Matthew @ Monster Cages-BAD GUY

[Matt

That is going to be an expensive $250. If that is how far apart you are Matt, simply pay it and be done with this. I agree with the previous poster as well. A proper businessman would not delay completion of cages fully paid for another minute. If these cages are already cut and routed, the assembly and finish work should be pretty quick. Quit bitching about pocket change, take responsibility for your major part in this fiasco and finish and ship this woman's cages as soon as humanly possible. This one is at least 80% your fault]

What are you referring to? There has been NO shipping paid on this order what so ever and she has indicated to me that she can't afford the shipping is the thing.

Matthew Martin

In her emails posted to the site, it appears there is a over payment and that you even stated wait to complete paying for shipping until you had the actuals and the product was finished

What are you referring to? There has been NO shipping paid on this order what so ever and she has indicated to me that she can't afford the shipping is the thing.

Matthew Martin

If she can't afford to pay any shipping than, I agree, that is not your problem. If she can come up with a total of $800 including any overage she paid on the cages then you should eat anything additional...plain and simple.

According to the emails posted from the discussions between the two.

By Dec 15th, 2005 these amounts were agreed to and exchanged:

Total Bill (minus Shipping): $5485.00

Payments in the amounts of: $1000, $500, $2800, $1500...Totaling $5800.00

Now the last time I applied basic math, that ment $315.00 in overpayment/towards shipping. Unless the final payment was for $1185.00 instead of $1500.00?

Fed Ex Freight services

Rate quote # ND621 44628334
Date 08/30/06
Shipment terms Prepaid
Origin 55987 WIM WINONA, MN

Destination 95642 STK STOCKTON, CA

Transit days 3 Days

Description Class Lbs. Rate/CWT Charges
No Description 100 2200 126.96 $2,793.12
Less 62.0% discount ($1,731.73)
Sub-total $1,061.39
LIFTGATE DELIVERY - PPD $96.36
RESIDENTIAL DELIVERY CHARGE $68.00
Fuel Surcharge $222.89
Total net charges $1,448.64
Rate Tariff: *FXF 1000 04/24/06 LD 50629


That was just looked up for the shipping. Shipping estimate is just that, part of the delay is on her part also. I have no problem like i said completing the order but was always waiting before for her to pick which sizes she wanted on the 8 footers and never did choose either.

Matthew Martin

No offense Matt but you just don't seem to get it. An estimate is supposed to be a reasonable educated guess at a future figure. You were off by 80% plus. You are grasping at straws trying to lay more than a minimal amount of blame for the delay on Kelly. You have had the use of $6,000 of her money for several months. These cages should have been completed within a reasonable time frame once full payment was received...they weren't. Act like a proper business and eat the overage. Yes, your profit on the cages is less but you will put this behind you and stop getting the crapkicked out of your reputation.

Originally Posted by Monster Cages

When it comes to shipping assembled cages it is like shipping "sailboat fuel", lol. That is exactly how my agent at the logistics company stated it. Shipping using truck freight is not like shipping normal stuff there are alot of things that are figured into it. The class for shipping is also based on how the weight, height, and length play into things as well as fuel surcharge right now is 17% as of yesterday. Shipping broken down cages is alot cheaper by far.

My stack of cages are going freight & are assembled. So again, maybe you need to choose another shipper.

I need to chime in and let everyone know about my experience with Matt. This whole ordeal sounds all too familiar, and I hope that what I have to say will help future consumers make an informed decision in their search for cages.

In August of 2004, I placed an order with Matt Martin of Monster Cages. His prices seemed very good considering the custom work. He quoted me a timeframe of 6-8 weeks. I explained to him that it was imperative that I get these cages in time to let my female retics settle in for the upcoming breeding season. He assured me that they would arrive within 6-8 weeks, so I paid him up front so that he could buy the needed materials.

*side note*
I had originally come in contact with Matt after responding to an add he had placed on another website, for an 8K adult female purple retic that he was brokering for a gentleman down in Florida. I discovered that he also had two adult female Jampeas that I was very interested in buying. At the time I did not have the cages to house these animals, and so I went ahead and had Matt hold onto the 3 females while he was building the cages for them.

To make a long story short, Matt did not get the cages to me until DECEMBER of 2004!!! About 4 1/2 months after I had originally placed the order with him! When I got the bill for shipping I just about coughed up a lung. It was outrageous. I will dig up the receipts and post the exact amount later. At that point I just wanted the damn cages, and to finally wash my hands of Matt. The craftmanship on the cages was extremely bad... I almost cried when I first saw them. The plastic was warped, the edges were rough and uneven, the corners were sealed with caulk that didn't even adhere to the plastic... I was PISSED OFF

In addition to all of this, Matt wanted to cut corners and drop off over 10K worth of animals at his local municipal airport rather than drive the extra hour to Minneapolis. Mind you, this was WINTERTIME in MINNESOTA! When I let him know I had a problem with that, he raised his voice at me and basically threw a fit. I waited 4 1/2 months for my cages that I paid him up front for, spent a large chunk of change on retics that he was making a profit on, and that is how he reacted when I asked him to drop the cargo off directly with Delta!

Since everything arrived as late as it did, I lost out on an entire year's potential production with these three females. It was 2004/05 and I was going to pair them up with an albino tiger. Do the math. Fortunately I produced out of the purple female this year, but I figure I lost a lot of money on account of Matt.

Did I mention the snakes came with mites?

Cory Browning

I also wanted to mention that a neighbor of mine worked professionally with polyprohelene plastics for many years. When I showed him the cages all he could do was shake his head. Apparently, Matt doesn't know what he is doing because my neighbor said that it's wrong to work with the plastic as though it were wood... which is how Matt handles the material.

Since this whole ordeal, I have switched to Animal Plastics cages, and couldn't be happier.

Meant to type polypropylene