While we were exhibiting at the SCI Show in Reno, several people came to our booth and told us about your forum. Some of the stories appearing on your site is the outgrowth of a negative publicity campaign conducted by a couple of former customers who had refused to pay debts owed to Coppersmith Inc.

I would like to take this opportunity to assure your subscribers that the claims in these stories about unnecessary charges contained many inaccuracies and distortions and were in no way a fair representation of the facts of the situation. Since 1948 the Coppersmith name has been recognized in the international arena for the honesty and integrity of their actions and staff.

We have always specialized in niche markets that others in our field have no interest in handling. Thus, our Hunting Trophy Division was established over 8 years ago. We support associations ancillary to this market with our payment of dues, exhibition at their trade shows and providing speakers to their membership. We remain committed to maintaining the highest quality customer service and will continue to offer follow-up, competitive transport and clearing quotations to the international hunter.

As a licensed Customs Broker (since 1985) I am required, by regulation, to follow rules and regulations of all Government Agencies involved in any clearance. I have personally been security cleared by the FBI, and all Coppersmith facilities have been CT-PAT (Customs-Trade, Partnership Against Terrorism) certified.

We provide extensive support and resources, at no charge, to assist hunters in their pursuit of informed choices they will be required to make. We diligently investigate and resolve any potential issues as they may rise. Our website huntingtrophy.com, is updated constantly with relevant new information.

We appreciate the support of our thousands of clients, who have come to us purely by the word-of-mouth recommendation of their fellow hunters.
I look forward to working with any international hunter to get their trophies back to the U.S.

In the event any of your subscibers have any questions about this process, please do not hesitate to e-mail me at carolr_dfw@coppersmith.com or check the FAQ section of our huntingtrophy.com website.

Thank you.

Carol Rutkowski
National Director, Hunting Trophy Division

Carol,

You should probably put your post in the African Forum as those are the people who would be most utilizing brokerage services.

quote:

While we were exhibiting at the SCI Show in Reno, several people came to our booth and told us about your forum. Some of the stories appearing on your site is the outgrowth of a negative publicity campaign conducted by a couple of former customers who had refused to pay debts owed to Coppersmith Inc....

Here is the link to the thread of which she speaks. I read the problem to be "suspect charges" being added to bills.

https://forums.accuratereloading.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/1411043/m/716107881/r/694108881#694108881

I have not used their services.

I certainly am not on a campaign and I always paid my bill promptly. I was a repeat customer of theirs. My beef started because a set of horns were stolen from my shipment, sometime between when it arrived in Chicago and when it was delivered to me. All I got was assurances that my next shipment would receive personal attention and a "sorry". I subsequently determined that I had been billed for services that never happened ("warehouse transfer") on two of three shipments that I had done with Coppersmith.

They did indeed refund me money.

On a campaign? No, I am not. But I won't do business with them again and I'd suggest to others to be cautious when this "warehouse transfer" fee comes up. The two times I was billed for this, they never touched my crate as it remained at the Lufthansa Cargo Freight Warehouse. (That was their explanation for why they weren't responsible for the horns missing from my crate)

I will never use Coppersmith again. Too much attitude that they can do and charge whatever they want.

Regards,

Terry

I have nothing personal against brokerage services. They can be of value if you decide to use them.

I don't, I utilize taxidermists who are able to clear imported animal parts personally. It saves me money and I recommend the same to my clients.

It should be noted, one does not need a clearing house/brokerage to bring their trophies in to the USA. You can easily clear your own items.

It is a service and can be very convenient for busy people, however, be warned, you will pay heavily for those services. They can charge you what ever they want and often, there is a chain of people in line for their tip. Nothing wrong with that either, that is, until a brokerage pays a shipper off to send your things through them to force you to pay for a $$$ service you did not want or need.

I want to make it clear that Coppersmith did not do that to me, another "famous" SCI contributing brokerage out of New York did that to me a few years ago. We did resolve the problem (not with out a nasty fight) when the Namibian shipper agreed to pay for the ensued and unwanted brokerage charges.

Just be careful and know what you are getting into. It is going to add significantly to your dip, pack and shipping costs. Again, Brokerages can be very helpful and convenient if you want them, but you will pay for it.

I hope Carol/Coppersmith DFW tunes in further to add to what I predict is going to be a lot of lively conversation concerning this topic.

Cheers!

