Need your opinion on a trade deal that went sour.

Hi,

I met a local person "face to face" Friday evening to commence with a trade deal. I traded a pair of ball pythons for some of his ball pythons. We both inspected each others animals carefully, no rushing whatsoever and after both parties were satisifed, we completed the trade and finalized it with a handshake.

He contacted me two days later late Sunday evening and said one of my females had a kink and he wanted his snakes back. I gave him a healthy female that he inspected carefully Friday evening so I was shocked when he contacted me with this story. I'm very suspicious and on the defensive now because he saw the animals in person and inspected them closely. He contacted me close to two days later with some story about a kink. The animals were in excellent health when we did the deal so I'm not sure what happened to the snake since its been in his posession. I don't want it back now because I don't know if he dropped it on the ground, if it tried to escape and injured itself, if he's trying to back out of the deal for whatever reason or if something terrible happened to the snake so he's trying to trade it back quickly before it dies. I don't sell or trade animals with kinks and he would have noticed a kink the day we made the trade.

How would you deal with this situation?


Regards,
Ron Crawford
RC Reptiles
http://www.RCReptiles.com

Ron,

He had the chance to inspect the snakes in front of you and ask as many questions as he felt necessary. That's far more than any person who buys online would ever have, which have to rely on a picture at most. Unless you discussed an extended guarantee on you animals for whatever reason IMO you now bear no legal responsibility. Having said this it's up to you how much you want to bend for someone that has contacted you within a reasonable timeframe (2 days) about a problem with one of your snakes. We never saw that snake and he had a few minutes to inspect it. It's thus very difficult for anyone here to say how you should act. The only one that knows the health history behind of that animal is you.

Regards

Do you have recent pictures of the snake while it was in your care? And will he provide you with some recent photos by email so that we could make a comparison?

Thanks for the input everyone.

I decided to replace that animal and take a loss on it because 100% customer satisfaction is the motto I stand by. Yes, I will lose a considerable amount of money by giving him an animal for free but this gesture is something I must do in order to uphold my motto of 100% complete customer satisfaction guaranteed even though I'm not in the wrong in this case and giving him a replacement is not an admission of guilt.

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to make sure the customer is always happy. I don't have one upset customer or trading partner to date and I'm doing what I must to keep it this way.

Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it!

Ron,

No doubt that was the best approach but it was you who had to make that decision. One other thing, money comes and goes (sometimes it seems as it only goes!), your reputation is far more important.

Regards

Originally Posted by Philly

Thanks for the input everyone.

I decided to replace that animal and take a loss on it because 100% customer satisfaction is the motto I stand by. Yes, I will lose a considerable amount of money by giving him an animal for free but this gesture is something I must do in order to uphold my motto of 100% complete customer satisfaction guaranteed even though I'm not in the wrong in this case and giving him a replacement is not an admission of guilt.

Sometimes you have to do what you have to do in order to make sure the customer is always happy. I don't have one upset customer or trading partner to date and I'm doing what I must to keep it this way.

Thanks again for your input, I appreciate it!

I should make an addendum to the above because he's not a customer per se in this transaction. He's an astute breeder with 50 or so ball pythons but nevertheless, my commitment to customer satisfaction extends to trade partners as well.

Yes, he had all the time in the world to look at my two snakes when we met on Friday. Yes, I still think something happened to one of my snakes in his care because he didn't phone me until Sunday evening and he seemed desperate to return her to me quickly. Despite the fact that I told him to phone me after 4:30 PM EST on Monday, he proceeed to phone me close to 30 times today while the clock on the wall read 2:30 PM. His wife phoned me, his friend phoned me and he phoned me accusing me of knowingly bringing a bad animal to trade, that I was purposely avoiding his calls, how he would slander my name, etc. I get zero reception in my snake facility, hence the reason why I told him to phone me after 4:30 PM on Monday.

