BHB Reptiles

On December 7th I received a pewter female that I had purchased from BHB Reptiles. Upon unboxing her I immediately noticed that she had a major kink I was not made aware of. I contacted BHB to get the issue resolved.

Lori offered to let me keep her for half off (she was $450 so that would have made her $225) or I could return her for a full refund. I was happy with this outcome and decided to return her for the full refund.

As I was packing her up I noticed that she had at least 2 mites on her belly. I know these did not come from my collection as the most recent addition to my quarantine rack was early last month and I inspect them fairly regularly. I still shipped the snake back to BHB because I know the mites came from them and I e-mailed Lori to let her know that the snake had been dropped off at FedEx and that she has mites. I also informed her that I would be posting this on fauna BOI and ball-pythons.net.

As far as I am concerned as soon as I get my refund issued the matter will be closed and I won't be purchasing from BHB in the future. Not informing me of the kink could be classified as an isolated incident of miss communication, but selling snakes that have mites is different. That is a larger issue and they need to work on improving their quality control.

Here is the actual photo they had up on their website:


I did request additional photos and these were what I got:


You can see the kink in this photo if you are looking for it, but I was only looking at the photos quickly to see her color and pattern. I had assumed that if there was a serious issue such as this kink her price would have been discounted and it would have been mentioned on their website.


These are photos I took shortly after receiving her:




As you can see this is not a small kink and someone had to have noticed it as some point.

Here is the e-mail chain I have from corresponding with Lori going back to the first the original e-mail I sent her telling her I received her and I was disappoined they didn't tell me about the kink.

From: Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com>
Date: Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 6:36 PM
Subject: Re: BHB Enterprises Inc. Purchase Order - 884
To: Lori Barczyk <bhbent@sbcglobal.net>


Lori,

I have just returned from dropping her off at FedEx. She was packaged with two heat packs are requested. As I was packing her up to I was giving her a once over and I noticed that she also has mites. I saw at least 2 mites on her belly, so not only did you sell me a snake that has a very noticeable kink, you also sold me a snake with mites. I know for a fact that they did not come from anything in my collection. She was placed in my quarantine rack short after being unpacked. The most recent addition to my quarantine rack was over a month ago and I inspect them regularly. None of them have mites. I am informing you of the mites so you are prepared for them when you get her back and so you know to look at your collection.

I'm really disappointed in the way you handle quality control and I doubt I will purchase from you in the future. I do appreciate that you worked with me to resolve this though. Up until now I have been content not to post anything to BOI or ball-pythons.net about the issue with the kink because it could have been an isolated incident of miss communication, but if you are selling snakes with mites that is an issue people should be made aware of. I will e-mail you with links to the posts if you want to defend yourself on them.

Thank you,

Rebecca

On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 8:24 AM, Lori Barczyk <bhbent@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I just sent the return label so let me know if you did not receive it. All you need to do is print it off and put it on top of the box.


Thanks
Lori
BHB Enterprises

586-263-4686

--- On Thu, 12/8/11, Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: BHB Enterprises Inc. Purchase Order - 884
To: "Lori Barczyk" <bhbent@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Thursday, December 8, 2011, 9:14 AM

I will plan on getting her out to you tonight, if I can't I will send her out on Monday. I should be able to get a heat pack to put in the box. I know the owner of the local reptile shop routinely ships so he should have a heat pack or 2 I can buy from him. Do you want two heat packs in the box like she was packaged when you shipped her to me? I've never shipped a reptile before so my plan was to just swap out the heat packs and send her back to you in the same box.

Thank you for working with me to get this resolved quickly.

Rebecca

On Thu, Dec 8, 2011 at 6:24 AM, Lori Barczyk <bhbent@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I will send you a label today. Are you able to get a heat pack to put in the box?
The label will be good through Monday. If you can ship today for delivery Friday that will be fine. If not please do not ship until Monday as I do not want to snake to be in transit all weekend.
Thank you and again I apologize for the problems with this!


Thanks
Lori
BHB Enterprises

586-263-4686

--- On Wed, 12/7/11, Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com>
Subject: Re: BHB Enterprises Inc. Purchase Order - 884
To: "Lori Barczyk" <bhbent@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 4:03 PM


Hi Lori,

I am going to take your offer of a full refund. I don't think I would ever feel comfortable trying to breed a female with a kink like she has. If it was just her tail and past her vent then it wouldn't be an issue. $225 is also more than I am willing to pay for just a pet, even one as pretty as she is. If you could send me a pre-paid shipping label and let me know which day would work best for you, I will ship her back to you. I am not able to ship her out tonight because I was already late to work and cannot leave early and I will be out of town on Tuesday the 13th, but I can ship her any other day.

Thank you,

Rebecca

On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 12:33 PM, Lori Barczyk <bhbent@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
I can not believe that we did not catch that! I am so sorry. We have a few options that we can offer to remedy the situation. Brian looked at the pictures and does not believe that the kink will pose a problem when breeding. They are formed during incubation and are not genetic.
That being said if you want to keep her we are willing to give her to you at a %50 discount. We can either refund your money or you can use it as credit towards something else.
Or if you want to return her for a full refund we will be more than happy to do that as well.
Please let me know what you decide and again I apologize for that. We would never sell an animal like that to someone on purpose!

Thanks
Lori
BHB Enterprises

586-263-4686

--- On Wed, 12/7/11, Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com>

Subject: Re: BHB Enterprises Inc. Purchase Order - 884
To: "Lori Barczyk" <bhbent@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 12:04 PM

The kink is about 3/4 of the way down her body, towards her tail. I've attached two pictures I took shortly after I got her out of the box. IMG_3018 shows roughly where it is on her body and IMG_3025 shows just how bad the kink is.

On Wed, Dec 7, 2011 at 10:55 AM, Lori Barczyk <bhbent@sbcglobal.net> wrote:
We did not notice a kink on her at all or it would have been mentioned for sure. I am very sorry about that! Where exactly is it at?



Thanks
Lori
BHB Enterprises

586-263-4686

--- On Wed, 12/7/11, Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com> wrote:

From: Rebecca Wyman <wyman.rebecca@gmail.com>
Subject: RE: BHB Enterprises Inc. Purchase Order - 884
To: "'Lori Barczyk'" <bhbent@sbcglobal.net>
Date: Wednesday, December 7, 2011, 10:49 AM


Hi Lori,



I picked her up from FedEx and have her setup in her new home. She was plenty warm enough. I am disappointed though that you did not inform me of the kink near her tail. It was not mentioned on your site nor was it obvious from the photos you sent me. I was looking to possibly breed her in the future, but I don’t think that will be possible due to the kink.


Thank you,



Rebecca