Carol I have used your services for many years running. Over 5 shipments in total covering many years of hunting. I can say without reservation that Coppersmith has not only been the most professional, but the most reasonable to deal with. Never any problems and no surprises. In short, the charges were fair and I got what I expected.

I find many accusations surrounding bad hunting deals is directly the result of novice hunters who didn’t bother to understand what they were purchasing and what responsibilities they have. Ignorance is not a good defense - it just makes one stupid.

You do a great job and God willing, I will be using your services again. If you lost any potential clients over this, they were not clients you would have wanted...

I used Coppersmiths before and was very pleased with their service. Perhaps my bill was less due to faster clearing at a point of entry? My taxidermist also helped with the warthogs some Swine permit. I was told I had a CDC permit for primates(cdc in Atlanta) again point of entry. Anyhow, Patti at the airport office of Coppersmiths was very helpful and explained everything about the process. I am certainly not very knowledgable at Africa travel but willing to learn . Trip 2 in OCT hopefully. Rug

Coppersmith at DFW handled my shipment from Namibia in 2002. I have nothing but praises to sing for them. I understand that I could have done my own clearing but I had plenty on my plate already. They did a great job and the charges were what I had expected.

If I can ever get the "Keeper of the Royal Purse Strings" to loosen up a bit, I'll use Coppersmith to get my buffalo to me (2006 is looking good!).

Thanks!

JDS

JDS, what book is your signature quote from? My daughter is a great fan of Dave Pelzer, but I suspect your guy is different. Bob

quote:

Originally posted by bobc:
JDS, what book is your signature quote from? My daughter is a great fan of Dave Pelzer, but I suspect your guy is different. Bob

To be honest, I haven't a clue! I saw it somewhere and grabbed it. I'm not even sure the guy's name that's attached to it is correct but I left it on so that he wouldn't get mad if he saw it!!

Thanks!

JDS

I have had nothing but good experiences with Coppersmith, and never heard any complaints from my clients who have used them.

Carol and Coppersmith have always been professional and very much on the ball anytime I have used them. They have been a big help to my clients and have always tried to get everything cleared as quickly as possible.

It does not matter what business you are in and there will always be a problem somewhere down the line, and can only think that those of you who have had a bad experience are in the minority. I would never even consider trying to handle any trophies myself, and am very thankful that others like Coppersmith will handle the headaches.

Ann:

I ran into some problems with trying the "do it yourself" clearing process on my last shipment from Namibia. I originally had it marked for arrival into Baltimore. When I found out the air freight charges from JFK to BWI, I changed it to hold for pickup at JFK. The problems I ran into were trying to contact the various agencies who have to inspect and sign off the shipment. After numerous calls to JFK with no answers and/or response, I decided to pay the extra and have F&F do the clearing. Personally, I do not think these gov't agencies want to work with the "Joe Publics" and prefer dealing with the brokers etc. I read several that had success in doing this way but when you cannot reach them by phone, have to rent a truck & drive 3 hours for the pickup and not know if it will take you 2-3 hours or 1-2 days, the extra money eliminates a lot of frustration. rslus

quote:

Originally posted by jds:

quote:

Originally posted by bobc:
JDS, what book is your signature quote from? My daughter is a great fan of Dave Pelzer, but I suspect your guy is different. Bob

To be honest, I haven't a clue! I saw it somewhere and grabbed it. I'm not even sure the guy's name that's attached to it is correct but I left it on so that he wouldn't get mad if he saw it!!

Thanks!

JDS

I get David Petzal from this source:

www.trophyroombooks.com/downloads/trb_pubs_web.pdf

(Scroll down to Ian Manning's book)

In case it's helpful...

H. C.

It might be worth bearing in mind that every company doing business in anything (service, manfacturing, whatever) at some point in time has a problem with their product or service. I know that whoever it happens to does get (and has a right to ) upset. But over the years I have learned there are way more important things in life (family, friends) than material things. Would it be good if nothing ever went wrong, yes. But unfortunately sometimes gremlins come into play and Sh*t happens. Its not an excuse for any company, but sometimes there is just nothing that can be done. Should they offer something? that is impossible for any of us to say, unless it happens to you, because we can never know allthe details. I try to be cautious of basing on the internet because we cant tell what the basis may or may not be. Just my opinion.

I used Coppersmith for a client that was returning from Mongolia with Hanghay Argali horns and cape. He landed at Chicago OHare airport and had to catch a flight to Colorado.

