I used to love this place. Sadly, that is no longer the case after my recent experiences using them for deer processing. They run this out of the back of the shop they use to clean, smoke, and sell fish during the summer. The debacle started with my father's experience. He took a very large doe he had shot the first morning of the season in to be processed. The drop off process seemed normal but the woman running the front counter and checking them in seemed easily confused and had to be assisted by the customers in keeping who's deer was who's straight. The next day my father and I took in a medium size buck that I took the night previous. In the the process of checking mine in, the gentleman working on cutting deer up commented to my father that he shouldn't expect much meat back from his. Confused, my father asked why that was. In way of a response the meat cutter asked what he expected from such a small deer that he had shot through the ass? Thankfully, the owner remembered seeing the deer and was just as confused as my father was. The woman checking them in had mixed the tags up, and apparently this was not the first time this mistake was made! In hindsight, I should have walked away and taken mine somewhere else at this point. However I was eager to get it taken care of and I was already there so I went with it. I did make certain that the number on the tag and the paperwork matched, and stayed until the tag had been placed on my deer before leaving. Three days pass and I get a call from Wellman's to notify me that it was ready to be picked up. When I arrived I was presented with a small beer box approx. 2/3 full of venison. After paying $85, plus an additional fee because I wanted to use my debit card to pay the bill, I took what seemed to me to be half a deer home with me. I was on a time schedule and gave them the benefit of the doubt since they had made things right with my father. I should have pulled it all out there at the counter. Not only was the meat not frozen, as is customary any other place I have had process my deer, but there was perhaps 20lbs of meat total in the box. Who would have thought that an entire deer would only yield 7 steaks, 4 tiny chunks of back straps, only 1 tiny loin( I guess the deer only had one inner loin chop?) and 10 1lb packages of burger? Seriously? When I called to ask if there was more that I should have received the same confused woman was put on the phone and was quite rude. I was asked what I expected from a deer with so few antler points? Ummm..Ok, I'm not eating the antlers which were clearly broken off prior to my shooting the deer. In any case one has nothing to do with the other. It became obvious that I wasn't going to get anywhere when she informed me that I didn't know what I was talking about. Not customer service orientated. As a side note, I have been hunting deer in Michigan for over 25 years. I may not be a meat cutter, but I know what to reasonably expect. As always, your mileage may vary, but for me Wellman's is a hard pass. read more
