To dealers -where is truth in advertising????
 

Hi, all. I am a tortoise guy. Like large tortoises.
So why is it so hard for even reputable dealers to honestly represent tortoise sizes. I'm just blowing off a little steam here.

I just got a couple of large tortoises (around 12"). I checked out the dealer here and he had very good reviews. He advertises on Kingsnake a few times a month. Anyway, he posts an ad with some photos of these tortoises. Uses floor tile size as a reference and even has a tape measure in one photo. So far so good.

I print out the photos and measure the tortoises and they seem to be pretty big. Tape measure is a little unclear but I assume it's in inches and so with the tile size, it all seems good.

Now, there is some scale distortion in the photos but still everything seems to support the sizes.

Ok, so I call him and he says these are nice big suckers. Ok, so far everything adds up and I buy these guys. Well they arrive and are definately at least 2 inches shorter than what he claimed and than what I measured in the photos.

Ok, I know buyer beware. But this guy is a reputable dealer. Why the hell can't he at least measure his animals properly? They are nice animals and he did a great job with shipping and so forth. But no way in hell could the tile size have been as big as he claimed. As for the tape measure, maybe it was centimetess. Again, I assumed (my fault) that since this guy was reputable, he knew what he was doing.

Lesson learned: even with reputable dealers, insist on really good measurements with clear photos.

Craig

Craig, you need to post your full name on here, or your post may be deleted.

On the row of purple buttons at the top, the first one, "User CP" will take you to your options. Pick "Edit Profile" and then add your full name to your signature. That's the easiest way to make sure you don't forget to use your full name.

Argh, sorry hit send too fast. Just a little worked up over this truth in advertising thing

Craig Lass

I am not a tortoise guy at all, and I know that two inches can mean a lot with regards to certain things, but is two inches really that big of a deal when you are talking about tortoises that are close to a foot in length?

Have you expressed your displeasure to the individual that you purchased these from?

As no names have been mentioned, and the topic of this thread is about a general practice of some breeders and dealers, why is it on the BOI? Would it not better be served on the General Business Forum, or the SOUND OFF! forum??

Also, since there were no names mentioned and attached to a "bad guy" or "good guy" label, Craig's full name was not technically required of him, not even here on the BOI. However, IMHO, it is a good practice to get into to just post your name at all times. Adjusting your signature as was described above is an excellant way to accomplish this.

Darrin, you're right on the name requirement. I figured since he had a specific complaint it'd be likely to come out.

By the way, if the ruler reading "12" something had been in centimeters instead of inches, that would have made the animal 4.8 inches long instead of the 12 cited in the ad. That is quite a difference, but since you said that the animal is only a few inches shorter than the 12, I would think it was not a matter of metric conversion error.

Just thought I'd throw that in before taking off!

Craig, I do my best but am not a great photographer as that is not what I have chosen to do for a living, rather, I breed reptiles. In the thread on this board concerning me there is a very commonly repeated comment about getting an animal shipped after only seeing pics and it being bigger and prettier than they had thought. So I guess it goes both ways. I tell people all the time that even though I have good equipment, I am not a good photographer and the pics will not do my animals justice. I have never had one person say that the animal looked better in the pics. Something to think about. Evan Stahl

Craig,

From your post it seems the tortoises adequately shipped, nice animals, etc. This is obviously not a bad guy thread as we don't know who you are referring too.

You are only dissapointed at the fact that they were not exactly the size you expected. Did the dealer told you they measured 12 inches exact, "approximately" 12 inches, or did you assumed the length by comparing them to the tile size, etc? From your post I can't tell if you actually measured them while now in your possesion, as you state they "around" 12 inches.

Having said this I would say that a couple of inches doesn't seem that much. When selling a snake I wouldn't even bother to mention it, due to the inherent difficulty in measuring them exactly. But with a tortoise or turtle that's a little different, as getting and "exact" length is easy to achieve. Besides 2 inches means a lot with regards to how long you have to wait in order to grow them to that size (particularly when over 10 inches and depending on the adult size of the species, e.i. greek vs. aldabra)

In short, if you were assured they were 12 inches, IMHO that's what they should measure. If they measure 10 inches instead, that's only approximately 84% of the originally claimed length?
If the original price (just for the sake of argument) was $1000, will the dealer send you the tortoises any ways if you sent $840 instead?