Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Long story, not so long....

Back in Feb. I sold a niec adult female dragon to a guy back east. I said "she MAY be gravid".

It was too cold to send her and then I took off to Costa Rica for 10 days.

Upon my return, the guy wasn't answering his phone or emails for 2 weeks. I attempted to send the dragon twice, after FINALLY getting ahold of him. Airborne messed up.

I moved back home and brought her along. He then wanted her to be 100% gravid and argued with me about sending a gravid dragon.

Eventually, he harassed me and accused me of "stealing" her eggs. She NEVER looked gravid and NEVER laid eggs. She in fact, became sickly and went downhill.

After 5 months of caring for her, $450 in vet bills, she passed away.

I do not have $500 (the selling price of the dragon) to immediately return to this guy....and I have offered other dragons (of equal value) in trade, and I have offered payments. What college graduate (two months after graduation) has $500 laying around??

He now has supposedly contacted everyone from the FBI to the postal service to kingsnake and he has been posting horrible things about me, my animals and my business on numerous reptile websites.

I am unsure of what to do....I am in tears here and very upset. I know after this, I will make a rock solid contract regarding this sort of thing....

But I have worked sssoooo hard to build my name, my reptuation and to breed these animals and I don't know what to do!

PLEASE HELP!

I can understand your situation. However, you have had this man's $500.00 for about 5 months now. If I was him I would be terribly upset also. You said you offered other dragons of equal value but he does not want them. I would not either. If I was you, I would sell the dragons you offered as replacement to him to get the man his money. If you are wanting to save your reputation you may have to take a big hit and reduce your prices to get a quick sell. It does not take many bad words about someone to get a bad reputation. Good Luck! I hope this helps.
Reed's Reptiles

I would be very upset with you too if I sent you $500 and did not recieve my dragons. Did you clearly tell him that she was possibly gravid?? Or did you tell him that she was gravid?? I do understand that you couldnt get a hold of him, and tried shipping her twice. Did you tell him that?? I also think you should sell some dragons to make up this mans money. Its the only way to right the situation. You have to take a loss but in the long run its better to loose out now then loose all the potential buisness from a bad reputation. this buisness revolves around word of mouth and it doesnt take much to ruin a reputation. Good luck!! And I'm sorry this happened to you.

peace,
nathan

I would take this as a lesson learned. I don't understand why you would sell something you couldn't ship, weather or any other circumstance. If it was too cold to ship, perhaps you should have waited to sell her.
Not trying to be mean,, just trying to figure that one out.

As far as having $500. laying around. He sent it to you?
Lesson 2, Don't spend the money until you know the deal went through.

I hope you can work it out. I do feel for you.
Joel

I just wanted to emphasize what Joel said........never spend something not earned yet. By that I mean if a person sends you money, you are entitled to send them what they paid for. If that is not done, I dont even look at the money order or paypal account. Its smart to wait a couple weeks if possible just to make sure that everything is ok as well, unless you have enough of a financial cushion to not worry about it. I would call this person, speak to him as politely as possible, and either get a credit card to take a cash advance or borrow some money. Chris Allen

n/p
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TheClassyLizard

I just wanted to say that I remember your add when you sold that female and you did say she was "possibly" gravid but it wasn't guaranteed. However, he didn't recieve that dragon. It wasn't his fault it was to cold to ship or that you decided to go to Costa Rica for 10 days after recieving his money. Those were things you should have thought about before posting the ad. Bottom line, even if you did care for the dragon because of illness and run up a vet bill/food bill you might have had an unsatisfied customer when the dragon got sick on him anyway. I would get him his money ASAP!

Good Luck,
Robert

Well, to emphasize everything....

The money I had went to one separate and one related vet bills. One for my horse, the other for the dragon, itself.

I know I messed up by not having a "cushion" or money to back up anything, but he kept putting off me sending her and giving me excuses as to why I could not send her right away (when the weather was better).

I also did not post this to get run into the ground (again). I have had one very helpful, private email (thanks). The other two emails were from people who do not post on here that often and one of those people already trashed my name in another country (which I do not ship to, or deal with).

I really would like to thank MOST of you for your ideas, support, encouragement and everything. However, I am now trying to come up with a rock-solid contract regarding my animals. I do not want to give up on reptiles or with reptile people....just because a few random freaks who can't get their stories straight...ruin my day, so I want to make sure that in the future, I am not taken advantage of, or I have less of a chance of getting screwed in the end.

ANYONE HAVE ANY IDEAS FOR A GOOD CONTRACT???

*** Please, email me PRIVATELY and DO NOT WASTE MY TIME WITH INSULTS AND ANNOYING, REPETITIVE, STUPID REMARKS. ***

Thanks!