Matthew @ Monster Cages-BAD GUY

Okay, I've finally had it.

In December, I sent Monster Cages.com nearly $6000 for a dozen reptile cages in a variety of sizes. He told me 6-8 weeks, over the phone, for the order to be completed. Here, 9 months later, he still has not finished the cages and wants me to now pay an additional $1300 for shipping, when he originally stated it should be in the $6-800 range.

I have likely close to 100 e-mails exchanged between us. I've tried reaching reasonable alternatives because I do not want to get ripped off for another $1300. I've asked him to send the majority of the cages and hold a couple back to pay for the shipping. He won't do that. He said he would send all of the cages to a buddy of his that owns a reptile shop, and when they sell there, I'll get a portion of my money back....this is just ridiculous.

I've tried starting to organize all the e-mails...but they are taking up way too much room on the word document when I include all the dates and times.

Any specific questions...please ask. In the meantime, I DO NOT Recommend sending this fellow any money, EVER.

The phone numbers he has are 507-474-0172 and cell is 507-313-3734

On top of everything, he is saying now that he is charging me storage fees. I know that he has changed his website and terms page since December...this is one of the items that I know was changed. I read his terms page in full before ever placing an order with him.

Kelly Johnson

What, this is not good. 9 months later and he wants you to fork out $1,300 more for shipping, that is not cool. He should not be charging you that much for shipping after taking that long. If anything he can at least cut you a deal aon shipping or ship for free and eat that expense because he did not give you your product in the promised time frame.

This whole storage fee and having a friend sell the couple cages first to pay for shipping is bull!! You deserve the cages or a complete refund! For $6000, take him to court!!

How did you pay? If by credit card (through PayPal or not) - file a dispute with the CC company. You haven't received what you paid for in the timeframe promised.

Just in case someone wonders Matt is aware of this thread as he has been reading it over the last 48 hours.I agree you deserve your full amount refunded to you.

I am perfectly fine with Matt reading this thread. He knows what is going on. He started to work with me after I posted this thread. He said that he has bent over backwards to make me happy. I've been trying to find solutions that would be easy on both of us. Every time I try to pose an alternative, he says "no, can't happen" or whatever. Then he says that he stopped working on the cages until I made up my mind....there wasn't anything to make up my mind about. He stopped working on the cages, from what I can gather, at least 5 months ago.

Frankly, I would be content with having my money back. He says that that cannot happen. He said he would give the cages to his buddy to sell and then I would recieve a portion of the money once the cages sold....this is unacceptable to me.

I would like to take him to court if we cannot come up with a solution that we can both work with. I will be looking for a lawyer in the next 2 weeks if an agreement cannot be reached.

From the options he has been giving me over the last 12 hours...it appears that he is trying to hold back $2000 worth of cages. This does not sound reasonable to me because he sent me an estimate on shipping for $1300.

I'm sure he is holding back the money for his "storage fees" which we wouldn't have had if he would have just worked with me and sent the cages at least 5 months ago.

I paid by personal check, and credit card through paypal and made several payments. Will I still be able to do a charge-back 9 months later? Anybody know? I guess I'll call and find out.

Kelly Johnson

I was just making sure you were aware of him reading this thread,just in case he tried he was not aware of it excuse.I see no reason to work something out in this situation.You paid the amount for the cages and he has not delivered them.Full refund and nothing else!!

I certainly have removed Monster cages from my list of who to buy from or refer people to. Thanks Matt for being such a fine example of the kind of people the reptile industry has to offer.

Well, considering that my chances of a full refund are zilch unless I take him to court...I am willing to work through this. But there was no mention of storage fees at all until this week. I am very angry about this whole thing.

He is trying to work with me right now though....like I said, only since I posted this. He is trying to keep a huge chunk of money, after he sent me a shipping quote for $1300. What he is trying to keep back ranges from $2000-2500 and I can't get an answer really for why that is.

When I made my payments, I even added the 3% paypal charge in addition to the base amount. He also told me that he gets a pretty hefty shipping discount, and I can find that e-mail if needed. The shipping quote that he sent to me did not reflect that discount. So I don't understand why he can't just hold back $1100 worth of caging to cover the costs of shipping the remainder of my cages. Seems this whole thing has gotten terribly out of hand.

Kelly Johnson

Matt, do you have anything to add? Have you finished the cages? Did she pay you in full for the work?
It would seem that she has, minus the shipping charges. $6,000 up front and nine months later seems the customer has been more than reasonable.
Is the only obstacle holding up delivery of this order the shipping charges?

Matt, you spent some time fixing other situations in the past. You would think you would want to make this right as soon as possible. Is there any other information that should be added or is Kelly’s account accurate? If not, It would seem you have made this customer wait an unreasonable amount of time. If you agreed to complete this order within a timeframe and have not fulfilled what was agreed upon, how could you justify storage fees, regardless of when it was added to your TOS?

Kelly, could you post the emails that reference how much shipping will be and when your order was to be completed?

well, i just committed to 1000.00 rack from animal plastics. i didnt even bother looking at his website. im glad i didnt, my breeding programs are growing in leaps and bounds and i will be spending quite a bit of money on cages here soon. im very sorry to hear of your predicament. i dont understand why alot of these cage builders think they hold all of the cards and can dictate there own "new rules" as it suits them whenever they want. i would definitely take him to court and get your money back. there should be no question as to him sticking to the original agreement. you cant just say i need 1300.00 extra for shipping 9 months after the deal was agreed on. matt will definitely go on my list of people not to buy from.