby use nice sturdy boxes that have pet safe ink so they're great for in the cage too. And they have links with small pet animal charities.
 
Thank you everyone - I really appreciate all the advice and comments - lots of really good companies suggested -
 
I hope this isn't reviving an old thread as it's only a month old. But I too have had problems as late. Split boxes and deliveries going missing. Haybox have made it right every time I contacted them to their credit.

But I think my last lot has made the pigs sick. Not seriously ill but still worrying.

They had soft poops so I striped their diet right back to just natures own hay, no pellets or veg. I have new pellets and obviously uk has ongoing veg problems and it's the 1st thing to stop with wet poo anyway So natures own hay was liettwry all they were eating. I've given them back nearly everything and they're fine so the only thing left that I haven't given back is haybox and a couple of veggies. Like you the haybox didn't smell fresh and wet poops did coincide with the new delivery.
 
I have had a nightmare with Haybox deliveries. My shipment was split into 3 deliveries. None turned up on the day they were supposed to arrive, then times kept getting changed. One of my boxes of hay was then mysteriously redirected to an address in Sheffield - go figure!

It is really difficult for us as we don't work from home everyday and arrange to be here for the delivery day. In the end we had 6 different delivery days and numerous different delivery slots. I have told Haybox that if it happens with my next delivery i will be cancelling my subscription.

However, the hay has been the usual great quality.
 
I normally don't have quality issues. It's just this last box I thought looked a bit weird and didn't smell great. Then fed it to the pigs and they got wet poop. It wasn't runny, just very very soft and sticky. I had to get Luna and wash her feet as she looked like she had poop shoes! It suck to her that bad.
 
I've suspended my deliveries at the moment. The boxes are arriving opened, the deliveries are split and the hay (soft timothy) doesn't feel right. It feels dusty and greasy. The piggies have all had soft poop which after a course of Fibreplex for a week is better. They are having meadow hay (Natures Own) at the moment but I am looking into other companies to trial timothy with. They do eat the meadow but Timmy who has dodgy teeth doesn't eat as much as I would like.
 
Frankie’s poos have been soft and pointed and I’ve tried removing veg and reducing amounts and came to the conclusion it was the haybox soft hay after not giving it for a while then giving it again. So makes more sense now reading others have had the same issues. I’ve not had this issue before with it so it’s a shame. I’ve got another big box of it too.
 
I’ve never had a problem with Haybox. In fact I found for the last 3 boxes their packaging has improved. There was one batch of soft cut stuff that wasn’t as good as the rest, but it was fine and then the next couple of boxes were as good as usual. It’s expensive tho - wish I had a farm shop with hay blade close by.
 
Lavinia said:
Frankie’s poos have been soft and pointed and I’ve tried removing veg and reducing amounts and came to the conclusion it was the haybox soft hay after not giving it for a while then giving it again. So makes more sense now reading others have had the same issues. I’ve not had this issue before with it so it’s a shame. I’ve got another big box of it too.
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Yep - soft and pointed, except Red who had blobs!

2 of the vets we were seeing in October when the boys were all ill suggested the hay was too rich for anything other than a treat hay as 4 of them were "rather on the large side"! I have been cutting the amount I was feeding down and with 2 less piggies now we aren't getting through as much. I feel it's time for a change. We may go back to it, I have changed before and gone back but we won't be needing so much.
 
piggieminder said:
Yep - soft and pointed, except Red who had blobs!

2 of the vets we were seeing in October when the boys were all ill suggested the hay was too rich for anything other than a treat hay as 4 of them were "rather on the large side"! I have been cutting the amount I was feeding down and with 2 less piggies now we aren't getting through as much. I feel it's time for a change. We may go back to it, I have changed before and gone back but we won't be needing so much.
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I’m starting to agree with your vets! Plus frankie is a big boy and eats a lot so likely why it’s just him that’s seemingly affected. I’m hoping the orchard grass hay from Timothy hay.co.uk is a bit better than last time soon as the last batch I got the pigs wouldn’t eat.

It’s a mine field isn’t it.
 
@Lavinia @piggieminder i get the exact same soft cut haybox as you. And I'm sure it's that causing the soft poop. So glad it's you guys too. I felt dreadful when they had soft poop.

I just need to finish trialing the lettuce and add cucumber back and then that's everything back to "normal" leaving just the haybox to blame.
 
I have been using haybox for 8 years now and have never had a problem. I order the 5 kg boxes of Timothy hay and meadow hay. The hay is different all the time. But pigs love it. The hay won’t be as good now as in the summer time.
 
I’ve found the last couple of boxes of soft Timothy far less ‘soft’ and green which is to be expected given the summer we had. The boys seem quite happy. However I do think their packaging could be more robust having watched one of the DPD delivery drivers throw the box off the van before asking to take a picture of said crumpled box as proof of delivery 😭
 
The only thing I’ve had is the odd box of meadow being shorter strands and not so great for snuggling into.
I’ve only got Timothy from them lately (now get meadow in bales from a farm and it is much cheaper). Currently using the Timothy blend but it does seem to contain a lot more of the leaf than the coarse strands this time.
I find DPD to be the best delivery company. Always careful with the packages, on time etc.
 
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