Luis Taracena: No Compensation for DOA Boa

This thread is to warn people of Luis Taracena and how he conducts business and himself.

On October 12 of 2012 I inquired about purchasing an adult male Motley Boa Luis had for sale, we agreed to a price of $460 shipped. He asked that I pay as a gift through PayPal so he didn’t get charged a fee since he came down in price which I agreed to. We also agreed he would ship the snake Monday October 15 for a Tuesday arrival.

On Monday night I asked him if he shipped the snake and he responded that he wanted me to call him. I called and he advised he had packaged the snake but when he got to the shipping office it was closed and he would have to ship the following Monday, October 22.

On October 23rd I received a package from Luis at around 10am, I opened the box and there was a terrible smell coming from the box. When I opened it completely I realized the smell was from a dead snake. He had had already begun to stiffen from rigor and was clearly beginning to decompose. I tried to contact Luis at that time through Facebook and his phone. He finally contacted me that afternoon and said he didn’t have the money to refund the snake and that SYR.com said the insurance only covers if they snake is late on arrival, which it was not. He advised me he was going see if he could find a male Motley to replace it and have it sent to me.

On October 30th he contacted me and advised he might have some snakes sold and he could refund my money.

On November 9th I tried to contact Luis about it and was unable to get a response.

On November 12th I made contact with Luis and he stated he didn’t have the money and was still looking for a replacement snake.

On November 17th I contacted Luis and told him to just refund my money since he couldn’t find a replacement snake and he told me I would be his first priority to pay.

On November 24th I tried to contact Luis and again on November 27th with no response from him.

On December 2nd Luis contacted me and told me he was only $125 dollars short of refunding my money.

On December 13th I tried to contact Luis and got no response.

On December 14th Luis contacted me and told me he was still trying to raise the money he owed me.

On January 1st I tried to contact Luis again and got no response.

On January 2nd Luis contacted me to tell me money was tight and he didn’t have any money, even though he had previously told me he had all but $125, He told me he would send me the money as soon as he could sell some animals and if not then when he got his taxes back.
On February 3rd I contacted Luis to see if he knew a time frame on his taxes, he advised he was waiting for his W2.

On February 15th I tried to contact Luis with no response back.

On February 16th Luis contacted me and advised he had an appointment for taxes.

On March 5th I asked if he had heard anything and he advised he had not got his taxes yet.

On March 21st I made contact and he told me he just mailed his taxes and advised me I would be the second person to know when he got them back, him being the first.

On April 18th I contacted Luis again and he advised he had not go his taxes back yet.

On May 18th I tried to contact Luis again with no response.

On May 28th Luis contacted me and came up with another excuse as he had legal issues and they took his taxes.

On June 17th I contacted Luis and he advised he had babies he was trying to sell.

On July 8th I made contact with Luis about him shipping me a hypo boa he had, he advised he thought he had it sold and if he did he would pay me and if not we could talk about shipping the snake to me.

On July 18th I had to make contact with him again and he advised no one was buying his snakes.

On July 27th when I contacted him he advised he was trading snakes for a truck he could sell and he would have my money and if he didn’t have the money he would ship me some snakes to settle this.

On August 3rd I contacted Luis again and he advised the truck fell through, I asked him for a list of snakes he had and we could decide what to ship me, he did not send me the list.

On August 4th I tried to ask him for the list again with no response from him.

On August 5th I contacted him and advised him I would be posting bad feedback on him because he was ignoring me, and then he sent me a snake list with prices on what he was asking for the snakes.

I chose 2 snakes from his list which at his prices came up to $400, I advised him if he sent me these 2 baby snakes I would call it even and not worry about the extra $60.

On August 12th Luis asked me what day to ship the snakes and I told him he could pick the day that worked for him and I would make it work for me.

On August 14th I contacted Luis and asked when I should take off work to receive the snakes and got no response from him.

On August 16th Luis contacted me and stated he couldn’t ship but would ship next week.

On August 19th I contacted Luis again to find out when he was going to ship and he gave me no response.

On August 20th Luis advised me he was shipping this week.

On August 21st Luis told me he was shipping Thursday so take off Friday from work to receive the shipment.

On August 22nd I advised Luis was off work the next day so I would be home, I got no response.

On August 23rd I told him I didn’t get any package in the mail and asked if he had a tracking number in case they got lost, I got no response.

On August 24th I contacted Luis again and told him I didn’t receive the snakes and that I took off work and lost pay for not working, He advised me he was going to ship them Thursday but ran out of time, He would not give me any reason why he didn’t let me know Thursday that he didn’t ship them.

I want everyone to know Luis Taracena is not to be trusted. I spent over 10 months trying to give him the benefit of the doubt and all I kept getting was excuse after excuse. I am out $460 dollars in what I paid him for the snake about $100 dollars in lost wages from taking off work and whatever money I’m out from not being able to breed the male motley. I have posted about him in many forums since then and he will not even be considerate enough to contact me or answer why he has strung me on this long.

Buyer beware of Luis Taracena as his practices are very shady.

Diem Boubede (ShadowAceD) has been helping me compile all the info I have so I could make this thread. She has offered to help me post all of the screen shots of our communications so it can be viewed as well as the PayPal transaction and posts Luis put on FB that contradict his “low funds” problem.