PARA45
AH ambassador
We normally read about the horror stories that happen with taxidermy, whether in the US or abroad. This is one of those horror stories with a "happy ending". This was a true test of the reputation, integrity and backing from this one South African taxidermy. Completely change my mood and I realized and was great to know that there are still businesses out there who do care about the customer and go out of their way to make things right.
This post is about Lauriston Taxidermy, in the Eastern Cape. As some of you know (read my report) I hunted with Game-4-Africa, and Wik in 2025. I took a friend to Africa for the first time. Wik highly recommended we use Lauriston for our finished taxidermy. I had used them back in 2022 but just for dip and pack and everything was great and had no issues whatsoever.
After a year, my anticipation was growing knowing that my mounts were almost done, and almost to their final destination our home. Crate finally left the Eastern Cape, and since it had one Buffalo (big-5), it had to fly through Turkish Airlines, and it would add a day or two to the transit time. Since I had already waited a year, what's another day or two.
Crate arrives in Atlanta, GA, and Coppersmith quickly picked it up and took the crate to their warehouse. A couple of days later, my crate was cleared and ready to ship to my residence via a trucking company. At this time, I would like to point out that Coppersmith for the second time, they have dropped the ball with my shipments. First time, my crate was not picked up from the Turkish Airline warehouse, and over $1200 later in storage fees, Coppersmith basically wash their hands, even though it was cleared that it was their fault for not picking up the crate.
Which brings me to this year's shipment. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, crate was supposed to be picked on Monday (3 Aug 2026), with an expected delivery to my residence by Wed, Thu at the latest. I called on Tuesday to see if my crate was picked up, to find out that it was not, with an assurance that it would be picked up. By this time, I've received an e-mail from Coppersmith showing who the trucking company was and an e-mail address with a tracking number. On Thursday (6 Aug 2026) I called Coppersmith to inquire about the crate, and I was rudely transferred to the warehouse. The warehouse manager was very apologetic and explained to me what had happened, and that he would make sure that if the trucking company came by that my crate would get picked up.
I'm a bit frustrated, if you want to call it that. I called the trucking company, spoke to one of their dispatchers, and she told me that they had been to Coppersmith three times to pick up my crate and that no one knew where it was. Now, I'm feeling fear, anger, and who know what else, fearing the worst about my crate. I did tell the dispatcher that the crate was there and to please try to pick up one more time. She said that if the crate was not there that they would not try to pick up again. I called Coppersmith and made sure that someone was going to release my crate.
I was an office manager for a freight company, and if we had a crate/cargo ready to move, we made sure that someone was on the phone with the trucking company until the cargo was transferred. Seems like someone did not do that with Coppersmith.
Well, now my crate is moving, and it was scheduled for delivery on Monday (10 Aug 2026). Yay, it's moving. Crate arrived, and driver delivered all the way into my garage.
I'll break here, and will be back with rest, with pictures.
This post is about Lauriston Taxidermy, in the Eastern Cape. As some of you know (read my report) I hunted with Game-4-Africa, and Wik in 2025. I took a friend to Africa for the first time. Wik highly recommended we use Lauriston for our finished taxidermy. I had used them back in 2022 but just for dip and pack and everything was great and had no issues whatsoever.
After a year, my anticipation was growing knowing that my mounts were almost done, and almost to their final destination our home. Crate finally left the Eastern Cape, and since it had one Buffalo (big-5), it had to fly through Turkish Airlines, and it would add a day or two to the transit time. Since I had already waited a year, what's another day or two.
Crate arrives in Atlanta, GA, and Coppersmith quickly picked it up and took the crate to their warehouse. A couple of days later, my crate was cleared and ready to ship to my residence via a trucking company. At this time, I would like to point out that Coppersmith for the second time, they have dropped the ball with my shipments. First time, my crate was not picked up from the Turkish Airline warehouse, and over $1200 later in storage fees, Coppersmith basically wash their hands, even though it was cleared that it was their fault for not picking up the crate.
Which brings me to this year's shipment. Everything seemed to be going smoothly, crate was supposed to be picked on Monday (3 Aug 2026), with an expected delivery to my residence by Wed, Thu at the latest. I called on Tuesday to see if my crate was picked up, to find out that it was not, with an assurance that it would be picked up. By this time, I've received an e-mail from Coppersmith showing who the trucking company was and an e-mail address with a tracking number. On Thursday (6 Aug 2026) I called Coppersmith to inquire about the crate, and I was rudely transferred to the warehouse. The warehouse manager was very apologetic and explained to me what had happened, and that he would make sure that if the trucking company came by that my crate would get picked up.
I'm a bit frustrated, if you want to call it that. I called the trucking company, spoke to one of their dispatchers, and she told me that they had been to Coppersmith three times to pick up my crate and that no one knew where it was. Now, I'm feeling fear, anger, and who know what else, fearing the worst about my crate. I did tell the dispatcher that the crate was there and to please try to pick up one more time. She said that if the crate was not there that they would not try to pick up again. I called Coppersmith and made sure that someone was going to release my crate.
I was an office manager for a freight company, and if we had a crate/cargo ready to move, we made sure that someone was on the phone with the trucking company until the cargo was transferred. Seems like someone did not do that with Coppersmith.
Well, now my crate is moving, and it was scheduled for delivery on Monday (10 Aug 2026). Yay, it's moving. Crate arrived, and driver delivered all the way into my garage.
I'll break here, and will be back with rest, with pictures.
