I'm gonna sound off alright !!!
 

Has the BOI got to the point where people are going to use it for leverage against verdors. "ship me first or i will post on the BOI", You better do me right or I will post on the BOI","I can post on the BOI so you better take care of me". Statement like these are going to be common place soon.
We have one gentleman that posted on the BOI and he only ordered his animals less then a week ago, and another member told him "you should post on the ------ thread on the BOI, you might get your animals faster". Is that what we now want to do?
Maybe after i order something from a vender i will call him up and say "you better give me the pick of the litter for my order or its the BOI for you".
Here you have a company with 8 good guy threads and a fauna good guy certification like this:

View Poll Results: Certification Poll
Good guy 55 98.21%
Bad guy 1 1.79%
Voters: 56. You have already voted on this poll [Delete Your Vote]

And now because of one or two people that had to wait on animals people are tearing them down. No one got ripped off or scammed, the original poster got his animals. Yet you have an member saying things like "try to get
a refund and move on! At this jucture their business is bleeding internally."
How would he know they are bleeding internally if no one has been ripped off and everyon got thier animals or a refund.

I brought this here rather then posting it on the BOI.

As soon as you have a forum like the BOI, it's going to be open to abuse. One must just have faith (maybe unrealistically so) that the system will work, and that the fluff will get weeded out quickly by responsible members who value the BOI for what it is.

From what I read on the BOI, if someone makes a weak complaint on the BOI without sufficient evidence or cause for complaint, they get dealt with quickly and efficiently.

At least that's how I see it, and how I believe it should be. The BOI will work only if the principles are held true.

Very good point SkunkY!!! havent seen you here before but i am glad to see there is one more intelligent reponsible person here !!!! I think there are a lot of members that make good BOI police.

hey nicolai do u know chris@TSE. ?

Lets keep names out of this thread please. Anything about a specific company/individual should be handled on the BOI or in PM's.

Nicolai, it is much more than one or 2 people. However, I understand your point. I think assumptions are sometimes made when people start talking about wanting to "pull their order", and perhaps suggestions were made thinking that person indeed had been waiting for months for their animals as many others have, not a mere week.

The BOI seems to work things all out eventually, and those who post with no legitimate reason seem to get what they deserve in the long run, as do the truly bad guys who get shown for what they are. Sometimes it just takes 100 pages to get there. ;)

Personally, when it comes to looking at someones reputation on the BOI, I look at all threads before making a decision and use my own intuition as to the severity of complaints etc. There will some good, and some bad..but a lot of the time one see's the weakness of most criticisms and looks over it.

I bought my ball python from someone who'd recieved a fair deal of criticism on the BOI, yet having met the person in person on several occasions and found him to be incredible knowledgeable and outright friendly, I decided to trust my own instincts and bought from him. I havent regretted it since. Totally happy with my purchase.

But I digress..the point I guess I'm trying to make is that for a large majority of forum members who do herping for a business, they're reliant on the BOI to work and so it will be moderated accordingly. You will have the odd abuser, but the vast majority will sort that out quickly.

I agree cathy, things usually do work out in the end and a lot of the time it does take 100 or more pages.

Scrumpy, sometimes your gut feelings work to your advantage and sometimes they send you down the wrong path, you just never know. I wish everyone that uses the BOI did as you do and reads everything about someone before deciding on a purchase.


P.S. Hi Dennis, Glad to see ya around!!

I think it makes a big difference when you have the opportunity to meet someone in person, and make your decisions accordingly, especially for a fairly small purchase. But for the majority of purchases when I'm sending, say $1000.00, to someone I've never met that lives across the country, I'm not planning on taking any chances.

And yes Nicolai, it usually doesn't take 100 pages to sort things out.....in fact, the loooonnnngggggg threads often seem to get bogged down with a lot of junk that just isn't necessary. But sometimes it does take that long just to get down to the bottom of things.....but the BOI will always be a tool we can all benefit from, as long as we aren't bad guys. :)

thats why a lot of people go to the shows and stuff, because they want to meet people face to face and decide that way whether or not to make a purchase. Let me tell you first hand that that way doesnt always work either. There are some vendors that can be the nicest most cooperative and helpful people in the world until after you make a purchase from them. I gave up on taking peoples words solely by first impressions.
Thats where the BOI comes in. It is a permanent record no one can hide from. and its important for people to post the good things as well as the bad so there is a proper perspective when looking at a companies history. No one is gonna make 100% of thier customers happy but if the only post on the BOI is that 1 person that the deal didnt work out very well with, there goes some future sales.
One thing is for sure !!! i took the day off of work today and i spent more time here today then any day i have ever before. and you know what, it was an ejoyable day. I will look back and say "that was my fauna day off.!!! :-)