The Serpentarium- Lodi, Ca

Hi,
I have been to both stores many times. I have never heard either store malign the other. But I have had wonderful experiences with Naomi(she helped me with an egg bound female spider ball python-- she was able to work the egg down and save my girl) and after reading this thread I will not ever do business with The Serpatarium unless Robert decides to pay Bill back. That was the essence of shady.

I know I would be heartbroken if I were Bill. These animals were his legacy and although I had never heard of him before today I feel for him. Please Robert do the right thing and start making payments to Bill. I also agree with a previous post that there is no possible way the business could have been signed off to a new owner without a signature by the owner. Doesn't make any sense?

Example #1: Our website states that The Serpentarium was established in 1989.

The business in question was established in 1989. We purchased said business in 2009. Their mentality is that, since we changed the name, it is now a “new business”. However, at the same time, these people are also saying that I simply took over and am just running Bill’s old business.

In reality, we didn’t really “change” the name, we merely shortened it to the name that everybody knows and refers to it as (seemed a whole lot simpler). Now, if we would’ve changed the name to, “Robert’s Reptiles,” and made the same business statements, then they might have an argument.

Now, while I can certainly understand how some confusion or conflict may be had with certain folk, allow me to provide some perspective on the matter with a similar scenario:

Let’s say, if someone were to purchase the company Facebook today, and then the new owner makes a statement the very next day that, "they are the biggest and most recognized social network in the world, established in 2004." That would be a fair and accurate statement made by the new owner, regardless if he shortened the name to just FB, as many people refer to it. That is NOT the new owner trying to take credit for Mark Zuckerberg's past accomplishments. I believe most people understand this.

Established in 1989, owners Robert and Marcy Coral have created a place where people could learn about and interact with reptiles from around the world, before taking one home as a pet.

Isn't this logical to everyone? Nothing is misleading about the "Established in..." quote at all. It's all truthful information.

Hey, Robert....SINS (errors) of ommission are still SINS (errors). You said you lost in this deal. MEH!

1. How much booth space do you have for the Sacramento show this month? How many employees are you taking?

2. From Craig:

Robert, please fill in the blank:

I, Robert Coral, have paid Bill Gillingham _______________ of the $228,000.00 I agreed to pay him.

Then please circle the most appropriate response:

I, Robert Coral, informed / did not inform Bill Gillingham that I was in the middle of bankruptcy when I agreed to buy the business from him.

3. Please elaborate on this, if you could:

When the business unfortunately became dissolved through BK by the state - when Bill transferred the building, not business (an important distinction), our contract became void/null.

You're the guy who thinks you are better, smarter, faster, and deserve more than everybody else. Some of us see right through you, though. Wordsmith my .

Originally Posted by laterob

deserve more

Terrific post. And he does deserve more of our attention. I think lots of publicity describing the underhanded way this business was acquired might be just the way to give him the attention he needs.
The BOI itself will bring publicity to Robert's behavior, as thousands visit here daily.
Any ideas to bring this shameful behavior to the attention of others who may not visit here?

So Robert, are you planning to square up with Bill before you open store #3? Unbelievable.

I actually put a comment on his FB page, it was gone in two minutes, showing that there may be more dissatisfaction with the business than we know, since dissent is promptly edited out.

I was reading some of his earlier posts in this thread, this one was interesting:

Originally Posted by TheSerpentarium

way back when I was breeding snakes out of my house, many years ago, I had an account that I registered in order to let others know about a scam artist who took me for a big loss.

I bet that really made an impression, that someone would hurt you that way. Yet you chose to hurt Bill and cause a huge loss to him. It makes your actions that much worse, that you know of the hurt and chose to inflict it on another.

Originally Posted by Lucille

Terrific post. And he does deserve more of our attention. I think lots of publicity describing the underhanded way this business was acquired might be just the way to give him the attention he needs.
The BOI itself will bring publicity to Robert's behavior, as thousands visit here daily.
Any ideas to bring this shameful behavior to the attention of others who may not visit here?

One could always start a FB page like what was done for ballbids … Say NO to The Serpentarium.

I think what was done to Bill appalling & down right slimy.

mr. coral, where are you? Here we are, patiently waiting for you to come back and explain these discrepancies that so very many readers have pointed out. Thars a whole lotta holes in that thar story you're a tellin, mr. coral. Might be you could flex those dexterous digits of yours and spin us another yarn about what really happened.

That would be nice. And as a follow up you could do a prognostication and tell us how in the near future payments for a debt due began showing up in Bill's mailbox with a big fat "sorry I bent you over" note in each one.

Hey Wes! Do I get to see you at the Sac show! It's been a long time.

Any ideas to bring this shameful behavior to the attention of others who may not visit here?

Well, there IS an upcoming show in Sac. that'll have about 12,000 visitors....someone could google sacramento reptile show and get a list of vendors...

Personally, I don't think the whole truth is here yet. I'd like to hear more from both parties. My gut tells me the paperwork was signed before the bankruptcy was undertaken. Robert has hinted that Bill made a mistake in the transferrence (building vs. business) that worked to Robert's advantage.

I don't understand how a relative can purchase seized assets of another relative....seems like something shady happened there, too.

One thing that's clear is that, at this point, Robert doesn't feel like he owes Bill anything...Robert's certainly in a position now where he could be making payments if he chose to.

Robert - more questions that'll go ignored: have you made/ are you making payments to your mother? If so, what are the terms?

After having consulted his shyster attorney, I suspect that he's been advised to no longer acknowledge the fact that he's no longer acknowledging the terms of the initial purchase. After making some fairly counterintuitive claims, he probably sees this is a wonderful time to start exercising his 5th Amendment rights. I'd have to guess that, from here on out, Mr. Coral is going to be fairly scarce around here.