Why would someone bring a bad snake to do a trade in person? That doesn't make much sense, does it? To top it off, he just posted a thread to KS (which was deleted btw) bad mouthing me. Even after all of this, I decided to uphold my commitment to 100% customer satisfaction and promised him the first pick from the next clutch that hatches. He's happy about this news and I'm happy that we were able to reach a win/win, despite the fact that I may lose completely on this deal. Did I give him a healthy animal in person? Yes. Did he have all the time in the world to inspect two hatchlings when we met? Yes. Did he inspect them carefully before leaving and completed the transaction with a handshake? Yes. Do most of the larger breeders I spoke with today agree that I'm not at fault and I should just forget about this issue because it's a done deal? Yes.

However...When I say customer satisfaction is #1 here at RCReptiles.com, I mean it literally. Even if I lose a substantial amount of money in this deal, my reputation remains intact. Like BoidSmith said in a previous post, "your reputation is far more important."

Ron,

Are you getting your animal back? It would be interesting to see the extent of the kink and where it is located. If it's significant it's more than likely something none of you would have missed upon initial inspection. Is it a baby ball? Could the kink have been done by trying to pop the snake to verify sex again? Just curious.

Regards.

Originally Posted by The BoidSmith

Ron,

Are you getting your animal back? It would be interesting to see the extent of the kink and where it is located. If it's significant it's more than likely something none of you would have missed upon initial inspection. Is it a baby ball? Could the kink have been done by trying to pop the snake to verify sex again? Just curious.

Regards.

Hi,

I told him to just keep her and give her back to me dead or alive when I give him the first pick from the next group of hatchlings expected to hatch in August. I check my animals out very closely and there was no kink whatsoever on the female in question. She was in tip top condition when I presented her to him in person and you would expect a guy with 50 ball pythons to have the experience and know how to check them out from head to tail. That's why I'm knowingly taking a loss by giving him a replacement animal from a future clutch even though I'd be completely in the right for not doing so.

Like you mentioned earlier...a reputation is important to keep in this business even if it means losing a couple thousand dollars in a deal where you're not a fault whatsoever. I know it sucks but it's the price you have to pay when you guarantee 100% customer satisfaction like I do.

Originally Posted by Philly

Hi,

I told him to just keep her and give her back to me dead or alive when I give him the first pick from the next group of hatchlings expected to hatch in August. I check my animals out very closely and there was no kink whatsoever on the female in question. She was in tip top condition when I presented her to him in person and you would expect a guy with 50 ball pythons to have the experience and know how to check them out from head to tail. That's why I'm knowingly taking a loss by giving him a replacement animal from a future clutch even though I'd be completely in the right for not doing so.

Like you mentioned earlier...a reputation is important to keep in this business even if it means losing a couple thousand dollars in a deal where you're not a fault whatsoever. I know it sucks but it's the price you have to pay when you guarantee 100% customer satisfaction like I do.

I just got a voice mail from him and he said the snake is dead now!!! Is it a COINCIDENCE it just happened to die once I told him (and made public here on Fauna) that I'd replace it, dead or alive? Now I think I know why he and his cronies phoned me almost 50+ times today when I clearly told him to phone me after 4:30 PM about this matter Sunday evening. He just substantiated my gut feeling that the snake became seriously injured after he took her and he knew about it all along!!!

100% customer satisfaction guaranteed comes at a high price my friend but it's a rule we live by here at RCReptiles.com, even if it means we get screwed on the rare occassion. I'll check this thread later because my rear end is pretty sore right now and stuff like this frustrates the hell out me.


Regards,
Ron Crawford
RC Reptiles
http://www.RCReptiles.com

100% customer satisfaction guaranteed comes at a high price my friend but it's a rule we live by here at RCReptiles.com, even if it means we get screwed on the rare occassion. I'll check this thread later because my rear end is pretty sore right now and stuff like this frustrates the hell out me.

Ron,

We are in agreement about the "customer satisfaction" rule and you abiding by it. But there's nothing wrong with requesting the dead animal back for a close inspection. After all it was your animal and there are claims that it died shortly after you delivered it. Aren't you curious to know the cause of death?

Best regards.