Coppersmith met him and took "custody" of the horns and hide so he could continue to catch his next flight.

On a personal note, Coppersmith cleared our trophies in San Francisco before they were sent to Animal Artistry. I could not be more happy with their service.

I've used Coppersmith numerous times and have been most pleased with the knowledge, courtesy, and the price has always been very fair.

While we share the same last name, Carol and I are not related (and we didn't marry brothers). But from my experience the staff at Coppersmith treats everyone like family!

Thanks Trophy Queen for a job well done!

Melody Rutkowski
Long Grass

All I can say is my friend Bill called them 2 years ago about shipping and clearing trophies for 6 hunters from RSA. He called them on my recomendation. He was so put off by the attitude he got on the phone he went elsewhere.

I've used Coppersmith for at least three of my shipments back to the States, maybe more. They are efficient and effective and always have gotten my trophies back to me intact whether they were finished, mounted trophies or horns & hides. You pay for good service, but I expect to. I get tired of alot of posters who begin...I've never been to Africa but an acquiantance of a friend whose married to my cousin said...hard facts, guys, give me hard facts. To godamn many posters who just want to post to build numbers and make themselves experts! And, yes, I did get up on the wrong side of the bed today, but unless you have first hand experience, I don't think you should torpedo somebody else's reputation just to add to a post!

Good God, I'm turning into Will!!!!!!!!!!!

Coppersmith performed flawlessly for me on a shipment from Botswana. Things only started moving flawlessly once Coppersmith got hold of it. The Queen deserves her handle.

Crap happens inevitably now and then in life. Butt, Coppersmith has got to be as good as it gets.

quote:

Originally posted by bwanamrm:
I've used Coppersmith for at least three of my shipments back to the States, maybe more. They are efficient and effective and always have gotten my trophies back to me intact whether they were finished, mounted trophies or horns & hides. You pay for good service, but I expect to. I get tired of alot of posters who begin...I've never been to Africa but an acquiantance of a friend whose married to my cousin said...hard facts, guys, give me hard facts. To godamn many posters who just want to post to build numbers and make themselves experts! And, yes, I did get up on the wrong side of the bed today, but unless you have first hand experience, I don't think you should torpedo somebody else's reputation just to add to a post!

I am not sure if your comment was directed at me or not. If it was it is out of line. If not I apologize. I sent my friends to these people and put my credibility on the line by doing so. They came back to me and were upset because of the way the had been treated on the phone. That pretty much makes it first hand in my book. As far as Matt Norman goes I had heard the tale of the missing horns and the charges long before this thread. I have no reason not to believe him. He is a friend and was giving me advice not to use Coppersmith and why when I told him about sending my friends there. I do believe that he does have the facts of his case as I do of mine. You must remember I ws sending people to Coppersmith not away from them. The bottom line is that some people have had good experience with Coppersmith and others have not. The same can be said for Flora and Fauna as well as others. I am glad you had a good experience with them but dont discount someone elses experience because it dosnt fit your view of the world.

Mike,
If you don't think the post fit you, then it was NOT aimed at you. I do see more and more folks jumping on bandwagons and making comments based on hearsay or what they read on another post or in a book/magazine and trying to make it "gospel". It's one thing when they post..I've never been to Africa but you need to do etc. etc. etc., but it's another when they dogpile someone and hurt their reputation and don't have first-hand experience. You can look at my former posts and see I don't pick fights. But I am not standing on the sidelines either about weighing in on these kind of political issues when I DO have first hand experience.

I know the post didnt fit me. However timing is everything as they say. Since your post was directly after mine I had to assume it was aimed in my direction. Again, I am not discounting your experience with them. I am very glad things went well. Hell, I have always recomended them in the past. This dosnt change the fact that these problems arose. However I can say the same of other brokers as well. I have friends who absolutely love Flora and Fauna and others who have had an absolute nightmare with them. It was what any of these people do about these problems when they arise that determines my opinion of them. If you import enough trophies either yourself or through a broker sooner or later things will go south. It is the nature of the beast. There are just too many variables and hands involved for things to always go smooth. I can say that no matter who the broker has been I have not been overly impressed with any of them to date. I have usually cleared my own stuff or had a taxidermist friend do it depending on the situation because of this. This time I am trying Maria Europa and will let you know how that goes.