Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Hi,

I bought a beardie from an online breeder that came highly recommended through a friend of mine who has used them more than once. The beardie was shipped on Thursday and I was told it was to arrive by noon on Friday. It didn't. I tracked it online, and the website said it was to arrive by 3:00 pm, NOT noon. It still didn't arrive. I called DHL, told them I had to leave the house for a few hours but that my shipment didn't arrive in time and it was a live animal and I felt I needed to be home when it arrived so I could get it out of the box and take care of it. She said someone would call my cell phone. No one did. TODAY, three days later, the poor thing finally arrived. It was alive, but barely. Very dehydrated, skin peeling, lethargic, etc. So I misted him, gave him greens and RepCal pellets, turned on his heat lamp and light, and talked to him. He seems to be doing better this evening.

However, I emailed the breeder to tell them the poor thing just arrived and that they need to file a claim or at least complain to DHL. They said they would and they (breeders) were very pleasant and helpful. I even emailed again to ask a question, which they kindly answered.

However, I was thinking that since the beardie didn't arrive when expected, I should get my shipping money back. Especially since he arrived in such poor condition. So I noticed that nowhere on the box does it say the box contains a live animal. So I called DHL to ask them their requirements for shipping live animals. The rep looked it up for me and said live animal shipments, including reptiles, are prohibited. I didn't give her any details, just said I was curious in case I wanted to ship a lizard one day.

So, after all that typing, my question is, do I have a case to get my shipping money back? This breeder MUST have known they were shipping the animal illegally. Therefore, I'm sure they are not planning to file a claim with DHL. What would they say in the claim? My live animal delivered on time and therefore it was sick from being in a box with no food or water or heat for four days?

What would you do?

Gwen

I would request some of your shipping money back from the breeder. If the package was guaranteed overnight they may be able to file a claim with DHL and get their money back. Since overnight shipping is soooo expensive I would ask for reimbursement of some kind. Especially since this may have lasting effects on the poor dragon. Being in a dark box for that long could effect his eyesight. Although it is not the fault of the breeder, in my opinion, if they get shipping money back so should you. Best of luck to you and your new dragon.

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1.3 Louie,Sunny,Red,Lilly and babies!

Hey great tank. May I ask how big it is?
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7 Leos
Milo(my adult male) Mongo, Raptor,and Spaz
Popeye and Boo(named after Monster's Inc. Character)sex unknown, but I am pretty sure they are females.
Pumpkin the Patternless (he's a boy too.)

1 Female Sandfire X Blood Aboriginie Red Bearded Dragon. Tequila Sunrise, Tequila for short

1 dog
Baby (Peekapoo)

2 Cats
Mr. Kitty and Shelly (my adopted senior citizen. She's 14!)

I lost my baby blizzard before I even picked out a name. May he/she Rest in Peace

So, is it common for breeders to ship with carriers that they know prohibit the shipment of live animals? Because I think I have a case for getting ALL my shipping money back.

Gwen

IMHO I think that there is a good bit of "less than legal" shipping going on. You might want to pose the question in the shipping forum for more information.
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Bryan, Atlanta GA

1-0-0 Rescued Ball Python - Apep
0-1-0 Rescued Mountain Horned Dragon - Ki
0-0-1 Rescued Aggressive Bearded Dragon - Zeus
0-0-1 Rescued Non-Alpha Green Iguana - Bud
1-1-0 Rescued Rats... no wait... ROTTEN Little Cats - Ra, Bastet
0-0-1 Rescued Dieting Panda Hamster - Mr. Fluffy
0-1-0 Rescued Little Angelic Kitten - Isis
1-0-0 Horse... whoops... BIG Golden Retriever - Jake
0-1-0 Wife
2-0-0 Kids

Here is a link to DHLs site

http://www.dhl-usa.com/resources/Prohibited_Restricted_Commodities.pdf

I think you will have to copy and paste.
It does say no animals and then it seems to make exceptions, which includes non-venomous lizards. Sometimes with large companies you get wrong information, or they may not be up to date. UPS started shipping live animals Jan 1ST of this year and you will be hard pressed to find someone within their company who will tell you that they do. I would think that DHL should refund the person's money if delivery guarantee was not meant. And, you should receive your money back minus shipping materials cost. I hope it all works out and your baby bounces back soon.
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Wendy
www.neverlanddragons.com

Thank you so much for the link! So they DO ship lizards. I can't believe they have someone answering the phones who doesn't know the policies! So now the breeder has a case to get THEIR money back, so I can get MINE back. Thanks!

Gwen

Regardless if it is legal or not (which it is) to ship a lizard via DHL, you paid for overnight shipping. You did not get overnight shipping it seems (did they come when you were not there, that was not clear in your post) there is no diffrence if it was a letter, a CD, a Shirt or in your case a lizard you should get your money for shipping refunded from the breeder period, let the breeder worry how to get his money back from DHL. While I have not shipped anything with DHL, I have with UPS and FedEx daily if it does not show up by the time you pay for, you get your money back, no questions asked.

However if they did try to deliver your package and your were not there even if they were late or if you had very bad weather it is not as simply and in that case you should just feel lucky that your new pet was still alive.

You paid for overnight, they did not deliver overnight you should get your shipping costs back or at least the the portion of the shipping charges that were for the actual shipping not the boxing, heat pack, handeling, etc.

Best of luck with your new Dragon, and good luck striaghting this out.

Thanks. No, they didn't try to deliver when I wasn't there. DHL definitely messed up. And there was no heat pack in there with him. He was just in a plastic container with holes, which was surrounded by shredded newspaper in a box. He pobably would have been fine for overnight shipping, but four days like that has really stressed him out! Poor thing.

Gwen

what you need to do is check the terms part of your breeders website or ask for them (which they will have if the are repitable) what it will say (cause they all say the same thing) is they are not responsable for delivery errors, they may offer a 7 day happiness clause but also does not cover shipping if they are any good at all they WILL give you "store credit" or free shipping on another bd, but you will have to ask,and of coarse buy from them again,but if they dont, tell your friend and never do buisness with them again good luck bd are strong im sure he will pull threw