I have had only one truly bad experience in a snake purchase so far and at that time I stood to lose $1500 with the seller telling me "too bad". Long story..... but it was because of these two men standing up for what was the right thing to do that I DID receive a complete refund!!
Ritchie totally ferreted out the connections and did his wonderful sleuthing online and kept me up to date with his findings as well as posting them....... he chose to help because it was the right thing to do and I was surprised by how much info I wound up with.
Adam contacted the "seller" by phone after discovering this person was from his old neighborhood.... he wanted to hear the other side of the story and contacted me right after the call. We spoke at great length about the situation, potential outcome and how I may be able to get my refund.
I totally believe that it took the knowlege I gathered from BOTH Ritchie and Adam to finally obtain my refund. I have thanked both of them sincerely. It really pains me to see these two people really banging heads when I believe the bottom line is that they are both on the same side of the fence in the war against bad guys in this business. I would help either of them any way that I could as they helped me.
FWIW, Adam was very upfront about his past "mistakes" and told me a pretty fair amount about himself while we talked on the phone. Admitted that he handled a couple situations in a bad way, and wished that it would be possible to do over. He assured me that his intentions were good and that he just saw a situation that he felt he might be able to personally help.... and as it turned out, he was right.
I'm an optimist and basically like to believe that people can and do learn from their mistakes..... it seems like such a waste of time to do anything but learn from mistakes of the past and just move forward in a good way.
As a parent, I learned early..... we may not always "like" the things our children do, but that doesn't mean we don't care about them any less...... and we still love them. Even with their imperfections. Giving anyone, positive reinforcement for the things that they do in a good way is a pretty good way to get more of the same behaviour from them. There is too much good happening here to have the need to bring up this old baggage. I'd send them both to a corner to sit for a timeout and have them think about how they can overcome this obstacle.
I am very reluctant to post this.... I know once I hit submit it will be up here for all to disect word by word. I just want everyone to know upfront that I am a very independent person and have no "loyalties" to anyone other than my own sense of what's right and fair. I have had mostly excellent luck with meeting fine people in the herp community and I hope that none of those will hold it against me for strongly supporting both Adam and Ritchie and most of their actions here. I just HAD to put in my two cents because of the one "situation" I did have...... and how these guys were both great then, as I imagine they both still are. It just seems foolish to watch this "catfight" carry on any longer. I know it's hard to forget and I don't expect anyone to do so, but it's ok to forgive.
Thanks again Ritchie and Adam for your kindness toward me
Cathy Maynard
3.6.3 chondros
Threaded Mode
