Another bad experience with Jeff Musial

Wow, I wish I'd found this website before doing business with Jeff Musial!

I purchased a "cb99, cooling now to breed in three months, about 4ft long" female Leucistic Texas Rat Snake from Jeff Musial in 12/02 for $175 with shipping.

What I received was a 3ft long Leucistic about the diameter of a quarter. She was literally the same size as my 2001 babies. No way this snake is ready to breed. Plus she had to have been malnourished to still be this small.

I contacted Jeff the day I received the snake and asked to return her. He said he never takes a snake back. After many e-mails back and forth, where Jeff told me that this happens all the time, did I expect him to actually measure her? and that I should be happy with her. Jeff finally offered to refund $65. Of course I'm still stuck with a snake I don't need and still have to purchase a female that IS breeding size. But I fiqured that was the best deal I was going to get with this guy and accepted his offer. Now after six weeks I have still not received the refund as promised. (Although Jeff said he sent two checks!)

So I will add my warning to all of the others on this site: Don't do business with Jeff Musial of Nickel City Reptiles!

Julie,

If I were you I would measure her (use a string so you don't have to stretch the snake up). If the snake is significantly (3 instead of 4 means 25% less) under 4 feet you have enough grounds to claim misrepresentation. He either compensates you monetarily or you send the snake back for a full refund.

Best regards.

Julie,

Was that ad on kingsnake? If so, why not report the incident to them and freeze his account? Ditto for PayPal if he allowed you to pay him via that method. I'd freeze him up anyway I could if he messed me over like that.

Just a thought --

The snake measures 37-38". And Jeff Musial did advertise the snake on kingsnake.com. Actually, I have reported this to kingsnake.com, as well as to everyone that they recommended a complaint be filed with on their "Ripoff" page. That includes the Better Business Bureau, FBI Internet Fraud Center, National Fraud Information Center and the U.S. Postmaster General (because the payment was mailed). I wanted to be fair with Jeff, and I let him know that this is what I planned to do if he did not resolve the dispute.

I have purchased many snakes over the internet and all of my previous experiences with sellers were excellent.

Just an update on the situation with Jeff Musial.

On 1/23/03, Jeff e-mailed me and said he had read my above post and was "a little upset". He said he would send a money order out to me that day (1/23) and would appreciate it if I would then "fix the add on Fauna".

Needless to say, I have still not received the money that he owes me. I see that he is currently advertising an Anaconda for sale at the other classified site. I send this out as a warning to avoid doing business with this guy.

Jeff Musial of Nickel City Reptiles in New York: Bad Guy

Thank you,
Julie Buckley

Where abouts in NY is he?

Jeff is located in Cheektowaga, NY 14225. He never gave me a street address, only have a P.O. Box.

Thanks for the heads up. I was looking at that same snake but couldn't come up with the money. Sorry for you but happy for me.

I just love it when people are confronted with the BOI. After they see your post they tell you they will send a refund (or whatever) if you remove the post or make some changes, and then they don't do it. What do they expect, for you to change it before you get the money. They already screwed you once chances are they will do it again, and it only makes them look worse if that is possible.

A single simple bad guy thread will most likely get lost. many people will read it and forget it. By doing the things they do they prompt people to make second and third posts to the same thread and keep bringing it to the top. Pretty soon you have a 100 post thread that few people can resist reading, and everyone knows about them.

Steve Schindler

Thanks for the reply, Steve. I totally agree with you that this is a great forum.

I think it’s really important to have a “service” like this available in such an anonymous business. We have all got to do our part to get the word out on these bad deals (and good ones!) for the sake of the Internet reptile trade.

If these bad business deals go unnoticed, more and more people will avoid this type of transaction, which is bad for all of us. It’s disheartening to encounter a bad businessperson. It’s hard to comprehend that they really don’t care that they have done you wrong. Even though I’ve had many good experiences, it makes me think twice about entering another Internet transaction because of the risk.

This forum is the best way that I know of to help keep individuals and businesses accountable.